La Casa Grande Colectiva

Tag: jacob

  • La Casa Real Food Olympics: Mayonnaise!

    For a while now I’ve imagined a sort of La Casa Real Food Olympics:  a series of foods that we in “this” “culture” usually buy already made, but which could be made from scratch, that every green La Casan would go through the experience of making from scratch just for the fun of it.

    I just brainstormed 10 things that I have personally known people ’round here to make, excluding alcoholic fermentations:

    1. Mayonnaise
    2. Komboucha
    3. Yogurt
    4. Bread
    5. Granola
    6. Ginger ale
    7. Pesto
    8. Ice Cream
    9. Seitan
    10. Kimchi

    I don’t know if this is the optimal order of execution, but it’s clear that making these all from scratch at least once would be a substantial accomplishment of (s)elf-reliance.  Of these, I have only made mayonnaise and bread.  Tonight, I teamed up with Kim (La Casa ’08 welcome back to town Kim!) to make both mayonnaise and bread again, but the bread didn’t turn out perfect, so let’s talk about the mayonnaise!

    Like Kristina before me,  I used the basic mayonnaise recipe from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything: mix an egg, some lemon juice, some mustard, maybe some salt and pepper to taste in a food processor. Pour in a cup of olive oil in a slow stream—if you pour too fast you’ll get runny mayo! This time I used half olive, half canola oil, but it still tasted too too extra virgin for me. Still, one of the better batches I’ve made.

    NOT a photogenic food

    I used the mayonnaise in Deviled Eggs, which of course involve more eggs and more mustard.  They turned out great:

     

    Delicious!

  • ODDMUSIC II

    As many of you know, Jacob and Andrew have a project going at the IMC called Oddmusic Urbana-Champaign:

    Oddmusic U-C is building a library of unusual and usual musical instruments at the UC-IMC and facilitates events to connect experimental composition, microtonality, & instrument-building with non-sectarian radical social change.  We insist upon “music” as a type of “odd,” desirable when it avoids the same old society telling itself what it already knows.

    Andrew in Oddmusic II, the day after the big move.
    Andrew in Oddmusic II, the day after the big move.

    Last month, we had a grand(e) opening, and this month an opportunity has come up to relocate our collection to a brand new space that’s cheaper, more commodious, brighter, and by at least one guest’s account, friendlier!  Last Sunday, with help from our friends Mary Ann(e), Don, Snow Leopard, and Mary Margaret, we successfully moved into our great new space.  We’re continuing to host office hours every Sunday evening from 7pm to 9:30, so feel free to come by this weekend and see what we’re about.  We’re now in the basement of the Independent Media Center (at Elm and Broadway in Urbana), room 21A, just down the hall from the Bike Project.

    For more, see our blog and (or) sign up to be on the Oddmusic listserv.

  • A Playlist

    I had a radio show for four years at KTRU Houston, Rice University’s 50000 watt indy radio station. Since coming to Urbana, I hadn’t caved to the temptation of joining Radio Free Urbana (104.5 FM), a four-year-old free-form low-power community station. Until tonight, when I decided to take an hour and fill in for the Sonic Asylum show. I have no idea what the Sonic Asylum show sounds like, but I did pretty eclectically (though typically, if you know me):

    “Summertime” – Allen Savedoff – Contradiction (Capstone)
    “Caravan” – Allen Savedoff – Contradiction (Capstone)
    “Five Short Improvisations” – Robin Goodfellow & friends – The Early Years (Experimental Musical Instruments)
    “Camping in the Backyard” – Skip La Plante – La Plante (PITCH)
    “Exotic Harp, Vibraphone” – Warren Burt – 18 New Fuguing Tunes for Henry Cowell (self)
    “Malizi v Parizi” – Iva Bittova & Bang on a Can – Elida (Canteloupe)
    “Abstain With Me” – Roy Zimmerman – Faulty Intelligence (Metaphor Records)
    “Who Are Parents” – The Shaggs – Philosophy of the World (RCA Victor)
    “The Dead Bird” – Dan Sedgwick – Shepherd Student Works 2006 (self)
    “Burning Monk’s Waltz” – Catler Bros. – Crash Landing (FreeNotes)
    “into the woods” – Astroid Power-Up! – Googleplex (self)

  • The Moustache Dreams (of a moustache competition)

    Vodpod videos no longer available.

    more about “Mustache Dreams on Vimeo“, posted with vodpod

    Go Puppets! Theater, last Monday June 22, presented The Moustache Dreams or The Dash of the Stache at the annual Mike n’ Molly’s Moustache Competition in Champaign.  While the judges deliberated (selecting one moustache-bearer to hold the honor of supreme moustache & to host next year’s uproarious annual pageant), we four took the stage and performed for myriad adoring fans.  They had no idea what to expect from us, & neither did we from them.  Judging from the exuberant [drunken] cheers, it seemed to go over well!

    Written & performed by Lorene Anderson & Michael Iscariot.  Additional performers: La Casans Andrew (on the left) & Jacob (center).

  • ODDMUSIC Urbana-Champaign: an invitation

    Some of you have already heard about the weirdwonderfulness going on at the Independent Media Center these days. Jacob & Andrew have started renting a space & lovingly devoting it to ODDMUSIC. We are presently collecting musical oddities (such as microtonal midi controllers with hundreds of buttons, defretted guitars, and musical saws) to make available for public use. We envision, among many things, an instrument library, developing right here in Urbana.

