Rocker Bryan Adams did the honors of singing and playing his acoustic guitar at the Audi press conference today. My colleague, Jon Linkov, noted that this entertainment made the presentation much livelier than what he saw at BMW. "Except for the dancers," said Linkov. "I don't know where BMW found them, but these karate-like experts were unbelievable...and much more energetic than the presenters." Of course, it was late in the afternoon, and we were sipping on huge cans of Rockstar energy drink, hoping to help us bounce-back from the sensory overload exhaustion under the hot lights in Cobo.

BTW: I think I know what causes global warming: pack a thousand journalists shoulder-to-shoulder in one of these press conferences, and you begin to feel the temperatures rise faster than Hanna Montana ticket prices. The hot air from the presenters doesn't help, either.

But what was interesting—refreshing, perhaps—about Mr. Adams' singing was that the volume wasn't loud enough to shake the water out of the Lake Michigan. Maybe I'm getting old, but is there a reason the auto manufacturers need to blast the music so loud during these presentations? ("Yeah, but mine goes to 11" - for all you Spinal Tap fans.) I wonder why Audi chose him, though. He's from Canada - more than a stone's throw from Germany. And, I guess, Audi officials didn't really want him to sing "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" to avoid all those bad memories of the unintended acceleration thing. Adams also didn't sing "Open Road" (the only car-related song I could find in his catalog). And, honestly, I can't name the tune he sang - must be off a new album. Perhaps it was "(Everything I Do) I Do It For [Audi]", or "Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven [driving my new Audi]." Actually, those aren't the real titles, but you must admit that the pairing does seem odd.

I mean, in the Summer Of '69, Audi was barely a blip on North America's radar screen. Now, however, the company knows Only The Strong Survive and is poised to offer a product line that isn't Wastin' Time getting buyer's attentions.

I'll stop now... Please forgive me. Blame the Rockstar.

—Mike Quincy

See our complete coverage of the 2008 Detroit auto show. And discuss the event in our auto show forum.