2005-06-21 - 11:10 a.m.
I was inspired by this girl�s entry, lamenting the imminent closure of a favorite venue, to recount my days at the erstwhile Rathskeller. The �Rat� (sung about most famously by the Queers) was perhaps Boston�s greatest, certainly it�s most long-lived, punk venue. I remember an August Spies album (1996?) that had a cover photo of a girl in front of a drum kit. It was the drummer�s mom at the Rat in 1977. Fuck yeah. Rock out from one generation to the next.
When I went there in the mid-90s, the Rat had an unfortunately bimodal age distribution centered around 15 and 40. Most of us in our mid-20s knew each other. But the majority of patrons were either in early high school or were old enough to have kids who were. So if I checked out some girl, when I went up for a closer look, she�d usually have either zits or crow�s feet (the older folks generally seemed to have lived hard lives).
The Rat isn�t there anymore. The space where it was is now the Hotel Commonwealth, a training ground for the BU hospitality school. One Sunday morning I was at a record store (owned by the singer of Fat Day) and saw a flier for an all-ages matinee later that day. The Stratford Mercenaries were playing, a post-Crass band I kind of wanted to see. But I was kind of tired and figured, eh, there would be another all-ages matinee the next week.
Well there never was another matinee. The club owner, who may have held back his intentions of selling the property for fear of some sort of retribution from embittered punks, told the staff that morning that that would be the last day. There was, of course, much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Apparently after the matinee, there was another show that night. The folks from Gang Green and all the usual Boston suspects played. I�m told people literally tore the place apart. There was a sort of sculpture-mosaic of rats with glowing red eyes that got pulled off the wall in pieces as keepsakes.
I did meet her at the Rat once. I was bitterly single one Valentine�s Day and went to a show (the perpetually mediocre Toxic Narcotic, probably; they were always playing there). Afterwards, I started talking to a girl I knew a little. She was having an anti-Valentine�s Day too. We started walking around Kenmore Square together. It was really nice. After we�d seemingly gone in circles for a while, I asked where she was headed. She said she had been following me. But I said I had been following her.
That would have been the proper time to go get a drink/coffee/whatever together. But we looked at each other in amusement and blushed and we just couldn�t do it. It was too corny. They went to the Rat on Valentine�s Day alone and left together? No. It just seemed too hackneyed to both of us. We knew what we were passing up, but we made our apologies to each other and excused ourselves. Gee, I have to go. See you around. Yeah.
The Queers always used to open their set with �I Met Her at the Rat�. Do they still? (Hell, I don�t even know if they still play, although Joe Queer is the world�s oldest 15-year old�) I saw them play a few times after the Rat had closed and it was definitely a little weird, like seeing the Twin Towers in a post-9/11 film. What does it mean to the Kids now? Probably not much, which is as it should be.
Look, I�ll make a deal with you. It�s real hard for me to go see shows now. I definitely can�t pogo and I can barely stand. But with a little advance legwork, I plan to keep going out until I�m a drooling vegetable. You (for whom I hope it�s easier) go out tonight. There�s a club in your town. There�s this band, see.
Do it now. I will too, I promise.
� 2005 Geoff Gladstone
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