by Doug Holder

The small or alternative press does not have a small place in literary history. Poets as diverse as Whitman, Frost, Ginsberg or Bukowski, have cut their teeth in the world of little magazines and small presses. The thousands of small presses, defined as press runs of fewer than 5,000 and less than twelve titles per year, have provided a way for the emerging poet to have his or her art find an audience.

Major university libraries like University of Buffalo, Brown University, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison have huge collections that archive many of the booklets, chapbooks, and broadsides which have been produced to date.

For instance, Mike Basinski, the curator of the University of Buffalo Poetry and Rare Books Collection, is dedicated to collecting first edition poetry books from small press poets and publishers from around the globe.

Somerville has a rich history of small presses. From Robert Smith’s still thriving Yellow Moon Press to the now Brookline-based Zephyr Press, there have always been a number of small presses publishing in the area. Magazines such as Dark House, Aspect, and the Boston Literary Review, all have roots in Somerville.

Feb. 19 at 8:00 p.m., three Somerville small presses, Ibbetson Street, Sunnyoutside, and Cervena Barva Press will take part in a celebration of the city’s small presses at Club Passim at 47 Palmer St. in Cambridge.

Presented by Richard Cambridge’s resident “Poet’s Theatre,” the event will include selected readings by poets from said presses such as Catherine Sasanov, Mary Bonina, Timothy Gager, Lo Galluccio, Ann Carhart, Philip Burnham, Nate Graziano, Jason Tandon, Deborah M. Priestly, and Molly Lynn Watt, to name a few. Poet and vocalist Jennifer Matthews may make the scene as well. There will also be a book table with books from all the publishers.

by Michael T. Steffen

A local theater company will offer introductory and intermediate acting classes, as well as private coaching, throughout the winter at their studio at 259 Elm St. 

“Drama gives you the chance to vent feelings you would not otherwise get the chance, or dare, to express,” said Amanda G. Hennessey, co-director of Essayons Theater.

Most students are drawn to Essayons to learn techniques, character development, improvisation, text analysis, and to get ideas about auditioning in the Boston theater scene, said Hennessey. Some attend classes to build confidence in public speaking and to improve communication skills, she said.

After attending Wheaton College, Hennessey received a Master of Fine Arts from the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City, she said. As an undergraduate, Hennessey said she spent her junior year in India, where she found the time to read and contemplate the direction of her senior year. On returning from India, she decided to study acting under Pam Bongas and fell in love with drama, she said.

Along with her classes at Essayons, Hennessey said she teaches at the Huntington Theater Company and at Boston University. Hennessey’s performance experience spans from commercials to stage and film, she said. She recently appeared in the Boston based theatre company SpeakEasy’s hit show “The Women,” and in “The Child King,” a feature film that premiered in the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival in October and, early in her acting days, she played the character Shelby in a dramatic production of Robert Harding’s “Steel Magnolias.”

edited by Doug Holder

Now in the winter of our discontent we look to spring for rebirth and renewal. Like a bad depression, winter, when you are in the maw of it, seems to be endless. Somerville poet Michael Todd Steffen reminds us that what is barren now will be fecund in several months.

Remembering our Orchard

Trees stood all winter like cattle in the field
Naked of their leaves in wind and snow,
Their extremities advanced like blind men reading
Braille from the lines of wind which made them
tremble.

To look at them for long you would remember
How superficial winter’s hardest freeze
Compared to their roots deep as the cemetery’s
Shelters where uncles were stirring herring stew.

Dull-lidded looks as I walked home from school
With no more than a candle’s wit myself
Shook a head of disparagement at these
Wastes of nature, counting them for dead,

Blind to another evening I would wake
To wafts of blossoms through the open window
Recalling wicker baskets. I could just see
The swells of ripening in their fingers ache.

—Michael Todd Steffen

By George P. Hassett

Somerville police arrested two women for charging a fee for sex Thursday at Assembly Square’s La Quintana hotel. Darilennis Cordero, 19, of 378 Center St., Dorchester, and Tamara Brooks, 22, of 907 Pine Rd., Sharonhill, PA were arrested and charged with sexual conduct for a fee after Somerville police observed an advertisement offering sexual services in Somerville.

