NORTH ADAMS-Music and movies are back this summer at MASS MoCA. The 1932 film, Tarzan the Ape Man, will show on the large outdoor screen at MASS MoCA on Saturday, July 2, at 9 P.M. with live music by the genre-defying electronic musician and producer Mocean Worker.
MASS MoCA has commissioned Mocean Worker (aka Adam Dorn) to compose a brand new original score to the classic movie, which stars Maureen O’Sullivan and Olympic gold medal swimmer Johnny Weissmuller, and his live performance is sure to thrill and amaze.
Mocean Worker is no stranger to adding musical accompaniment to film screenings. In 2003, Dorn performed at MASS MoCA spinning to filmmaker Harry Smith’s Animated Dreams. Described as blending “jolts of jazz, chunks of funk and electronic music into a lively, refreshing, sophisticated sound†(Smoothjazz.com), Mocean Worker’s contribution is guaranteed to give an inventive, contemporary spin to the quintessential adventure film.
Tarzan the Ape Man was MGM's inaugural "Tarzan" film out of an astonishing series of twelve. For this film, MGM utilized scads of stock footage of the African jungle from a previous feature film, Trader Horn (1931). Aside from this resource, production costs for Tarzan the Ape Man still managed to reach over $1 million for the studio. This film, directed by W. S. Van Dyke based on a character created by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, was also the first feature-length film in the Tarzan series to include talking.
W. S. Van Dyke’s film tells the story of a great English hunter, James Parker (C. Aubrey Smith), trudging through an African jungle in search of the legendary Elephant Graveyard. Accompanying Parker is his daughter, Jane (Maureen O'Sullivan), and her former beau, Harry Holt (Neil Hamilton). The expedition is continually interrupted by the apprehensive Tarzan, a white man who'd been lost in the jungle years earlier and raised by apes. Tarzan kidnaps Jane and whisks her away to the treetops, where she eventually overcomes her fear of him and teaches him to speak English. ("Tarzan...Jane", not "Me Tarzan...You Jane," as has often been misreported.)
The son of legendary producer Joel Dorn (Charles Mingus, Roberta Flack, John Coltrane, Leon Redbone), Mocean Worker/Adam Dorn began his career as an assistant to bassist/producer Marcus Miller (Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, David Sanborn). His credits also include remixing work for Tenacious D (Jack Black), Marcus Miller, Chaka Khan, Miles Davis, and the Neville Brothers, contributions to Bird Up:The Charlie Parker Remix Project, composing for Sundance favorite, The Doe Boy, as well as two documentaries for HBO. Today he’s a DJ/composer/producer who runs the venerable Label M, a label for reissues and rare live recordings of jazz music with his father. Recently Mocean Worker released his newest and fourth album, Enter the MoWo!
Seating will start at 8 P.M. Food and drink from Lickety Split and the MASS MoCA bar will be available before and during the event.
Tickets for Tarzan the Ape Man and Mocean Worker are $14 in advance or $17 the day of the show. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Tickets are available through the MASS MoCA Box Office located off Marshall Street in North Adams from 11 A.M. until 5 P.M. (closed Tuesdays). Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased on line at www.massmoca.org.
In the case of inclement weather the event will be moved inside to the Hunter Center.
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WMMGA to Host Gardening Half Day in Lenox
LENOX, Mass. — The WMMGA will host a gardening half day on April 5 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.
The event will feature eight workshops covering the following topics:
Ticks
Hydrangeas
Summer bulbs
Pollinator gardens
Good garden tools
Plant propagation
Heirloom tomatoes
Container gardening
The event will also include vendors, free refreshments, a sale table with puzzles, houseplants, and gently used garden books, and a garden-themed raffle.
Registration can be completed at wmmga.org. Class size is limited.
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