Remembering The Rat

The Rat (circa 1996)

E-mail has been pouring in about my post about The Rat. I'm glad to see everyone misses the place as much as I do. Here are a few notes I received from readers, sharing their memories of our dearly departed dive bah:

Paul F.Cole writes:
"I loved the Rat… There was no place like it in Boston...I saw the Jim Carroll band there one night. He spit on my buddy! That was a mistake. My buddy did not like that and picked Jim Carroll up and face planted him in to the stage! What a night that was. We barely got of there alive...Another buddy of mine was at the Police Show....He said there could not have been more than 8-10 people in the house that night. Can you imagine? I remember when Kenmore square was the place to go to see live shows. You had the Rat of course, but there was Lucifer's, which is where I saw The Tramps and Tavares in the same night. All the polyester you would ever want..."

Colin used to perform with Diecast, a metal/hardcore band that was the opening act for Slayer’s 2002 tour. He writes:
"We had our first show at the Rat and I used to hang out there all the time. I used to book occasional shows there as well....Saw your piece on the Rat on boston.com, I actually played the second to last show ever put on there and have one of the old paper mache rats from the walls of the club in my room to this day. Boston is definitely not the same without it. I used to go to a lot of ska shows back in '97 as well and miss it a lot. Just thought I'd comment and let you know it's nice that some people remember that piece of Boston's musical history."

And Paul Van Dorpe writes:
"You really can bring a tear to a grown man's eye...1980 (or ’81) The Dead Boys @ the Rat w/ The Proleteriat opening. My first big time punk rock show. Nice article and way to keep the ska/rocksteady thing in the minds of the kids!"

tags: photos , Boston , Rathskeller, Boston music, Boston bars