Play it Forward, April 2020, MUD, The Pettifoggers
Missoula
Urban
Demon-stration
Project (MUD) ,
The
Pettifoggers
KBGA College Radio and the Zootown Arts Community Center (ZACC) have teamed up to bring you 'Play It Forward', a livestream music series and podcast program curated to unite and uplift community artists and organizations in Missoula, sponsored by Rockin Rudy’s. Every last Friday of the month we will partner with a different organization and host a local music livestream (from the ZACC Show Room), with 70% of proceeds going to that month's organization. In conjunction with the livestream each month, KBGA will run a podcast program on-air featuring interviews with the folks behind the organizations and the artists themselves. Holding dialogue amongst community organizers and creatives, artists and activists on what community means to them, how they engage in their community and what they would like to see in the community.
April’s Play It Forward features local folk band, The Pettifoggers. They will be playing in support of Missoula Urban Demonstration Project (MUD) which empowers people to build a more sustainable community through tool sharing and hands-on learning. The podcast, airing on KBGA College Radio 89.9 fm on Friday, April 30th at 2:30PM, features interviews with the folks behind the organization and the artists themselves. Casey Valencia, executive director of Missoula Urban Demonstration Project, and Winona Rachel and Daniela Garvue of The Pettifoggers discuss the importance of environmentalism at the local level, and strike up a conversation about music and activism in Missoula. Then for the livestream music event April 30th at 8:00 P.M. you can tune in on air or go to the Zootown Arts Community Center’s Facebook page to watch the magic:
Friday // April 30th // 8:00 PM // Free, but please consider donating as 70% of funds received go to support Missoula Urban Demonstration Project (MUD) //
Donation link: https://givebutter.com/Ouwd62
VIEWING LINKS
ZACC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thezacc/
Zootown Arts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOnxho9v75OZvCJKk0mX_pQ
MCAT Local Live: https://www.mcat.org/watch-now/local-live/
Thanks for tuning in and playing it forward.
FULL EPISODE:
Transcript of Podcast
Peyton Butler: So good afternoon everyone and welcome to KBGA’s Play It Forward series which is in partnership with Zootown Arts Community Center and sponsored by Rockin’ Rudy’s. I’m super stoked to be here with you all, my name’s Peyton and I’m the Media Director here at KBGA, and I’ll be your host/moderator. And tonight we’ll be featuring the Missoula Urban Demonstration Project, or MUD, which is a tool-sharing library, demonstration site, and skill-sharing hub located here in Missoula. And we’ll also be talking to members of the band Pettifoggers. Why don’t we start with everyone introducing themselves and what they do for the community.
Daniela Garvue: My name’s Daniela Garvue, I’m an MFA candidate, I’m about to graduate in like two weeks, which is insane. I’m writing a novel about sort of ecological disturbance and invasive species, so that’s really fun. So what I do for the community, it's hard to know. I have worked clearing invasive species, mostly naturalist stuff, I’ll be doing that over at Paws Up Ranch this summer clearing weeds this summer. Winona is the one who's the real driving force here and activist here.
Winona Rachel: I don't know about that but I’m Winona, I am in the environment studies writing program, slowly working towards graduating. And I also live at the UM Flat, which is a sustainable living-learning community where undergrads and grads live. And in non-COVID times we used to host a bunch of events, educational workshops, and then we also do like fundraisers and offer up our space for other community organizations to use.
Casey Valencia: And My name’s Casey, I’m the executive director here at the Missoula Urban Demonstration Project. Yeah, as mentioned earlier we have a tool library where people can come and check out tools, anything from lawnmowers to hammers, to sewing machines. We have a little bit of everything. And then we also do a bunch of workshops on a bunch of different sustainable living topics, woodworking, this winter we did blacksmithing, and we’ll do butchering in the fall. So there’s a whole range of different topics that we have workshops on. And then our site is a demonstration site because we have a bunch of different sustainable living projects going on. So we have solar panels, we have rainwater catchment, we have bees, we have just a whole bunch of different stuff people can come and check out and kind of get inspired for little things they can do in their own lives for living more sustainably.
Winona Rachel: I’ve seen you alls’ recycled glass pathways, we’re like hoping to do that at our house, but it’s going slowly.
