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www.myteklife.com wiNteR 2011

cRAckiNG tHemoSQUito

GeNome

Nils LofgrenSHiNiNG SileNtly, yeteveR So BRiGHtly

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witH fAmed dRUmmeR

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PRoJect

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FrazierCOMING IN FEB

product reviews

events coverage

exclusive interviews

10

Shining Silently, Yet Ever So Brightly 24 Guitar genius and longtime E Street Band member Nils Lofgren shares his

extraordinary life experiences and much more—from working with such legends as

Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Neil Young, to his successful solo career.

table of contents Letter from the Editor 8

Inside The EV Project 10An in-depth look at the largest-ever deployment of electric vehicles and charge

infrastructure.

An Interview with Hal Blaine 16We caught up with famed session drummer Hal Blaine, who “may well be the most

prolific drummer in rock and roll history,” according to his biography in the Rock and

Roll Hall of Fame.

Drums A-Go-Go 18Hal Blaine’s nephew, drummer Michael Kravitz, achieves a different kind of success.

The Cussler Collaboration 28Best-selling adventure author Clive Cussler shares some thoughts about his longtime

friendship and collaboration with Nils Lofgren.

24

winter2011

on the cover

40

COVER PHOTO BY JO LOPEZ

Going, Going, Gonzo! 29A look at renowned gonzo artist Ralph Steadman’s relationship with Nils Lofgren.

Cracking the Mosquito Genome 32Michael Riehle, Ph.D., gives us an insight into his groundbreaking research involving

malaria-resistant supermosquitoes.

Hoover Dam: A Historical Perspective 34The wonders of Hoover Dam and its technology remain with us in the 21st century.

Collaborative Efforts Yield Innovation 38Entrepreneur Derek Neighbors shares his vision for nurturing future business leaders.

Tek Corner 40Fuse’s PowerSlice Universal Charging Station

Palo Alto Audio Design’s Cubik Speaker System

The Wireless Media Stick from HSTi

The PASSPORT iQ Radar Detector with 3-D GPS

The Psychology of Business Profiling 43Using technology, companies can accurately assess the innate skills of potential hires

and existing employees.

Welcome To Living Room Culture 44 Self-described idea shaman Igor Brezhnev discusses how he is using the Internet to

get people off their computers and into each other’s living rooms.

34

m y t e k l i f e winter 20118

Please Recycle This Magazine

from

the

edi

tor

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Ed Martinez

FEATURES EDITOR

Warren Mason

WRITERS

Mary L. HoldenJean-Marie Stevens

Jonathan MasonLisa Wilhelm

ART DIRECTOR

Nel Gonzalez

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Michael Lopez

John McMurray

Everardo Keeme

Peter Salama

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Liz Frazier

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA

Lee Schulman

ADVERTISING

Katherine Gardner

Dimitrius Augustin

Shanelle Hampton

INTERN

Tessa Vicente

PRINTER

Courier Graphics

WINTER 2011 - VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

MyTekLife Magazine is published four times a year. For more

information, visit MyTekLife Magazine website at www.myteklife.

com. The MyTekLife logo and slogan are registered trademarks,

which are part of MyTekLife Intellectual Property and are

protected by applicable copyright, trademark and proprietary

rights. Any use or duplication is prohibited without expressed

written permission. Other third-party trademarks and trade

names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective

owners. Contact the editor via [email protected] or via

MyTekLife Magazine website at www.myteklife.com.

Copyright © 2011 MyTekLife Magazine - All rights reserved.

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MyTekLife Magazine is a subsidiary of MyLife Media Corporation.

tMusic is everywhere in this issue. And what treats we have in store for you! Conceived in 1931, the electric guitar has long served as a significant staple in the history of rock and roll, as well as countless other music genres. Behind every technology, there are acknowledged masters. In the world of guitarists, Nils Lofgren stands at the very pinnacle. Indeed, Lofgren’s friend Bruce Springsteen once referred to Lofgren, his longtime E Street Band guitarist, as “the most overqualified second guitarist in show business.” Inside this issue we have an intimate, in-depth profile of Lofgren byFeatures Editor Warren Mason. Lofgren shares his extraordinary life experiences and much more—from working with such legends as Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Neil Young, to his successful solo career. Lofgren’s music achievements can be glimpsed throughout his home and garage studio, from his E Street Band VMA award to the manyamazing photos of him working alongside other music icons. There are dozens of guitars, as well, each of them offering up great personal stories, many of which Lofgren happily shared with us. The Lofgrens have a large, much-loved family of cats and dogs that are among the friendliest pets Ihave come across—and they’re photogenic, too. But don’t just take my word for it. Take a look at thispicture, and you’ll see what I mean. We e-mailed Nils the picture (which he loves) and told him that we had found our perfect cover shot! During our visit to their home in Scottsdale, Nilsand his lovely wife, Amy, were very gracious hosts. Iextend my sincere appreciation and thanks to themfor allowing us to take up so much of their time. Following along with this month’s music theme, we have a feature and interview with famed session drummer Hal Blaine, who “may well be the most prolific drummer in rock and roll history,” according to his biography in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you have yet to subscribe to MyTekLife Magazine, I invite you to do sotoday and start experiencing a wide range of engaging, informative articles about the people behind the technology that fills our world.

Ed MartinezEditor-in-Chief

PRODUCEDIN

THE USA

m y t e k l i f e

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THE PERSONAL STORIES BEHINDTECHNOLOGY

Inside The EV Projectby jonathan mason GReeN iNNovAtioN

Fittingly, ECOtality North America, the epicenter of the largest electric vehicle (EV) experiment in history, sits adjacent to the

sprawling electrical power lines that feed power to all of downtown Phoenix.

A subsidiary of San Francisco-based ECOtality, ECOtality North America (formerly eTec) is the home of The EV Project, the

high-profile Department of Energy (DOE) initiative that is synonymous with President Obama’s 2010 stimulus package.

PRO

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ECOtality’s BLINK network chargingstations.

When discussing the Recovery Act in his 2010 State of the Union address, President Obama singled out ECOtal-ity North America: “Economists on the left and the right say that this bill has helped save jobs and avert disaster. But you don’t have to take their word for it. Talk to the small business in Phoenix that will triple its work force because of the Recovery Act.” In a little more than a year and as a direct result of its leadership role in The EV Project, ECOtality North America has grown from having fewer than 20 employees to well more than 100. The firm’s ever-expanding, inconspicuous red brick building is bulging at the seams. ECOtality North America has a long history in electric transportation. Dating back to 1989, it has been in-tricately involved in the research, development and testing of advanced transportation and energy systems, including every EV initiative in North America since the 1990s. It is estimated that this latest initia-tive, The EV Project, will add an ad-ditional 1,200 jobs nationwide by 2012 and 5,500 jobs by 2017, ranging across a variety of sectors and industries. The largest-ever deployment of elec-tric vehicles and charge infrastructure, launched on Oct. 1, 2009, and is sched-uled to last approximately 36 months.

for a Volt. Vice President Joe Biden has touted the Recovery Act’s quick results with regard to EVs. “Already, electric vehi-cles are becoming more affordable and accessible. In 2009, the only available electric-drive vehicle cost more than $100,000.” By 2012, and with the U.S government firmly behind the initia-tive, every major automaker is expected to offer some sort of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle. Mike Tinskey, Ford’s plug-in hy-brid and EV manager, said Ford plans to introduce a portfolio of electric

states—Arizona, California, Oregon, Ten-nessee, Texas and Washington—as well as the District of Columbia. While many automakers worldwide are rushing to get a piece of the incen-tivized EV market, to date, the leading plug-in cars on the market are the zero-emission Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt. Initially, The EV Project will sup-port the introduction of 5,700 Nissan Leafs and 2,600 Chevy Volts. With federal tax credits, consumers will pay approxi-mately $25,000 for a Leaf and $33,000

GReeN iNNovAtioN

15,085 such charging systems in 16 strategic markets in six

ECOtality North America was initially chosen to oversee the project in August 2009. A DOE grant of $99.8 million provid-ed initial funding. Subsequently, the DOE granted the project an additional $15 mil-lion. Additional private and public-sector investments have since brought the total project cost to approximately $230 million. The EV Project is tasked with establish-ing and studying a comprehensive network of EV charging stations. That EV infrastruc-ture includes the eventual installation of

m y t e k l i f e winter 2011 13

The Chevrolet Volt (chassis, battery-pack

shown here) has a driving range of up to

379 miles, based on EPA estimates. For

the first 35 miles, it can drive

emissions-free using a full charge of

electricity stored in its 16-kilowatt

lithium-ion battery.

and plug-in hybrid cars—in-cluding the Ford Focus EV—in the next three years, with the lofty goal of having 25 percent of its fleet available as hybrid or electric cars in the next decade. “In addition to virtually all es-tablished vehicle makers in the U.S., Europe and Asia, there will be many new companies intro-ducing all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles,” said Jim Vogt, who has responsibility for global original equipment manufactur-ers (OEMs) at ECOtality. “These new OEMs include Fisker, Think, Coda, Wheego and many others,” Vogt added. To date, The EV Project has lined up an impressive group of 40 diverse partners, includ-ing Nissan, Chevrolet, Cracker Barrel, BP, Best Buy, Qualcomm and Eaton Corp. ECOtality North America President Donald Karner, who was the guest of first lady Mi-chelle Obama at the 2010 State

long-term objectives of The EV Project. “The EV Project is about infrastructure development and evaluation, with a real emphasis on evaluation. We’re working closely with our partners, the utilities and listening to local municipalities. We’re deploying infrastructure in several cities and states to learn how to best deploy infrastructure in the next 500 cities.” Britta Gross, head of Chevrolet’s infrastructure commercialization for the Volt, agreed with Karner’s assessment. “We’ve got to get this technology right. It’s a first-gen-eration technology—never been done before,” she noted. “We want to understand infra-structure, where the grid is going, what’s the smart grid and where it’s evolving—so that we can evolve the vehicle as well,” Gross added. After repeated false starts, thestars seem aligned for EVs, yet the question remains, will The EV Project really pave the way for the

