We Are Upstate With Music Writer and Musician Sal Cataldi

Our May Music Month presents a great opportunity to introduce INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY’s readers to our own in-house music-maker, our contributing writer, Sal Cataldi.

Sal says that, like the devil, he is known by many names, at least musically. There is his main project, the genre-leaping sometimes solo/sometimes quartet Spaghetti Eastern Music, the transcontinental spoken word and sonics duo Vapor Vespers, the ambient guitar project Guitars A Go Go and the psych/surf/space rock/punk jazz quartet Spaceheater. Or, you can just follow all his musing @sallyboynyc

But like many musicians, Sal paid his bills by concurrently pursuing another career. He ran a NYC-based public relations and promotions firm, Cataldi Public Relations, for over three decades. His agency’s specialty was concocting offbeat promotions for some of the biggest names in media and consumer products, from Turner Networks and IMAX to Tanqueray Gin and Entenmann’s. These included launching the 2016 Presidential campaign for a true “undead” candidate, A. Zombie, to promote AMC TV’s The Walking Dead and creating a 5,000 sq foot Times Square museum charting bride-to-be craziness from the days of Cleopatra today for the WEtv series, Bridezillas.

When COVID arrived, Sal decided to hang up his PR hat and pivot to writing and music. In the past three years, he has contributed several big features to the New York Times, Rolling Stone and dozens of reviews of books about music for NYSMusic.com. He is now turning the latter into a new monthly radio/interview show, “Reading in Funktamental,” on Wave Farm WGXC-FM.

But what interests us most is what Sal is helping to bring to INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY. He has written nearly three dozen features, including profiles of local musicians like Amanda Palmer, Rhett Miller, Simi Stone and Mikaela Davis and TV and film luminaries like actress Jeremy Davidson + Mary Stuart Masterson and screenwriter/producer Ron Nyswaner. He has also profiled various talented chefs and upcoming art and music events in our area. He says: “Writing for Inside+Out has been the best introduction to the people and events that make the Hudson Valley one of the best places to live in America.” While doing all this, Sal has kept up a busy schedule of performances with his various music projects, more than 70 in 2023 alone, at venues in the Hudson Valley and beyond. Below are his thoughts on his career and life in the Hudson Valley.

INSIDE+OUT: How did you come to live in the Hudson Valley?

Sal Cataldi: I have been coming up the Hudson Valley since I was a college student in the ’70s. My friends and I would go hiking and camping all over the Catskills. I may be the only person to scale a rock wall in The Gunks in 6-inch platform shoes and red velvet bell bottoms. In the ’90s, I started renting in Kerhonkson and Esopus, which is when I really fell in love with the area. Getting a permanent place up here was always on my mind, but it would take a long time to actualize that.

The final move came in March 2017. My partner, Deborah, had lived in a huge loft in Bed-Sty, Brooklyn, for 30 years, which was being sold. She didn’t want to live in my place, a funky houseboat on Long Island, so we started looking upstate in earnest and found a great place in Saugerties, a stone’s throw from Big Pink.

Now, when I play in New York City, I stay a couple of days a month on my houseboat, which my then-six-year-old, pizza-loving daughter Bettina named the Garlic Knot. But the beautiful nature of the Hudson Valley and all its culture are really where I wanted to be and now I am here 90% of the time.

When did you first get interested in music, and how did you develop your cross-genre style?

Like many people of my generation, The Beatles’ performance on Ed Sullivan in February 1964 sparked my interest. As a result of this phenomenon, even the Catholic school I was attending switched from pushing accordion lessons to offering guitar. But it didn’t last long because I didn’t rent a guitar from the teacher and kept trying to play left-handed. He would actually run down the aisle and whack me in the head for playing lefty, so I resigned from formal music education for at least a few decades.

When I was about twelve, I started again, self-taught, playing pentatonic blues along with records by British blues bandleader John Mayall, on my $27 Teisco Del Rey electric in Godzilla green sunburst. Soon, I was playing in a variety of bands, moving from playing rock covers to prog to jazz.