Casey Valencia: Yeah, it’s a project, but yeah, it’s cool. It’s a little bit messy so be ready for that. But I mean like gravel messy.
Peyton Butler: My first question is for Casey with MUD, and I wanted to know a little bit about how your organization started and what your role is in it?
Casey Valencia: Awesome, yeah, so MUD has been around for 40 years, this is our fortieth anniversary, it’s 2021 so that’s exciting. And it actually started out over on the north side of Missoula and it was a bunch of neighbors kind of came together and it was during the recession and they were just like, you know, how do we make Missoula more affordable, how do we teach people about ways to live off the land? And so they started working on a bunch of different projects doing gardening, teaching people how to grow their own food, and it just kind of evolved from there. And so, for a while MUD was a residential site a lot like the Flat, where people lived there and worked there together in a community. And it existed like that with a bunch of different side projects along the way serving as like an incubator for a lot of other non-profits in town. Eventually it kind of just got to the point where the residential component of it just wasn’t working for the organization anymore. And that’s when we moved over to our current site and really focused in on the tool library. And we’ve been at our new site since like 2013. So really just more in the middle of Missoula now focusing on the tool library and our workshops, we’re right next to Home Resource, which is great, so everybody can get all of their everything they need to work on a project in one place. And then my role within that as director, I just make sure everything keeps running and moving forward, I do a lot of the organizing the workshops, supporting the tool librarians and their work, doing all of the behind the scenes work to make sure we can run as an organization.
Peyton Butler: And what’s MUD’s ultimate goal for the Missoula community?
Casey Valencia: Our goal is to empower people to build a more sustainable community. So we want to give people tools and skills to get stuff done, to be able to grow their own food, to be able to take on projects in their own house, to install solar panels so that they have less of an impact on the environment. To rely less on buying things and more on sharing things. There are so many tools that people really don’t need to own, I mean a lot of people don’t even need to own something like a lawnmower. If everyone has their own lawnmower, that a lot of extra material out in the world that we just don’t need. We can share lawnmowers, we can share drills, we can share a lot of these tools, rather than constantly adding to waste streams. So that’s a big goal. Another big goal is being able to do that in a responsible way so that people know how to use these things safely and be able to work on these projects in their own homes.
Peyton Butler: Do you think that COVID has severely affected MUD’s functioning within the community? How has COVID changed the way that MUD operates?
Casey Valencia: Initially it changed a lot because we totally had to close down because we didn’t know like how do you share things safely with COVID, that seemed like a lot of risk. So we kind of waited it out a little bit to see what was happening, what the best practices were. And once we were able to reopen it became a lot of cleaning, so our tools are very clean all the time now. But other than that we see that people are using our stuff more than ever because I think there’s such a renewed interest in being self-reliant and being able to grow your own food and being able to work on your own projects, especially when people didn’t have access. They could go out and just go to the store, so they wanted to learn how to do more and be less reliant on these outside sources. So we saw ourselves helping out in that way quite a bit. But other than that we just feel grateful that we’ve been able to still function quite well and still be a helpful resource for people.
Peyton Butler: Why do you think Missoula is so well suited for a project like MUD, do you think there’s something specifically about the Missoula community that makes it so you guys can operate the way you do?
Casey Valencia: Yeah, I think so. I think just the people’s natural interest in the environment here is huge. They want to take care of it, they want to be good stewards of the land, and so they realize that sharing resources is a big part of that, rather than creating additional waste. I also think Missoula, I don’t know, it’s that Montana feel you know, people really like to take care of themselves, they like to be independent, they like to be able to learn how to do things on their own, so I think all of those things really play well into our mission of just empowering people to take on these things in their own. I think a lot of times when people come to Montana they’re like moving away from cities or moving away from other places, so they want to feel a little more connected to their community, they want to feel a little more connected to the environment, and I think MUD plays a part in that too. Right now we’re kind of on pause with a lot of our events, but that’s another big part of what we’ve done in the past, it’s bringing people together to share this information, to share this knowledge. And I just think that’s a really big part of Missoula.
Peyton Butler: What are MUD’s goals for the future?
