The Channel

The Channel was a music venue located in Boston, Massachusetts, that was part of the underground arts community of South Boston. History Joe Cicerone, Harry Booras and Rich Clements founded The Channel in 1980, choosing the name because the club sat at the edge of the Fort Point Channel, which separates South Boston from the Financial District. The club was on the other side and a little south of where the Boston Tea Party took place (old Griffin's Wharf) in 1773. Cicerone's involvement in the club would be short lived and he would soon be replaced by Jack Burke. Burke and Harry Booras along with Peter Booras as General Manager would run The Channel throughout its heyday of the 1980s. In 1990, Harry and Peter Booras, the last owners of the club, filed for chapter 11. The authorities had revoked the liquor license several times with fines for serving minors. The doors closed on December 31, 1991. There were rumors that mob boss Frank Salemme had a foothold in the club, and these rumors proliferated after The Channel reopened its doors as an exotic dance club, which closed after less than a year. His son, Frank Salemme Jr., was listed for a time as the assistant manager of the club. In the late 1990s, developers demolished the building to make way for Big Dig construction. In 1986 a local designer, AletA, had a fashion show at The Channel presenting fashion lines by both her and another designer, Lady B. Having a fashion-related show presented at this venue was controversial in subject matter, yet fit perfectly, as its format was that of a fashion-musical which was funky and progressive. Rather than displaying the clothing via runway presentation, the designs were shown through skits, with the music and clothing co-mingled together and choreographed, by Earl Boston, into telling a story. The stories being told, enacted lyrics of songs dropped on the Purple Rain (album), by Prince (musician). The Show opened with an elaborate display of colorful, sequined garments gyrating to the song, Baby I'm A Star, by Prince (musician) and kept the same momentum until the show closed in presenting a romantic video-production enacted to Hello (Lionel Richie song), by Lionel Richie. This original Fashion-Musical, by Pisces Design Studios, was the only exception to the Rock music format of this venue.