“After the initial infrastructure is installed, that’s when our work with our EV Project partners really kicks in, collecting data and analyzing that data. The goal is to use that data to develop a sustainable, viable business model for future charger deployment,” he said. According to The EV Project website, “The EV Project will be collecting and analyzing data to characterize vehicle use in diverse topo-graphic and climatic conditions, while evaluat-ing the effectiveness of charge infrastructure, and conducting trials of various revenue systems for commercial and public charge infrastructure.” Karner, a nuclear engineer, says “evaluat-ing” is the key word when discussing the

successful long-term rollout of electric transportation across America? Karner addressed that issue in a recent article in The Arizona Republic. “I was confident in 1989 it would be just a few years and there would be lots of elec-tric vehicles out there,” he said. “I believe this time it is much more of a market pull. You’ve got climate-change concerns, energy independence and straight eco-nomics with the cost of gasoline continually being on the rise.”For more information on The EV

Project, vistit www.theevproject.com.

of the Union address, clearly has his eyes on the big picture

“We’ve got to get this technology right. It’s a first-generation technology—never been done before.”

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What do the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra,

Sonny and Cher, the Byrds, Simon and

Garfunkel and the Supremes all have in

common? The same drummer played on

many of their hits!

Hal Blaine and the session guys he

dubbed “The Wrecking Crew” played on

so many records we know and love. To

this day, though, most people are unaware

that they did so.

In the late ’60s and ’70s, Blaine was

the top studio drummer in the world,

playing on more than 5,000 songs and

150 Top 10 singles—41 of which went

to No. 1. Eight of those No. 1 hits won

Grammy Awards for Record of the Year.

Blaine holds a little-known Grammy

record for playing on seven consecutive

Grammy Records of the Year.

Listen to any ’60s station for an hour

and the odds are Hal Blaine played on

at least three quarters of the songs you

just heard. Bruce Gary, drummer for The

Knack, said jokingly, “One of my biggest

disappointments in life was finding out

that a dozen of my favorite drummers

hal blaine “Hal Blaine may well Be tHe most prolific drummer in rock and roll History.”

Blaine worked with iconic

country star Glen Campbell

(left) on several projects during

his career, including the Steve

McQueen movie Baby, the Rain

Must Fall in 1962.

were all Hal Blaine.”

The list of artists Blaine played with

is staggering, a who’s who of the music

scene of the ’60s and ’70s: Tommy

Sands, Elvis Presley, Peter and Gordon,

the Ronettes, Barry McGuire, Petula

Clark, the Mamas and the Papas, Jan

and Dean, Frank and Nancy Sinatra,

Simon and Garfunkel, Connie Francis,

Sam Cooke, Dean Martin, Roy Orbison,

Johnny Rivers, John Lennon, Sonny and

Cher, Neil Diamond, Glen Campbell, John

Denver, the Grass Roots, Paul Revere and

the Raiders, Tommy Roe, Andy Williams,

Steely Dan, the Captain and Tennille,

America, the Monkees, the 5th

Dimension, the Everly Brothers, Herb

Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Gary

Puckett, Barbara Streisand—and on and

on and on.

All of the top producers, including the

Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Lou Adler, Phil

Spector and Herb Alpert, would call on

Blaine and only Blaine when they were

recording. If Hal wasn’t available, they

waited for him.

- rock and roll Hall of fame

fameofhall

BY WARREN MASON

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MIKE KRAVITz REMEMBERS IT VIVIDLY. It was August 1964, and he was a 13-year-old kid swimming in his Uncle Hal Blaine’s pool, high in the Hollywood hills. “I remember coming up from underwater and hearing this in-credible roar, this shrieking. I ran across the street into Jack Lal-anne’s backyard and peered over the fence. Directly below was the Hollywood Bowl, and the crowd was going nuts over some new band called The Beatles. I was amazed,” Kravitz recalled. Listening to stories like this, it’s easy to see why Kravitz decided to follow in his legendary uncle’s footsteps as a drummer.

In the last 45 years, Kravitz has never looked back, achieving varying degrees of commercial music suc-cess. But to measure Kravitz’s success purely on a com-mercial level would be a mistake.For the last 17 years, Kravitz and his music have touched the lives of so many in the Phoenix area, on a daily basis, and on a far more personal level. Kravitz grew up in San Bernardino, Calif., about

house Kravitz stayed at so often and remembers so fondly was owned by Lee J. Cobb before Blaine bought it. Gary Oldman later owned it, and it’s now Ben Stiller’s home. “I’d walk down to the bottom of the street and hitchhike into L.A.,” Kravitz said. “Steve McQueen, who lived near Hal, would blow right by me in his brown Ferrari Spyder, never slowing down. I had a better chance of being hit by him than getting a ride,” he laughed. In 2007, McQueen’s brown 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso was sold at Christie’s Mon-terey Auction for a record $2.31 million.

While Blaine continued to do sporadic session work during the ’70s and ’80s, Kravitz was heav-ily involved as a pit drummer for musicals such as Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. He would back bands like the Coasters and the Drifters when they came to L.A. and needed a drummer. Dur-ing this time, he tried his hand in the jewelry andrestaurant businesses before becoming fed up

60 miles away from the Hollywood hills where his famous uncle lived. It was Kravitz’s mother, Marcia, who set aside $1.00 a week to buy her baby brother Hal his first set of drums back in the 1930s. In 1965, Blaine returned the favor, buying his nephew his first set of drums, red sparkle Ludwigs, which Kravitz has since passed on to his cousin. In junior high school, Kravitz was assigned to play trombone in the band, but he had other ideas. “My Uncle Hal tells a joke about trombone players: ‘What do you call a trombonist with a beeper? An optimist!’ I wasn’t going to get caught in that trap,” Kravitz said. In 1967, when he was just 16, Kravitz and his San Bernardino High School buddies formed a band called the Good Feelins. Soon after, they were signed by Liberty Records, whose stable of artists included Johnny Rivers, Jackie DeShannon and Jan and Dean. That same year, the Good Feelins released a single titled I’m Captured, which was featured on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. The song rose to No. 2 on the California charts and briefly broke the Bill-board Top 100. Kravitz and the Good Feelins would never sniff the charts again, making them a near-one-hit-wonder. Unfortunately for both Blaine and Kravitz, it was around that time that the music scene was shifting from pop to psychedelic and other types of music. As a result, the Good Feelins faded from the scene and Kravitz focused on solo work. “Hal went on the road with John Denver, and I went on the road playing Holiday Inns,” Kravitz joked. In 1975, Kravitz moved into Blaine’s Hollywood home. The

with the L.A. scene and moving to Phoenix in 1993. And that was when Kravitz’s life took a dramatic and un-expected turn. St. Patrick Catholic Community in Scottsdale, Ariz., was looking for a way to “pump up” the teen mass. The organi-zation reached out to Kravitz, whose Jewish heritage would seem to have made him an unlikely candidate. “That’s the way the drumstick fell,” said Kravitz. “Everyone loves the music, which transcends any church or synagogue. I get so much joy from sharing with these wonderful people.” Kravitz has been at St. Patrick’s for more than 15 years and just celebrated his 3,000th mass. “It’s been a life-changing experience. Sister Barbara [Higgins] keeps threatening to get me wet,” Kravitz quipped about being baptized. Kravitz has continued to regularly play the club scene in the Phoenix area and gives drum lessons when time permits.His most recent musical project focuses on paying tribute to his uncle’s music, the music of Blaine and his Wrecking Crew mates. “People have no idea how much Hal and the Wreck-ing Crew influenced the music of the ’60s.” With Blaine’s blessing, Kravitz has formed a band called Demolition: A Tribute to the Wrecking Crew. The band will cover much of the great music from the ’60s and ’70s. While Kravitz has high hopes for his new band, it’s the personal growth, the personal success that most inspires him. As for Blaine, he is very proud of his nephew. “Mike has used his music to touch so many lives. He’s a great drummer and, more importantly, an incredible person.” —WARREN MASON

Drums A-Go-Go

familY


Much of Blaine’s work as a session player was with the odd,

legendary Spector and his famous “Wall of Sound,” including the

Ronettes’ 1963 hit “Be My Baby.” Explained legendary E Street

Band drummer Max Weinberg, “If Hal Blaine had played drums only

on the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” his name would still be uttered

with reverence and respect for the power of his big beat.”

Rolling Stone magazine listed the song at No. 22 on the 500

Greatest Songs of All Time.

In March 2000, Hal Blaine was one of the first five sidemen

inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

MyTekLife recently interviewed Blaine at his home in Palm

Desert, Calif.

MyTekLife: When did you start playing the drums?

