🤑💰 PSA: Free money!

🎭🔥 This show is anything but rotten. We’re giving away two tickets to Something Rotten, a musical that pulls out all the stops. Expect big performances, bigger jokes, and a wildly entertaining night at the theater. Open to Mass. residents 18+. Enter here!

🥳 Happy (belated) birthday to B-Side Member Kristen Havlik! We hope your birthday was NOT rotten.

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

B-Siders … we have some good news. Scratch that — we have a LOT of good news. 

Here are the feel-good stories you might’ve missed this month:

🏅 Basically, everything that happened on Marathon Monday. And we’re not just talking about the 30,000 runners who trained for months taking their 26.2-mile victory lap. See: The race’s charity runners raising over $50 million(!), two runners going viral for helping a stranger finish the race when he couldn’t move any farther, and the nearly 200 runners who kept going even when the finish line closed. Needless to say, we were emo.

🤑 This Instagram account is sharing the wealth. The concept is simple: Leave a wad of cash in a public space, post it, and wait for someone to find it, no strings attached. That’s the formula for Cash Drop Providence, which has racked up 65,000 followers. The account’s success isn’t surprising (who doesn’t love free money?), but the intent behind it is surprisingly earnest: “Hopefully I can make a large difference in a lot of people’s lives,” the account’s admin told the Globe.

🥟 A Malden cook took over TikTok. When Janz Van noticed Ilocos empanadas going viral, she saw a financial opportunity to sell them. What she didn't see coming were the hundreds of customers flooding her DMs and crossing state lines for the bright orange Filipino snack. Unfortunately, the biz was shut down by the city for operating out of an apartment, but recently, Van opened for orders again, and is fundraising to get her own food truck.

👨🏾‍🚒 Boston’s first Black Fire commissioner is reporting for duty. Meet Rodney Marshall, the new head of Boston’s Fire Department, and its first Black leader ever. Though Marshall earned the job through his 35 years(!) of service, his appointment is even more special considering the department’s longtime struggles to diversify: 73% of Boston firefighters are white, while only 44% of the city is. “We’re going to make this a job that’s equal for everyone,” Marshall said.

🫟 Harvard Art Museum’s pigment collection will blow your mind. Though it looks like a bunch of colorful powders, but the Forbes Pigment Collection is so much more. In the collection of tiny jars lie thousands of bright pigments — the powders that color paint — painstakingly created, collected from all over the world, and responsible for centuries of influential art. Now, they allow the museum’s experts to better understand artists from centuries ago (see: “mummy brown,” made from actual mummies).

📱💼 Job searching nowadays = navigating algorithms, AI bots, and automated rejection emails. Or… you could just talk to people. On April 28 (11 a.m.–3 p.m.), the Meet Boston Regional Career Fair at The Westin Copley Place brings 50+ hiring employers into one room — no filters, no bots, no guessing. There’s also a free professional headshot (hair and makeup included), so you leave a little more polished than you arrived. Register now.

🚲 Bluebikes’ prices are going up. ICYMI: Last week, Boston signed a new contract with Bluebikes that promises to expand service, upgrade stations, add e-bikes, and … raise prices for non-members. The good news: The hikes are pretty minor. Think: The per-minute rate for e-bikes is now 33 cents (up from 25), the unlock fee for an under 30-minute trip is $3 (up from $2.95), and the price of a day pass is $11.99 (up from $10). This may be a good time to mention all the membership discounts Bostonians can get. 

🫢 An MFA post sparked a spicy debate. Commenters went wild after the museum recently posted photos of a nude performance artist. For context: The pics were from “Nude Laughing,” a performance featuring artist Xandra Ibarra partially naked, dragging pantyhose stuffed with totems of white femininity — she’s part of the MFA’s new exhibit about artists taking back the nude. It’s safe to say it was divisive, with commenters calling it both “garbage” and “incredible.” As for the museum, they welcome the debate, but reminded folks to keep it classy. 

💦 Free fitness classes are BACK. River Fit, the Esplanade’s free spring fitness series, kicks off this week through May 28. On the schedule: Guided meditation and reconnection with the natural world at Otis Grove on Wednesdays at 6 p.m., and Broadway Burn, a beginner-friendly dance class set to Broadway tunes from shows like Hamilton and Hairspray at the Hatch Shell on Thursdays at 6 p.m. You can sign up for both classes here, and check here for updates!

🤤 New week, new restaurant openings. First up: Uptown Social, a vibey new concept from Grace by Nia owner Nia Grace that promises to bring Southern food and hospitality to the South End. It’s open now! Meanwhile, Food Network champion Saba Wahid Duffy is bringing modern Mediterranean eats to Somerville with the opening of Kush on April 28. Finally, pupusa pop-up Dos Manos Kitchen has finally secured a brick-and-mortar home at the Speedway, where it’ll open later this spring, continuing its mission to popularize the pupusa in the U.S.

🧠 Use your brain at the brewery. Boozy lecture series Tavern Talk returns to Aeronaut tonight to teach you about America’s first — and strangest — pro basketball league.

👖 Shop swap ‘till you drop. Bow Market and MIT Open Space are both hosting clothing swaps on April 28. MIT’s is free, while Bow’s will run you $40, but proceeds benefit Second Chances.

🤫 Join a quiet book club. Dorchester Book Club on April 28 is for the folks who enjoy the reading part of book club. Translation: No assigned books, no pressure to talk.

👠 Catch some spring fever. Aeronaut’s 2026 drag show lineup kicks off on April 29 with a Spring Fever show featuring iconic local drag queens and kings.

🌭 Eat like a very rich b*tch. NeNe Leakes’ words, not ours! Haley.henry is closing out its Real Housewives-themed wiener Wednesday series with a glizzy honoring the ladies of Atlanta. Make a res here.

🎨 Spend a night at the (art) museum. Harvard Art Museum’s late-night series continues on April 30 with an after-hours party featuring a DJ, food, booze, and giveaways among the galleries.

🤣 Catch a comedy show at City Hall. On April 30, the city is putting on a FREE comedy show for 19- to 25-year-olds. Expect food and laughs from four incredible stand ups. 

🪡 Sip, stitch, and socialize. Fiber arts girlies, RISE. Mighty Squirrel Fenway is hosting a beginner-friendly needlepoint night on April 30 led by two local pros.

The word “Masshole” feels like it’s everywhere … but where did it come from? 

That’s the question Globe reporter Billy Baker recently decided to investigate after hearing that it was dreamed up during the Big Dig (which turned out to be a joke).

His findings: The word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015, which credits its first print appearance to a 1989 book by British journalist Matt Ridley, who wrote “The New Hampshire people have a nickname for the refugees from Massachusetts … Massholes.” 

So, Baker posed the question to readers, and while no clear answer emerged, they had a LOT of thoughts. Some say it was invented by Mainers to describe Mass. drivers on Route 1. Many first heard it from New Hampshirites in their childhood. One suggested it’s been around since the 1600s.

You can read all the responses here.

— Written by Gia Orsino

😠 Thanks for reading! You can count on a Masshole to have strong opinions on the word Masshole.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Meet Boston, for supporting local journalism and helping local employers and job seekers connect in a more authentic way. 

✈️ The results are in: 37% of B-Siders said they’ve spent between $30 and $50 for an Uber to Logan. One reader said: “And I can see a runway from my house!” Sigh.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].