The real-life flaws of Peter, Jonah, Sarah, and Ada can often make for too bright a beacon to follow for too long.
But it’s a brightness that we all can’t help noticing, and recognizing as a mirror to some of our own personal struggles in life. No filter, no apologies, life and our largely unaided navigation of our way through it can often be a big fuckin bitch – but what a big, beautiful bitch it can sometimes be. And, in the end, who’d have wanted to miss it!?
Join Jonah, Sarah, Peter, Ada and the rest of their gang as they all do their very best to navigate their way through a rugged, urban reality of hard drugs, questionable sex, and, of course, a shitload of rock ‘n’ roll.
Peter Palermo
“Every time I get it right, have I ever done shit right? Some half-ass glimpse into the light can leave you dark but feeling bright.”
– Holding On, Songs from the Little Blue House
Charismatic, head-strong lead singer and co-founder of Run By The Gun. Husband of Ada, father of Aria. Extremely talented and powerfully single-minded, Peter’s deep obsession with becoming a superstar at any and all costs makes him oblivious to whatever collateral damage his choices may cause for those around him. Surprisingly resourceful (where his own desires are concerned), Peter has a grand vision and pursues Jonah as a partner, despite Jonah’s open distrust and possible dislike of Peter.
Ada Palermo
“I tell her what to do, she do the other thing. I tell her shut her mouth, but she just got to sing.”
– Bits Into Pieces, Songs from the Little Blue House
Wife to Peter Palermo, mother of Aria, Ada is a tough street punk, reared in a troubled home on the wrong side of the tracks. Wooed by the seemingly upper-middle-class stability of Peter’s family, Ada eventually marries Peter, right out of high school, with starry-eyed dreams of glamorous parties and a lavish lifestyle; backstage passes, rockstar money, an MTV-cribs-style mansion, and 2nd-hand celebrity status as a superstar rock ‘n’ roll wife – all on the coattails of Peter’s ginormous talent and singular charisma. But wishes of fame aside, she really does love Peter and believes in him deeply.
Jonah Gunn
“Everything’s dead to your mind’s eye, you can’t see, or you won’t see. We ought to be dead instead of feeling high, it can’t be, it can’t be.”
– The Misanthrope, Songs from the Little Blue House
Our story’s detrimentally passionate artist. A surly, misanthropic figure who suffers seemingly everything but fools, Jonah is a man of self-styled mystery and very few friends. His engaging songwriting, and scant but effective live performances have afforded him a sort of local-legendary status in the L.E.S. Nonplussed and a loner by nature, Jonah moves primarily at night, and almost totally in secret. While Jonah and Peter’s relationship seems to run deep, Jonah’s trust in Peter most definitely does not. And although Jonah’s songs are generally liked by his peers and audiences, Jonah seems to hold his own talent in frustrated disdain, never satisfied or believing that he is actually good, always searching for a way to be better; to someday pen the perfect song.
Sarah Engel
“Drunk and in a fog on Driggs Street in the dark, pink, morning light. I can’t remember where I was or who I fucked last night.”
– Something Like A Shadow, Songs from the Little Blue House
L.E.S. scenester, unwitting muse and occasional girlfriend to Jonah Gunn. Sarah mysteriously appears on the L.E.S. scene and immediately, magically draws the powerful romantic attention of her circle’s guys and girls alike…often leaving suitors crying and begging outside the window of her enviable Brooklyn apartment. Sarah moves through life oblivious to the pain she inadvertently causes others with her fiery passion and a bewitching beauty that most want to possess but few can actually handle. A diligent, disciplined photographer’s assistant by trade, Sarah’s true depths have yet to be plumbed by any of the crew she has stumbled upon and claimed as her erstwhile peers-in-arms. A truly wild thing, do Sarah’s feelings for Jonah stem from something real?