Rat Reunion - 3/17/2007
  
  Miss Lyn Editorial about The Rat Reunion

    Here at The BGN we get SO many email from Boston rockers who are now either here or somewhere far away and talk about how important that “Rat period” of their lives was to them…then and even more so now in hindsight.

    You have to remember the time: It was 1974, when I first went to the Rat. But the heydey period I’m talking about was, say, 1974 through to the early to mid- 80s. There was NOTHING like what we heard or saw at The Rat anywhere else. There weren’t ten clubs and fake alt/rock radio stations, there was nothing… we made it happen. We worked at it and we made it happen ourselves! and because of that it was a very exciting time culturally and personally. It was crystal clear and exhilarating and new!

    We were REAL punks and misfits and our choice in music and lifestyle mirrored that.

    We had to create a look, a style, a sound to say Fuck You to the world and our Fuck You was real! We didn’t scream a fake-ass fuck you then get in a car paid for by mommy and daddy and turn into a radio station owned by a huge conglomerate and listen to supposed alternative music that’s actually on a Top Ten, then go buy “punk fashions” in a chain store in a mall owned by another huge conglomerate. We forged the way and because of it we were A TRIBE of like souls and we loved it and the Rat was the place to go for a safe haven where everyone understand, where we ruled.

Michelle Paulhus and Tex Maxx	Rat's everlasting couple Wendy and Bob with pal Michele Meadows
Simon Ritt and Billy Borgioli	The long lost Trixy with Tommy White

   THIS is why The Rat remains such an important place to so many Boston rockers and why it is such a very important place in the history of Boston music. And this is why The Rat Reunion on March 27th 2007, was very cool and was a very good time. I actually hope this will not be the ONLY Rat Reunion, I hope there will be more to come! We need more….we are the first generation of rockers who continue to rock who continue to be misfits deep in our souls and who truly understand how to be rebels and who look at kids today and think “Boring” instead of “Oh goodness, how outrageous” and I love that! I am proud of that. And that my friends IS growing old COOL! Growing old AWESOME!! So any of you out there who thought the Rat Reunion was a sorry group of old Bastards: update your fucking ageist rhetoric my friends and realize times have changed. We still rule, we are still cool!

    This Rat Reunion and how it was done was very much in the spirit of that old-school DIY. This was thought up and put together by some people who just loved the Rat and wanted to see their old friends together in one place again. Judy Wilburn and ZBC DJ John Straub with some help from Joannie Lindstrom….and they did it in a VFW Hall in Davis Square which definitely was a throw back in many ways! There were some folks I hadn’t seen in YEARS there and some I am in touch with all the time. And to top it off we had Rat Owner Jimmy Harold there to reminisce as well!

    It was fun to reconnect and remember most awesome times and listen to really good music…ok it wan’ts live this time but that’s OK… So check out our pics and see who you can recognize and remember!

Rat Reunion mastermind Judy Wilburn (right) and sister Elizabeth of Union Boot	Pat Barreat with Janice.
Marjorie and Moose Savage	Frank Rowe and Cathy Chapman
Perry Adler and John Levy	Jimmy Harold and Ralph Fatello
Every reunion has its wallflowers Colby, Miss Lyn and Nikolai	Brian, Jay Allen, and Cheryl
Cheryl, Joanie, Dano, Matt and Rebecca	Jimmy, Kit, Granny and Kim
Aimee and Frank Rowe	Aimee to the left of Mitch, back in the day.