On Tuesday, June 18, Moog Music joins Sacred Bones Records, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and Atlas Obscura for a listening party and celebration of Mort Garson’s cult classic record, Mother Earth’s Plantasia. “Plantasia At Brooklyn Botanic Garden” will be a multi-sensory experience inspired by Mort Garson’s 1976 album Mother Earth’s Plantasia. The record will be reissued on vinyl June 21, 2019, and available for early purchase by ticketholders at the June 18 event.
Already an established composer of pop music (arranging for Doris Day and composing a #1 hit “Our Day Will Come” for Ruby and the Romantics), Mort Garson first encountered inventor Bob Moog and the Moog Synthesizer during the 1967 AES Convention in Los Angeles as Moog was demonstrating his futuristic synthesizer. Garson quickly developed an affinity for the new instrument and its application to his growing interest in avant-garde arrangements. Soon after, Mort Garson purchased his own Moog Synthesizer–one of the first ever made. Over the next decade, Garson used his Moog Synthesizer on countless jingles, television programs, commercials, and film scores, including music for the televised 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, and Plantasia, the 1976 album “for plants… and the people who love them.” Inspired by Garson’s wife’s love of plants and consummate green thumb, Plantasia was the first album on the West Coast recorded entirely on the Moog Synthesizer.
Atlas Obscura invites attendees of “Plantasia at Brooklyn Botanic Garden” to have the unique opportunity to listen to this lost classic in the most fitting of environments: surrounded by lush vegetation inside the Garden’s conservatory.
Moog Experiences on site
Moog Synthesizer Durational Performance
A long-form composition of musical discovery on a Moog System 55 Modular Synthesizer by Ghostly International artist Max Ravitz (Patricia). Placed among the gardens, this captivating performance will last 3-4 hours and will create a space for immersive listening for both plants and humans alike.
Analog Synthesizer Workshop: led by Bana Haffar
This hour long workshop invites attendees to explore a living breathing world of analog synthesis. This Workshop is open to all experience levels and contains valuable electronic insight for the beginner as well as the accomplished synthesist. Each workshop is presented in a small-group setting, and all necessary materials will be provided. Space is limited to 6 attendees per class.
A Synth-Guided Exploration: led by YOU
A self-guided (synth-guided) program that encourages users to explore and learn about synthesizers while exercising their creativity. Multiple stations are provided with Mother-32 and DFAM semi-modular synthesizers, a booklet with simple instructions and sample patches, headphones and patch cables.
Mort Garson’s Original Moog Synthesizer On Display
Moog Music will display Mort Garson’s original 1960s Moog Synthesizer used to record Plantasia.