Join Nicole Tammaro and Christopher Banda with they open their photography exhibit at Magoun Square’s On the Hill Tavern.

The action starts at 5 p.m.

Enjoy food, cocktails and music while you meet the photographers and see their pictures from all over the world and around the Somerville.

More information: (617) 629-5302

by Kimberly Rizzo

The Boston Underground Film Festival began Wednesday and will continue through Sunday at Davis Square’s Somerville Theatre.

Featuring genuinely alternative films from filmmakers whose vision runs from the radical to the demented, the BUFF’s crowning feature was “Thundercrack!,” a deliciously deviant film from 1975.

by Franklin W. Liu

"Artists’ Visions of Artists” was all about enigmatic Pop Artist Andy Warhol. It was the third and the last of a series of short films and videos presented by Branka Bogdanov, director of media, at The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.

These short films and videos provided a stimulating one hour and twenty minutes of subtext to an ongoing, major exhibition of over 50 artworks “Likeness: Portraits of Artists by Other Artists” mounted for view in ICA’s main gallery space.

Jonas Mekas, an avant-garde filmmaker who met Warhol in New York City produced a 12-minute long, black & white visual diary in 1964 “Scenes from the life of Andy Warhol.” 

It was set to the music of a NYC band called Velvet Underground whose material like “Heroin” dealt with the seedy underbelly of lower Manhattan; junkies, homosexuals, transvestites and a mix of artists. 

Like Pablo Picasso, Warhol’s persona had become larger than life, and it shined with overt eccentricity as it did for surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

The city’s director of veterans’ services, Francis P. Senesi (right), announced that the city’s fundraiser for the Memorial Day Parade raised $10,000 to help the city defray the cost of this year’s parade. Senesi asked Frank Santangelo (left), the city’s superintedent of buildings and grounds, to help him pick the winning ticket for a $50 gift certificate from the Target store at 180 Somerville Ave. Other prizes included a one-night stay at the Quintana Inn and a grill.

In addition to a performance by the Metropolitan New York U.S.O Troupe, sponsored by this paper, attendees enjoyed great food, drink and conversation at the affair held tonight at Assembly Square’s Good Time Emporium.

Father knows best

For me the greatest thing about the Red Sox winning the World Series is that my son has fallen in love with baseball.

I tried to get him into T-ball when he was five-years-old by offering to coach the T-ball team. T-Ball precedes little league in that it is for 4 to 6-year-old children.

Trying to coach T-ball was like trying to herd cats.

Find out more about Jimmy and his Off-Broadway Theater

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone surrounded by eight "Somerville Rocks!" tee-shirt-clad officials on a visit to Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea.

From left to right:
Robert Baines, Mayor of Manchester, N. H.; Judith Valles, Mayor of San Bernadino, Calif.; Jim McCarthy, Summit County Executive, Summit County, Ohio; Donald Plusquellic, Mayor of Akron, Ohio;
Curtatone; Laura Waxman, American Jewish Congress;
Meryl Frank, Mayor of Highland Park, N.J.;
Joy Cooper, Mayor of Hallandale Beach, Fla.;
Arlene Mulder, Mayor of Arlington Heights, Il.

A Beacon Hill source has told The Somerville News that the special election to fill the state senate seat vacated by the late Charles E. Shannon Jr. will not be called for this summer. The source said the primary will be held Aug. 30 with the final election Sept. 27.

Another source, who is close to process, told this paper that the there is still a chance for a quick election called for this summer.

A quick election could hurt the chances of State Rep. Patricia D. Jehlen, D-Somerville, if the college students are away for the summer.

In a late election, the question of dual candidacies comes into play for Ward 5 Alderman Sean T. O’Donovan and Alderman-at-large William A. White Jr.

Shannon’s chief of staff Sean J. Fitzgerald is preparing to make a formal announcement that he is in the race for his last boss’ job.

The question then becomes: Is Fitzgerald better off when Dorothy A. Kelly Gay endorses former state representative Joseph Mackey?

Fitzgerald was Kelly Gay’s communications director during her mayordom, but it seems that although she encouraged Fitzgerald to run, she never considered him more than a loyal servant. With Mackey in the race Kelly Gay is going with a brand name.

There are enough voters still ticked off at Kelly Gay for what she had done and what she had failed to do that they could put Fitzgerald over the top.

State Rep. Paul J. Danato, D-Medford, will not run, since his wife would not give him the green light. But, Vincent P. Ciampa, who lost twice to current State Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr., D-Somerville, in 2004, may be back in 2005.

Ciampa is tanned, rested and smiling again. We understand his campaign is being put together by another Kelly Gay hand and current real estate agent, whose name escapes us.

At a private fundraiser for Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone at the Mount Vernon Restaurant, where Somerville begins, Ward 5 Alderman Sean T. O’Donovan announced his candidacy Monday for the 2nd Middlesex District seat in the state senate vacated by the late Charles E. Shannon Jr. O’Donovan is a Democrat.