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Jo Firestone with special guest Joe Pera

Absurdist comedy dynamo Jo Firestone, whose off-kilter talents are on display in the HBO series High Maintenance and in her writing for The Chris Gethard Show, is blazing a hilarious trail across the country, hosting over 40 different formats of live performances (e.g. NYC’s Inner Beauty Pageant and her touring show Friends of Single People). She’s everywhere! Club B10 alum Joe Pera and Dan Licata open the show.

What to expect
This event will be “up in the club” with cabaret-style seating. Preferred ticket seats are located by the venue stage. Our café will deliver your dinner, and the bar is always well-stocked with Bright Ideas Brewing and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Be ready to make new friends — our tables seat five, and, if your party is smaller, you might find others at your table. Cheers to live events up in the club!

photo by Mindy Tucker

It’s MASS MoCA’s annual Free Day, when we swing open the doors for an extensive program of art-making, gallery, tours, and pop-up performances. Come for elevator music (played live), and stay for Nick Cave in the big gallery.

What to Expect
Plan to spend the day! You’ll find pop-up music performances, a Sol LeWitt photo booth, art projects for the entire family happening throughout the museum, and dance performances in the galleries. Then grab a ticket for Steven Bernstein’s The Universal Melody Brass Band and join us in the Hunter Center at 8pm.

Events

11am-3pm Meta museum moment: Lickety Split lattes available in Spencer Finch’s brand new exhibition, Cosmic Latte
in Building 8.2 (next to the second floor Sol LeWitt galleries)

12-12:45pm Drop-in conversation with artist Hope Ginsburg
12:45-1:05pm Guided meditation with Hope Ginsburg
in Explode Every Day

2:30pm Kidspace Artist Residency Ceremony
Ribbon-cutting for artists Huckleberry Elling and David Lane and local student collaboration
in Kidspace

2:45pm Berkshire Dance Theatre
2nd-floor gallery

3:30pm dysFUNKcrew
2nd-floor gallery

4-4:45pm Drop-in conversation with artist Hope Ginsburg
4:45-5:05pm Guided meditation with Hope Ginsburg
in Explode Every Day

5pm Human Sculpture
in Kidspace

5:30pm Performance and workshop with the Williams College Step Team
in Nick Cave: Until

 

Tour Schedule

 

photo by Kaelan Burkett

imls_blackThe Berkshire EagleBerkshire Gas logo

Star of Stage and Screen: Eisa Davis 

“Fills every corner of the room…. open faced and open hearted.”
— The New Yorker

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS — Eisa Davis — an acclaimed actress you might recognize as Heather Dunbar’s Chief of Staff, Cynthia Driscoll, on House of Cards — is also an award-winning playwright and a formidable singer and songwriter. She sits down at the piano in MASS MoCA’s Club B10 for an intimate evening of intense, minimalist soul on Saturday, November 12, at 8pm.

Davis is a recognizable face in the world of performance. In addition to House of Cards, she has had a praiseworthy career on stage and in the studio. She has been awarded numerous fellowships; was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play, Bulrusher; was awarded the prestigious Herb Alpert Award in Theatre; and was a resident playwright at New Dramatists, where she won the Helen Merrill Award and the Whitfield Cook Award. After releasing her first album, Something Else, to critical acclaim in 2007, it was clear that Davis’ passion and spirit were engrained in her music career as well.

Calling to mind fellow multi-hyphenate talent Audra McDonald, the world is waking up to Davis’ undeniable, poly-platform grace and skill. “Watching Davis reveal her soul through her songs, and also embody the souls of different characters, is like peeling back the petals of a rare flower,” PopMatters notes. “Her lyrics mirror the full gamut of love, relationships, and life experiences. By stripping emotions to their essence, then illuminating them in powerful stories, Davis provides a mirror for audience members to see their own beauty in her songs.” With her subtle but strong minimalist-soul sound, if the comparisons to McDonald aren’t yet coming in droves, surely they soon will. The star of the stage, Eisa Davis, joins us in MASS MoCA’s Club B10 on Saturday, November 12, at 8pm.

Join us before the show when Lickety Spit, MASS MoCA’s café, serves up crisp salads, hearty soups, and lip-smacking pub fare. A full bar serves Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Tickets are $10 for students, $16 advance, $22 day of, and $30 preferred. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org.

Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s fall 2016 events are available through this link: bit.ly/mmfall2016

About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video.

Gallery admission is $18 for adults, $16 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally, spring – fall. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit massmoca.org.

