Devil's Canyon Brewing Company Makes Friday

After a busy week, it's good to settle into some fine beer and entertainment. Well, at least once a month, and the Devil's Canyon Brewing Company provided that last Friday. I'd enjoyed their beer at a local restaurant, Jack's Prime, a while back and when someone told me about the brewery's monthly musical after-work events, I scheduled it. Suddenly, it was the last Friday of the month, so off I went.

It was quiet when I arrived, but before long, a mostly young crowd had formed. I bought my Devil's Canyon glass for 6 bucks and then filled it, for $6 a pop, with three of the brew varieties the place offers: a lager, an IPA, and the Full Boar porter. All strong but not overpowering, and, when mixed with music, conversation, and cheap tacos from a truck parked right at the entrance, it made for a good time. And a buck from each glass of beer goes to a local charity, so you can think of yourself as helping the community while you're enjoying yourself.

You need the right kind of bands, and they had two. The first group, Cryin' Shame, was a country-rock foursome, featuring an upright bass (electrified). I chatted with the bass player afterwards and found we had some musical opinions in common--always a good thing. They reminded me of Red Paint a little. The second band, Mister Loveless, was more urban and punky--with a more driving sound from a picked bass part on a McCartney-style Rickenbacker bass guitar. The lead guitarist had a matching 6-string that added some visual and aural symmetry. The driving beat gave me thoughts of turning up my amp next time I play.

I'm really looking forward to next month's event.

Acura TSX - More of What We Need

Giving the Germans a run for their money.

Acura was founded by Honda in the late 1980s to be an aspirational brand for the company. Folks loved their Civics and Accords (both of which were significantly smaller and less powerful back then), but Honda wanted to expand and felt that prospective buyers would be put off by a higher-priced Honda. Despite it's head start, Acura has lagged in perception below Toyota's luxury line, Lexus, which originated just a couple of years later.

The TSX is the heart of Acura, sitting in the Entry Premium category (high $20K - mid $30K). It's not too huge nor too small. It is actually the European Honda Accord, essentially--smaller and sharper than the now lumbering Accord sold (and built) in the U.S. In Europe, this is a sizeable vehicle, although it's fairly compact by American standards.

Competitors include the German trio: Audi A4, BMW 3-Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. There are Japanese competitors from Lexus and Infiniti, too, and the Volvo S60 can be considered part of the group, too. The TSX recently became available as a lean and handsome Sport Wagon (tested last year), which lets it compete with cars like the Audi A4 Avant as well.

My tester came with Acura's well-regarded 201-horsepower, 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine, but there's also a potent, 280-horsepower V6 available. The four got 25.9 mpg during its stay with me, which matches up nicely with what the EPA awards it. The six is rated at 23 mpg average--not that much worse for it's significant power gain. The V6 lets the TSX match up with the V6-powered versions of the above-mentioned cars, which is important if you want to reach that entry premium buyer.

The four-cylinder car is offered with an automatic or a manual six-speed (yes, it helps compete against the Audi and BMW), but the six comes only with the automatic.

I like nice cars that drive well and have good sound systems and are filled with electronic goodies. But the demographic for the four-cylinder model is age 28 to 34, college educated, about evenly split male/female. Two out of three's not bad, I guess. The V6 model is targeted at a somewhat older buyer, more heavily male.

The TSX has a nicely crafted feel inside, with lots of buttons all over the console, dash, doors and steering wheel making it feel a little like a jet. The exterior wears the requisite edginess that Acura is using to define itself these days--but the shovel nose has been toned down a bit. Take a look.

If you're willing to look at the whole package and keep an open mind, a TSX could be a nice alternative to the Germans you've dreamed of owning.

Video by Chris Kidwell.

Cars of the (Sustainable) Future

It's a tough time in the automotive business now. Most of the companies are struggling to sell enough vehicles to make a profit, GM and Chrysler are emerging from bankruptcy, Saab is R.I P. But there's more. The manufacturers will have to meet greatly increased environmental standards.

The corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in the U.S. now require that a manufacturer's cars average 27.5 miles per gallon. However, plans by the president would move that to 54.5 mpg by 2025. That's a huge jump, but it's based on many factors, including environmental concerns and a depleting supply of oil.

Manufacturers have explored alternative vehicles for years. Hybrid vehicles, exemplified by the Toyota Prius, can achieve higher fuel economy and run more cleanly, but there are also electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf now on the market, and other options includes (clean) Diesel vehicles, offered by multiple manufacturers, plug-in hybrids, such as the Chevrolet Volt, and in an emerging technology, hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles. There are also numerous efforts to bring greater efficiency to existing gasoline vehicles, such as Mazda's SKYACTIV Technology.

It's not a time to worry about the shape of a fender or how fast it'll go. There are some certainties and some uncertainties, but one thing is clear--to meet that 54.5 CAFE standard, something major is going to have to change.

Yesterday, at the Future Cars, Future Transportation Forum, put on by the Western Automotive Journalists (WAJ), I got to drive several vehicles that will be doing their part to help in this effort. I also got to hear industry experts from several manufacturers and two writers from major automotive publications give their thoughts on what's coming. Local TV station KGO Channel 7 covered the event.

My first drive was in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell electric vehicle. It's a compact hatchback, small but not teeny, that uses a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. Fuel cells generate electricity electricity in a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen that yields only pure water vapor. It sounds like a dream come true.

But--the downsides include the need to manufacture the hydrogen (it's everywhere, but not in the form you need for the car) and the biggest issue of all--there's no infrastructure. There are 250,000 gas stations in the country but virtually no hydrogen stations. Los Angeles has a few, and that's where you can lease one of a few initial Mercedes B-Class F-Cells.

Driving the car on a short test loop showed that besides being a very sweet little people carrier (with Mercedes styling), there is absolutely no loss of performance or utility running on hydrogen. Smooth and silent, it would be a guaranteed winner, if there was a place to fuel it. And--what would it cost? That could be a problem, at least until enough were produced that economies of scale kicked in.

I also sampled Toyota's FCHV-adv, fresh fuel cell technology in a previous-generation Toyota Highlander body. Like the Mercedes-Benz, it drove very nicely and quietly. Toyota has been working on this problem for decades. This latest model has improvements to the cells, the control system, the tanks, cold-weather startup, fuel efficiency and cruising range. But there are still no hydrogen stations around.

Electric vehicles have been in the experimental stage for many years and have even been on the market for limited purposes, essentially overgrown golf carts. The Nissan Leaf represents the first viable "regular car" that you can buy. I tested one recently, but at the event, I got to sample Mitsubushi's i-MiEV, a compact hatch that looks like a future pod more than anything else on the road. The bottom line? It drove silently and smoothly, like one would expect. It has rear seats that fold down and a handy hatch, a pleasant, if simple linterior, and would serve my personal commute needs exactly. However, Like all electrics, with the possible exception of the $100,000 + Tesla Roadster, it has a range of less than 100 miles, though, and would cost nearly $30,000 before national and state rebates dropped it down closer to $20,000. Dave Patterson of Mitsubishi is enthusiastic about the future of electric cars, and told us that the company will introduce multiple electrics over the next few years, including a crossover that seats seven.

The problems with electric cars, besides range, include the time (hours) it takes to refill the tank. With improvements in battery technology and quick charging, electric cars will have to play a big part in the future automotive market to help meet the CAFE standards.

The Chevrolet Volt tries to work it both ways by giving about 35 miles of service on pure electricity before switching to a hybrid mode, in which a gasoline engine kicks in to power the electric motor. It seems like an interim solution, but the Volt I drove yesterday felt solid, and with all its colorful displays inside, it would be  very entertaining for a while. If you had a 15-mile commute each way, you could end up using no gasoline at all. 

What about simply improving the cars we already have? Mazda is attempting this with the SKYACTIV Technology. I drove a Mazda3 with this recently, and also took a short run at the event. Nice: a six-speed manual for sportiness. The friendly Mazda rep explained the changes in the engine and transmission, and how the technology would include many more aspects in upcoming vehicles, including the brand-new CX-5 crossover, which will be out very soon. The experts in the panels all agreed that the internal combustion gasoline engine was going to be around for a while, so improving every aspect of it, and the cars that use it, makes a lot of sense.

