Blog of Sal

post first published  in my poker posts on Quora O ne of my poker stories stands out. It was back in 2004, the year after everyman Chris Moneymaker pocketed $2.5 million winning the World Series of Poker Main Event, forever changing the culture of the game in the process. By winning a cheap online satellite tournament (these events are common and equate to a qualifying event), Moneymaker secured his seat in the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em 2003 WSOP Main Event for the bargain price of $25. This proved once and for all that anybody can win big at poker. Moneymaker in 2003 Over the course of the next year, poker rose from obscurity to hit the mainstream. Every casino opened a card room. And the rooms in the pre-existing meccas of poker, like Bellagio in Las Vegas, were full of people from all walks of life, including even Hollywood elites.  I’d been hired by the Casino de Montreal to deal Blackjack a few years before these events, an amazing opportunity for me at the time. Af...

Remembering Three Years of Zouch Magazine Three members of The Rolling Stones have been playing together for over 50 yrs There's an old adage in rock and roll that goes something like: "A band that plays together stays together". This adage has certainly held true for me in my life, in more ways than one. Some of the bands I was in in my teens and early 20s seemed as though they might be successful. Yet in the end, all save one of these music projects crumbled without achieving anything at all. One group quit because a band member went away to college, another time we lost a jamspace, etc. The reason these projects failed was simply that we did not follow the adage. There were no dramatic breakups for me, only a series of gentle decampments mostly owing to logistical difficulties. I've been running an online magazine called Zouch Magazine for three years, and I just now realized that the old adage has a parallel to my publishing experience. It relates to pub...

I think a lot of Canadian artists and musicians are influenced by the CBC to make music that follows well the narrative of other music that has been featured extensively on the CBC. In other words, the CBC programming directors manipulate creativity in an attempt to construct a narrative that communicates effectively to the government the value of the CBC as a true expression of the Canadian narrative, so that they can receive a maximum of public funding. Don't get me wrong, I like the CBC, and listen/watch often. But I mostly enjoy them for their documentaries, and I think any alternative media that can stand on its own two legs in the free market is more valuable and more likely to be a demonstration of true art, and an expression of the true Canadian narrative.  Some cling to the classical ideal that art and commerce shouldn't mix, but this is an attitude of complacency that suppresses creativity in favour of conserving the status quo. In 2013  artists are allow...

I moved spontaneously to Hamilton Ontario last spring, a place I had never before visited in my entire life. It's a nifty place to live because it offers the benefits of urban living, but the rents are lower than in nearby Toronto. Some say downtown Hamilton is too dingy for comfort (the song Dirty Old Town  is its unofficial anthem - even though it was written about Manchester), I discussed this a bit here .  The ART CRAWL is the most interesting thing about the city. It's a festival of the local art scene that happens monthly right in the core of the city. It feels like everyone participates. I was blown away last spring and summer, and I made the following videos to share my experiences: {This first video is from the SUPERCRAWL , an annual MEGA version of art crawl}

Think about how being an artist has changed. Back in the 20th century works needed a big release to have a chance. If this push wasn't big enough to blast something immediately into the mainstream, then it often faded quickly into obscurity. Now, everything lives on the web to be shared and experienced at any time, by anyone, in any instant. Of course, we still see the phenomenon of brand new things trending and dominating the media space. But overall, works are less likely to feel like wasted efforts simply because they've failed to immediately find a large (paying) audience. Most 20th century artists never cared about the big media outlets, but these were necessary evils. It isn't advisable to bite the hand that feeds when you're right in the middle of trying to accomplish something. It was  more useful than it was demeaning to be complacent. But today, thanks to the good ole internet, an artist can share their voice with everyone forev...

We rode out into the heat of the New York sunshine towards the original site of Woodstock. My '81 Tercel hatchback as our transportation (the $240 car that always "smelled like gas"). I was chasing the ghost of Jimi Hendrix, and the dream of a political movement I thought I was supposed to care about. At the border crossing we were grilled and forced to empty our pockets. The was my first experience with the senseless power-tripping of US border officers (and not the last). All the while my best friend Surge had his marijuana safely rolled up in the leg of his pants. "They never look there", he told me later. I wonder how it would have affected us if they had found it? The turnout was good that year. There were a thousand hippies on Yasgur's Farm. The authentic kind too, old, with real flowers in long grungy hair. I met a man with a bag full of dog-ends who said he hadn't littered a butt since he returned from Vietnam. I was told that some were l...

We decided to move here to Hamilton Ontario on a whim after finding a really cool loft space. We had never been to Hamilton before! The rent here is probably  four times cheaper then a similar place would be on Queen St. West in Toronto (the other neighbourhood in the region we were considering). I suppose we saw our options as being between a small "normal" apartment in Toronto, or this crazy place, full of potential: There's a huge difference between Barton Street East and Queen Street West in Toronto. There are strange characters around here, hookers hanging out on the corners, boarded up storefronts, an overabundance of scooter-people, etc...  But it's not too bad, and at least you don't have to put up with the Queen St. yuppies XD We're close to a really cool part of Hamilton called James Street North , where the art scene is set to thrive in an area many have compared to Queen Street West "back in the day". STRUGGLES When you l...