Hours
11am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays

Download the Eisa Davis press release

Big Thief

Indie folk rockers on the rise

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS — Brooklyn’s Big Thief released Masterpiece this May on Conor Oberst’s Saddle Creek label — an impressive debut that churns with singer-guitarist-songwriter Adrianne Lenker’s “evocative scenes of people and places, while the band shifts nimbly between lo-fi acoustic and throwback rock hooks” (Pitchfork). Big Thief graces the stage of MASS MoCA’s Club B10 on Saturday, November 5, at 8pm.

Big Thief’s chief singer-songwriter Adrianne Lenker and guitarist-singer Buck Meek began their creative friendship after meeting in Brooklyn, NY, culminating in a pair of collaborative albums titled A-Sides and B-Sides. Lenker and Meek took the show on the road, spending years performing in backyards, barns, and basements, and living the rubber-tramping road life together. On this journey, they gained a couple partners and Big Thief was born.

Led by Lenker’s lusty lyrics, Meek’s guitar, and complemented by Max Oleartchik on bass and James Krivchenia on drums, Big Thief builds a montage of memory, life, love, and the heartache of human experience. In Lenker’s words, Big Thief’s debut album Masterpiece tracks “the masterpiece of existence, which is always folding into itself, people attempting to connect, to both shake themselves awake and to shake off the numbness of certain points in their life. The interpretations might be impressionistic or surrealistic, but they’re grounded in simple things.”

Big Thief pounds out songs with a fierce tenderness reminiscent of folk-indie-rock bands Mothers and Whitney. Masterpiece, rooted in real experiences and hand-crafted with solicitous lyrics, is included in NPR Music’s “30 Favorite Albums of the Year” and in June, NPR listeners voted the band the best new artist of 2016’s first half. “The power of Big Thief lies in the stunning voice of Adrianne Lenker — as well as the band’s intense rhythms, the guitar playing of Buck Meek and, right, the lyrics. Come to think of it, everything this band does serves the muscular warmth of these brilliant songs, which are not only memorable, but meaningful” (NPR Music). Currently on the road in North America, Big Thief has spent the last year playing the UK and Europe, on tour in support of Eleanor Friedberger and Yuck, and rounded it all out in September with a major gig supporting Lucius and JD McPherson on Central Park’s SummerStage. Big Thief brightens our stage on Saturday, November 5, at 8pm.

Join us before the show when Lickety Spit, MASS MoCA’s café, serves up crisp salads, hearty soups, and lip-smacking pub fare. A full bar serves Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Tickets are $10 for students, $12 advance, $18 day of, and $24 preferred. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org.

Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s fall 2016 events are available through this link: bit.ly/mmfall2016

About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video.

Gallery admission is $18 for adults, $16 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally, spring – fall. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit massmoca.org.

Hours
11am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays

Download the Big Thief press release

Helga Davis

Until… Voice

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS — Helga Davis, “a powerful vocalist with an almost operatic range and all the bruised sensuality of Jeanne Lee” (Wire Magazine), responds to Nick Cave’s Until with an intimate performance, solo with her loop station, inside the exhibition. Experience the merging of music and art in MASS MoCA’s Building 5 gallery on Friday, October 28, at 8pm.

Davis, an actor, vocalist, and performance artist hailing from New York City, is known for collaborating with composers and choreographers to build original works. She has appeared in pieces by Ann Hamilton, Missy Mazzolli, Paola Prestini, Peter Greenaway, and Shara Worden. Davis is currently starring in Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach, a four-piece opera composed by Glass and directed by Wilson. She has previously appeared at MASS MoCA in The Love Show (2011) and Oceanic Verses (2012).

In addition to her performative pieces, Davis is a host of Q2 Music, in which she’s conducted live interviews with John Luther Adams, The Kronos Quartet, Judd Greenstein, and Krzysztof Penderecki. She is the recipient of the BRIC Media Fine Arts Fireworks grant, as well as the ASCAP MultiMedia Award in recognition for her work on 24:33, a show consisting of a day’s worth of John Cage programming.

At MASS MoCA, Davis presents her latest work — a direct response to Nick Cave: Until, performed in the exhibition, located in MASS MoCA’s Building 5. Cave, the visual artist known for his wearable sculptures called Soundsuits, turns expectations inside out in his massive, immersive installation that opened on October 15. He views his work as “An elaborate community forum, as much as a work of sculpture,” and as such, the gallery doubles as a stage for singer-songwriters, pop artists, poets, and composers, together with panel discussions, community forums, and other forms of creative public debate and engagement. Until is a rich sensory tapestry in which Cave addresses issues of gun violence, gun control policy, race relations, and gender politics in America today. On Friday, October 28, at 8pm, Helga Davis presents her response to Nick Cave: Until in the exhibition.

Join us before the show when Lickety Spit, MASS MoCA’s café, serves up crisp salads, hearty soups, and lip-smacking pub fare. A full bar serves Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. No food or drink will be permitted in the galleries. Tickets are $20 advance and $26 day of. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. Space is limited for this gallery performance, so call the box office to reserve tickets at 413.662.2111 x1.

Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s fall 2016 events are available through this link: bit.ly/mmfall2016

About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video.

Gallery admission is $18 for adults, $16 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally, spring – fall. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit massmoca.org.

Hours
11am to 5pm, closed Tuesdays

Download the Helga Davis press release

Dinosaur Jr. 

Western Mass-ters

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS — If Neil Young is, as Kurt Cobain said, “the Godfather of Grunge,” Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis is his consiglieri — a mastermind whose screaming, crunching guitar ushered in an era and helped define alt-rock in the 1990s. Formed in Amherst in 1984, Dinosaur Jr. has maintained its looming presence over its three-plus decades, waxing and waning as genres come and go, but re-emerging in the last few years to assume its proper mantel as elder statesmen of viscerally badass rock ‘n’ roll. The band’s latest record, Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, drops on August 5; they are back, as conquering Western Mass. heroes, to support it, playing to a full house on Saturday, December 10, at 8pm.

With an eclectic vibe that stood out amidst the speed of 1980s hard-core punk, Dinosaur Jr. pioneered and revolutionized the American alternative rock scene in the early years of its inception. The band’s signature flare of twangy sound, high-volume din, and distortion-saturated performances has maintained a loyal fan base in the 32 years since its beginning. Following the breakup of his high school band, Deep Wound, in 1984, Mascis entered into a stage of new-wave songwriting and founded a band comprised of himself as songwriter and vocalist, Lou Barlow as lead vocalist and bassist, and Edward Murphy, known as Murph, as drummer. Taking on the name “Dinosaur,” the group released an adrenalized debut album Dinosaur in 1985.

After the release of its second album You’re Living All Over Me (1987), the group changed its name to Dinosaur Jr., and within a year, its third album Bug (1988) reached number 1 on the UK independent chart and maintained a spot therein for 38 weeks. Creative tension between the members in the late ’80s caused the band to undergo a handful of lineup changes into the ’90s. Although Barlow had left the group to pursue an independent career — founding lo-fi seminal slacker rock band Sebadoh — Dinosaur Jr. went on to produce six albums, including Green Mind (1991), Where You Been (1993), and Without a Sound (1994), before disbanding in 1997.

The original trio reunited in 2005, marked by a stunning appearance on The Late Show with Craig Ferguson in April, and kicked off a European tour later that June. Mark Beaumont of The Guardian notes, “It’s remarkable how fresh and visceral Dinosaur Jr. still sounds.” As veteran rockers they have worked on three albums with indie label Jagjaguwar: Farm (2009), I Bet on Sky (2012), and 2016’s highly anticipated Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not. In 2014, Mascis released a solo effort, the stripped-down and much-lauded Tied to a Star that highlighted his dexterous picking, while securing his status as grunge-rock guitar hero. Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not promises to deliver everything fans love about the band:

mind-numbing Mascis guitar solos, Barlow’s heavy fuzz bass, and Murph’s crashing percussion. With a reputation for what Pitchfork describes as “catchy and well-crafted songs that never feel restricted or overly polished,” expect to be bouncing out of your Doc Martens all night.

Dinosaur Jr. hits the stage in MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center on Saturday, December 10, at 8pm. Dinner and snacks are available from Lickety Split before the show. A full bar serves Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Tickets are $28 in advance and for students, $36 day of, and $46 preferred. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 10am to 6pm every day, with extended evening hours to 7pm on Thursdays through Saturdays through September 5. Beginning September 7, the box office is open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. The museum is closed on Tuesday, September 6. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org.

Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s fall 2016 events are available through this link: bit.ly/mmfall2016

Sponsorship
This event is sponsored by The Porches Inn at MASS MoCA.

About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video.

Gallery admission is $18 for adults, $16 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally, spring – fall. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit massmoca.org.

Hours
Summer (June 25–September 5)
Sundays–Wednesdays, 10am–6pm
Thursdays–Saturdays, 10am–7pm

Fall/Winter (beginning September 7)
11am to 5pm, six days a week (closed Tuesdays)

Download the Dinosaur Jr. press release

The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir

World premiere of a life in 50 songs

NORTH ADAMS, MASSACHUSETTS — Stephin Merritt, the master songsmith behind The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs, returns with the full band for a 2-week residency at MASS MoCA that culminates in the world premiere of a staged performance of their new Nonesuch Records album, 50 Song Memoir, an album celebrating Merritt’s first half-century on the planet. Merritt and band perform two distinct programs of new songs — one for every year of his life — with a seven- person band playing 50 instruments from his eclectic collection. This remarkable show recounts his five decades on planet Earth, from his conception by hippies on a houseboat in St. Thomas to his current position as one of America’s greatest living songwriters. The world premiere performance takes place in the Hunter Center, during which the entire album will be played over two nights: Songs 1-25 on Friday, November 18, and songs 26-50 on Saturday, November 19.

