Rodney Bingenheimer ~ Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Rodney Bingenheimer

Mayor of the Sunset Strip

Live Music Head goes to Los Angeles

It was the middle of the night

when I first found myself captivated by

a black-clad, spiky-haired, skinny rock and roller.

I couldn’t sleep so I was flipping the television dial,

and stopped when I saw the face of Cher.

I’ve been a fan of the Armenian Cherokee actress ever since

the variety show she did with Sonny in the 70s

(and wishing I could be Chastity).

So I paused,
wanting to hear what Cherilyn Sarkisian had to say.

She was describing Hollywood as

“a place you could go and be different;

not knowing exactly what you’re direction was,

but knowing somehow, something might happen;

things might click, energies might cross.”

As images of an era in music

flashed across the set at the foot of my bed,

I wondered...

“What’s this then?
It appears I haven’t seen some of this before.”

When I realized I was watching the 2003 film about

the quirky, yet influential mainstay in L.A. rock,

I settled in.

And hoped I hadn’t missed too much.

Directed by George Hickenlooper,

the film documents the life and times of
legendary music scenester Rodney Bingenheimer,

nicknamed Mayor of the Sunset Strip by Sal Mineo

(from which the film takes its title).

Bingenheimer was born on a December day in 1947

and grew up in Mountainview, California.

Like a lot of teenagers at the time,

Rodney would visit the local pharmacy to read

Teen Beat, Tiger Beat and Photoplay magazines

(something I did as a teenager as well,

drooling over the glossies of Leif Garrett
and the Bay City Rollers,

wishing I could be Lisa Marie Presley).

Elvis Presley gave Rodney Bingenheimer
his driver’s license as a keepsake.

Mackenzie Phillips,

daughter of Papa John and star of One Day at a Time
describes Rodney as “small, shy, and kind of gnome-like.”

The product of divorced parents,

young Rodney inherited Zelda for a stepmom
when father Bing remarried.

But it was his birth mother he was closest to.

Rodney’s mom was known as a celebrity hound;

seeking autographs of the 40s and 50s rich and famous,

Mrs Bingenheimer even got Marilyn Monroe’s autograph.

Rodney would emulate this same behaviour in the 60s and 70s,

although ‘hound’ doesn’t seem the right word to describe him.

Rodney seemed to have a knack for just being in
the right place at the right time.

When Mrs Bingenheimer found out

her son had a crush on actress Connie Stevens,

she dropped Rodney off at the movie star’s house

bidding him a fond, “good luck!”

Many years would pass before he saw his mother again,

but Rodney kept busy by immersing himself in the L.A. arts scene;

auditioning for acting roles and following his passion for music.

With a striking resemblance to both Davy Jones of the Monkees

and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones,

Rodney appealed to the ladies, and doors opened for him.

“He was a cuddly, lovable guy...

kind of like Mickey Rooney in the movies”, says Kim Fowley.

('an all around controversial human being' - www.myspace.com/realkimfowley).

“All the teenage girls would play mommy to him”.

Sonny and Cher soon took Rodney under their wing

and made him their live-in publicist.

“We never had to wonder about
ulterior motive with him,” says Cher

“He was just a sweet boy, along to absorb and learn”.

There are performance clips of Rodney during this period

rocking out as an audience extra to the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis,

the Mamas and the Papas, and Blondie.

And later in the Cheech and Chong film Up in Smoke,

Rodney can be found as MC in the battle of the bands scene.

And guess who brought Brian Wilson

to the Phil Spector studio while he was working on

Tina Turner’s vocals for River Deep, Mountain High?

Spector wrote a note to Rodney that read...

“Always be good to rock and roll

and it will always be good to you”.

Sounds like great advice, and perhaps it was for Rodney,

but this writer personally finds the advice to be a load of bullshit.

Phil Spector murdered a woman
and now makes his home in jail, gee.

Bingenheimer went on to became fodder for the GTOs

(Girls Together Outrageously),

on an album produced by Frank Zappa, the girl band’s mentor.

And by the end of the 60s,

Capital Records had Rodney doing publicity for Linda Ronstadt

and Mercury Records hired him to promote Rod Stewart.

But growing weary of L.A.,

Rodney decided to re-locate to Britain for a while

to explore London, and it’s glam rock scene.

He was soon revitalized and at the suggestion of David Bowie,

returned to L.A. to open up his very own night club.

Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco debuted at

7561 Sunset Blvd in October of 1972.

Quickly becoming the hangout for any rock star
travelling through town,

the club also became the hangout for all
the rock star’s female fans;

females who would not waste all their lung power screaming

like the Beatlemaniacs used to do.

This was the Los Angeles of Jim Morrison and the Doors after all,

where “men don’t know, but the little girls understand”.

Top Forty Fuckers is what Dion’s wife called the girls.

(The word groupie had not quite been invented yet.

However, Pamela des Barres of the GTOs

would soon be crowned queen of ‘em).

Alice Cooper says,

“The GTOs were really dedicated to something.

I don’t know what it was, but they were the ultimate groupies.

They had a lot of style”.

