Sting has something to sing about

Sting is a British citizen but also a New Yorker, and he wouldn’t have missed the inauguration of President Obama for anything.

“The minute we got off the plane, you could really sense the buoyancy,” the former Police chief told us before he went onstage at the Creative Coalition Ball last night. “It’s a feeling we haven’t felt here in a long time.”

Elvis Costello and soul man Sam Moore joined the Stingster in rocking the gala, which held the mother lode of politically minded celebs including Diddy, Heather Graham, Tobey Maguire and Ron Howard.

The now-brown-haired Sting helped many of the same stars usher in the age of Obama on Monday, when he performed at the stroke of midnight for the Huffington Post party at the Newseum. There, 2,000 guests, including Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack, Ben Affleck, Ed Harris, Jessica Alba and Ashton Kutcher, did a 10-9-8 countdown and cheered like the place would blast off. Demi Moore stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled.

Earlier Tuesday, Sting and wife Trudie Styler had defrosted at the Creative Coalition/BGR Group’s post-swearing-in bash, where Styler told us it’s okay to let off some steam about the past eight years.

“It’s fine for us to have our feelings about what Bush has done to this country,” she said.

Anne Hathaway, who also braved 12-degree temperatures, confessed to relief at the Bush bye-bye.

“When I saw that helicopter take off, it was a very fun moment,” she told us.

There was some naughtiness in the celebrity section at the inaugural, Tim Robbins admits. “When Bush’s chopper flew overhead, people started singing that chant [from the old Steam song], ‘Na na na, na na na, hey hey goodbye.’ And it fanned out across the Mall.”

Earlier, when conservative pastor Rick Warren gave the invocation, some booed, but others shushed them and said, “Be kind.”

Alan Cumming confessed, “Susan Sarandon and I brought our [gay rights] rainbow flags and were waving them. The police made us remove the poles but let us keep the flags.”

It is, after all, a free country. Some celebs had paid $50,000 for the privilege of being close to the podium, and others were guests who had helped get him there. Tim Daly told us, “I couldn’t believe I was next to [Bruce] Springsteen!”

Many were moved by Obama’s exhortations to be the best we can be. Josh Lucas told us, “The thing that moves me so much about President Obama is, of course, his astonishing integrity, but also, him as a husband and a father.”

The day’s hilarity and drama were chronicled by director Barry Levinson for “Poliwood,” an upcoming documentary produced by Creative Coalition head Robin Bronk with Daly and Robert Baruc.

(source)