Stars And Cars: John Thomas Griffith

First and foremost, John Thomas Griffith is a rock-n-roll guitarist. He’s played with the Red Rockers and, along with Fred LeBlanc, founded Cowboy Mouth. He’s toured with bands like U2, the Go-Go’s, Hootie and the Blowfish, Bare Naked Ladies, Sister Hazel and Better Then Ezra, and he was inducted into the Texas Guitar Players' Hall of Fame. But Griffith is also a car guy, and despite his brushes with rock stardom, he hasn’t let his love and memories of cars fall by the wayside.

Sandy Gordon

Sandy Gordon is a producer on a mission. She has spent the past ten years fighting to restore Chicago’s once-thriving film industry and entice Hollywood studios to return and make movies in the Windy City.“Chicago has always had a strong production community dating back to 1907,” Gordon told us in a recent interview. “In fact, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Gloria Swanson made silent movies for Essanay Studios.”

Save Your Food Budget from the Drought

The big news lately is that it just isn't raining enough. And it's also been extremely hot, which unless you've been hiding inside all summer, you're aware of. As a result, crops are suffering, and in turn, your grocery bill is probably climbing higher and higher, assuming you're buying any fresh produce. But you're not totally stuck; there are some things you can do now to avoid feeling the hit of a huge price increase later this summer.

Tweet Delete

Earlier this year Twitter received a great deal of criticism following its announcement that it would be censoring tweets in certain countries in order to comply with the laws of those countries (examples would authorities in Germany and France not allowing pro-Nazi tweets, because making pro-Nazi statements is against the law). Although not a terrible policy, it did raise the concerns of many free speech advocates who felt the policy might be used as a tool for government censorship.

The Name of the Band is Cowboy Mouth

If you can’t remember whether or not you’ve attended a Cowboy Mouth show, you haven’t—the band forces concert attendees to have a good time, to feel the rhythm of the bombastic drums, and, as lead guitarist John Thomas Griffith puts it, act like they’re “five years old, naked as a jaybird and about to turn the hose on [their] parents, and there's not a damn thing they can do about it."

In With the Old, Out With the New

They say there’s nothing new under the sun. And if you doubt the veracity of that old maxim, consider that it first appeared in the book of Ecclesiastes, written somewhere around 3,000 BCE. So for as long as there have been new things, there have been cynics saying, “It’s been done.” And while music snobs have long claimed that everything was better “back in the day,” new music has always been more popular with consumers, until now. For the first time since people tracked such things, catalog albums are outselling new releases.

The Illustrious iPhone 5

With autumn approaching, Apple superfans are on the edge of their seats waiting for the expected iPhone 5 announcement. And while we like our 4S's, we do think that there are some improvements that could be made with the next model.That said, here's what we want.

Joel Ewanick Leaves GM

General Motors head of global marketing, Joel Ewanick, has apparently left the company. Sources have told Automotive News that Ewanick has left GM, where he's been since May 2010. Ewanick started at GM as the head of U.S. marketing, before soon becoming the head of GM's global marketing.

Meet the $10K, 100 MPG Car

If you want high mileage at a low price, the Wikispeed C3 might be your answer. C3 stands for Comfortable Commuter Car, and the Wikispeed team of volunteers did well (although they didn’t win) with the car in the X Prize contest for $10 million a few years back. The money was slated to go to the best 100-mpg car.

Can Anything Be Artisanal?

Sometimes, through overuse, a word begins to take on meanings that are far removed from what they were originally meant to convey. One obvious example is the word “literally.” Although the primary definition of literally remains, “Word for word” or “In a literal or strict sense,” it is so often misused as a substitute for “virtually” that even grammarians have had to begrudgingly accept that its meaning is in fact transforming. A similar thing can happen when a word is used as a marketing tool, and such is the case with the word “artisanal,” which is now being used to peddle—of all things—water.

Useless Upsells

It's not uncommon for car dealerships to try to sell upgrades to new-car buyers during the financing process. Thing is, many of these upgrades are unnecessary. Here are a few things to avoid during the car-buying process. If you can avoid these upsells, you'll be able to save a lot of money.

Samsung Outsells iPhone

Everyone is iPhone crazy...quite literally, almost everyone—and that may be the reason behind why Samsung has pulled ahead in sales this quarter, shipping nearly twice as many smartphones as Apple did during the second quarter. According to the research firm Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped 50.5 million phones, the largest number of shipments ever made by a smartphone manufacturer in one quarter.

The Rise of The Farmer's Market

The Farmer's Market: for some it's a display of the highly privileged partaking in their privilege. For others, it's a way of life. And for some people, strolling the market takes a backseat to picking up their portion of a weekly CSA, or community supported agriculture. And as more people flock through their neighborhoods' green markets, we wonder what's caused the uptick in popularity. Are the prices comparable to the local grocery stores? Is the quality really that much better? And how does one get involved in a CSA share? Is it really worth it?

As Seen On TV

When we were younger, staying up late meant one thing was for sure: nothing would be on TV and we'd get stuck watching those silly "As Seen On TV" infomercials for products that were, by and large, absolutely useless. And with the rise of the internet and the creation of brick-and-mortar "As Seen On TV" stores, these infomercials have mostly fallen by the wayside. But the products are still around, and they're only getting weirder. Here are a few of the more ridiculous ones available now.

Car Stereo Upgrades Now Include GPS, Satellite Radio

Not too long ago, it was pretty common for car owners to head to Best Buy or someplace similar to upgrade their car stereo. Now, though, new cars are increasingly available with uplevel audio systems, and many even come with satellite radio. This is changing the game a bit for aftermarket stereo installers, as they now must adjust to a different environment. Not only are new-car audio units much better, they are also more complicated to replace with aftermarket parts.

Trending This Week: 07/23 – 07/27

The Dark Knight Rises shooting continues to dominate much of the discussions online. Aside from a mini-meme going around Twitter about how deranged shooter James Holmes is “hot,” there was the video sent to the Daily Caller, showing never-funny comedian Dane Cook making a groan-inducing joke about the shooting. Cook’s “joke” was something about someone in the theater commenting on how bad the movie was by saying, “ugh…f***ing shoot me.”

Serial Collector

Hilary Raab is widely known for his collection of rare Ferraris, parts, priceless artifacts, manuals, and has enough original factory delivery records in his possessions to start a museum his home town of Crown Point, Indiana. Crown Point isn’t exactly one of those getaway destinations for Americans. in the days before movies had sound it was one of the only towns in America where a couple could get married and drive out that same day with a marriage license.

Finding Enchantment in New Mexico

We recently found ourselves testing a new car in northern New Mexico--specifically the area surrounding Santa Fe--and we took some time away from the tough duty of testing a luxury SUV to sample the local cuisine and check out the sights. We needed caffeine on the drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, so we popped into New Madrid's Java Junction, a hidden gem of a coffee shop located in a tiny town.

Apps Of The Week: July 23-27, 2012

When it comes to apps, it can often feel like we're writing about the same ones every week...and when it comes to the iTunes charts, sometimes we are, but that's because some of the apps topping the charts are actually earning their keep. Regardless of your opinion though, we're still going to show you every week what the top-downloaded apps are—both paid and free—as well as our favorite apps of the week.

Giving in to Hate

We test a lot of new cars here at Web2Carz, and while we know we have a great gig, we also know nothing is perfect. Which is why we're about to unleash some hate. We've already presented our automotive wish list, and now, in a nod to Seinfeld's fabled fictional Festivus holiday, we're going to air our grievances.