Blaine: My dad used to take me to work at the State Theater in

Hartford, Connecticut, and I would watch every band, every singer,

every dance act—absolutely everything. Being a show-off, I got

hooked on drums. You know, drummers get all the toys to play and

hit. That’s how it works. My older sister Marcia bought me my first

little set of drums. I was about 11 or 12. We lived on the second

floor and I used to set them up on the front porch. After school,

with the kids coming home from school, I’d be up there banging

my drums, getting the attention. Later I started playing in the drum

and bugle corps at St. Anthony Church in Hartford. I used to call it

St. Agony. I was a young Jewish kid in a Catholic band! Eventually

we moved to California, and I was in high school, and I got in some

little bands.

MyTekLife: How did the name “the Wrecking Crew”

come about?

Blaine: I coined the phrase. I believe it was after a

Disney session. All the guys in the suits would say,

“Oh no, these kids in their blue jeans and T-shirts

are going to wreck the business.” That’s how it came

about. We became the Wrecking Crew. It got so that

producers would call my secretary and say, “We

need that Wrecking Crew for so and so,” and she’d

just book the dates. I mean, we were booked three

months, four months in advance.

MyTekLife: Tell me about your relationship with Dean

Martin. You played on most of his major hits,

including Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.

Blaine: Dean was the nicest guy. He was never the

same after his son Dino died in a plane crash right

near here. I have a cassette of an interview he did

after recording one of his albums. He talks about the

band, using me on the drums and says, “If Hal plays

the drums any harder, we’re going to give him the

golden truss award.” There was nothing like a Dean

Martin or Frank Sinatra session. They rolled in a bar

for Dean’s sessions and he let all the studio people,

the secretaries, everybody sit in. It was a real event, a

giant party, and Dean played to the audience. I

remember recording Houston with Dean, and I

suggested we use ashtrays to simulate the sound of

an anvil. Producers respected me and gave me carte

blanche. Listen to Houston and you’ll hear me playing

the ashtrays, which I did on the Beach Boys

Barbara Ann as well. It was just a matter of

percussion sounds, coming up with different sounds.

I played my snow tire chains on [Simon and

Garfunkel’s] “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

MyTekLife: Tell us about Frank Sinatra.

Blaine: Frank was amazing. Frank Sinatra, Dean

Martin and those kind of people sang live. With the

Beach Boys, we did live instrumental tracks, but they

would go in and do their voices later. With Frank,

we’d come in on a Friday night at around 6:00 and

rehearse. There’d be great anticipation. Frank would

come in with his entourage at around 9:30 and we’d

get right into it. He would just walk in, say “Hi guys,”

come around and say hello to everybody, walk into the

booth [and say] “Let’s make a record.” And boom! He

Blaine with master session musician and renowned jazz and bebop

guitarist Tommy Tedesco.

fameofhall


was ready to go. I was flattered because he’d always come up to me and

say “How ya doing, Hallie?” It really made me feel good. We did

Strangers in the Night, which was Record of the Year in 1966. But

Strangers in the Night was his only gold single. He had many hit records,

many gold records, but never a No. 1 on the charts. And obviously, he

was thrilled, as were we.

MyTekLife: How did the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction come

about?

Blaine: They created a new area for sidemen, and I believe Jon Landau,

Phil Spector and several others recommended me. It really changed my

life.

MyTekLife: Tell me about your work on the Ronettes’ Be My Baby.

Blaine: It was a great song, a great introduction that became my

signature. My intro became a standard rock and roll lick. In all honesty,

I think it was written differently and I might have missed when we were

rolling. I guess it was a great miss! If you make a mistake and repeat it

every four bars, it’s no longer a mistake. That mistake became the song’s

hook, and you can hear the same work on Strangers in the Night, except

at a slower pace.

MyTekLife: The other great hook you are famous for is the intro to Herb

Alpert and the Tijuana Brass classic, Taste of Honey.

Blaine: Funny how that happened. The band was having trouble coming

in at the same time, so I came up with that intro to make it easier for all

of us. Before I came up with that, it was a train wreck. We couldn’t come

in together. There was no intention to keep it in. Later on, the producer

heard it and had the foresight to leave it in. It not only became the

song’s hook, but also became synonymous with the Tijuana Brass and

A&M Records.

MyTekLife: Guys like you and Tommy Tedesco had so much versatility,

real chops.

Blaine: Tommy was a great talent, a great friend and a real comedian. In

the morning, we’d play on some rock and roll record. Then we’d be doing

Barbra Streisand records, some of the most beautiful music in the world,

and then three hours later, I’d be in playing a Latin session with the

same people. I mean, it just went on and on and on. It’s amazing to

me, and I guess amazing to a lot of people, that

we could do that. It was wild, but we were guys

who, at that time, had that experience.

MyTekLife: I always enjoyed watching Buddy

Rich on The Tonight Show. Great drummer.

Funny guy. You guys were tight?

Blaine: Buddy was a good friend of mine. He

was one of the toughest guys in the world, an

ex-Marine. He wouldn’t stand for mistakes

That’s all there was to it, if you wanted to be

in his band. One of my greatest compliments

was when Buddy hired me to do his daughter

Kathy’s album, and one of the guys, Milt

Holland, one of the percussionists—he kind of

grew up with Buddy, and they were very

tight—Milt asked Buddy, “How come you’re not

playing on your daughter’s album?” Buddy

replied, “I wanted the best!”

MyTekLife: Buddy used to say he never

practiced.

Blaine: I guess that’s true. Once you start

playing, you don’t practice. People asked me for

years, when do you practice? I don’t practice.

I’m too busy playing to practice!

MyTekLife: What was it like working with Brian

Wilson during the Beach Boys years?

Blaine: Brian was brilliant. He’d provide

the chords, and we’d build on that. He was

obsessed with making something special. I

remember he and Mike Love would argue all the

time. Mike was trying to be Mick Jagger when

he was onstage. I played the drums on all their

big hits. Brian would always use us. Listen to I

Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda. That’s Glen

Campbell doing those guitar solos, not any of

the Beach Boys. Of course, through the years,

I was Brian’s drummer and went through the

whole thing with him. The drugs, the divorce

and everything the poor guy went through. And

then all of a sudden, he finally started to come

out of it, thank goodness.

Blaine (left), Brian Wilson (center), and Ray Pohlman (right).

fameofhall

Web-Exclusive: For more excerpts from the Hal

Blaine interview, please visit us on the Web at

www.myteklife.com/articles/halblaine.

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Shining Silently,Yet Ever So Brightly

At 59, and with two hip replacements behind him, Lofgren still possesses incredible energy, a pristine, choirboy-like voice, deft guitar skills and an underrated ability to write heartfelt songs. While it’s his skills as an axeman that have earned him his lofty reputation, he has a slightly different perspective. “I feel like I’m a song-writer first,” he said. “Everything else flows from that.” Having spent more than four decades on the road, the last 26 years as a key member of Springsteen’s E Street Band, Lofgren is no stranger to those big arenas and the frequent travel that accompanies such worldwide fame. That frequent travel takes him away from Amy, his stepson, Dylan, and their large family of dogs and cats. Leaving Scottsdale, his home for the last 15 years, clearly grows tougher and tougher for Lofgren. “I really hate to go. When I leave home, the dogs give me dirty looks and the cat pisses on my suitcase!” he joked. “Yet those three hours on stage are a healing, therapeutic experience for me, an experience I hope I never have to give up.” Born in Chicago of Swedish/Sicilian ancestry, Lofgren grew up in Bethesda, Md., where he and Amy still own a home. A classically trained accordionist and self-taught pia-nist, Lofgren began playing guitar when he was 15 years old, learning to play on his father’s dusty, beat-up acous-tic. Three years later, at the age of 18, he found a way into Neil Young’s band, playing piano and guitar, as well as singing on Young’s seminal album, 1970’s After the Gold Rush. It proved to be the beginning of a long and fruit-ful relationship with Young. “I was shy by nature, but I was driven to learn and learn from the best,” Lofgren recollected. “I’ve talked my way into all kinds of situations and great collaborations, beginning with the Neil Young meeting. I’ve made a career out of ‘friendly stalking.’”

F or legendary guitarist Nils Lofgren, his mid-November Veterans Day concert in Phoenix was a homecoming of sorts. Having just re-turned from the exhausting 18-show, 20-day

international leg of his Acoustic Duo tour, Lofgren played to a raucous, sold-out crowd at The Rhythm Room, a small, dark venue in a rundown section of the city. A square, nondescript concrete bunker, The Rhythm Room is a legendary blues bastion, situated only a few miles from Lofgren’s Scottsdale home. The venue is often cramped, hot and loud. Nonetheless, it offered the un-compromising Lofgren and his “band,” the multifaceted, tap-happy Greg Varlotta, a heightened sense of intimacy and great acoustics to showcase their diverse talents. For Lofgren, this was clearly not “just another room, just another town.” Surrounded by family, friends and some 300 fans, the diminutive Lofgren was in a zone. That room, on that night in Phoenix, offered Lofgren a place to shine. “Whether it’s in big arenas with Bruce Springsteen or on my own, my job is to prepare completely so that when I walk on stage I can turn my mind off and trust my mu-sical instincts. I try to focus and always make the shows as good as possible,” Lofgren said. “I want to get down in it—lost in the music as soon as possible. I want to hit the ground at 98 and get over 100 as quickly as I can!” But on that particular night, Lofgren didn’t follow his own script. He came on stage alone and played a melodic solo on the harp—this was his latest “oddball” instrument and a recent gift from his “Jersey girl” wife, Amy. He fol-lowed that with a sincere homage to U.S. veterans, sing-ing the national anthem with a soulful, caring joy. Lofgren made the song his own, with a unique, stirring rendition that was the polar opposite of rote, ballgame versions. As the anthem came to a close, the crowd stood and cheered, but not because a ballgame was about to start.

by warren mason GUitAR viRtUoSo


Springsteen invited Lofgren to jam with him

and the band at saxophonist Clarence Clemons’

nightclub, Big Man’s West, in Redbank, N.J.