An undercover vice detective called the number listed in the advertisement and spoke with a female who quoted a fee of $200 an hour for sex and told him to go to room 516 at the hotel, police said.

Police said Brooks answered the door in ‚Äúscantily clad and sexually provocative attire.‚Äù  The detective allegedly paid Brooks $200 and an arrest team entered the room and cuffed Brooks. Police said 23 condoms and ‚Äúsome lubricating jellies‚Äù were confiscated. When police searched Brooks‚Äô purse they allegedly found 14 individual bags of marijuana and charged her with possession of a class D substance with intent to distribute.

The vice unit apprehended Cordero later that night and said she was also using La Quintana as a base for a prostitution operation. Cordero allegedly told police she had a special rate of $180 for an hour of sexual services. Police arrested Cordero in room 306 and charged her with sexual conduct for a fee.

Has Jed Clampett just arrived in Somerville?

The recent spate of oil leaks on city property should raise concerns in every corner of the city. From the oil leak in the high school to the one in the DPW yard Thursday, this issue should be addressed by more than just the tree-hugging, Mystic Viewing crowd.

The most important question to ask is, what will city leaders do to keep us safe? On the plus side, the high school leak was handled quickly and admirably.

On the negative side, City Hall failed to admit their knowledge of seven abandoned oil tanks, including one that may still be leaking, until The Somerville News obtained proof that high-ranking officials in Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone’s administration had known of them for over three years.

City leaders must continue the quick responses they carried out for the high school and DPW yard leaks and open up information flow to the public to avoid the appearance of withholding information.      

by Anderson Mar & Matthew Marchesi

The newly-renovated Skybar, a 21 plus live music venue located at 518 Somerville Ave. is walking distance from the Porter Square T stop for the fitness-inclined.

Eternal Embrace

The club is has recently become a hotbed of specialty music nights.  In addition to straight-up rock ‚Äòn roll on the weekends, Tuesdays encompass some of the area‚Äôs best singer-songwriters in a relaxed, no-earplugs-required setting, while the first and third Thursday of the month will find patrons of the mournful aesthetic congregating en masse for Dark Sky, Massachusetts‚Äô only ‚Äúdarker alternative‚Äù‚Äîsince it‚Äôs apparently not politically correct to use the term Goth anymore live music night. Still other evenings have played host to punk rock extravaganzas, country and western-themed bands, and Women in Rock showcases.

You never know what you’re going to get at The Skybar, and therein lies the beauty of it.

With the closure of the infamous Chopping Block, and hiatus of a few well-known Allston-based nightclubs, we were was approached by several bands in the local hard rock/heavy metal scene looking for a suitable venue to call their own. Mar, who with partner Marchesi, was co-founder of the The New England Punk, Goth, and Metal Fest in 2005,decided to welcome these bands into her club with open arms and gauge the response, which so far has been remarkable.

The Skybar will be launching a weekly Metal Night Beginning on Sunday.

By David Taber

A recent study of municipal governments in 10 of eastern Massachusetts’ most diverse cities singled out Somerville for practicing parity in its appointments, but also noted that all of the city’s elected officials are white.

‚ÄúThe administration is always looking at diversity as a desirable attribute in finding qualified people to serve,‚Äù said City Communications Director Thomas Champion. 
According to the study, “A Benchmark Report on Diversity in State and Local Government,” produced by the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, 27 percent of the population of Somerville and 26 percent of appointed municipal officials are non-white.

Tony Lafuente, a Portuguese immigrant who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2004 said Somerville minorities have not yet won elected positions because their communities are comprised largely of recent immigrants.

The major influx of Haitian Creole, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking immigrants to Somerville occurred within the last 10 to 15 years and the process of obtaining citizenship and registering to vote has delayed these populations‚Äô enfranchisement, he said. 

“In the past, minority populations have been transient, they work a couple of jobs to make ends meet and they have no incentives to get involved because they don’t have candidates,” LaFuente said.

by Christopher S. Pineo

The owners of a Union Square bar hosted their first live music night Saturday.

“We didn’t make money hand over fist, but it was better than a normal Saturday night,” said Nancy J. Maiullari, who owns and operates Razzy’s bar with Ruth A. Aylward. “That’s not what it was about, it was about fun,” she said.

