Join us Wednesday, October 7 at 6pm for Orchestration in the Scene: Working With a Variety of Instruments and Musicians, curated by Jessica Jonczyk of Rustic Skies. This educational panel will explore the practical side of incorporating unique instrumentation into different genres and settings, from putting together an ensemble to figuring out how different instruments work together acoustically.

Panelists Kristopher Morron, Brandon Hoff, Alex McPherson, and Kasey Moore will discuss everything from finding and working with musicians to navigating expectations around payment and arrangements. They’ll also talk about the differences between using real instruments and synthetic MIDI, both in the studio and in a live setting, and how to determine what works best for the sound you’re trying to create.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVP at the link below.

What changes when a novel is adapted for the screen? What can a movie do that a book can’t, and what might get lost in the process? Join host Isaac for the next meeting of Visible Voice Books’ new Movie vs. Book Club as we compare Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart with its 1987 film adaptation, Hellraiser, also directed by Barker.

Read the novel and watch the movie before the meeting, then come ready to discuss how the two versions compare and what each medium brings to the story. We encourage you to purchase your copy of The Hellbound Heart from Visible Voice Books. Hellraiser is available to stream on various platforms.

This is a free event; all are welcome.

Movie vs Book Club is a monthly bookclub hosted by Visible Voices own Isaac. MvB meets on the first Wednesday of every month.

J. Scott Franklin uses words like a painter uses colors. The phrases are as carefully shaped as the strokes of a brush.  His lyrics are about the sound of the words and the images they conjur.  From the first time he put a pen to paper, Scott has striven to put everything aside except the meaning and flow of the story. Highlights thus far in his career include playing in concert with Country Hall of Fame legend George Jones. Scott has also performed in concert with Ralph Stanley (Oh Brother Where Art Thou) and Keith Sykes (Jimmy Buffets former band-mate and co-writer of several hits). He was nominated as Cleveland Scene Magazine's “Best Songwriter”. In addition to performing as guitarist and vocalist, he sometimes performs with his jazz quartet, singing and playing trumpet on jazz standards. Scott has also written close to 30 songs for veterans, many through Project D.R.E.W.  
 
This event is free and open to the public

Saturday Sessions are part of our Echoes music series, a free monthly series celebrating Cleveland’s homegrown music scene through five distinct events, each with its own dedicated day of the month. For more information about the Saturday Sessions and our other Echoes events, check out the link below.

Join us for an evening with author Riverhorse Nakadate to celebrate the release of his new book, Water Lines.

Across thirty-two essays, Nakadate paddles, hikes, casts, surfs, and canoes through landscapes as varied as the alpine lakes of Colorado, the salt marshes of his native Texas, the trout streams of Minnesota, and the mangrove swamps of the Yucatán. Whether he’s chasing redfish in a hurricane, rescuing baby squirrels or migrating monarch butterflies, or honoring his mother’s legacy with a canoe ride and a slice of sweet-potato pie, Nakadate writes with poetic precision and a fierce, tender reverence for the natural world and his fellow human travelers.

At the heart of the book is a love for water in all its forms—river, rain, surf, snowmelt—and a belief that wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity. Nakadate’s prose is rich with sensory detail and emotional depth, blending humor, heartbreak, and philosophical insight. He reflects on solitude, friendship, loss, and the quiet heroism of those who, like him, strive to protect our wild spaces. His encounters with wildlife, fellow anglers, and strangers on the road become meditations on connection, resilience, and the redemptive gifts of wanderlust.

Environmental themes run deep: from the threatened Boundary Waters to the shark-finning crisis in the Gulf, Nakadate bears witness to the fragility of ecosystems and the urgency of conservation. Yet his tone remains hopeful, grounded in the belief that small victories—one fish released, one river defended—can ripple outward.

