Zig At The Gig podcast

On The Books With John Skrtic August 2026

A side quest here on Zig At The Gig where we get a monthly update for John Skrtic about all the amazing free events happing at Cleveland Public Library !

Saturday, August 15, 2026 The Cleveland Hip Hop Exhibit: 20 Years Strong

Time:2:00pm - 8:00pm

Location:Main 00 - Eastman Reading Garden

Branch: Main Library - Downtown

Saturday, August 15, 2026 Speak In Tongues Where shit happened book release

3:00–5:00 PM Location: Visible Voice Books, 4601 Lorain Ave., Cleveland, OH 44102

Wednesday, August 12 2026

Sound Bites: Justin Tibb's Spark Trio

Time:12:00pm - 1:00pm

Location:Main 00 - Eastman Reading Garden

Branch: Main Library - Downtown

 

Wednesday, August 19 2026

Sound Bites: Lex Moda

Time:12:00pm - 1:00pm

Location:Main 00 - Eastman Reading Garden

Branch: Main Library - Downtown

And She Was Loved: A Celebration of Toni Morrison with Andrea Pinkney

September 17, 2026, from 11:00 AM–1:00 PM at the Cleveland Public Library, Martin Luther King, Jr. Campus (10601 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland) and is free and open to the public. https://ohiocelebratestonimorrison.org/event/and-she-was-loved-a-celebration-of-toni-morrison-with-andrea-pinkney/

Edward S. Curtis's Collection The Cleveland Public Library houses a rare, original 20-volume set of Edward S. Curtis’s monumental work, The North American Indian (Set Number 331), published between 1907 and 1930. Located in the Fine Arts and Special Collections department at 325 Superior Avenue, the holding includes roughly 1,500 original photogravure prints documenting indigenous tribal life.

Interview with and performance by Danny G !

Zig At The Gig goes live at Negative Space bringing the talent from the streets of Cleveland to you! with Danny G as our first guest! Danny Gardner is a singer songwriter from North East Ohio, whose melodies are as infectious as his positive demeanor!

Follow Danny Here : https://www.facebook.com/danny.gardner.963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuMHRACC4wk

https://www.instagram.com/dannyg3339?igsh=bmJoeDdibTlkb29x

 

Interview with Stephen Hunking of Hypnolovewheel !

Hypnolovewheel was founded in 1986 in New York City by guitarists Dave Ramirez and Stephen Hunking and bassist Dan Cuddy, already old-time friends and veterans of Long Island garage-rock prodigies Plastic Device. They were quickly joined by Peter Walsh, a Connecticut garage-rock prodigy and the sole respondent to an esoteric “Wanted Drummers” flyer that sought a percussionist in the mold of:

1. Moe Tucker

2. Chris Partridge

3. Micky Dolenz

4. Molty (hope I Spelled That Right) [NB: He did not.]

5. Jughead

6. Charlie Watts

7. Simon (Alvin’s Brother)”

 

A perplexed Walsh mistook the plural “Drummers” as an indication that he was enlisting in some sort of drum corps, but the situation was quickly clarified, and with that magic connection made, the quirky quartet were off to the races, playing at CBGB in the midnight Sunday slot and at the Lismar Lounge way too many times. In 1987, the band released a 4-track, 7-inch EP on their own Snatch-O-Matic imprint and contributed a theme song to Pat Bishow’s psychotronic film classic Soultangler.

 

A debut album, Turn! Turn! Burn! (produced by Albert Garzon) followed the next year on the boutique Fabian Aural Products label to high-profile accolades: It was a “real gem,” per David Browne in the New York Daily News. In The Village Voice, R. J. Smith praised “the heel-in-amp feedback fuzz, the raga goo-goo gaga . . . they want to howl, and this record makes you listen.”

And it was onward and upward from there, with local shows, regional tours, and a follow-up album, Candy Mantra, released in 1989. By this auspicious point, the group was garnering attention from underground tastemakers Conflict and 18 Wheeler, not to mention the lofty likes of The New York Times. (According to the Grey Lady, Hypnolovewheel played “slightly cockeyed, 1960’s-style pop-rock, layered with 1980’s fuzz, noise, and irony.”)

