🎶💅 Gov. Healey has SERIOUS taste

It’s Thursday, Boston.

📣 Calling all 14- to 25-year-old Bostonians! The City of Boston is running its first-ever youth needs assessment, and they’re looking for your input in the form of a five-ish minute survey about your experiences in the city. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• A new cafe is coming to the Common

• City Council is getting SPICY

• Bostonians of the Year

Up first…

12 DAYS OF B-SIDE

Mass. officials’ top songs of 2024

On the sixth day of B-Side the newsletter gave to me: Phillip Eng’s Spotify Wrapped, volunteer opportunities(!) … tips for Boston winters, one pop-up review, local gift recs, and a Boston holiday tree. 🎶

Our Boston Wrapped meme has come to life. We reached out to several local officials and politicians with a request: Would they send us their Spotify Wrapped? While not everyone was willing to divulge (who can blame ’em?), we ended up with some incredible info on the listening habits of our local leaders.

🎶 Gov. Healey couldn’t stop playing “Good Luck, Babe!” The guv (a known music-lover) opted to withhold her official Spotify Wrapped and sent us a self-made list of fav songs — so we can’t technically prove she’s a Chappell stan. Also on her list? “Trustfall” by Pink, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston, “Weight of Your World” by Chris Stapleton, “Light On” by Maggie Rogers (banger), and “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan. 

🤠 City Councilor Enrique Pepén played a LOT of Chris Stapleton. And by that, we mean 1,500 minutes (over 24 hours). Stapleton and Drake were his top artists per Apple Replay, but “A Bar Song” by Shaboozey came in as his top tune. His top genres of the year were hip-hop and folk. 

🔥 Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll had “Fireball” on repeat. Yeah, like the one by Pitbull. Driscoll doesn’t use Spotify or Apple Music, but she graciously sent us a list of her top songs. Besides Mr. Worldwide, it includes “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan (maybe Gov. Healey put her on?), “Rise Up” by Andra Day, “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers, “Don’t You Worry Bout a Thing” by Stevie Wonder, and “Family Affair” by Mary J. Bilge.

🏆 City Councilor Brian Worrell kept it real “per usual,” he said, with the help of Kendrick Lamar. Councilor Worrell sent us four of his top songs of the year, including Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” and “heart pt. 6,” “Champion” by Buju Banton, and “The Song of the Count” by Sesame Street’s Count Von Count, courtesy of his son. “I put this one on because the Count's laugh makes my son laugh, which just makes me laugh even harder,” he wrote.

🧌 MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng had the “Game of Thrones” theme song on rotation. When he wasn't busy ridding the T of slow zones, Eng was listening to artists like Dean Martin and Louis Armstrong. But his favorite genres are where the real heat is: oldies, big band, swing, country, disco, and, the grand finale, TV show theme songs, where he specified “Game of Thrones.” No notes!

🎵 Obviously, we had to make a playlist. We took some liberties filling in songs when only artists were given, but we hope you enjoy. If any other city or state officials want to send us their picks to add, our inboxes and DMs are WIDE open.

QUICK QUESTION

🎶 Based on these picks, who are you picking to DJ? 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🍪 The Boston Common concessions pavilion is getting a BIG upgrade. No shade to the Earl of Sandwich, but we were pretty stoked to hear that local fave Flour Bakery + Cafe is going to take over the park’s permanent concession space. Back in October, the city started looking for someone to fill the park’s now-empty stand, and on Wednesday, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that it’ll become Flour’s 10th location. Renovations will kick off soon, and it should open around spring 2025 — with some new, exclusive treats.

☕ Wednesday’s City Council meeting was TEA. First of all, the council officially set Boston’s property tax rates for 2025, dealing the final blow to Mayor Wu’s already dead tax plan. And when asked about the situation, the mayor absolutely did not mince words about her disappointment, saying that “we don’t have time … to play games.” Meanwhile, Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson (you know, the one who was federally indicted, arrested, and faces calls to resign?) was also at said meeting, and firmly reaffirmed her plans to stay put.

🍸 Boston is cracking down on drink spiking. The city’s Office of Nightlife Economy recently announced some new efforts to combat Boston’s uptick in drugged drinks (as of Dec. 10, 69 incidents had been reported this year). Many Boston businesses that hold liquor licenses will have access to safety training sessions and drink covers from the city. The trainings focus on topics from drink spiking prevention to de-escalation, while the drink covers are available by request, with a limit of 1,000 per business. So far, 42 businesses have taken them up.

🥪 An adorable neighborhood market is open in Rozzie. Everyone, meet Russ & Mimi’s, a new neighborhood market in Roslindale Square that officially opened for biz on Wednesday, and it looks like something of our Pinterest board dreams. According to Boston magazine, you can expect grab-and-go breakfast and lunch sammys, coffee, tea, provisions for dinner at home, a big selection of wines and champagne, plus other snacks, flowers, and a lot more. And if you need someone to vouch for their taste, after stalking their Spotify … we’re already sold.

GIVEAWAY

Together with SOWA

Enter to win a SoWa prize package including VIP Winter Festival passes, a $250 vendor gift box, a $100 Marseille dining gift card, and $250 in SoWa Health + Wellness class passes and merchandise. To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Dec. 12. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

The Bostonians of the Year

And the Boston Globe’s 2024 “Bostonians of the Year” are … the Celtics! Or, as the Globe calls them, the “do good, feel good” Celtics. Not only did they bring home Banner 18, but they did (and continue to do) a lot of good along the way. 

The Globe gave 18 reasons why the C’s got the honor, including Jayson Tatum’s ability to put the team first, Payton Pritchard’s buzzer beaters, Al Horford’s long journey to becoming a champ, Jrue and Lauren Holiday’s work in the city, Jaylen Brown’s commitment to empowering Black Bostonians, Joe Mazzulla’s tour of the North End, Derrick White’s tooth, and a whole lot more. 

You can read all 18 reasons here, and check out some pretty stellar honorable mentions. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🏆 Thanks for reading! TBH, we’d give it to Joe Mazzulla just for his soundbites.

🥪 The results are in: Once again, we can’t reveal the deets of B-Side Awards polling yet, but we can share what one reader wrote in after voting for Roxy’s Grilled Cheese: “Especially because this is how I’m finding out about it. Literally just screamed ‘no’ in an airport… 😭 ”

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