Sorry to be Away!

I realize that this may not be the most RSSed BLOG online, but I must apologize for not writing recently. My friend and I landed a hotel job from late February through early May which chewed up nearly each weekend. Secondly, my Macbook Pro took a dive down some stairs which proved to be the end for my poor machine! That'll be another story...

Now that the summer is essentially half over, I do hope to have the opportunity to ramble a bit on a number of subjects. A few in the works include a rumination on the left lane highway hog, hybrid car drivers, and the world of petroleum and how the American economy simply cannot function without cheap fuel. I hope the entries will prove to be interesting.

On a side note, a friend of mine gave me some rather sad news at the beginning of the month. His band, Delirious? will be splitting up at the end of 2009. Whether or not you're a religious person, Jon's band had a number of really good albums over the years and it'd be worth your while to check out at least World Service and The Mission Bell the next time you're checking out new tunes. Their earlier work is really great too! Also, in the realm of music, try to get your hands on the Muse "Haarp" CD/DVD package. It's a great experience!

Check back soon!

Wagons

I adore station wagons. I have felt this way for as long as I can remember. Being a late "Gen X-er", the station wagon was still king of the road when I was a little kid. Each family in my neighborhood had at least one wagon in the driveway. Next door, there was the Pontiac LeMans Safari, my family had a Plymouth Volare with a three-speed on the floor, and the family across the street had a lovely 145 Volvo that remained with them until the mid-1990s. A really nice Vista Cruiser graced the lawn of the professor down the street and the dentist had a vinylwood-sided Buick LeSabre Estate. All were body-on-frame constructed monsters (save for the Volvo and the Plymouth), had acres of stowage, and could carry nine people in relative comfort (with little regard for safety of course). If your parents didn't have a wagon, they had a full sized van complete with tables, chairs, and fireplaces! There was the one odd dad at the end of the street who had a Suburban, but he also owned a hunting cabin in Potter County, so it was o.k. that the world shook as he drove by. This bliss all changed in 1983 when the minivan was reinvented by the pentastar corporation.

I can remember with clarity when the wagons began to disappear from my surroundings. The Pontiac was supplanted with a Caravan. Soon after, the Chevy conversion van was replaced by the same vehicle, yet the rear gate said "Voyager" instead. Even a third grader was able to figure out the ruse, but I chose not to say anything while the four-bangers slapped away in a chorus as the moms chatted in the street- one coming, one going- interrupting an afternoon football game. In the elementary school's drop-off zone, more and more minivans were finding duties as child transport units. I can recall piles of wagons on the shady (not in a good way) used-car lots on the road heading out of town. My dad would stop and look on occasion. I suppose he was thinking about moving up from the Volare, but that never happened, much to my dismay. I always liked the Vista Cruiser.

The following year, the Buick lost it's spot in the neighborhood line-up to a Jeep Cherokee. It said "Jeep" on it, but it certainly didn't look like anything GI Joe would drive. The Suburban was replaced by a Jeep as a daily driver as well, but that I now understand as a full-time, four wheel drive truck is no way to get around town in an efficient manner! The 145 kept serving the family across the street, but it too lost it's primary vehicle status to a minivan. The Volvo did continue to perform quite well as a college hauler until it finally returned to a mound of iron oxide and residual hydrocarbons, outliving the Chrysler by at least five years.

The last straw came when my dad returned home one day in a Chevy Astro Van. It was just a test drive, but I knew the Plymouth's days were numbered. The Volare was having more and more trouble pulling the camper, so he thought it best to move the family into a more reliable mode of transport for trips over 25 miles away from home. Looking back, it was an excellent decision as the Volare was generally a crappy car, but I didn't realize that then. I loved that car for all of its faults. The Volare was the car that I took back and forth from Kindergarten, Little League games, and football practices with my mom at the helm. It was also the car on which I learned how to drive stick, and the first car I parted-out (I still have the grill!). The era of the wagon had come to an end in my family too.

As we all know, the minivan soon became the bane of younger boomers and the age of the SUV began in earnest with the Ford Explorer leading the way. What I never quite understood about mid-sized SUVs was the size:interior volume ratio. From the outside, a Ford Explorer is huge. Open it up, and the girth disappears. My 1990 245 has much more usable space than any similar era Explorer or Cherokee could muster, plus I can get 32 miles per gallon on the highway. Owning an SUV almost became a urination contest- the one with the tallest, mobile air brake wins. With all of the new SUVs on the road, minivans began piling up on the shady lots outside of town. Now that the crossover has arrived, Ford Explorers trade like Bazooka bubblegum wrappers.

