Lincoln Memorial

Inaugural Kick-off Concert Where:: The Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. When:: Today. Event begins at 2 p.m.. What:: Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Bono and Mary J. Blige are just a few of the musicians scheduled to perform as part of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration celebration events. The concert will be televised on HBO beginning at 7 p.m. Other performers include Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Usher, Sheryl Crow and many more.

WASHINGTON -- Responding to criticism that the original design for a World War II Memorial was too expansive and ostentatious to fit comfortably on the national Mall, architects unveiled a pared-down design yesterday that envisions a memorial less obtrusive but no less powerful.In the new design, the 50 proposed concrete columns are gone, the walls are much lower and there are no enclosed rooms to serve as exhibit space. Elm trees already on the site will be preserved as a border.The changes are meant to appease critics who feared that the memorial's previous design would intrude on the the Mall's treasured sightlines extending from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has unanimously approved a measure to allow construction of a monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the national Mall, among memorials dedicated to American presidents and U.S. veterans.The memorial "will stand as a tribute to what Martin Luther King Jr. represented, which, in my judgment, was a commitment to achieving change through nonviolence," Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, the Maryland Democrat who sponsored the legislation with Republican Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, said before passage of the measure late Thursday.

WASHINGTON - The cool white splendor and historical import of the Washington Monument and Jefferson and Lincoln memorials have lured visitors the world over for decades.But would thousands line up to gaze at a monument to an obscure Eastern European revolutionary, or a little-known Latin American poet?Probably not, but that doesn't stop people from trying to have their hero or cause chiseled in marble and limestone in the nation's capital.Washington has had its share of proposals for immortalizing sung and unsung heroes.

WASHINGTON -- When President Clinton unveils the design for a new World War II Memorial on the National Mall today, its planners hope to quell critics' fears that the structure will encroach upon a postcard-perfect vista.The memorial, to honor the veterans and the war's role in American history, will be built between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the Mall's primary axis.Some worry that the sightline leading from the west front of the Capitol -- a cherished panorama framed by the open space of the National Mall -- will be obstructed.

WASHINGTON -- When Friedrich St. Florian was 12 years old, columns of American GIs marched into his Alpine village of Kaprun, Austria, and liberated it from Nazi occupation. Now he is giving something back.Yesterday, the 63-year-old architect was showered with applause at a White House ceremony after he was chosen as the winning designer for the World War II Memorial to be built on the Mall."Out of the crucible of global conflict and total war -- the greatest struggle humankind has ever known -- America emerged as the world's most powerful force for peace and freedom and prosperity," President Clinton said before an audience of congressmen and war veterans.

WASHINGTON -- When National Park Service officials asked Christina Cunningham-Adams to help restore two majestic murals inside the Lincoln Memorial, she immediately said she would love to. Then she asked, what murals?Like millions of Americans who have visited the open-air marble memorial each year since 1922, the conservator had never heard of the two 69-foot-wide murals on the side walls to the left and right of the massive statue of Abraham Lincoln. One portrays the freeing of slaves, the other depicts national unity after the Civil War.The murals were almost impossible to see: Years of moisture, dirt and fungus had faded the bright colors of the oil paintings.

WASHINGTON -- Nearly 200,000 parents, children and their supporters filled the sweeping expanse from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial with blankets on the lawn and banners in the air, demanding better lives for America's children.On a day so full of sunshine that it made their march more picnic than protest, they came to Washington to fight for the moral ground that conservatives opposed to big government and its social spending have seized.They had been summoned by Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, crusader and conscience of the child advocacy movement, who declared that the children of the world's richest country are in deep distress.

NEW ORLEANS -- Having grabbed a last night of sleep in his own bed, Bob Dole paid an inspirational visit yesterday to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and then cheerfully headed off on the weeklong final sprint of his uphill race for the White House.The Republican nominee came armed with a new Commerce Department report of slower-than-expected growth in the third quarter, which Dole said confirmed an argument he's been making all year: that the economy is not nearly as healthy asPresident Clinton says it is, or as robust as many voters seem to believe.

Memories. Of numbing cold. Of sweltering heat that made men feel like they were marching through a sauna. Of 18-year-olds who knew little about ideology pitted against 18-year-olds who knew even less. Of rice paddies that extended beyond the horizon. Of a war politicians insisted wasn't a war. Of a nation that seemed intent, more than anything, to forget it ever sent its sons and daughters to fight in Korea.Bill Robinette remembers Korea. He remembers the frostbite that gripped his toes, the shrapnel that cost him an eye and punctured his brain, the comrades killed in action who never lived to enjoy the freedom they were sent overseas to protect.

