From 1985 to 2005, anyone living within the Boston area and into the “underground scene” of alternative / industrial / nu-wave / goth / trance music had numerous nightclub venues to choose from: Spit, Metro, Venus Lounge, The Hub Club, The Cage at Molly’s, Lizard Lounge, 1270, ManRay, and a bunch of smaller clubs I can’t immediately recall.

Today, almost all are gone: The Underground at Molly’s, Venus lounge and 1270 are long expired, Spit / DV8 / Axis, along with The Metropolitan Ballroom / Metro / Avalon were razed to make room for House of Blues, and ManRay in Cambridge’s Central Square was torn down to build apartments. Boston’s “underground scene” isn’t quite dead, but it’s a far cry from those halcyon years for a number of possible reasons.

Two of my favorites were Spit/DV8 and ManRay: While each started on the musical fringe – Spit began as one of Boston’s first, if not the first, punk rock club – Spit evolved, eventually catering to patrons who lived in the mainstream but wanted to party on the fringe. ManRay patrons, however, were the fringe from day one, with ManRay simply a nightime venue to express it with relative abandon, and it continued that way for two decades – a distinction that made ManRay my favorite, if only to live vicariously as an entertained spectator mostly from the sidelines.

I could wax nostalgic about ManRay’s eclectic crowd, confluence of sexual orientations, cutting-edge music, outlandish shows, continuous dancing, cage dancers, wardrobe ranging from the prudish to delightfully (and, sometimes, obscenely) naughty, piles of leather coats, and the almost total lack of parking, but instead I’ll direct you to websites that do a much better – although by no means complete – job of describing it in words and pictures. Simply put, if you’ve experienced ManRay, no explanation is required, and if you haven’t, no amount of explanation would suffice.

So, while ManRay promises to eventually re-open  – the latest tease is “this summer” – it’s nice to read they’re having a “one-night reunion” at the Paradise Rock Club on Friday, February 1st, 2013 (After all, Spit’s already had theirs). If I’m not too tired, perhaps you’ll see me there: I’ll be the guy dressed in black standing in the corner with a vodka and ginger… and a distant, disconnected stare as I fondly recall ManRay’s – and, perhaps my – halcyon days.

Thanks for reading!