With the overall global energy situation getting tighter and tighter on an annual basis, I think it is time to bring the station wagon back to the forefront of personal mobility. The wagon is the perfect combination of form and function, in my humble opinion. Sure, a third row is nice (buy a V70), AWD is a decent feature (how many times have you honestly used your AWD in the last year- be honest), and sitting high is nice too, but all of this is really unnecessary when a humble Mazda wagon will run circles around a glorified, leggy Camry.

I was so excited to read that Pontiac was going to offer the G8 in a wagon, complete with a V-8 and a manual transmission. I was equally disappointed when Mr. Lutz determined that the business climate did not exist to make the G8 economically feasible. I say, give the market a shot. The Magnum is not a good example of what the market is like for a proper wagon as it is ugly and has a vile interior, much like the Volare! I believe the members of Generations X and Y are bound to take up the mantle of the wagon, especially if the said steed is great to look at, great to sit in, and great to drive (all of which the Magnum is not). Until then, my livery of two Volvos and one Mazda, all wagons of course, will have to do. I won't hold my breath for the CTS Sportwagon either!

Here Come the 1,2, 3s....

Last Tuesday (2/05/2008), yet another fine recording was released- They Might Be Giants' follow up to Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s. To be honest, I was a bit concerned when I read that TMBG were working on a numbers based collection of tunes. I grew up with Bob Dorough as a mentor of sorts (he was a friend of the family) and Multiplication Rock was a staple of my limited record collection as a child. I still find that collection of songs nearly perfect and the notion of any other artist attempting to even broach the subject of numbers within children's songs makes me nervous. Of course, this is TMBG we're talking about...

Here Come the 123s is a fantastic collection of songs that are as creative as they care "catchy". John Flansburgh and John Linnell have always been able to compose smart and melodic songs, are both quite capable musicians, and both typically surround themselves with stellar backing musicians. However, it seems as though the duo have really begun to weave their past, sort-of underground successes into marketing gold of late. This is due to their seemingly endless supply of tunes that are beginning to extend into varied facets of pop culture. If your kids watch "Playhouse Disney", listen closely! If you're watching sitcoms- listen not only to theme songs, but to the commercial soundtracks as well. These guys are everywhere and I think that is great! Our culture needs more interesting music infused among the schlock on Top 40 radio and the singular, early morning countdown show on VH-1.

The They Might Be Giants Here Come the 123's record is a great album to provide your youngsters at home. The album includes 27 tracks that you and your family will singing together in no time! There is also a companion DVD that is included in the packaging that both my four year old son and two year old daughter are riveted to when running on the television. My personal favorite tracks are Zeroes (excellent harmonies), One Everything (much like the band Huffamoose in a way), Triops Has Three Eyes (an homage to the humble triops) and finally Nonagon (yes, all about shapes). The four mentioned tracks are all great, yet I do not intend to discount the remainder of the record. Try it, you'll like it!

If you have smaller children at home, and are looking for music that is good for children, yet tolerable for you to listen to as well, buy the entire catalog! TMBG have produced three albums for children and each would make an excellent addition to any record collection. Head over to Amazon and order all of them today!

Mute Math

Yesterday was new release day in the record industry. Each Tuesday, the varied music moguls dispense with their often ill-invested A & R dollars, a seemingly endless supply of musical clutter to an unsuspecting and more increasingly unconcerned populace. January 30, 2008 was not a typical day, however (at least from my humble vantage point). 

Teleprompt and Warner Brothers Records (what's left of it) released Mute Math's  Flesh and Bones Electric Fun (Live), a companion CD for the identically titled, equally entertaining, concert DVD. The album is available at all of the usual outlets and should be a seriously considered expenditure. Mute Math's first self-titled, full-length album was released in the fall of 2006 and the band has been touring nearly each and every day since. Not only is the music next to fabulous on all of their recordings, as each member of the band is an extremely proficient musician, but the live show is a nearly religious experience (my fourth time will occur in late February). The Flesh... concert album would be a worthy addition to any CD collection, so get out there an buy it! 

Older Cars

Why is it that I so want the 1985 SAAB APC for sale down the street and harbor near disdain for the newer and perhaps more reliable 1989 Acura Legend Coupe available just a bit further to the south. I have driven both cars in a quest for a fun, interesting ride to add to my stable of older cars. The Acura is quite nice, comfortable, fast, and rattle free. It has all of the bells and whistles that (mostly) still work and the owner has all of the paperwork since new. The SAAB on the other hand runs rough, smells funny inside, and hasn't been worked on in a proper import shop for years according to a few peeling stickers under the hood. The APC's turbo makes all kind of noise (almost like a Tatra 813 under load) and there is a fine mist of wasted hydrocarbons spewing from the rather rusty tail pipe. The price difference is marginal, and for all of the problems with the SAAB, one might think the Acura is the natural choice. For me, this just isn't the case.