Casey Valencia: Yeah, so goals for this year, in particular, are we’re just really excited to be getting back into our workshop feel. We had to cancel a lot of things last year, but this year we have a bunch of exciting workshops coming up on different woodworking topics. We’re gonna do a greenhouse building day. We just have a ton of really cool stuff coming up, so that’s really exciting for this year. And then looking a little further out we’re really hoping to be able to build a community maker space to be able to have bigger tools that stay on our site that people can come in and use and learn how to use well, and just have this community workshop education center that people can come and really participate in and learn more. Cause a lot of tools are just too big to take home, or people live in apartments. It’s really exciting. So that’s down the road a little ways but we’re really hoping to make that happen.
Peyton Butler: How can people get involved with MUD? What’s the easiest way for people to get involved with your organization?
Casey Valencia: There are a bunch of different ways. You can become a MUD member, and all of our membership fees are on a sliding scale so we try to make it as affordable as possible for people. So that’s the way to access all the tools in the tool library. And once you become a MUD member you also get discounts at a bunch of local businesses and also for all of our workshops. So workshops are another great way to participate with MUD if there’s something you’re interested in learning more about, you can come and join us for our workshop. And then in addition to that as things kind of start opening up a little more here this summer and we’re starting to feel a little more comfortable bringing people onto our site again, we are going to have some new volunteer opportunities we’re excited about. We’re setting up an aquaponics little set up in our greenhouse and we’re going to need some help monitoring that. We’re going to be setting up a pollinator garden and we’ll need some help getting that installed. We have some different projects and are always looking for help. Extra tool librarians who can come in and help in the tool library. So volunteering will be big once we can open up a bit more.
Peyton Butler: Awesome, thank you. My next couple of questions are for Daniela and Winona. So you guys will be playing a live stream where the proceeds will be going to MUD. What do you think is important about the work that MUD does, and their organization itself?
Winona Rachel: I mean, I think like, this might not directly answer the question off the bat, but I think like, when I first started playing music, like actually performing it for people some years ago, I think like it was initially like all the shows were benefit shows for various groups and organizations, so I think for me music has always been connected to community. And I think a super hard thing about this pandemic is not being able to go to live shows, not being able to play music with people as much, and I mean I think that every sector of our community has been suffering in its own way and so I think I’m like particularly excited about this show, and it have it be supporting MUDs work. The Flat uses MUD all the time, we use their cider press, we might even be using their truck today, I’m not sure if my housemates rented it out. So I think I know, for us being a student organization and not having a ton of funding, and sometimes not having the skills, it’s been really important for us to have that lending library that we can learn and teach other students. And then be building gardens, be building a water catchment system which my housemates are working on now. And then all of that is like demonstration on our property that other students and community members are kind of learning from and seeing.
Daniela Garvue: Well I also think that music is this thing that you can do that is like tactile and hands-on which is something that has really, I’ve been craving during the pandemic, especially being in grad school. And like especially because I’m a writer and so most of my days are hunched over like this, and I have found a renewed interest in like building things and like making my space nice. But part of that was also just like taking the time to like play music, and especially once we could start to actually see each other and be a part of the community like the music community. It’s like this tactile thing, you can see the immediate results of your labor, and I think in a weird way it’s very much like being self-sufficient in other ways. So like being able to use tools, just like being aware of your body in this way that I feel disconnected to other parts of the time. More metaphysical answer I guess.
Peyton Butler: How would you describe the type of music that you guys create?
Daniela Garvue: I think we really like songs that have a rousing chorus like we play a lot of cowboy songs and sea shanties, but then we both write our own music too, which tends to be like sad. And so we do this really weird mix of our sad emo songs and like rousing shanties, we’re doing some like soul, some funk, some bluesier things. But yeah, with like rousing choruses such that like our friends and people listening probably would know or like catch on quickly and we like people to sing along.
Winona Rachel: Yeah we have a couple of like sing-a-long things which you guys will see.
Peyton Butler: So would you say that your music falls under a certain type of genre, or a little bit of everything?
Daniela Garvue: Folk?
Winona Rachel: Yeah I would say primarily folk and then like some elements of country, some blues, funk.
Daniela Garvue: Rock?
Winona Rachel: Rock.
Daniela Garvue: Punk?
Winona Rachel: Punk! A lot of things.
Peyton Butler: Could you talk a little bit about your songwriting process and what you go through when you’re creating or writing a song?