I've mentioned Grandfather William Commanda in a post in the past . He was a great Algonquin chief from near where I grew up in Ottawa, and he passed away recently at the age of 97. I thought re-sharing this nice letter from his facebook page (see below photo) would be a nice way to celebrate Canada Day on No Sound Mind. I realize now that the adolescent angst that fueled my creative development was often based on a similar feeling of frustration to the one Algonquin and all First Nations people have felt for over 300 years. North America doesn't have to be this way. Our politics can allow for more protection of the planet, and a higher level of social justice. Yet we continually squander the power to deeply improve our plight, and neglect to work towards  emancipating the world.  We so easily slip into a cycle of wallowing in a vapid world of  consumerism  and hype.  Recognizing this cycle as a problem is the first step towards solving i...

I just moved to Hamilton after three years spent (mostly) in Calgary, or " the heart of the new west!". It was a very boring and alienating  time for me, but a lot of good came out of it as well. I spent the first year reflecting on my father 's recent passing. I ran that entire year, and I ran with a lot of passion, and I ran damn fast actually, and I'm proud of that. Now when I write something good , even one of Canada's greatest athletes Sam Effah sometimes gives me feedback, and I am reminded of how I am part of a special tribe of people, as my father was, who care extremely deeply about inspiring others. And I can think back on Terry Fox , and Emilie Mondor, and Steve Prefontaine, and remember why this sense of urgency I feel matters so much. The race doesn't stop because I'll never run another 52.2 400m (like I did for Gloucester, so our relay team could make provincials in '99, my father's best high school time, a paltry 52.5*). I ...

I'm pre-releasing this little short film I made the other day. I appreciate you guys checking out my blog. I had quit posting for awhile in the spring and noticed a HUGE drop in traffic. And now that I've become a little more active over the summer, I've seen a huge spike. I know you are out there, you fuckin' micro-audience you! So thank you for your patronage. This film is part of an intended series that will abstractly explore the role of the media in 20th century culture. I have no commercial intentions for this project, so pls nobody sue me for highjacking their footage and reshaping it.

~~~~~{~~<@ excerpt from youtube: This video memorializes the Screw The Status Quo Zine, which published creative content online from February 2009 to Sept 2010, and stayed live until Aug 2011. The images featured are of STSQ contributors, slogans, remnant website images, and a bunch of art from the zine. The first song was by The Flowers Of Hell, the second by Heroin And Your Veins. Sal, the STSQ editor decided to discontinue work on the zine after starting a new project with writer Jeff Campagna. The new project is called Zouch Magazine and some of the original STSQ writers, including Meghan Clarkston and Kyle Gallagher have also joined the new posse. The editorial duo agreed to carry forward Sal's original publishing philosophy, which is to work as a team, assisting indie artists and writers disseminate their work to a broader audience, ignore the mainstream as much as possible while building out of the creative energy of the team, organically and serendipito...

They came from every corner of the world To be a western man From every walk of life they hailed To figure in to this new plan A merging of two worlds To bitter and wealthy ends A western man did come to be A hero and a friend At first they came from Europe To settle a new land To mix and match with Indians To delegate, rule and plan A future of democracy Innovation and adventure In this age the west was to the world Below, and still indentured Later came the modern age Of trains and planes and autos America, a prodigal son Had matured into its motto To be the greatest land on earth Through hard work and bravado And a swath of culture from this place Accross the world did echo The Eastern seaboard was now changed Through years of industrialization The midwest was it's factory Incesant with production Throughout this new east The dream had changed forever Slanted towards industry And away from adventure But tucked away Accross the new world In p...

I recently added a little banner on the right sidebar that links to Zouch Magazine & Miscellany . This isn't just a normal ad, it's a project that Jeff Campagna and I have been working on lately, and I'd like to invite you to come and check it out. We're likely to be officially launching on Sept 30th, so you're essentially getting a sneak peek at a beta version of the site. The idea is similar to the  Screw The Status Quo  zine (my other project) in that we are trying to provide artists a stage to showcase their work online, but we've taken it upon ourselves to create something that is more like a traditional magazine, with stricter editorial guidelines and stronger direction. STSQ is a strange project, it's non-standard, the content isn't really streamlined, it's a bit of a head-trip. While we have only a small following, it's a solid community. But in the end the project can only go so far. It doesn't seem like the kind of thi...

I donated my artwork, 'Chief Commanda Dances At Asinabka', to the Asinabka Project in Ottawa, Ontario in 2007. My goal in creating this piece was to link my soul to Chief Commanda's vision and to unite his being with the land, in a way others could easily interpret visually. It is a depiction of his reaction to the realization of his dream. I hope I've encouraged in some small way, those actively working on the project to persevere. You can learn more about the project by visiting the website, http://www.asinabka.com /