The Silver Lining: Volume 10
Musings on living the good life: food, culture, art, and products designed to inspire. Top picks from me to you, every Thursday.
Double Digits! Thank you for making it to #10 with me. It’s a slightly longer version to commemorate the occasion.
Plus, I suspect you have some extra time to read these days…
Top Track(s)
Grab your headphones. Seriously.
My buddy Conner clued me into this trippy “8D” recording of a Billie Eilish track from Pentatonix. You must stop what you’re doing and listen to this track in its entirety. But it must be with headphones on. Trust.
So what exactly is 8D, and why are so many people losing their shit over it? Eddie Kim from Mel Magazine explains:
Content creators are taking existing songs and throwing them through a post-processing ringer, with the goal of making sounds within the song “move” around the listener. The results range from intriguing to amateurish, but as it turns out, a lot of people are fascinated by the 8D effect.
Count this guy as one of said fascinated folks.
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Here are a few more conventional tracks we’re enjoying this week:
Bill Frisell, widely viewed as one of the most versatile jazz guitarists in history, came out with Rag on his 1990 album Is That You?. He has one of the more robust catalogues in modern history, compiling over 90 album credits over his 40 year career! This song makes me feel like I’m browsing a tiny college town bookstore in the most nostalgic way possible.
James Hunter is an English soul and R&B singer, and leader of The James Hunter Six. This track came on my Spotify Discover this week, and I thought it was something from the late 60s/early 70s from the old school vibe. To my surprise, James’ Six have only been recording the last 10 years, with This is Where We Come In debuting in 2016. The whole album is worth a listen, and is probably best paired with your favorite after dinner cordial.
Finally, I’ve compiled The Top Tracks from the first 10 volumes in one playlist on the TSL Spotify Account. Grazie for your readership!
Artist Date - c/o Julia Cameron
Jason Bentley spent the last 10 years as lead DJ and musical director for KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show — a weekday goldmine for audiophiles the world over.
It was a huge bummer to learn Jason was moving on from MBE last summer, but my friend and mentor Benoit tipped me off that Mr. Bentley started a recurring Saturday evening IG live concert series dubbed ‘Metropolis Stay Home’ last month.
Tune in this Saturday night at 8pm PST for a memorable at-home dance party you won’t want to miss. Here’s a recap from last week’s set:
Barefoot Contessa Bootcamp
It feels like everyone has opened their own boulangerie in quarantine, helping fuel a run on yeast and flour alike. If you’re itching to bake something sweet that doesn’t require a 4 week shipping lead time, check out this 5 ingredient chocolate chip recipe from Wellness by Samantha:
And if you’re more of a pie person, considering submitting your talent’s to KCRW’s Good Food Instagram Pie Pageant, going on this week. Submissions are due this Friday so get your ass in gear!
Table for 2
I miss eating at restaurants. I know you do too. And lately, I’m particularly missing well-crafted sandwiches-for-purchase. (You know this is a soft spot for me per Volume 3’s feature on Wax Paper).
And so when my sister sent me the below feature from Bon Appetit magazine, my prayers were (virtually) answered. For 28 minutes, your transported to a pre-COVID world inside Brooklyn’s Court Street Grocers as BA’s editors eat their way through the ‘Trying Everything on the Menu’ episode. I’m grateful they did:
TLDR: this place looks fire. Strong recommend for takeout for my NYC peeps. Send me a selfie photo of your ‘wich when you do.
SKU of the Week
Most of my cohort are living quarantine in two realities: Millennials with children, and millennials without. This dichotomy is best summed up in the following visual aid (thanks for forwarding Dani):
Lee and I are currently without child — so we fall into the latter category. But I’m a proud uncle, and I’m sure many of you either have kids or know parents with young children.
This week’s SKU is aimed at helping assist those parents, and comes from my dear friend Stephen’s company Learning Resources, Educational Insights and hand2mind. They’ve got a ton of great, free resources for at-home learning, click through the links above to get started.
And if you’re looking to spoil a little guy or gal in your life — my nephew Ethan is obsessed this STEM Drill Bolt + Race car combo:
Drill Bolt ‘mechanic’ at work — Ethan approved!
Social Starlette(s)
A few smiles to round out the week —
Mama’s got moves:
Kobe Bryant spent the 2002 season without a shoe endorsement, and could therefore rock whatever kicks he wanted each night. Here are some of his best looks that season (click through into the thread):
Two of the best to ever do it (click through to play):
I’m guilty of a handful of these, and I know you are too:
Social Action
We’re all trying to find ways to drive impact and help where we can in this challenging environment. I was grateful to stumble across Frontline Foods, who are fueling the fight against COVID-19:
Frontline Foods is a grassroots organization that raises money from the community to pay local restaurants to prepare meals for the heroes responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Fueled by a growing army of over 400 volunteers, we’ve raised over $1.6MM and delivered more than 50,000 meals to frontline workers in over 50 hospitals nationwide—so far.
And we’re not doing it alone. We’ve recently partnered with World Central Kitchen — an international nonprofit relief program led by chef José Andrés — to scale the reach of our program. World Central Kitchen is a 501c3 so all donations to Frontline Foods are 100% tax deductible.
I hope you’ll consider joining me in donating to Frontline Foods to thank our frontline heroes. Thank you!
That’s it for Volume 10. New issues of The Silver Lining drop weekly on Thursdays.
Comments, questions, tips?
Send a letter to the editor –– Scott Silver:
scott@thesilverlining.la / @thesilverlining.la