There are local gigs, and then there are local gigs that give back.
Homegrown R&B crew Bad Rabbits are teaming up with the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club’s Studio Heat Music Clubhouse for the fourth-annual Passing the Mic night Thursday evening in Dorchester. This should serve as a nice warm-up gig for the Boston band, as they’re about to head out on a summer-long 42-gig run on the Warped Tour, which hits the XFinity Center on July 10.
The Studio Heat Music Clubhouse features young performers from the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club, specializing in “original lyric writing, beat-making, vocals and instrumentation,” according to the presser, which notes that Studio Heat members have “performed alongside big-name artists including Ne-Yo, B.o.B., D.M.C. (of RUN-D.M.C.), Michael Franti, Tom Hamilton (of Aerosmith) Mac Miller, KID ‘N PLAY, and Rob Base.” The whole Passing the Mic theme is geared towards having young musicians perform alongside their mentors.
Now the kids get to jam with Bad Rabbits.
The 6 p.m. show is presented by Converse and goes down at the Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road, Dorchester. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. The Music Clubhouse Program is a partnership program with the Music & Youth Initiative and Berklee College of Music that builds music curriculum in urban communities.
Those interested in attending can also RSVP via EventBrite.