Water Lines is not just about fishing or travel; it’s a celebration of living deliberately, loving fiercely, and listening deeply to the rhythms of the earth. For anyone who’s ever felt the tug of a river, the pull of a distant horizon, or the quiet joy of a campfire under the stars, this book will feel like coming home.

This event is free and open to the public.

Celebrate the paperback release of M.L. Rio’s Hot Wax, a fast-moving rock-and-roll mystery about family, secrets, and the cost of running from your past.

In 1989, ten-year-old Suzanne is swept into her father’s world of electric guitars, fast cars, and a rising rock band. But when the band’s success ends in violence, Suzanne becomes the only witness to what happened. Nearly three decades later, her father’s death brings the past back to the surface, sending her on a cross-country search for answers and the life she left behind.

Part music history, part mystery, and part road trip, Hot Wax is a story about what happens when the past refuses to stay buried and getting lost becomes the only way forward.

M.L. Rio will be in person on our stage for an afternoon discussion followed by a book signing.

This event is free and open to the public.

M.L. Rio has been an actor, a bookseller, an academic, and a music writer. She holds an MA in Shakespeare studies and a PhD in English literature. She is the author of the internationally bestselling novel If We Were Villains, the USA TODAY bestselling novella Graveyard Shift, and Hot Wax. She never stays in one place for long, but keeps her books, records, and four-legged sidekick in south Philadelphia.

New York Times Bestselling Author Mercury Stardust will be at No Class on October 12th at 6pm to discuss her new book Lost and Found: A Compassionate Guide to Homeownership.

The trans handy ma’am is back … and this time she’s buying a house and taking her loyal audience along on the journey
Buying your first home can be an intimidating process filled with questions and uncertainties—how do you know you’re working with a trustworthy lender? What are closing costs and how much should you budget for them? Can you actually afford to fix a fixer-upper?

In this successor to the #1 New York Times bestseller Safe and Sound, Mercury Stardust demystifies the path to homeownership and sets you up for homeowning success. Learn about the ups and downs of the house hunting process—from putting in an offer to going through inspections and closing—and then join Mercury as she tackles her first year with a fixer-upper that needs to be renovated and updated.

With DIY projects and guides for renovating and maintaining every part of your new house, as well as with tips for weather-proofing and maintaining outdoor spaces like a deck or garden, Lost and Found will empower you to create your dream home. Mercury reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly, including all the emotional highs and lows when things break, emergencies arise, and the unexpected inevitably happens.

Pull up a chair and join us for the latest installment of Kitchen Table Songs — an intimate event where the heart of songwriting takes center stage. This month, host Brent Kirby welcomes Jul Big Green to the table to explore the artist’s background, influences, songwriting process, and inspiration followed by a performance from Green.

Whether you’re a musician, a fan, or simply curious about the magic behind songwriting, Kitchen Table Songs offers a unique, intimate, and insightful evening of music and conversation. Come for the stories, stay for the songs—and discover why the kitchen table is where the music truly begins.

Jul Big Green is a genre blending artist that combines Pop with Hip-Hop and Rock elements. Featured in Variety Magazine and Cleveland Magazine, winner of the international Hot Takes Songwriting Competition, he has been entertaining audiences with diverse musical arrangements across much of the East Coast and Internationally since 2015.

This event is free and open to the public.

Kitchen Table Songs is part of our Echoes music series, a free monthly series celebrating Cleveland’s homegrown music scene through five distinct events, each with its own dedicated day of the month. For more information on Drop the Needle and our other Echoes events, check out the link below.

Join host Michael James as he dives into one of the earliest albums to anticipate the sound and attitude of punk: Black Monk Time by American garage-rock band The Monks.

Largely ignored upon its release in 1966, nearly a decade before punk emerged as a recognized genre, the album was unlike much of what was happening in rock at the time. Built around pounding rhythms, distorted guitar, unconventional vocals, and a deliberately abrasive sound, Black Monk Time challenged the expectations of what a rock band was supposed to sound like. Though it initially went largely unnoticed, the album eventually developed a devoted cult following and is now considered an important influence on punk and alternative music.

Come listen, learn more about the story behind The Monks, and hear an album that was years ahead of its time.

For over 20 years Michael James was a longtime programmer at WRUW hosting the shows Radio Dystopia as well as The Defend Cleveland Show. He's also been in the record business selling music since he was teenager, most recently having curated all the new music at Loop in Tremont for over a decade, which was voted the best record store in the city by Scene Magazine multiple times. In addition to having been a musician in a number of bands in Cleveland over the years (blktyger, Fuzzhead, Seers, and Falling Rock), Michael is one of the co-founders and producers of the Cleveland Lottery League, which in 2028 will be celebrating its 20 years of bringing together musicians from all over the region to be randomly drafted together into all new bands

This event is free and open to the public.

“Drop the Needle,” a unique community listening experience that celebrates the art and history of vinyl records. Each session features a guest expert who delves into the story behind a chosen artist and their iconic album. The expert will guide us through the artist’s career, creative process, production techniques, and the cultural context surrounding the recording of the featured album. After the discussion, we “drop the needle” and listen together to Side A and Side B of the album in its entirety, savoring each track as it was meant to be heard. This shared listening session fosters a deeper appreciation of the music and invites participants to experience the album as a cohesive work of art. Following the listening session, we open the floor for a community discussion. Attendees are encouraged to share their reactions, insights, and questions, making this an interactive and enriching event for music lovers of all backgrounds. Whether you’re a long-time vinyl enthusiast or new to the format, “Drop the Needle” offers a welcoming space to explore, listen, and connect through the power of music.

Visible Voice Books is excited to welcome Sock Jock to our stage on October 16th. The Detroit-based indie rock artist is known for her high-energy sets that engage with the crowd, recalling 90s female powerhouses like Veruca Salt and contemporary artists like Snail Mail. Moonlighting as a mechanical engineer, she resonates with the other daydreams with day jobs. Sock Jock will be joined by Cleveland natives Honeyland and Plum Shed.

This event is open to the public. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door.

Join us from 2–4pm as we welcome Nancy Redd and Reggie Redd to the stage for a Saturday Session. If you’ve joined us for one of our Open Mic Poet Jams, you may recognize Nancy as the flutist who performs with the Tongue in Groove Trio, improvising alongside the poets.

Together, Nancy and Reggie have been performing as Sounds of Jazz since 2004, bringing jazz and pop standards to audiences throughout Cleveland. Their performances celebrate the classic sounds of jazz while adding their own touch of smooth jazz and pop. Come spend your Saturday afternoon with two longtime Cleveland musicians and a little jazz.

This event is free and open to the public

Saturday Sessions are part of our Echoes music series, a free monthly series celebrating Cleveland’s homegrown music scene through five distinct events, each with its own dedicated day of the month. For more information about the Saturday Sessions and our other Echoes events, check out the link below.

Celebrate the legendary American songwriter Bob Dylan’s recent 85th birthday with renditions of his catalog, performed by some of Northeast Ohio’s top musicians. 

A house band composed of a “who’s who” of regional musicians will back the concert, while award-winning singer/songwriter and bandleader Brent Kirby presides over the festivities. Throughout the concert, he will welcome several special guests to the stage, each performing their own interpretations of two Dylan classics. 

The evening features Kirby (host, vocals, guitars) with Andy Leach (electric and steel guitars), Alfredo Guerrieri (bass), Jeremy McCabe (drums), Rachel Brown (piano), and  Ed Caner (fiddle). 

Special featured guests include Laurie Caner (vocals and banjo), Austin Walkin’ Cane (vocals and guitar), Paul Kovac (vocals and banjo), Afi Scruggs (vocals and piano) and Jenna Fournier (vocals and guitar).

This event is open to the public. Admission is $10. Tickets are available for pre-order and at the door.