Memorial Day in Washington, and geese swimming in the great reflecting pool that reflects the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial, depending on where you are standing, and busloads of tourists pulled up to the curbs. Heroic architecture everywhere, bas-relief sculptures of heroes, men on pedestals, monuments to Fidelity and Sacrifice and Devotion, and a milling crowd of people, many of whom are Hot and Irritable and Dazed with Tedium. Signs of museum fatigue everywhere. Stone-faced couples in shorts walk by, cameras dangling from their wrists, who appear to be on the verge of divorce.

The Photographer's Guide to Washington, D.C. Countryman Press, $14.95 Because Washington is one of the most photographed cities in the world, it is understandable why some visitors might think it difficult to find a fresh perspective while shooting the town's landmarks. After all, the Washington Monument is the Washington Monument. How many ways can you shoot it? But authors Lee Foster and Ann F. Purcell take a different view. "Remember," they say, "no one will ever see it in exactly the light in which you see this iconic place."

Where:: The Lincoln Memorial, Washington When:: 3 p.m. Sunday What:: In 1939, opera singer Marian Anderson was set to perform at Constitution Hall but was turned away when organizers realized she was black. Instead, the Easter concert was held at the Lincoln Memorial. Sunday's event features mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves in a performance paying tribute to the 70th anniversary of Anderson's concert. Graves will be joined by a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. A naturalization ceremony will precede the concert, with a keynote address from former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

POP MUSIC Robyn Hitchcock Whimsical British singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock released his debut nearly 30 years ago. Since then, he has dotted his catalog with challenging, genre-blurring efforts that have garnered a following. His latest album is Goodnight Oslo. Though it offers few surprises, the CD is a solid effort from one of alt-pop's most consistent artists. He performs at 8 tonight at Black Cat, 1811 14th St. N.W. in Washington. Tickets are $20. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.

Inaugural Kick-off Concert Where:: The Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. When:: Today. Event begins at 2 p.m.. What:: Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Bono and Mary J. Blige are just a few of the musicians scheduled to perform as part of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration celebration events. The concert will be televised on HBO beginning at 7 p.m. Other performers include Stevie Wonder, John Mellencamp, Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Usher, Sheryl Crow and many more.

All-star lineup of singers to salute Barack Obama Judging by the lineup, Sunday's inaugural celebration for Barack Obama at the Lincoln Memorial is a coveted gig for music's top names. Beyonce, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, Sheryl Crow, Josh Groban and James Taylor are among the musicians scheduled to perform at the Sunday afternoon event, which is open to the public. The starting time has not been announced. The president-elect and his family are due to attend, with Obama expected to speak.

Honest Abe at the Fairmont What's the deal?: Next year, our nation's capital marks the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth with the rededication of the Lincoln Memorial, a re-enactment of Marian Anderson's concert at the memorial and other festivities. Keeping up with the Lincoln Bicentennial is the "Honest Abe Package" at the Fairmont Washington, D.C. What's the savings?: Starting at $299 per night for a family of four, the Lincoln package covers one night's accommodations at the hotel, a map of the city and Lincoln Logs for the kids.

In the fall of 1972, Baltimore natives Jack Bergman, Ralph Robinson and Ricky Rucker served together aboard the USS Newport News. As they traveled through the Gulf of Tonkin, their ship's second gun turret malfunctioned. Hundreds of pounds of gunpowder ignited, killing 20 crew members and injuring dozens more. Neither Mr. Bergman, Mr. Robinson, nor Mr. Rucker had reached his 21st birthday before they were burned to death that October morning. They became Baltimore's 395th, 396th and 397th sons to die in Vietnam.

WASHINGTON -- They started turning out before daybreak in the bitter cold. The anti-war demonstrators massed on the north side of the Lincoln Memorial chanting demands for peace now. The counter-protesters, fewer in number but no less vocal, gathered on the east side of the Vietnam Wall and shouted political taunts - many laced with obscenities. "I got called a commie. A lot of middle fingers are going up. I try to respond with a peace sign," said Bethany Louisos, 19, who had driven from the University of Massachusetts with 10 friends in three cars through a snowstorm to join yesterday's march on the Pentagon.

Sean Quinn, 17, a senior at Severn School in Severna Park, is the latest winner of the Frederick T. Drum Hunt Award for outstanding achievement in history. The Hunt Award is presented annually by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, a society founded in 1865 the day after Abraham Lincoln's assassination. The Loyal Legion designed the contest more than 50 years ago to encourage Severn students to learn more about Lincoln by writing an essay/research paper about the 16th president.