Japan's Auto Manufacturing Hit by Quake Impact

Besides the obvious terrible tragedy of loss of life and property in Japan, there will be an impact on the automobile manufacturers. According to a story in Autoweek.com, the seven major Japanese companies have shut down production for at least a week.

Even though only Toyota has a plant in the affected areas, there are other issues, such as parts suppliers in the quake areas that are lost and problems with access to damaged ports. And, of course, the companies are giving families a chance to make sure their loved ones are OK or if they are lost, to make arrangements.

Even American plants that produce Japanese vehicles could be affected if they are unable to assemble cars because of missing parts.

It shows that a tragedy in one place affects many other places in the world today.

Playing Music--it's Good for You

Last night, my band, Red Paint, played a party for a friend of our lead singer's friend. Free food and drink, interesting company, and an OK, if not inspired set.

We played between two sets by a tight blues band called Grease, Grit & Grime. They set up a fine background for the party, which featured beers on tap and a pig on a spit among other attractions.

Today, Sunday, I played my Spring concert with the Castro Valley Chamber Orchestra. It included beautiful music by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Chopin. The Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 featured Lois Brandwynne, a brilliant pianist. What a joy to play along with her.

All of my adult music playing began in 2003, when I picked up my electric Fender bass. It was reinforced by starting the upright bass in 2004. Finding bandmates was great, but to play in an orchestra you need help. I found my community orchestra through the Adult School, but there is another way to do it--the New Horizons International Music Association.

I learned about this group in the AARP Bulletin. If you're 50 or over, you can attend one of the sessions and start playing a new instrument--or resume playing the one you gave up after high school. There are about 7,000 members in 182 orchestras, bands and choruses in 41 states and overseas.

Groups meet once a week for an hour lesson followed by playing together for another hour. I have found my two-hour weekly orchestra rehearsals, with concerts every three months or so, to work out perfectly. However, with an orchestra you may need some experience to join, but with New Horizons, you can start whenever you're ready, at whatever level you're at.

It can make all the difference in your life. I know it has in mine.

Off to Israel--37 Years Ago Today

On March 12, 1974, I landed in Israel to begin what would become a ten-month stay on Kibbutz Hulda, an agricultural community in central Israel. I was taking a break from college, where I was stagnating and having trouble choosing a major.

The Kibbutz Movement was a socialist experiment that was vital to settling the region in the early 20th Century and after statehood in 1947. A kibbutz is a community operation, so personal property isn't much in evidence or encouraged. You eat in a cafeteria, work together at various jobs, and run things as a group. In its pure state, even children live separately from their parents and are raised together.

This community idealism is apparent, and works under some conditions, but as the modern world has changed, many kibbutzim (plural) now specialize in industrial activities too. Mine was old fashioned. We had animals, cotton fields, orchards, vineyards and other farm features. I fed cows and also spent some time weeding the vineyards, and, for the first six months, studied Hebrew half of each day.

It was a great experience, but as fall turned to winter I was ready to come home and resume my college studies. It was fascinating to live in another place that spoke a different language and to meet people from so many different places. I never felt more American.

Earthquakes Really Shake You Up

Like many people, I discovered the horrible events in Japan last night on TV. The scenes of devastation are shocking and my heart goes out to the families who lost relatives, friends and property in the sudden tsunami waves.

As a Californian, I am used to earthquakes but not to tsunamis (at least the kind that have been ravaging the Japanese coast). I felt my first earthquake when I was in the 8th grade and we were, strangely enough, discussing earthquakes in Science class. I had lived in California for about a month then and it was quite upsetting.

I remember numerous quakes in the late 1970s that moved the hanging lamps and created news for a day or two. The big one was, of course, the Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17, 1989. I was working at the Oakland Coliseum and when I felt the earth move, I ducked under my desk like a well-trained citizen. Nothing fell on me, but a thick fog of dust was shaken loose from the building's rafters. I later learned that 24 of the more than 800 windows in the circular building had broken.

At home, all of my bookcases lay flat on the floor, their contents spread around the room (along with the shards of the glass bowls that had rested atop them that morning). I recall lights out in big areas and taking a wild ride to get my new bride at her co-worker's house across the bay.

We recovered quickly, except for having a piece of the Bay Bridge broken (and the bridge closed for a month to fix it) and much worse, the Cypress Freeway structure that pancaked. I normally drove to work on that freeway (and had that very morning) but I excaped being flattened.

In California we all live with the reality that another big one could come at any time. Hope it's not anytime soon.

Here Comes the Spider-Man!

I just read in USA Today that a nearly mint copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15--the comic that introduced Spider-Man to the world--sold for $1.1 million dollars. It came out in 1962 and somehow escaped the fate of the comics I used to read and collect, which got rolled up and stuck in a back pocket or piled under the bed in a heap. It's the highest price ever paid for a comic from what's known as the "Silver Age" of comics--the mid-1950's to around 1970.

I read comics from 1964 to the early 1970's and loved Spider-Man. My first issue was number 8. My mom got it for me along with several other now forgotten comics when I was home from school sick.

I loved the story of Peter Parker, the nerd with glasses who suddenly, with the bite of a radioactive spider, acquired super powers. I would have loved to have had super powers in the 7th grade.

I started buying Spider-Man and other Marvel comics off the newsstand myself with issue 25 and was able to fill in most of the gaps from guys in the neighborhood. My oldest one was number 2, featuring the Vulture--a popular and recurring Spider-Man villian.

Starting with issue number 39 the artist changed from the classic Steve Ditko to the sleeker renderings of Johnny Romita. I still treasure those original 38 issues--but don't own any comics now. I gave it up as an adult--but now I wish I had those slim little Marvel 12-cent classics back.

WAJ Media Days--Great Fun

From Monday night to Wednesday afternoon, I spent many happy hours in Monterey at the 19th Annual Western Automotive Journalists Media Days.

Besides the great opportunity to drive a wide selection of the latest cars on local roads and at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, it was a chance to reconnect with with my automotive colleagues and favorite industry representatives.

Highlights for me this year included:

• A special presentation from Chrysler, who brought samples of all of their revamped products as well as the new Dodges, Jeeps and Fiat.


• A chance to drive local roads, some winding and scenic, in the long-awaited new Fiat 500 (pictured) as well as the Volvo S60, 2012 Ford Focus, Cadillac CTS Coupe--with a manual six-speed, BMW 335is, Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid, Honda CR-Z manual-equipped hybrid, and the Mitsubishi i-MIEV and smart battery electric vehicles.


• A busy track day with a selection of great vehicles including the MAZDASPEED3--which was just as much fun as it is on the road--and the surprising Buick Regal Turbo--with a manual six-speed! The Subaru WRX STi was marvelously tenacious on the curving racetrack. Even the Volt was OK on the track--running only on electricity.


• There was an impromptu drag race between the smart and the i-MIEV to see who the best electric was--the i-MIEV won.
• The Hyundai Equus impressed me with its amazing luxury--like a Lexus for less money--incredible.


• Many tasty meals, including the usual banquet on Tuesday night.
  

The weather was incredibly good, considering the date. I wore a T-shirt outside both days.

The Best Things in Life are Free

Armed only with a smart phone containing a camera, you can capture a world of beauty--and it doesn't cost a thing. The sunrise is at about 6:20 a.m. on Monday, March 7, 2011.

These flowers are from a walk on Saturday, March 5 in my neighborhood.