BILL WOLFF (Announcer): From NPR News in New York, this is THE BRYANT PARK PROJECT.
RACHEL MARTIN, host:
Live from NPR studios and Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, this is THE BRYANT PARK PROJECT from NPR News. News, information and more sunshine in your life.
(Soundbite of song "Here Comes The Sun")
THE BEATLES (Rock & Roll Band): (Singing) Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. And I say it's all right. Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter.
MARTIN: You know what? It has been a long, cold, lonely winter. Hey, I'm Rachel Martin. It's Monday, March 10, 2008. Alison Stewart is traveling today, so my friend Matt Martinez is here with me. And we're springing forward, Matt.
MATT MARTINEZ, host:
Hi, Rachel Martin. Yes, some of us more than others.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: Yesterday we were all supposed to move our clocks forward one hour to give us more sunshine in our life. What happened to you?
MARTINEZ: Well, you know...
MARTIN: Matt came in late today, by the way, so everyone's like, Oh, no. Matt forgot to set his clocks.
MARTINEZ: Yeah. No, no. I actually did actually set my clocks correctly. What I did was failed to wake up this morning. My body clock did not reset. It happens.
MARTIN: That's what it is. Your circadian rhythm.
MARTINEZ: Yeah. I woke up at 4:50, which is...
MARTIN: Which is, for all you people who don't work at our show, not early enough. You need to wake up...
MARTINEZ: Exactly.
MARTIN: ...to come to work on time.
MARTINEZ: So, technically my body says I woke up right on time this morning, so.
MARTIN: Well, we're glad you're here.
MARTINEZ: (Unintelligible) on the time frame.
MARTIN: There is more sunshine in your life, more sunshine on this show, all kinds of good things. Sunshine - that's what happens when you go on vacation, a lot of sun. That's where I prefer to go on vacation. But when you go on vacation, the last thing you typically want to do is work, right? Mm, not always the case. Some people are actually going on vacation to work. It's called a Vocation Vacation and it could change your life just like it changed the life of Cory Chacon. She spent a week's vacation as a Concierge, and she loved us so much that she ditched the music biz to do it full time. We're going to hear from her in a little bit. She's actually working just down the street from us now. And we'll tell you how you can throw your life as Cory has change it too.
Also, South by Southwest is here. It's a big hit. So, my music class go down in Austin. We're going to be covering it all week long, starting with the preview today from Carrie Brownstein. She used to be with the band Sleater-Kinney. Now she blogs for us, for NPR music, and she's going to tell us what bands to listen for.
We're going to talk politics, of course, it's Monday, with our regular politics guy, Jim VandeHei. We'll get you your fix of the most e-mailed stories on the Web this morning, and, of course, the news headlines in just a minute. But first...
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MARTIN: ...gas prices are climbing. Right now, the Lundberg survey of national gas stations says, we're paying $3.20 on average nationwide. That's up nine cents in two weeks. Gas follows oil, of course, and oil broke it's per barrel record last week, hitting 104 bucks a gallon. Analyst Trilby Lundberg says, don't expect the price to go down anytime soon and brace yourselves for a $4 a gallon gas.
So, when was the last time things were this bad? Let's take it on back.
(Soundbite of song, "Bette Davis Eyes")
MARTIN: It's 1981. You're deciding between pink or blue leg warmers. You're listening to the number one song "Bette Davis Eyes" on the radio, which you still listen to because there's no such thing as an iPod.
(Soundbite of song, "Bette Davis Eyes")
Ms. KIM CARNES (Singer-Songwriter): (Singing) Her hair is Harlow gold. Her lips a sweet surprise.
MARTIN: And gas prices are at their inflation-adjusted record of $3.40. So what would the $4 gallon mean? Sacrifices. And maybe more than gasoline. Americans have traditionally kept going to the pump as prices soared. A recent Kelley Blue Book survey found that 44 percent of new car shoppers are going to make room in their budgets for higher gas prices by eating out less and 40 percent will trim their entertainment budgets. So, fewer trips to Outback Steakhouse and maybe we'll think twice about blowing 11 bucks on movies like "College Road Trip."
But wait, actual college road trips may suffer. A paper in Indiana reports that the annual right of passage trip to spring break may suffer. It's going to cost more to get there and America's underage drinkers may forego the trip altogether or have less to spend on Jagermeister when they get there. The Society of American Florists says that - flower vendors nationwide are dealing with the price hike, with some forced to raise delivery charges and many being more efficient with their delivery routes. Some families are sharing cars, running all their errands in one trip and making use of one-stop shop, big bucks source to cut down on mileage. And one other thing that seems to get sacrificed when gas prices rise: incumbent parties. Prices doubled in Jimmy Carter's term, and we all know what happened there. Prices rose 20 cents during the presidency of the first George Bush. A gallon went up 30 cents during Bill Clinton's second term. We can only speculate if John McCain can overcome the trend of rising gas prices, accompanying incumbent party losses as he takes aim at the White House. McCain addressed the rising cost of gas last night on 60 Minutes.
Senator JOHN McCAIN (Republican, Arizona; Presidential Candidate): The only way we're going to fix it is to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. We've got to have a crash program, a all-out effort. But I can't give you straight talk and tell you that tomorrow I can change the price of a gallon of gas.
MARTIN: Now, incomes are much higher now than they were in the early 80s. Back then, Americans were spending about 6 percent of what they made on gas. Now, it's down around 4 percent.
That is the BPP's big story. Now let's get some more of today's headlines from Matt Martinez. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.