This afternoon’s Inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial (see below) will feature amplified music and huge Jumbotrons displaying the performances.

Springsteen will perform; remember his contributions to the No Nukes concert and recording of three decades ago?

Electricity in Washington, D.C., is provided by Pepco. From the Illinois Commerce Commission:

Ninety-one percent of D.C. power comes from coal-fired power plants and nuclear power.

Pepco does place great emphasis on “green power” and environmentally sensitive technologies.  

Great big lineup at the Lincoln Memorial this afternoon, rock ‘n roll stars rockin’ out for “We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration,”  2 p.m. :

Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Mstr. Sgt. Caleb Green, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, Bettye Lavette, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Pete Seeger, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, U2, Usher, will.i.am and Stevie Wonder. For those too far from the stage, the show will be broadcast on giant video screens.

To those of us without cable, waiting for the DTV transition with a sense of inevitability, there’s still audio coverage of the event at NPR. In fact, NPR has exclusive rights for the live radio broadcast, and the concert will NOT be archived at NPR, so listen (and record) today. (Transparency request: Did NPR pay for the exclusive rights?)

President-elect Obama speaks at the end of the three-hour program.

Not wanting to spend the time for what surely will be a good show, we instead caught the “Songs for Presidents” performance at the Historic I Street Synagogue.  From Amazon: “Rock balladeers Christian Kiefer, Matthew Gerken, and Jefferson Pitcher have performed a remarkable feat. They have composed and recorded 43 songs, one for each of the past and current presidents of these United States.” Expected hipster hipness, performed by talented songwriters whose knowledge of history stops at Howard Zinn: Republicans who opposed FDR were like the fascists and the klan, and Andrew Jackson should be remembered for genocide. Got it.

Yesterday we noted that Lincoln is the only president to have filed a patent, but that Jefferson was also an inventor — hence the most interesting song of the evening, “Thomas Jefferson: The Mouldboard of Least Resistance,” honoring Jefferson’s contribution to agriculture and eventually huge agribusiness — the designing of a more effective plow that lifted and turned the soil.

Next time, more Nellie McKay, please. (Here’s the official record company website.)

Best hipster song ever about a President — They Might be Giants, “James K. Polk.”

And to everyone on the Mall, enjoy yourself and stay warm!

From today’s Cape Cod Times, “Ex-Cape pianist to entertain at inaugural event“:

Thirty-six years ago, when Janis Nowlan launched her musical career by the sands of Craigville Beach, she never dreamed she’d ever play at a presidential inaugural event.

But Sunday night, Nowlan, a pianist, singer and songwriter who spent more than 12 summers entertaining Cape Cod audiences from 1972 to 1985, will do just that when she plays at the National Association of Manufacturers’ Inauguration Gala at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center on Pennsylvania Avenue — blocks from the White House — with a possible visit from President -elect Barack Obama himself.

“You have to laugh,” said Nowlan, who played her first professional gig at age 19 at Trade Winds on Craigville Beach in 1974. “Back then, it was just me, a piano and a small (audience). … Now, we’re going to Washington. … It’s pretty amazing.”

Nowlan, now an accomplished band leader in Philadelphia, who regularly plays weddings and other ceremonial events with her Janis Nowlan Band, received a call late last year from the manufacturers’ association, asking her to play the inaugural event, which will feature political leaders and representatives from manufacturing companies located across the country.

“We had been searching for a band that fit the event, and when someone forwarded us their video, they looked like a good fit,” said association spokesman Hank Cox. “They do a wide range of music, and they do it very well. That’s exactly what we were looking for.”

Thanks for agreeing to do the gig, Janis!

By the way, her band’s website is www.janisnowlan.com It’s always a wonder how many songs professional bands have in the repertoire. Wow.

For more about the NAM’s Inaugural events, please go here.

Washington Post, “Losing That Special Spark — No Fireworks in Obama Festivities”

For the first time in 28 years, there will be no fireworks on the Mall during inaugural festivities.

“We never discussed having fireworks as part of the events. It just didn’t come up,” Linda Douglass, a spokeswoman for the incoming president’s inaugural committee, said yesterday.

In repeated public announcements, the committee has promised that Barack Obama’s inauguration will be “the most open and accessible inauguration in American history.” But the lack of fireworks represents a departure from one of the most accessible traditions that accompany the celebration of a new presidency. A fireworks display has been a feature of the past seven consecutive inaugurations, starting with Ronald Reagan’s in 1981.

No mention of last summer’s fireworks shortage due to problems with warehousing and shipping in China. Or whether there was any concerns about environmental symbolism, although one should never confuse particulates with carbon dioxide emissions.

Speaking of which …

From The Chilling Effect blog, “IFL: Inauguration Will Produce 575 MILLION Pounds of CO2!“:

Everyone knows the new administration will be the greenest in modern times. But you might not know how un-green the Inauguration is going to be. The Institute For Liberty scratched together some rough figures for illustrative purposes, and our new analysis Carbon Bigfoot finds:

• Celebrities, politicians, and bigwigs using 600 private jets will produce 25,320,000 POUNDS of CO2
• Personal vehicles could account for 262,483,200 POUNDS of CO2
• In the parade, horses alone will produce more than 400 POUNDS of CO2
• The total carbon footprint for the Inauguration will likely exceed 575 million POUNDS of CO2
• It would take the average U.S. household 57,598 years to produce a carbon footprint equal to that of the new president’s housewarming party

The IFL is quick to note that it’s not criticizing the travel or commerce involved — those can be good things that keep America moving and prosperous. But some people want to tax and regulate carbon emissions, and they happen to be the same people pumping out carbon dioxide like it’s going out of style.

