Mayor of the Sunset Strip
was on his own.
His mother was not seen for another six years.
And Connie was not home that day.
Rodney made his way to the Sunset Strip, where he managed to survive, by getting a job as a gofer for Davy Jones of the Monkees (they looked somewhat alike, and Jones, among others, liked him). From there he became a backstage caterer, with mixed results: An attendee of a Doors tour recalls how it was Rodney was serving up massive platters of fresh shrimp backstage. Then the Beatles showed up and Rodney gave them the food meant for the Doors, who, incidentially, had paid for the fare. When confronted on why he had done this Rodney explained: They were the Beatles.
For years Bingenheimer went into and out of the music and club scene. Not because of who he was, not because of what he was, but because people liked him.
Perhaps that was why Rodney went downhill: People liked him. Too much. They were too willing to take part in his radio show, his nightclub, that was so small the VIP area consisted of a velvet rope around three chairs, his lifestyle, his desire to discover new talent.
The radio business is a tough and hard business. A business that has little time or room for friends and love. Two things that Rodney was and is filled with. We see him doing favors for names beyond big then and now we see him trying to fix his mother's old and ailing Nova with a pair of pliers. But despite this Rodney endures.
"Mayor of the Sunset Strip" was directed by George Hickenlooper, who may be better known for his classic documentary "Hearts of Darkness", which is about the nightmare and horror Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" almost became before becoming a financial and critical success. Hickenlooper also directed "The Man from Elysian Fields". So why make this documentary? The answer may be in Rodeny himself: Hickenlooper knew him when Rodney's name could and did open doors. He knows him now, when Rodney's days as a kingmaker are all but gone.
And because Rodney Bigenheimer is in all of us. Although it might be easily argued Rodney, despite his current situation, had it better that most.
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