EVENTS CALENDAR
Upcoming events:
Live Music: Garrett Folger & Aidan Plank
Garrett Folger (trumpet) and Aidan Plank (bass) have performed together in many musical settings, but their DUO project brings their collaboration into sharp focus. Rooted in spontaneous improvisation, timbral exploration, and deep listening, the duo creates music that unfolds in the moment with clarity and intention. Their debut recording, DUO (2025), reflects this approach, presenting a focused document of two artists deeply embedded in the Cleveland jazz community as they craft a voice uniquely their own. Listen to DUO on Bandcamp or Spotify.
This event is free and open to the public.
Garrett Folger is a freelance composer, educator, and performer based in Cleveland, Ohio. A graduate of the conservatory of music at Baldwin-Wallace University, he has performed across the country, including at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as internationally in Canada, Europe, and in numerous festivals across Cuba in 2023. Notable musical collaborations at home include performances with Sammy DeLeon y su Orquesta, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Jazzworks, and his own group co-led by Carmen Castaldi and Anthony Fuoco where many of his own compositions are interpreted. Garrett’s large ensemble compositions have been performed by groups such as the Third Law Collective and the Skatch Andersson Orchestra. Follow Garett on Instagram and Youtube.
Double bassist, electric bassist, and composer Aidan Plank has performed for the past 27 years in the broad and diverse circumstances required of a jazz musician. Since 2013, Plank has served as the bassist for the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, where he has collaborated with guest artists including Gerald Clayton, Joe Lovano, Maria Schneider, Michael Philip Mossman, Bobby Sanabria, Tierney Sutton, Regina Carter, Ken Peplowski, Bria Skonberg, and many others. Plank’s own collaborative ensemble, Pulse, features saxophonist Brad Wagner, pianist Anthony Fuoco, and drummer Dustin May. Pulse explores new compositions by its members and also works to cultivate a midwestern sound drawing influence from the music of Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden. Plank is also active as a jazz composer. His compositions and arrangements are performed by the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra as well as the Third Law Collective.
Currently, Plank serves as the Assistant Teaching Professor of Jazz Bass at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts. He holds a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from Youngstown State University.
“Listening to two kindred spirits making music in the moment is always a joy, and Plank and Folger do so with remarkable rapport.”
Thrity Umrigar Reading: Missing Sam
Thrity Umrigar is the best selling author of nine previous novels, including Reese’s Book Club Pick Honor, four picture books, and a memoir. Her books have been published in more than twenty countries and several languages. A former journalist, she has contributed to the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and other newspapers.
This event is free, and open to the public!
Brent Kirby Songwriting Share
Brent Kirby, one of Cleveland's hardest working
songwriters and original music advocates hosts the
Songwriting Share,
where he invites two other
songwriters to join him onstage
to play songs,
tell stories, and talk about writing songs.
This event is free & open to the public.
Brent Kirby’s music has been called "Main Character" music, which is representative of the personal emotion and collective perspective he offers in his songs. His performances are reflective in nature, with the listeners often finding themselves as a catalyst in the song. Kirby's universal lyrics are on the surface specific and at the same time deeply layered, where the audience can find a common and personal point of relation and entry into the song. His soulful voice is both unique and soothing, colored with weathered age and experience. In 2022, Brent was voted “Best Folk” by the Cleveland Music Awards and nominated for “Best Songwriter” by the Cleveland Scene. Follow Brent on Facebook and Instagram.
Luke Brett Reading: Cap Doffers
Luke Brett trained as an actor at Baldwin Wallace University and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. He has performed professionally on the main stages of Great Lakes Theater, Dobama Theatre, and Cleveland Playhouse. His favorite plays to act in are the ones that center the art of speech and then use it to say something gigantic and romantic. Currently, he is understudying the role of Macbeth at Great Lakes Theater and his most recent credit as a playwright was in 2024 when his play, “The Skull of Elizabeth Bathory,” was presented Off Broadway at Red Bull Theater. He adores Cleveland and life.
Live Music: Gene Schwartz and the G-Force
Bass-player Gene Schwartz is one of the old-school veterans of the area blues scene. He was a familiar face in area clubs for decades, anchoring the Schwartz Brothers Blues Band, which featured his late brother, guitar virtuoso and vociferous preacher Glenn Schwartz. He also performed with the legendary Cleveland-based bluesman Robert Lockwood Jr., who played more and preached less.
$10 cover at the door.
Poets Jam with Ray McNiece and the Tongue In Groove Trio (Copy)
Come and bring your poetry to Ray McNiece and the Tongue In Groove Trio's Poet Jam! Recite your poetry while the band follows you along with grooves and improvisations.
This is a free open-mic; all are welcome.
Ray McNiece has earned a national reputation as a poet and performer for almost two decades through his solo theater pieces, his poetry and music shows, his captaining of 2 National Poetry Slam Championship teams, his "edutaining" children's shows and workshops, and his yearly country-wide tours of performance poems, stories and songs. Follow Ray on Facebook.
Live Music: The New Soft Shoe
The New Soft Shoe is a Cleveland-based band that covers the catalog of Cosmic American Music's Gram Parsons. Since the founding of the band 16 years ago, they have a consistent monthly 2nd Thursday show at Forest City Brewery, played the Rock Hall and other venues, multiple times at the Gram Parsons Pull in Waycross, GA, Gram’s childhood home, and put their own twist on many of the classic Gram, Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, and International Submarine Band songs. In 2026, The New Soft Shoe released their self-titled debut album of their arrangements of songs Gram wrote and played. Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to their music on Bandcamp.
$10 cover at the door.