While living in Brooklyn in the ’80s, I began formal study in the jazz program at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. One guy from that program invited me to play in a sort of pop/punk band called Frank’s Museum, which was a part of this big music scene in Brooklyn and Manhattan. We played all the clubs at the time: CBGB, Cat Club, etc. Then I went back into a jazz direction with the drummer from that band, Doug Hitchcock, starting a project called The Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom, which featured guests like Percy Jones, a bass player from Eno and Brand X fame. We made a few albums before Doug moved back to Kansas City. Then, I decided to start my solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music.

Before we get too deeply into music, let’s talk about your career in public relations. You did some very creative work for some big names. How did you get into the business, and what are some of your favorite projects?

Well, my first job after college was working for an old-school cell animation company called Kim & Gifford Productions. I was their sales rep but often got called in to paint cells when they ran behind on productions, most notably the famous School House Rock series. I left this job after two years to spend time in Europe busking, reading and experiencing European life. When I came back, I played music and did freelance writing full-time. After a couple of years of starving (laughs), I got the book What Color is Your Parachute? and it seemed Public Relations (PR) was a job that was right for my writing and sales skills. I spent three years at several notable agencies before starting my own shop.

I really loved working in PR in those days. It was very creative and event-focused; we created truly engaging ideas and events, really oddball stunts, not just throwing money at influencers for inane postings. We created the World’s Largest Xmas tree made out of 5,000 cannolis for an event with The Sopranos. We also developed a guerrilla marketing campaign called The Society for the Prevention of Celebrity Divorce to promote the WEtv show Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars. Also, we launched a museum and auction of the “ape-stract” art of Tarzan’s chimp, Cheeta, for a film fest on AMC. I also loved The Guitar Face Challenge, a search for the best mug made by a guitarist while playing judged by legends like Dick Dale, Roger McGuinn and Steve Vai. It was a kooky, inexpensive promo that garnered high-profile press in outlets like The New York Times. My agency did a lot of promotions for WWE and its annual Wrestlemania, many years of tour press for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s annual Xmas tour and various events with The Knitting Factory, including the Dewar’s Bagpipe Festival hosted by Scotty from Star Trek. The list goes on and on.

Who were your biggest inspirations in music growing up and now?

First off, who wasn’t influenced by The Beatles? But then it was on to British blues rock, guitar-heavy trios like Cream, then onto prog, with Fripp & Eno and especially the Dutch group Focus and its guitarist Jan Akkerman. From prog, I found my way to electric jazz fusion, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and the guitar-heavy mid-’70s discs like Pangea and Dark Magus. Also, a lot of NYC loft jazz of the time: Julius Hemphill, Sun Ra, The Oliver Lake Quartet and especially his guitarist, Michael Gregory Jackson. He’s a guy who can do the most outre jazz stuff and then do wonderful pieces in the acoustic singer-songwriter mode. From there, it led to older jazz, bebop and beyond  Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

All along the way, I have loved and am still hugely influenced by folk artists Incredible String Band, Nick Drake and especially John Martyn. John’s thing was using effects like the Echoplex, adding an electronic element and lots of improvisation to acoustic music, which is something I love to do. Also, the acoustic work of the masterful Pierre Bensusan and his DADGAD tuning are used in much of my writing. In the punk era, I immersed myself in European jazz, as well as all the albums and artists on ECM. My favorite is the Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal. While seeing Terje at a rare NYC show years back, I discovered the work of Norwegian trumpeter Nil Petter Molaever. His sound is like ’70s Miles, heavily-effected trumpet mixed with tribal beats, turntables, samples and the otherworldly sound sculpture of his guitarist Eivind Aarset. I recently discovered another great Scandinavian guitar, a woman named Hedvig Mollestad, who’s part metal/part jazz/part electronic trio work, like the song “High Hair,” which is truly worth checking out.

You have quite a few different musical projects going at the moment in very different styles of music from experimental to jazz to singer-songwriter to psychedelic and space rock to scoring for film and performance artists. Let’s start with the first: What’s this crazy-named Spaghetti Eastern Music all about?