 

All the critical hubbub and CMJ chart success attracted the interest of larger labels, and Hypnolovewheel signed with California’s Alias Records for a trilogy of acclaimed albums: Space Mountain (1991), Angel Food (1992), and Altered States (1993), all created in collaboration with producer/engineer Lou Giordano.

 

Hypnolovewheel’s four songwriters and vocalists gave them an eclectic range that encompassed the driving noise rock of “I Dream of Jeannie” and jangling pop of “Bridget Because,” both college radio hits with videos directed by Walsh featured on MTV’s 120 Minutes. That versatility may not have served them particularly well in the commercial realm, but it allowed them to successfully share stages with acts ranging from the Fleshtones to the Jesus Lizard to fIREHOSE to Widespread Panic. They toured the US with NYC smart-alecks King Missile, featuring Plastic Device colleague and Hypno coproducer Chris Xefos and Ramirez on drums. They toured some more with UK shoegazers Kitchens of Distinction and power-pop poohbahs The Posies. They toured a lotby themselves, and they rubbed elbows with iconic rock heroes Moe Tucker and Arthur Lee and indie all-stars Galaxie 500, Pavement, Bongwater, Unrest, Superchunk, Brainiac, and Scrawl, among many others. Thanks to Cuddy’s day job, they were featured multiple times in Marvel’s Spider-Man comics.

 

At a certain point they stopped playing and did a lot of other things. Then they got back together in 2001 for one of Yo La Tengo’s inaugural Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s. Then they stopped again and did some more things, including such notable musical projects as Dew Claw, High Tunnels, The Special Pillow, Sleepyhead, Electostim, Grand Union, XL Kings, and the revivified, superannuated Plastic Device.

 

Peter Walsh died too young in 2021. Not all stories have happy endings. But not all stories are over when you think they are. Eventually, Hypnolovewheel got the rights to their music back, and it will all be streaming to you in the near future. Starting now!

 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/54TWW2ZcDuyn8KxnpwtUaf?si=HLp1f0U-QKaJecudDh6Gqw

https://www.instagram.com/hypnolovewheel/

Interview with Bob Bert drummer from Sonic Youth, Pussy Galore, and Lydia Lunch!

 

After seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan show as an eight-year-old, he took drum lessons for one year at age twelve and learned enough to bang along to the Rolling Stones and garage-punk nuggets of the 60’s (Cue up the Barbarians’ "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl"). Bob became desperate to get out of the hell of his Catholic grade school. “In my town, which was 11 miles outside New York City, we had two types of kids, the rah rahs (jocks) and the hoods (greasers).

 

The hoods were mainly in the public school, and I gravitated towards the hoods mainly for the style; black leather jackets and girls that looked like the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes. I told my mom I would drop out if she didn't take me out of Catholic School!” One day Bob got called out of class by the principal who slapped his face back and forth saying "why would you ever want to go to public school?!”. (cue up "Mississippi Queen,” Quaalude Interlude", and "Oink Oink"). In high school Bob drifted away from drumming and headed towards Pop Art, Andy Warhol being a big influence. He got into Glam Rock hitting the NYC clubs to see the New York Dolls, Harlots of 42nd Street, Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys etc. He discovered CBGBs in 1975, when he wandered into a Television / Patti Smith double bill. He took classes at SVA and learned how to silk screen. He moved into Manhattan in 1978 and became a fine art silkscreen printer, eventually working for Warhol up until his death. (Cue up the Velvet Underground’s " Foggy Notion" and the Modern Lovers’ "Pablo Picasso"). In 1979, Bert saw an ad in the Village Voice soliciting “Punk Rock art,” submitted a piece which was accepted for a group show at the Nonson Gallery on Wooster Street, much to his delight. The opening was a gas, the whole downtown scene was in full effect.