Daniela Garvue: Yeah, I imagine that it’s pretty different for the two of us because we, I usually write on my guitar, and I tend to kind of hang on to whatever I’ve been listening to recently. And so, for example, I listened to a lot of Gillian Welch over the last like four years. And like the last few years, I’ve been writing music it’s sounded a lot like Gillian Welch, and in some ways, I feel like I can manipulate that. And I’ll just be like playing a chord, and I’ll switch to a minor key and I’ll be like “oh, this reminds me of this Gillian Welch song.” And she does this other thing where I think it’s beautiful in a different song. And so I will sort of shamelessly steal those things for my own purposes. And so that’s sort of the music aspect. I just like take what sounds good and like what I remember liking from other music. And then for the lyrics, I don’t know, I like to write, I’m a writer, I write stories anyway. So a lot of my lyrics, they just tend to come to me a lot naturally than the music. Pairing them together can be difficult, so I’ve got songs that have no words and words that have no songs and sometimes there's this perfect meeting point where they come together.
Winona Rachel: I mean I think I’m usually just kind of like mess around and come up with a melody, or just a small fragment of a melody and then usually like I’ll go to my journal, or things that have been running through my mind, like images. Like recently I’m taking a poetry class right now and I feel like that’s really helped me with my songwriting cause just like thinking of these associative images and having less of the connective tissue and the connective words and just like focusing on these sharp images. I definitely don’t have any lyrics that don’t have melodies. You know if I’m writing a song I’ll have the, you know I’ll just be making up the lyrics to the melody as I go.
Daniela Garvue: And I feel like often when we play and we forget something we’ll just like nonsense words, which is fun, and that can become its own song. Like we were mispronouncing a song that we were playing, but like nobody noticed because it sounded good.
Winona Rachel: And I mean I think that goes along with the origins of folk too, of just like making up our own verses or like changing things around and it's never the same each time, but that’s kind of great.
Peyton Butler: Could you talk a little bit about where you got your start in music?
Daniela Garvue: Oh God I had to take piano lessons when I was a kid and I really hated that because, I don’t know I didn’t like my teacher very well and it felt really stuffy in that house. But, like my dad was a musician, my grandma taught piano, so it was around me a lot. But I didn’t actually admit that I liked it until I was out of high school and I think because I just wanted to rebel against family or something, so once I could afford it I bought my own guitar and learned how to play. But music has been like adjacent to me, I just finally sort of admitted, like the rest of my family I liked it. And then I got really sick one summer, I had bronchitis, and I couldn’t go outside, and so I just played my dad’s old guitar until I could pick up some chords because I had literally nothing else to do. That was a good blessing in disguise.
Winona Rachel: Yeah I mean I think my story is sort of similar like I grew up taking piano lessons and similarly really hated them and had an awful teacher. And I think like I learn music better by ear, and so like music theory was really really hard for me and she just really really pushed that. We just, ya know didn’t get along, and I played trumpet in highschool too, but similarly didn’t have that much fun. And then I think like, after I was sort of kind of living on my own, my friend knew someone with an accordion in their basement and it was just this really weird story where I got the accordion, which was so kind of them cause they’re very expansive. And I would just kind of fool around on it everyday and now I kind of play it. But yeah, I mean similarly none of my family are really musicians but my dad is super into music history and like he has hundreds of CDs so we were always listening to stuff and always talking about stuff.
Daniela Garvue: You actually read music right?
Winona Rachel: Yeah I can read music, but you know, I haven’t done that in a while.
Peyton Butler: Do you think that the Missoula community and the Missoula music community has really affected your expression in the arts? Do you think it's maybe made you feel more comfortable in your own skin? How has Missoula affected the way you express yourself through art?
Winona Rachel: I think like, just music in general has made me, like I was just telling someone this the other day like, its made me better at like public speaking and presenting because being up infront of other people is like the sort of experience where like when I first started performing music it was really hard but then it became sort of like second nature. Not the say that I don’t get nervous, because I do. But i think like Missoula specifically, I moved here two years ago, and like I used to live in Minniapolis and I would go to shows all the time, like four times a week. And when I first moved here that was one of the first things I started doing, I was like going to these random shows at people’s houses, I mean sometimes at like venues in town, and I think that was like one of the ways that I first started to make friends and like feel more at home here.
