Friday Faves 8/9: Open Mics, The Town, Turkey Burgers, and Nuclear Explosions
Best Activity
On Tuesday night my wife and I attended an open mic night at the TCAN (The Center for Arts Natick). This was a special, but sad night, as my friend Rob was supposed to be the feature act. Rob was a close friend of my dad; Rob’s son Eliot is one of my closest friends. Some of my greatest memories occurred among the four of us, usually on a golf course but not always. Rob passed away suddenly in May, but because of his love for open mics and the TCAN (and the reciprocated love the TCAN had for him) the TCAN held a tribute to Rob on Tuesday.
The feature performer of the night gets to play a 6-7 song set. On this evening, in Rob’s stead, Eliot, his sister Meryl, and Meryl’s friend Catherine took to the stage to play some Rob originals along with a selection of his favorites by the likes of Dylan, James Taylor, and Neil Young.
It was a great evening capped off with news that the donations in the room helped Rob break through his own 6-year goal to raise $90,000 for the PanMass Challenge. This past weekend would have been his sixth straight ride.
Best Listen
The Rewatchables - This podcast on The Ringer podcast network is solid. Bill Simmons has various guests on to do deep dives into different movies. Each episode is about a specific movie, so you can pick and choose what you want to listen to. This week they released an episode about The Town. I thoroughly enjoyed it because, well, I live in Charlestown and Simmons lived here for eight years, so there are some deep cuts about the neighborhood and Boston in general. Here’s the link to the episode.
Best Read
Washington Black - This book is incredible. It’s rare that I pick up a book and plow through it without having another book going on the back-burner. It’s even rarer that I finish a book in a week.
This is one of those books you want to bring with you when you leave the house just in case you can steal a few moments and read a page or two. The book follows Washington Black, a young slave in Barbados, who is befriended by the slave master’s brother. Adventure ensues, along with the challenges of survival, fear, regret, guilt, and loss. The book is stunningly written, capturing the relationships between characters along with the time period it is set in (1830s).
Best Watch
Chernobyl - Yes, it’s the summer time and I’m reading books and watching shows that leave me with a tight feeling in my gut. I know I am late to this party, but I actually had a hard time pressing play on this one for a while. I knew I needed to be in the right mindset and have enough time to actually give it the attention it deserves.
I have to admit, I did not know much about Chernobyl outside of the general knowledge that it was a nuclear power plant that exploded and destroyed a city. I did not know the depth of danger that existed for a large swath of Eastern Europe or the length of time the nuclear core was able to burn or the lives lost for the greater good and the bravery exhibited by many, both loyally and blindly. The invisible nature of the dangerous radiation and the lack of understanding that people had (even those involved in the explosion and clean-up) is shocking and unnerving.
One little thing I appreciated about the show is the fact that they did not have the actors use Russian accents. Many of the actors are actually British and simply speak in their normal voice. This did force me to remind myself that these characters were all Russian and the story was indeed real.
Best Eats
Blackmoor Turkey Burger - I’ve hit a weird, and delicious, streak of eating burgers. Monument last week, a few burgers during a weekend golf tournament, a Sunday BBQ with some friends, and on Wednesday night I wandered down to Blackmoor in Charlestown for a solo dinner at the bar (another trend these past weeks as Tiff goes to summer networking events).
Honorable mention is the reuben at Morse Tavern in Natick. I need to order more reubens.
What were your favorites from the week? Add them in the comments.