Sunday
Aug242025
AUGUST 27, 2025
Sunday, August 24, 2025 at 08:13AM 
The original - and still our favorite - Autoextremist logo.
The AE Quote of the Century: Everybody loves The High-Octane Truth. Until they don't. -WG
SPECIAL EDITOR'S NOTE: We'd like to remind you that Peter's first work of fiction, "St. Michael of Birmingham" is out now. Make no mistake, it doesn't resemble anything you've read from him before. In fact, it is quite a dramatic departure. It is mystical. It is sexy. It is funny. It's moving. And it is a flat-out wild ride unlike anything you've experienced. Having said that, it is definitely not for everyone, but then, it is from PMD, so that probably shouldn't come as a surprise! Check it out on Amazon Kindle here. -WG
(Alfa Romeo images)
Alfa Romeo unveiled the 33 Stradale at the Hagerty House in Monterey last week, describing it as an "exclusive Italian icon reborn for a new era." Inspired by the original 1967 Tipo 33 Stradale, long considered one of the most beautiful cars ever made, the contemporary 33 is "a handcrafted masterpiece that seamlessly blends heritage with cutting-edge innovation," according to Alfa Romeo PR minions. Available with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 engine delivering 630HP, the 33 Stradale achieves 0 to 62 mph in under three seconds and a top speed of 207 mph. Built entirely by hand at Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera in Italy, each 33 Stradale is a bespoke creation tailored to the client’s specifications, with design input from Alfa Romeo’s Centro Stile and engineering expertise derived from Formula One. The 33 Stradale features a carbon-fiber monocoque, active suspension and dihedral doors, along with a minimalist, analog-inspired cockpit that honors the purity of driving. Production is limited to 33 units globally, all of which are spoken for, making the 33 Stradale not only a technical tour de force, but one of the most exclusive collector cars of the modern era.
(Jeep/Stellantis images)
The all-new 2026 Jeep® Cherokee returns with a new 1.6-liter turbo-four hybrid propulsion system with an estimated combined fuel economy rating of 37 mpg and will deliver more than 500 miles on a single tank of fuel. It is the first Jeep brand hybrid system, and a Stellantis first in North America, to highlight the company’s growing multi-energy strategy. Composed of an internal-combustion engine, two electric motors and a battery, the propulsion system delivers 210HP and 230 lb-ft of torque. It's bigger and roomier, inside and out, too. The entry-level 2026 Jeep Cherokee starts at $36,995, including a $1,995 destination charge, followed by the Laredo trim, which starts at $39,995, including destination charge. The 2026 Cherokee will arrive at dealerships in late 2025, beginning with the Limited and Overland trims, starting at $42,495 and $45,995, respectively. The entry-level Cherokee trim and Laredo will arrive at dealers in early 2026. Production will take place at Stellantis’ Toluca Assembly Plant in Mexico.
The AE Song of the Week:
Hello? (Hello? Hello? Hello?)
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone home?
Come on now
I hear you're feeling down
Well I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again
Relax
I'll need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb
I have become comfortably numb
Okay (okay, okay, okay)
Just a little pinprick
There'll be no more, ah
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb
"Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, from the album "The Wall" (1979).* Written by David Jon Gilmour and Roger Waters. Publisher: BMG Rights Management. Lyrics licensed and provided by Lyric Find. Listen to it here.
*"Comfortably Numb" describes a state of delirium; a feeling of being detached from reality. Many assumed the song is about drugs, but that's not so, according to Pink Floyd bass player Roger Waters, who wrote the lyrics and came up with the concept of the album The Wall, where the song appears. The lyrics describe how Waters felt as a child when he was sick with a fever. As an adult, he got that feeling again sometimes under different circumstances. He toldMojo magazine (December 2009) that the lines, "When I was a child, I had a fever/My hands felt just like two balloons" were autobiographical. He explained: "I remember having the flu or something, an infection with a temperature of 105 and being delirious. It wasn't like the hands looked like balloons, but they looked way too big, frightening. A lot of people think those lines are about masturbation. God knows why."
In a radio interview around 1980 with Jim Ladd from KLOS in Los Angeles, Waters said part of the song is about the time he got hepatitis but didn't know it. Pink Floyd had to do a show that night in Philadelphia, and the doctor Roger saw gave him a sedative to help the pain, thinking it was a stomach disorder. At the show, Roger's hands were numb "like two toy balloons." He was unable to focus, but also realized the fans didn't care because they were so busy screaming, hence "comfortably" numb. He said most of The Wall is about alienation between the audience and band.
Exploring further, Mojo asked Waters about the line, "That'll keep you going through the show," referring to getting medicated before going on-stage. He explained: "That comes from a specific show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia (June 29, 1977). I had stomach cramps so bad that I thought I wasn't able to go on. A doctor backstage gave me a shot of something that I swear to God would have killed a f---ing elephant. I did the whole show hardly able to raise my hand above my knee. He said it was a muscular relaxant. But it rendered me almost insensible. It was so bad that at the end of the show, the audience was baying for more. I couldn't do it. They did the encore without me."
The Wall is a concept album telling the story of Pink, a rock star who shuts himself off from the outside world by building up a figurative wall. It's a double album, with "Comfortably Numb" the last song on Side 3. By this time, Pink is a hot mess, but he has a show to perform and a doctor is trying to shoot him up with something to get him on stage. Roger Waters is the voice of the doctor, who asks in the opening line, "Hello, is there anybody in there?" Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour takes the voice of Pink, trying to make sense of it all ("Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying"). The doctor injects him ("just a little pinprick") and Pink goes comfortably numb.
