The Silver Lining: Volume 24
Musings on living the good life: food, culture, art, and products designed to inspire. Top picks from me to you, every Thursday.
Top Tracks
I’ll be honest — there are some weeks when the music gods just aren’t shining brightly down on me. There are weeks where my ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist may be a dud (it’s rare, but it happens). This was shaping up to be one of those fairly humdrum weeks, but a few breaks went my way and you’re in for a real treat after-all:
First up is brand new material that dropped yesterday from Sylvan Esso, one of my favorite acts of the last few years. We were incredibly lucky to see them play Walt Disney Musical Hall in November of ‘19 when humans gathered together to take in a concert. I digress…
“Ferris Wheel” is a new cut of their forthcoming album due out in September that I’m eagerly awaiting. This has summer vibes all over it, which someone pointed out is more than half over (WTF!). Soak it up while we can:
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Next up I’m grateful to Conner for turning me on to Melanie Faye, the 22-year-old R&B musician who absolutely shreds the guitar on her new(ish) cut from March titled “It’s a Moot Point”:
Melanie popped on the scene back in 2017 when a viral video of her playing guitar on Instagram caused Fader magazine to dub her skills ‘divine’. They’re not wrong.
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We round things out this week by way of my buddy Mike, who has spoiled me with good music recs going on 10 years now. This week he shared this collab from Victoria Monét featuring Khalid and SG Lewis called “Experience”:
“Experience” is set to feature on Monét’s upcoming release Jaguar, which will be available July 31.
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Finally this week, an update that takes us back to the feature on Jessie Ware in Volume 3. Back in February, we featured her single Mirage and bristled with excitement for her forthcoming album. That album debuted last month, and it’s fantastic top-to-bottom. It’s been on heavy rotation in our house since it dropped:
Artist Date
The comet Neowise will make its closest approach to Earth on Thursday before it fades into black. Wired pulled together a great primer on how you can catch a glimpse. As for why you should bother, here’s their pitch:
Look, I totally get it—10 pm is past your bedtime and standing around outside these days feels a bit risky. But here’s a counterpoint: There’s a rock as wide as freakin’ Manhattan blowing by our planet at 150,000 miles per hour that’s making the night sky look like something out of Fantasia. That’s undeniably cool—and nobody knows when it will happen again.
“Comets that are visible without fancy optical equipment come along only once in awhile,” says Mark Hefter, an amateur astronomer in New York. “I can remember only four or five instances in the last 50 years when comets were visible anywhere near where I was.”
It is undeniably cool, and any reference to Fantasia simply makes it fact.
Neowise makes its closest approach to the Earth on Thursday, and if you live in the northern hemisphere, (sorry Dani, Mike, and Michelle) you’ll still be able to see it with your naked eye for a few more days.
Barefoot Contessa Bootcamp
This Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad With Feta Dressing caught my eye earlier this week on NY Times Food Instagram, and the stars sorta aligned. I had most of the ingredients already in the fridge from my weekend stop at Trader Joe’s and earmarked it for Wednesday night to accompany some grilled chicken drumsticks.
The salad was a real crowd-pleaser. And by crowd, I mean Lee.
When I make it again, I’ll probably add cilantro to brighten it a bit and add more acid in the form of fresh lime juice to round it out. A fun remix to your usual salad go-to, particularly in the summertime.
Grilled Corn and Avocado Salad With Feta Dressing
Table for 2
If you know me well, you know I live for a good sandwich. It’s a low-level obsession at this point, and I’m constantly looking for new additions to add to the sandy rotation. I’ve long been a fan of Uncle Paulie’s in Beverly Grove, and I’m not alone. But when my buddy Derek alerted me to his personal favorite just a few blocks away, I was keen to learn more.
Enter Potato Chips, a tiny spot off a side street in the Fairfax district that packs a serious punch in the sandwich department. Served on house-made bread, the menu features all the usual suspects.
They’ve been open since 2013, largely flying under the radar, but not without success. The team just announced the opening of their second location Culver City last week.
Potato Chip’s tagline hits home: “Life is Short, have a sandwich”
Social Action
I always reflect fondly on the three years I spent as a Tweep — the term for Twitter employees. One of the best ‘perks’ of the job was being surrounded by amazing talent across the company. And it’s been fun to see the impactful work my fellow Tweeps have embarked on since many of us ‘flew the coop’. A great example of this on display is with Better Represent, founded by former colleague Andrew Sweet:
Americans understandably place a great deal of focus on major elections for Presidents, Senators, and Governors. However, the impact of State legislation often plays a more profound impact on the daily lives of the under-represented. Unsurprisingly, these bodies do not tend to look like the diverse nature of their States.
BetterRepresent seeks to find and support exciting, competitive candidates from under-represented groups. Beyond simply funding great candidates, we hope to shift majority power to the Democratic Party in these Legislatures. Unlike major Federal races, these candidates can often see tremendous benefit from just a small collection of individual donors. In addition, we hope to partner with the campaigns to provide political support that goes beyond simple dollar contributions. Join us!
Read up on the candidates Andrew has researched, and if their values align with yours, consider donating via Act Blue. Generally, these candidates have raised less than $100,000 for their campaign so any donation will drive real impact!
Better Represent’s mission is to empower under-represented candidates to better represent the diverse interests of all Americans.
Social Starlettes
Rest in Power John Lewis:
Baseball is almost back! And while its hard to root for the rivals in SF, how can you not cheer this on?
LOL:
LOL, round 2:
10 years before he wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
Martha Stewart with the selfie of the year so far:
And finally, it’s hard to not be obsessed with this video (click to play):
That’s it for Volume 24. 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