Diesel cars have been around for a long time. Mercedes-Benz has sold tons of them. Nowadays, Volkswagen is a major Diesel marketer in the U.S. I drove the brand-new Passat TDI, which boasts amazingly high fuel economy (43 mpg Highway) and a huge range of nearly 800 miles! The downside of Diesel is that it's still burning a fuel, and Diesel emits more particulate matter than gasoline. But as a short-term solution, especially towards hitting that 54.5 mpg average, it's a player. And the performance can be quite thrilling with its high torque.

So, what's coming? None of the expert panelists could say for sure, but they all agreed that for a technology to have an impact it would have to represent at least 15 percent of the automotive market. Today, none of these alternative vehicle types comes close. Even the ubiquitous Toyota Prius barely makes a dent.

It's going to be very interesting, and 13 years is not a long time to get this very important job done.

Kopi Luwak - Poop Coffee Tastes Good

I had the chance today to try Kopi Luwak coffee. It's a super premium beverage in which the bean actually passes through an Asian Palm Civet (small animal, pictured). After being pooped out, the beans are scrubbed and ground and from their special passage, lose their bitterness.

It's produced in extremely limited quantities in Indonesia and the Phillipines, and can run $100 to $600 a pound, making it the most expensive coffee in the world.

It tastes much nicer than you'd think. I seem to have survived a half cup of it this afternoon. With the low bitterness, you can drink it straight with no milk or sugar and it's very smooth.

What would Juan Valdez say?

Red Paint CD Release Party Tonight - a Culmination

Tonight, Red Paint, an Alameda, California-based four-piece rock band, takes the stage at its first ever CD Release Party. It's the culmination of everything the group has worked for since it started up in lead guitarist Shaun Reid's livingroom in October of 2006. It also features Colin Close as lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Tony Herrin on drums and me on bass. Colin writes most of our original material.

For me, it began long before 2006. Sure, I got my Fender Precision Bass Special on my birthday in 2003, but my actual first bass goes back to when I was just 18, living alone in semi-poverty in San Francisco. I had dreamed of bass playing for years, perhaps from listening to Paul McCartney's brilliant work with the Beatles and other 1960's pop music. In any case, I was strumming my guitar and trying to start a modest career as a soloist in the image of, say, Bob Dylan. It was going slowly, with open mike nights at the Coffee Gallery in San Francisco's North Beach and a few little parties and events.

In any case, I decided to take my sole item of value--my coin collection--to a pawn shop in the Tenderloin and acquire a bass. I must have read about Jazz musicians doing this, I don't know. In any case, there was a green Fender-style solid-body electric bass. I made the swap, and saw all those remarkably unworn 19th-century Indian pennies, along with my $2-1/2 gold piece, slip away forever.

I took my new possession home and plunked away on it for a while, but, without an amplifier, I wasn't much good to anyone. Sadly, not too much later, someone broke into my ground-floor apartment and stole my bass. I figured it was a message. I devoted my energies thenceforth to my college education and tried to forget about bass playing, although I did still strum and sing with my guitar over the years and spent one fun year playing bluegrass mandolin.

A 50th birthday is a milestone. I decided, in lieu of a Ferrari or an affair, to acquire the bass I always wanted. I advanced this idea to my supportive wife and she said, "Go get it!"

After some shopping around I settled on the electric bass I still play most of the time. Although I acquired two other bass guitars over the years, and have made a whole second project with the upright bass, I stand today ready to play our band's 11-song CD (all original songs) live in front of as many friends and relatives as are willing to answer an EVITE and actually show up. You can hear some of it on our Facebook page.

We recorded this music a while ago, in two different studios, but it took a while to plan the event and get the date. We are excited to offer a second set of new original songs and a few covers in our second set. For our fans, it's a chance to hear something new from the band. You really have no good excuse for not being there, unless, of course, you're reading this in Anchorage, Alaska or Peru or Poland.

