Sat 8/15 @ 3PM
Sat 8/15 @ 9PM
DIY/underground music venues have always come and gone pretty rapidly but Speak in Tongues at 4311 Lorain Avenue in what’s now a rapidly gentrifying Ohio City neighborhood, has a long run, from 1994 through 2001.
During that time many bands that became much bigger later — and many that were never heard from again — played the ramshackle house/concert hall that smelled of cat pee. Modest Mouse and Alkaline Trio were in the former category. Many people crashed at the venue, effectively living there so you can imagine! The venue closes after final New Year’s Eve show on December 31, 2001.
In 2022, journalist Eric Sandy and photographer Ken Blaze published a book about the venue called Speak In Tongues: An Oral History of Cleveland’s Infamous DIY Punk Venue. Blaze was one of Speak in Tongues’ regulars and captured its ambience perfectly, from the bands to the people crashing on the grubby couches.’
Now there’s yet another book about the venue called WHERE SHIT HAPPENED: The Paper Trail to Speak in Tongues. The 500-plus page visual history includes fliers, photos, clippings and assorted other ephemera, curated by editor John Delzoppo and designed by Ron Kretsch. It’s a lot for such a little venue! (Order the book here.)
On Saturday August 15, there will be a day of celebration for the book, starting at Visible Voice Books at 3pm where one-woman band Uno Lady will perform her distinctive processed vocal music, and there’ll be a panel discussion with Delzoppo, Kretsch and Speak in Tongues participants, moderated by John Skrtic of the Cleveland Public Library. Then head to Proof House up the street from 6-9pm for food and drink specials before racing over to Gordon Square for a concert at the Happy Dog featuring Harriet the Spy, Brian Straw, Beckett and Friends and Applejuice. Straw performed on the final concert at SIT, as did Blaze who was the vocalist for the Unknown, along with Nina Shocks Terror featuring legendary Cleveland punk rocker Tony Erba. That starts at 9pm.