--Hug a social worker today. If you've ever wondered why the Department of Social Services couldn't stop an act of violence from happening, read this eye-opening article on just how hard it is to be a social worker. According to the piece, "between one-third and three-quarters of all social workers nationwide have been threatened, physically assaulted, or had their property damaged." [Boston Globe] --A Bridgewater State College student and his girlfriend, a student at......

With deep and heartfelt apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and all his descendents (read the whole thing after the jump): Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the town Not a sports fan in Boston was wearing a frown. The banners were hung from the chimney to the door, Lined up very caref'lly, with room for some more. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of playoff games danced......

Ukulele Noir Nave Gallery, Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church, 155 Powderhouse Blvd, Somerville Saturday, November 17, 2007 8-10 pm, $10 Bostonist never thought we'd hear the words "ukulele" and "noir" used together, but now it's happened. And it sounds pretty rad. Tonight's installment of Ukulele Noir, an assortment of skilled ukulele players, will feature Craig Robertson, Melvern Taylor and the Fabulous Meltones, Uncle Shoe, and the East Boston Make Out Club Band. All will strum tiny......

Attempt at Largest Gathering of Halloween Witches (Reciting Poetry) With Lesley Bannatyne Saturday, October 27 Book signing at 7:00 pm McIntyre & Moore Booksellers, Davis Square, Somerville Record-breaking at 7:30 pm Davis Square, Somerville Do the past few Halloweens seem to go by, leaving nothing more than a little tummyache after eating too much candy corn? Well, Somerville author and Halloween expert Lesley Bannatyne is aims to leave a mark this Halloween by attempting to......

The On the Road 50th-anniversary event will be on Thursday, September 6, at 6:00 pm at the Brattle Theatre. Tickets are $5 and are available at Harvard Book Store. You may have heard rumors of a bar at the event, but, alas, the idea was nixed. Lowell's own Jack Kerouac is getting the royal treatment from Massachusetts now that On the Road is turning 50. Lowell is showing the legendary Kerouac scroll, and authors Joyce......

NESN asks the question, "Will the poetry in the field spark romance in the stands?" Perhaps - but the first episode of Sox Appeal suggests that if you really want to woo someone, you're better off doing it without the distractions of a baseball game. Garrett Lucash, a retired figure skater who will apparently do anything to banish the stereotype of the male figure skater, meets with three different women. He tries to strike......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

Gail Mazur, Robert Pinsky, Lloyd Schwartz, and Rosanna Warren will be reading at the ICA on the HarborWalk at 6:30 pm tomorrow, Thursday, May 3. Free first-come, first-serve tickets will be available an hour before the reading. The ICA and UMass Boston are celebrating Emily Dickinson - the ultimate Massachusetts literary institution - tomorrow night. The ICA is installing a visual display of Dickinson's 695 (As if the Sea should part), and four poets will......

It started with comic books flying from the stage. Some people need eBay or Craigslist or a recycle bin to offload their Arion: Lord of Atlantis collection; Humanwine's Holly Brewer needs an audience. Friday night's crowd at the Paradise had come to celebrate the release of the first Humanwine album, Fighting Naked, and to catch airborne back issues. When M@ McNiss* and the rest of Humanwine appeared, they launched into "Big Brother," a defiant......

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese version......

Sometimes even those of us who live in the rock clubs can forget how to behave ourselves. Maybe it’s some strange alchemy of alcohol and entitlement. Maybe it’s a vague attachment to the spirit of “punk rock.“ Or maybe it’s just plain rudeness. Just in case, here’s a brief refresher course on the things to keep in mind from people who know best - the ones who work there. 1) Keep Your Hands to Yourself......

As the saying goes April showers bring May flowers. We're willing to subscribe with that theory. April looks to be a bit soggy for us in the beginning, especially considering the current seven day forecast. That means that frolicking in the outdoors will be limited and heading into the haven of the local rock haunts will be plentiful. Lucky this week provides a host of great shows around the Boston area. Included this week......

