Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way.
Music: ‘The Road To Ruane’ during IFFBoston
It’s only fitting that as the Rock and Roll Rumble hosts its final round over in Central Square, the long-awaited documentary on the man who created the Cambridge music scene gets its due premiere during IFFBoston. The Road To Ruane, the detailed look at the wild life of Boston music icon Billy Ruane, hits the screen Saturday (May 4) at the Somerville Theatre with a discussion with co-director Scott Evans moderated by Vanyaland senior writer Michael Christopher. It’s a bittersweet evening, as the project fist launched by the late Michael Gill, which we first wrote about in 2014, and that was seemingly halted by Gill’s sudden and tragic passing in 2022, finally finds its finish line. Ruane’s story is simply fascinating — read this writer’s obit for the Boston Phoenix after his 2010 passing — and Saturday’s premiere should be one hell of a party in his honor. Revisit our extensive archives on the life of Ruane, and raise a glass to one of the true architects of Boston’s vibrant music scene before hitting the Rumble finals at Sonia, the joint that formerly housed T.T. The Bear’s Place.
‘THE ROAD TO RUANE’ PREMIERE :: Saturday, May 4 at The Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square in Somerville, MA :: 7 p.m., $16 :: Part of IFFBoston :: Event info and tickets
Comedy: Fruits By The Foot at Distraction Brewing Co.
It’s been a wild week for stand-up comedy around Boston, with Seth Meyers, Paul F. Thompkins, and Corrine Fisher all rolling through town. But we’re keeping it local in music and comedy this V3 Weekend, which means we point our points over to Fruits By The Foot going down Saturday (May 4) at Distraction Brewing Co. in Roslindale. Here’s Mic’d Up pouring one on tap: “It may not be the delicious fruit tape you were thinking about, but the lineup is as bonkers as those wild late-‘90s commercials. Join a slew of the area’s hardest hitting comedy voices including Angela Sawyer, Liam McGurk, Rachel Dunbar and more as the queer-focused lineup brings a hell of a show to the Distraction Brewing streets.”
FRUITS BY THE FOOT :: Saturday, May 4 at Distraction Brewing Co., 2 Belgrade Ave. in Roslindale :: 8 p.m., $15 :: Advance tickets
Film/TV: IFFBoston in Somerville, Cambridge, and Brookline
Music scene eyes and ears are on the above-mentioned documentary on Billy Ruane, but Independent Film Festival Boston packs a whallop across its entire program. Going down this weekend and into Wednesday (May 8) at three cinemas just across city limits, this year’s IFFBoston boasts one of the film fest’s more remarkable lineups — with the Ruane doc; director Mark Phinney’s highly-anticipated Fear of Flying (May 6 at Somerville Theatre); and five films selected by Vanyaland Film Editor Nick Johnston as part of our IFFBoston curtain-raiser: I Saw the TV Glow, My Old Ass, Secret Mall Apartment, Sing Sing, and Thelma. As Johnston writes, “This year’s line-up is dope, and it was hard to pick just five films to recommend.” Hit the links for the full listings.
IFFBoston :: Now through Wednesday, May 8 at Somerville Theatre, Brattle Theatre, and Coolidge Corner Theatre :: Showtimes vary :: Festival homepage and info