 

Joey Ramone’s piece was a toothbrush with red paint on it glued to the ceiling entitled "Bloody Gums.” Daniel Rey’s Shrapnel performed in the back and someone drove a motorcycle through the front door! It was at Nonson that Bob met artist Linda Wolfe. In 1981, Bob and Linda moved to Hoboken, living a block away from the famed club, Maxwell's where Bob would spend half of his life seeing great shows and making tons of friends. In 1981 while hanging at a different club, he got up on stage making a racket with Peter Missing and Jeff Holiday (RIP). “We became the band Drunk Driving causing trouble most of the time we played. We were banned from Maxwells after Peter put his upside-down martini glass graffitti, which he became well known for when he formed his next band Missing Foundation, on the newly painted wall.” After about seven months, Bert saw a flier that Sonic Youth needed a drummer. Bob took the flyer which he still has and joined in 1982. As it turns out he was the only one to call. After his tenure with them, he joined Pussy Galore, staying with them from the mid-80’s through the end of the decade.

Bob's new album

bob-bert

Interview with Don Cento !

 

Halfway to Mellowtown is the debut album from Austin-based Cento Threeo, a Jazz / Americana trio led by guitarist and composer Don Cento. The album was recorded by Stuart Sikes (White Stripes, Cat Power, Loretta Lynn) at Church House in the band’s hometown with Cento producing. Halfway to Mellowtown is being released June 19 June by SecondBridge Records on 12” LP vinyl, CD, digital download and streaming services.

 

The album was cut live in two days with Don on guitar, drummer Norm Bergeron and Phil Spencer on bass. All eleven numbers – mainly Cento originals – are rooted in composition but make ample room for improvisation. The trio’s sound merges the sophistication of late-'90s jazz guitar records and classic '60s post-bop with the textural sensibilities of Americana and indie rock - a unique fusion born from Cento’s diverse musical background. 

 

“The Judy Valve” opens the album with a steady ramp up, shifting focus around the band. “It Takes What It Takes” began as a vocal song but finds a new life as an instrumental while retaining it’s pop-tune structure. “Dennis Muren” is an homage to the FX wizard from Industrial Light & Magic, that hits the laughing gas and give nods to composer and conductor, Jack Elliott. The eerie blues-waltz “Make the Silence Louder” opens Side B with a crack. "Filibuster in E Minor" is all noir ostinato, that plays a game of cat-and-mouse at the intersection of Henry Mancini and David Lynch. The album’s final track is the Rosanne Cash song, “Seven Year Ache,” the album’s only cover tune, whose melody Cento toys with like it’s made of Silly Putty. 

 

Don Cento’s three-decade career spans jazz, indie rock, and Americana. He has toured and recorded with numerous award-winning artists including Sarah Jaffe, Ume, Little Jack Melody, and Chomsky. His production work extends across genres from metal to classical with artists like Matt Kivel, Jerry David DeCicca, and Vitskär Süden on labels like Drag City, Bloodshot, Ripple Music, Worried Songs, Idol Records and Tompkins Square. His contributions to these projects have been admiringly noted in features on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Uncut, SPIN, The New Yorker, and Aquarium Drunkard. As a solo artist, Centohas released music under the moniker El Cento and with instrumental group Shibboleth, scoring placements with both on FOX, MTV and Discovery. 

 

Cento Threeo marks Don’s return to Jazz and represents his most personal artistic statement to date. The project began as a casual outlet for reimagining '60s and '70s FM classics through an atmospheric, jazz-adjacent lens. What started as a covers project quickly evolved as Cento reconnected with his love for jazz and began writing original compositions in earnest. 

 

Following the recording of Halfway to Mellowtown, the drum seat in CentoThreeo was taken over by Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainright, St. Vincent). 

 

https://www.instagram.com/elcento/.

https://centothreeo.com.

https://centothreeo.bandcamp.com.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0w6l3kea2PeCYvfixOFiox.

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cento-threeo/1875616656.

 

On The Books With John Skrtic July 2026

On The Books is a quick monthly update about some of the amazing things happening at Cleveland Public Library !

