About
“Just dream with me, man.” – Avon Barksdale, The Wire
For those who don’t know, a mellotron is basically an antique synthesizer. It looks like a harmonium or mini piano, but instead of strings or bellows inside there are these magnetic tapes, each with 6-8 second audio samples recorded onto them. Pressing one key could sound a boys choir, the one next to it the sawing of a violin. An instrument now all but extinct, there’s a romance to its analogue sampling of sounds, a box filled with a million slivers of noise, each one a tiny part of a composition that’s yet to be realized.
And that’s kind of what I try to accomplish here, a little of everything—movies, TV, a bit of criticism, personal stuff, a little music, some creative shorts. I try to celebrate the fact that we are what we watch, what we listen to. And maybe by playing all of these keys together in unison, somewhere in that overwhelming stampede of sound there will be some truth, soft behind pixels like a song caught on tape.
“I wish I could take you to the movies right now, some theater that’s playing your favorite movie.”
- Henry Francis, Mad Men
A journalist and creative writer, I blog about movies and music and TV and escape.
This is what the real world looks like.
I’m into Six Feet Under, Woody Allen, Ben Folds, Mad Men, Marillion, Ricky Gervais, Prog-rock, Breaking Bad, Netflix, David Lynch, The Sopranos, Steven Wilson, Seinfeld, HBO, Hitchcock, Wiffle ball, Devin Townsend, Concerts, Coffee, PT Anderson, Neal Morse, Michel Gondry, Comics, Roger Ebert, Lucky Charms, Saving movie stubs, Stand-up, Horror films, The Cosby Show, The Mets, Good food/wine/beer, Love stories, Softball, Cinematography, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Over-writing, Black & White, Martin Scorsese, Pictures of NYC, Discovery, Feel-good music, Fantasy baseball, Nice weather, Metal, Character sketches, Eclecticism and Nostalgia.
“Passion is the key. I have NO CLUE what life is about.”
- Devin Townsend
Check out my book, Tracks in the Sand: Sea Turtles and Their Protectors
Email me at mellotronsounds@gmail.com
