This event is open to ALL!

 10am-1pm (you don't need to be here for the whole time!)

Fire Museum Presents: Miramar:

Miramar reimagines the Latin bolero and carries the torch of bolero beat—a genre that rose to international fame in the 1960s by blending nostalgic ballads with psychedelic rock, bossa nova, funk, jazz, and more. An offshoot of the acclaimed indie-salsa band Bio Ritmo, Miramar was one of the first Latin bands to perform on NPR’s Tiny Desk and has since introduced its unique take on bolero to audiences worldwide, releasing music on two of Brooklyn’s most iconic independent labels: Barbès and Daptone Records. Their latest album, Entre Tus Flores, released on the historic tropical label Ansonia Records, was hailed by Staf Magazine (Spain) as “one of the greatest discoveries of recent years,” and praised by Lira Magazine (Sweden) as “crazy, updated, odd – and irresistible.

”Miramar’s undeniable magic lies in the chemistry between vocalist-songwriter Rei Álvarez and the “gran voz de la diva,” Laura Ann Singh. Their “heartbreaking vocals suck in every nerve” (Lira), and they “harmonize with such precision and grace that it’s hard to imagine a day when they didn’t sing together” (Style Weekly). The Álvarez–Singh duo is supported by a lush, dreamlike soundscape arranged by bandleader Marlysse Simmons-Argandoña, who alternates between piano and combo organs. As a full band, Miramar also includes Gary Kalar on electric guitar, Giustino Riccio on percussion, Dan Martinez on bass and occasional collaborates with string quartets and symphony orchestras. Its core members and collaborators are based between Richmond, San Juan, and Brooklyn.

Admission is FREE, donations appreciated! 

Michael Prentky’ssad boy:ADD:apocalypse Album Release Tour 2026

with co headliner Ira Khonan Temple (based in NYC)

Boston trombonist Michael Prentky is bringing his 12-piece orchestra across the Northeast U.S. and Canada, performing his debut genre-defying album. 

From January 17 - February 28th 2026, Boston-based trombonist Michael Prentky will tour his debut album, sad boy:ADD:apocalypse, across the Northeast U.S. and Canada. His orchestra includes a string quartet, 4 trombones, tuba, and rhythm section. Prentky will conduct, play trombone, sing, and recite original poetry. In addition to performing the entire album, Prentky will be premiering new original Klezmer compositions. He’s bringing a fresh perspective  to Klezmer music with his high-energy trombone band and harmonically-rich compositions while staying rooted in Klezmer traditions. He'll be teaching audiences traditional corresponding Yiddish line dancing, such as the zhouk (aka hora) and terkisher, with the intention of reviving endangered dance steps.

Tour dates include La Sotterennea (Montreal, QC), The Phoenix Gallery (Waterbury, VT), AS220 (Providence, RI), Stone Circle Theater (NYC), the Rotunda (Philadelphia, PA), and ZUMIX (Boston). At various shows, Prentky will be joined by Kallisto, Ira Khonen Temple, and Jose Soto’s the Ancestral Call.

“The subject matter is intense, but Prentky’s music is as satisfying as it is daring” – Noah Schaffer WBURIt’s an “adventurous extravaganza… Frank Zappa would’ve loved it” – Mike Greenblatt, Beyond Genre, Goldmine Magazine

“Deep revealing of some personal feelings on these tracks, it’s a very nice work” – Ken Field WMBR

Click here to listen to sad boy:ADD:apocalypseClick here if you would like to review sad boy:ADD:apocalypse

January 17 - La Sotterenea (Montreal, Canada) with Kallisto

January 24 - The Phoenix Gallery (Waterbury, VT)

February 14 - AS220 (Providence, RI) - with Ira Khonen Temple

February 15 - Stone Circle Theater (NYC) - with Ira Khonen Temple

February 16 - The Rotunda (Philadelphia, PA) - with Ira Khonen Temple

February 28 - ZUMIX (Boston, MA) - with Jose Soto’s Ancestral Call

About sad boy:ADD:apocalypse: Six years in the making, Boston trombonist Michael Prentky’s debut album, sad boy:ADD:apocalypse, is an epic, Zappa-esque suite for small orchestra – string quartet, four trombones and rhythm section. This mammoth odyssey is Prentky’s unwavering commitment to authenticity. The writing is lush, emotive and cathartic. Prentky’s sonic worlds showcase his eclectic interests: dreamy Beach House guitar riffs, avant-pop orchestral strings, breakbeat klezmer, pacific brass chorales, confessional poetry and raucous instrumental frenzies. Prentky conducts the orchestra, plays trombone, sings, and recites original poetry.

