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Lightsmith entertainment3/11/2023 ![]() ![]() The Splice-Cream Truck will return to the event again this Saturday, offering free recordings and ice cream to guests. When I gave it to her, her husband came over, and he had a couple of tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘She hasn’t sung anything in 10 or 15 years. “We captured it nicely on the vinyl, which she was surprised about. “So I’m like, ‘Do you want to record now?’ Of course, she said no, but 10 minutes later, we were recording her doing a solo, and the crowds that gathered around – it was amazing,” Smith said. A husband and wife walked over to the Splice-Cream Truck, and Smith learned that the woman was, at one point, an opera singer. Memories also stand out from community events – especially one highlight from last year’s Juneteenth Freedom Fest in downtown Cleveland. “The silver lining to that is that they were so excited to record and actually talk about it, because they hadn’t talked about it before, to anyone.” (Photo courtesy of Ben Smith) ![]() But they would say things like, ‘If I had one wish, or if I could change something in the past, it would be to bring back a family member that was killed due to the violence in the area.’ It was probably at least 15 to 20 kids that said the same thing,” Smith said. “They kind of came up with their own questions and answered them, which was really cool. One recording session in the city’s Central neighborhood stuck with Smith when he was chatting with neighborhood kids. Outside of those events, Smith said, he raises money for supplies and the truck’s budget comes out of his own pocket.īeyond the big events, Smith makes it a point to drive the Splice-Cream Truck around Cleveland, stopping by as many communities as possible to hear about their experiences and their concerns. The Splice-Cream Truck partners with Ingenuity Cleveland on events like Freedom on Juneteenth and IngenuityFest, and is a member of IngenuityLabs. He aims to get the website up and running in the next couple of months. Soon, Smith said, the recordings will be stored on a website for anyone to listen to. He describes himself as “extremely analog” – and that led to making vinyl records, live on a record lathe, for the stories that are shared. Smith, also a music composer and producer, decided to record the conversations he’d have at the Splice-Cream Truck. I’ve found that a lot of the community members won’t talk to, say, police or politicians, but they will definitely let me know what’s going on.” Ben Smith of the Splice-Cream Truck. When they learn what I’m actually doing, they like to talk. “It’s an ice cream truck, so a lot of people will just come up to it to see what it is. “It’s to show that we’re all alike, and also to highlight things that we need help with, and issues that are in the community that need to be brought to light,” Smith said. Smith has slowly accumulated his own unique archive of Cleveland’s stories over the past few years. ![]()
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