Over the next two days, Lofgren jammed with

what he called “the greatest band in the world.”

When it was time to say goodbye, they stepped

outside into the night. “I thanked Bruce and

asked him to let me know when he had made

a decision, even if it was two weeks later—even

if it was at 4:00 in the morning. I went to give

him a hug goodbye, and he said, ‘I just talked to

everyone. Do you want to join the band?’ I was

in shock, totally blown away. I said to him, ‘So

you’re asking me right now to be in the band,

out here in the Jersey streets?’ I immediately

said yes and went home to pack for the Born in

the USA tour. It was a great moment.”

It was in 1985 during that tour that Lofgren

met former Beatle Ringo Starr. The two quickly

In 1974, after several years of fronting the

Washington, D.C.-based band Grin, Lofgren

smoothly transitioned into a successful solo

career—a career that has produced several near-

hit singles, including “I Came to Dance” and

“Shine Silently.”

Lofgren’s 1975 debut solo album was a suc-

cess with critics. One of those critics was Jon

Landau, Springsteen’s manager. Landau’s Rolling

Stone review labeled Lofgren’s solo debut “one

of the finest rock albums of the year.”

Springsteen and Lofgren had connected years

earlier, when Lofgren was touring with Grin

and Springsteen was making the rounds with

his previous band, Steel Mill.

In 1984, shortly after guitarist Steve Van

zandt left the E Street Band to pursue a solo

career, The Boss approached Lofgren about

joining his band.

RINGO STARR’S ALL STARR BANDIn 1985 during the Born in the

USA tour, Lofgren met former Beatle Ringo Starr. While on

hiatus from the E Street Band, he joined Starr for several world

tours and albums.

“SO YOU’RE ASKING ME RIGHT NOW TO BE IN THE BAND, OUT HERE

IN THE JERSEY STREETS?”

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became friends, with Starr occasion-ally attending Lofgren’s solo shows in the United States and in the United Kingdom. In 1989, Starr reached out to Lof-gren about joining his original All Starr Band. Lofgren, while on hiatus from the E Street Band, joined Starr for several world tours and albums. “Oh, they’re the finest musicians in the land,” said Starr of his 1989 band, which also included Joe Walsh, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Levon Helm, Dr. John, Rick Danko and Lofgren’s E Street bandmate Clarence Clem-ons. Lofgren, who said he is constantly asked if he regrets not focusing more on his solo career, said this about hooking up with Starr and Spring-steen: “If you love being in bands, how are you gonna say no to that? We’d sit around telling stories. Every story Ringo told was a Beatles story. He’d never been in another band. That was an unbelievable thought. The All Starr Band was his first gig without the Beatles, and I was in the band! That’s very cool. When you get around people like Ringo, Neil and Bruce who you love and admire, you just soak it all in. Those are experi-ences you must say yes to, and I did.” Being part of a team, being in a band—particularly the E Street Band—is nirvana for Lofgren. “I’ve played street basketball all my life, and I grew up playing football. I love that team aspect of being in a band. When you’re not the boss, you can

Lofgren met his wife Amy some 30 years ago in Asbury Park, N.J., when he and his solo band were

playing the famous concert venue The Stone Pony.

“We talked for hours,” Lofgren reminisced. “I wanted her to join us for our next show in Boston, but she

just couldn’t do it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get another chance to plead my case until 15 years later, when

I was out in Scottsdale, playing at the Rocking Horse Saloon. It was a hell of a wait between the first and

second date!” he quipped.

help in other ways. You try to spread good

feelings, but you’re not the heavy, the

psychiatrist having to solve all the prob-

lems. I thrive in a great band, not hav-

ing to be the boss. I’m happy banging on

a tambourine and singing harmonies if

that’s what’s needed. As a bandleader, it’s

something Bruce requires from all of us.”

In 1991, Van zandt returned to the E

Street Band, a move that Lofgren embraced

wholeheartedly. “It was great to have Steve

back, his musicianship, his great personality

JERSEY GIRL

and, most of all, that raw voice paired with

Bruce’s. The only other two rockers who’ve

ever sung together with that raw intensity

are Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards].”

Indeed, Lofgren credits Van zandt’s return

with giving him the impetus to learn dif-

ferent instruments, to become the band’s

“swingman.” “We don’t always need four

guitar players. So, I thought, why don’t I

learn some of these oddball instruments?

These instruments are now in the band’s

arsenal, and because of Bruce’s amazingly

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kept in touch. Since I moved to Scottsdale 15 years ago, Amy and I live just 10 minutes from Clive. Clive is an incredible writer and an even better human being,” Lofgren said. Cussler echoed Lofgren’s sentiments: “I was truly honored to meet Nils. He is one of the kindest and most gracious men I’ve been lucky to call a friend. I can have no finer gift.” In 2007, while out to dinner with Lofgren, Amy and Cussler’s then fiancée, Janet, Cussler remarked how he had always wanted to write a “corny country song.” Over the next few months Lofgren and Cussler meticulously crafted the evocative “Whatever Happened to Muscatel?” ”We started out writing Clive’s so-called ‘corny country song,’ but that’s not how it ended up—it’s quite cool,” Lofgren revealed. “What an adventure—writing about these great old liquors that have fallen by the wayside. I brought my rhyming dictionary and Clive brought his incredible writing and research expertise. I asked him to sing a few lines and, true to his spirit of adventure, he rose to the occasion. There are some great photos and video of those sing-a-long sessions on my website.” Cussler explained, “As an adventure writer I would provide Nils with lines and quotes. He would embellish them into rhythm and harmony. We had so much fun. You can even hear us laughing at the end of the song.” When Cussler and Janet were married in 2007, Lofgren gladly honored a request from Janet, writing and recording the beautiful ballad “Heaven’s Rain” for their wedding. In turn, Cussler’s historical thriller “The Chase” featured Lofgren as a locomotive engineer who aided the protagonist, chasing the villain across the American West. Cussler had this to say about his good friend’s talents: “Nils is without question the finest virtuoso of the guitar in the world of song. He brings a vibrant creativity to both his music and life that is unsurpassed.”

The Cussler CollAborATionFamed bestselling adventure author Clive Cussler, whom Nils Lofgren met in 1989 while on the first tour with Ringo Starr, is both a longtime friend and collaborator. Lofgren, an avid reader, “tracked down” his favorite author and invited him and hisfamily to a show. “We always

authentic songwriting, they’re used on a regular

basis.”

A longtime Fender artist, Lofgren is

routinely cited as one of the greatest rock guitar-

ists of all time. When Springsteen was inducted

into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999,

he called Lofgren “the most overqualified second

guitarist in show business.” In Clemons’ 2009

autobiography, Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales,

Clemons took it a step further, saying, “Steve,

Bruce and Nils are all great guitar players, but

of the three, Nils is the best. Nils is an incredible

guitar player.”

Lofgren, his ego always in check, is uncomfort-

able with such comparisons. “Bruce and Steve are

amazing guitarists. Rolling Stone has a list of the 100

greatest guitarists. Forget me—I won’t even talk

about me not being on the list. Why isn’t Bruce

on the list? It’s crazy. Just because he’s a great song-

writer, he doesn’t count? Bruce is an amazing gui-

tarist. Rolling Stone lists the 100 greatest singers but

omits Sting and Chrissie Hynde. How is that pos-

sible? You can’t leave off Sting and Chrissie Hynde

and say this is the top 100 singers. You can’t take

lists like that too seriously.”

While Springsteen is in the Rock and Roll Hall

of Fame, the E Street band has yet to be awarded

the same honor. Lofgren wasn’t shy about his feel-

ings on the subject. “It’s absurd. It’s embarrassing

to the Hall of Fame. It means even more to my

bandmates, and that’s why I’d like it to happen for

them. Stop making excuses, and just do it. I guess

it’s a pet peeve for this cranky old musician,” he

said.

