{"id":330089,"date":"2026-05-20T13:26:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/?p=330089"},"modified":"2026-05-20T13:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T13:27:04","slug":"new-book-captures-the-visual-history-of-speak-in-tongues-legendary-cleveland-diy-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/news\/new-book-captures-the-visual-history-of-speak-in-tongues-legendary-cleveland-diy-venue\/","title":{"rendered":"New Book Captures the Visual History of Speak in Tongues, Legendary Cleveland DIY Venue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For seven years, from 1994 to 2001, Speak in Tongues existed in a liminal space — DIY venue, art space, commune, nonstop party, and breeding ground for Cleveland creatives and musicians. That era will live again through the pages of a new book that captures the visual history of the seminal period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Delzoppo, the DJ and pinball champion, spent years collecting archival material with the help of those who were part of the fabric of the underground spot for Where Shit Happened: The Paper Trail to Speak in Tongues<\/a><\/em>, which will be released this August by Pave the Ocean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through troves of hand-drawn concert posters, gig calendars, set lists, punk zines, show photography and\u2014yes\u2014police reports, the book is a trip in the wayback machine to a place that defined an era and left its fingerprints on the local scene for years afterward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the lifespan was a big part of why Speak in Tongues is remembered so well,\u201d Delzoppo told Scene. \u201cI mean, there were probably a thousand shows over seven years. So, it gave them a lot of time to make an impression on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a snapshot of a moment in time when a ever-evolving amorphous group did, well, just about whatever they wanted and built a community in the process around West 43rd and Lorain, long before chic restaurants and breweries defined the west side of Ohio City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
John Delzoppo’s history of Speak in Tongues collects 500 pages of documents, from show flyers to police reports. Credit:<\/span> Pave The Ocean<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Delzoppo\u2019s book documents an underground space that managed to stay underground, one where local and touring bands could pull a crowded room without much fanfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while there’s been work in recent years to put the history of Speak in Tongues down on paper — former Scene staff writer Eric Sandy penned an oral history for this outlet in 2016<\/a>, which he later expanded into a book<\/a>, and photographer Ken Blaze compiled his archive into a retrospective in 2015<\/a>\u2014Delzoppo says his aim was a more thoughtfully curated and arranged collection of primary documents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u201creference book,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of a wild time, even if some of the wildest were left on the cutting room floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delzoppo laughed. \u201cI didn\u2019t want anyone, you know, having their professional career tainted by something that happened all the way back in 1996,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s just better to be left out of the publication.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.<\/a>

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For seven years, from 1994 to 2001, Speak in Tongues existed in a liminal space — DIY venue, art space, commune, nonstop party, and breeding ground for Cleveland creatives and musicians. That era will live again through the pages of a new book that captures the visual history of the seminal period. John Delzoppo, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-05-20T13:27:01Z","apple_news_api_id":"44c19a83-f520-40f8-8a8c-e6ff7de5651b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-05-20T13:27:01Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ARMGag_UgQPiKjOb_feVlGw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/09551bb6-65e4-48a4-92e6-844c5c570ad6","https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/f09c8d1a-c48c-4206-aa6f-12347364a1b0"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"newspack_collection_is_cover_story":false,"newspack_collection_post_order":0,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"The 500-page collection brings together photography, show flyers and even police reports in documenting the infamous underground spot.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106,115,24,23],"tags":[44034,217,28159],"newspack_collection_taxonomy":[],"newspack_collection_section":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[134],"class_list":["post-330089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-news","category-local-music","category-music","category-news","tag-john-delzoppo","tag-ohio-city","tag-speak-in-tongues","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Book Captures the Visual History of Speak in Tongues, Legendary Cleveland DIY Venue - Cleveland Scene<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New Book Captures the Visual History of Speak in Tongues, Legendary Cleveland DIY Venue - Cleveland Scene\" 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The space hosted the city\u2019s debuts by then-unknown acts such as Modest Mouse, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Neutral Milk Hotel, U.S. Maple and hundreds more bands, artists, filmmakers and other creatives.\u00a0 A new book,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Local Music"","block_context":{"text":"Local Music","link":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/category\/music\/local-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WSH-PROMO-JJR-PROOF-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WSH-PROMO-JJR-PROOF-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WSH-PROMO-JJR-PROOF-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WSH-PROMO-JJR-PROOF-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/WSH-PROMO-JJR-PROOF-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":300072,"url":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/music\/new-book-on-speak-in-tongues-the-legendary-cleveland-diy-venue-out-next-week-39226006\/","url_meta":{"origin":330089,"position":1},"title":"New Book on Speak In Tongues, the Legendary Cleveland DIY Venue, Out Next Week","author":"Vince Grzegorek","date":"June 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In a new book on sale next week, former Scene staff writer Eric Sandy expands on the oral history of Speak In Tongues published in this paper back in 2016 with more interviews, fuzzy memories of debauchery and tales of glory involving the beloved underground venue. 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We’d Love to Talk to You","author":"Eric Sandy","date":"June 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, everybody. We here at Scene\u00a0are putting together a series of conversations and interviews about Speak In Tongues, the legendary underground music venue in Ohio City that closed abruptly after a final show on Dec. 31, 2001.\u00a0 So far, we've reached out to and spoken with many of the people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cleveland News"","block_context":{"text":"Cleveland News","link":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/category\/news\/cleveland-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clevescene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/1936518_143804521928_5242002_n.webp.webp?fit=432%2C330&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":226770,"url":"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/music\/tongues-lashed-1478652\/","url_meta":{"origin":330089,"position":3},"title":"Tongues Lashed","author":"Jason Bracelin","date":"January 10, 2002","format":false,"excerpt":"Just past midnight on January 1, fireworks lit up 4311 Lorain Avenue. 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