I always wanted to be in a band, was drawn to bass playing since Nixon was president, and love music. What could be better than this?

Red Paint plays at High Street Station in Alameda, California on Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 7 - 10 p.m.

Honda Civic Natural Gas - A Clean Alternative

In 20 years of automotive testing, it's rare when you get to drive something for the first time. Well, I just did. I spent a week with the Honda Civic Natural Gas, which runs on, that's right, compressed natural gas (CNG). While Honda has offered the GX model in small quantities over the last several years, particularly to fleets, it now has "Natural Gas" emblazoned on the trunklid, with a blue CNG diamond below it, and plans to make the car more widely available.

The CNG sticker, apparently, is for emergency crews so they'll know that instead of a normal gas tank, your vehicle has an 8-gallon (equivalent) one, which is not only holding the fuel in a gaseous state at 3,600 psi but takes up most of the trunk (behind a panel).

The good news is substantial. I averaged 30.5 miles per gallon (the EPA says 31), which is very slightly lower than a normal Honda Civic. Posted EPA scores are 27 City, 38 Highway. There was no difference in driving the car from the typical pleasant Civic experience, despite a difference of 30 horsepower (110 vs. 140). And the thing runs extremely cleanly thanks to CNG's inherently more efficient combustion. The EPA numbers are 9 for Air Pollution and 8 for Greenhouse Gas compared to 6 and 7 respectively for a standard Civic.

CNG is less expensive than gasoline. I paid $2.40 and $2.50 per gallon (equivalent). Oh, and CNG comes from the USA--not on tankers from hostile nations.

The bad news? Well, with a 250-mile range and few available filling locations, you've really got to watch your fuel gauge and plan ahead. I made two fuel stops instead of one during my test week. Also, the car is more expensive than a standard Civic. List price for my car, with the Navigation system, came to $28,425, which is a lot for a compact car with cloth seats and a plastic steering wheel. It costs money to modify the Honda engine and tank to accommodate the different fuel, which is delivered at higher pressure. But those are the only downsides.

I had two "learning experiences" filling the tank. It doesn't take long, but you do need to go to places you normally don't. In my case,  I visited the north and south ends of the San Francisco Airport, where two companies, Clean Energy and Trillium, offer unpretentious accommodations. You might drive right past the little row of pumps without even noticing unless you go to the websites and get the information. Both locations had attendants, and I needed both of them.

The first station, Clean Energy, had a short video training built into the pump that I had to watch before pumping. It explained the method of clamping the filler nozzle onto the slim chrome filler in my car and working the pump. Unlike a typical gasoline pump, this one not only shows gallons and cost but also percent of full. At 100 percent, you carefully remove the nozzle and you're done. See a short video by my friend Chris.

Trillium provided a different type of connection but was basically the same. They didn't require any video viewing, but I might have liked one. They had a list of steps posted on the side of the tank, but I needed the attendant to show me that I left a lever up, which is why the system didn't know I was finished.

If you don't plan on making too many long trips this car could work great for you. That's why fleets, in which the vehicles have specific routes and the company can run its own fueling stations, have been the primary clients for CNG cars. The Civic, at this point, is the only standard CNG car you can buy. My companions at the filling stations were shuttle buses and commercial trucks. Some municipal buses fleets use CNG, and I can see that it would be handy. Surely someone else could offer a CNG car, right?

Oatmeal Weather

Well, where is the rain we normally get in January? Nothing--and the ski resort folks are getting antsy. In place of the moisture we're getting cold. Yesterday, it said 31 degrees on my car's digital thermometer. That's below freezing.

It's a big deal--and not much of a deal--depending on how you look at it. With heat in my house, car and office, I went about my business. I wore a sweater. The plants around my yard--none too well cared for, sadly--remain green despite my neglect. Like so many things that are beyond my control, the weather remains in the background. For now.

Rain is actually a pain in the neck from a dog-walking, groceries-from-the-car standpoint. So I think I'll enjoy the dryness while I can, until I have to stop taking showers. I'm having a big bowl of steel-cut oatmeal today--the perfect cold weather breakfast.