Chris' blog...

57 Octaves Below the Middle C Buzzed by the Bee (or Really) How I Lost This Place is a jaunty exploration of the romance of paradox and, inextricably converse, the paradox of romance. New York City tour guide Steven Schecker is on a smoke break with fellow tour guides debating the etymologies, chronologies, and mysteries of everything as it relates to New York City (as in everything) when he spots his girlfriend's mother across the street and the two take off by foot and by tour bus around the city in which the city is presented as metaphor for his girlfriend/her daughter and her daughter/his girlfriend functions as a metaphor for the city and the two continue to spiral together and swap polarities until a dramatic conclusion over cocktails at happy hour is a given.

Words by Chris Leo:
Chris Leo, the mythical troubador flaneur who scored higher on the New York City tour guide exam than anyone else in the city -- neither Philip Lopate nor Speed Levitch can claim this -- is also responsible for the novels White Pigeons and We Pulse in Pink, the children's book Coomoococklemungmung illustrated by Buenos Aires' Francesca Massai, and over ten albums over the past two decades with bands like The Van Pelt, The Lapse, and currently, Vague Angels. Though hailing from the Leo New Jersey art dynasty (brother of Ted, Dan, and Amy), when not on tour he divides his time between Manhattan and Cupra Marittima, Italy.

Drawings by Marcellus Hall:
Marcellus Hall's illustrations have graced the pages of The New Yorker, Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, and The New York Times. His first cover for The New Yorker was published in 2005. He has won recognition from American Illustration, The Society of Illustrators, and Communication Arts. Marcellus Hall created the comic strip Bill Dogbreath for alternative weekly newspapers in the 1990s. He contributed an 8-page illustrated narrative to the literary journal Open City #18 and has self-published booklets of writings and
drawings including 2003's "Legends of the Infinite City - Drawings of New York." As a songwriter and singer Marcellus Hall has fronted bands Railroad Jerk and White Hassle, releasing albums and touring Europe, Japan, and North America. An exhibit of his illustrations and sketches was held at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005 and his illustrated tour diaries can be found on the web. In 2004 he wrote and illustrated a weeklong journal for Slate.com.

2/16/2006 If your copy of White Pigeons has a Vague Angels cd pressed with a lecture on "An Appraisal of the Impact of Comorbid Sleep Disturbances and Anxiety Disorders", you are one of a handfull of lucky listeners! Contact us and we'll send you the Vague Angels' Truth Loved audio.

1/30/2006
The Vague Angels' album that worked itself out of 57 Octaves Below the Middle C, "Let's Duke It Out At Kilkenny Katz'" is available on Prety Activity records March 2006.

1/3/2006
"Secondhand Smoke" video courtesy of DTEK DIGITAL MEDIA

1/2006
The identities of the once anonymous Vague Angels musicians who performed the role of The Breaks in Chapter 7 have been uncovered since the first pressing of this book:

Chris Leo performed the role of "Chris, Singer and Lyricist of The Breaks" on every track except 10. Chris Leo also performed the role of "Chris, Guitarist of The Breaks" on all tracks except 3, in which Don Devore both performed and wrote said role. Don Devore also played the role of "Don, the Bassist" on tracks 1,2, and 3, 7, 9, and 11. Jason Kourkounis performed the role of "Much-Sought-After-Impossible-To-Hold-On-To-Drummer" on tracks 1,2, and 3. Gibb Slife performed the same role on tracks 4 and 6. Danny Leo, too, performed said role on tracks 7,9, and 11.
Jhonny Leo performed the role of "Cousin Johnny the Drummer" on tracks 5 and 8. Pete Slife played the role of "Bassist-With-Other-Things-On-His-Mind" on tracks 4 and 6. Gary Keating performed the same role on track 8. Gary Keating also performed the role of "Chris, Guitarist of The Breaks" on two layers of guitar on track 8. Andy McCarthy played the banjo for his role as "Studio-Sessioniere-Paid-Better-Than-Band" on track 5.
Kate Merrick lives the role of "Kate Merrick, the Girl with the Beautiful Voice" on track 12. Norman Coady, Amy leo, Jhonny Leo, Danny Leo, Kurt Heasley, Gary Keating, Chris Leo, and Andy McCarthy added hand-claps, snaps, giggles, and backround vocals on tracks 5,6,8, and 9.

Tracks 1,2, and 3 were recorded by Jeff Ziegler at Uniform Recordings in Philadelphia. Tracks 4 and 6 were recorded by Nicholas Vernes at the Rare Book Room in Brooklyn. Tracks 5,7,8,9 and 11 were recorded by Terrence Yerves at The Meat Locker in Philadelphia. Track 12 was recorded by Harvey Birrell at Southern Studios in London. The entire album was mastered by Alan Douches at West Westside in Englewood, NJ.

9/1/2005
A few words from Chris on Nostalgia: Let CBGB's R.I.P. Find Out Why Here

7/4/2005
"I won't take a blowjob from a sycophant " - Chris Leo interview on Rockwell Palace: Rockwellrock

1/15/05
We are almost out of the first pressing of White Pigeons. It is very important that at least the first editions of this book find themselves in warm homes; therefore, if you DID NOT LIKE White Pigeons we will be happy to refund your purchase in full as long as you send your copy back so we can redistribute it to it's originally intended owner. Simply drop it in the mail and inscribe 'I, John Doe, am returning this copy of White Pigeons because I did not like it' and we will rush your check right out to you.

11/13/04
It's hard to listen when you're being yelled at. Subtlety always works better. So when they threw Chris Leo into prison in Atoka, Oklahoma his band still played the show without him that night in Denton, Texas. When his van crashed en route to the Reading Festival on the M-1 outside of Manchester, sending most of his newly formed Glaswegian rhythm section to the hospital, he rented another bus, picked up fresh lads in Leeds and didn't miss a bill. When label upon label, ten drummers, and eight bass players picked him up and subsequently dropped him, it never occurred to Chris to wonder "maybe it's me." Neither angry INS officials on Rainbow Bridge threatening to refuse him entry into his own country nor Basque thugs who stole his tour van and held it ransom in San Sebastian could drive the point through his stubborn skull that his calling laid elsewhere. In the end, it took but a gentle kiss of a front fender against a rear bumber outside the Holland Tunnel one Fall morning on his way to band practice with his Philadelphian rhythm section that whispered a crack just loud enough to pique the Transit Authority cop's interest: an accident on a suspended license is bad bad news. Fortunately, it swept Chris' sea legs out from under him for long enough to do what any of us would have done if mired in a similar situation. He quit his bartending job, closed himself off from the world, holed up in a basement flat in Jackson Heights Queens, played and played and played, wrote and wrote and wrote, until eventually he emerged with White Pigeons, a novel and an album. In this seriously solid vision, no note, preposition, article, or flub is unaccounted for. Chris is as meticulous with his placement of profanities as he is anacreontic with his lofty ideals. Finally the wind beats at Mr. Leo's back rather than pounds against his chest. He's found his path and Fifth Planet Press is proud to offer you White Pigeons as proof.

Out now is the long awaited first fiction by writer Chris Leo. Chapter 7 is a CD recording of the fictitious band as played by Chris Leo's latest venture Vague Angels. Cover art by Marcellus Hall, and designed by Susan Archie.