BINGENHEIMER'S TALE IS ONE OF ABUSE AND SELF DELUSION
ON A GRAND SCALE.
Fame,
Three months a fter the death of John Peel, Paul Dale finds some solace in a new documentary film about his LA counterpart RODNEY BINGENHEIMER, the man they call THE MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP.
'd ney'er heard of Rodney Bingenheimer lpicturedl.
but now I feel like I‘ve always been aware ol‘ him.
Short. slender and the owner ol' what looks like one of Andy Warhol's old pudding bowl wigs (it’s actually his own hair). Bingenheimer was the legendary Los Angeles scenemaker all others wanted to be. Part time D]. actor. groupie. party organiser and autograph hunter. he is as important a ligure to the Californian cultural landscape as .lohn Peel was to ottr own. bill that is where the similarity ends.
For unlike Peel. Bingenheimer. now in his late 50s. was tmable to sustain the kudos and was relegated to a grayeyard shot on l()(i.7 KROQ where he plays eyerything laudable and laughable in new music. His
star is struggling to shine. Director (ieorge Hickenlooper
(Hearts ulnar/mess) first came across Bingenheimers
bi/arre story in l‘)‘)7 when radio 1)] and former
Bingenheimer acolyte (‘hris (‘arter (ot‘ the long forgotten l.:\ rock act Dramaramal proposed the idea ol’ making a film about the strange lite and times of this odd but influential man. (‘arter showed Hickenlooper an incredible selection ot‘ photographs ot‘ Bingenheimer in the company ot~ just about ey‘ery major celebrity ot' the last 35 years. including lilyis. the Beatles. Sid Vicious and Bowie. and Hickenlooper realised this was his chance to tell the true story ot‘ a latterday Zelig. Hickenlooper had little problem getting Bingenheimer's many big name t‘riends to contribute to the film. and so during The .lluy'or otStms-t't Strip you see the likes of Gwen Stefani. Chris Martin. (‘ourtney Love and Nancy Sinatra proclaim that he is 'a KROQ
(ioth ot' that ‘he should he a huge mogul by now but he is not. that's the beauty ol Rotlney.' But these incantations hide a much sadder Bingenheimers tale is one ol abuse and sell' delusion on a grand scale.
Born in ('alil'ornia in W46 to a mentally unstable autograph hound mother and goll‘ obsessed lather. Bingenheimer was abandoned as a teenager. lle drilled down to Sunset Strip and within ten years had gone from groupie to super groupie. to "hip 40 tucker". producer. club owner and l.;\'s leading ‘(iodheadf But Bingenheimer 7 a seemingly l'ey and dillitlent man had all the business acumen of" a l'erret. And so it is that we l'ollow Bingenheimer. a miniature. sol‘t \oicetl bewilderbeast. as he remembers the good and bad times with his t‘amous l‘riends. By the end ol‘ the lilm Bingenheimer. unable to lind loy e or respect in l..'\. goes to London to scatter his mother‘s ashes in the Thames. and hopes to meet a girl and settle down. Watching this dysfunctional. \aguely autistic man who helped and influenced so many being reduced to a l‘aceless tourist on a boat in the middle ol' l.ondon's waterway. I couldn‘t help btit think of an R1) l.aing quote as I started to weep: "l‘he range ol' what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. .-\nd becattse we tail to notice what we tail to notice. there is little we can do to change; until we notice how l‘ailing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.
The Mayor of Sunset Strip is on selected release from Fri 11 Feb.
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