Great article! Brockman put together a very insightful interview here. I not only love Wyndorf and Monster Magnet because of their amazing music, but because they represent everything I've ever truly loved in my life -- comic books, big-time rock n roll, superhuman feats of god-like strength, and tits!

By TastyGreens on 11-24-2010

TCs!!! Greatest little dive bar.

By Norah on 11-23-2010

My dad was friends with a guy in Hawkwind !  No wonder I'm attracted to Monster Magnet !  So funny, correlations

By Lola on 11-18-2010

In September 79,I was broke  illegal alien, and landed square into the Boston Punk scene. I was crashing  Frank's loft on Thayer street. Frank (Where are you? thanks again!) was the manager for the incredible band "The Girls". he said "wanna check out a crazy band? ". The  Girls were playing in some turgid basement on Thayer St. and as I stepped in, the heat wave of the band 's intensity freak me out (They were playing "Jeffrey I hear you") but it was Billy who focused the moment. He helped energized the room like a lightning rod that was channeling the band .With his gyrations right fist pumping the air, biting left fist in the mouth, pogoing, slamming like the was no tomorrow… and the suit and tie flying around. I could see how the music moved every molecules of his nervous system and  his total abandon the Music helped me accept and absorb the vibes. That moment is etched in my psyche forever.

Whenever I bumped into Billy, a few times, throughout the years I would get that same charge, whether in an art gallery or even at Wholefoods.

Billy was and is a big part of my ongoing Boston experience. A live wire that plugged me right into the electric city.

Billy, I am forever grateful for having witnessed your Passion and Freedom to be,

And I hope your enjoying the Best Music Ever,

Bertrand

By bertlarry on 11-17-2010

Great to read the superb tribute and all the comments. One memory I can add: Billy had Sunday afternoon concert series at the ME back room where he would supply free hot dogs. We played the event several times, but on this one occasion, we heard that Billy was in an accident on his scooter (maybe bicycle?? memory fades). We still went on, but midway through our set Billy jumped up on stage, battered and scratched up with torn clothes, with hands held over his head triumphantly clutching the hot dogs "I got 'em"!

I hadn't seen him for 10 years but when I ran into him waiting in line to get into the Abbey Lincoln tribute ceremony in Harlem last month, he remembered me right away and planted the trademark kiss. I never thought it would be a goodbye kiss...

By dave fabris on 11-13-2010

Well said Michael Christopher! The music available on your sample sounds a bit like pieces from eras-gone-by, yet familiar, and yet disjointed and out of place.

The fact of the matter is, it was done better years ago (the first time).

By Red Vorken on 11-12-2010

Maybe I'm missing something, but I cannot for the life of me find the email to enter this contest. Would so love to go!

By Jono on 11-11-2010

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooozzzzzz!!! Good stuff. We'll re-address the Mistle Thrush reunion right after the new year. I want to know what Todd is wearing.

By Michael Marotta on 11-11-2010

 Sooner or later, we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.

 "Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled withe the Psalm 118:24:"This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tommorrow. Reget and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

 So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more icecreams, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. Then the station will come soon enough.

By zhen1827 on 11-11-2010

Mistle Thrush are playing at a show I'm putting together -- Soozapalooza 2. Tickets aren't available online yet but we've got a Facebook page with info about the night here:

www.facebook.com/event.php

The other bands playing are Kristen Ford Band, The Lights Out, The Candles and the Soozapalooza Supergroup.

By Sooz on 11-10-2010

Billy was  a wonderful spirit of the type that you are lucky to have grace your experience once in a lifetime; learn from that, aspire to that, celebrate that! God Bless, burn bright through that good night!

By matt Moran on 11-09-2010

Sounds of Science is YLT's soundtrack to eight short films by Jean Painlevé, a sort of underground Jacques Cousteau.

By jp on 11-07-2010

The photo on top was taken by the great Philin Phlash!

By Tony Millionaire on 11-06-2010

The Wu Tang Klan don't let the Devil Die., They Keep Me out in The street witd all Their homeless shit . Bangin In the Unity ,King.

By Michael Gann(Galgano)aka Monarchi fame on 11-04-2010

I've heard endless, wild stories about Billy. Sometimes I was there. When I had my band back in the 90s, he was so supportive. He and Dill used to come to our shows and dance and jump around, even if there were 2 people in the room. He loved us. Every time I saw him I was excited and annoyed - it was a dualistic experience. But you couldn't help but get into a conversation because he was so very much in the present moment. When I think of Billy Ruane, I think of Central Square, Cambridge and all it's global, cultural, rock and roll vibe. But that was the 90s. He reminds me of being young and free. So sorry to hear the sad news.

By astrobabe on 11-04-2010

Billy's gone - there's nothing we can do about it.  It is a terrible loss to so many people, and has caused me much sorrow and tears.

I am a performer - my performances last an hour or two. I perform 60 or more shows a year.  I've done this for a long time.  Yet every day, every moment of the day, was a performance for Billy.  He was always "on", even when he was down.  He was ALWAYS performing.  For me to perform that much I'd have to live to be at least 5,000 years old.  Basically, Billy whupped my ass.  

His wild heartfelt lunacy will be sorely, sorely missed.

By Roger Miller on 11-04-2010

to know was to love.

By jess victor on 11-03-2010

They also played the Blake Babies tune "Rain" (on the first night, at least)...which Billy had declared, when he first heard it in the late 80s, to be "the best f*cking song EVER."

He would have been pleased. :-)

By Ben on 11-03-2010

This is a great story.

By Meghan on 11-03-2010

Looking at this montage, and thank you, for putting it together! I am actually in the opening image, which I think was probably La Peste at the Ground Zero Loft, maybe? But mostly I'm struck by all the connections that Billy had with women making music, how supportive he was when I was in Bound and Gagged, an early girl band in Boston. When Billy gave his support it could literally knock you down, and even though it got a more than a little overwhelming, I so appreciated that enthusiasm, because I dropped out of college to pursue this crazy endeavour and didn't find much support from family and old friends. Billy bridged two worlds for me, from my head space to making music, but more to the point today, and what seems so evident in the montage here, he loved seeing women entering this world, and not in a voyeuristic sense (chicks with guitars! cool!), but because he appreciated new voices and ways of approaching music. This inclusiveness and sensitivity benefited many people, for sure, and I don't mean to belabor this point, but when I entered music in the late '70's it felt like such a boy's club. Billy's enthusiasm continued long after I left making music my primary focus, but I will wager (! like I have anything to wager with) he had much to do with many subsequent women artists from Boston finding support in gigs and exposure -- and the tapes, and conversations, the hugging and hand-clasping, the sloppy kisses, the sight of his dapper self reduced to sweaty, appreciative exhaustion. Well, for a minute, at least. He would bound up and away, and for all those times I worried about his safety...

I have several gong-like things here, am banging them now. Will retire to play some guitar for this generous soul. And of course, he was funny as ---- (use your word, he wouldn't mind).

By Martha Swetzoff on 11-02-2010