About Michael Prentky: Michael Prentky’s freelancing on trombone can be summarized in three words – chameleon, omnivore and polyglot. Navigating performances with rapper 50 Cent, Mozambican Funk band Kina Zoré (featured on NPR Tiny Desk), avante-garde jazz with the Walking Cliché Sextet, or Balkan Romani music with Sarma Brass Band requires an adventurous and flexible musicianship. It’s this musical synthesis that Prentky crystallizes in his artistic debut, sad boy:ADD:apocalypse.www.michaelprentky.com  ·  www.michaelprentky.bandcamp.com  · www.instagram.com/michaelprentky 

Michael Prentky - For German (Live in Cambridge, MA 2025) [Official Video]Michael Prentky - Have Your Laughs (Live in Cambridge, MA 2025) [Official Video]Michael Prentky - Terkisher? Barely Knew Her! (Live in Cambridge, MA 2025) [Official Video]

For more information, contact Michael Prentky- mprentky@gmail.com, 617-827-7378

Bowerbird presents Screening: Variations V and RainForest David Tudor/Merce Cunningham collaborations on Film, Part 1

David Tudor’s musical partnership with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company spanned nearly five decades, from the company’s founding in 1953 until Tudor’s death in 1996. As a founding member, Tudor served not only as a virtuoso performer of revolutionary piano works but also as an essential collaborator in shaping the company’s sonic identity. Working alongside John Cage, Gordon Mumma, Christian Wolff, and Takehisa Kosugi, Tudor helped pioneer a radical approach to the relationship between sound and movement—one in which music and dance coexisted independently yet in the same time and space. This screening, the first of two film programs dedicated to Tudor’s work with the Cunningham company, presents “Variations V” (1965) and “RainForest” (1968).

PROGRAM:

Variations V (1966) | 49:05, black & white, sound, 16 mm film on videoChoreography: Merce Cunningham. Director: Arne Arnbom. Music: John Cage, “Variations V.” performed by Cage, David Tudor, and Gordon Mumma. Distortion of TV images: Nam June Paik. Film images: Stan VanDerBeek.

RainForest (1968) | 28 min, color, sound, digital transferFilmed by D.A. Pennebaker (Leacock and Pennebaker) as part of the 1968 Buffalo Arts Festival’s program “Who’s Afraid of the Avant-Garde.” Choreography: Merce Cunningham. Music: David Tudor, “Rainforest.” Costumes: Jasper Johns. Sets: Andy Warhol.

ABOUT THE FILMS

First composed and performed in 1965, Variations V is a true testament to 1960’s experiments with “intermedia”—a coexistence and cutting across of artistic genres that profoundly informed Cunningham’s choreographic practice. Video is materially integrated into the performance, with projections by Stan VanDerBeek and overlaid TV distortions by Nam June Paik enveloping the dancers. Twelve sound-sensitive electronic poles dot the stage; sound is triggered by the dancers’ movements and then altered or delayed by the musicians. Variations V predates Cunningham’s “video-dances,” demonstrating a different moment in his relation to the technology.

A kind of explicit, corporeal engagement with video as medium is reflected in the performance’s sound component. Sound, like video, exists in this dance visually and even kinetically. The viewer of this 1966 archival performance gains access to the locus of sound production, seeing John Cage and David Tudor perched over a wide spread of electronic equipment. Cunningham pays attention to the musicians’ movements in his 1968 book Changes: Notes on Choreography, their “constant scuttling” moving “back and forth on the platform to fix things, wiring that came out, a plug, etc.” The performance moves dialectically between its phenomenological whole and the “varied” elements of sound, video and dance that constitute it.

Unlike most of Cage and Cunningham’s collaborations, sound and movement are more technically codependent than autonomous in Variations V. Cunningham writes in Changes, “John decided to find out if there might not be ways that sound could be affected by movement, and he and David Tudor proceeded to find out that there were.”

This event is part of DAVID TUDOR: A VIEW FROM INSIDE, an exhibition at Drexel’s Pearlstein Gallery from January 15 to March 21, 2026.

Major support for DAVID TUDOR: A VIEW FROM INSIDE has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.

Admission is FREE/pay-what-you-can

Come Ye All and Celebrate with the National Black Authors Tour and National Black Arts Spoken Word Tour during a very culturally entertaining evening featuring staged adaptations of poetry, spoken word, dramatic monologues, neo soul and holy hip hop performances.

7pm-9pm

This event will also feature a Black Book Expo.

Staged adaptation entitled "Souls Look Back and Wonder of How We Made it Over" with Maurice Henderson and the Repertory members of the National Black Arts Spoken Word Tour.

"How Blacks Got Stuck Between the Rock and a Hard Place" featuring Internationally acclaimed Poet Dr. Neal Hall and the members of the National Black Authors Tour.

Tickets: $20 per person.  For more information contact 267-314-9483 or mauricebrianhenderson@yahoo.com