Friday Faves 7/5: Free concert, rooftops, G&Ts, and a College Dropout

I hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July! We are lucky to have a friend with a roof deck in the city. We took in the fireworks there last night. It was cool to see the shows from other towns speckling the sky throughout the evening!

Here are some of my favorites from the week!

Best Activity

On Wednesday evening, a friend of mine, Tim, let me know about a concert at the New England Conservatory. It was a free concert in Jordan Hall (which is a beautiful space). The musician’s name was Becca Stevens, who is an American Folk singer; most of the audience was high school jazz musicians who were at NEC for the weeklong Jazz Lab program. Tim runs Jazz Lab, and Becca Stevens was one of the faculty members for the week.

The concert was great. When Becca came out she introduced herself and then asked for all the lights to be turned off. She played in complete darkness for most of the show, for a few songs she’d click on a little lamp that was stuck to her mic stand. She finished with Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell covers.

It was one of those evenings that made me grateful to live in a city where these types of shows are accessible, and it also reminded me that I need to seek out more shows like this (by “like this” I mean “cheap and entertaining”).

Below is the music video to her song “Regina” and you can check her out work on Spotify, too.

Best Listens

This week I made an effort to listen to entire albums while making dinner. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I listened to College Dropout by Kanye West and WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? by Billie Eilish.

College Dropout brought me back to the days of sticky floors, Busch Lights, and beer pong on Caro St. in Worcester. Just a fabulous album created by a complete and utter maniac. I had no desire to skip any song. The hits kept coming and I had forgotten how many excellent, catchy songs were on that album.

Billie Eilish’s work is superb. It’s strange and creepy and wonderful all at the same time. Her songs throw off the listener and don’t always hit on the conventional pop themes and sounds. This NYTimes article about Eilish and Ariana Grande is great and so is this podcast called "Switched on Pop” that dissects songs. They interview Eilish’s brother on this particular episode; a worthwhile listen.

Best Reads

My wife sent me this funny post on FlownAndGrown.com titled, “Seven Signs of the Aging Apocalypse.” It hit close to home…

The US Women’s National Soccer Team is in the World Cup Final on Sunday against The Netherlands. If you missed the semi-final games, you missed some good stuff. The Final should be excellent. Megan Rapinoe has been a lightning rod for the last week or so (and Alex Morgan’s Tea Cup Celebration has her in the crosshairs too…). Her girlfriend, WNBA star Sue Bird, wrote a blog for The Players’ Tribune. It’s worth a read.

The Netherlands are soccer royalty and have some of the best fans in the world. They always bring such fun and joy to whatever tournament they are in. The reigning European champs will be a tough challenge for the US. Here’s a good read on rise of the Orange Lionesses.

(NOTE: The center of the soccer world is a little corner of Europe. In last year’s World Cup the final four teams were France, Belgium, England, and Croatia. This year’s Women’s World Cup had The Netherlands, England, Sweden, and the US. That’s an incredible concentration of talent in the northern section of Europe. Add in the fact that two English teams competed in the Champions League final in May, and it makes it even more clear how good the soccer is in that part of the world right now).

Best Watches

We’ve all been there. You just ate dinner. It’s a weeknight. You’re on the couch and not leaving. Now, you have to figure out what you might want to watch. It’s a massive streaming world out there with endless options. Many times, my wife and I will spend more time deciding and perusing than actually watching anything.

However, on one particular evening this week we made a quick and correct choice. We picked the animated Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse . It was a delight. The animation was very cool, the fight scenes were spot-on, and the voices were well chosen (John Mullaney as “Spider Pig” was our particular favorite and reeled us right back into the storyline. Mullaney is the best.). The soundtrack is a lot of fun, with a bunch of different songs. They don’t lean into one specific genre, which I appreciated. All you really have to do is watch the first five minutes of the movie and you’ll be hooked.

If you like language and dialects, this short video on “Hoi Toiders” (translation: High TIders) in North Carolina’s Outer Banks is fantastic and informative and a bit sad.

Best Eats

Before going to the Becca Stevens concert on Wednesday night, I had picked out a spot to grab a bite to eat. I made two mistakes in this venture: first, when I was trying find places close to Jordan Hall I had driving directions NOT walking directions set on my phone (an 8 minute drive is not the same as an 8 minute walk…).. Second, I did not check to see if the restaurant I picked out was open ( It’s called Shore Leave… a perfect name for a restaurant if you know where I used to work..). Sadly, Shore Leave was closed on July 3. Therefore we had to find somewhere else to eat, luckily we ended up in Lion’s Tail down in the Ink Block section of Boston.

Lion’s Tail had some delicious crispy Thai chicken wings. I love chicken wings and have started to try and order them more often. These wings were indeed crispy, a necessity in my wing experience. They were sweet and just the right temperature. As a whole, Lion’s Tail was pretty delicious and a good place to stumble upon.

Best Drinks

It’s summertime, which means there is always an excuse for a drink. There’s the “I had to actually work on a beautiful day” drink. There’s the '“I’m grilling on the deck” drink or the “I’m playing golf” drink or the “I just mowed the lawn drink". Whatever your excuse, I wanted to share one of my summertime favorites: the Gin and Tonic. Not all Gin and Tonics are created equal, and if I’m being honest, I didn’t particularly like G&Ts until recently. I learned to appreciate them much more when we went to London two years ago.

Right now, the gin we use for our G&Ts is Barr Hill. My brother introduced it to me a while back. It’s from Vermont and it doesn’t have that heavy piney taste that turned me off from gin in the first place. Instead, it has a nice hint of honey. Mix it up with a Fever Tree Tonic (or any tonic, really) and enjoy!

As always, toss your faves in the comment section below!