Asked to single out what charges him up the

most when playing with Springsteen and the E

Street Band, Lofgren became quite animated. “I

prefer not even knowing where the set’s going to

go and it blows up into that ‘best night of my life’

experience. The band grew up listening to Mo-

town, Stax blues, the British Invasion, all the clas-

sics from the ‘60s. Because of that, Bruce is able to

invite the fans in, asking them what they want us

to play. He pulls signs out of the audience, rifling

through cards like a college kid looking for that

one clean shirt in the laundry pile. He knows that

even if he picks some obscure song we’ll be able

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“If you have an original Steadman, it’s been stolen,” claims famed gonzo artist Ralph Steadman, who doesn’t sell his original paintings. Steadman, a longtime friend of Nils and Amy Lof-gren, is renowned for his political and social carica-tures. He’s best known for his work with American author Hunter S. Thompson. It was in 1982, on a plane over Newcastle, Eng-land, when Nils Lofgren first met Steadman. “I was up stretching my legs,” Lofgren recalled. “This guy

came up to me, and we chatted for a while before he introduced himself as Ralph Steadman. I was so surprised that he was English. I had assumed he was Ameri-can. I’ve always been a big fan of Hunter S. Thompson and, in turn, Ralph’s art. Ralph’s such a

“This is a local, hands-on group that Amy has been helping,” Lofgren explained. “They are won-derful people who help others in need, on so many levels. I admire Amy’s passion and commitment. I have been happy to honor that commitment and lend a hand whenever asked.” A seasoned professional cook, Amy Lofgren or-ganized a food and music charity event last year at The Pasta Bar in Phoenix. Everyone involved do-nated their time, skills and supplies, including Nils,

who stood on a crate and played several songs. “No one would have seen me other-wise,” joked the 5’ 3” Lofgren. Every bit of the money raised went to Vista del Camino. “Sometimes artists do benefits and end up spending almost

great guy. We have been friends ever since. He’s even done two album covers for me.” Lofgren’s wife, Amy, reached out to Steadman and asked him to paint a Fender Stratocaster guitar that Nils and Amy will auction off for a local char-ity—Concerned Citizens for Community Health (CCCH) and Vista del Camino social services. Vista del Camino is a community center in Scott-sdale, Ariz., that provides a variety of services to Scottsdale residents to prevent homelessness, meet the basic needs of individuals and families in crisis, relieve economic and emotional stress and assist in-dividuals in their quest to maintain self-sufficiency.

all they make on the event itself. That’s not what we want. It’s very simple; Amy and I want to help people, especially people in our community. As for the unique Steadman guitar, Lofgren is using his website, www.nilslofgren.com, to initiate what he calls “a global Internet auction.” “We’d love for CCCH to get six figures for such a great piece of musical art. Aren’t Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson big Hunter S. Thompson/Stead-man fans?” Lofgren baited. “I bet they’d buy it. If we get six figures, I’ll even come by their house and tune it for them, along with a crash course in blues guitar. Anything for a great cause like this.”

GoinG, GoinG, Gonzo!

THE STEADMANGUITARThis beautiful Fender

Strat with original art

by Ralph Steadman is

being put up for

auction. Lofgren is

hoping for a huge bid

from a philanthropic

Hunter S. Thompson or

Ralph Steadman art

lover/collector. All

money will go directly

to local Arizona Food

Bank charities. For more

information, visit www.

nilslofgren.com/

CharityAuction.html.

++++++++++++++++

“I’ll even come by their house and tune it for them, along with a crash course in blues guitar. Anything for a great cause like this,” said Lofgren.

www.nilslofgren.com. “The music business

is very political. Bureaucracy and politics

constantly get in the way of creativity. I’ve

found a way to produce my music with-

out the record companies. With technol-

ogy, I can continue to make records and

share music that I’m proud of.”

Lofgren has also established his own

to follow. He picks a song, we huddle and

the crew has maybe 20 seconds to scour

the Internet for lyrics. Then it’s up on the

teleprompter and we’re off. I laugh and say,

‘Don’t even give me a set list. It’s useless.’ I

love those down-and-dirty, pouring-sweat,

let-it-all-hang-out shows. Bruce challenges

himself and us every night. That’s what

makes this band and Bruce so

special.”

While most musicians crave the se-

curity of a record deal, Lofgren has

taken a different course, making full

use of Internet technology to success-

fully market himself and his catalog

of music through his popular website,

communiTY


Editor’s note – Much of the music, video and lyrics

referred to in this article are available, many for

free download, at www.NilsLofgren.com.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

online guitar school. Those with little or no

knowledge can inexpensively learn to play gui-

tar from an acknowledged master. “I get tired of

people saying they can’t play guitar because they

have no talent and rhythm. I started the online

lessons for those people—to get them playing

and having fun right away. The only requirement

is the desire to learn how to play.”

Having concluded the Acoustic Duo tour

in late November, Lofgren is enjoying time at

home with Amy, other family members and

friends. Happily ensconced in his garage stu-

dio, he’s focusing on writing and recording new

material that will likely result in an online CD

release sometime this summer.

As for Lofgren’s friends, they’re a loyal,

eclectic mix, including Ringo, bestselling au-

thor Clive Cussler, sportscaster John Madden,

acclaimed chef Chris Bianco and gonzo artist

Ralph Steadman.

“I love to be around great guys, good people

who are artistic. There are plenty of bad people

to go around, so I try hard to surround myself

with good people,” he said.

Lofgren seemed overwhelmed when discuss-

ing his life and achievements. “Over the last 42

years, I’ve been so fortunate. I’ve met so many

wonderful souls. I’ve played with Neil, Ringo,

Bruce, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Nelson, Branford

Marsalis and so many others. I’ve enjoyed them

all. I get a lot of attention for that, yet that’s only

a part of my life. I love to sing my own music

as well. For me it’s all part of the same amazing

journey.”

“While I may always be on the ‘D list’ com-

mercially, I’m on the ‘A list’ with most of my

friends and peers, and that’s fine by me. It means

the world to me that the people I collaborate

with know I’m a good person who will make

good music with them. I just love making

music—to play, sing and be passionate about it,”

he shared.

Nearly three hours later on that hot

November night, the joyful Rhythm Room

crowd was on its feet, cheering, swaying back

and forth as Lofgren closed the night with a

soaring, full-band version of “Shine Silently.”

With his voice clear and his smiling Jersey

girl dancing along, Lofgren made his guitar

sing, while his poignant lyrics reverberated far

beyond the small room.

Nothing left to say

Nothing left to prove

When it’s said and done

There’s nothing left but you, babe

Shining silently

For Nils Lofgren, there is certainly much left

to say, but indeed, nothing left to prove.

After all these years, he still shines silently, yet

ever so brightly.

“I just love making music—

to play, sing and be

passionate about it.”

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science HeaLtH&

cracKinG tHe MosQUito GenoMe

icture a mosquito laboratory. The lucky ones who live there—in a secure, resort-like atmo-sphere known as an Arthropod Containment Level 2 insectary—dine on human blood

(provided by the American Red Cross after the use-by date expires) through special containers that mimic skin. Larvae hatch in carefully tended tubs of water. The mos-quito lab at the University of Arizona, led by Michael Riehle, Ph.D., keeps two special kinds of mosquitoes—some that carry the malaria parasite and others that have been genetically engineered to kill the malaria parasite in their bodies. Riehle and his collaborators at the University of Cali-fornia, Davis are credited with discovering that by “mak-ing a small change to the mosquito genome,” carriers of malaria known by their scientific name as Anopheles stephensi will eventually no longer be able to play a role as vectors. Riehle described his work in the lab: “We inject DNA into newly laid eggs to insert our gene and a fluorescent marker into the genome. We then rear these injected eggs to adulthood, let them mate and then look at their offspring (as late larvae or pupae) to see if they inherited our gene and fluorescent marker. DNA microarray technology has furthered the sci-ence of molecular biology upon which scientists like Riehle base this kind of research. He used the University of Arizona’s microarray machine, which has probes that

by mary l. holden SUPERMOSQUITO

enough generations, the ability to carry malaria in a mosqui-to’s body will breed out. While this is not the focus of Riehle’s research, he says that other labs around the world are trying to increase the heritability rate of malaria resistance from the usual 50 percent to as much as 90 percent to 100 percent. “This will allow the malaria resistance to spread through the wild population, but it can take years until it happens naturally because there will be many greenhouse trials and exhaustive testing by state and local governments and public health agen-cies before the non-carriers can be released,” Riehle noted. “For example, although these mosquitoes will not be able to transmit malaria, we want to make sure that they don’t begin transmitting other mosquito-borne diseases.” Once thorough testing has been completed, the ultimate goal is to totally replace the malaria-carriers with the malaria-killers in the wild, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Health Organization’s Fact Sheet No. 94 (April 2010), “In 2008, there were 247 million cases of malaria and nearly one million deaths—mostly among children living in Africa … [where] a child dies every 45 seconds of malaria .…” This important discovery will take some time to make a positive change in the world. Riehle is looking for an answer as to why this gene modification kills the malaria parasite. “We have some ideas about what the specific killing mechanism is,” he said, “and we’re still testing.”

correspond to the “approximate-ly 15,000 protein-coding genes in the mosquito genome for test-ing mosquito gene samples,” to determine which of the probes would bind to the gene that pre-vents malaria from being carried, Riehle explained. Although thistechnology played a small role in

Currently in Riehle’s lab, malaria-resistant mosqui-toes are being mated with carrier mosquitoes. Half of the resulting progeny will not become vectors, and over

To track Michael Riehl’s progress on mosquito research, visit http://cals.arizona.edu/ento/faculty/riehle/.

The Riehle Lab at the University of Arizona

houses 4,000 to 5,000 mosquitoes at any one time.

