Those of you in the regional music scene are sure to have heard the news by now – Leah Rule passed away on December 21, 2012 after fighting a two-year struggle with cancer.

If you don’t know Leah from her work in the Twin Cities and Chippewa Valley music scenes, you may recognize her name as the author and illustrator of Rural Fox – a comic Volume One ran from December of 2008 through February of 2012. The comic (based on Leah’s graphic zine of the same name) loosely documented Leah and her husband Rob’s move from the Twin Cities to a rural Wisconsin homestead outside of Boyceville. You can peruse our Rural Fox archives here.

After moving here in 2005, Leah and Rob also ran The Bar Chord for a number of years – a tavern and live music venue that capitalized on the couple’s musical connections with the Twin Cities. After the bar closed, Leah worked in the Glenwood City School District coordinating community education and after school programs.

Leah Rule and one of her many critters.

But before all that? Leah and Rob are widely recognized for helping to define the St. Paul/Minneapolis music scene with their work at The Turf Club, a St. Paul rock-n-roll bar known for its fierce dedication to local and independent music. As City Pages tells it ...

Leah Rule and her husband Rob were originally acquaintances in the Twin Cities scene. She started as a waitress and then was a waitress manager at the Turf Club. Her artistic and decorating pursuits became part of the fabric of the venue. Leah and Rob had their first date at the Turf Club on October 27, 1996, and were wed on that date exactly four years later.

The Rules spent a decade toiling together at the Turf while Rob booked bands and ran sound up until the mid-aughts, and helped cement the club as a prominent fixture for live music on University Avenue in St. Paul. They played together in the Mammy Nuns, hosted the pioneering St. Paul Music Club series, and staged 14 annual Grand Young Day concerts featuring Neil Young covers — first at the Turf and later as a weekend retreat in rural Wisconsin.

A number of Chippewa Valley bands had the pleasure of performing at the Grand Young Day retreats held on the Rules' Boyceville land. By all accounts Leah and Rob went well out of their way to nurture and support fellow musicians throughout their careers. Perhaps as a testament to that, a music compilation called Rock for the Rules is planned for early this year – a triple album featuring 55 bands.

To cap it all off, at her musical memorial on January 4, at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, we learned that St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman had declared Friday, January 4, 2013 as Leah Rule Day.

On the day Leah passed away, Rob updated her online journal:

"Early this morning, Leah left us. Leave it to her to pick the shortest day of the year, possibly to 'shorten' our suffering. She's always been thoughtful that way. She left this world as she lived it – on her own terms. She is now pain-free."

Volume One extends its gratitude and admiration to Leah for all of the talent, hard work, and love she poured into local music and local art – and by proxy, the world.