Check out the "Gothic Jazz" playlist of live performances streamed from my youtube channel:
But truth be told, several childhood traumas speak through me, the Ages, my cousin ID, God and the Devil, (whereas saints tend to leave me alone...) several demons whose names may not here be known, growing up Roman Catholic, Hermes, Dracula, Dionysus, a bunch of grapelike and screechy cherubs, dakinis of various flares, and whatever else may be lurking in the air about my Ouja board.
And on more than one occasion I have been victimized by a muse, made to sing her song just the way she wanted it, no compromise.
Here is the proof of one of the most fun times making art I've ever had in my entire life...
Influences
The Moon, the Muses, Life. The sensation of flying. Gods. Goddesses. The lucid dream.
Poets: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Issa, Basho, Seamus Heaney, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Rilke, W. H. Auden, Lord Byron, Anais Nin, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Sylvia Plath, Nietzsche, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Baudelaire, Rumi
Here are poetic pieces dealing with a vast array of subjects from Punk rock-love, to clouds and grass, to the End of Times, to radical re-interpretive Christianity, to anal sex cherries my youtube channel
Singers/Musicians: Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, John Lennon, John Kay, Devendra Banhart, Morrissey, Georges Brassens, Ella Fitzgerald
Films: The Happiness of the Katakuris, The Neverending Story, The Matrix, Repulsion, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves, The Idiots, Hara Kiri, Fargo, Pi, Batman, Enter the Dragon, The Crow, The Lion in Winter, Risky Business, Interview with the Vampire, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, Amazon Women on the Moon, Terminator 2, Elizabeth, Trainspotting, The Sword in the Stone, Pulp Fiction(!!), Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, As Good As it Gets, The Aristocrats, Zatoichi, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas(!!), Die Hard, Bloodsport, Marked for Death, Drunken Master 2, Half a Loaf of Kung-fu, Iron Monkey, The Devil's Advocate, and Ghost (though I will never-ever watch it again, not even for sex).
Sounds Like
Incarnation 1: Leonard Cohen meets Nine Inch Nails.
Incarnation 2: Bill Hicks with a guitar
Incarnation 3: Some guy talking. There seems to be enough resolution and authority in his voice to convince yourself that he thinks what he is saying makes sense.
And here's what some Van-Slammers and patrons and patriots of the Republic of East Vancouver have off-handedly said:
"CJ, I don't know whether you're a genius, or just a bad person." - Clint "Fathergoose" Wilson
"...this pushes some kind of 'weird' button..." - Magpie Ulysses
'This is Art, and despite his self-deprecating humour, Leon is serious about his Art.' - Jeremiah Sutherland, Bullfrog Music Reviews bullfrogmusic.com
"Well, you're not pretending." - Jess Hill
"CJ, the dirtiest boy I know." - Ruth Jessica Joyce Mason-Paull
"He smokes too much pot." - Sean McGarragle
"A great performer!" - T. L. Groves
"You are the only writer here who is consistently, shockingly good! Even your anal sex poem." - anonymous fleeing female patron
"Thank-you, CJ!" - written in permanent marker over the urinal in the men..s room at Cafe Deux Soleils, probably about my anal sex ice-breaker
"You may change the way people do this." - Barbara Adler
"Inspiring!" "An invention madman!" - Al Mader, the Minimalist Jug Band
"Brilliant! I like where you're going." - R. C. Weslowski
"I've met you eight or ten times. What's your name again?" - Shayne Koyczan
"The voice of a generation?" - Mark Harris
"BOOOOOOOOO!" - The Victoria Slam Team
"He's worth it!" - Mighty Mike McGee
THIS IS FUN! Here's an interview I did on thatradio.com. The interview with me starts at 1:30 (or 90 minutes in), so just click and watch.
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This is the bomb! Please, please checkout my feature on the Wax Poetic Radio Show, that aired live May 7th, 2008, and brought to you by the magic of digital archiving! The files are small and the interview begins 47:30 into the first file.
The interview includes several readings of never-before-performed works and a discussion of my belief in the social responsibilities of art, mathematics and poetry as linguistic games, and self-cutting: Biblical and contemporary.
Here's the new album, "Street Corner Gothic" on youtube. Bleak as fuck, funnier than hell, its stories are told here with montages of images and scenes from East Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria, and interior B.C.
Feel free to send me a note at museslave(at)gmail. I love when people do that!
There was a time, there was a year; once, it all began. Yes, that was the time, and that was the year; yes, it all began.
Since that time, a plethora of events, and near brushes with madness, have left me the quirky 29 year-old writer, musician, and spoken word and new-media artist whom you may know by the name of Clinton John Leon.
Or you may know me by some other name, some pet name, some curse, some moniker, all naturally depending on our level of intimacy.
And maybe you find me not much of an eccentric, but then, you may not know me well.
On stage, I am a button-pusher. My frequent jokes are bleak, my subject matters often haunting. I am a beatbox poet, comedian, and dark as night gothic songwriter. My songs have been described as "Beautiful if you don't listen to the lyrics; otherwise, depressing, but still beautiful." (Lady Jessica of the Foxy House)
I have written 4 book-length collections of free-verse poems (Unfamiliar Streets; Spin the Handle; Peacock Lepers; Notes from the Silver Lining Cafe) and one chapbook containing a long poem about a woman who turns her son's suicide into an installation art piece (Breakthrough).
I have made three CD's of music and spoken word (Black Socks or None at All; Nuclear Dawn; Cold Clay); and one CD "Street Corner Gothic" of "Gothic Jazz", the darkest most depressing lyrical jazz that will still make you laugh with smooth jazz accompaniment.
