Mike Doughty Show, Club Congress, Tucson, AZ 2/26/2010

If you recall, back in December I had the opportunity to interview Mike Doughty over the phone for WickedInfo. I felt like, and I know for a fact, having reviewed the taped evidence, I sounded like a dork. So it was with some hesitation that I went to the show--I wondered if I should mention that I was the guy who did that interview.

When we arrived I picked up a copy of his poetry collection, Slanky, from the merchandise table with the intent of having Mike sign it after the show. A few minutes later he was behind the merch table and I approached him with the book, miming for a signing. He was in pre-show rush mode so he asked if I could wait till the end when he'd come out and sign stuff, all the while making his way for the back stage area. I said sure and asked if he remembered doing a phone interview for WickedInfo and he did. Once again in dork mode, I said, "I'm the doofus who did the interview." He was very nice and said, "Oh, hey, great to meet you," and shook my hand and was once again on his way. He didn't call me an asshole, which is good. He didn't punch me, which is better. But there was no embrace and no exclamation that I had changed his life and boosted his career forever, either.

The show was great. He's on another Question Jar Tour which is just Mike and Andrew "Scrap" Livingston on cello and sometimes electric guitar. These two guys put out a pretty remarkable amount of sound. Scrap plays a lot of pizzicato finger-style lines and he's very melodic. I think Mike often employs a drop-D tuning which gives him a lot of bottom end. I was really pleased with the set list. He opened with "Ossining," which was unexpected. He sprinkled, as you would expect, quite a few cuts from the new album, Sad Man Happy Man, throughout the set. There were only two songs that I would have really liked to hear that he didn't play, but I hadn't really expected to hear them, either. These were "The Only Answer," one of my favorite Doughty tunes, and "Looks," a cover from some long-forgotton New York band from the 70s called The Student Teachers.

I suppose I should give some explanation of a question jar show. Prior to the show Andrew sets a gallon pickle jar on a table in front of the stage along with a stack of scrap paper and several pens. The idea is for the audience to fill the jar with questions that Andrew will read and Mike will answer throughout the show. This is usually done as a place holder while Mike tunes or re-tunes his guitar, etc. Sometimes it just seems like a good time for a question. Mike likes the weird off the wall questions more than the straightforward ones about his songs and the like. His answers sometimes indicate that--Yes, next question. No, next question. Seven, next question. He seemed to like one of my questions (If the universe is ever-expanding, what's it expanding into???) but his answer was ruined by self-proclaimed Math Girl when she started going on about how the universe isn't ever-expanding, blah, blah, blah. Damn you, Math Girl!

After the show I stood in line for what seemed a ridiculous length of time to purchase a few of the buttons they had put together for Haitian relief (a buck apiece with 100% of the money going to Haiti). Then I got in line for the signing. I opted for the usual "great set" line, got my book signed, we exchanged thank yous, and I wandered out to the lobby to find Joan (she had long abandoned me to escape the throng).

I've never felt comfortable approaching "celebrities" and talking to them. I mean, beyond "great show" what are you going to say? They're busy and have to have the same conversation a hundred times or more a night. And even though I've gotten a few of them over the years, I'm never really sure of the purpose of an autograph. I mean, I suppose it's a personal confirmation that, yea, I went to that show. For some I'm sure it's a hobby or even a business, but I don't get that, either. In the end it's just one more reason not to get rid of something somewhere down the line. "Well, I can't get rid of that copy, it's autographed." Not that we packrats need justification.

All in all the Doughty show was a great show. I highly recommend checking him out.

How To Brew Compost Tea (A Super Nutrient-Rich Liquid Plant Food)

First of all, compost tea is not for drinking! I can only imagine how foul it might taste. Of course, it might taste

pretty good. But however it tastes I suspect it would be full of pro- and not-so-pro-biotics!

Compost tea is a nutrient dense liquid plant food that is literally alive with beneficial bacteria and micro-nutrients that are harvested and propagated from your compost. I have read that the nutritional value to your soil is up to ten times greater than simply applying the compost directly (though, of course, there are plenty of reasons to do that as well). This liquid "fertilizer"--though I hesitate to use that term and all of its negative connotations--can be used indoors or out, should be generally odorless, can be sprayed or poured on the leaves, the soil, whatever, and really packs a punch for your plants. And it's easy and inexpensive to make!

There are some things you will need:

1 five gallon bucket (at least one)

1 sack of some sort for each bucket of tea you plan to brew. Almost anything will do as long as it's not waterproof and is fine enough to keep most of your compost out of the liquid. Some people skip this step, but then they have to filter the tea once it's brewed. I find that using a giant "tea bag" is much easier. I have used an old pillow case but a burlap sack or something of that nature will work fine. It should be big enough to hold a half to a whole gallon of compost.

1 simple aquarium pump. Usually the smallest ones are good for a ten gallon tank, but check the ratings to be sure. The one I bought was about six bucks.

1 aquarium airstone. Now, as you can see in the photos, I bought one long one--about twelve inches long. It seems ideal because it gets air throughout the bucket. Some people buy a gang valve and split it into three with a small airstone at the end of each tube resting on the bottom of the bucket. I'm sure that works great, but will cost slightly more than my one long stone.

You'll also need enough aquarium tubing to attach from the pump to the airstone allowing for full submersion of the airstone. I bought an eight foot section and it was plenty.

2 oz. unsulphured molasses

All told I put less than ten bucks into the "kit" and I am sure it wouldn't take long to spend a lot more than that on liquid plant food purchased at the store!

The first step is to put some of your excellent homemade compost into the bag. If you don't have any homemade compost, store bought organic compost is fine. (Make sure it's organic!)

Tie the bag off like a big tea bag and rest it on the bottom of the bucket.

Fill your bucket up with water from your rain barrel. If you don't have a rain barrel you can use water from the hose but you should let it sit in a separate bucket for at least several hours for the chlorine and whatnot to evaporate out. You'll want the bucket almost full, but not quite. Make sure your airstone is fully submerged.

Add your molasses to the water--this is booster food for your colony.

Dry your hands (don't want any shocking surprises!) and plug in your little pump. Your bucket of water should start bubbling away. The airstone is necessary because it is providing life-giving oxygen to your colony of beneficial bacteria.

Depending on the temperature, in twelve to twenty-four hours you will have a bucket of super-nutritious liquid plant food in the form of compost tea. As soon as you unplug the pump the bacteria start to die off. You'll want to apply your tea to your plants within four hours of that time. Also, the tea is light sensitive--it will break down quickly in the sun, so it is best to feed your plants with your compost tea either early in the morning or in the evening.

I think that pretty much covers the process. Get to it. Brew yourself a nice cup of Pu Erh and enjoy sharing your own cup of tea during your back yard garden tea party!

Ity's Rodeo Time!

It's rodeo week in Tucson so all the kids get a long weekend. Well, everyone wants to get in on the act so around here we're having Rodeo de los Vacqueros de las Tortugas. Ride 'em, cowboy!!!

My New Compost Bin Project

My friend Ryan gave me two barrels, a fifty gallon and a thirty gallon. I turned the fifty gallon barrel into a rain barrel and decided the best use for the thirty gallon was a new compost bin.

I have been composting for a while now but my system has been crude and very, very slow. Since my compost mostly just sat in two twenty gallon plastic garbage cans the process was more anearobic than aerobic because it quickly became difficult to impossible to mix things up with any efficiency. The plan for the new bin was to make it so the compost could be easily turned by simply rotating or tumbling the barrel, and thus its contents. I suspect the results will be compost is less than a third of the time with better consistency and texture.

I wanted to make the project as inexpensively as possible and tried to rely on materials I had around the house. One thing I want to make clear is that this was not an art project or something for display at a finish carpentry show or anything like that. It's meant to be strictly functional and so a lot of my cuts and techniques would probably be scoffed at by people who are actually handy or who consider themselves craftspersons!

My first step was to check out Instructables.com for some ideas. I looked at a bunch of plans and discussed options with Ryan and thought about it for a while. Then I took stock of what I had on hand and got to work. I took some scrap 2X4s and a piece of particle board that I had and used that for my rack frame. That project kind of evolved as it went because I realized it was not going to be sturdy enough to hold a thirty gallon barrel full of wet plant waste. In order to add support I took a length of half inch copper pipe that was in the garage and cut two pieces from that, flattened the ends, drilled holes into the ends, and screwed one to each side.

With the rack finished I went to work on the barrel. One thing I did that no one mentioned on the other projects was to mark out my door and then mark all of the holes for the hardware and drilling those before cutting out the door. That made the drilling much simpler because the surface was more sturdy and I didn't have to worry about trying to line up the latch slots while trying to holding a loose plastic door in place.

It would be easy enough to cut the door out with a jigsaw, but I just used a Dremel-type tool with a cutting wheel on it. It worked like a charm and cut through the plastic easily--though I ended up using two cutting wheels to do it. Once the door was cut I put all of the hardware on--hinges (thanks again, Ryan!), latches, etc. For a handle I drilled a hole in the door and fed a length of old inner tube through it and knotted it on the back side.

For drainage and aeration I used a quarter inch bit and drilled holes all around the barrel at about four inch intervals. Again, I didn't measure this out or anything like that. I just sort of eyeballed them and went for it. They are clearly not spaced perfectly, but they will more than do the job.

With the sides of the main barrel complete, it was time to do the ends. I cut two holes in the ends with a hole saw attached to the drill. The idea is to run a length of pipe (also from Ryan's yard) through the hole so that the barrel can rotate around the pipe. I wanted to add some extra support for the pipe so, like others have shown on the net, I cut two pieces from some wood I had and drilled holes through them as well. As you can see from the photos, these are far from perfect circles! In order to more evenly distribute the load across the ends of the barrel, I put five bolts through each end.

Once everything was put together I figured I should pretty it up some so I broke out the paint. I bought black spray paint for the barrel that is meant for use on plastic, Krylon Fusion. It works great but probably poisoned everything in a one mile radius. I wanted the barrel black so that it will help generate heat within the barrel. I had some green paint in the garage that I used for the rack.

I set it up and transfered all the stuff from my "current" compost barrel and gave it a few turns. Everything seems to work great!

My New Compost Bin Project Photos

A Motley Crew Heads to Pine for a Great Weekend

The Usual Suspects took a trip Way Up North for the weekend. Our main objective: Celebrating Ken's first 50th birthday! We included a side trip to the Camp Verde Pecan and Wine Festival where we had a very nice time and tasted some very good wines. One table had a little prize called Wine-a-Rita, which was a sweet wine that tasted like margarita. Sort of. More like lime Kool-Aid, I think. I liked it, but I was alone in that group. Wine was tasted, wine was purchased. It was an all around successful outing.

From the wine festival we headed over to Pine, Arizona, to find our cabin, Kamp Kiwi. It was a very nice place (thank you Ken and Marie!). We drove past it in the dark of night and ended up at the end of the road along with twenty or more elk. We tried to get a photo but it was way too dark. We turned around and found the cabin easily.

The next morning, after a massive gut bomb breakfast of biscuits and gravy with all the extras, we visited the Tonto Natural Bridge National Monument and had a very nice hike on the only open trail. What the trail lacked in length it tried to make up for in height. It was a a pretty good climb out from the bottom. Our timing was good. The weather was perfect for a hike. There were quite a few people there, but I wouldn't call it crowded. Because of recent storms the other trails were closed due to trail damage and erosion. The trail we were on goes under the bridge but that section was closed as well. It was still very nice. I would like to go there again when the other trails are open--that is if the park doesn't get shut down for lack of funding.

Saturday night (Ken's birthday) was supposed to be steaks on the grill followed by cake and drink, but we skipped the grill and went right to cake and drinks. Ken received two very nice bottles of bourbon, one of which he opened. I'm not a bourbon drinker, but it was pretty good, even to me. Of course, the night devolved into silliness. We pulled out a couple of word games but no one had the patience or faculties to play them properly. As you'll see from the photos in the next post, we took these games very, very seriously.

Photos From Pine