P

the work on the malaria-resistant mosquito, it neverthelesshelped further the research.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Hoover Dam: A Historical Perspective The enormous Hoover Dam, also called Boulder Dam, sits

in the Black Canyon of northern Arizona and southern Nevada,

about 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas. This modern-day wonder

is a concrete arch gravity dam that sends water from the Colo-

rado River to a colossal power plant for the generation of electric

power. The movement of this water is created by gravity and the

immense pressure created by its horizontal arch, an architectural

design created by the Romans. At its tallest point, it is 726 feet

high and weighs 6.6 million tons, a weight that is comprised of

concrete, steel and metalwork.

he building of Hoover Dam was a massive techno-

logical undertaking that lasted almost five years. The

U.S. government went forth with the project to har-

ness the power of the Colorado River, particularly

by jean-marie stevens tecHNoloGicAl mARvel

Tfor the generation of hydroelectricity. To this date, the river and

the dam are used to generate electric power, conserve water and

supply water to parts of the American Southwest. The story of

the construction of the dam celebrates the triumphs of an age of

technological development in America, but it also suggests the

human price of progress.

Hoover Dam: A Historical Perspective

The wonders of Hoover Dam and its technology remain with us in the 21st century, an illustration of the impact of the history of technology on our daily lives.

the funding to build the dam in 1928, but the project stalled un-

til 1931 because of engineering concerns about the feasibility of

such a large project.

After careful consideration, engineers suggested that to pull

off an effort of such magnitude, major modifications would have

to be made to the equipment considered essential to the build-

ing of the dam. By the time construction of the dam began, nu-

merous American companies had been recruited by the govern-

ment and the main contractor of the job, Six Companies, Inc.,

to supply not only the materials to construct the dam, but also

During the age of major technological advancement in the

late 1800s, the desire to create large sources of electricity

led many to consider the use of hydraulics to generate it. As

early as 1902, surveyors had been eyeing the Lower Colo-

rado River as a new source of hydroelectric power. By 1922,

the U.S. government had become involved in the process

of surveying and planning for the dam after the Reclama-

tion Service (now the Bureau of Reclamation) suggested the

area as a good site not only for the generation of electricity,

but also for flood control in the region. Congress authorized


Movement of the materials needed to

construct the dam and transport workers

back and forth was performed by a mas-

sive cable car system manufactured by New

Jersey-based Ledgerwood Manufacturing.

The cars ran along a cableway five times

longer than any other cableway in exis-

tence in the 1930s. Given the weight of the

materials that needed to be transported by

the cable cars, the cableways also needed

to be stronger than any other in the world

to that point. When pushed to their limits,

these steel cables, which were 3.5 inches

in diameter, could hold almost 200 tons of

material.

The building of the dam commenced

with the diversion of the Colorado River

by tunnels that measured 50 feet in diam-

eter (larger than the tunnels used for the

New York subway system) and were three

miles in length. The construction site was

then enclosed in two structures called cof-

ferdams, made of concrete, rock fill and

newly modified and massive machinery

to transport the materials and put them

in place. The truck manufacturer Mack,

which had already cornered the American

market for building heavy duty, industrial

trucks, created a new truck expressly for the

Hoover Dam project. The 250-horsepower

truck carried twice the load of the biggest

truck manufactured to that date.

Major American power supplier Gen-

eral Electric, formed in 1892 through the

merger of a Massachusetts power supplier

and Thomas Edison’s Edison General Elec-

tric, used the continued advancement of

X-ray technologies first introduced in the

late 1800s to execute the largest known

X-ray project for the dam. Throughout the

project, GE’s X-ray technicians would take

more than 100,000 films, altogether mea-

suring more than 24 million square inches

of X-ray film, to ensure the quality of the

welding that fused the pipes that moved the

water to the power plant.

Hoover Dam has a number of heroic-size works of art and monuments, including this 30-foot-tall bronze winged figure by sculptor Oskar Hansen, who said the sculpture symbolizes “the immutable calm of intellectual resolution and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific achievement.”

Construction on the nearly 2,000-foot-long bridge dividing Arizona and

Nevada began in January 2005. The effort, known as the Hoover Dam

Bypass Project, was completed on Oct. 19, 2010.


memorializing the sacrifices of these

workers and their contribution to the

progress of technology and humanity.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicated

the Hoover Dam in September 1935,

though it was not officially completed

until March 1, 1936. The final bill for the

project topped $49 million. This union of

technology and human labor proved to

be the largest attempt at mechanical engi-

neering seen in the modern world and, as

of 1939, the largest generation of electric

power in the world. The wonders of this

technology remain with us in the 21st

More than 20,000 vehicles a day cross Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada. Thousands take the Hoover Dam tour and ride the elevator down into the inner workings of the dam. For more information, visit http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/.

deaths at around 119, which include offsite

and onsite deaths from disease, exposure

and injuries.

The Bureau of Reclamation reports 96

men as “industrial fatalities”—in other

words, men who died on site while attend-

ing to the task of building the dam. These

fatalities occurred because of the blast-

ing of Black Canyon, constant rockslides,

falls from the heights of the canyon or the

structure of the dam and fatal injuries sus-

tained while working the machinery or be-

ing hit by equipment and trucks. Around

the site of the dam are numerous markers

earth fill. The larger cofferdam was 96 feet high. These structures created a dry work environment by protecting the site from the Colorado River. The enormous nature of the construction of the dam called for more than 21,000 workers to carry out the engineers’ plans. These men labored on the dam through-out its construction, and they lived either in government camps or in Boulder City, the new town built in 1931 specifically to house those connected with the project. Because of the economic hardships of the Great Depression, many workers descend-ed on the area before work on the project began, to stand in line for jobs. The technical nature of the project, with new and enormous tools that were foreign to laborers, the torrid weather conditions of the area, where summer temperatures could reach upwards of 119 degrees, and the treacherous working conditions of Black Canyon led to numerous deaths among this community of workers. Vari-ous reports have estimated the number of

Excavation of the site began with the removal of 5.5 million cubic yards of rock from the canyon byjackhammers and dynamite. After the filling in of cavities in the remaining rock used for thefoundation of the dam with a synthetic grout, the true construction began. Concrete, which comprises more than three fourths of the dam’s mass, was put

lArGer ThAn The eGypTiAn pyrAmiD of GizA

into large buckets that were transported by the cable cars and then lowered to where the workers needed them by overhead cables. The enormous amount of concrete used in the project made the dam, at least in 1936, the only man-made structure larger than the Egyptian pyramid of Giza.

There are 17 giant generators at

Hoover Dam, each of which can

generate up to 133 megawatts.

century, an illustration of the impact of the

history of technology on our daily lives.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

eNtRePReNeUR SPotliGHt


Collaborative Efforts Yield InnovationEntrepreneur Derek Neighbors shares hisvision for nurturingArizona’s future business leaders.

hat makes companies like Facebook and Google so successful? There are many

PHO

TO B

Y PE

TER

j. H

ART

executive director of Gangplank, a nonprofit organization in Chandler where startups and other creative minds gather to share ideas and help each other get on the road to success. “Gangplank has gone through this meta-morphosis,” Neighbors explained. “It was really just about how we would help incubate some people and get them off the ground, but now we have Gangplank Jr., which is tackling K-12 education, in trying to restore creativity to schools.” Neighbors and Jade Meskill started Gangplank in 2008. Both worked as software developers in the late ’90s. “We developed one of the first mortgage loan documents delivered over the Internet,” he shared proudly.

Soon after that, Neighbors and Meskill started their own consulting firm and took on several clients in the manufac-turing and distribution sectors. Eventu-ally the two decided to focus more on their growing families and went their separate ways. Neighbors recalled how he later recon-nected with Meskill. “One of the compa-nies we developed software for ended up becoming an $80 million company, and they offered to help us build our business. So, we decided to make another run for it,” he said. About every two weeks Neighbors and Meskill would get together for lunch with tech startups and other businesses.

“We would meet with CEOs and CIOs,” he said. They would talk about issues in business. “What we started to hear, week after week, was that companies were starting to move their business out of Arizona. And most of the reasons were lack of capital funding, lack of quality people for the type of business they were running or lack of the right network.” Neighbors said he was shocked to hear that companies were leaving the Valley at what he thought was an “alarming rate.” He had lived in Arizona for almost 35 years, and Meskill was an Arizona native. “I worked at Silicon Valley for a while. I used to commute there. I would fly up Mondays and fly back on Fridays. Both of us have a real love for the desert, the

he said. Neighbors was able to help his friend by putting him in front of investors and pre-senting his business model to them. But after going through the process to raise capital, his friend realized he didn’t really need the funding after all. “What that re-ally taught us,” Neighbors said, “was that we could probably raise funding fairly easily if we had good opportunities. And so we put it out there to go fund five companies. We funded five companies in the group and went through the whole process of doing small seed funding.” One of the other companies in the group was working out of a garage in Tempe, Ariz. Neighbors said the city of

area, the environment of Arizona,” he con-fided. Coincidentally, around the same time, Neighbors had a friend who was looking for financing for his busi-ness. “We had a large network of individuals that were looking to invest in technology,”