Music, comedy, poetry, and audience participation filled the room. At first blush, it looked like an episode of Prairie Home Companion, but it was really musician/poetess Patti Smith performing at the Institute of Contemporary Art on Wednesday night. Patti Smith is famous for channeling the fierce, demanding forces of creation. In her interviews and in articles about her, she comes off more like a medium who needs the perfect conditions in order to let the......

The Union Square Main Streets newsletter announced new tenants would be setting up shop at 11 Bow St. in Somerville. Diesel Cafe has signed a lease to create a cafe on the first floor and renovations have begun this week. This is the second location for the thriving Davis Square business. Upstairs, The Zeitgeist Gallery has leased 1,500 square feet of space to present a wide range of arts programming.The Globe picked up on......

Patti Smith will speak at the ICA February 21 at 6:30 pm. Via Joel Brown, tickets are on sale for Patti Smith's spoken-word performance at the ICA, which is part of their "What Is New" series. (Brown also has an awesome title for his post – check it out.) Smith is riding high right now since she was named to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. She's working on a covers album, and she......

Yuletide on YouTube: Trapped in the Clauset. A seasonally inspired parody of R. Kelly's, um, masterpiece(?) has been making its way all over the internets this past week. The three part series is blatantly absurd, while there aren't any midgets Rudolph, an elf, and maybe even the birthday boy himself show up. Sacrilege? Yes. Funny? Sure. "That's what you say when you're Santa: you say Ho three times in a row." That's not the best,......

Bostonist loves political theatre, whether of the absurd-but-meant-to-be-serious sort or the absurd-for-absurdity's-sake sort. An upcoming event next month fits squarely into the latter category: The Riverside Theatre Works in Hyde Park is hosting a talent show for Boston's mayoral and city council candidates. The Globe reports today that many local notables will, indeed, participate: Felix Arroyo will sing Sinatra, Kevin McCrea will twirl a baton while telling jokes (?), and Mumbles will read poetry, promising......

Well this sounds new and cool: tonight at 6PM at the Cross store in Harvard Square, four ladies from the new Boston Ladies Arts Society will be reading from their creative endeavors that drive them on. All four of the names should be familiar to you through freelance assignments, for example, have you ever read a well thought-out music piece in the Globe by Sarah Tomlinson and thought, boy, I wonder what this writer could......

All those indie and punk shows getting you a little too worked up? We thought so. Take a deep breath, remove the suspenders and striped socks. Put on your dancing shoes and listen to some poetry. But it’s the weekend you say, and you’re not up for some tame literary adventure? You want something with a little beat? Revive your soul at the Center for Latino Arts' Soul Revival on Saturday night. One of Bostonist’s......

If this description of a book doesn't intrigue you, you have to be dead: Rachel Dewoskin went to China to work for an American PR firm and ended up as a Chinese soap opera star. She was the sexy American vixen on Foreign Babes In Beijing, the subject of her new book. Please ignore the very Sex and The City-aping cover; Columbia grad Ms. Dewoskin is an assistant poetry editor for BU's literary magazine AGNI......

Bostonist is a reader. If you ask, Bostonist's favorite book would likely be The White Boy Shuffle, the 1996 coming of age book by Paul Beatty. Hilarious(even re-reading it, Bostonist laughs out loud like it's a first-time reading of David Sedaris), satirical, dark and provocative, Shuffle follows the destined-for-greatness life of Gunnar Kaufman from West Los Angeles to the halls of Boston University. Sample, totally-unrepresentative-but-short-enough hilarity: "Here's a haiku you wrote: 'the full May......

After 20 years on the run after escaping from Norfolk County Jail, Norman A. Porter, Jr., was arrested in the Windy City of Chicago yesterday. Massachusetts' authorities have been searching for Porter, who's rap sheet began in 1960 with executing a clerk at a Saugus store, helping to kill a jailer at Middlesex County Jail, and then escaping another jail in 1985; police were only tipped off recently when Porter's finger prints came up as......