Although Merritt has several musical projects, including Future Bible Heroes and the 6ths, it is his orchestral synth-pop group The Magnetic Fields that has become a bona fide euphonic sensation over the past 25 years. Most noted for its iconic 1999 three-disc album 69 Love Songs, the band has cultivated a vast repertoire of timeless masterpieces over ten albums. At MASS MoCA, The Magnetic Fields’ two-day performance kicks off its 2016-2017 tour. These shows, which promise to touch on everything from bedbugs to Buddhism, feature the entirety of the upcoming album, 50 Song Memoir, to be released next year. Following its residency and world premiere in North Adams, The Magnetic Fields will travel to the Brooklyn Academy of Music with 50 Song Memoir.

Emphasizing pop hooks and eccentric, romantically reflective lyrics, The Magnetic Fields has captivated a loyal fan base with its wit and sarcasm, wrapped up in a slyly charming stage presence that The Guardian recalls is “as frumpy, geeky and dour as the Glee band hitting middle age — yet, aesthetics be damned, they provide one of the most sublime live experiences in music.” Through its lengthy career, the band has experimented with sounds that range from densely layered, electro-burbling to elegant baritone ballads spouting sardonic wit — all with the air of “idly plucking melody after divine melody out of the air like low-hanging fruit from a tree” (Pitchfork).

Witness this monumental celebration of The Magnetic Fields in MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center on Friday, November 18, and Saturday, November 19, at 8pm. Dinner and snacks are available from Lickety Split before the show. A full bar serves Bright Ideas Brewing beers and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Tickets are $35 in advance and for students, $45 day of, $55 preferred, $60 advance for both nights, and $100 preferred for both nights. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 10am to 6pm every day, with extended evening hours to 7pm on Thursdays through Saturdays through September 5. Beginning September 7, the box office is open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. The museum is closed on Tuesday, September 6. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org.

Images
High-resolution images of MASS MoCA’s fall 2016 events are available through this link: bit.ly/mmfall2016

Sponsorship  
This event is sponsored by The Porches Inn at MASS MoCA.

About MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA is one of the world’s liveliest (and largest) centers for making and enjoying today’s most important art, music, dance, theater, film, and video

Gallery admission is $18 for adults, $16 for veterans and seniors, $12 for students, $8 for children 6 to 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members are admitted free year-round. The Hall Art Foundation’s Anselm Kiefer exhibition is open seasonally, spring – fall. For additional information, call 413.662.2111 x1 or visit massmoca.org.

Hours
Summer (June 25–September 5)
Sundays–Wednesdays, 10am–6pm
Thursdays–Saturdays, 10am–7pm

Fall/Winter (beginning September 7)
11am to 5pm, six days a week (closed Tuesdays)

Download The Magnetic Fields press release

Selected photos from Date Night 2013

This Valentine’s Day MASS MoCA will be open after dark, from 6-9pm, for our second annual Date Night. This is pretty close to that dream you have of spending a night in the museum.

RS21051_MoCA Life's Work 0033-lprWhat if your Book Club was led by the very people who created the books you were reading? MASS MoCA has invited Johnny Carrera and Tom Phillips, exhibiting artists of “Life’s Work,” to lead discussion and join audiences for refreshments in our second adult-oriented Book Club educational program. At 6pm on Wednesday, April 3rd, you’ll have the opportunity to hear their thoughts on their own work, each other’s work, the books both projects are based on — and ask them those questions you’ve been wondering.

Phillips’ “A Humument” is a series of treated book pages on “A Human Document,” the Victorian novel by W.H. Mallock. For the last 40 years, Phillips has been continuously altering the individual pages of the book, each edition creating a new concrete text poem. The image above shows the transformation of one such page into a self-portrait of Phillips, accompanied by a few words thoughtfully selected out of the original text. Each page acts as its own individual artwork, yet the words also carry their own separate narrative throughout the volume, complete with recurring characters and story arc.

Maryland-based artist Johnny Carrera has taken on his own life’s work for over fifteen years. Carrera’s project, like Philips’, starts with an existing book: in this case, the original engravings of the 1859 American Dictionary of the English Language originally printed by the Webster’s company. Carrera’s Pictorial Webster’s Dictionary transforms his source to create a new lexicon of words, images and meaning. Together these projects not only offer insights into the working process of two artists but also allow viewers to rethink, books, images and the nature of time.

The event will take place in the “Life’s Work” exhibition, and is FREE to members and students, and $5 for all others. Coffee & cake, wine & cheese will be served.