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4 Reviews
Great DVD
dney Bingenheimer is a legend in Los Angeles rock circles. He has invented himself and reinvented himself over and over in a lifetime on the fringes and the front lines of music.
Rodney was a small boy, an outcast who retreated into a world of movie magazines. His mother was an autograph hound and she taught Rodney his deep love of celebrity and memorabilia. When he moved to Hollywood, Rodney became a focal point of the hippie counter-culture movement. Because of his size and his obvious good-hearted desire to make people happy, he was adapted by the guys and mothered by the girls in the Sunset Strip scene. Soon he had become gopher to pop stars Sonny & Cher and Davy Jones' stand-in on The Monkees. However, Rodney's true calling was as an arbiter of tastes. Bingenheimer championed obscure glam rock acts like David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Sweet. He became so entranced with the scene that he opened one of the seminal clubs of the era, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco. In the disco, normal folks hung out with huge stars.
When the English Disco closed down, Bingenheimer just picked up shop and took his passion to a tiny station called KROQ. In a way that would be impossible in today's radio world that is focus grouped to the max, Rodney just played what he liked and became a star for doing it. He was the first (in some cases only) DJ in the States to play acts like the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and Blondie. Sometimes the movie gives him more credit than may be deserved (no matter what the movie says, Rodney's discovery Dramarama was never more than a cult band with very sluggish sales.) However, if influence was currency, Rodney on the 'ROQ would be a rich man.
He isn't, of course. He lives in a cluttered LA apartment, but he still keeps his late mother's home in the Valley as an immaculate shrine. He drives around Hollywood driving vintage (read: old and decrepit) cars. He still wears his hair in a circa-'74 shag complete with bangs. Even now, he wears British Invasion jackets and goofy t-shirts and Beatles boots.
He is obviously in love with his best female friend, but she is just as obviously determined it is platonic. There is a surprisingly poignant scene where Rodney sits on his mother's bed with her and pussyfoots around the fact that he cares for her and that she is the type of woman that he has always felt he could spend his life with. She looks uncomfortable through the whole thing and then announces she "sort of" has a boyfriend and she considers Rodney to be just a friend. Though he is probably deeply stung by the comment, Rodney just sits there silent. It leaves the audience wondering if he is just completely unable to express his deeper feelings, or if he just somehow considered this outcome to be inevitable.
His father and mother-in-law seem to understand Bingenheimer no more than anyone else. Rodney obviously still worships his late mother, despite the fact that she abandoned him at fourteen. His best friend seems to be Kim Fowley, an aging singer, producer and renowned music biz sleaze ball. Fowley is every bit as bitter and angry and antagonistic as Bingenheimer is shy and quiet. His other close friend is Ronald Vaughn, a fiftyish rock-star wannabe who still clings to dreams of making it in the music biz long after any chance he may have ever had has evaporated. Rodney sees him as a kindred spirit, though, and helps him whenever possible, either monetarily or setting up theRead full review...
Rodney Bingenhiemer "The Mayor of Sunset Strip"
This DVD has poor editing. Rodney is a great man who is on top of his game. He has helped so many bands achieve national success. Whoever wrote this score and edited it, should start another profession. I was very disapointed how the producer protrayed Mr. Bingenhiemer. I heard stories about this, but had to watch it for myself. If you don't know who Rodney is, you may think it's a good flick, but if you do, you will be saddened, like I was. There were some nice parts in it though.
Obviously, this scoring system is rigged, as all of my friends, hated the second part, making Rodney look like washed up DJ, when they should be applouding him.Read full review...
RODNEY BINGENHEIMER
I grew up with Rodney Bingenheimer in Mountain View- He is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. I think that this film at times seems unfairly to mock him, kind of tongue-in-cheek. He is really one of a kind (in a good way!) He had a dream as a kid, and he made that dream come true. All of us should be so lucky...Read full review...
Maybe not mainstream-- but interesting.
Call it history, call it a documentary, this is a slice of Americana, well worth watching, at reflecting on how you choose your limits, and how a guy who wants to do something can do it, even if it doesn't make sense to anyone else.Read full review...