PHOTOS BY MICHELLE MAYNE

"Scrap, mix 'em up real good," Mike Doughty said to Andrew "Scrap" Livingston at Vancouver's Red Room venue Saturday night (Dec. 1), as the cellist/guitarist readied a host of crowd queries as a part of Doughty's Question Jar tour. The former Soul Coughing frontman answered all questions in between songs -- except, that is, when there were no queries. "This is not a declarative statement jar," he chided good-naturedly after a few duds, and before launching into Soul Coughing's "Circles."

Confident and direct, and sporting a dark blazer over a black t-shirt, Doughty offered up a mix of older material and new songs from upcoming solo LP Golden Delicious as the crowd, ranging from young dudes in hoodies to older, artsy couples, laughed and stood close, shouting callbacks and question clarifications. "Busting Up a Starbucks," from 2005's Haughty Melodic and Ruby Vroom's "Janine" were fan faves; fresh tunes like "Navigating by the Stars at Night" softened Doughty's delivery, while maintaining the lyrical tenacity for which he's best known.

Make no mistake, however, this was no campfire session -- even though Doughty took time out to answer even the non sequitur variety ("Do chicks still dig robots?" Doughty: "I think it's pirates now"). Doughty, a former addict, handled a question about Vancouver's government-sponsored safe heroin injection sites with a hard-eye: "Clean needles, yes; methadone, no." After courting the last holdouts with "Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well," reciting an E.E. Cummings poem, covering Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler," and telling us how to heal a broken heart ("If you're a man, shave every day. I'm serious"), Doughty went as he came: walking tall and carrying a glass jar. 

We Asked: What query would you put in Mike Doughty's question jar?

Name: Mike Doughty
Age: 37
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Musician
"Would you like $1,000,000, right now?"

Name: Sunny Beddow
Age: 22
Hometown: St. Paul, MN
Occupation: History student
"How do you come up with some of the weirder lyrics?"

Name: Gemma Gillespie
Age: 22
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Occupation: Chef
"Why do you have so much more charisma live than on record?"

Name: Onno Zoeter
Age: 28
Hometown: Cambridge, UK
Occupation: Geek
"When are you going to publish your first novel?"

Name: Shaun Stewart
Age: 29
Hometown: Victoria, BC
Occupation: Waiter
"Does your soul need some Sucrets?"

Name: Verena Gibbs
Age: 32
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Occupation: Vice principal
"Boxers or briefs?"

Name: James Jackson
Age: 34
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Occupation: Film electrician
"Brunch or breakfast?"

Name: Darren Stewart
Age: 32
Hometown: Victoria, BC
Occupation: Law student
"Mike Doughty: What is the only answer?"

Name: Claire Fisher
Age: 28
Hometown: Campbell River, BC
Occupation: Graphic designer
"Could you play the coffee song?"

Name: Steve Fisher
Age: 32
Hometown: Campbell River, BC
Occupation: Industrial electrician
"Can you ride a unicycle?"

Cellist Andrew "Scrap Livingston and Doughty on guitar / Photo by Michelle Mayne

Doughty, still dreamin' about Wichita / Photo by Michelle Mayne

Scrap wants to answer too! / Photo by Michelle Mayne

Doughty answering a few questions from the audience / Photo by Michelle Mayne