My introduction to the public restroom would have been in kindergarten, 1960–61. There were issues.
Continue reading “In the Can”In the Can
What’s This Feeling?
Now we shan’t never be parted.
It’s finished.
— Alec Scudder, from the film
Rob Berg and I released a thirty-year-old song by our band Bachelors Anonymous last week on the the occasion of the Winter Solstice; it also happened to be the birthday of Michael Tilson Thomas, whose work we knew as guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the early 1980s.
“What’s This Feeling?” asks a question that Rob posed to himself, and his affecting account is in the latest post from our BachelorBlog.
Continue reading “What’s This Feeling?”Idol not Idle
Billy Idol has a new music video. And four dates in Vegas.
At the Chelsea. In October.
I remember first hearing Idol’s band Generation X on Rodney Bingenheimer’s show on KROQ. I thought the song was titled “Wild Dove.” Rather, it was the dub side to their second single, “Wild Youth.” It sounded so mysterious, this up-paced power-pop tune pulled apart.
Continue reading “Idol not Idle”Friendship Band
Last time, I said I planned to toot the horn of a new songwriter (relatively speaking), but I will toot my own—and that of my wife Andrea Carney—along the way.
Continue reading “Friendship Band”Bachelors In the Land of Nod
Before I start tooting the horn of current songwriters—and shortly I will profile the thoughtful Dan Wriggins of Friendship—let me toot my own. Over the last six months my musical partner Rob Berg and I have released eighteen songs, ten of which never were issued before (unless you received a few as a homemade Christmas gift in 1987).
Continue reading “Bachelors In the Land of Nod”Portrait of Rudy Perez 5: Anatomy of a Performance 2
This fifth in a series of portraits of Rudy Perez is akin to the third: an anatomy of a performance. For background on the dancer-choreographer Ruth St. Denis and her consort Ted Shawn, see Egyptian Deities and Jacob’s Pillow from Portrait of Rudy Perez 4.
Continue reading “Portrait of Rudy Perez 5: Anatomy of a Performance 2”The Old Normal
I was annoyed Tuesday when the Biden-Harris tribute to the 400,000 fallen included that old, mm…, warhorse “Amazing Grace.” I muttered to my wife Andrea Carney, “Well, as long as they don’t trot out ‘Hallelujah’…,” which of course they did. “Amazing Grace” showed up time and again during the inaugural spectacle.
Continue reading “The Old Normal”Portrait of Rudy Perez 4: Lingering in Spaces
I do what I do because
that’s what I do, and if
I didn’t do it who would?
— Rudy Perez
In talking with Rudy Perez about his career’s performances over the last nine months (see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3), I noticed how many took place in art spaces. Of course, by the time I met Rudy in 1980, performances—dance and otherwise—were often hosted by galleries—large and small, for-profit and non. What follows are reminiscences of such productions during the years before I left Los Angeles for Denver in 2005, including bits from our conversations earlier this month.
Continue reading “Portrait of Rudy Perez 4: Lingering in Spaces”Bachelors Anonymous
Most of our readers will know why I haven’t posted here for two months. In preparing for Portrait of Rudy Perez 2: Remain in Light in June, my musical partner Rob Berg and I dusted off music we hadn’t visited in decades.
Continue reading “Bachelors Anonymous”Islands Past: Future Islands’ “Thrill”
I remember seeing the band Future Islands on a late night show, except that I rarely watch network television. It must have been their “Seasons (Waiting On You)” from Letterman’s Late Show in 2014 before Colbert took over. I thought, “Joe Cocker lives.” And I swear I recall telling my wife Andrea about lead singer Sam Herring: “He looks like he’s about to pee his pants.” That was then.
Continue reading “Islands Past: Future Islands’ “Thrill””