{"id":24818,"date":"2024-04-26T09:59:55","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T13:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=24818"},"modified":"2024-06-23T08:21:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-23T12:21:59","slug":"ruane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2024\/04\/26\/ruane\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Road To Ruane’ Remembers Legendary Boston Rock Impresario And Wild Man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cBilly Ruane walked into the room and he said, \u2018I need an extra room for my birthday party. I think I overbooked it,\u2019\u201d Joseph Satar, co-owner of Cambridge\u2019s Middle East Restaurant and Nightclub, recalls in the new documentary \u201cThe Road to Ruane,\u201d which debuts at the Somerville Theatre on May 4 as part of the Independent Film Festival Boston<\/a>. (\u201cA filmmaker’s journey to capture the storied life of \u201890s indie music impresario Billy Ruane, becomes an examination of the human condition.\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Nov. 10, 1987, Ruane was turning 30, and to celebrate, in his typically dazzlingly excessive fashion, he\u2019d booked a bunch of bands to play at T.T. the Bear\u2019s Place in Cambridge\u2019s Central Square. \u201cHe just invited the whole Boston community,\u201d says Scott Evans, who directed and produced the film with Mike Gill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it dawned on Ruane how many folks were coming “to help Billy Ruane forget his first three decades,” he asked if the crowd could overflow to the Middle East next door. In the film, Satar recalls, \u201cI said, \u2018Billy, I can\u2019t do that. You\u2019ll ruin my place.\u2019\u201d Ruane pressed, until Satar said yes, \u201cassuming I\u2019d calm him down and I\u2019ll tell him that I cannot accommodate him. Obviously nothing will work the way you plan with Billy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Middle East, then known for its falafel and kebabs and for hosting belly dancing and Greek music, did host Ruane\u2019s birthday extravaganza overflow. “After that he wanted to keep going, so we gave him a Tuesday night,\u201d Satar told The Boston Globe in 2000, \u201cand he started bringing rock and blues and jazz bands in. At the time we didn’t sense this could turn into anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter the party was over, people said, \u2018What\u2019s next?\u2019\u201d Ruane told the Globe in 1988 after he started booking his Helldorado shows with Greg Kendall and Joe Harvard in the back room of the Middle East Cafe that January. \u201cI believe you want to keep things a little off-balance. We have a refuge here. I see what we\u2019re doing as more generative than passive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter the birthday party,” Todd Philips of Juliana Hatfield Three and Bullet LaVolta says in the film, “the Middle East literally became the epicenter of Boston music.”<\/p>\n\n\n