by Mark Saleski If you want to really scare yourself, wait until everybody else in the house has gone to bed, turn out all of the lights, and put the Kronos Quartet’s Black Angels on the stereo. You will be assaulted with George Crumb’s terrifying “Black Angels (Images I),” aRead More

by Mark Saleski I wish I had a cool story about where I learned about the blues. I never had an older brother who gave me his Howlin’ Wolf records. There was no cousin who pointed out the line that runs backwards from Jimmy Page. Despite the early appearance ofRead More

I had intended for this essay to start out something like this: OK, I’ll come right out and say it. I used to hate John Mellencamp. Back then he was known as John Cougar. All of my friends had their copies of American Fool, and I had to put upRead More

By Mark Saleski Many years ago, while stuck in traffic during the evening commute, I heard a radio segment on microtonal composer Easely Blackwood. I had read about things like microtones, 24-note equal tunings, and the like, but somehow none of the music had ever made it’s way into myRead More

By Mark Saleski Have you ever been minding your own business when an old experience, one you hadn’t thought about in years, just pops into your mind? That happened to me the other night, and I have no idea why. I had been up late reading, had just returned fromRead More

By Mark Saleski Odd instruments in jazz: pedal steel guitar, theremin, the Samchillian (You’ll have to trust me on this one. Its “formal” name is the “Samchillian Tip Tip Tip Cheeepeee.” Don’t believe me? Look it up), the harmonica, the human voice (if you’re Shooby Taylor or Mike Patton), theRead More

By Mark Saleski This story travels a bizarre triangle from Portland, Maine to San Diego, California to Houston, Texas. To be honest, there’s nothing particularly exciting about either the story or the music, but it illustrates just how big the world of art is…and that there are plenty of waysRead More

By Mark Saleski. It’s funny how ideas can get to bouncin’ around in your head. I mentioned this week’s PGA Championship tournament to a co-worker and after a little discussion about Tiger/Phil/Etc., I turned back to my computers. By then, I was a little distracted. OK, so I’m easily distracted.Read More

In the late 1970s, Chanel, Inc. took a bold step in advertising for their flagship fragrance, Chanel No. 5. Employing a cool bland of arthouse elan and surreal literary images, the campaign set a new standard for advertising creativity. The Ridley Scott-directed “Share the Fantasy” ad — “I am madeRead More

by Mark Saleski There’s no doubt that I bring up this topic too often, but sometimes I just can’t help it. Let’s talk about the future. Specifically, one in which all of the physical objects of entertainment have been replaced by their digital counterparts. This worries me, though not forRead More