Daniela Garvue: I actually, I think the first thing I noticed when I came to Missoula was like all the string instruments. You know how like just walking around in the summer time you’ll just like see circles of like string bands? I was like walking around campus before school had even started and I saw like a bunch of happy, young, people just standing up. A few people with fiddles, a few people with guitars, and I was like “oh my god!” I kind of like creeped on them a little bit, hoping to get invited in. But I don’t know, that made me feel really good about the town because I grew up in a really small town and there weren’t really shows to go to. I lived in Seattle for a while, and that had a great music scene, but mostly I’ve lived in places where that is not available. So to actually know a lot of musicians has been awesome because I’ll go over to Winona’s place and they live with fiddle players and guitar players, and drummers. And the only reason that we’re like a band is because we kept hanging out and playing music together, so I think the community was like huge for me
Peyton Butler: I think you talked a little bit about this at the beginning, but how do you think that music can influence environmental change or the environment can influence music?
Winona Rachel: Yeah, so I think when I first started performing for people in Minneapolis, music was very tied to the environment for me, cause like we pretty much started playing music as a way of like, what do we enjoy doing to e able to like fundraise to support our friends who were doing like anti-pipeline stuff in northern Minnesota, and so that’s kind of like why we started playing. And then we started writing songs and like talking to people and incorporating their perspective into our songs. And so I think like for me, they’re pretty related, and I think like lyrics and writing songs can like, I think music has changed my opinion about a lot of things and has also kind of like pushed me to do more about things. I think it can have a powerful effect on people.
Daniela Garvue: Yeah like definitely, like John Prine, when he died he has that song about like being on the river… I don’t know, I think folk music in general can like paint pictures and like make you see things in a different way, the same way that like literature can. And so for me I grew up listening to, my dad was a huge Dolly Parton fan, and living in Nebraska growing up hearing about the mountains of Tennessee. And for me that seemed like such a beautiful place and something worthy of respect, where elsewhere in the culture that part of the world can sort of be looked down on. I also think like it also goes back to this like this sense of doing something with your body that’s not consuming. Like when you’re playing music you’re using an instrument, you’re using a tool for like multiple uses. There’s not like a single use guitar, right? And if there is you should never use that. And you’re like passing time in a way that’s not hazardous to anyone, to other people or to the environment. And so for me just the act of playing music is like kind of a weirdly anti-capitalist thing to do.
Winona Rachel: Yeah, and I think music, at least for me, is very much about community, and playing with people, and playing for people. Building community is one of the most important ways to like get people to care about where they live and their neighbors and etc etc.
Peyton Butler: And because of COVID a lot of live performances and concerts have not been able to happen. How has that affected your music, has it changed your performance in any way? Are you excited to do live shows again?
Winona Rachel: We are so excited! That’s like honestly been one of the hardest things for me is not having live music. You know, we’ve started playing together more. When we weren’t vaccinated we were lucky enough to have this studio space at the Flat, and so we would like wear masks and open up all the windows and play in there. But now, our whole band is vaccinated so yeah!
Peyton Butler: And then what are your hopes and goals for the future? What do you think the future holds for you as a band?
Winona Rachel: Oh boy! We’re gonna be stars!
Daniela Garvue: I don’t know, I just want to play. I want to hang out with my friends and play music. Wanna like bring joy to people? Music is a weird thing that like you can participate in a way that’s not like, you’re not like consuming, it's not an exchange of, I mean I guess sometimes there is an exchange of money. But when we’re practicing it feels more like a community interaction than a transaction, and that’s what I’m really excited about. We were like the Pettifoggers just because it was a name that we liked, and now it's sort of grown into this thing where we have like a show and a piano player, and it’s like a collective effort and we’d love to just keep growing.
Winona Rachel: Yeah I mean like, I don’t think we take ourselves super seriously like we just really love playing is basically the bottom line. We’re always trying to get more people to come jam with us. So sometimes it’s really just chaotic because there’s these random people and we’re always just like “yeah, come on, come play with us!”
Daniela Garvue: But that’s the dream.
Peyton Butler: And then my last couple questions are for everyone. What would you say is the most rewarding aspect of your work, or through creating music?
