“Yeah, it was hard to find
and park near,
like all magical realms,
but once found
you were bound to be
saved…”
That’s how Cleveland poet Ray McNiece described the September closing of the Barking Spider Tavern in University Circle. It had been an intimate haven for musicians since founder Martin Juredine and business partner Bruce Madorsky took over the Olive Tree Tavern in 1986.
“It had good bones,” recalls Suzanne DeGaetano, co-owner of Mac’s Backs-Books in Coventry, who tended bar part time at the Spider. “It was all wood, like a ship’s cabin. You walked in and just felt good.”
In the summer, the doors and windows opened onto huge trees and picnic tables. A fireplace warmed the cozy interior during winter. Regular performers included guitarist Jim Volk and Gilbert Hetherwick. McNiece’s band Tongue and Groove got its start there — in “this room made of sound,” as he describes it.
Like many other poets I’ve given my share of readings there, and I can’t imagine a more congenial environment for the spoken word. The audiences were small and attentive.
Music was so much its lifeblood that Spider regular Brent Kirby even ended up marrying Juredine’s daughter, Jenna, who took over the tavern after her father died. The arrival of their first child prompted their decision to close and focus on parenting. Great for them but deeply sad for generations of Spider lovers for whom the bar was a local musical mecca.
“At the center of everything was the music,” remembers DeGaetano. “And when the music was at its best, the experience was transcendent.”