Maiullari said she invited local performers for the show and the band, Ms. LuLu and the Honeybears played two sets. 

Maiullari said she and her partner hosted the bands in conjunction with greater efforts to clean up the bar and stimulate interest.  ‚ÄúWhen we first bought the place we put a lot of time and effort into cleaning it up cosmetically,‚Äù she said.

‚ÄúSince then we have cleaned it up in other ways,‚Äù she said.  ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs not the kind of place where someone is going to catch a stray punch or a flying barstool.‚Äù

Maiullari said she invited the bands in hopes of creating a fun and inviting environment for the clientele of Razzy‚Äôs.  ‚ÄúI just wanted to see people have fun,‚Äù she said.

“When we went to the licensing board we decided that only two types of music would not be allowed, loud rap and heavy metal,” she said.

The bands were concerned that if attendance were low they would not be invited back, Maiullari said.

But this was not the case, and performances will continue, she said.

By George P. Hassett

An oil leak at the Department of Public Works (DPW) yard was detected Thursday during soil and water testing, said City Environmental Programs Manager Peter Mills.  The leak is in the feeder-line system connected to an underground tank at 1 Franey Rd., Mills said.

The 4,000-gallon tank, which had been tested separately at the request of the city’s Fire Department, did not appear to be the source of the leak, he said.

Mills said Somerville has faced more than its fair share of oil leak problems this year, possibly due to aging infrastructure.  A Christmas-weekend leak in a basement-level oil feeder-line at Somerville High School resulted in a 1,300-gallon spill of heating oil.  Remediation work continues at the school, which reopened Jan. 4, and over 1,100 gallons of the recovered oil have been filtered for reuse in the heating system, Mills said.

‚ÄúIt‚Äôs frustrating, of course,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúBut our infrastructure is aging, and we have to expect a certain amount of trouble.  These problems have been around for a long time, and they won‚Äôt vanish overnight.‚Äù

Vithal Deshpande, the city’s environmental coordinator, said the city found the leak after the fire prevention unit requested tests on tanks 1 and 3 at the DPW yard. The tanks did not have leaks, he said.

As of writing this for News Talk, Jack and Marty have certified for the special election, and there were two more who pulled papers and are awaiting certification – James Thomas, who ran for School Committee in Ward 6 before, and a Robert Daut, who word has it, is a former ADA for Middlesex County and who we also hear is another one of those special Progressives.  Could there be a split amongst the Secular (we still like the title) Progressives with Robert Daut in the race?  Do we detect some dissention in the ranks? 

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By the way, The Somerville News will be hosting a live candidate‚Äôs night on March 5th at the Independent Restaurant in Union Square.   

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The Guns and Hoses game gives Somerville‚Äôs Police & Fire Department hockey players a chance to play against each other to conquer and for bragging rights to be called Champions over the blue or red uniforms that they wear while raising money for various charitable causes.  The Guns and Hoses game will be played on Feb. 25th starting at 5p.m. at the Somerville rink ‚Äì at 570 Somerville Ave.  We personally think a game between City Hall and DPW staffers vs. Police & Fire would be an even more interesting event or certainly would give legit bragging rights; maybe Manboobs can be the goalie for city hall?

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Popular sister of our Mayor, Maria Curtatone, held her annual Valentines Day Party recently – she has been throwing this party every year for the past ten years or so. The party was a big success with a full ballroom of over 350 attendees celebrating the romantically magical day in advance while she herself was seen on the floor dancing the Tango!

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Did you get that postcard the other day from our very own Congressman Mike Capuano announcing that he is hosting a Community Meeting at the Alderman‚Äôs Chambers Saturday February 24th from 10am to 11:30am?  He‚Äôs looking for a big crowd and something tells us he will get one‚Ķespecially from the progressives – hopefully some others will be there as well.

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Somerville RED SOX nights have been announced by Bob Publicover of the Committee for a Response to AIDS.  There will be three Somerville nights this year – on June 12th (Blue Jays), June 15th (Giants) and September 1st (Orioles).  Tickets are very limited, so call Bob today to join the Mayor and lots of local folks again this year and reserve your Sox seats at 617 290-6842 or email bobpublicover@aol.com  Tickets are $75.00 in the right field section.

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