From Uncle Milo's Journal

“The time is near; Felix is ready. He will reach the age of thirteen on the day of the Summer Solstice, Sybian’s feast, just as I did years ago, when the Voluptuous One chose me as her agent. Ever since he was entrusted to me by his mother, I have been slowly bringing the boy along. He already is proficient on the piano and violin. Working at the factory, he has developed his body, and two days a week, I assign him to work with the ladies at the presses, to surround him with womanflesh. Through their singing and dancing after work, they have instilled in him a love of music and life and a fascination with the opposite sex. All this is according to the wishes of the Saint.

On the day following his birthday, I will send him on an errand to the grotto, to the “Il Bucco Glorioso”, where I first heard Sybian’s voice. There she will personally baptize, confirm and ordain Felix as her priest, and I will become his servant.”

"The Grotto of St. Sybian"

The earliest composition we have, this was written when Felix was a still a teenager and very much aglow from his encounters with Sybian. It is written in English, already showing Maxine’s influence, since she spoke the language fluently. Felix made up the tune and the words first, then added the accompaniment. Originally there was a part for accordion, but that was replaced by piano.

"The Grotto of St.Sybian....

It’s the knock on the door when there’s nobody there,
And the kindness of strangers with nothing to share,
To the night full of darkness and wind,
You are neither a stranger nor friend.

It’s a tap on the window when all is shut tight,
And nobody can reach you, but somebody might.
To a night without stranger or friend,
You are nothing but darkness and wind.

And an ill wind is blowing through Eden tonight,
And a strange moon is casting its ominous light,
And the mourning dove sings as she sleeps,
And the falcon a vigil he keeps.

And a lady in white walks the path to the sea;
And a figure in black guards the way faithfully.
In a grotto your fate is assured,
But the sentinel hears not a word.

And a young girl is dancing where no one can see
Around fires that were set so mysteriously.
And she’s wearing your heart on her sleeve
Dancing on and on without reprieve,
On the grave of the things you believe.


And she motions the falcon who screams out the way.
And you’re drawn to the sea like a dog to its prey.
And the lady in white spreads her cloak.
To the night you are madness and smoke.

And it’s all for the love that was lost long ago,
And for reasons and rhymes no one ever will know,
And the wars that are fought for your soul.








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"The Mausoleum at Rosarno" ("Shallow Graves Singing")

Felix had written “Shallow Graves” as a serenade for Mia for one of their wedding nights, four or five years earlier. An instrumental for String Quartet and Piano, the title refers to the timelessness and immortality of real love. He often performed it at Maxine’s garden galas, with Mia improvising a dance. Once settled in Chicago, living in a transient’s hotel next to a music school where he worked as a janitor, the exiled composer returned to his serenade, “Shallow Graves”, adding vocal parts to the tender melodies. Entitled “The Mausoleum at Rosarno”(“Shallow Graves Singing,”) it was performed by the students and faculty of the school at an evening end-of the-year concert. Felix Sebastian Culpa was last seen at the afternoon rehearsal, standing by the back door, listening in the shadows.

Shallow Graves Sin...

They’re standing in a room,
A room of memories,
A looking glass, a loving cup, pictures in need of frames;
The things they saved for their importance.

She sees him as he is,
He sees her as she was,
While in a room they’ve yet to see, tomorrow dances all alone,
To music, mute, but in their dreaming.

Like lovers everywhere,
Lost in hyperbole,
They think that they are all alone, that they’re the only ones
To whom this moment is occurring.

We see them in that room;
We think it all in vain.
She cannot help but see, he cannot turn away. They sacrifice
The things they saved for their protection.

Don’t worry they can’t hear you.
They are what we were once, and what we someday are to be:
Timeless souls in shallow graves, never once knowing.

Someday what we now see,
Will cry out to be framed.
Around some vague, enormous room together we will dance,
To music, mute, but in our sighing.

Don’t worry they can’t harm you.
They are what you have hid,
Buried in shallow graves.

They’re standing in a room.
The room is very still.
The light begins to fade.
The dance has just begun.
The room is spinning.

“Nothing meant to be can ever be denied,
Though in our hearts we’ve often tried.
Somewhere out beyond the fear our hearts contain
Motionless bits of dreams remain.”

“Good Night, my love, with whom I rest in all my dreams.
A vague, enormous room appears, and from all time,
And for all time,
We’re free.”


Felix S. Culpa

Sybian's Secret Admirer?

[This antique image of St. Sybian was found in Bishop Bassani's bedroom at his palazzo,under a small altar wrapped in a red stole.]

After Bishop Bassanni lost his episcopal ring most unceremoniously, along with his ring finger, the Vatican Curia moved fast to control this public relations disaster. In the middle of the night, he was visited by a Monsignore and told to pack whatever would fit in two valises. He was immediately transferred out of the country and assigned to a rectory in a community where he would not be recognized: the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. And when he wanted to arrange for female companionship he was told to contact a certain Señor Pedro Yarez.

Maxine in Chicago

Publicity photo of Maxine.
Photo courtesy of "Sybian Dance of Chicago

Maxine followed Felix to America, to Chicago, where she started her own “Sybian Dance Troupe” in a spare classroom at a music school. Felix, who worked as a janitor at the school, would often improvise on the piano or accordion for her classes. Felix introduced Maxine to his new friend, Pedro. Lust instantly took over. Senor Yarez took her hand and said, “To what do I owe this pleasure?” And like the trained dancing Sybarite horses that, in the heat of battle, promptly danced over to the enemy’s side, the battle of charms was over.

Pedro Yarez was born and raised in Havana and won the trust of Castro who put him in charge of his covert harem and his cabana-sized cigar humidor. When doctors told Fidel he had to give up cigars, he tore down not only the humidor, but also the harem. (What good was sex without a cigar afterwards?) It was then that Castro discovered Pedro had been helping himself quite generously to the inventory of both places. Along with his brother, he escaped to Miami, where he worked as a cook, bouncer and bodyguard, before becoming involved in the drug and sex trade. He moved to Chicago, where on a summer evening in Humboldt Park, he met Felix S. Culpa.

In a street café, over beer and a game of dominoes, the two shared how cruel fate could be. Feeling a camaraderie with Felix, Pedro traded a night with two of his finest girls for some music and poetry. A true Cuban, he was a hopeless romantic. “Sentiment will kill me,” he said, and a while later, it did.

Even after she moved in with Pedro, she continued to act as a Felix’s muse and caretaker of his music. To supplement her income, Pedro got her a job at the Admiral Theater, where he worked part-time as a bouncer. “Exotic Dancing” came naturally to her.


Maxine at the Admiral theater, Chicago.
Photo courtesy of Pedro Yarez Estate

Photos from Maxine's Album

A teen-age Maxine, shortly after meeting Felix


Maxine, far back right, with Sybian novices.