Las Aldilas Vagas

Been doing it forever,

Since the marrow was cased in mere mallow,

Mauve as the shadow uncast from my hollow,

Man.



Chris Leo was born in 1974 in Belleville, the provincial capital of the region known for that century as the the Pasta Triangle, in the Garden State (".like an immense barrel, filled with good things to eat, and open at both ends with Pennsylvanians grabbing from one end and the New Yorkers from the other") of New Jersey. And like that Jersey stuck between the cancering behemoths; like that Jersey neither American Heartland proper nor New York City ever; like that Belleville neither Newark black nor Montclair wasp (and ditto for all Irish-Italo-Americans!); standing 5"9' like the tallest Bolivian and the shortest Swede; like being born the middle son of the only consciable lawyer who would tithe a Paraguayan GDP while hiding an equivalent from the IRS (hypothetically); like being raised in the biggest house of an inner-suburban town blighted by white flight; Chris Leo's lot has been cast circumstantially as mediator provacateur. Pushed not to the outside periphery, but to all edges of the inside, stuck in such a middle, he couldn't help but figure most of it out.

He sees a lot of obvious simple things you may have overlooked on your quest for grand notions, like how having nowhere to fall means there's nowhere to fall; like how intimacy is fine, one should try it all the time; like how straight men call the entrails of animals dinner yet navigate around the human form with prudence (with women) and chastity (with other men); like whether words/swords/sordid/or order, if you never tire stretching the truth the drawn out ends eventually meet up again; and other wicked smart things.

He is the author of the novels "White Pigeons" and "57 Octaves Below the Middle C Buzzed by the Bee", the cantautore behind over ten albums with over ten bands, and the curator and creator (along with poet Jon Curley) of the legendary "Haiti's Hades Harlequins' Hymns" lyrics vs poetry vernissageries. Though "wherever he lays his hat is his home" is still loosely true, principally his time is divided between between Cupra Marittima in Le Marche and Washington Heights in Manhattan.



Chronology:

Writing:

"White" Pigeons, novel (2004, Fifth Planet)

Tanakh's "Ardent Fevers" and "Saunders Hollow" liner notes (2005, Alien 8)

57 Octaves Below the Middle C Buzzed by the Bee, novel (2006, Fifth Planet)

"Sky Juice" recipe in "I Like Food, Food Tastes Good" (2006, Hyperion)

"Carnation", novel (2007)

The Gang "Zero Hits" liner notes (2008, Absolutely Kosher)

"Santi: Lives of Modern Saints", "Saints Senza Senso" intro to anthology (2008, Black Arrow)

Historics "Stratagies for Apprehension" liner notes (2008)

"Irreverent English", screenplay (2008)

"The River Plate Teconics", dictionary with glossary (2008 -- )

"Zits as Cannons Poised" short in "23" anthology (2008, Heartworm)

"Feathers Like Leather", anthology (2009, Heartworm)



Music (less singles, cameos, and complilations):

"Today Puberty, Tomorrow the World" lp, by Native Nod (1993, Gern Blansten)

"Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves" lp, by The Van Pelt (1995, Gern Blansten)

"Sultans of Sentiment" lp, by The Van Pelt (1996, Gern Blansten)

"The True Story of the Bridgewater Astral League" lp, by World/Inferno Friendship Society (1997, Gern Blansten)

"The Speeding Train" ep, by The Van Pelt (1997, Lumberjack)

"Betrayal" lp, by The Lapse (1998, Gern Blansten)

"Heaven Aint Happenin'" lp, by The Lapse (2000, Southern)

"Truth Loved" lp, by Vague Angels (2004, Fifth Planet/Expect Candy)

"Let's Duke it Out at Kilkenny Katz" lp, by Vague Angels (2006, Pretty Activity)

"The Sunny Day I Caught Tintarella di Luna for a Picnic at the Cemetery" lp, by Chris Leo's Vague Angels (OUT MAY 28, 2010, Expect Candy)



Films:

"It Sucks to Have a Day Off" (2006, Black Arrow)



Picked up my first guitar in the late 80's when, after what seemed like an endless run at flawlessness, even blacks fell to that decades fashion dementia. Still couldn't kill the music though: