[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelley. Shelley is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and changemaker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. All right, Medford Bites listeners, thanks for listening. We have a very special guest tonight. If you don't mind introducing yourself, so saying your name and pronouns and just a bit about who you are.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, my name is Brittany Balacca. I use she, her, and I am the wife of the somewhat infamous Danielle Balacca, a resident of Medford of approximately nine years, originally from the West Coast. And I've sampled many bites in the Medford scene. So I'm excited to talk about our night tonight, as well as some of my favorite bites.
[Danielle Balocca]: Oh, great. Sounds like you've listened to the show before, Brittany. Well, thank you for being here. So yeah, you led into that nicely. But if you could answer our most famous question, what is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what do you like to eat there?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'm not one for competition, so it is hard to narrow it down. But for breakfast, it's just really Goldilocks all the way. I came to Boston looking for good bagels and was sorely disappointed everywhere I turned. And then all of a sudden, Lo and behold, Goldilocks appeared with the most delicious bagels, rosemary salt to be specific. Although I do have high hopes for Altacuba, can you please open soon?
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you, Brittany. So we are releasing this bonus episode to talk about our evening, which was we had the opportunity to go to a show at the Chevalier that's kind of being highlighted for Pride Month. So do you want to say kind of how our evening began, where we went to dinner?
[SPEAKER_01]: we ate absolutely so actually i should say that one of my other favorite places to eat is real gusto which is where we had dinner tonight and it used to be a bookstore and cafe which i thought i was going to be sad when they left but then it opened and is the most delicious authentic italian food So we went there, we split some of our favorite dishes that we get, the salad and the mushroom pappardelle. And we held out on dessert, hoping for Colleen's after, but it didn't happen.
[Danielle Balocca]: So yeah, so like I said, we got the opportunity to see the Golden Girls show. So it's called the Golden Girls. Uh, the laughs continue. So we, uh, we're invited to see the show. Um, so I'll, I'll read a brief description of the show. So the golden girls are back. Miami's sassiest seniors have returned for one more hurrah. 2023 finds Sophia out on bail after being busted by the DEA for running a drug ring for retirees. Blanche and Rose have founded Crack Creek Creekin, a thriving sex app for seniors and Dorothy's trying to hold it all together. with help from her new young sex-crazed stud. Relive the heartfelt hilarity of four ladies who never stopped being your friends. There was also a 20-minute intermission. So the show, we saw it on Wednesday night at 7 30. It's going to be running again Thursday, June 22nd at 7 30, Friday the 23rd at 8, Saturday, the 24th at 8, and then a matinee on Sunday, June 25th at 2 p.m. So you can check those, you can get those tickets through the Chevalier Theatre. So Brittany, would you recommend it?
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, certainly. Yeah, so full disclosure, I actually think I probably watched maybe one Golden Girls episode in my entire life. I'm guessing probably on rerun somewhere when someone in my family was watching it. So I didn't really know what to expect, but it was very funny. And I always liked Betty White, and I feel like the character who was portraying Betty White did a fantastic job. The voice was spot on. So, I mean, I don't know that I went in with any expectations, but I had a great time, lots of laughs, and I really love that Chevalier is so accessible. And in Medford, it's easy to find parking, great food to eat, and it's a small theater, so you can get in. We saw people we knew, we had a good time, and I would definitely recommend it, of course.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, I think I would agree with like the acting. I think, you know, helpful to know it's like sort of like a drag show. So it's like men playing the characters. And I feel like that's like the Golden Girls have become sort of like queer icons in some way.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was gonna say, somehow, somewhere along the line, yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, like, um, so I don't know, I think like, I guess I'm wondering, you know, we moved to Medford 2014, 15. And would you have expected when we when we moved here, like a show like this to be so popular in Medford?
[SPEAKER_01]: I honestly know and I can't say that I would have, you know, expected it to be popular just generally but I think that Medford has really come a long way and embracing these pride events and promoting them and I think that it's really great that it seemed from the crowd that was there that it was just a really good cross section of all different ages and folks that were there. So it was really exciting to be in that kind of crowd. And I think that there was a good energy there. Everybody was really excited. And, you know, it always feels good to be back among friends, if you will.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, no, I think that, too, I was impressed with the acting it's like the particularly Sophia so like the mom like the um I feel like the actor got like just the mannerisms and like the shuffle yeah yeah holding the purse yeah it was like it was so good yeah and like you said like um Betty White's character like the voice was like perfect it was interesting I feel like it was I'm trying to remember like what the show was like And I feel like it is sort of this, you know, these like older people getting into their little like, you know, like sim, you know, sitcom type jams and getting and this was the 20, the version of that for 2023. So it was funny. I think it was like, definitely a good time. I think it would, you know,
[SPEAKER_01]: it made me feel nostalgic for when I live in a retirement community and I've never done that so it was it was exciting you felt you felt immediately drawn into it it wasn't awkward and getting to know the actors and falling into the storyline so I thought that was good but yeah no I think it was a great way to sort of like celebrate pride and I think we're excited to celebrate pride in all the different activities this month so um yeah I think it was
[Danielle Balocca]: great that Medford is hosting something like this and that you know we saw like members from the Chamber of Commerce and other like business owners and friends like you know it seems like it's a kind of a normalized activity in the city and I think that's really hopeful for like for me and like uh yeah something that I don't know that I expected from Medford when we moved here but it's great yeah
[SPEAKER_01]: I would give it a 9.5 out of 10 just because there were some inside jokes from not having watched the show that were over my head. But outside of that, it just makes me want to watch the actual show. And honestly, I would go back and watch it again. It was funny. It was a comfortable show.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, Brittany, thank you. Hopefully, we'll have you back on sometime. But yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right. Thanks for having me. See you around.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrik Irenys. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Never Bites. Never Bites. Good job.