What can one say about Boston music promotion legend Billy Ruane?
More than 20 years ago Ruane was the visionary to approach Cambridge's Middle East Restaurant and assure them he could fill their back room - currently stuffed with bellydancers - with admission paying, hard drinking rockers instead. It is hard to imagine now, a Boston music scene sans the rise of this surprising independent venue outside of the grasp of Don Law. Initially Ruane's booking strategy often saw him putting up his own money to nab high profile shows away from other venues, and on occasion when things turned ugly, paying off troublemaking concertgoers to leave the venue! With a heady mix of fandom and a dash of actual insanity, Ruane was the ultimate promoter, dancing, drinking and throwing himself on and off the stage during the myriad shows he booked and attended. In the 1990's he seemed the very spirit of 'the scene'.
While his importance in the history of the Boston music scene is without question, he remained to the end as he ever was. I saw him out on two occasions in the past month, once at a Muck and the Mires show at Precinct, and the other at the Green Street Grill, enjoying a glass of wine and raving about the sweetbreads special. Each time I was greeted with the usual sloppy kiss, an impassioned stare, and the question "What are you doing now?" A question for us all to answer as his passing reminds us how unexpectedly short life can be.
