Billy Ruane

Billy Ruane was many things, and for most of the ’80s and ’90’s he was the larger-than-life tour de force who helped move the nucleus of the local music scene from Boston to Cambridge, specifically to Central Square but also to Harvard, Porter and Inman Squares, where he promoted shows and became a fixture at rock clubs. He shaped the scene singlehandedly, for all intents and purposes, but that changed after Central Square grew to have what many thought were too many venues that opened too soon in order to accommodate the growing demand for live music and attract younger patrons with money to burn.

Born in New York City on November 10, 1957 to a wealthy investment banker and philanthropist, Ruane was a student at The Cambridge School of Weston in the mid-’70s, graduated from Harvard Extension School in 1986 and worked at Harvard’s Widener Library for several years. He discovered Boston’s music scene as a teen at places like The Rathskeller, and he and the scene itself were never quite the same after that. He suffered from bipolar disorder, meaning when his mood was up, he was an unforgettable figure, a real cartoon character, dancing like a wild man in a sports coat, tie and untucked shirt, always with a drink in hand – never spilling a drop, amazingly – as he spastically gyrated alone in front of his favorite groups. He was a guy who would see you walk into a club and run over to give you a huge hug and a big, sloppy, wet kiss.

Ruane booked indie bands nobody had ever heard of into local venues, then buy up all the tickets and give them out free to his friends so they could show up without paying. Sometimes he’d attend performances, buy all the group’s merchandise and give the CDs and t-shirts to everyone in attendance. In 1987, he threw himself a birthday party at T.T. the Bear’s Place and, when the event outgrew the small club, asked Joseph and Nabil Sater, owners of The Middle East next door, to take in the overflow and let a band play. Not many years later, he took me to The Middle East and introduced me to the Saters so I could start giving them press in my column in The Beat. Ruane was also with me when we learned that an unknown spring of water had been discovered under the Middle East’s basement, which had pushed back construction of the new stage and performance center by two weeks. I joked that maybe they should “bottle the water in small plastic containers and sell it as “holy water from The Middle East” at the shows. The comment appealed to our shared strange sense of humor; we howled as the Sater brothers shook their heads and explained “Someone would drink it and then sue us,” which only made us laugh even harder.

Loony Tunes record store owner Pat McGrath was hired by Ruane’s Trust to look after him for the last eight years of his life. In October 2010, he was hospitalized for a few weeks for heart trouble but checked himself out – against his doctor’s orders. Later that month, at age 52, he died of a heart attack while sitting at his computer. He was survived by his brother Thomas and sisters Elizabeth and Paige, who all attended the December 1, 2018 dedication of Billy Ruane Square on the corner of Brookline and Green Streets, in front of where T.T. the Bear’s Place (now Sonia’s) used to be and one block away from Mark Sandman Square (named in honor of  Morphine‘s late co-founder). To make Billy Ruane Square a reality, supporters presented 3,300 signatures (500 online, 2,800 physical) to the Cambridge powers that be.

Ruane’s ashes are in a jar behind the bar on a shelf at The Middle East Upstairs as a front-and-center reminder of the constant contributions and superb support this generous, energetic music enthusiast offered to new artists and how his natural magnanimity inspired others and animated life. In May 2024, a documentary about the legendary impresario, The Road to Ruane, debuted at Somerville Theatre as part of the Independent Film Festival Boston. “There are a thousand stories about Billy,” Peter Wolf once said. “He was a truly great ambassador for music in Boston.”

(by A.J. Wachtel)