On the off chance that you are still linking to this and are now checking in (despite my long absences punctuated by occasional blogging!), I have indeed shuttered the virtual doors on Green Desert. I am no less passionate about living sustainably, but have decided after this prolonged flirtation with blogging that I am, for some reason, not that passionate about blogging about it! Fare well, and check in with me regularly at my main site.

I did get around to posting photos I took on Sunday, October 29, of the second home I looked at on the Tucson Innovative Home Tour - check out this Flickr set of the Passive Solar Home.

It was very impressive to see this place - it’s been designed from the ground up to take advantage of passive heating and cooling strategies, and, in the words of the architect, to last for HUNDREDS of years. This is an architectural long view that reminds me of Stewart Brand’s ‘Long Now’ Foundation. If this kind of development became the standard, think of the long-term savings, not only in terms of the cost of replacing construction materials, but also in terms of the decreased environmental impact of not dumping worn-out construction materials.

Another impressive fact about this home is the water use per capita. In Tucson, the average water use per day per capita is 120 gallons. This house consumes 40 gallons per day per capita - one-third of the average! How is this accomplished? The landscape does not use municipal water but takes advantage of roof runoff and cistern / greywater harvesting. Inside, the single greatest use of water is for toilets - we flush nearly 30% of our treated water right down the toilet. The owner mitigates this with the use of Carroma toilets - a low-flow commode that has been used for over 20 years in Australia, and which apparently does not cost significantly more than a regular toilet. I will be checking into these.

I wrote yesterday that the Solar Institute was hosting the Tucson Innovative Home Tour this weekend, and I made it to Brad Lancaster’s house on the tour. Brad is truly a rock star of sustainable development. I first read a profile of him in the Downtown Tucsonan, and subsequently purchased his book Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands. I can’t help but think that if every Tucsonan did some of rainwater harvesting as described in that book, we might be able to put ourselves on a path to sustainable desert dwelling, despite the throngs who move here on a monthly basis. I would like to see studies that forecast the effects on our water table and sustainability if these techniques were adopted on a large scale, i.e. for EVERY new development in Tucson.

Anyway, I have posted some photos that I took of the home with some descriptions here. What he has done on his 1/8 acre lot in downtown Tucson is simply amazing, and inspiring.

I am going to try to hit another home or two on the tour (between my two gigs for the day). If I make it, I will post more photos.

Yes, I know it’s been a looong time since I have posted - the sign of a dead or dying blog. I won’t make any excuses, although you can read plenty of them here. I particularly like the post by the guy who hasn’t blogged b/c he’s trying to become a full time blogger. I definitely can’t use that excuse…
After redesigning the site and deciding to focus on sustainable solutions with a Tucson focus, I let the blog lapse and even seriously considered just pulling the plug. But I was recently inspired by a friend’s site redesign, and decided to try again. I am still passionate about this topic to the point that I want to document the things that are happening here in Tucson w/r/t/ long-term, sustainable solutions - Tucson is a locus for green design, construction, water harvesting, solar power solutions, etc., and people need to make the stewardship of our natural resources a concern. I will try to focus on those kinds of issues and solutions in this blog.

So, what’s first? The Solar Institute’s Tucson Innovative Home Tour is happening today and tomorrow, and it looks like some really amazing homes are on the list. In particular, Brad Lancaster’s house is open to ticketbuyers, and in between all of my weekend gigs I intend to get out to see it. I purchased Brad’s book, “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands, v. 1″, which inspired me to start digging basins and berms in my own backyard to direct the flow of rainwater to my fruit trees. He really does represent a model for a kind of living that we will see increasingly necessary in the 21st century - with solar power, he is completely off the Tucson Electric Power grid, 25% of his food comes from his own 1/8 acre property in the middle of the city, and his total monthly utility bills are around $20 per month (according to the recent Tucson Weekly article). Amazing.

From David Lewis’ review of the Mode set in the All Music Guide:

“Many of the performances are downright amazing, for example Aki Takahashi’s mind-bending performance of the Sequenza IV for piano and Kelland Thomas’ smoky, soulful reading of Sequenza IXb for alto saxophone, just to mention a couple.”

Read the complete review here.

As an afficianado of modern architecture, I am in love with the Big Dig House. From the standpoint of environmentally-sound construction and sustainability, the house is even cooler: It uses over 600,000 pounds of material recycled from Boston’s Big Dig. Even if that massive project seems to be having its troubles, it just might have some attractive side effects in the housing arena, if this house is any indication.

Also, check out the Metropolitan Magazine article on the house.

I did an interesting gig yesterday: I played at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino resort (near Casa Grande, AZ) backing up The Dixie Cups.

What? You’ve never heard of the Dixie Cups? I hadn’t either. But if you live in the Western Hemisphere (or have seen Steve Martin’s “Father of the Bride”), there is a 99.9% chance that you have heard their biggest hit: “We’re going to the chapel and we’re gonna get married…” Yep, “Chapel of Love” was theirs, written by Phil Spector, recorded in 1964. Another factoid that I didn’t know until yesterday was that they wrote and recorded the song “Iko Iko”, which I first heard on the soundtrack of that 80’s film classic Rainman. That song has been covered by - well, everyone, even Cyndi Lauper! But they did it first.

The Dixie Cups are from New Orleans, and they did some of the classic N.O. tunes, including “Bourbon St. Parade”, “When The Saints”,”New Orleans Ladies”, and others. But there were some sad reminders of what Katrina did last summer: The bass player and musical director recounted that his house was in 10 feet of water for three weeks, and he lost all of his musical equipment and instruments. Also, some of their original charts and classic arrangements were lost in the disaster. At one point in the rehearsal, one of the Cups turned around and sang the missing horn line, and I had to pick it up and play it from memory. Music students, keep paying attention in ear training! It will come in handy.

If you are reading this, and have been here before, then the new look will be obvious. I will be tweaking it in the coming days, and am still learning my way around the various WordPress configuration files. Bear with me as I customize the site further, and feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think! I will be focusing more on green solutions, environmental issues, and Tucson, and I wanted to design the site to reflect this future direction.

Suggestions Welcome!

Forgive my blogging delinquency - I am back in Tucson from extended travels through the Midwest. Trying to get caught up on the latest news, but will return to green-themed blogging in short order here. In the meantime, I just read about the new laws put into place in the Netherlands and Portugal designed to reward consumers who buy hybrid vehicles and make it more difficult to purchase gas guzzlers. Check it out.

Ann Midgette wrote about the release of the Mode collection of Berio’s Sequenzas, along with the recent Naxos set, in Sunday’s edition of the New York Times.