A Somerville writer, who just published her first romance novel about love and ghost at Back Bay’s famed Charlesgate apartment building, spoke at the Jan. 28 contributors meeting of The Somerville News.

The world has been marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the production line of torture and death that the Nazis set up in southeastern Poland during World War II.

Pawtucket, Rhode Island heavyweight Jason Estrada is a newcomer to professional boxing yet he already has a lot to prove.
Estrada was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team and went to Athens as a heavy favorite to win gold. But the experience soon turned into a nightmare when Estrada came into Greece 30 pounds overweight and looked weak and uninterested against Michael Lopez Nunez of Cuba, losing 21-7.

“Likeness: Portraits of Artist by Other Artists,” is a current exhibition mounted at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. The theme features 50 diverse, noteworthy images surpassing the traditional notion of portraiture; its common denominator is an overt meta-commentary on the artist, and on the subject’s celebrated personal visual vocabulary. These artists were interested in presenting an image of something way beyond the face of the subject. Some artists were serious in their approach, while others were light-hearted in capturing the essence of a fellow artist’s work that had influenced them.

Endway’s self-titled debut CD has some pretty cool rock n roll drumming pedigree behind it. Their executive producer, Peter Hackel, toured with former Badfinger member Joey Molland, rocking out behind the kit, and one of the songs on the CD (‘Always’), was produced by Joe Pet, who drummed for rock legend Joe Perry’s great post- (and pre-) Aerosmith band The Joe Perry Project. So it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Endway drummer Scott James has a lot to live up to.

The Oscar nods are out and a forerunner among them is “Million Dollar Baby”, Clint Eastwood’s latest tale of guilt and subsequent redemption.