I want that darn SAAB! There is something strangely appealing about the notion of owning a car that requires the driver start the engine from in-between the seats, opening a hood that clamshells gracefully over the front clip, and demands the operator to watch out for distorted objects on apexes in the windscreen due to the severe concavity of said chunk of glass. The Acura just does not possess the same level of quirkiness as the SAAB, as fine of an automobile as it is. The Legend starts and runs as it did in 1991 while still on a note, yet I still want nothing to do with it. I suppose if I were purchasing a car for my son, the Legend would be a smarter choice, but at the time of this writing, he's three so I'm leaning towards the APC.

Now, why is this? Why do I want the potential headache (heartache?) of the APC over the almost certain long-term civility of the Acura? I think it comes down to a response from the form each car takes. The SAAB was built as a pinnacle of Swedish engineering- the last of a long line of odd yet mighty efforts from the small, independent auto company in Trollhattan. I can almost sense Evert and Jens placing the inner door panels on the door frames or Arvid and Rakel talking about crash structure details during an safely engineering meeting. The generational integrity of the 96 and 99 is not lost in the '85 900. The Acura follows a different logic completely. It was surgically prepared for a marketplace full of high end European coupes with near laser beam precision. The details scream "more content for less". The cabin is airy and welcoming, yet the car doesn't feel like a glorified Accord. Honda sold piles of Legends and SAAB sold itself to GM. Much more analysis was utilized to bring the Legend to market, and I think that's the reason why I don't want anything to do with it- it feels contrived whereas the SAAB feels real. (It’s funny that the comparable Sterling (Rover) sedan didn’t work in the states, as the Legend pair did. I suppose that a contrived English car from a contrived Japanese car was not the best of ideas at time! Time will tell how Indian English cars do here...)

It's not to say I have something against Japanese automotive products. This just isn't the case. My wife has owned a long line of Mazda offerings and the present 6 Wagon is a fabulous car, at least for the price point (yes, I know it’s built in the US, but so are Camrys). Secondly, there are a few Japanese cars I long to own. The Subaru SVX is one of them. This car was Subaru's response (in a way) to the Mitsubishi 3000 and never quite took off- too odd, too expensive, and too Subaru. In my opinion, Subaru has lost their way with the range current offerings. Although the Tribeca was "Subaruy", it was plan ugly. Now, the entire Subaru line-up is much too Toyota for me. It's hard to believe that Toyota’s 20% ownership has influenced 95% of the design. Even the WRX just doesn’t quite work as it once did. I'd also love to own a '95 RX7. That was certainly a pinnacle machine for the folks from Hiroshima. Forget about the oil consumption issues, that car could perform with the best of world at the time. It's not to say the RX8 is not a nice mode of transport, it just needs to have a turbo and look a bit more aggressive to make it completely desirable. Finally, the original Toyota FJ40 interests me a great deal. The glorified 4-Runner of today just doesn't compare to the Jeep clone that was the first FJ.

From what I can garner, when the Japanese auto manufactures rid themselves of the Japanese-ness of their cars and began utilizing market analysis to bring vehicles to market, something was lost. The quirky Corona became the Corolla and the soul was lost in translation and the “auto-appliance” was born. Although Toyota now dominates the field, and many people purchase their cars, I really have no desire to own any their vehicles. I'd consider a diesel Prius (mostly for the hyper trip computer that is very fun to play with), if it existed and the Camry, with it's crooked model badge on the rear deck, is out of the question! Otherwise, focus group autos do nothing for me, regardless of country of origin (I’ll ramble on the Jetta/Passat at some point in the future...). The tarted up Opels of today with SAAB name tags do nothing for me either. The modern 9-3 is a far better machine than a '95 900, but it's still a SAAB in name only. Evert and Jens are certainly pensioners by now.

So, here I am, about to make a decision. The Legend or the APC. Of course, there is another option. I could hunt for the red Alfa 164S I’ve always wanted or search for the 1983 Peugeot 505 Wagon that still looks good today, even if parts exist in theory only. Of course, there’s my neighbor who owns a really nice VW Beetle that he’s been trying to sell to me for years- I could go there too. The APC can wait (it wouldn’t be my first SAAB) and the Legend can go to a deserving first year driver. I think I can wait a bit longer to fill the hole in my garage. I saw an SVX in the paper last week- maybe I’ll give them a call.