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Berklee's expanding free summer concert series returns for its 20th year
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A special shoutout to our New Hampshire readers on this 603 day. Now, to the news:
Sounds like summer: Berklee College of Music kicks off its annual summer concert series today. As WBUR's John Bender reports, the series is now in its 20th year, and features dozens of outdoor concerts across Greater Boston through September. What started at just a single venue in 2005 has ballooned to nearly 20 locations and more than 200 concerts, spanning genres from Latin to jazz to folk to pop to R&B.
- Why it matters: Berklee marketing director Michael Borgida, who has helped organize the series since 2006, said the concerts give students the opportunity to rehearse in front of an audience, offer the public a free chance to hear the college's talent and, hopefully, bring people together. "You might not be into, you know, samba, but then you're there and you're like, 'This is great. I'm gonna sit around for a half hour and listen to some great tunes,' " Borgida said.
- Mark your calendars: Berklee's website has a full schedule of shows, which you can filter by location or specific series. Today alone, there's jazz percussion on the waterfront, folk-rock in Kendall Square and a piano concert in Back Bay.
Meanwhile in Milford: Federal immigration officials say they were initially targeting the father of the Milford high school student who was detained on his way to volleyball practice over the weekend. Still, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said agents decided to arrest 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes Da Silva solely due to his immigration status. "I didn't say he was dangerous; I said he's in this country illegally,” Lyons told reporters Monday. “And we're not going to walk away from anybody.”
- Zoom out: Gomes Da Silva is hardly an isolated case. Federal officials announced yesterday in May alone they detained nearly 1,500 people in Massachusetts who do not have legal status. Of that number, officials said 790 had some sort of criminal record in the U.S. or in their home country. But hundreds of others without criminal records were arrested for simple immigration infractions.
- Zoom in: A federal judge ordered ICE on Sunday to not move Gomes Da Silva out of Massachusetts for 72 hours, but the clock on that hold is ticking down. Here's everything we know about the controversial arrest.
Life in the woods: The main beach at Walden Pond will be closed through the 2025 summer season due to ongoing construction on a new shoreside bathhouse. While the smaller Red Cross Beach at Walden will remain open, it will not have lifeguards and parking at the reservation will be limited due to the construction.
- The new single-story bathhouse replaces the pond's two-story bathhouse, which was closing in on 80 years old and not ADA-compliant. State officials are hoping to finish the $6 million project by this fall. (In the meantime, they have a list of alternative state-owned swimming holes and pools in the area.)
Surplus sale: Gov. Maura Healey says her office has identified more than three-dozen underutilized state properties developers could use to create new housing. According to the governor, more than 3,500 housing units could be built on the 450 acres of land, which includes former schools, state hospitals, courthouses and even a prison.
- Click here for the map of properties the state is already turning into housing or making available for developers in the coming two years.
All aboard: Boston's North Station-to-Seaport ferry has added a third stop: Pier 10. As of yesterday, the convention center-run commuter ferry — which already stops at the Seaport's Fan Pier — extended its route to the more industrial side of the Seaport neighborhood.
- Why? The former Army base-turned-industrial park at the end of the Seaport is home to an increasing number of white-collar offices, like Vertex, Reebok and Hill Holliday. According to The Boston Globe, the new Pier 10 stop was added at the request of companies who wanted to give workers a scenic way to bypass downtown Boston traffic (or what would be a complicated MBTA commute).
- FYI: The Seaport ferry is free for employees of the companies that help fund the service, but any member of the public can hop on for $5, or $10 roundtrip. It runs during the morning and afternoon rush hours Monday through Friday, and takes about 30 minutes from North Station to Pier 10. Check out the schedule here.
P.S.— Speaking of the Seaport, Island Creek Oysters' much-anticipated Boston raw bar pop-up near the ICA opens today. Click here for a sneak peek at the menu.