Yet upon meeting Rodney, Miss Pamela says,

“He was the first boy I kissed in Hollywood.

He tried to feel me up, but I wouldn’t let him”.

Robert Plant said Rodney Bingenheimer got
more girls than he did, and was more of a sex symbol.
According to Michael des Barres,

the reason for this was

“Rodney had access to so many beautiful women.

With such a posse of pussy

Rodney was as powerful to a rock star as any drug dealer”.

The New York Dolls and The Stooges both
performed at Rodney’s disco before it closed its doors in 1975.

106.7FM hired Rodney as KROQ’s new music guru in '76,

and the program, Rodney on the ROQ

had a lot to do with putting the station on the map.

As a deejay, Rodney would play anything by anyone

“brave or stupid enough to put out a record in Los Angeles”.

He was the first to spin the latest punk release

and the first to introduce emerging bands like

the Runaways, The Ramones, the Go Gos and the B52s;

making or breaking bands the same way

radio personalities Alan Freed and Wolfman Jack used to do.

Ray Manzarek (keyboardist of the Doors) says,

“Rodney tells you when you’re a star”.

Airing every Sunday from midnight to 3,

Rodney on the Roq survives to this day,

and Bingenheimer is one of the few jocks

with autonomy over what he plays.

Rodney is “the gateway to what people care about, less”, says the KROQ guy.

“He’s the soul of the station”.

There’s a fascinating girl in the Mayor of the Sunset Strip;

a long brown-haired girl in a short plaid skirt.

Stunningly beautiful, serious and odd just like Rodney,

she seems suitable to float on his arm.

Nancy 'these-boots-are-made-for-walkin' Sinatra calls Rodney

“a magnet; a pied piper”.

But should we assume Camille is his girlfriend?

When Rodney returns to the home of father Bing

and stepmom Zelda in ‘white picket fence’ suburbia,

he’s a definite stand out.

Zelda has to search for mementos that Rodney

sent home from his glamorous Hollywood life and

these scenes in the film are compelling, endearing

and bittersweet.

I get uncomfortable when Rodney gets uncomfortable

and the camera is shut off.

At his real mother’s house,

a shrine was made of Rodney’s souvenirs.

Soft-spoken with an expressionless face that conveys so much,

a likeness to Andy Warhol comes to mind;

in Rodney’s manner, speech and sense of wonder.

Watching the scattering of his birth mother’s ashes
over English waters, turns me into an emotional mess.

“It’s what she wanted”, he says.

When a Houston-born musician arrives in Hollywood
armed with a hard-on for Jennifer Love-Hewitt
and dressed in a space suit,

Rodney does what he can
to help fulfill his dream of a career in music.

Rodney is a cheerleader for the underdog,
calling himself the “designated driver” between
the famous and the not-so-famous.

The Texas musician’s struggle will tug at your heart strings.

In a make-believe world where everyone wants to be your friend,

Frank Sinatra's daughter says,

“we’re all wary,

a little bit afraid and a little defensive;

because we’ve all been used to a degree.

It’s funny,

we (Rodney and I) can use each other and not mind it at all.

You know what I mean?

In the kindest sense of the word?”

I understand Ms Sinatra.

The realness of their friendship
and the trust between them is obvious.

“Be very cynical, very detached, and let nothing bother you,”

is the advice Kim Fowley offers,

for the survival of all the selfish bastards out there.

Rodney has been photographed with Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan,

Elton John, George Harrison and John Lennon.

Since arriving in Los Angeles,

I’ve been caught up in Hollywood and all its magic.

It’s like I’m in a movie.

And when Live Music Head

found herself sitting in the L.A. Canter’s booth

with Rodney Bingenheimer, well

Hollywood really is a place where dreams come true.

I could feel his enthusiasm and passion for music.

And his warmth.

There’s definitely something about this black-clad,

spiky-haired, skinny rock and roller I can relate to.

Just before photos were snapped of us,

Rodney asks, “Is my hair okay?”

Pointing to the plaque commemorating his
patronage to the restaurant,

the inscription says the booth was dedicated to him by Nancy.

“I cried my face off during the documentary Rodney,”
I told him.

I was surprised
when he replied,

“But it wasn’t supposed to make you cry.

That’s not what the film
was meant to do at all.”

Hickenlooper didn’t exactly take the doc

in a direction Bingenheimer totally approved of.

“But Rodney, I was so moved.

And it was all due to your authenticity.”
And his search for love.

The documentary is fantastic, very well produced

and I highly recommend it.

But Rodney seems happiest when talking about music,

so when I told him I saw Peter Frampton in Toronto last week

and that he played a ton of Frampton Comes Alive!,

Rodney’s immediate response was,

“Frampton worked with George Harrison
on the album All Things Must Pass”;

just the way a true rock and roller would respond.

Doors biographer Danny Sugarman says,

“Rodney buys into the rock star myth and

derives a sense of gratitude fulfillment from that energy”.

When asked in the film if he wished his life were different,

Rodney paused

and then quietly said, “yea”.

Something else I can identify with.

Rodney Bingenheimer has been photographed
with Paul McCartney.

The trailer for Mayor of The Sunset Strip...