Charming Disaster (as heard on Welcome to Night Vale), is on tour behind their new album SPELLS + RITUALS, and THISTLE! About Charming Disaster: Brooklyn, NY based musical duo Charming Disaster was formed in 2012 by singer/songwriters Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the noir storytelling of Raymond Chandler, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write songs that tell stories, combining vocal harmonies and clever lyrics with ukulele, guitar, and virtuosic foot percussion to explore dark narratives and characters with a playful sensibility. In their critically acclaimed albums Love, Crime & Other Trouble (2015) and Cautionary Tales (2017), they have explored themes like love, death, crime, ancient mythology, and the paranormal. Their song “Ghost Story” was featured on the hit podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and they have toured around the United States, playing bars, clubs, museums, and the occasional historic cemetery. Listen: http://charmingdisaster.com/music "Charming Disaster balances smart pop songs against a confident stage presence, sort of a swagger, that suggest the two people out front are destined for great things...these people are overflowing with musical ideas that simply defy categorization." - The Vinyl Anachronist “Charming Disaster sound like the music that Pugsley and Wednesday Addams might have made after listening to the Decemberists, Squeeze and some Chopin.” - Yes! Weekly "Charming Disaster is a bit unusual. Ok, perhaps ‘unusual’ is putting it lightly. Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris, the duo behind the music, revel in the offbeat and uncanny. Since 2012, they have made a name for themselves with literature-inspired songs that meld folklore and mythology with croon-worthy melodies." - Hudson Valley Magazine about THISTLE: Thistle's hauntingly beautiful songs for harp and voice are the product of her formal education in South Indian, Western classical and Jazz music, combined with her love of literature that grapples with the archetypal. Her self titled project, THISTLE, is based in New York City, and usually involves other folk and orchestral instruments. Her music is meant to be played in old churches and cathedrals, groves of trees, dark velvety clubs, castles, and anywhere there is natural or man-made beauty. THISTLE has been described as mystical and angelic, as well as evocative of death, ghosts, deep female energy and pagan magic. In addition to her own project, Thistle plays in the world renowned cello folk/rock band Rasputina as harpist and back up vocalist. www.musicofthistle.com

Volume is a FREE reading & music series featuring prose, poetry and a short DJ set. Every second Saturday at 7:00 pm at The Spotty Dog. Books are available for purchase and signing. This month's writers include: ADAM TEDESCO is a poet and video artist. He is the founding editor of REALITY BEACH, a journal of new poetics. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Fanzine, Fence, Gramma, jubilat, Laurel Review and elsewhere. His full-length poetry collection, Mary Oliver, was recently published by Lithic Press. SARAH ELAINE SMITH is the author of Marilou Is Everywhere (a novel), and I Live in a Hut (poems). She has studied at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the Michener Center for Writers. RYAN CHAPMAN is a Sri Lankan-American writer and the author of the novel Riots I Have Known (Simon & Schuster). His work has appeared online at The New Yorker, GQ, Bookforum, and The Believer. A recipient of fellowships from Vermont Studio Center and the Millay Colony for the Arts, he lives in Kingston, NY. NICHOLAS MANCUSI has written about books and culture for the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, Daily Beast, NPR Books, and other publications. His debut novel, A Philosophy of Ruin, was released in June from HarperCollins/Hanover Square Press and has been praised by the New York Times as “riveting fun to read.”

Another Michael (solo) ~Philadelphia~ Another Michael is a band that defies immediate classification. While they incorporate a wealth of stylistic touchstones, their uniqueness presents as a thoughtful amalgam of indie pop carried by crispy, subdued electronic percussion. The eponymous Michael Doherty nimbly lavishes and bolsters each song with an angelic, agile vocal style, occasionally harking back to early 2000s R&B. But the group’s crafty instrumentation and production sit center stage too, consistently driven by a diverse sound palette that flashes with a distinct compositional elegance. Bruiser and Bicycle ~Albany~ Bruiser and Bicycle is the creative outlet of Nick Whittemore and Keegan Graziane. "Rock is dead, but we like dead things." Diana Jones ~Hudson~ Singer-Songwriter and poet, Diana Jones uses music to explore her own intimacy, as it relates to both relationships with others and exploration of self. Suggested donation $10 Doors at 7, music at 7:30ish!