Studio 52 is a community artist space located in the heart of Allston, and is proud to support the Boston music scene and local artist community.
It’s been nearly seven years since the unexpected death of Billy Ruane. And yet, the Boston music scene icon keeps on giving.
As efforts to honor Ruane in his home base of Cambridge continue on — a November 2015 campaign aimed to erect a statue in his honor, and earlier this year supporters eyed a potential Billy Ruane Square at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Green Street — director Michael Gill is putting the finishing touches his long-awaited documentary, The Road To Ruane.
And so while we await the completion of the doc, which lists Lili Ruane and Patrick McGrath as co-producers, the Ruane video vault has been opened for public viewing. Over the past few days, a handful of clips from Ruane’s personal archives have been posted to YouTube, and this morning’s score is a full-set performance by Sleater-Kinney at the Middle East that dates back to September 3, 1996.
Watch it below.
“Pleased to announce that Billy’s foresight in capturing shows on video will now be bearing fruit on the official Road to Ruane YouTube channel,” states a message on the Road To Ruane Facebook page, “where we will be uploading selections from Billy’s vast VHS archive spanning back over 2 and a half decades. Special thanks to Greg Dalton-Kay for taking on the task of archiving, cataloging, and uploading.”
Other videos posted to the channel include live performances by Helium (Middle East, 1996), Salem 66 (Middle East, 1989), Lyres (The Linwood, 1998), The Upper Crust (The Causeway, 1993), and more.
We can’t wait to see what else will surface soon.
Thanks, Billy.