Martin Juredine, Barking Spider Founder, Dead at 66

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Martin Juredine, known for creating one of Cleveland’s most distinctive and welcoming music spaces, died of cancer Tuesday, February 1 at the age of 66.

He and his partner, Bruce Madorsky, acquired the old coach house off Juniper Road on the Case Western Reserve campus in 1986. There, Juredine fashioned the Barking Spider, a space that felt more like a coffeehouse than a bar. Its sequestered location and the large glass doors on each side that opened onto patios gave it a homey, low-key vibe that reflected Juredine’s own gentle, soft-spoken demeanor.

The Spider became a gathering place where people met friends, hung out between classes, dropped in after other events, or stopped by to listen to mostly acoustic and small-ensemble performers in an array of genres, including folk, bluegrass, country, jazz, and rock — with live music on tap 363 days a year.