And though you should never confuse weather and climate, here’s the local weather at the moment. The wind is freshening.

That Maxim’s probably just misfiled.

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The photo above is just one rack in the news shop at Farragut North.

Here’s another.

Examiner stories:

Washington Post stories:

If we’re lucky, it slouches…

From The D.C. Examiner, Jan. 14, 2008: “Metro GM warns ‘something will happen’ to system on Jan. 20”

Why wait until then? Let’s get started right now, during the evening commute!

The shot is of Metro Center, about 6:20 p.m. No warnings on the reader boards or public announcement system of delays, crowds, problems, crowds.

Not to be a Negative Nelly or anything, but this doesn’t bode well for Inaugural activities next week.

(continue reading…)

One of the most insulting headlines we’ve seen in a Washington paper in some time, “Special interests prey on Inaugural.”

This Washington Times story carried a subhed, “Lobbyists fund power parties.”

Prey? Prey? Like vultures descending on the fresh carrion of power?

These stories are so tired, so predictable, so jerking of knee: Powerful special interests circumvent openness to curry favor with politicians.

This go-around, the new angle for some is that the Obama campaign/transition/Administration vowed not to do business as usual, and yet…oh my!

Sometimes a party is just a party. There’s a moment of history taking place, the inauguration of the United States’ 44th President, and people want to take part.

After all, an inaugural bash with dancing and heavy hors d’oeuvres is not a productive venue for building relationships with Members of Congress or incoming Administration officials. Discussions at NAM HQ have centered around logistics and planning so everything runs smoothly and NAM members and guests have a good time. It IS a good venue for having fun amid a democratic change of power and the turning of great events. (Did you know a flock of vultures is also called a venue?)

It’s not just business, you know. We suggest other, just as valid headlines:

• Labor lobbyists prey on Inaugural
• Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow prey on Inaugural
• Al Gore preys on Inaugural
• Media prey on Inaugural to promote sales

The photo above is of the JW Marriott, next door to NAM HQ, where so much preying will take place over the next week.

For more on the NAM’s inaugural events, we prey you, go here.

Those are quite some constructions they’ve put up in front of the White House, an enclosed speaker’s platform and a multi-story reviewing stand.

(The photo, shot at 7:30 a.m., is of Pennsylvania Avenue looking west, Lafayette Square on the right.)

It appears that the portable toilets are now in place for the throngs on January 20th.

These are at the corner of 14th and Pennsylvania, to the west of Freedom Plaza.

 Here are the Post’s top Inauguration stories for the day:

• Finding Havens for the District’s Homeless
• Street, Bridge Closures Set for Opening Events
• Chicago Chic on Stage
• Inauguration Central
• Another Hard Find: Babysitters | Forecast

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And the Washington Times

As part of the National Association of Manufacturers’ events commemorating the inauguration of President Barack Obama, on Monday the NAM is sponsoring a lunch at the Ronald Reagan Building just across Pennsylvania Avenue from NAM HQ.

We’re pleased to report that Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), just elected to replace the retiring Senator John Warner, will be speaking at the lunch attended by representatives of NAM member companies and their guests.

Senator Warner comes from a business background and supported pro-investment policies during his four years as governor of Virginia, so NAM members are looking forward to hearing his insights about the new Congress and the incoming Obama Administration.

For more, see the NAM’s online inaugural information is here.

From the D.C. Examiner, “Emergency declared in D.C. to allow for more federal aid“:

President Bush has declared an emergency in the District of Columbia for the inauguration of his successor — an unprecedented move that will allow federal funds and disaster resources to flow more freely to local agencies, according to a FEMA spokesman.

The declaration was requested by D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, who warns that inauguration crowds could overwhelm area hospitals and emergency responders.

Terry Monrad, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said similar declarations have only ever been pre-approved for natural disasters like hurricanes.

When reviewing Fenty’s request for extra federal aid, the agency looked at “if D.C. [on its own] would have the capabilities and resources to meet critical emergency protective requirements,” said FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kirin, and judged that it would not.

We can see why the Bush Administration would do this, trying to avoid more unflattering press comparisons to FEMA’s handling of Katrina, even if it’s the D.C. government that messes up. But is this what Congress had in mind when it wrote the law?

Meanwhile, talk about material that just writes itself: “X event a disaster”…etc.

BTW, we’ve been plugging the Washington Post’s coverage of the Inauguration, but the other media outlets in the city really have been doing a good job too. In today’s Examiner, there’s another worthwhile piece, relating a dose of reality, “Metro GM warns ‘something will happen’ to system on Jan. 20.”

And…

UPDATE (1:45 p.m.): White House press secretary Dana Perino comments on the disaster declaration at today’s White House briefing:

Q Dana, two questions, thank you. One, how can you explain to people around the globe as far as presidential emergency declaration, because many of them do not understand or misunderstood.

MS. PERINO: Okay. I can understand why because of its title, but under the law, the city or state or the District of Columbia can ask the administration, whichever administration it is, for more funds or access to more funds in case they need it in order to be able to protect people for some major event, whether it be a natural disaster or something like the Super Bowl — I don’t know if anybody has ever actually done that. But obviously this inauguration is going to bring a huge number of crowds, and there’s going to be a large amount of security. And therefore, we thought it was appropriate that when Mayor Fenty asked President Bush for access to additional funds that we’d provide it.