Infiniti M Hybrid - Save Gas in Style

I just stepped out of a week with one of the most luxurious hybrids I've ever driven. Yes, I did spend time with the Lexus LS 600h L a couple of years ago ($112,000) but this new Infiniti M Hybrid coddles while it sips the fuel. An EPA rating of 27 City, 32 Highway (I averaged 25.8 miles per gallon) is excellent--for a 4,200-pound luxury sedan.

The standard M35 without the hybrid is rated at 18 City, 26 Highway, so there's a significant difference in economy. The price is about $6,000 more for the M Hybrid, so it could take quite a while to make up the difference on cost alone.

The M Hybrid uses a powerful 3.5-liter V6 plus an electric motor to generate 360 horsepower (a lot) and 457 lb.-ft. of torque (huge), all through a 7-speed automatic. So, you can at one hand be rolling slowly through a parking lot or in commute traffic using no fuel at all--electric motor only--or be accelerating onto the freeway like a rocket with the engine.

There are simple, understandable graphic displays to understand where the power is coming from and when the battery is being used or charged, so you can monitor your consumption and behavior.

Being the Infiniti flagship, the car is loaded with comforts, starting with the leather-wrapped seats and continuing with silvered Japanese Ash trim (see photo). The design of the car is soft and voluptuous, from the sweep of trim across the doors and twin-cupped "bustier" over the gauges to the Jaguaresque curve of the fenders--visible through the windshield as you drive.

At $67,565, my fully loaded car was much more expensive than anything I'm every likely to buy--you could get two 50-mile-per gallon Prii for that. If you hold off on the extra fancy options you can get it down to $53,700 (base price). But then you'd miss out on the Bose 10-speaker premium audio system and the gorgeous wood.

Now that I'm back in a "normal" Nissan Rogue I remember the way the Infiniti transported me. Now, if it could get 40 mpg...

Photo by Chris Kidwell.

Buffalo - For Real

I just received a video on the City of Buffalo, New York from my aunt. In five gently narrated, beautifully filmed minutes, it imparts a glow and polish on an often maligned rust belt city that also happens to be my home town.

I left Buffalo just before I turned 7, so my early childhood memories are made up of time spent with my family in a modest house in suburban Kenmore and visits to my grandparents' place closer to downtown.

As a kid, I knew nothing of the history of the city, but Buffalo at one time was filled with wealth from its strategic location on the Erie Canal and Lake Erie, fueled by plentiful electricity generated at nearby Niagara Falls. Before so many Americans went west, Buffalo was a real place to be, and the wealthy businessmen and civic leaders built some amazing monuments to the city's prosperity.

The video celebrates Buffalo's "good bones" -- the infrastructure and cultural treasures that make it actually a pretty nice place to live if you like those kinds of urban amenities. There are Frank Lloyd Wright houses (Darwin Martin House in photo), a world-class symphony, an internationally recognized art gallery, beautiful parks, rows of century-old houses and other historic treasures. It looks picturesque and desirable on film.

It's also quite cold in Buffalo, but the video touches on it at the end, showing people playing in the snow, making snowmen, and hinting about being "lucky to be snowed in."

Between the images, the story and the compelling soundtrack, it certainly makes you want to visit. Maybe it's time to go catch up with some family.

Little Boxes

You never know what song might pop into your mind at any time. Today, as I was about to step into the shower, I was picturing my community from above and recalled the song, Little Boxes, by Malvina Reynolds. She wrote the song as she was riding south from San Francisco and saw the neat rows of tract homes in Daly City. It could have been any suburban tract at the time.

The song was a hit for folksinger Pete Seeger in 1963, and entered the public consciousness as part of the 1960's revolt against conformity. It's been recorded by other folks more recently, including Death Cab for Cutie.

...and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same..."

Alpha Rev Bursts out of Texas

I remember hearing the Beatles when they first appeared on American AM radio, so I've got decades of music inside my brain. The is nobody quite like the Fab Four, but sometimes, I hear a band that has energy, excitement and something that draws me in. I remember the Police doing that in the 1980's, for example.

Alpha Rev is one of the bands doing it for me today. The group was started in 2005 and went through some recording dead ends before starting on their international debut album.

That album, New Morning, was ranked #3 in 2010 and their video made into the top 10 rotation on VH1. Not bad.

I like the tight harmonies and strong guitars in Heaven and the beauty of the title cut. I haven't heard the whole album through, but they surely need more focused attention--sitting in the chair with the headphones--more than just an occasional visit with the iPod on the road.

I thank to my wife, who discovered these guys somewhere and shared them with me.

Science Tattoos - Wear What You Love

I'm used to thinking of tattoos as having more "artistic" or "aesthetic" or even "creepy" themes, but I stumbled across the book, Science Ink, by Carl Zimmer, yesterday and I have learned something new. Apparently a lot of scientists wear their enthusiasms on the sleeve--or arm--or back--or leg.

Carl Zimmer saw a scientist he respected relaxing at a pool one time and noted his tattoo. With his scientific mind, Zimmer began researching this phenomenon, and turned up a range of skin art.

There are animals represented, some living, some extinct. Some formulas, from E=mc2 and on, are gracing scientist skin. There are neurons and Tesla motors (not the car company), mass spectrometers, frog skeletons, trees of life--you name it and someone out there is wearing it.

The book is beautifully presented, and actually explains what the tattoos mean--both to the wearer and to science itself, so it's kind of an education, too. Zimmer writes the blog, The Loom, for Discover magazine online, so he knows of what he speaks, and he speaks clearly to laymen.

An extra treat is the Foreword by Mary Roach, who has written several fascinating and also hilarious books on sex, death, space travel -- from a scientific but also practical perspective. Her most recent one is Packing for Mars. I have an autographed copy from when I met her recently.

Hey! Come Hear Barbwyre!

Last night I went to hear Barbwyre, an excellent trio of musicians that play their country/folk/bluegrass sound to perfection--mostly original compositions. I've heard them before and they delivered--sounding even better perhaps, if that's possible. Over Rob's agile electric bass are Jon's pedal steel, dobro and guitar and Dana's mandolin, guitar and beautifully built cittern (octave mandolin).

They were playing in a perfectly nice venue - the High Street Station in Alameda, where I have seen them, other bands, and even played with my band, Red Paint. So--where were the people? I counted nine in the audience, including myself, and I later learned that three of them were relatives of the band. A couple more straggled in later.

It seems that being good isn't good enough. What is it that motivates people to come hear you? Red Paint, as it gets better, is still working on this issue.

Please--Support your local live musicians! Thank you.

Tom Rush - Urge for Going

If you go to Pandora and create a Gordon Lightfoot station, you'll hear a fine selection of singers in his style. One of them is Tom Rush. He sings Urge for Going, a Joni Mitchell song. Yesterday, I heard it again, and it's a real beauty.

The mood created by a baritone, a tinkling guitar, and a few satisfying chord changes can haunt your whole day. Joni herself is a master of setting a memorable mood with melody and poetry combined, and this particular song works for me.

Tom was a folkie in the 1960's, and recorded some albums, but he took a long break and released a new CD, What I Know, in 2009. His 1999 compilation, The Very Best of Tom Rush, is going to live in my iPod very shortly. I've got the urge for listening.