Work in Perpetual Progress
Deep Out of Space
Mark Rushton’s Curator Mindset is a place where I talk in 2026 about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist, tech things, and provide music recommendations. This is being released on Saturday, March 21, 2026.
This week’s topics:
Work in Perpetual Progress
88.5 in Downtown Des Moines
Pólya (disquiet 0742)
RestoMod PhilCo
Meshell Ndegeocello - “Virgo”
Work in Perpetual Progress
Due to bad weather, I hadn’t been to my studio in The Fitch building for a couple of weeks. I returned during my lunch hour on Wednesday, March 18th, and I figured out what I wanted to do with this image.
It’s a photo I took last year that I processed in “my style” using a thermal ribbon printer, spunbonded olefin, and ink. The image was placed on the Elmo and projected onto the wall. I had planned to remake it as a collage on a wood panel, or as a mixed media painting.
While projecting the image to the wood panel, I realized I didn’t have to finish the collage or painting. I could just “paint around” the projected image (or “collage around”) and then photograph each example until I felt I was done.
Each photograph could be the finished artwork.
The above image is my 2nd revision, done during my lunch hour on Thursday. It’s 24” x 36” - a processed photo projection on wood panel with glue and paint.
I also realized that this is a parallel process to how I usually make new music. I prefer to “work live” and create original sound recordings that could never be duplicated.
88.5 FM in Downtown Des Moines
Here’s a video I made on Thursday morning, March 19th, as I drove into work and passed by the Fitch Building while listening to the Timepieces soundtrack on 88.5 FM in my car, a Toyota Corolla.
I first pick it up around 17th and Locust, in front of the Meredith Dotdash buildings. Reception is very good within a block of the transmitter, which is located in the window of my studio on the 3rd floor, east-facing. I’ve heard it in the car east to 12th and Locust, increasingly static-filled until it disappears. North on 15th is good until Grand, but I picked up the scratchy signal as far north as Pleasant St, nearly a half mile, but uphill and without any buildings blocking. I have heard it to the point of entering the parking ramp on 12th between Grand and High. I haven’t gone south. Now that the weather is better, I’ll find a proper radio with a telescoping antenna and walk around the area to test the limits.
Every time I pick up the signal, it’s always a thrill to hear it playing.
Pólya (disquiet 0742)
I asked one of the word robots to consider the phrase “sensitive math” as a musical term. It recognized it as “not a musical term”, but spat out some crap anyway, as they do. I tried abusing the robot into connecting the phrase to various things, but I didn’t land anything worthwhile until I suggested George Pólya and his book “How to Solve It”. This book introduced me to heuristics, which was a major influence on both my career in tech and as an artist.
For the music, it’s my Omnichord OM-108, set to bossa nova beat and “organ” on the strum plate, and twitching the chord (B flat 7th) for a dub effect. All this is run through my Empress boxes at various settings and the Microcosm in “glitch blocks” with possibly some background looping. I like repetition, but I also like “sliding across the beat”.
More on the 742nd weekly Disquiet Junto project, Sensitive Math — The Assignment: An exercise in genre speculation — at disquiet.com/0742/
RestoMod PhilCo
Another idea that entered my brain this week was how to deal with this 1935-era Philco Model 610F in my mom’s basement. My dad dragged it home 40 or 50 years ago and never did anything with it. There are other radios in the basement in much better condition and actually work. The Philco powers on, but that’s it. The cabinet veneer on the top is cracked and nasty. The sides aren’t much better. The front looks OK.
I thought I’d try to “resto-mod” it.
No, I don’t want to restore the radio. That’s a lot of work: replacing paper capacitors, cracked rubber cables, dealing with tubes, removing acres of dust, and being around questionable electronics. The DC voltage, while on, is around 250 V DC, so coming in contact with it can cause serious injury or death. On startup, voltage can rise on the first capacitor to around 325 V DC. I want to eliminate the possibility of death with this thing.
I recently removed the “guts” of the radio, which weighed close to 35 pounds. The field-coil speaker will also be removed as converting it for use is too technically difficult for this project. I’ll put the speaker on eBay.
The word robot was very helpful with project guidance. The explanation on converting the field-coil speaker was extremely technical - to the point where I simply wanted to add some powered speakers behind the fabric grille. It did make some good suggestions, like mounting a 3.5 mm panel jack for audio input.
My initial plan was to “thrift” everything, but with some things that’s not going to be easy. For speakers, I wanted AC powered + 3.5mm input + maybe Bluetooth, and that’s not going to be in a thrift store. I’m probably going with the Edifier G1000 II ($53 new) rather than the Logitech Z407 ($80 eBay) - not because of price, but because with the Edifier I only have two speakers whereas the Logitech has a separate subwoofer. I’m not trying to rock the cabinet, just play some music.
Meshell Ndegeocello - “Virgo”
Her 2023 album “The Omnichord Real Book” won the first Grammy for the then-new category of “Best Alternative Jazz Album”.
Have any of the music distributors or streaming services updated their genre or sub-genre categories to include “Alternative Jazz”? That’s a rhetorical question meant to be said with sarcasm.
Meshell’s album was crafted, in part, with an older Omnichord. My 2025 album, “Omniessence”, was created with the update Omnichord OM-108 model. I have a small number of tracks on the “Timepieces” album that were made with the OM-108.
I don’t know what is meant by “Alternative Jazz”. Is it jazz with electronic or ambient influences? Does that mean Dave Douglas’ “High Risk” album qualifies retroactively? How about Miles Davis’ “In a Silent Way”? Could we include David Bowie’s “Blackstar”?
I’m not a fan of giving out awards for music or writing or any of the arts, especially the stupid Oscars. As my late mother-in-law once said, in a sarcastic way, “You know, they gave John Wayne an Oscar...”
Music isn’t a contest. Just because a submission gets licensed, or programmed on the radio, or heard in a playlist, or picked up by the algorithm and fed to others, or Shazam’d on somebody else’s phone, doesn’t mean you’ve “won” anything.
That said, I highly encourage others to listen to “Virgo” by Meshell Ndegeocello. It’s 8 1/2 minutes long, but quite a journey - “back to the stars...”
It’s funky, dreamy, groovy, drifting, jazzy, and shifts between all those moods before accelerating away at the end with amazing drumming.
So many cool projects. Love the radio, hope you’ll show us the final result too.