Join us from 2–4pm as we welcome Cleveland’s Bosa Nova king Moises Borges for our latest Saturday Session.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio USA, Moises Borges is a gifted guitarist and vocalist born in Bahia, Brazil, He grew up experimenting with rhythms such as Bolero, Baião, Xote, Afoxé, Frevo, Forró, especially Samba and Bossa Nova which are basic to his performances, his soothing voice and charm make for a wonderful evening of entertainment for all lovers of Brazilian Jazz.  

Performing either solo or with his band, Borges is a wonderful storyteller, and a vivid, funny and prolific performer who plays mostly in the Samba and Bossa Nova traditions. He interpreting his original songs and soulfully delivers classics by Jobim, Gilberto, Bosco and many others. "Far away from his native Brazil, the music of his homeland is very much alive when he is on stage.

This event is free and open to the public

Saturday Sessions are part of our Echoes music series, a free monthly series celebrating Cleveland’s homegrown music scene through five distinct events, each with its own dedicated day of the month. For more information about the Saturday Sessions and our other Echoes events, check out the link below.

Admission $10 - Tickets available in advance and at the door

We are excited to welcome back Sunshine Daydream to the Visible Voice Stage. Sunshine Daydream are an Ohio-based Grateful Dead tribute band known for their authentic and high-energy performances that transport audiences back to the golden age of rock and roll. With a lineup that includes some of the most talented musicians in the region, the band has gained a reputation for their faithful interpretations of the Dead's classic songs and their ability to channel their own signature improvisational style.

On Wednesday, October 28th, Austin Walkin’ Cane brings us the music and the legend of one of the most mysterious figures in American music: Robert Johnson.

The story goes that Johnson went to a crossroads at midnight and made a deal with the Devil. In exchange for his soul, he would become a master of the guitar. Whether you believe the legend or not, something supernatural seems to hover around Johnson’s music. His songs are filled with crossroads, hellhounds, temptation, restless spirits, and the feeling that there are forces at work just beyond what we can see.

Johnson’s life was short, his recordings were few, and the mystery surrounding him has only grown with time. His music would go on to influence generations of blues and rock musicians, while the crossroads story became one of the most enduring legends in American music.

Who better to take us into that world than Austin Walkin’ Cane? A seasoned blues musician and storyteller, Austin has spent years bringing American roots music to audiences far beyond his home base. He’s often on the road exploring the music and stories of interesting places—he’s just returned from Alaska and has already announced a tour through Canada and Europe.

On October 28, Austin brings the story home: Robert Johnson’s songs, his remarkable life, the crossroads story and more. Come hear the music, the legend and the lore.

This event is open to the public. Tickets are available for pre-sale and at the door.

Join us for the Cleveland launch of writer Lindsay Turner’s new book of poetry, Middle Slope. Turner will be joined by fellow professor and writer Walt Hunter for a conversation before reading from her new selection.

Middle Slope is Lindsay Turner’s third collection of poetry. Set primarily in the suburban West below the Rocky Mountains, the collection explores nature, climate change, infertility, and uncertainty through the landscape of everyday life.

The poems move between the natural world and the human experiences that shape how we understand it. Turner considers our changing relationship with nature, including the ways we are connected to it while also becoming increasingly separated from it. Through simple language and vivid imagery, Middle Slope looks at change, relationships, and the passage of time.

Lindsay Turner is the author of three books of poems: Middle Slope, forthcoming from Farrar, Straus and Giroux, The Upstate, and Songs & Ballads. Her translations from the French include books of poetry and philosophy by Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anne Dufourmantelle, Stéphane Bouquet, and others, as well as several children's books. She is Associate Professor of English and directs the graduate program at Case Western Reserve University.

Walt Hunter is the Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities and Senior Associate Dean for faculty at Case Western Reserve University. He is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, focusing on poetry. He is the author of Forms of a World: Contemporary Poetry and the Making of Globalization, The American House Poem 1945-2021, and Some Flowers, a collection of poems.

