💃 Taylor Swift is (kinda) in town

Happy Friday, Boston!

🏓 PSA: Harpoon Brewery’s new pickleball courts will offer drop-in pickleball sessions this weekend (so you don’t have to join a league). The deal kicks off today, and it’s only $25 per player for a two-hour session. Book your slot here!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• The VP in MA

• Red line on fire

• Shark sightings

Up first...

SUMMER FRIDAYS

Lil Jon, T-Swift, and cornhole

TGIF. The week back from the Fourth is always a tough one, but we made it.

Now that your social battery is recharged, here’s what to add to your social calendar this weekend:

🎤 What do Lil Jon, vinyl DJs, and Taylor Swift have in common? They’re all going to be in Boston this weekend. Kind of. The “Turn Down For What” star will be in the flesh DJ-ing at Mémoire tonight; vinyl DJ Soulelujah will be kicking off the ICA’s Vinyl Night series tonight; and the drag queens of Jacques Cabaret will be performing the entire “Speak Now” album (From the Basement) tonight and Saturday.

🤸 Watch the pros throw down at a national breakdancing festival. Yes, it’s a thing! Some of the top breakdancers from Boston and abroad will compete for a chance to make it to the World Finals at The SNIPES Pro-Breaking Tour on Sunday at The Middle East. The event also celebrates the 42nd anniversary of the Floor Lords Crew, Boston’s oldest breakdancing crew. Tix are only $20!

🇫🇷 Cheers to the other red, white, and blue with Bastille Day celebrations. Curds&co, a fine cheese shop in Brookline, is hosting a night of tasting French wine and cheese that’ll be much more than just brie and champagne (which are still great). Note: Harvard’s Bastille Day block party has been postponed til next weekend, so make sure to add to your calendar so you don’t miss all the French food and wine. Hon hon hon!

🎨 Enjoy artists, music, and food at two local festivals. Now in its 37th year, ArtBeat in Davis Square features an eclectic mix of music, dance, theater, food, art, and activities. There will be nearly 100 vendors and community groups, two stages of music, and a dance showcase at the Somerville Theater. You can see the full lineup here. And on Sunday, the third annual Charles River Jazz Festival returns with all-day-long tunes and plenty of food and drink.

📚 If it rains, pop into your neighborhood’s BPL branch. Local chef and owner of Mei Mei Dumplings Irene Li will be at the Roslindale library on Saturday to talk about her new book Perfectly Good Food (a great read for thrifty home cooks). And if you’ve been meaning to try meditation, the JP branch will also be hosting a meditation class for beginners on Saturday. Both events are free!

🚶 Put on your walking shoes and go outside. Open Streets Roxbury kicks off on Saturday where pedestrians, cyclists, and bladers will be the only ones allowed on Blue Hill Avenue between Cottage Street and Warren Street; another weekend of Open Newbury Street is on the books for Sunday; and Time Out Boston will be hosting a free cornhole tournament every Sunday this month.

👀 How should you spend a day on Open Newbury Street? Armani Thao, a.k.a. @forkingwitharmani, put together a great itinerary for you to try in this IG video.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

👩🏾‍💼 Vice President Kamala Harris is coming to Boston. The first Black woman elected VP will speak at the national NAACP convention in Boston at the end of July, a big deal for a city that’s been trying to rebrand its racist reputation. And while some people may not think the NAACP convention is for them, the Boston organization is trying to make this year’s convention as accessible to all as possible with The Hub, a series of free events from July 28 to 30 showcasing Black culture through a block party, career summit, and happy hour.

😫 Thursday morning’s commute SUCKED. A pipe meant to provide firefighters water on the Red Line failed, forcing the Boston Fire Department carry their own extinguishers and water onto the tracks at Charles/MGH to put out a small track fire; service on part of the Green Line’s E Branch was suspended when a brake system on a train car failed; and part of the Ted Williams Tunnel was briefly closed at about 8:15 a.m. for the transport of an organ transplant. The Sumner Tunnel was just pleased to be out of the spotlight for a hot sec.

🏠 12 people want the same apartment you do. Greater Boston may be only the 18th hottest rental market in the nation (honestly, surprising), but a prospective renter has to compete with 12 other people on average for the same unit, according to a new report from RentCafe. And the competition is even stiffer in other New England cities. In Providence, an average of 13 people are after the same unit. And in Portland, it’s 25. You can thank high occupancy rates and not enough inventory to meet demand: 95% of Greater Boston apartments are occupied.

ONE LAST THING

Shark season in full swing

Duh nuh … Duh nuh … Duh nuh … Duh nuh …

Over the past week, there have been 28 verified great white sightings in Mass. waters. Sixteen of which occurred in recent days. The Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge in Chatham was particularly busy this week, with three sightings on Wednesday morning alone. And swimming at a Nantucket beach was temporarily banned due to an uptick in shark sightings, including videos of great whites tearing apart seals close to shore.

So if you find yourself down the Cape this weekend and want to keep up with the sharks and their whereabouts, make sure to download the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s “Sharktivity” app.

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🦈 Thanks for reading! Now my grandmother has another resource to use to tell me why I shouldn’t swim on the Cape. Goodie.

🐟 The results are in: 60% of readers agree that this summer feels more humid than usual, with one reader saying, “I feel like I’m in a fish tank standing outside!” Same.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected].