Friday

Just finished a brief phone interview with a Las Vegas radio station. When I called them at the number I had been given, I reached a non-working NV Energy line. But another number came through and they were kind enough to fit me into the last few minutes of their morning show.

In Phoenix, yesterday, I started my day early. While everyone else was still sleeping on the bus, I was picked up with my guitar at 07:00. I did interviews and played guitar at KEZ and KYOT. You can go to the KEZ web site – here: scroll down and it looks like you can hear the interview and my brief performance. (((hm, wonder whether they are paying streaming royalties or whether they are doing this on the sly…)))

Then came the interview at KYOT who decided to video my little performance (((without advance warning))). The interview was less fun than speaking with KEZ, even though KYOT is the station that plays some of my music (((MC says they have been playing the same three OL songs for years!))).

Drove to the Arabian Library in Scottsdale with MC, who captured this:

Link to slideshow of photos MC took at the Rialto.

In the afternoon I gave the worst interview of my entire career, speaking with a local Phoenix TV crew. How is one supposed to answer a question like this: who has been in your band the longest and who is your least favorite band member? It was painful and I’m afraid I became rather mono-syllabic. Since the interviewer was not on camera, and shouted the questions from a distance, she can now change the questions and really make me look silly. (((OL as Billy Bob Thornton? That could be entertaining!)))

The traditional (((fourth year))) photo of Stephen Duros in front of the Celebtrity Theatre wall was taken:

Here is the annual shot of the misters:

Here is a look at the stage:

After a very good performance (((best of the tour so far))), a birthday was celebrated in the parking lot – with another birthday to be celebrated today and two more on Saturday:

Photo of Stephen in the parking lot at night, holding up his cellphone:

atnmbl – driverless car design… interesting, but here are my two cents on the subject.

– streets have a larger footprint than railroad tracks
– asphalt retains a lot of heat
– does not solve the lack of physical movement most people experience
– a disconnect from the landscape, maybe even more so – because one does not have to look outside at all…

If energy becomes abundant at some point, and I think that’s quite possible, a walking machine would be more interesting than a machine on wheels. The advantage of a walking machine would be that no flat road is necessary. Something between Neal Stephenson’s chevaline, a mechanical horse that can fold up and is light enough to be carried one-handed, and the walkers from Star Wars.

Cell Phone Use While Driving

National Security Council calls for nationwide bans on cell phone use while driving
The National Security Council sent out a message on Monday that calls for all 50 States to implement bans on citizens using cell phones while driving. The group referred to a study done by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, which revealed that 6% of all automobile crashes in the U.S. are caused by cell phones.

And they mean any cellphone use: includes headsets… (((maybe even email and IM?)))

6% of all crashes, about 40,000 traffic deaths per year – does that mean that 2,400 people die every year because somebody had to be distracted by their mobile?

In 2006 I wrote:

I get the sense that in a few years either a chip in each car will prevent a phone from identifying itself to a cell-tower while the car is moving – thus the phone won’t work – or a person applying for a driver’s license will have to master a multi-tasking test in addition to the other tests…