🎶😎 Alexa, play “Born to Run”

It’s Thursday, Boston.

🫢🍹 We don’t know if we’ve seen a deal like this before. Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport’s stunning rooftop restaurant, Lifted, is hosting a dinner and tequila pairing, Alma Del Jaguar Tequila & Terroir, on April 24. Tickets are $135, but we have a secret: We’re holding 20 B-Side Member tickets at just $50 each. Join the membership to claim your ticket — we’ll release the link (visible to members only) in the newsletter tomorrow morning! 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• A new mayoral candidate

• The MBTA’s newest problem? Whales.

• Jordon Hudson’s running the plays

Up first…

BOSTON MARATHON

The playlists powering marathoners

Ever wonder what’s going through a runner’s head during the Boston Marathon? What about what’s going through their … ears?

In an hourslong race, music can be a major tool for runners. So we asked a bunch of athletes tackling Boston this year what they’ll be listening to on race day. 

🎶 First-timer Madison Doherty’s playlist is worth about $700. Doherty is running Boston for Dana-Farber, and she leveraged her race-day tunes as a fundraising tool. For $5, anyone could add a song to her marathon day playlist, which is now 4 hours and 56 minutes long and spans many genres. Her family added the “Rocky” theme, her bestie added Sia’s “Alive” (which once made her cry mid-run), and there are even some songs just to make her laugh. 

🧠 Pro-runner Colin Bennie plays songs … in his head. Pro runners aren’t allowed to listen to anything during the race. But that doesn’t stop Bennie (who finished 7th in 2021, NBD) from “playing” songs in his head. “It's really nice to be able to tune out a little bit” during the usually-quiet middle stretch of the race, he said. Often, he’ll default to whatever spectators are playing on their speakers (keep that in mind, cheer squad!), but one of his faves is Zach Bryan’s “Open the Gate.”

🥳 Third-timer Casey Fields is keeping the vibes HIGH. Fields, a cycling instructor, is tackling her Boston playlist like she would a class: With motivational bangers ONLY.  She said they help her “work through any kind of mental block.” Some particularly special songs include picks from her aunt, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor, inspiring Fields’ run for Dana-Farber. Think: “Because You Loved Me” by Celine Dion, “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, and “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé. 

🎵 Pro Jessie Cardin doesn’t like to run in silence. Cardin is one of few pro runners who consistently use music in their training, which initially surprised her teammates. “I'm like, yeah, what do you listen to? Your feet?” she said. Though music has “kept [her] going” through many long runs, as a pro, the only thing she’ll be tuning into on race day is her internal monologue and affirmations. But songs like “POWER” by Kanye West and “That’s Who I Praise” by Brandon Lake fueled her training.

😎 Third-timer Matt Rossi isn’t overthinking his playlist. Rossi, a local content creator, mixes up his running soundtrack depending on the day. But his marathon day strategy is to go with the flow. He’ll start with Italian EDM song “Pedro” by Agatino Romero, Jaxomy, and Raffaella Carrà, and lets the Spotify algorithm gods take it from there. “People have their race day … superstitions, but I’m not really one of those,” he said. “I'm a little bit more just like ‘what could go wrong?’” 

QUICK QUESTION!

🎶 Do you exercise with or without music?

TOGETHER WITH THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Going out with a bang 

🎻🎼ICYMI: The Boston Symphony Orchestra has been booked and busy lately. Yo-Yo Ma sold out Symphony Hall. Keith Lockhart is soon celebrating 30 years of Pops conducting. And now, the Decoding Shostakovich Festival is bringing raw emotion and Cold War-coded drama to the stage through May 7. It’s the perfect grand finale to a season that’s been anything but quiet. Catch the last performances, and while you’re at it, grab a subscription for next season — the best seats tend to go fast.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🐋 The latest reason the MBTA is running behind? Whales. Yes, whales. The Lynn ferry will operate on a modified weekday schedule from now until at least April 29 in order to protect a population of critically endangered right whales spotted in Broad Sound. To keep the little (sorry, very big) guys safe, the MBTA is scaling back the ferry’s daily operations to two inbound trips from Lynn to Boston departing at 7:30 and 10:45 a.m., and just one outbound trip to Lynn at 5:45 p.m. Here’s the full schedule.

🗳️ Mayor Michelle Wu’s latest challenger is … her employee. 26-year-old Kerry Augustin has filed paperwork to join Wu, Josh Kraft, and community activist Domingos DaRosa on the mayoral ballot this November, according to the Boston Herald. Augustin currently works in the city’s Age Strong Commission, describes himself as a moderate Democrat, and says his run for mayor is a longtime plan. He’s planning to run a grassroots campaign that he hopes will allow him to connect with voters, especially on the issue of affordability. 

🤖 In a few years, we might be using Face ID to get into Gillette. Seriously! NWN Corp., a Waltham-based AI company, recently partnered with the stadium to “modernize and innovate the fan and player experience” with a slew of AI upgrades. Fans shouldn’t notice any immediate differences, but over time, we can expect some tech-y changes. Think: Opt-in facial recognition used for ticketing and vendors, or AI detecting when trash cans overflow or bathrooms need to be cleaned. 

🐶 Dog parents, you might want to sit down for this. According to a study by Rover, Mass. is the second most expensive U.S. state for dog ownership, coming in behind only Hawaii. The estimated lifetime cost of owning a pooch here? A mind boggling $42,720, which breaks down to an annual cost of around $4,040, plus initial expenses of around $2,340. What’s worse, Boston specifically got its own mention as the eighth most expensive city to own a pup in. Woof.

GIVEAWAY

Together with Big Queer Food Fest 

Enter to win two VIP tickets to Big Queer Food Fest’s Grand Tasting. To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on April 17, 2025. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

Jordon Hudson is running the plays

Jordon Hudson is continuing to gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss her way to the top. The 24-year-old girlfriend of former Pats coach Bill Belichick made headlines recently when it was revealed that Belichick asked for her to be copied on some of his work emails as head coach of UNC. 

Now we have a better picture of what her involvement looks like. Though she wasn’t piping up often, Hudson warned UNC’s social team against painting new hire Steve Belichick (Bill’s son) as a nepo baby, asked if anyone was controlling for slander against Belichick’s *personal life* in the comments, and is currently working to copyright 14 of Belichick’s catchphrases.

So what authority does Hudson have to make the calls? 82,000 IG followers, a year as a social media ambassador, and an email signature listing her as the COO of “Belichick Productions,” a business which doesn’t appear to be registered, per The Athletic. Now that’s a girlboss.

— Written by Gia Orsino

🏈 Thanks for reading! No joke, we’re pretty sure she’s going to rule the world one day.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for supporting local journalism and bringing unforgettable musical experiences to our community.

💸 The results are in: 30% of B-Siders say they’d spend between $30 and $50 on food and drinks at Boston Calling. One reader said: “In this economy?? Is BYO sandwich an option?”

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