The next song on the album is "The Show Must Go On," where Pink musters the energy to take the stage. This is one of three songs on The Wall with a writing credit to David Gilmour; the others are "Young Lust" and "Run Like Hell."
The album was Roger Waters' idea. After the band finished touring for their Animals album in 1977, they went their separate ways and worked on separate projects. Waters keyed into the disconnect he felt with the fans on that tour - they were playing huge stadiums and the shows sometimes felt like sporting events. When the band went back to work in 1978, Waters showed up with the demo for The Wall. Gilmour, meanwhile, worked on a solo album that he released in 1978. When it came time to work on "Comfortably Numb," he had some musical ideas that made it to the song.
Waters and Gilmour disagree on how much David added to the song. "My music, his words," Gilmour said in a Mojo oral history of the album. Waters countered, "Dave gave me a chord sequence, so if you wanted to fight about it - and I don't want to fight about it - I could say that I wrote the melody, and all the lyrics, obviously. I think in the choruses he actually hummed a bit of the melody, but in the verses he certainly didn't. That's never been a problem for me, I think it's a great chord sequence." Gilmour believes this song can be divided into two sections: dark and light. The light are the parts that begin "When I was a child," which he sings. The dark are the "Hello, is there anybody in there" parts, sung by Waters. (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts®)
Hello? (Hello? Hello? Hello?)
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me
Is there anyone home?
Come on now
I hear you're feeling down
Well I can ease your pain
Get you on your feet again
Relax
I'll need some information first
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain you would not understand
This is not how I am
I have become comfortably numb
I have become comfortably numb
Okay (okay, okay, okay)
Just a little pinprick
There'll be no more, ah
But you may feel a little sick
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go
There is no pain you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown
The dream is gone
I have become comfortably numb
"Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, from the album "The Wall" (1979).* Written by David Jon Gilmour and Roger Waters. Publisher: BMG Rights Management. Lyrics licensed and provided by Lyric Find. Listen to it here.
*"Comfortably Numb" describes a state of delirium; a feeling of being detached from reality. Many assumed the song is about drugs, but that's not so, according to Pink Floyd bass player Roger Waters, who wrote the lyrics and came up with the concept of the album The Wall, where the song appears. The lyrics describe how Waters felt as a child when he was sick with a fever. As an adult, he got that feeling again sometimes under different circumstances. He toldMojo magazine (December 2009) that the lines, "When I was a child, I had a fever/My hands felt just like two balloons" were autobiographical. He explained: "I remember having the flu or something, an infection with a temperature of 105 and being delirious. It wasn't like the hands looked like balloons, but they looked way too big, frightening. A lot of people think those lines are about masturbation. God knows why."
In a radio interview around 1980 with Jim Ladd from KLOS in Los Angeles, Waters said part of the song is about the time he got hepatitis but didn't know it. Pink Floyd had to do a show that night in Philadelphia, and the doctor Roger saw gave him a sedative to help the pain, thinking it was a stomach disorder. At the show, Roger's hands were numb "like two toy balloons." He was unable to focus, but also realized the fans didn't care because they were so busy screaming, hence "comfortably" numb. He said most of The Wall is about alienation between the audience and band.
Exploring further, Mojo asked Waters about the line, "That'll keep you going through the show," referring to getting medicated before going on-stage. He explained: "That comes from a specific show at the Spectrum in Philadelphia (June 29, 1977). I had stomach cramps so bad that I thought I wasn't able to go on. A doctor backstage gave me a shot of something that I swear to God would have killed a f---ing elephant. I did the whole show hardly able to raise my hand above my knee. He said it was a muscular relaxant. But it rendered me almost insensible. It was so bad that at the end of the show, the audience was baying for more. I couldn't do it. They did the encore without me."
The Wall is a concept album telling the story of Pink, a rock star who shuts himself off from the outside world by building up a figurative wall. It's a double album, with "Comfortably Numb" the last song on Side 3. By this time, Pink is a hot mess, but he has a show to perform and a doctor is trying to shoot him up with something to get him on stage. Roger Waters is the voice of the doctor, who asks in the opening line, "Hello, is there anybody in there?" Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour takes the voice of Pink, trying to make sense of it all ("Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying"). The doctor injects him ("just a little pinprick") and Pink goes comfortably numb.
The next song on the album is "The Show Must Go On," where Pink musters the energy to take the stage. This is one of three songs on The Wall with a writing credit to David Gilmour; the others are "Young Lust" and "Run Like Hell."
The album was Roger Waters' idea. After the band finished touring for their Animals album in 1977, they went their separate ways and worked on separate projects. Waters keyed into the disconnect he felt with the fans on that tour - they were playing huge stadiums and the shows sometimes felt like sporting events. When the band went back to work in 1978, Waters showed up with the demo for The Wall. Gilmour, meanwhile, worked on a solo album that he released in 1978. When it came time to work on "Comfortably Numb," he had some musical ideas that made it to the song.
Waters and Gilmour disagree on how much David added to the song. "My music, his words," Gilmour said in a Mojo oral history of the album. Waters countered, "Dave gave me a chord sequence, so if you wanted to fight about it - and I don't want to fight about it - I could say that I wrote the melody, and all the lyrics, obviously. I think in the choruses he actually hummed a bit of the melody, but in the verses he certainly didn't. That's never been a problem for me, I think it's a great chord sequence." Gilmour believes this song can be divided into two sections: dark and light. The light are the parts that begin "When I was a child," which he sings. The dark are the "Hello, is there anybody in there" parts, sung by Waters. (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts®)
Editor's Note: You can access previous issues of AE by clicking on "Next 1 Entries" below. - WG
