Today, January 11, 2025 we are compelled to offer expressions of empathy to the Angelenos who’ve been affected by the devastating wildfires. Bachelor Rob still resides in Hollywood, which thankfully remains intact.
Today also was to have seen the debut of our new five-song EP, Like, featuring the title track followed by “Heads in the Clouds,” “J.P.P. McStep B. Blues” (a Jefferson Airplane cover), “Salt Doll Gita” (a vocal version of the “Salt Doll” instrumental issued in 2021), and “Exercise in Eternity” (an instrumental version of “Exercise in Revolution” released in 2022). Given that our digital distributor hasn’t finished vetting the songs for Like’s release, we’re taking this opportunity to catch up on recent events.
Rudy Perez Retrospective
On November 24, 2024 Bachelors Anonymous was honored to contribute music to a Rudy Perez Retrospective on what would have been his 95th birthday. It was held in Santa Monica at Highways Performance Space as part of the venue’s 35th anniversary celebration. Both Rob and David were in attendance, finally meeting in person Sarah Swenson, a member of the Rudy Perez Performance Ensemble and assistant extraordinaire to Rudy during his last years.
Rudy Perez appears among a who’s who of local artists on May 7, 1989, during the grand opening weekend of Highways Performance Space; it was a discussion of the writing of Jackie Apple, the event’s MC, that began David’s several conversations with Rudy in 2020.
November’s concert featured Rudy’s work from 1963 through 2015. While Rob (and David) worked with him in 1991 on the unabridged performance titled Made in L.A., Rob still hadn’t been exposed to much of Rudy’s live choreography, having only viewed the videotapes Rudy showed us. On our way home after the retrospective performance, Rob remarked on the Zen-like intentionality of many of the pieces. That’s a hallmark of Rudy’s work, incorporating the Rudy Perez gaze: focused yet exposed. As critic Steven Vargas (LA Dance Chronicle) commented a few days later on Slate in 3 Parts (2015), which opened the live portion of the retrospective:
The piece was all about intention. Sitting in a diagonal line, dancers turn their heads in the same direction, one by one, and give something in the distance their undivided attention before flicking a foot in the same direction. What struck me most was how specific each moment was. Perez ensured that each step was informed by the last. Notably, the eyes guided the choreography forward. This intention is visible throughout, but especially in pieces involving chairs.
Performing that afternoon were Anne Grimaldo (née Goodman) and Jeff Grimaldo who both had performed in the Made in L.A. debut, Jarred Cairns, Alessia Patregnani, Sarah Swenson, Isabel Van Zijl, and guest Mona Jean Cedar. The concert’s scope is best described in detail by Vargas as well as Victoria Looseleaf (Fjord Review), but the two citations below cover our collaboration. Spiritual Quest, subtitled Loop I (Rudy’s original moniker for this section), features the Bachelors’ score, which alternated with passages from Vivaldi’s two mandolin concertos.
Steven Vargas:
This is a performance about finding joy in the grief. As the dancers of “Spiritual Quest” perform Perez’s choreography filled with turns and repetition, they start to get dizzy as the tempo speeds up. The turns become urgent. In the midst of the chaos, the dancers find themselves stumbling. Instead of panicking to keep up, they smile at the misstep. After all, this is a birthday celebration. In the end, it doesn’t matter how well done the choreography is. I’m sure it was not Perez’s intention anyway. The ensemble gave the works respect, submitting their attention and effort to Perez’s choreography.
Victoria Looseleaf:
[…] “Spiritual Quest, Loop 1” (1991), featured the group minus Patregnani, cavorting with umbrellas, another useful prop used with intention. Set to David Hughes and Robert Berg’s electronic score, one alternating with Vivaldi, the work also vacillated between the courtliness of the Renaissance with something akin to an E.T.-like crew, motley but smiling, with dancers occasionally lying prone on the floor and acknowledging the absurdities of life.
⊕ More on Made in L.A. and the Bachelors’ score available here.
Dark Entries’ Deep Entries
In August of 2023, the Bachelors caught up with David’s old friends Edward Stapleton and Michael Intriere at Michael’s home in Malibu. (Fortunately Michael is safe from harm from the coastal fires.) While walking on the beach, Edward mentioned that a guy from a record company, Josh Cheon, might be interested in reissuing some Bachelors Anonymous tunes. Cheon is the proprietor of Dark Entries Records, which, as Edward modestly didn’t mention, reissued his band Nervous Gender’s Music from Hell, on both vinyl and and CD (an album I had a little bit to do with).
We wrote to Cheon in October to introduce ourselves only to find that Edward already had forwarded him our track “A Stranger’s Bed.” Cheon wanted to include it on a compilation album in June to mark his label’s 15th anniversary (and Pride month). Within a week we’d inked a contract, but June came and went. We’d kinda forgotten about the album until David received “A Stranger’s Bed” in his YouTube feed on December 30.
The Bachelors’ track is included in the compilation LP (yes: vinyl…) titled Deep Entries: Gay Electronic Excursions 1979–1985. It was issued “on December 1st in honor of World AIDS Day,” according to the LP’s writeup, “and proceeds will go to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.” Per the writeup:
One of Dark Entries’ most important missions has been illuminating neglected facets of gay musical history, with crucial archival works by legends like Patrick Cowley, Sylvester, and Man Parrish. On Deep Entries, the label spans 6 years of gay electronics—from sultry to angsty to camp, these songs are overflowing with snappy 808 snares and sinewy analog synth leads. The ’80s were a difficult period for many in the gay community as they grappled with the horrors of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The 10 tracks on Deep Entries, varied in genre and vibe, are united in their portraiture of 1980s gay life, and the hope for love or fleeting romance.
In addition to the legendary Cowley, the other artists on the LP are Maxx Mann, Boytronik, Muzak, Dereck Higgins, Transistor Jet, Polar Praxis, Nightmares, and Megamen.
⊕ Read more on “A Stranger’s Bed” and the album it appears on.