I started working under this name in the mid-00s. It was originally all-instrumental music, a sort of tribute to the Italian movie soundtracks, the so-called Spaghetti Western sounds of people like Ennio Morricone, but with Eastern modes and a lot of acid jazz and psychedelia thrown in. One day, I couldn’t get my keyboard off my houseboat for a gig, so I did it with my acoustic, going back to the singer-songwriter mode. Moving forward, Spaghetti Eastern became half instrumental sounds and half singer-songwriter. With the emergence of effects like loopers, synth pedals and harmonizers, I really took the singer-songwriter stuff way out and now extend these songs with many layered solo guitar improvisations, which people really dig. I waited until 2016 to release my first full album as Spaghetti Eastern, Sketches of Spam, which got some great press in outlets like The New York Times and radio play, especially my reinterpretation of “Ticket to Ride.” I’ve followed this with several singles and EPs spanning various genres. I also work in a duo with bassist Jeff Keithline and have a NYC-based quartet version I started with bassist Tom Semioli. We go heavy dub improv, bringing home the Eastern with our dilbura player, Dawoud the Sufi Renegade. Around this time, I also had the pleasure of playing in the 200-guitar orchestra of minimalist composer Rhys Chatham at Lincoln Center. This was featured on his album, A Crimson Grail.

When I met performance artist Charles Dennis, I began to create some live solo guitar scores for his performances, sort of soundscapes influenced by Fripp and Eno collabs. The first of these was recorded during a performance of his dance movement 2x2x4 at his Avant-Garde Arama Festival in Woodstock in July 2021. I have also recently begun collaborating with an incredible Kingston-based filmmaker and ballet dancer, Hanna Bass, on scores for two of her short films, Dreams and Health. The scores for 2x2x4 and health were released and, thankfully, had a nice reception from the press and radio.

You are also continuing to work in transcontinental partnership with a playwright and poet in Alaska as the Vapor Vespers. How did that come about, and what’s the latest?

This is a project with one of my oldest friends, Mark Muro, who is a combo playwright, poet and a sort of DADA standup comic-monologist cut in the Spaulding Grey tradition, now living in Anchorage. We met in our teens in Queens, NY and bonded over our mutual love of Frank Zappa. It seems whenever a relative of his died, Mark would make his way back here and I would bring him into my studio, either on the houseboat or in Saugerties, to lay down some words, for which I then create music. This month, we released our second full-length album, Ghosts Before Breakfast, and are playing shows in the Hudson Valley and NYC. Again, we’ve been lucky to get some nice critical reaction and radio play. It’s technically spoken word, but it’s not all that serious. Much of it is purely a goof, and Mark is a great showman, 100% ham who knows how to capture a crowd.

Let’s talk about your other two current musical projects: Guitars A Go Go and Spaceheater.

Guitars A Go Go is a duo with another guitarist who really digs making offbeat sounds with a plethora of pedals, Rick Warren. It’s like Fripp x 2, soundscape-y and ambient, but with some noise rock balls and a lot of what we call “stomp box f*ckery.” We play as often as we can at experimental-minded venues here in the Hudson Valley, like Green Kill and Quinn’s and the wonderful Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn. It is very dreamy, spacey music you can check out on our album, Travel Advisory, or the livestreams archived at the Green Kill Sessions channel on YouTube.

Spaceheater is an outgrowth of Guitars A Go Go but very different in its approach. It’s Rick and I, with bassist David Strahl and the mighty beat machine Dana Fasano on drums. This music is much more approachable and commercial: straight-ahead psych, surf, space rock and punk jazz, a combo of originals and covers of things like Peter Gunn’s Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” and The Byrd’s “Eight Miles High.” We don’t have any recordings yet, but we frequently play at venues like Colony Woodstock, Tinker Street Tavern, The Station Bar & Curio, Snugs, West Kill Supply, Thee Lair and more.

You are often playing right here in the Hudson Valley. What are some of your favorite venues to perform and to see other musicians?