Wreasons, but at the core of their prosperity, you will find a culture that embraces ideas and nurtures innovation. There are no bad ideas for employees of these tech giants. In fact, employees are actively encouraged to develop their own ideas. Taking the lead in fostering creativity and innovation in Arizona is entrepre-neur Derek Neighbors, co-founder and

by ed martinez COMMUNITY


Tempe found out about it and told the owners of the company they weren’t allowed to run their business in a garage because it was against zoning regulations. “So,” Neighbors said, “we told the company ‘instead of getting your own space, you should move into our space.’ We had an extra 10X10 office.” Another of the companies in the group kept getting hit with rent increases for the office space it was leasing in the Scottsdale Airpark, so Neighbors made a similar offer to that company. “And that’s how we started bringing people in,” hesaid. When you visit Gangplank’s headquar-ters, you will notice rows of computer desks with several dozen people sitting there. You can hear the chatter and collab-oration among them. There’s also a video game arcade next to the break room, and a podcasting studio in the back. There are now 14 “anchor” companies at the facility, and most of them are run by Generation Xers or younger staff. You will find 3-D animators, photographers, Web developers, artists and musicians, just to name a few. Neighbors revealed that the organiza-tion is also putting in a full music studio. Gangplank has a committee that finds lo-cal musicians and brings them in to do festival-style live shows. “We typically have hard rock groups, acappella singers, DJs … a wide range of talent,” he said. The new studio will help aspiring mu-sicians practice and produce their albums. The performance space will also be used for CD release parties, according to Neigh-bors. As might be expected, Neighbors said his biggest challenge is space. “We seem to be constantly outgrowing our space. We went from an 800-square-foot of-fice to 1,000 square feet to 6,600 square feet in this building,” he explained. And now, Gangplank headquarters is going

front of a panel of experts and a live audience. This is followed by a three-minute Q&A session with the panel. Last November, the event attracted more than 100 people. The state of our schools is another area of huge concern for Neighbors, and he is taking the challenge head on. “Especially schools of underprivi-leged kids,” he remarked. “It’s just a matter of opportunities that you are given, and we think we actually have a better chance in the lower-income schools … because they want change.” Gangplank Jr. was created for the purpose of allowing students to learn from experienced professionals in the arts and sciences. Students are encouraged to use their imagina-tion to solve problems, without the pressure of performance. There is a LEGO League robotics team to help children between the ages of 9 and 14 learn basic mechanics. The Gang-plank Jr. book club reinforces the importance of reading; each month, the club chooses a unique title geared toward a different age range, from 7 to 15. There is also a music exploration program, which consists of one class a month that teaches kids about the elements of music. Participants in the program also have the opportunity to build instruments. Neighbors is a visionary, and his programs are far-reaching and crucial, especially at a time when Americans are competing more than ever in the global arena. It was President Obama who said, “We can’t afford [for] our kids to be mediocre at a time when they’re competing against kids in China and kids in India.” Neighbors’ undertaking is admirable, and Gang-plank Jr. is a brilliant example of what can be done to help our youth attain success.

through another expansion. In March, the organization received a $400,000 grant from the city of Chandler. The grant funds were used to redevelop the historic down-town building where Gangplank is now. “We’ll be at about 15,000 square feet by next summer,” Neighbors said. Gangplank also offers a brown bag lunch event every week. “When we first did them, we had a lot of technical brown bags. Very ‘Googlesque,’” Neighbors recalled. Now, the events bring in all sorts of entre-preneurs and feature success stories. “We’ve had everybody from the state treasurer, Dean Martin, to Beverly Kidd, TV 3 news anchor, and Joe Johnson, who owns four or five local restaurants.” Neighbors hopes that by bringing such a variety of speakers, the lunch events will help new entrepreneurs gain knowledge about how businesses operate, from the hiring process to collecting payment from customers. Another exciting event Gangplank hosts is Funding Universe’s CrowdPitch. The event allows startups to receive feedback on their ventures. Participants present their business model in less than four minutes in

Gangplank founders, Derek Neighbors (left), and Jade Meskill (right).


Palo Alto Audiodesign’s well-Rounded cubik digital Speaker System

BY JONATHAN MASON

If you are searching for computer speakers that have fine-tuned digital sound

quality and robust power, look no further. Palo Alto Audio Design’s cubik digital

computer speaker system offers an impressively well-rounded union of dynamic digital

sound and cutting-edge design.

Unlike ordinary multimedia speakers, cubik does not require a certain position to

enhance the listening experience. Through a “highly advanced acoustic calculation of

angle between speaker and ground,” cubik allows high-quality listening at every angle.

This means there is no need to sit immediately in front of the speakers to enjoy full,

rich sounds across the entire audio spectrum.

Regardless of whether you have a Mac or a PC, the use of a digital USB connection

and digital amplification provides cubik with crystal-clear sound. Additionally, cubik’s

dynamic bass boost control gives the listener full control of the low-frequency range of

the speaker system. For gamers and movie fans, this provides a powerful, deep bass to

maximize the specific entertainment environment.

The high performance of the cubik system is determined by a jitter-eliminating

digital audio amplifier circuit and high-end loudspeaker drivers designed in Denmark

by Peerless. According to Palo Alto, it’s this high-resolution digital-signal-processing

technology that gives cubik a very flat frequency response and produces a full range

of signals with amazing accuracy. The cubik also has a patented, advanced long-vent

enclosure structure, eliminating the need for a subwoofer.

The system is not only ear-pleasing—it is eye-pleasing, as well. The minimal base

allows the angled sleek black cube speakers to seemingly hover above your desk or

countertop.

Cubik was clearly designed with the audiophile in mind and fits perfectly into any

home or office setting. The fine-tuned sound quality of cubik is backed by speaker

power unmatched by other speakers in its class. It delivers on every level.

Suggested retail price: $199. For more information, visit www.paloaltoaudio.com.

fuse’s PowerSlice

Go ahead and throw out all of those

unnecessary extra power cords—all those

tangled messes. Thanks to PowerSlice, you

don’t need them. No matter how you slice

it, this revolutionary universal charging

station delivers.

The PowerSlice universal charging

station, from Fuse, a subsidiary of

foneGEAR, allows as many as four phones

or electronic devices to be charged

simultaneously from a single power source.

PowerSlice consists of a universal base

station and as many as three plug-in

pie-shaped “slices,” each of which contains

a charging tip capable of charging a unique

device, such as a phone, digital camera or

portable gaming system. Charging slices are

interchangeable, making adding and

removing devices to the base unit a

snap—literally. Slices are available for

virtually all popular phones and electronics.

A fourth device can be charged via the USB

2.0 port on the base station.

“The great thing about PowerSlice is that

it totally clears away the cable clutter from

crowded counters and nightstands,” said

Ken Eisenbraun, foneGEAR’s president.

“One power cord, four devices. What could

be simpler? It’s charging for the whole

family, with no mess, and you always know

where your phone is.”

PowerSlice also costs less than many

comparable universal chargers and is easy to

use—no bulky adapters or special cases are

required. To use PowerSlice, simply snap in

the slice for your device, plug in the base,

set your device on the slice and turn on the

power. Suggested retail price: $44.99.

For more information, visit Fuse at

www.fuseplusyou.com. —JONATHAN MASON

tek

corn

er

For the latest technology news, visit us on MyTekLife.com.


the PASSPoRt iQ Radar detector with3-d GPSHave you ever been lost and late for an

important appointment or date? If so, this

is a passport you’ll want to take

everywhere you travel.

Billed by Escort Inc. as “the ultimate

driving companion,” the new PASSPORT

iQ is an automobile accessory that

integrates state-of-the-art radar/laser

detection, speed camera/speed limit

information and 3-D GPS navigation to

protect you from unwanted tickets and

guide you safely to your destination.

Based on the company’s PASSPORT

9500ix GPS-enabled, windshield-mount

radar and laser detector, the iQ gives

drivers their current speed and heading as

well as speed limit information. If speed

limits change and drivers are going faster

than the posted speed, Passport iQ lets

them know. It also overlays red light

cameras, speed cameras and high-risk

speed traps on its navigation screen,

features a user-friendly choice of visual

and audio alerts and can be displayed in

selectable formats and colors.

Bottom line: The PASSPORT iQ is the

ultimate marriage of driving convenience,

offering drivers the best of all worlds. Out

of the box, it establishes a high standard

for protecting consumers from unwanted

tickets while guiding them safely to their

destination.

Suggested retail: $649.95. For more

information, visit

www.escortradar.com. —JONATHAN MASON

contained solution that plugs directly into any USB-enabled disc player or media

streamer that’s connected to your television. From there, you can easily stream media

that’s already stored within your main PC to your TV-connected devices. This cures

the problem of having your media fragmented between varying drives.

The Wireless Media Stick acts as a wireless bridge that plugs into the USB

playback ports on media media players, game consoles or set-top boxes, like a PS3,

Xbox or DVD/Blu-ray player, just to name a few. It presents the shared files from a

smartphone, computer or tablet. The media player reads the file as if it were stored

inside the Wireless Media Stick, but the file resides in the original location. When

the user instructs the media player to play back the file, the file is streamed from the

original location, wirelessly.

Plug the Wireless Media Stick to a non-networked digital picture frame or even an

older DVD player and stream files from your phone to that device for play back. You

can even share or back up documents and files stored in your smartphone or tablet

by plugging the Wireless Media Stick into the USB port of a computer.

“We all create memories and document our experiences with our smartphones.

They do a great job of consolidating our lives into one device. But when it comes

to sharing it back from our phone, options are limited,” says Ramesh Uppal, HSTi

president and CEO. “People want to share their experiences, whether it’s photos or

videos from a trip, or just music selections. The Wireless Media Stick is the natural

extension of their smartphone or tablet, making it a must-have accessory for everyday

life.”

Unlike other streaming devices that are dedicated to or tie up the devices they

serve, the Wireless Media Stick lets you continue to use your computer, smartphone

or tablet without interrupting your media streaming.

Suggested retail: $99.99. For more information, visit www.hsti.com.

