On The Silly Side by Jimmy Del Ponte

This article first ran in the September 10, 2008 edition of The Somerville News.

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

I love Somerville…why do I love Somerville? There are tons of reasons. One reason is that I know where most of the streets are – I also know a lot of short cuts, especially during rush hour. Here are a few more reasons – you run into people you know everywhere you go! Up at Old Orchard Beach, I hear: “hey Jimmy, what’s up?”  I actually saw a guy who grew up on my street at Disney World about 15 years ago. If you are from Somerville, I’m sure it happens to you too.

My kids say: “Dad, you know everyone!” I love Somerville because my sons and I were at a 1pm showing of The Dark Knight a while back at the Somerville Theater, when I saw some familiar faces – sitting about four rows in front of us were Vinnie and Howie. For about a half hour before the movie started, we caught up on things – important stuff like: “have you seen Jackie Veri lately?” and “how’s your father doing?” and “too bad about Joe…” and “hey, are you still driving the Lincoln?” We weren’t talking real loud, but loud enough – okay, we were bordering on yelling. In the row in front of us was this guy named Kevin who was born on my street and recently moved back into the family house  – he’s 34 and I remember him as a kid.

Funny thing about us old Somerville people, we don’t care where we are or who is around – if we see an old friend, we catch up right there, on the spot. We may be loud, but we are sincere – we are genuinely happy to see one another. We are also pretty good at avoiding someone we don’t want to talk to. Spending most of your life in one city can create a lot of friends, but also some people you would rather avoid. Not so for these two old friends. A couple of weeks ago I ran into two guys in Teele Square and we talked for 30 minutes. I am always especially happy to see some of my old partying buddies, for the mere fact that we are still kicking – just the fact that we survived this long is an accomplishment considering the craziness of the 70’s and 80’s.

My friend Jay Q asked when I was going to mention him in this column – well, how about now Jay? And I might as well mention the other guy, “Myrtle” – Jay suggested that I write about the old days when we would drive down to his parent’s cottage in Wareham. That’s all I can do is just mention it, because we were out of control back then – plus, I don’t remember an awful lot from those party days.

I love Somerville because when another lifelong Somerville friend calls and asks if you can do him a favor, you say yes before asking what the favor is. I have a few good friends like that. I am also lucky enough to live close to aunts, uncles and cousins. I came home Friday and found a container of lawn furniture cleaner by my front door that my cousin picked up for me from the Christmas Tree Shop.

I love Somerville because my son has one of my old friends as a teacher this year – he had another friend of mine last year. Don’t worry there was no favoritism; just a nice feeling knowing that he was in excellent hands (actually, there are a lot of my friends and fellow students who are now teachers and administrators). These folks are some of Somerville’s most valuable assets for sure.

Another cool thing about Somerville is that everyone seems to have a friend who is a firefighter or policeman – one of my cop friends flashes the blue lights at me sometimes when I’m driving, just to startle me. One of these days when he does it, I may need one of my fireman friends to perform CPR on me.

I love Somerville because I have played in a band in practically every joint in the city.

This past Sunday afternoon I was up at Powder House Park with my dog, and there were two couples with infants, a group of picnickers who rode their bikes there and several other sun worshipers laying out. I just looked around and felt very grateful that we have such a beautiful park that people can enjoy on a picture perfect day in peace.

As I become an “older” Somerville resident, remembering names gets a little tough – you spend your entire life in a city and you know hundreds of people, so it is especially embarrassing when they know your name, but you can’t remember theirs. They say “Jimmy, how have you been man?” and you have to reply with a safe “buddy”, “pal” or one of my favorites – the old reliable “my friend.” I love the term “pally,” but that’s usually reserved for more familiar friends – not everyone earns the title of “pally.”

Every so often someone comes up to me and says hello and they don’t look the least bit familiar to me at all. They say something like: “you remember me, they used to call me Twinkles…Eddie Fatchabelly’s cousin’s, brother in law – I knew you from when you hung around down the Surrey Room with Stumpy, Joey the plumber and the Toscaricco Twins.” Sometimes I just pretend to remember and say: “oh yeah, how have you been?”

Most of the time I really do remember those old faces and that’s great and sometimes I remember the face, but not the name – but after a minute or so, it all comes back.

Somerville is where you make friends and keep them for life…so If I see you and I can’t remember your name, don’t mind if I just say: “how have you been my friend?”