July 7, 2004

Little Havana Dance Party at MASS MoCA Aug 7

(North Adams, Mass.) -- DJ Le Spam and the Spam Allstars blend turntables with Latin, funk, hip hop, and a live band to create a unique danceable sound. They’ll be at MASS MoCA to play a Little Havana Dance Party on Saturday, August 7, 7:30 P.M. These darlings of Miami’s Little Havana community bring Cuban rhythms to North Adams for one sizzling night only.

Jonathan Secor, MASS MoCA’s Director of Performing Arts is looking forward to the event, “We’ve done a number of extremely popular Latin Dance Parties, but this is sure to be one of our best to date. The unique combination of a full salsa band with electronic club music and DJ creates a sound that it is impossible not to shake to.”

The band consists of Tomas Diaz on timbales, AJ Hill and Steve Welsh on saxes, John Speck on trombone, Mercedes Abel on flute, and Adam Zimmon on guitar and is headed up by DJ Le Spam (Andrew Yeomanson) on turntables and samplers. Based in Miami, the Allstars released their third album, Fuacata Live!, in 2002 to critical acclaim and a Latin Grammy nomination. The album and the weekly Fuacata -- a nightclub event/sociological experiment held in Little Havana for the past two years -- have been praised by Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Washington Post, DownBeat, The Village Voice, and Newsweek. Like Miami itself, Fuacata is impossible to define without using some Spanish. The word is Cuban slang meaning something like "wham” -- in Miami’s Little Havana this Cuban-inspired party is not-to-be missed.

The Spam Allstars have had a monthly residency at New York City’s SOB in addition to their regular run which included Jazid in Miami Beach, and I/O in Downtown Miami. Guest appearances have included Page McConnell of Phish, percussionist Sammy Figueroa, and John Medeski of Medeski Martin and Wood. McConnell and band Vida Blue (which features Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers Band and Aquarium Rescue Unit, and Russell Batiste of the Funky Meters) and the Spam Allstars collaborated on the 2003 release The Illustrated Band.

The event is sponsored by The Berkshire Eagle and North Adams Transcript. Dance instruction is arranged by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Doors open at 6:30 for Cuban food and drink and DJ Bongohead spinning.

Tickets to the Little Havana Dance Party are $13 in advance, $16 the day of the show, $10 for students with I.D., and $6 for kids. 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). In July and August MASS MoCA’s box office and galleries are open from 10 – 6 every day. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 during Box Office hours or purchased anytime at www.massmoca.org.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall St. in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org