July 1st Sound Bites: Black Voltron Main Main Library - Downtown

July 11th Conversation with Brian Michael Bendis & Marc Andreyko Main Library - Downtown https://cpl.libcal.com/event/17131018

July 11, 2026 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM Ohio Goes to the Movies - The Scarlet Letter Main Library - Downtown https://cuyahogacounty.gov/america-250/event-details/2026/07/11/america-250/ohio-goes-to-the-movies---the-scarlet-letter

July 13th Free Firearm Safes and Programming GLENVILLE. Monday, July 13 | 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM https://cpl.org/firearm-safety/ Summer reading club !!!! https://cpl.org/cleveland-reads/

July 5th CLEVELAND READS MID-SUMMER CELEBRATION WITH THE CLEVELAND GUARDIANS! 11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Gateway Park https://cpl.org/onecle/one-cleveland-events/

Saturday, August 15th CLEVELAND HIP-HOP: 20 YEARS STRONG Main Library

 

Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/

All Info here https://cpl.org/

 

Interview with Diane Kendig.

Diane Kendig is a writer and teacher born and raised in Canton, Ohio, where she currently resides again after decades living and working elsewhere. Kendig’s four poetry chapbooks include the most recent Prison Terms (Main Street Rag, 2018), as well as The Places We Find Ourselves (Finishing Line 2009), Diane Kendig’s Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2001), and A Tunnel of Flute Song (Cleveland State University 1980). She also co-edited the tribute anthology In the Company of Russell Atkins (Red Giant 2016) and published with photographer Steve Cagan a collection of her translations from Nicaraguan poets, And a Pencil to Write Your Name (Bottom Dog 1986). Her poems and essays have appeared in many anthologies, such as Letters to the World (Red Hen), Colors of a Different Horse (NCTE), Ariadne’s Thread: Contemporary Women’s Journals (Harper and Row), and in over 100 journals, including J Journal, The Minnesota Review, Under the Sun, Ekphrasis, and English Journal. The recipient of two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards in Poetry, Kendig has also received awards from the Fulbright Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and she has held artist residencies at Yaddo and at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Her book Prison Terms was a finalist for the Cathy Smith Bowers Contest. She won a Sears Foundation Award for teaching and the Outstanding Educator award at The University of Findlay, where she was a professor for two decades. In addition to her writing and literature classes on campus, she regularly taught in the university’s prison program in medium security. She also has taught at Cleveland State University, Kent State Stark, Cuyahoga Community College (all in Ohio), and Bentley University (in MA), and in the Ohio Arts Council “Artist in Residency” program, in addition to teaching high school Spanish and English in her first years as an educator. Currently Kendig is working on two poetry collections: a bilingual collection of poems, Woman with a Fan, about the Spanish artist Maria Blanchard, and a book of poems, Stays. She curates creative writing sites for libraries, including Read + Write: 30 Days of Poetry for National Poetry Month, and she continues to give readings and to lead creative writing workshops. Diane's info: https://dianekendig.com/

 

Interview with Drew Miller of Boiled In Lead !

