Crosstalk:
All cables are antennas. They transmit and receive signals (technically, it's called mutual inductance). Power cables carry relatively *huge* signals compared to audio. In the US, it's 120VAC at 60Hz (a sine wave with 60 revolutions per second). Your audio cables pick this up just like a radio tunes to a station, except that 60Hz is already audible (radio stations require demodulation to separate the audio from the carrier).
HOWEVER you can reduce this effect if your cables cross at 90 degrees. The reason for this would take a long time to explain...so I won't.
Grounding:
Audio cables have a ground conductor. Most equipment has a three-prong, U-ground plug. Unless the equipment has a ground-lift feature, it's usually the case that the audio ground is connected to the U-ground in some way. So what happens if you connect two U-grounded pieces of gear with an audio cable? The U-ground of one is now effectively the same conductor as the U-ground of the other.
You want them plugged in as close together as possible; as closely in-phase as possible. Any signal which reaches them both at the same time will be rejected. The further apart, or the more delay between them, the more out of phase they become, and whatever signal hit them becomes audible (usually electronic noise from the earth itself).
Another solution is to only ground your highest-powered piece of equipment (like an amplifier, or mixer)...and to lift the U-ground of anything connected (directly or indirectly) to that device.
I hope this makes sense, if not, I can clarify.