Casey Valencia: I think a really regarding part for me is just seeing all the things that people make with our tools and all the skills they learn. Before COVID we some women-led workshops that kind of were targeted for people who like normally feel uncomfortable in a workshop environment with tools and like using saws and drills and all these things where normally they might feel intimidated and being able to bring a whole bunch of people together and just have this really safe place to work together was really cool. To always see all the things they could build, how excited they would be when they went home and knew how to use these tools that were sitting around in the garage that they had always been too scared to try. So, I love that stuff, just seeing people try new things, and like come to the tool library and the first time they come they might just rent a drill, and the next time they might get a saw cause they’re starting to feel more confident, and the next time they might get something bigger. It's really cool to see people build on their skills that way, and I like to be able to support that.
Daniela Garvue: For me, the most rewarding part is like what we were talking about earlier, I love that community aspect. I love when I hear somebody singing a snatch of a song that we had like played together or being at a show and seeing people sing along, that’s like literally the best feeling for me.
Winona Rachel: I think I would agree, I think it’s like, on a personal level definitely playing music is like, you zone out and it's kind of like a self care thing too. But I think most of it is like that community feel, you know, like our friends knowing some of our songs and being like “play that one!” Like we’re just happy to do it, and it's not just about, yeah it's just about people enjoying themselves and singing along.
Peyton Butler: And then seeing as Earth Day is coming up, how do you guys see the outdoors and the natural environment being a healing factor while everyone is going back to some sense of normal after COVID?
Daniela Garvue: For me, I think this has maybe more to do with the way the outdoors helped during covid, but to see that there’s a life outside of the human life. That like, you know, spring came even though the world has been pretty somber for the human side. And there’s all this death and sorrow, and unrest, and we can’t seem to agree on the most basic things. COVID and otherwise. And yet, the buds come out on time, you know I could tell you about climate change and how scary that is, but like the world, there’s ecological systems that are happening independent of us, and that just seems really hopeful. With or without COVID, but that certainly helps me cope.
Casey Valencia: Yeah, I would agree with that, And just like the timing too, as things are like looking so hopeful for the summer and looking so hopeful moving forward. And spring just has that feeling too of things just coming back alive and just the ease and comfort of being able to get outside when the weathers pleasant, versus a cold winter day. It’s just so, its really rejuvenating. Like just this morning I got to go out for a walk with my kids and it just felt so nice to see so many people out there and enjoying it the same way. Just the little, simple things like going for a walk or throwing rocks in the river. We’re all doing it and we’re all happy to have that access here in Missoula I think.
Daniela Garvue: Yeah, I feel really lucky to live here. Friends in Seattle were, friends in denser places didn’t even have that. You know, it was hard to even walk down the street or go to a park cause they were closed and I feel so lucky to live in a smaller place that has access to like wilderness.
Peyton Butler: And then finally, do you guys have any projects coming up, any events, live shows? What do you have coming up in the near future?
Winona Rachel: Well I mean this is for our band specifically, but at the Flat we’re having a plant give away on May 2nd. We did this last year too, and I think it's a really great COVID safe way for folks to come by and get a bunch of free starts and get advice on how to grow them. I think that's the one thing I can think of.
Daniela Garvue: Oh, and we’re playing our show, on the 30th, which you guys know. I’m graduating, which is really exciting, but that’s all I got.
Casey Valencia: Yeah, at MUD we have so much going on, we have such a busy spring. On the 24th we’re working with Seasons For Solidarity to build a bunch of planter boxes that they’re going to distribute out into the community to food insecure people so that they can start growing their own food, and so they’ll be building those at MUD. And then after that in May we have just a ton of workshops. We have a soil help workshop, we have a pallet sign making workshop, we have a cat tower workshop, we’re potentially going to be doing a mushroom cultivation like workshop slash clean up day with some of the mushroom stuff that’s happening on our site. And that’s just May, in June we have a few more things, a little greenhouse demonstration, another cutting board workshop, and I’m sure we;ll have lots more going on. You can always check out our website and see what’s going on.
Peyton Butler: Thank you guys so much, it's been so nice getting to talk to all of you. So thank you so much for joining us today on this special KBGA recording.
Daniela Garvue: Yeah, thank you so much for hosting.
Winona Rachel: Thank you.
Casey Valencia: Yeah thank you.