Boiled in Lead’s musical recipe features guitar, bass, violin & drums that play country music from many countries with power and emotion. They are the longest-running Celtic punk band in America, and an important part of the foundation of what became Minnesota punk rock; their star is still on the wall at legendary nightclub First Avenue, dating back to their first 7th Street Entry show in 1983. A record release show, presented by KFAI, is confirmed for the Parkway Theater in Minneapolis tomorrow with openers Pop Wagner and the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band. Tickets can be purchased here. Initial press reception for the new record has been terrific with coverage in (and soon to be in) outlets as diverse as World Music Central, Beatique, Rabble Rouse News, KFAI, The Five Count Radio Show, Mpls Jazz88 Shamrock Shore interview, We Heart Music, ReGen magazine, Strange Currency (NPR’s KMUW), Exclusive Magazine, Ink 19, The Ox in Germany and more. With the eyes of the world on Minnesota, the band understand the irony of releasing an internationalist record at this time in history. Bassist Drew Miller says, “We began recording in the spring of 2024, a very different time. Our goal, as it’s been since 1983, is to bring some joy into people’s lives by loudly reviving dark old folk songs and Irish dance music. The band’s name comes from an 17th Century Irish ballad called “Two Sisters.” In the last verse, the bad one is executed by being boiled in lead. Seemed like a good name for a band starting out in the punk scene.” While Boiled in Lead is known for their Celtic roots, King Of The Dogwoods is much more than that. In fact, it will take more than one listen to take in all that is going on on this record. In a world that is ruled by checking genre boxes, Boiled in Lead is radically eclectic: the Serbian folk song “Adje Jano” sits comfortably alongside strong originals like the title track, and multiple instrumentals from the delicate “Keshenever Bulgar” to the brutal “Fast Reels.” It rewards the listener after one listen, yet has uncommon depth on repeat listenings. Sure there are through lines from the bands career; taking traditional material that excites them (“Bold Lovell”), and finding powerful ways to play it as a rock band. With the strongest four-part harmonies that they have ever had, it’s less wild jam improv but more studied although they always value the element of surprise. Celtic, Americana, World, Cajun can all be found on King of the Dogwoods. Enthusiastic, powerful, technically brilliant, playing a wealth of instruments with extreme dynamics, Boiled In Lead routinely demolishes genres with its highly-identifiable sound. An Onion A&E quote describes the band’s approach well: “…the prime purveyor of a style of Celtic music infused with punk-rock attitude, developing over the years with a hard-driving swirl that combined Irish folk with heavy rock and elements of styles from all over the world. …one of the best bands Minnesota’s ever produced. …even without amplification, Boiled In Lead can summon up furious punk-folk energy.” While in high school, bass player and founder Drew Miller became obsessed with traditional folk. He started the band to turn the volume up and bring those tunes and songs to new audiences. Following their first LP, he met guitarist / vocalist Todd Menton at an Irish session. With distribution from Twin\Tone, the band was soon playing the First Avenue Mainroom, the Winnipeg Folk Festival; that led to a UK record deal and tours in Europe and around the country. The group and the individual musicians have won many Minnesota Music Awards, and toured throughout the US and in Europe. Having played alongside bands like Hüsker Dü, Richard Thompson and Camper Van Beethoven, Boiled in Lead are celebrating more than 40 years on stage and in the studio combining eclectic sounds featuring world music tunes from Irish, Serbian, Bulgarian, Klezmer, and roots American traditions. https://boiledinlead.bandcamp.com

https://boiledinlead.com/

 

Interview with poet Kent Taylor (part 1)

Kent Taylor started writing poetry his freshman year at Ohio Wesleyan University. After quitting medical school at Ohio State University, he returned to Cleveland, and became a charter member of the underground poetry scene that erupted there during the 1960s. His first six books were published by d. a. levy. Taylor moved to San Francisco in 1970. Publications include 24 books and hundreds of appearances in anthologies and periodicals

Link to Kent's New book The Night Always Keeps Something. https://betweenshadowspress.bigcartel.com/product/the-night-always-keeps-something

https://verdantpress.com/checklist/kent-taylor/

 

Interview with Harvey Gold,

 

GOLEMS OF THE RED PLANET is a 3rd wave surf exploration of John Zorn's MASADA songbooks. But let's back up... In l992-l993, composer John Zorn began composing a series of short melodies written in modes found in Ashkenazi Jewish music - a project he called MASADA. Now, over 25 years later, Zorn has composed 613 of these little ditties - the number of commandments found in the Torah. Each of these compositions is written on half a sheet of staff paper (no more than five staves) and written to be performed by any instrumentation. These pieces have been performed by genres as diverse as piano jazz, string quartet, hardcore, all female acapella, salsa, afrobeat, and many many more .... but never SURF!

And as many of us know, the best surf music uses middle-eastern scales. (check out the band Meshugga Beach Party and see for yourselves). So what we're doing is exploring this vast songbook of new Jewish music and exploring it in a 3rd wave surf context - in the vein of bands like Man or Astro-Man? or Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

If you're interested in hearing some of our source material, please visit Mark's Masada World page and check out some of the "Masada Tunes of the Day."

 

Tickets to June 19th at Beachland 

https://www.beachlandballroom.com/shows/golems-of-the-red-planet-19-jun