HSti’s wireless media Stick: A Great Accessory for the mobile life BY JONATHAN MASON

The Wireless Media Stick is a self-

Lost in an ocean of eco-initiatives?Try wetlands.

Find environmental solutions that are right for your business.

Progressive businesses are gaining a competitive edge through environmental

responsibility. If you’re looking to connect with a leader in conservation,

Ducks Unlimited is open to business.

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tHe PsYcHoLoGY of BUsiness ProfiLinG

J you with a blank stare, or they respond in terms of subjectknowledge, which is the wrong answer.” Which raises the question—If you don’t know your own strengths and weaknesses, how can you judge someone else’s? Skursky says that is impossible. “Many business consultants or test interpreters lack the very leadership experience that they’re attempting to assess. When that’s the case, the scope of their interpretation is far more clinical, far narrower than when those assessment results are practically applied to a particularbusiness situation where they have expertise.” According to Skursky, having leadership experience is even

“When hiring, you have to look much deeper than the self-serving resume and highly overrated industry tenure. There’s a sophisticated science to theprocess,” says Joseph Skursky.

oseph Skursky gets frustrated when he hears CEOscomplaining about new hires and underperforming employees. “Companies, for the most part, don’t understand that you’ve got hire for strength—you’ve got to hire from strength and build on those [new hires].”

Skursky is president of Market Leader Solutions, a businessthat specializes in providing guidance, growth and leadership solutions to companies worldwide. “Unfortunately, most executives can’t truly define those strengths in others, or even themselves. Nor do they continuously coach to get the best results from their employeesby rolling to those strengths. To do so, you have to take feelings out of the equation. Whenhiring, you have to look much deeper than the self-serving resume and highly overratedindustry tenure. There’s a sophisticated science to the process.” According to Skursky, a major part of that process is the use of refined, multilevelpsychological, “psychometric” assessments. “It’s vital for employers to be able to adequately assess an individual’s work ethic, motivation and mindset when applying for the job to combat high rates of employee turnover or disgruntled employees that are unhappy in their career. Productivity, teamwork and workplaceharmony result from having employees whoare not only appropriately trained and skilled, but also fit the company’s culture and climate.” In the 1970s and 1980s, companies often

more critical when coaching or assessing higher levels of management. “Most individuals may have had experiencemanaging within one and possibly two levels of management. When you get to three to five levels deep, where real leadership needs to be exerted, very few can effectivelyoperate in this space.” Skursky and Market Leader Solutions take a unique, multilevel approach. “Using assessments as the base point, the demonstration tells me more than enough about that person. Once we have thatassessment, we have a very deep understand-ing of their strengths and weaknesses. From that point, we simply validate those strengths and weaknesses using both behavior-based questions and demonstrative techniques. The demonstrative questions are particularly

useful because sometimes you’ll ask a direct question and not receive a completely truthful answer. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then a demonstration is worth 1,000 pictures into the mind. I apply my knowledge of the innate value of theassessments, along with real-world leadership experience. In the end, this produces a significantly more pragmatic solution in virtually all business settings.” While Skursky says it’s still possible for a skilled candidate to fake the results of psychometric assessments, using the best assessments significantly reduces the ability for falsification and provides warning signals when someone is either unclear or “gaming” the system. Skursky has used the same assessments for almost 10 years to evaluate more than 4,000 people. He uses three assessments, as opposed to one or two, in order to understand the full scope of each individual. These three assessments, when triangulated, give him insight into: How a person behaves, communicates and emotes; why an individual behaves in a certain way—an indicator of corporate culture and long-term fit; and what an individual thinks about, which is a key factor in determining emotional intelligence. “Increasing sales may seem difficult,” Skursky said, “but that’s a secondary process. To address that in a vacuum without first positioning a company for sustained growth is putting the cart before the horse. Real growth happens with eyes wide open, between the ears of leadership and their people. Real growth happens by fully exploring what defines quality management.”

used assessment centers as a means of evaluating potential candidates. But assessment centers were expensive, unproven and hard to find. As a result, many institutions are now usingpsychological assessments to help them economically evaluate how well prospective employees will fit into their organizations. Using psychometric assessments to eliminate hiring mistakes by ensuring that a candidate is qualified and will fit into theorganization is sound resource management, yet the use of psychological assessments in the business world has a long and varied history. It has proven successful in many contexts, yet when not applied properly, the results have been disappointing. Annie Murphy Paul, author of The Cult of Personality Testing, cautions: “Users of personality tests who are not psychologists—employers, teachers, guidance counselors, workshop leaders—also have an obligation to educate themselves about the potential for personality tests to limit and stereotype. A careful examination of a test’s psychometric properties and a healthy skepticism toward its claims might lead them to choose better instruments—or to forgo testing altogether in favor of some old-fashioned conversation.” Evolving technology has made these assessments easy and inexpensive to administer. Employers are using them in avariety of ways—from abbreviated versions that applicants can take in a kiosk when applying for a retail job, to websites wherepotential employees can log in and answer a battery of questions. Peter Drucker, a well-known management consultant and self-described “social ecologist,” said, “Most Americans do not know what their strengths are. When you ask them, they look at

BY W

ARR

EN M

ASO

N

WeL.coM(e) to LivinG rooM cULtUre

“Living room: the home gathering

place where family and friends share,

learn, play and grow,” and “culture:

anything a human does to any degree

of success that is valued by other

people.”

BY MARY L. HOLDEN

L At a Living Room Culture planned event, artists, musicians

or other experts come to meet you, make friends with your

friends and leave everyone with a good memory or newfound

knowledge. “Perhaps we can do away with the notion that

artists, poets, musicians, thinkers or craftsmen who are not

well-known celebrities but who are talented in their own right

will realize that people in their own community can ask them

into their home and give them some support. In addition to

looking for commercial venues and getting bookings, they now

ong before computers and the Internet, people

gathered in one another’s homes to share, learn and be

entertained. From the ancient Greeks who gathered in

in stone dwellings to pass on stories and legends, to French

society in the 1700s, when women would meet to discuss books

in bedrooms, the home has played a role in the enjoyment of

culture.

It took a man who calls himself an idea shaman to use the Internet to get people off their computers and

into each other’s living rooms. Igor Brezhnev,

that idea shaman, moved to the United States

from Moscow 15 years ago. To date, his best

manifestation in that role is the website

livingroomculture.com. It launched into

cyberspace on Nov. 22, 2010.

Brezhnev says, “With communication

mediums like radio, television and Internet,

and increased venues in which to attend large

group events, personal, intimate home

gatherings that offer something more

thoughtful than a party atmosphere do not

occur in the general population. Living Room

Culture takes the best of what the Internet

have an option to perform or speak in the

comfortable surroundings of a home filled

with friends,” says Brezhnev.

Phoenix writer and musician Brendon

Cottrell recently gave a concert in

Brezhnev’s living room to try out the

concept. Brezhnev said, “It turned out to be

a magical experience for my guests and me.

It brought together a lot of people who got

to both be entertained by Brendon and meet

him after the show.”

Currently on the website, you can choose

from a poet to give a reading, a musical

performance or lessons in meditation and

stress reduction from a certified yoga

does—connects people—and suggests

bringing cultural interaction back into living

rooms.”

This website is just one of many that promote social

interaction, but what makes it unique is the way it matches

people with a talent or expertise with opportunities to perform

or speak in the homes of people who want to host an event.

Through livingroomculture.com, performers, artists and speakers

arrange to come into your home—sometimes free of charge, or

for a small fee that can be covered by the host or collected by the

host from the guests (it is the host who pays the presenter).

The common definition of living room, according to

Brezhnev, is “a room in a house for general and informal everyday

use,” and the common definition of culture is “the arts, sciences

and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement

regarded collectively.” Brezhnev gives them each new definitions:

“living room: the home gathering place where family and friends

share, learn, play and grow,” and “culture: anything a human does

to any degree of success that is valued by other people.”

agoras to discuss philosophy, to Native Americans who gathered

instructor. As interest grows, Brezhnev hopes to

add a wider variety of people who’d like to

perform or speak in private homes.

Living Room Culture is not a for-profit business. Its owner

has a unique view of the world of give and take. Brezhnev says

that in his years of experience in working as a cook, a security

guard, a technology consultant, a graphic designer, an art

director and even a ditch digger, the jobs were all about life and

learning new skills. “There are no fees for what I do. If I can do

it, and I like doing it—I will help. As far as my own wants and

needs … perhaps the people I help will see value in what I do

and will barter or pay to help me continue do what I do, live in

a place I like, purchase things I enjoy and allow me to help other

people reach their dreams. It all adds up.”

The website is free to those who post information about

their talent, their plan for a show, their fee and their availability. It

is also free to those who use it to book a presenter. According to

Brezhnev, the website is “a vehicle to connect people who want

to engage in redefining their own lives and culture.”

We’re still lookingfor the fi nal frontier.

The sky is never the limit for IEEE members. From yesterday’s Mercury missions, to

today’s satellite constellations, to tomorrow’s landing on Mars, we’re bringing expertise

and innovation where no one has gone before.

In fact, IEEE members have been part of nearly every major technical development

of the last 125 years. So when you need to draw on the most advanced technical

knowledge on Earth, or anywhere else, you’ll see that IEEE members aren’t just

waiting for the future, they’re engineering it—one trek at a time.

Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future

www.ieee125.org

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