Band synchronizes with watchmaker

Band synchronizeswith watchmaker
LAS VEGAS -- Pop group *NSync has teamed up with a Swiss watchmaker to raise money for children orphaned by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the group announced.
Audemars Piguet has created 200 limited-edition watches that also will benefit needy children through "Challenge for the Children," *NSync's foundation.
The 50 men's watches and 150 women's watches have been engraved with the signatures of *NSync's five members and will be priced at $8,500 and $5,900, respectively.
"We want to help kids affected by the tragedy as much as we can," *NSync's Justin Timberlake said Sunday.
Those who buy one of the watches also will receive tickets and sound-check passes to an *NSync concert.
The fund-raiser is expected to bring in $500,000, of which about half will go to start a children's scholarship fund that will be administered by the foundation, said Barry Klarberg, the band's manager.
Museum to displayRosa Parks bus
DEARBORN, Mich. -- The bus that Rosa Parks was riding when she refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955 will become part of a permanent display at the Henry Ford Museum after it is refurbished.
Parks, 88, was among those who attended a private viewing of the unrestored 36-passenger bus on Saturday on the 46th anniversary of her arrest.
The episode sparked the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott and helped launch the civil rights movement.
"When I see this bus, I feel courage," Natalia Tanner, a pediatrician and professor at Wayne State University, told The Detroit News. "This was such an unusual woman and this represents the events that started the series of events that changed the lives of so many people."
A Montgomery man, Hubert Summerford, bought the bus in the early 1970s. He died in 1985, leaving it to his daughter and her husband.
The museum purchased it for $492,000 and it was removed Sunday for restoration to its 1955 appearance.
Conservation efforts are expected to cost between $100,000 and $200,000 and last about a year.
No bus number was written down on police records when Parks was arrested. There have been questions over the years as to whether it would be possible to identify the vehicle.
Actor takes noteof uniform's effect
RADNOR, Pa. -- Nicholas Turturro, who played Detective James Martinez on "NYPD Blue," says he noticed a different attitude toward police officers when he wore a uniform for a guest appearance on "The District."
"Because of September 11, people who put on uniforms are looked at in a different way," Turturro says in the Dec. 8 issue of TV Guide. "Maybe we didn't pay enough attention, give them their due."
Braxton has a baby
ATLANTA -- Award-winning rhythm and blues singer Toni Braxton gave birth to 5-pound, 12-ounce boy at an Atlanta-area hospital, her spokesman said.
The baby born Sunday was named Denim Cole Braxton Lewis and is the first child for Braxton and her husband Keri Lewis, of the Minneapolis-based band, Mint Condition.
"Mom and baby are doing fine," David Brokaw said.
Braxton, 33, who won her sixth Grammy Award this year, met her husband, a 28-year-old keyboard player, four years ago. Mint Condition served as her accompaniment when she opened for contemporary jazz saxophonist Kenny G on a nationwide tour.
Today's birthdays
Actress-singer Deanna Durbin is 80. Game show host Wink Martindale is 67. Actor-producer Max Baer Jr. is 64. Rock musician Bob Mosley (Moby Grape) is 59. Singer-musician Chris Hillman is 57. Rock singer Southside Johnny Lyon is 53. Actor Jeff Bridges is 52. Rock musician Gary Rossington (Lynyrd Skynyrd; the Rossington Collins Band) is 50. Actress Patricia Wettig is 50. Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson is 46. Country musician Brian Prout (Diamond Rio) is 46. Rock musician Bob Griffin (The BoDeans) is 42. Rock singer Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge) is 39. Actress Marisa Tomei is 37. Actress Chelsea Noble is 37. Rapper Jay-Z is 32. Actress-model Tyra Banks is 28. Country singer Lila McCann is 20. Actress Lindsay Felton is 17. Actor Orlando Brown is 14.