Billy Ruane

Billy Ruane was many things. During the mid-to-late ’80s and through much of the ’90’s, his larger-than-life personality was a tour de force in moving 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 was a fixture at rock shows. Singlehandedly, for all intents and purposes, he shaped the scene.

All that changed quite quickly, though, as Central Square grew to have what many considered to be too many clubs open up too quickly to accommodate younger patrons with money to burn and the growing demand for live music.

An unforgettable figure

Born November 10, 1957 to a wealthy investment banker and philanthropist, William J. Ruane suffered from bipolar disorder. When his mood was up, he was an unforgettable figure, a real cartoon character, who danced like a wild man in a sports jacket, tie and untucked shirt, always with a drink in hand (amazingly, never spilling a drop) 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, he asked Joseph and Nabil Sater, the owners of The Middle East restaurant 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 and that had pushed back construction and delayed the opening 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’” every night at the gigs. 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.

Hospitalization, Death, Square dedication

Loony Tunes record store owner Pat McGrath was hired from Mr. Ruane’s Trust to look after Billy 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 that same day – against his doctor’s orders. Later that month, at age 52, he died of a heart attack while seated 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. The new sign is one block away from Morphine‘s Mark Sandman Square. To make Billy Ruane Square a reality, supporters presented 3,300 signatures (500 online, 2,800 physical) to the Cambridge powers that be.

Billy’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 magnanimousness inspired others and animated life. “There are a thousand stories about Billy,” Peter Wolf once said. “He was a truly great ambassador for music in Boston.”

(A.J. Wachtel)