Rat Reunion to Celebrate 50 Years of Boston Punk in Medfield

The Rat Reunion is celebrating legendary Boston punk venue The Rathskeller at one of the area's up-and-coming newer venues.

Bellforge Arts Center in Medfield is that venue. If you’re not wise to Bellforge, it’s one of Massachusetts’ newest music, arts, and culture spaces. And it’s history is just as compelling as the events they've been playing host in recent years.

Back in 1896, Medfield State Hospital opened. Their campus was closed in 2003, purchased by the Town of Medfield in 2014, and reimagined in 2020. Now, all that daylight, fresh air, and socialization patients once enjoyed is alive again at Bellforge. Learn more here.

From the Bellforge event page: "Known as "The Rat," this iconic punk rock club in Kenmore Square, Boston, was the epicenter of Boston’s punk rock scene. It hosted local legends like The Atlantics, and The Neighborhoods...as well as the Ramones and Talking Heads."

It continues: "Join us for an unforgettable event featuring live performances by Nervous Eaters, The Dogmatics, and Tree. Explore "The History of the Rat" exhibit from the David Bieber Archives and hear legendary tales from The Rat, shared by our host, Oedipus (WBCN)."

The event takes place on Saturday, September 21 from 3-7 p.m. at Bellforge Arts Center, 45 Hospital Road in Medfield, MA. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance here. Kids under 12 get in for free with a paying adult.

Parking onsite is free, and there will be food and drink available for purchase on site. Send off the summer of 2024 in style at Bellforge with a celebration of Boston's punk rock past. I mean, TREE is playing! How can you say no? Get the news on their recent reunion here, then check their latest.

On another timeline, we're celebrating this Joe Strummer birthday with the man himself. On this timeline, we're marking another year gone.

And that makes more than 20 years now without Strummer. It somehow doesn’t feel that long, but also feels longer. I know that last sentence might not make sense. That’s by design. Like you, time has become elastic to me in recent years.

Sure, the COVID-19 pandemic is the primary reason. But I’m also in my mid-40s, so age is a culprit, too. And there are some cases in which the death of a musician that I love just seems nebulous and hard to nail down, time-wise. Such is the case with John Graham Mellor.

Born in Ankara, Turkey on August 21, 1952, Mellor would drop his stage name "Woody" in 1975 in favor of Joe Strummer. He would co-found The Clash in London a year later. To generations to come, that band would define and embody the ethos of punk rock.

Strummer's punk rock spirit inspired legions to pick up guitars, put pen to paper, and put their own spin on “three chords and the truth” (or two and some vague ideas). The man just vibrated on a different wavelength, somehow. And those vibrations reverberate today.

The music Strummer created with The Clash and The Mescaleros and others is as timeless as the philosophies that he wove into his lyrics. Maybe that’s why it’s such a chore to come to grips with the fact that he's been gone for so long.

It's also why it was hard to settle on just six songs from his storied discography. I hope I did the man justice on his birthday. And I hope you like my picks.

To not start with Side 1, Track 1 from Album 1 would be an egregious error. No disrespect to The 101ers, of course.

One of the greatest punk rock songs ever recorded. Hell, one of the greatest songs ever recorded, period.

Forgive my unintentional "Side 1, Track 1" theme here. It's just that, of the 36 songs on Sandinista, the one that kicks it all of is the one that best captures the genre-bending, experimental punk vibe of the album.

I know fans have a love/hate relationship with Combat Rock. I love it. And I love this song. It's lyrical importance can't be understated.

One of Strummer's early solo efforts, this song was on the soundtrack to 1986's Sid and Nancy.

I know it's not a Joe Strummer song. It's a Bob Marley song. But it's from Strummer's last album before he passed. And he makes the song his own.