Electric Roller DiscoTech

Save the date! The Eletro Roller DiscoTech is a free event on August 28th, 6-11pm at the Leff Electric Building.

The Cleveland Executive Fellows are partnering with Pop Up City and St. Clair Superior Development Corporation to host this temporary use of the 2nd floor of the Leff Electric Warehouse.



When the fellows went to Duisburg and Stuttgart, Germany, we focused on post-industrial re-use. Typically the final Fellowship event is a conference, but we realized that a conference isn't the best way for us to share what we learned with Northeast Ohio. We also know that there are already folks in Cleveland doing that same thing like Pop Up City and All Go Signs.

So, instead of talking about post-industrial re-use, we decided the best thing for us to do is to partner with folks, put into practice what we learned and then share with the community.

The DiscoTech is still in the planning phases, but we'd like to use the term Roller to apply to all non-motorized wheeled devices: bikes, scooters, rollerblades, rollerskates, unicycles, skateboards, etc. Of course, there'll be a DJ, some food and drink, and a fannypack decorating contest. We are still seeking out partnerships to enliven the space and reach other networks.

Keep your eye out here for more information about the event and our process as we learn the ins and outs of temporary use.

Dill Pickles

I got a fermentation crock for my brithday from Jeff. I made my first ever batch of dill pickles tonight from the recipe in Sandor Katz's book, Wild Fermentation.

I bought and bartered a bunch of City Fresh pickling cucumbers and garlic; picked backyard dill and grape leaves; and purchased pickling spices from Narrin's Spice and Sauce at the West Side Market.

I placed cloves from 2 heads of garlic, pickling spices and grape leaves in the bottom of the crock (the tanin in the grape leaves is supposed to keep the pickles crisp during fermentation).

I piled in clean, whole pickling cucumbers. I poured enough brine solution in to cover the cucumbers fully at 3/8 cup salt per 1/2 gallon of filtered water.

Next, I added the weighting stone and made sure that the brine covered the top. The last step was to put the lid on and fill the lip with water to make a water seal. The water seal lets gas bubbles from lactofermenation out, but not air or molds in. In about 2-4 weeks, we should have crunchy dill pickles.

Re-Programming

My immediate future may include a period of un/underemployment beginning in September. I've been looking at my spending habits to see where I can reduce expenses and I'm fairly pleased that there is not too much to cut. By design and by luck, I've been gradually becoming more frugal and self-sufficient.

However, I still go into consumer automaton mode: consumaton

In order to break out of consumaton programming, I brainstormed a list of words I can use to replace "buy", "purchase" and "shop". My plan is to see if the other words/actions are a good substitute before heading to a store or restaurant.

Here's my list:

Barter

Scrap

Grow

Construct

Make

Repurpose

Borrow

Trade

Do Without

Cook

Brew

Forage

If you've got any more I'd love to add them to my list.

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla

Talk about serendipitous timing. Today is the birthday of Nikola Tesla AND the premiere of the Tesla Orchestra's performance of Boltz.

Come on out to Ingenuity Festival at Star Plaza, 9pm tonight in celebration of Tesla's birthday. Our shocking performance will feature a Tesla Coil. Pretty appropriate way to pay homage to a great scientist.

Boltz in the News

The Tesla Orchestra's performance of Boltz is getting some good press coverage leading up to the performance. Our technical and dress rehearsal is tomorrow evening and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything works as well at Star Plaza as it has in our rehearsal space.

The dancers have been working very diligently on perfecting the choreography; the costumes are complete and completely fantastic. I'm in charge of making sure the dance floor is laid properly, styling the dancers' beehive wigs and ensuring that sound and light cues go off without a hitch during rehearsal and performance.

I've been fantasizing about buying a robot T-shirt from Room Service that I saw at Made in the 216 to wear around this weekend. It's weird being a choreographer and not a dancer and I think I'll feel left out if I don't have a costume too.