    Oddmusic experimenters playing on prototypes of the Tonal Plexus.
    Oddmusic experimenters playing on prototypes of the Tonal Plexus.

    I mention this now because a.) we just started a fancy new blog, & b.) we are hosting office hours every Sunday night this week from 7pm to whenever. Folks have come by to play on our strange instruments, talk oddmusic, & scheme for future musical provocations.

    Do consider yourself invited! We plan to be there next Sunday (& times in between, of course, at odd hours), so please stop by & see what the heck. Oddmusic is located on the second floor of the IMC. We’ll leave the back door open for you – not the Bike Co-op door, but the next one over on the left. Walk up the stairs & follow the wafting tunes.

  • Live Blogging Jacob’s Haircut with Hairdresser Maria

    listening to cliqhop.

    oh here comes heather.

    oh noes! maria cut herself. “oh it’s fine. i just don’t wanna get blood on you.” the assistant has gone missing. she wipes the blood on her leg.

    a bluish purple car pulls in across the street.

    maria thinks the music is too creepy.

    i would like my hair to not look like a clown. maria finds this funny & we snap a picture in the photo booth.

    Photo 231
    note the clown like hair on the sides of my head

    “i don’t know what this is turning into.”

    the music takes a turn for the worse.

    hair falls on my right arm.

    “i need a third hand.” “i know the feeling.”

    a moment of clarity as the music recedes & maria blows hair off my neck.

    “oh sweet, another cut.” wipes it on her leg again. ew!

    we discuss the differences between awkward and quirky. quirky can be cute. there is hair on the keyboard.

    “it sounds like you’re just snipping into the air.” “i’m shaping it, i’m giving you volume you’re gonna love it you’re gonna love it!”

    maria just cut herself a third time. i’m getting worried.

    here comes heather! the most prominent feature at this point is a puffy tuft on the top of my head. heather recommends trimming the tuft.

    Photo 232

    “it’s not really that hard to cut hair if you just…take your time.” today i thought the same thing about html coding.

    time to go make food.

    *Look for before & after shots soon!

  • Quote of Day

    There should be an alarm clock that wakes you up with the sound of a dog throwing up cat poop on a couch.

    – Jacob, who was awoken this morning at 5:30am by the sound of Sophie throwing up on the couch next to him. We surmised it was because she has been eating cat poop, but are not 100% sure.

  • house concert – This Must Be The Place

    Last Wednesday, May 13, we put on House Concert VII (seventh in “recent memory”), the final act of which was all of us La Casans covering the Talking Heads, This Must Be The Place.  Heather got the whole thing on her point-and-shoot; thanks Heather!

    More videos from Heather’s youtube:
    A New Inspired Poem, by Snow Leopard.
    This is the Title of the Story, read by Michael Phelps.
    Hoprock, by Jacob Barton.
    5 songs of fish (but in this instance, four), by Nodal Nim.

  • office hours

    Jacob started keeping “office hours” a few weeks ago.  The hours themselves vary – sometimes he goes 6-8, sometimes 10-midnight, but he leaves his door open and openly welcome distraction.  Of course, he used to do that anyway, but now it looks intentional.

    We miss Jacob!  In his absence, Maria and I are holding honorary office hours, I at his computer, blogging (obviously), and Maria on his bed poking around at his books and DVDs.  Anyone with something on their mind is welcome to stop by.

  • On the road: Minneapolis

    On Friday I left lovely Urbana for a two-week tour of the Midwest, in conjunction with elizaBeth Simpson and the Change of State Performance Project.  I hope to post occasional updates on this fortnight of adventure.  I also hope Urbana folks can come on April 21 or 23, when we hit Urbana, and that you can invite whoever friends near Iowa and Chicago and Milwaukee are arty enough to handle our art art art. 

    The theme of the tour is WATER; Qilo and Andrea perform a play about water & its politics, Beth has created a seaside multimedia romp, and I play an udderbot solo piece called hoprock.  The udderbot is a musical instrument we’ve invented which must be filled with water to be played; check out the blog ‘n’ wiki when curious.

    Stop One was Minneapolis.  Staying in a house with hairless cats, who are more like giraffe-bats, eating ginger snaps, studying maps.  A hurried visit with Philip Blackburn, a soft-spoken and highly-accomplished sonical practitioner who’s planning to plant a circle of 52 different varieties of apple tree in his backyard.

    Then we had a show this afternoon, and a good audience came, despite the inclement Easter.

    That’s all for now.  Maybe one of these other folks will lend me their camera for further illustration…

    Hold down the fort!

  • A Feast for the Ages

    Last Monday, Jacob and I toiled away in the kitchen for many many hours. He made bread while I prepared things for open-faced sandwiches.
    Homemade Bread
    Here is the dough being made.
    Kneading
    Being Jacob’s protégé, I helped with kneading. It’s fun. And gets tiring. But you can build some guns in the process.
    At one point, the chickens escaped from the coop, making a mad dash for the compost pile. With the help of Ronna, we wrangled them in and went back to our toiling.
    Homemade Bread
    Here it is! The bread was toasted in the oven. You can also see some curried eggs in the back that Jacob made.
    My Sandwiches
    Top: sauteed leeks, chard, shallots and swiss cheese. Bottom: fresh arugula, tomato, avocado, goat cheese. Right: sauteed mushrooms, shallots, swiss cheese. And then a curried egg. It was quite the feast.

  • Happy Birthday!

    jacobbday
    Jacob can be seen here sporting his infamous Tiger Sweater™