The tagline of this documentary is, "You should have been there...." Well, I was there, so yesterday I went to San Antonio's art house to check out Rodney Bingenheimer's last hurrah. 36 years ago Rodney was not the Mayor of Sunset, some other character whose name I've long forgotten held that title. Rodney was just some androgynous little waif who hung out with a series of young girls and the G.T.O.s. These, and other street characters, Larry Fisher for instance, all showed up on various Zappa albums. The G.T.O.s invented thrift shop chic, and some of them died or wish they had. Miss Pamela made a career out of Star F*c*i*g. Rodney knew everyone, probably because he brought Pamela along. What other movie includes Cher, Tori, Bowie, Kato, Mick, Joan Jett, Deborah Harry, Brooke Shields and Lance Loud? And for proof that vampyrs are real, Michael Des Barres and Kim Fowley. I really was expecting the movie to be fun, instead I got Rodney as a mounful cabbage patch doll, hanging on to the radio station he helped establish, by a thread....3 hours in the middle of the night, once a week. But, you really should see it...it's easier than having been there.
I'd be interested in seeing this documentary since I live in L.A. but wasn't around during the late 60's. I'm interested in this particular era of the Sunset Strip and I vaguely know who Rodney Bingenheimer is, but that's probably from being here in the late 70's. From what I've seen from various footage and such there was a riot on Sunset blvd('the sunset riots'?), Paul Newman owned(I believe) a restaurant/club called The Factory, The Whiskey was the place to be along with the London Fog across the street where The Viper Room is now. There are quite a few movies that were filmed during that era. I think The Graduate was shot on the strip even though that was like the mid-60's. Peter Sellers "I Love You Alice B. Tolkas" involves a lot of Sunset blvd. and hippies. I love spotting and recognizng the Sunset Strip in older movies, whether from the 60's or 70's.
