Living off-grid, hair care product entrepreneurship, and the Yellow Rail Family …on this weekend’s Saturday Six Pack

I’m not sure why the folks in the AM 1700 design department decided to go with a Warriors theme this week. [I’ve been instructed by station management that I’m not allowed to communicate with them any more.] Maybe it’s because the old gang from 1979 just reunited for one last subway ride to Coney Island, or maybe they know something that I don’t know. [Could it be that there’s going to be a big gang summit in Ypsi this weekend? And might I, as a local DJ, be expected to participate?] Whatever happens, I do plan to put beer bottles on my fingers at some point in the evening, like David Patrick Kelly, and start calling to people at the bus stop across the street, “Warriors come out and play-aaaay.” Hopefully, if nothing else, it’ll increase the tension a bit, which is always good for ratings.

And, of course, we’ve also got some awesome guests lined up.

First up will be University of Michigan Associate Professor Joseph Trumpey. While Trumpey is an accomplished science illustrator and teacher, I suspect a good deal of our time will be spent discussing his work in the area of sustainable design… Trumpey, who was named 2015 Homesteader of the Year by Mother Earth News Magazine, lives in an off-grid, in a 2,200-square-foot straw bale home near Grass Lake that he built with his family. [They farm a variety of heritage breed livestock and grow more than half their food.] Here’s Trumpey giving a tour of his homestead, which is called Sandy Acres Farm.

Profile: Joe Trumpey from UM Stamps School of Art & Design on Vimeo.

[Through this fieldwork at U-M, Trumpey has also facilitated over half a dozen unique design/build projects in Sub Saharan Africa.]

Then we’ll turn our attention to local business, when we’re joined in the studio by Ypsi entrepreneur Rachel Blistein, the founder of the natural hair care products company Original Moxie. Blistein and I, I suspect, will talk about the condition of each others hair. Then, if time allows, I might ask her why she decided to go into business, who helped her along the way, how she got her product line into Spehora stores, and what’s next.

And, at some point, we’ll bring the band Yellow Rail Family will come into the studio to entertain us with songs and witty banter.

Here, thanks to AM 1700 senior graphic designer Kate de Fuccio, is this week’s poster, in case any of you want to print copies and force them on people.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER TUNED IN TO THE SIX PACK BEFORE, HERE ARE THE DETAILS ON HOW TO LISTEN:

Unless you live inside the AM 1700 studio, chances are you won’t be able to pick the show up on your radio. As that’s the case, I’d recommend streaming the show online, which you can do either on the AM1700 website or by way of TuneIn.com.

And for those of you who aren’t yet familiar with the show, and need to get caught up, you can listen to the entire archive on iTunes. If you start right now, you’ll have to stay up all night and listen to everything at double speed in order to get caught up by tomorrow evening, but you can do it.

One last thing… If you’d like to tell your friends and neighbors about the program, feel free to share the Facebook event listing.

And do call us if you have a chance. We love phone calls. So please scratch this number into the cinder block wall of the recreation room of whichever facility you’ve been assigned to… 734.217.8624… and call us between 6:00 and 8:00 this Saturday evening. The show is nothing without you. Sure, sometimes it’s nothing even with you, that’s true, but usually you make it better.