There are so many Colony Woodstock and The Falcon have been great. Lee Falco’s admirable work in continuing the work of his late father is admirable. I’ve enjoyed performing monthly at Michael Dorf’s City Winery outpost in the Hudson Valley.  West Kill Brewing in Kingston is a great place to play and enjoy a concert outdoors. In August, Spaghetti Eastern Music will return to Opus 40, which has a great lineup this year, thanks to its booker, Mike Amari. Pearl Moon is a new entry presenting a great variety of music and more, thanks to its booker, Conor Wenk. I’m also looking forward to playing one of our region’s most intriguing spaces, The Rail Trail Cafe©. I have to give props to a lot of the little restaurants that have been featuring live music. I really love Judy and Cody over at Rock da Casbah in Saugerties and have recently started playing and seeing shows at Tilda’s Kitchen. I have to give props to David Schell over at Green Kill in Kingston. He was producing not only shows but livestreams when no one else was during COVID and he presents a wide variety of sonic arts, experimental, ambient, singer-songwriter, blues, performance art and spoken word. He also creates video projections that really complement the music. And, of course, Lace Mill and the recently revamped Chromatic Studios present great music.

As someone who spent decades in the world of promotion, what do you think today’s musicians need to learn about it to be successful?

Today, the smartest artists know they have to be DIY about everything involved in their career. Many musicians will spend tons of money on recording studios and leave no budget for promotion. Then they wonder: Why isn’t anyone reviewing or playing my music? As someone who spent decades in the business, I know finding a good publicist is hard. Luckily, a musician can begin by doing a lot on their own, creating a nice press release, bio, high-rez art, video and social media and finding the appropriate press, podcasts and radio to send it to. I’ve done everything from recording to mastering to distribution with a Macbook Pro. And you also have to develop two things: the willingness/nerve to put yourself out there and the ability to deal with the inevitable rejection.

How did you transition from the world of PR and music into writing for us and other outlets like The New York Times, Rolling Stone and, of course, INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY?

I have always been writing, before and throughout my PR career. In the ’90s, I wrote for several music publications and throughout my PR career, I published opinion pieces and how-tos in business outlets like Adweek, Advertising Age and Huffington Post. My writing for The New York Times began when I pitched a story about the former bike messenger for my PR company who pivoted to a lucrative street musician career when COVID virtually shut down business in New York City. After that, I wrote a few more stories for them on the Hudson Valley music scene and one about the women who wrote “The Jazzy Tune You Heard on Hold…” at businesses like Jet Blue and Bank of America. At the same time, I started reviewing books about music for a popular local entertainment blog. I just wrote my first feature for Rolling Stone, which is about how veteran musicians from some big-name bands make ends meet by moonlighting as realtors.

As for INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY, I discovered the site almost by accident when I was writing a piece for another outlet about the AirBnB now operating at The Band’s old homestead, Big Pink. I loved what you covered and how well the visual element was put together and I begged you to let me write for you! That was two and a half years and about three dozen stories ago.

What three albums have most inspired you and why?

The impossible question I have thrown out to most of the musicians profiled here. I’ll begin with Frank Zappa’s unforgettable album titled Burnt Weeny Sandwich. It is packed with everything from doo-wop to small chamber music pieces to expansive jams like “Little House I Used to Live In.” That tune features the demonic electric violin of Sugarcane Harris, one of my favorite all-time solos. There are also two of Frank’s most melodic guitar solos; he was an absolute master, in my opinion.

As I said earlier, Dutch guitarist Jan Akkerman has been a huge influence and has made tons of great albums that most people have never heard of, but I’ll go with Profile. Again, it’s an amalgam of genres from solo lute and classical guitar pieces to funky fuzzy blues to the song “Fresh Air.” This is an astounding sidelong suite, like his best-known tune, “Hocus Pocus” by his band Focus, foreshadowing proto-shred with a heap of melody and taste. He also made the lush album with the great arranger Claus Ogerman, Aranguez. It’s the perfect album for a late-night spin.

Thirdly, let’s go with Terje Rypdal’s double-disc, Odyssey. He has maybe 70 albums made under the auspices of ECM, but this one is special. He had great compositions and guitar work and an interesting interplay between his guitar and his trombonist. Everything this guy has made has been inspirational.

Breaking the rules here, a few more. John Martyn’s excellent Solid Air, the orch pop of The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle and Love’s Forever Changes. Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, everything and anything by Santana, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker, Sly Stone, Sonny Rollins and James Brown. And Morricone’s soundtrack to Malena. It’s guaranteed to make anyone cry. On soundtracks, I’d have to add Gato Barbieri’s one for the film Last Tango In Paris. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Philly Soul, the great arrangements and voices of acts like The Delfonics, The Stylistics and Blue Magic. There’s no better song or arrangement than The Delfonics, “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time).” Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys for “Machine Gun,” a guitar solo in the rock mode that will never be surpassed. And throw in the garage rock and psych compilations from Nuggets.

If you could have dinner and a jam session with three other musicians, alive or dead, who would you choose?

I’ve met and written about Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa but never met their dad and my surrogate father, Frank Zappa. I saw John Martyn a few times but never met him, and he knew how to play and party, so he’d have to be in the group. And maybe someone like King Tubby, the mad scientist Jamaican dub master.

Here’s the guilty pleasure question: What music would we be most surprised to know that you listen to and love?

I love earnest, kitschy, overdone orch pop, the Sgt Peppers imitators. After The Beatles laid it down, every band tried their hand at doing their own. Chad and Jeremy’s The Ark is one; Peter and Gordon’s Hot, Cold & Custard is another. And let’s not forget Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ Genuine Imitation Life. I also love the old Bubblegum and Top 40 music of my youth. This man can listen to Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, The Monkees and The Association without any irony. I also love listening to Elevator Music. These are the collections of music they played in shopping malls and airports in the ’60s and ’70s, commonly known as “Muzak.” One of my favorite Spotify playlists is “The Easy Listening Acid Trip.” It’s based on a book by Joseph Lanza. It’s about easy-listening versions of acid rock staples like “Incense and Peppermints” by artists like Martin Denny. Also, The Free Design is easy-listening hipster overload music. Again, I can listen without irony!

What are you working on now that you’re most excited about?

The next Spaghetti Eastern Music single features my daughter Bettina, who plays bass, sings and sits in with me often. But, mainly, I’m most excited about my latest batch of features for INSIDE+OUT Upstate NY of course!

We’re honored! What is it about the Hudson Valley that makes it unique to live + work here?

It’s all about the nature.

What impact do you, as an artist, have on your community?

I give old folks like me a reason to get out of the house at night!

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful in your career and just in enjoying life?

We love cooking and are all about food. So, I would say Aldi’s for the economy, Adams Fairacre Farms for the variety and the cider donuts. Stockade Guitars in Kingston for strings and things that make noise.

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

I’m an Italian boy and all about making Sunday Sauce. So, what’s missing is a good place to get nicely prepared braciole, which has been impossible to find.

What would be your dream assignment?

This is pretty good answering questions about yourself that you will be hugely embarrassed by sometime in the near future.

Who or what inspires you personally?

My artist girlfriend Deborah, her sweetness, organizational skills and the way she prepares a macchiato.

Tell us something about yourself that people might be surprised to know.

I was almost punched out once while entering a bathroom by the actor Tony Sirico, who played “Paulie Walnuts” on The Sopranos. We made up later, and I have a picture to prove it.

What is your favorite non-musical activity?

Cooking, running and traveling. If I don’t get away two times a year, I go bananas.

Sal’s performances include:

Spaghetti Eastern Music
June 1 at The Rail Trail Cafe
June 26 at the City Winery HV
July 25 at Colony Woodstock
July 31 at Pearl Moon
August 18 at Opus 40
Oct 12 at Saugerties Farmers Market

Spaceheater
July 16 at Snugs
July 28 at Subversive Brewing
August 8 at West Kill Brewing Company

Photos courtesy of Sal Cataldi + Ivan Singer + JR William A Loeb + Tracey Yarad

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