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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Shawn Driscoll outside the Harvard Book Store in February, holding a copy of his book on ManRay on sale there. (Photo: “We Are But Your Children” via Facebook)

Where’s the party tonight? “Central to It All: A Look at Central Square, the Nightclub ManRay and 20 Years of Change.”

Ask people who were around Greater Boston in the 1980s and 1990s about their glory days and the names of a few neighborhoods and rock clubs in particular will come up frequently when summoning memories of past partying.

As Shawn Driscoll, author of “We Are But Your Children: An Oral History of the Nightclub ManRay” explains, “Central Square in the 1980s was at the jumping-off point for a new beginning. Shops, restaurants and long-standing businesses lined the square. However, the one area that was expanding greatly was in the realm of nightlife. Venues such as The Middle East, The Cantab Lounge and T.T. the Bear’s Place were bringing in both local and national performing artists. Joining these venues was a nightclub, Campus, on 21 Brookline St. In 1985, that space became ManRay.”

Take a ride down memory lane with Driscoll and a panel of guests tonight at the Cambridge Main Library for a look at two decades of ManRay and, most likely, a lamentation for the many venues and recording spaces that have been bulldozed in the years since.

Joining Driscoll will be: Terri Niedzwiecki, longtime bartender at ManRay; M.J. Pullins, proprietor of Hubba Hubba; Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe journalist and ManRay attendee; Tony Lee (DJ Arcanus), a DJ at ManRay and Ceremony and a ManRay attendee; and David “Daisy” Crowder, a bartender at ManRay.

  • The talk runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free. Information is here.

A version of this post appeared originally on DigBoston.