by Siobhan McIntyre

One Wednesday evening each month, local ukulele enthu-siasts, old and young alike, gather to strum and sing along to ‚ÄúLet‚Äôs Talk Dirty in Hawaiian‚Äù and other popular numbers. 

They do like music; they do love sing-a-longs, said Kathy A. Wenthe, director of activities at the Visiting Nurse Assisted Living Community on Lowell Street.

Wenthe said she was pleased when Julie Morse, organizer of the Boston Ukulele Society contacted her and requested the use of the facility to host the group’s monthly practice sessions. “We just happened to be the winners,” said Wenthe.

Initially, the group met in the café area of the Garage in Harvard Square, said Morse. But, with people traveling in and out and talking and shopping, the locale was less than ideal, she said.

Morse said a member of the group suggested they meet in the assisted living community and she then contacted Wenthe. “This was really lucky. It’s just been really great,” said Morse.

by Siobhan McIntyre

After six final performances starting Feb. 9 at Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway, fraternal comedian duo and founders of the “Great and Secret Comedy Show” will be picking up stakes and heading for Los Angeles.

“We’re just ready. We’re just at that point in our lives creatively and developmentally. We’re ready to mature and to move on to other things. Also, both Jack and Bob’s joke shops have closed down,” said David Walsh, who performs with his brother and fellow comedian, Chris Walsh.

The team will tour throughout the country for two months, before settling in Los Angeles, Walsh said. “It should be an amazing experience. It’ll be a lot like a carnival. We’ll pull into town, do a show, we’ll leave, people will die.”

The brothers started performing together in Inman Square about four years ago, said Walsh. Success is hard to find as an individual in stand-up, and two heads are better than one, he said. “It’s definitely more enjoyable to be with someone you know very well. When it goes well it’s the most fun thing in the world.”

A tradition of comedians working in tandem existed ages ago, but was not common in the last 20 years, said Walsh. The pair’s show is therefore a sort of novelty, he said. “We are a duo, but we don’t know much about the culture of duos.”

Naturally, the learning curve was very steep; things clicked and then unclicked and then clicked again, the brothers said. “The first step was to buy a second mic.”

Patrolmen’s Union President Jack Leutcher said officers and
other employees in the building are nervous and frustrated at the
uncertainty of what they may be breathing in when they go to work.

by George P. Hassett

Cancer-causing chemicals have been found in the city’s public safety
building, according to tests conducted by a company specializing in
toxicology and risk assessment. The company, SafDoc Systems of
Stoughton, was hired by lawyers representing 60 city employees who
brought suit against Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and the city in August
2005 in an attempt to get to the bottom of health problems plaguing
workers inside the building at 220 Washington St.

Kenneth Weinberg, Ph.D., a biochemist and pathologist who is the
chief consultant for SafDoc, said the chemicals found in the building
have the potential for causing various types of serious diseases.

“This facility, at the least, needs to be vacated and thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated,” he said.

Tests conducted Nov. 8 found “widespread contamination” of toxic
materials such as Benzene, which is known to cause leukemia. Also found
were metals such as beryllium, copper and thallium which can cause skin
or nasal ulcers and liver and kidney damage.

The same tests also found contaminated air inside the building due
to diesel fuels used in the fire engines. Hoses attached to the exhaust
pipes of the fire engines did not appear to be effective because of
inconsistent use, according to the report, and a fine black dust could
be found throughout the building. On the day of the testing, fire
trucks were not being used which could have skewed the findings for
contamination to be lower than they truly are, said Stephen D’Angelo,
attorney for the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit that inspired the testing claims 16 city employees have
died in the past 10 years because they “were subjected to prolonged
exposures, to chronic damp conditions, and the types of molds that
produce toxins as well as other hazardous substances present in their
workplace environment.” The lawsuit alleges the site was once used as
an MBTA bus garage, where car batteries were routinely split open and
emptied into the ground.

D’Angelo said he knows of 78 city employees who once worked at 220 Washington St. and now suffer from various lung illnesses.

“The city’s plan seems to be to ignore the problem but we’re not
going away,” he said. “That building is atrocious and must be shut
down.”

However, city officials dispute the plaintiffs’ claims and point to
the recent tests as flawed. Curtatone said the SafDoc tests did not
determine the levels of chemicals found at 220 Washington St., only
their presence.

“Their own study points out that it is not conclusive,” Curtatone said.

The only study conducted by an independent third party on the
building concluded that it was not a hazardous work

environment, he
said. The Massachusetts Division of Occupational Safety concluded in
1998 that the building was a safe work environment, he said.

However, Patrolmen’s Union President Jack Leutcher said officers and
other employees in the building are nervous and frustrated at the
uncertainty of what they may be breathing in when they go to work.

The race is on and the candidates are afoot. After weeks of delay, the board of aldermen have finally set the date for the special election to to fill the vacancy |left by the resignation of State Rep. Denise M. Provost, D, Somerville.  As of our deadline, the two candidates taking out nomination petitions, John M. ‚ÄúJack‚Äù Connolly and Martin Martinez, are knowable knowables.

Connolly was the Ward 6 Alderman for 22 years.  During his tenure, the heart of his ward, Davis Square, has become the economic engine of the city and a case study in prescient urban planning. Given the population turnover in Somerville, it might be worth noting that Connolly has a strong Progressive resume that includes fighting for Good Government in the days when it was not so popular and supporting the Living Wage.

His strong leadership in the effort to save the Somerville Theatre is, let us say, often imitated, never truly duplicated.

Martinez is no longer the new face on the city stage.  Most residents first learned his name when then-mayor Dorothy Kelly Gay fired him as her director of youth services. 

Kelley Gay put it out that Martinez was fired for coddling gangs. We would argue it was more nuanced than that. Rather, we think he was working to change the conditions driving gang membership—a program we wish had been in place for the last four years.

Since leaving the city payroll, Martinez has twice run for alderman. Once for the Ward 7 seat against the current board president, Robert C. Trane and last year when he finished fifth for the four at-large seats.

Nobody has doubted his passion for the city and the value of his ideas. The only real question is whether he can win against the warhorse Connolly.

Right now, the mayor has eight votes out of 11, which he keeps under his pillow at night. The difference may be how badly he craves a ninth.

by Pamela Rosenblatt

The arts editor of The Somerville News received a Certificate of Appreciation for his community access television program at the organization’s annual meeting Jan.25.

‚ÄúI think Doug Holder really provides an excellent service to the larger writer community in Somerville.  And it‚Äôs not just ‚ÄòPoet To Poet/Writer To Writer‚Äô that he does.  Besides ‚ÄòPoet To Poet/Writer To Writer‚Äô, he also writes his column in The Somerville News, and produces The Somerville News‚Äô Writer‚Äôs Festival.  He‚Äôs really a dynamo in support of Somerville‚Äôs writers and readers,‚Äù said Wendy Blom, executive director of Somerville Community Access Television.

As a major local poet, writer, journalist, and inter-viewer, Douglas Holder is highly regarded in the Somerville and surrounding areas, said Wendy Blom.

She met Holder the first week she started at SCAT in 2005, she said. “And I was immediately impressed by the commitment to the show that he does and the ease with which he draws out his guests,” she said.

Holder said he developed such an admirable reputation in the writing community through years of study and dedication to his craft. 

He said his story begins when his mother’s family first came to the United States at the turn of the 20th Century.