🏓😉 This party has BIG dink energy

Happy Friday, Boston!

🍧 Here’s a sweet treat to beat the heat: El Barco is doling out FREE slushies with the purchase of an entree all day today. Run, don’t walk!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Rough waters for public media

• Your sign to adopt a puppy

• Coldplay’s cheating cam

Up first…

SUMMER FRIDAYS

Swaps, silent discos, and “School of Rock”

Bad news: We’re closer to Labor Day than Memorial Day. Good news: There’s still plenty of time to check off (and add to!) your to-dos on your Boston summer bucket list.

Here’s what happening this weekend:

🎨 Color your cares away. Coloring Club MA is hosting its monthly coloring meetup in the Boston Public Garden tonight! Coloring materials are provided, but BYO blanket, snacks, and bevs. It’s technically free, but a $5 donation is suggested.

🍷 Embrace your sweet side. Wine and chocolate? Sign us up. Both will be available to nibble and sip at First Crush’s and Silver Whisk Bake Shop’s tasing tonight at Rococo Floral Co.

📀 Have a party at the ICA. Start at the museum’s FREE Vinyl Night tonight, where DJs will be spinning and natural wine will be flowing. Then, head to the museum’s Eastie outpost on July 19 for its Watershed Block party with art, music, and games.

👗 Swap out your summer wardrobe. Soft girl summer is in full swing at Sustainable Swaps’ garden party-themed clothing swap at Eastie Farm TODAY. Expect live music, drawing workshops, and a farmers market. 

🍿 Upgrade your typical movie night … by having it under the stars … for free! “Beetlejuice” is playing tonight at the Hatch Shell. You can pick between “13 Going on 30” at the Pru or “School of Rock” at Aeronaut on July 19.

🎧 Make like Addison Rae and put your headphones on. ‘Cause we’ve got the Anchor’s Pride-themed silent disco benefitting the Trans Emergency Fund on July 19! Grab some headphones and (quietly) dance the night away by the water to house, hip-hop, and Latin tunes.

🏓 Dink, drink, and meet some new besties. PSA: We’re co-hosting a pickleball party with Volo Sports July 19. Grab tickets and play on reserved courts, hit up the bar, and chat with fellow B-Siders! Members get a free drink and discounted tickets.

🧘 Shavasana … spontaneously. Every Saturday this summer (including July 19!) you can join a free yoga class at Spontaneous Celebrations in JP as part of its summer yoga series. Bring your own mat!

🎸 Rock out in Cambridge. The city’s first-ever Porchfest is going down! Catch free live music on the porches of Cambridgeport on July 19, and at local dining and gathering spaces in Central Square on July 20. Here’s the lineup. 

🛍️ Find your new favorite shoppy shop. Black Owned Bos. is SO back with its monthly open market in the Seaport on July 20. Think: Gifts, packaged foods, beauty and skincare products, and more!  

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

📲 LGBTQ+ youth just lost a (literal) lifeline. On Thursday, the Trump administration eliminated specialized suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth from the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline. To be clear: Anyone (including queer folks) can still use the service, but now LGBTQ+ teens, who are considered a high-risk group, will be without the option to connect with specially trained councilors. Since its debut in 2022, 1.3+ million LGBTQ+ people have used the line. Other high risk groups, like veterans, will continue to receive specialized help. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

📻 Local NPR stations are on the verge of losing BIG. The Senate greenlit spending cuts that would slash $1.1 billion of funding for public media. TL;DR: If this happens (it still needs approval from the House), NPR and PBS will survive, but local stations will suffer. Think: Cuts to TV and radio programming and news reporting, even some stations going dark. And while that’s a bad situation period, smaller, more rural outlets that heavily rely on federal funding will see the worst of it (so, not Boston’s GBH and WBUR). Here’s the FAQ.

🐱 This is your sign to adopt a furbaby. Boston’s MSPCA-Angell just received 50 cats and dogs from a shelter in Georgetown, Texas, following the tragic floods. Translation: There are 50 adorable puppies and kitties that need homes ASAP! To help move things along, all four Boston shelters are waiving fees for harder-to-place cats July 18 and 19 (just look at these babies!), and for adult dogs July 21 to 27. Warning: If someone doesn’t take Sunny, we WILL.

QUICK QUESTION!

🤖 We’re working on a story and want to know: Would you ever consider using AI for therapy?

ONE LAST THING

Coldplay’s cheating cam

Tired: Getting caught having an affair. Wired: Getting caught having an affair on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert and being called out by Chris Martin.

Believe it or not, that’s exactly what happened during Coldplay’s show at Gillette on Wednesday. The band ran a kiss cam in between sets, which eventually landed on a cozy-looking couple … who, upon seeing themselves on the jumbotron, visibly freaked tf out and fought for their lives to get offscreen. And yes, it’s all on camera. 

The reaction was so sus it prompted lead singer Chris Martin to say “either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.” And thanks to the internet sleuths, we quickly found out it was the former. Specifically, the (married) CEO of software development firm Astronomer Andy Byron and … his chief of HR Kristin Cabot. Yikes!

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 Thanks for reading! What we’d give to see what’s going on in that company’s Slack today. 

⭐ Special shoutout to the *iconic* B-Sider who emailed us about this wild story before it got picked up by the media. You guys just get us.

💬 The results are in: 55% of B-Siders have heard the word “skibidi” before, but don’t know what it means. Count yourselves lucky. One reader said: “I'm a middle school [teacher] on summer break, how dare you bring this up.” Sorry!!

🎵 🕺 Don't forget to grab your tickets to Best Day Ever, our Aug. 2 food, music, and shopping bash at Artists for Humanity!

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