This event is done with support from the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University.

Join us from 2–4pm as we welcome Sadhu to our stage for another Saturday Session.

Cleveland native, Sadhu, is a gifted lyricist with a smooth, soulful voice. Sadhu is a self published, independent artist that has enjoyed music from a young age and got her start singing in the youth choir at church. Further championed by her family and peers to pursue music as a career, Sadhu plans to bring her music to a world stage by performing solo and singing lead in the band, S.Y.S. (Save yourself).

This event is free and open to the public

Saturday Sessions are part of our Echoes music series, a free monthly series celebrating Cleveland’s homegrown music scene through five distinct events, each with its own dedicated day of the month. For more information about the Saturday Sessions and our other Echoes events, check out the link below.

Visible Voice Books is excited to welcome BADJR to our stage on October 31. Made up of Cleveland and Akron songwriters Bethany Joy, Anthony Papaleo, Dan Socha, Josee McGee, and Ray Flanagan, BADJR brings five distinct voices together for an evening of original music.

The name BADJR (Bad-jur) or (Bad-june-yur) comes from the first names of its five members, a fitting name for a group built around bringing individual artists together. Each artist takes a turn in the spotlight, with the others stepping in to provide musical support. The result is an intimate evening that moves between different songwriting styles and perspectives while keeping the focus on the artists and their original work.

This event is open to the public. Tickets are $10 and available for pre-order and at the door.

Visible Voice books is excited to host writer Alice Miranda Ollstein on November 4th. Ollstein will be joined by Oberlin professor Steven Volk to discuss her new book Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone’s Health, a groundbreaking and powerful investigation into how the fall of Roe v. Wade changed American health care far beyond reproductive rights.

Ollstein spent years traveling around the country exploring the unexpected ways in which the Dobbs decision is disrupting the already fraught experience of pregnancy and birth, as physicians withhold or delay medically necessary procedures for fear of being prosecuted. A work of deep reporting and profound humanity, Side Effects chronicles the experiences of real people who have lost access to other forms of reproductive health care, including contraception and IVF, as well as those of all ages, genders, and geographic locations hit by the spillover effects to medical research, hospital staffing, wait times, management of chronic illnesses, and more.

Her explosive reporting offers an urgent, on-the-ground look at a medical system under pressure, at the patients and providers caught up in the dragnet of the new abortion restrictions, and at the impacts on both reproductive care and completely unrelated services.

This event is free and open to the public.

Alice Miranda Ollstein is a senior health care reporter for POLITICO, with a focus on health care in the states. Alice graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been reporting in D.C. ever since, covering the Supreme Court, Congress and national elections for TV, radio, print, and online outlets. Her work has aired on Free Speech Radio News, All Things Considered, WAMU and WTOP, and her writing has been published by Talking Points Memo, The Atlantic, and La Opinión. She was elected in 2016 as an at-large board member of the DC Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2017, she was named one of the New Media Alliance's "Rising Stars" under 30. She is the author of a forthcoming book on the broader health care impacts of post-Roe abortion restrictions, set to be published by The New Press.

Steven Volk is a Professor of History Emeritus at Oberlin College, where he taught Latin American history and museum studies for 30 years. Volk was named US Professor of the Year in 2011 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and was recognized by the Government of Chile in 2001 for his efforts in helping to restore democracy in that country.

Get ready for a night of motel-folk with Orange Animal at Visible Voice Books. Described by Spin Magazine as having “dark, gothic country balladry in the spirit of The Boatmans’s Call era Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,” the Akron natives create songs that fit in somewhere between a roadside motel and a late-night bar.

Orange Animal will be joined by special guest Taylor Lamborn along with Opus 216, Autumn Traub, Chris Hanna and Justin Tibbs.

This event is open to the public. Tickets are $10 and available for pre-sale and at the door.