Here are some kitchen-style live performances from the "Saddest Songs" playlist on my youtube channel
The first one, a full-length CD, you'd probably think kinda sucks if you aren't a story-teller or songwriter. The second, full-length, is good to those who can dig a dose of classical guitar and ecstatic low-fi song composition. The third, an EP, can be enjoyed by all lovers of shadowy aesthetic, of darkly beautiful things.
My new album "Street Corner Gothic" of super-bleak and upbeat jazz tunes has now been recorded! I am currently excited about releasing video-tracks on youtube.
I am thrilled to be releasing my first children's book "The Ogre and the Fairy" which has been illustrated by Rebecca Gindin-Clarke. It is a tragedy written in the style of a Romantic fairy tale. I have recorded an audiotext with a score and hope to make that available online at some point in the near future.
I have been making beautiful collisions of sound with industrial noise artist Andrew Scott, aka The Whip of the UFO, and look forward to more live performances and recordings with this most fascinating human.
A fifth book-length collection of erotic verse is forth-coming.
Also, some form of the work that kept me alive on my 27th birthday: The Mansion is on it's way into the larger conciousness. It is a long poem about a murderous megalomaniac who has a clone farm to continue his artistic legacy (autobiographical). I am looking for the right scary artist to illustrate this; so please feel free to post scary art to the comments section!
I am the organizer of all kinds of fun shows, some darker than others including: "The Apocalypse Roadshow: Cabaret for the End of the Word", and "The Weird Word: Tales and Tunes of Eccentric Genius" both of these events usually take place at Cafe Deux Soleils and are multi-media dark, strange, and wonderful nights of song, story, poetry, visual, and performance art shows.
A current project of mine involves the creation of a youtube channel and facebook group for the East Vancouver Network of Love. The purpose of this endeavour is to promote Vancouver artists who are obviously amazing. Please check them out here: the EVNWL youtube channel
I have lived so many lives, from frequenter of Suser's (which with 4 and 1/2 stars is the highest-rated restaurant in Toronto), to finding my necessities on the roadside, come what may (the no frills approach).
All lifestyles have had their advantages and motivations, their disadvantages and desperations.
Or maybe it is just that these have always been me.
Internet sales will help me out greatly as my current economic situation is, shall we say, troubled; and thank-you to everyone who shares the simple word of my existence to those who appreciate music and poetry. Click the terrible pictures to buy the amazing art!
Do it. You'll feel better about yourself and the world you live in.
What's that? You don't use e-money? Drop me an email and we'll do it like hippies... no frills, plastic, or unnecessary electronic devices. I'll give you my mailing address. Don't be shy. I'm not. I mean, how are you ever going to stalk me if you don't know where I live? Seriously, though, it's just like going to the store, but you do it by mail, with cheques and letters. Easy, personal, and a great help. Yay, help!
Cold Clay EP
"At this level of 'Art', the artist is demonstrating to other artists just how far he is above the common herd." Jeremiah Sutherland, Bullfrog Music Reviews read full review here
This limited edition project has 5 tracks: Bye-bye, Butterflies (like the one currently in the embedded player); Rising Sun; Cold Clay; Language of Flowers; Crucifixes. It features hand-drawn CD labels, a portrait photo by award-winning photographer Jim Allen, and envelopes individually stamped with my vinyl-cut 'No Butterflies' logo. It's 100% DIY, 80% stellar bad-ass lyrical song and guitar composition vs. 20% bad-ass poetry. You saw me performing this shit live in my kitchen on youtube. Now, get the real deal. Listen with headphones... there's all kinds of fun stuff going on.
This is my latest full-length book: Notes from the Silver Lining Cafe. It has the poem "Crucifixes", which is in the embedded player, and the tuberculosis story, and... And... AND... it's the book that got me criticisms like "...perhaps the most important young poetic voice in Canada..." "...challenging centuries-old conceptions..." "...vivid depictions of the beauty of poverty and despair at turns brutal and hilarious, often in the same breath..." and... And... AND... several hundred people look at my videos on youtube and listen to my songs and read my blogs on myspace for free everyday. Could some of you just buy my freakin' books or CD? Geez, I'm eating out of dumpsters and losing my apartment, here! With great humility, praying daily for the Goddess' mercy, thanks, CJ. PS- It comes with glitter! Glitter for X-sakes!
Here's a really bad picture of my self-published book: Peacock Lepers. Those green splotches are stamps I made of disintegrating peacocks in mummy-shrouds. (Get it?) I get the most kicks out of this work. It's the one that has my most signature imaginative dark-hilarity. You will notice the influence of Bill Hicks and the Japanese writers such as Issa and Ryokan (well, if you know them, that is). "Stop Breathing, Start Deathing" and "Phone Messages I Would Rather Not Have Had in My Inbox" are the funniest works dealing with suicide in existence. Read the lyrics to "Bye-bye, Butterflies" (on youtube, or above) and understand my facility for making suicide fun. Or, at least, fun-ny. This is the book that made Fathergoose, a twisted dark poet and children's performer comment: "CJ, I don't know whether you're a genius, or just a bad person." Read it to your kids at bed-time; they won't hate you for years to come.
Hello. I've been watching some of your videos on the tube. It's bloody good stuff man. I go to Las Vegas Academy of the arts as a jazz major. If you're ever down here man. Accompany some of our stuff yes? Check us out.
Okay, so we've found 38 of the 40 magnets, haha. (You were correct--there are exactly 40; one of the bracelets didn't actually break, and we found it behind the subwoofer.)
Sorry I wussed out on you guys after contacting you first! What a dork! .....so sleepy (yawn). We'll see you soon, though. I am excited to wear my petticoat at the big show.
Online Now!
