At Charlie Shannon’s Boston Harbor cruise, among the many passengers were two former Somerville Mayors – Gene Brune and Dorothy Kelly Gay. They each held court on separate decks and from what we can tell had conversations with everyone onboard – except each other. In deliberate stage whispers, Dorothy was overheard saying that she is happy in her current job. Funny, she never said it directly to Gene.

The Lyres put on a great show at Toast on August 20th, but what we didn’t know was that the mother of the lead singer, Jeff Conolly, was in a horrible car accident the day before and was in a hospital in Connecticut. He didn’t say a word because he is a professional and he wanted to honor his commitment. Jeff, we enjoyed the show, but we are happier that your mother is doing better.

Speaking of Toast shows, last Friday’s comedy show was one of the last area performances by Derek Gerry, who is moving to Los Angeles. Derek was funny as Hell, but we also enjoyed talking to him after the show about the newspaper business. For those of you that didn’t already know, Derek was the founder and publisher of Editorial Humor. It was a great community newspaper and frankly helped us get through the 1990’s without a nervous breakdown. Good Luck, Derek!

Former Ward 2 Alderman Kevin Tarpley has endorsed State Rep. Tim Toomey’s opponent in the Democratic Primary. This really surprises us, since Kevin prided himself on constituent services – which is what Rep. Toomey is all about.

Congrats to Joannie Batzek, longtime Somerville resident, former meter maid and waitress for almost 50 years – for being voted Best Waitress this year. Joannie is a wonderful person with a sharp wit – if you want to have a laugh with your meal, you can see her at the Paddock on Friday Nights or at Kelley’s Diner on Sunday mornings. Congrats to runner-up Denise (Raicot) Kalas who also works at Kelley’s Diner on Sunday mornings. Thanks to the many readers who voted, it was close – they’re both winners in our eyes.

Having been around long enough to know that in City or State Government, extra supplies are ordered toward end of the fiscal year “just in case”, we were still shocked to find out about the close to one million dollar’s worth of cleaning supplies recently found by City Officials. We know it’s a hot item and someone needs to answer for that much excess inventory hidden away and not distributed to the schools that actually need some of this stuff. We wonder who the fall guy will be – only time will reveal who did it and who knew about it.

Somerville’s version of the Old Oaken Bucket has arrived. The newly re-opened bar/restaurant on Cross Street has the reputation of not staying open for long because of the same undesirables drifting in and out and hanging out in front on cell phones (this is where you let your imagination run wild) doing who knows what. On the recent re-opening night, a patron caught a beating out front of the place and was seriously hurt – little did the people who handed out the beating know that the man was the nephew of a Somerville Official. Another incident found people in the place long after closing hours. All in one week – we wonder how long they will be open this time. We will keep our ears to the ground for the next episode, or their closing, whichever comes first.