In a bombshell Rolling Stone article, Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlin says she was sexually molested at age 15 by Rodney Bingenheimer, the SiriusXM radio host once dubbed “The Mayor of the Sunset Strip” in large part due to his ownership in the influential 1970s rock ‘n’ roll hotspot the English Disco.
Wiedlin is one of five women who tell Deadline’s sister publication they were sexually assaulted or molested by Bingenheimer when they were minors in the 1970s and ’80s. The allegations come about eight months after Kari Krome, the songwriter for the ’70s all-female band the Runaways, sued Bingenheimer and the estate of the late Runaways producer Kim Fowley for sexual assault when she was a minor.
Wiedlin details the alleged assault in the Rolling Stone feature, recalling how she and other high school friends — they called themselves the Hollywooders — would sneak out of their homes to visit...
Wiedlin is one of five women who tell Deadline’s sister publication they were sexually assaulted or molested by Bingenheimer when they were minors in the 1970s and ’80s. The allegations come about eight months after Kari Krome, the songwriter for the ’70s all-female band the Runaways, sued Bingenheimer and the estate of the late Runaways producer Kim Fowley for sexual assault when she was a minor.
Wiedlin details the alleged assault in the Rolling Stone feature, recalling how she and other high school friends — they called themselves the Hollywooders — would sneak out of their homes to visit...
- 12/11/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Four years before she co-founded the beloved New Wave group the Go-Go’s, guitarist Jane Wiedlin was about 15 years old living with her parents in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. It was around 1974, and she was enamored with glam-rock titans like David Bowie and Marc Bolan. Looking to get as close to the music as possible, she went to the hottest club in L.A.: Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco.
The club — which opened its doors in 1972 — had built a reputation as a well-known haunt for Bowie, Bolan, Iggy Pop,...
The club — which opened its doors in 1972 — had built a reputation as a well-known haunt for Bowie, Bolan, Iggy Pop,...
- 12/11/2023
- by Ethan Millman
- Rollingstone.com
Social Distortion have announced a batch of 40th anniversary vinyl reissues of their 1983 debut album, Mommy’s Little Monster, arriving November 10th via Craft Recordings.
The same label handled a 2019 reissue of Mommy’s Little Monster, though the new 40th anniversary reissue campaign will return the album to print in a smattering of color variants: black, white, ruby red, silver, clear smoke, and black and white marble.
The latest reissue also features newly remastered audio sourced from the original analog tapes, presenting the album in Aaa (all-analog) fidelity, per Craft Recordings’ typical boutique approach.
Mommy’s Little Monster captured the humble beginnings for Mike Ness and company, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated punk acts of the 1990s and beyond. Before that, the band was a pioneering force in Orange County’s legendary hardcore scene.
The story of the album begins with Social Distortion’s 1981 single “Mainliner,...
The same label handled a 2019 reissue of Mommy’s Little Monster, though the new 40th anniversary reissue campaign will return the album to print in a smattering of color variants: black, white, ruby red, silver, clear smoke, and black and white marble.
The latest reissue also features newly remastered audio sourced from the original analog tapes, presenting the album in Aaa (all-analog) fidelity, per Craft Recordings’ typical boutique approach.
Mommy’s Little Monster captured the humble beginnings for Mike Ness and company, who would go on to become one of the most celebrated punk acts of the 1990s and beyond. Before that, the band was a pioneering force in Orange County’s legendary hardcore scene.
The story of the album begins with Social Distortion’s 1981 single “Mainliner,...
- 9/13/2023
- by Jon Hadusek
- Consequence - Music
A songwriter for the influential 1970s punk group the Runaways has filed a lawsuit against the estate of deceased Runaways manager Kim Fowley and the former Kroq disc jockey and famed nightclub owner Rodney Bingenheimer, accusing them both of sexually assaulting her in the 1970s when she was a teenager. In the suit — filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by Rolling Stone — Kari Krome alleges that both Fowley and Bingenheimer groomed her before sexually abusing her.
The suit isn’t the first time Fowley has been accused of sexual assault.
The suit isn’t the first time Fowley has been accused of sexual assault.
- 4/27/2023
- by Ethan Millman
- Rollingstone.com
Those living in Los Angeles in 1990 may remember hearing Courtney Love's voice blasting from radios tuned to Kroq as she belted aggressive punk-ish lyrics as the frontwoman of her band Hole. Legendary local DJ Rodney Bingenheimer was reportedly hounded by a young Love at the restaurant where he had breakfast, and she eventually convinced him to air Hole's debut single, a song with a decidedly inappropriate title. Hole's first record "Pretty on the Inside" was released in 1991, and Love became a celebrity in the growing grunge scene. In 1992, Love married superstar Kurt Cobain, frontman of Nirvana, and the couple instantly became icons of anti-commercial 1990s disaffected youth. Their celebrity, however, paired with unfair public images and a tragic addiction to heroin, affected the couple's mental health, and Cobain died by suicide in 1994.
Love continued to work, however. Hole's 1995 record "Live Through This" was widely acclaimed, and the rocker moved...
Love continued to work, however. Hole's 1995 record "Live Through This" was widely acclaimed, and the rocker moved...
- 12/29/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
“Suzi Q,” a documentary about Suzi Quatro, who preceded Joan Jett onto the scene in the early ’70s as a leather-clad rock pioneer, has been picked up for North America by Utopia. The company will give the rock doc a one-night theatrical release July 1, followed by digital and DVD distribution two days later.
A U.S. premiere has been set for the Sonoma International Film Festival on March 29, where Quatro will make an appearance. The film already opened last fall in the UK and Australia, two territories where Quatro, a Detroit native, had her biggest chart successes.
Besides interviewing Quatro herself, filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady also sought out contemporaries like Alice Cooper and female musicians who felt Quatro’s impact, including Deborah Harry, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie of the Runaways, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Donita Sparks of L7.
“Over...
A U.S. premiere has been set for the Sonoma International Film Festival on March 29, where Quatro will make an appearance. The film already opened last fall in the UK and Australia, two territories where Quatro, a Detroit native, had her biggest chart successes.
Besides interviewing Quatro herself, filmmakers Liam Firmager and Tait Brady also sought out contemporaries like Alice Cooper and female musicians who felt Quatro’s impact, including Deborah Harry, Joan Jett and Cherie Currie of the Runaways, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Donita Sparks of L7.
“Over...
- 3/10/2020
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood Vampires: The Birth of Midnight Movies on L.A.'s Sunset Strip is a three-part series of essays by Tim Concannon.Once Upon A Time On The Sunset STRIP1969 on the Sunset Strip was a period of dislocation, dissipation and dissolution from which the Hollywood of the Seventies emerged. A movie theatre adjoining Santa Monica Boulevard, where the Underground Cinema 12 film festival held sold-out midnight shows attended by thousands of Freaks, is an overlooked catalyst of L.A.'s underground scene, alongside Pandora's Box, the club recreated in Riot On the Sunset Strip (1967) and which was the focus of the November 1966 Sunset Strip disturbances.Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time...in Hollywood—which is woven around the Manson family murders in 1969, though it isn't focused on them—is situated in the same unsettling hinterland between film stardom and savage violence that Peter Bogdanovich's Targets touches on as well.
- 7/31/2019
- MUBI
"Bad Reputation", is the new documentary directed by Kevin Kerslake, about rock singer 'Joan Jett', starring Billie Joe Armstrong, Rodney Bingenheimer and Carianne Brinkman, opening September 28, 2018:
Joan Marie Larkin, aka 'Joan Jett', is noted for her work in the band "Joan Jett & the Blackhearts" and "The Runaways", recording and releasing the song "Cherry Bomb". The Blackhearts' version of the song "I Love Rock 'n Roll" was number-one on the 'Billboard Hot 100' for seven weeks in 1982.
Jett's other hit songs include "Bad Reputation", "Crimson and Clover", "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)", "Light of Day", "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Dirty Deeds".
Jett has a mezzo-soprano vocal range, with three albums certified Platinum, described as the 'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Godmother of Punk'.
In 2015, "Joan Jett & the Blackhearts" were inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'.'
Click the...
Joan Marie Larkin, aka 'Joan Jett', is noted for her work in the band "Joan Jett & the Blackhearts" and "The Runaways", recording and releasing the song "Cherry Bomb". The Blackhearts' version of the song "I Love Rock 'n Roll" was number-one on the 'Billboard Hot 100' for seven weeks in 1982.
Jett's other hit songs include "Bad Reputation", "Crimson and Clover", "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)", "Light of Day", "I Hate Myself for Loving You" and "Dirty Deeds".
Jett has a mezzo-soprano vocal range, with three albums certified Platinum, described as the 'Queen of Rock 'n' Roll' and 'Godmother of Punk'.
In 2015, "Joan Jett & the Blackhearts" were inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'.'
Click the...
- 9/26/2018
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
It's that vocals that always gets you first – the snarl that comes through Joan Jett's singing, sandpaper-rough around the edges and 100-percent fuck-you attitude. Yes, she's a first-class rhythm guitarist (listen the opening of the Runaways' "You Drive Me Wild" and tell us that's not gloriously, gut-punchingly rifftastic). But that voice ... that's what rock & roll sounds like. Seductive. Jagged. Rebellious. Like her vocal cords are going to jump out of her throat and kick your ass.
Bad Reputation, Kevin Kerslake's doc on Joan of Rock that premiered Monday at Sundance,...
Bad Reputation, Kevin Kerslake's doc on Joan of Rock that premiered Monday at Sundance,...
- 1/23/2018
- Rollingstone.com
MoreHorror.com
Just in time for Halloween, Jared Masters’ bloody and controversial sword and sandal epic, Absolute Vow (Director’s Cut) premiers exclusively on DVD.
Official selections at the Marquee on Main and Fake Flesh Film Festivals!
The surprise release has everyone (especially horror and Bible conspiracy theorists) scrambling to pick up their copy of this highly-coveted form of bizarre, terrifying art. Get yours while supplies last. The star-studded picture will surely be a mainstay on your top shelf, on your mantle place, or displayed prominently on your coffee table for a sure fire way to delve into heated conversations with relatives you rarely see at holiday parties. Chock full of rare bonus material you wont see in theaters. Order online, wherever DVDs are sold! (Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, etc.)
Summery: One thousand years before Christ, in an age where pagans ran rampant... Incest and child sacrifices were common place,...
Just in time for Halloween, Jared Masters’ bloody and controversial sword and sandal epic, Absolute Vow (Director’s Cut) premiers exclusively on DVD.
Official selections at the Marquee on Main and Fake Flesh Film Festivals!
The surprise release has everyone (especially horror and Bible conspiracy theorists) scrambling to pick up their copy of this highly-coveted form of bizarre, terrifying art. Get yours while supplies last. The star-studded picture will surely be a mainstay on your top shelf, on your mantle place, or displayed prominently on your coffee table for a sure fire way to delve into heated conversations with relatives you rarely see at holiday parties. Chock full of rare bonus material you wont see in theaters. Order online, wherever DVDs are sold! (Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, etc.)
Summery: One thousand years before Christ, in an age where pagans ran rampant... Incest and child sacrifices were common place,...
- 10/31/2017
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Dawna Lee Heising,
MoreHorror In Hollywood
Once in a great while; a motion picture comes along that grips you to your spiritual core, while tantalizing with terror, tormenting with elements of horror, and tranquilizing you with fear. The film in question: Absolute Vow.
Viewers will be instantly immersed into a stunning world of surrealism, in glorious two-strip technicolor. A rekindling of the deep faith you once had. It is the latest from Grindhouse Guru, Jared Masters. A true Biblical tragedy. The strange, brutal story of Jephthah's daughter.
One thousand years before Christ, in an age where pagans ran rampant... Incest and child sacrifices were common place, for false gods that consumed the minds of many wicked men, until the shocking story of a virgin ... without a name, made its way into the Holy Canon, and now, fully embellished for the first time, by the Sultan of Sensationalism, Jared Masters.
The...
MoreHorror In Hollywood
Once in a great while; a motion picture comes along that grips you to your spiritual core, while tantalizing with terror, tormenting with elements of horror, and tranquilizing you with fear. The film in question: Absolute Vow.
Viewers will be instantly immersed into a stunning world of surrealism, in glorious two-strip technicolor. A rekindling of the deep faith you once had. It is the latest from Grindhouse Guru, Jared Masters. A true Biblical tragedy. The strange, brutal story of Jephthah's daughter.
One thousand years before Christ, in an age where pagans ran rampant... Incest and child sacrifices were common place, for false gods that consumed the minds of many wicked men, until the shocking story of a virgin ... without a name, made its way into the Holy Canon, and now, fully embellished for the first time, by the Sultan of Sensationalism, Jared Masters.
The...
- 1/31/2017
- by admin
- MoreHorror
Dawna Lee Heising,
MoreHorror In Hollywood
One thousand years before Christ, in an age where pagans ran rampant... Incest and child sacrifices were common place, for false gods that consumed the minds of many wicked men, until the shocking story of a virgin ... without a name, made its way into the Holy Canon, and now, fully embellished for the first time, by the Sultan of Sensationalism, Jared Masters.
The strangest story in the Bible is finally fleshed out, into a new kind of cinematic experience, starring Parker Love Bowling and her big sister, Kansas, plus Andy Dick’s daughter, Meg, Michael Madsen’s son, Kal, and the infamous Lloyd Kaufman.... The true tale of a mighty warrior. Will he kill his only daughter?
Absolute Vow has wrapped principal photography, that means the film is guaranteed to wind up on the screen of your home and maybe you’re your local theatre.
MoreHorror In Hollywood
One thousand years before Christ, in an age where pagans ran rampant... Incest and child sacrifices were common place, for false gods that consumed the minds of many wicked men, until the shocking story of a virgin ... without a name, made its way into the Holy Canon, and now, fully embellished for the first time, by the Sultan of Sensationalism, Jared Masters.
The strangest story in the Bible is finally fleshed out, into a new kind of cinematic experience, starring Parker Love Bowling and her big sister, Kansas, plus Andy Dick’s daughter, Meg, Michael Madsen’s son, Kal, and the infamous Lloyd Kaufman.... The true tale of a mighty warrior. Will he kill his only daughter?
Absolute Vow has wrapped principal photography, that means the film is guaranteed to wind up on the screen of your home and maybe you’re your local theatre.
- 12/25/2016
- by admin
- MoreHorror
From the visionary mind of the man that brought us Slink and After School Massacre, comes a new kind of cinematic experience, Absolute Vow, an adaptation from Judges 11, in the Old Testament.
Biblical scholars have called it the strangest story in the Holy cannon, the unsettling tale of Jephthah, who was faced with a very difficult decision; sacrifice his only daughter, or break the vow he made to God Almighty.
The film is Frolic Pictures’ most profound, intricate and complicated production thus far. The bizarre story has been on Masters’ heart for some time, and finally his Bible epic will be made and will give new meaning to the faith-based film, that also has elements of horror, fantasy and sensationalism.
The movie is rumored to be shot on 16mm black and white film, with a cast of thousands. Hundreds of men have constructed the massive Biblical sets needed to bring...
Biblical scholars have called it the strangest story in the Holy cannon, the unsettling tale of Jephthah, who was faced with a very difficult decision; sacrifice his only daughter, or break the vow he made to God Almighty.
The film is Frolic Pictures’ most profound, intricate and complicated production thus far. The bizarre story has been on Masters’ heart for some time, and finally his Bible epic will be made and will give new meaning to the faith-based film, that also has elements of horror, fantasy and sensationalism.
The movie is rumored to be shot on 16mm black and white film, with a cast of thousands. Hundreds of men have constructed the massive Biblical sets needed to bring...
- 12/14/2016
- by admin
- MoreHorror
By Jonathan Weichsel
MoreHorror.com
On March 3rd Etheria Film Night and American Cinematheque's Women Underground screening series held a star studded red carpet premiere of B.C. Butcher, the new Tromasterpiece directed by seventeen year old Kansas Bowling.
Celebrities that showed up for the premier included Troma president and filmmaking legend Lloyd Kaufman, Kato Kaelin, Rodney Bingenheimer, Priscilla Presley, Ron Jeremy, and many more. Of course, Kansas Bowling and the cast of B.C. Butcher, Leilani Fideler, Natasha Halevi, Molly Elizabeth Ring, Devyn Leah, Parker Love Bowling, and Miranda Robin were also there to celebrate the premiere.
There was a packed house for the premier, an awesome red carpet, a live set from the band Kill My Coquette, a screening of Kill My Coquette's new music video directed by Kansas Bowling, and a panel moderated by Lloyd Kaufman himself.
B.C. Butcher is a lot of fun, and the crowd loved it.
MoreHorror.com
On March 3rd Etheria Film Night and American Cinematheque's Women Underground screening series held a star studded red carpet premiere of B.C. Butcher, the new Tromasterpiece directed by seventeen year old Kansas Bowling.
Celebrities that showed up for the premier included Troma president and filmmaking legend Lloyd Kaufman, Kato Kaelin, Rodney Bingenheimer, Priscilla Presley, Ron Jeremy, and many more. Of course, Kansas Bowling and the cast of B.C. Butcher, Leilani Fideler, Natasha Halevi, Molly Elizabeth Ring, Devyn Leah, Parker Love Bowling, and Miranda Robin were also there to celebrate the premiere.
There was a packed house for the premier, an awesome red carpet, a live set from the band Kill My Coquette, a screening of Kill My Coquette's new music video directed by Kansas Bowling, and a panel moderated by Lloyd Kaufman himself.
B.C. Butcher is a lot of fun, and the crowd loved it.
- 3/19/2016
- by admin
- MoreHorror
By Seth Metoyer
MoreHorror.com
The Los Angeles Days of the Dead will run from Friday, April 1- Sunday, April 3, 2016. Etheria Film Night will be screening short films and have a separate directors panel celebrating women horror directors. Etheria Film Night is the leading showcase of new genre films directed by women. Read more about it from the details below.
From The Press Release:
Etheria Shorts Showcase: Saturday, April 2, 1:00 Pm in The Screening Room
The Etheria shorts showcase on Saturday, April 2 at 1:00 Pm, is 83 minutes of awesome new horror directed by women. It begins with the trailer for the new feature film B.C. Butcher, which was shot on 16 mm in Bowling's father's backyard in Topanga Canyon, California. B.C Butcher stars Kato Kaelin and features Rodney "The Mayor of Sunset Strip" Bingenheimer.
Following the trailer are these Etheria Official Tour Selections:
Zone 2 (Anna Elizabeth James) (8:00)
David,...
MoreHorror.com
The Los Angeles Days of the Dead will run from Friday, April 1- Sunday, April 3, 2016. Etheria Film Night will be screening short films and have a separate directors panel celebrating women horror directors. Etheria Film Night is the leading showcase of new genre films directed by women. Read more about it from the details below.
From The Press Release:
Etheria Shorts Showcase: Saturday, April 2, 1:00 Pm in The Screening Room
The Etheria shorts showcase on Saturday, April 2 at 1:00 Pm, is 83 minutes of awesome new horror directed by women. It begins with the trailer for the new feature film B.C. Butcher, which was shot on 16 mm in Bowling's father's backyard in Topanga Canyon, California. B.C Butcher stars Kato Kaelin and features Rodney "The Mayor of Sunset Strip" Bingenheimer.
Following the trailer are these Etheria Official Tour Selections:
Zone 2 (Anna Elizabeth James) (8:00)
David,...
- 3/16/2016
- by admin
- MoreHorror
By Jonathan Weichsel
MoreHorror.com
B.C. Butcher is set to have its world premiere on Thursday March 3rd at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. In attendance will be: Kansas Bowling, Rodney Bingenheimer, Kato Kaelin, Lloyd Kaufman, Natasha Halevi, Devyn Leah, Molly Elizabeth Ring, Kadim Hardison, Miranda Robin, Cherie Currie, Michael des Barres, Kadim Hardison, Allison Anders, the band Kill My Coquette.
Awhile back I wrote a rave review of the campy, hilarious new Troma movie B.C. Butcher, directed by seventeen year old Kansas Bowling. Heidi Honeycutt, programmer for the female-directed genre film festival Etheria Film Night, is also a big fan so she decided to organize a world premiere for the film at The Egyptian Theater.
The event will be presented by Etheria Film Night and The American Cinematheque, and will feature a star studded red carpet at 6:00, and a live show by the band Kill My Coquette at...
MoreHorror.com
B.C. Butcher is set to have its world premiere on Thursday March 3rd at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. In attendance will be: Kansas Bowling, Rodney Bingenheimer, Kato Kaelin, Lloyd Kaufman, Natasha Halevi, Devyn Leah, Molly Elizabeth Ring, Kadim Hardison, Miranda Robin, Cherie Currie, Michael des Barres, Kadim Hardison, Allison Anders, the band Kill My Coquette.
Awhile back I wrote a rave review of the campy, hilarious new Troma movie B.C. Butcher, directed by seventeen year old Kansas Bowling. Heidi Honeycutt, programmer for the female-directed genre film festival Etheria Film Night, is also a big fan so she decided to organize a world premiere for the film at The Egyptian Theater.
The event will be presented by Etheria Film Night and The American Cinematheque, and will feature a star studded red carpet at 6:00, and a live show by the band Kill My Coquette at...
- 2/25/2016
- by admin
- MoreHorror
When you think of a slasher film, images of summer camp and college campuses might dance in your head, but in her first feature film, B.C. Butcher, Kansas Bowling uniquely sets a slasher story in prehistoric times. With Troma set to release B.C. Butcher next year, we caught up with Kansas to discuss making her first movie at the age of seventeen, shooting on 16mm, and much more.
Thanks for taking the time to converse with us, Kansas. Your debut feature film, B.C. Butcher, is a slasher movie set in the prehistoric era. How did you come up with this unique plot?
Kansas Bowling: Thank you so much for showing interest in my film! My friend Kenzie Givens and I came up with the idea when we were in high school. I was 15. It seemed like something easy to do on a tiny budget and it was something that had never been done before!
Thanks for taking the time to converse with us, Kansas. Your debut feature film, B.C. Butcher, is a slasher movie set in the prehistoric era. How did you come up with this unique plot?
Kansas Bowling: Thank you so much for showing interest in my film! My friend Kenzie Givens and I came up with the idea when we were in high school. I was 15. It seemed like something easy to do on a tiny budget and it was something that had never been done before!
- 12/11/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Earlier this year, Joe Walsh jammed on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at a Beatles tribute in Los Angeles with Dave Grohl backing him on the drums. "I had a really good run at it," Walsh says. "And the reason was, he was right behind me and his drum part was really kicking me in the butt. It made me step up, kind of, 'Oh, yeah?' You have to come up to his energy level, 'cause you gotta keep up with him and that really makes everybody play better.
- 11/15/2014
- Rollingstone.com
Chicago – The irony is, of course, that actress Mackenzie Phillips was in a notable 1970s sitcom called “One Day at a Time,” and that phrase often describes the struggles of living with addiction. Phillips talked to HollywoodChicago.com about living that life at the “Hollywood Show” Chicago.
Mackenzie Phillips was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the daughter of The Mamas & the Papas singer John Phillips and his first wife, Susan Adams. She was in a band at the age of 12, and was spotted by a casting agent. She auditioned for the breakthrough George Lucas film, “American Graffiti,” and won the role of Carol. Three years later, she won her signature role, that of Julie Cooper on the long-running situation comedy “One Day at a Time,” co-starring Valerie Bertinelli and Bonnie Franklin.
Mackenzie Phillips at the “Hollywood Show Chicago” in 2013
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
It was...
Mackenzie Phillips was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the daughter of The Mamas & the Papas singer John Phillips and his first wife, Susan Adams. She was in a band at the age of 12, and was spotted by a casting agent. She auditioned for the breakthrough George Lucas film, “American Graffiti,” and won the role of Carol. Three years later, she won her signature role, that of Julie Cooper on the long-running situation comedy “One Day at a Time,” co-starring Valerie Bertinelli and Bonnie Franklin.
Mackenzie Phillips at the “Hollywood Show Chicago” in 2013
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
It was...
- 7/9/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Lise Romanoff’s Vision Films has announced that they will be releasing the iconic documentary Sunset Strip directed by Hans Fjellestad (When The World Breaks) today across multiple VOD platforms such as iTunes, Xbox, Playstation, Amazon, Blockbuster, Vimeo and direct to consumers via the Yerka player. The film will debut on DVD on December 10th.
The Special Collectors’ Edition DVD will contain a lot of extraordinary bonus material such as extended interviews with the stars revealing their favorite Sunset Strip memories, an animated tour of the Strip, plus a series of thematic featurettes including “Sex” with Tom Arnold, Dita Von Tese, Pamela Des Barres, Hugh Hefner, Slash, Duff McKagan and Dave Navarro; “Rock ‘N Roll” with Slash, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins,Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp and Len Fagan (rock promoter); “Comedy” with Tom Arnold, Paul Mooney, Richard Lewis, Argus Hamilton, Tim Reid, Bill Knoedelseder, Maz Jobrani,...
The Special Collectors’ Edition DVD will contain a lot of extraordinary bonus material such as extended interviews with the stars revealing their favorite Sunset Strip memories, an animated tour of the Strip, plus a series of thematic featurettes including “Sex” with Tom Arnold, Dita Von Tese, Pamela Des Barres, Hugh Hefner, Slash, Duff McKagan and Dave Navarro; “Rock ‘N Roll” with Slash, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins,Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp and Len Fagan (rock promoter); “Comedy” with Tom Arnold, Paul Mooney, Richard Lewis, Argus Hamilton, Tim Reid, Bill Knoedelseder, Maz Jobrani,...
- 11/6/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
For most, the phrase “Sunset Strip” conjures up images of neon lights, sun-kissed exposed skin and long, druggy, rock-and-roll fueled nights. This is the conceit promised by the new documentary of the same name by Hans Fjellestad, and it (mostly) delivers, offering up a definitive history of the famed street, that is hindered only by a confusion of purpose and a loose structure.
"Sunset Strip” opens with a recitation of a poem by iconic Strip tattoo artist Mark Mahoney. In his cigarettes and whisky whisper, he paints a seedy, beautiful, Bukowski-esque picture that is our first introduction to the fable of the Sunset Strip that is about to be told. Fjellestad eschews the traditional talking heads interview format by arranging conversations of a sort, combining characters like Mickey Rourke and Mahoney to chat about their memories, while sitting inside one of the famous locations the film sets out to historicize.
"Sunset Strip” opens with a recitation of a poem by iconic Strip tattoo artist Mark Mahoney. In his cigarettes and whisky whisper, he paints a seedy, beautiful, Bukowski-esque picture that is our first introduction to the fable of the Sunset Strip that is about to be told. Fjellestad eschews the traditional talking heads interview format by arranging conversations of a sort, combining characters like Mickey Rourke and Mahoney to chat about their memories, while sitting inside one of the famous locations the film sets out to historicize.
- 3/20/2012
- by Katie Walsh
- The Playlist
From Mvd, the "New York Dolls: Lookin' Fine On Television" will be available on DVD, November 22, 2011 :
"...in the early 70's, photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya purchased a portable video recorder. In a period of three years, they shot over 40 hours of the glam punk rock band the 'New York Dolls'. This footage became the documentary 'All Dolled Up'.
"For 'Lookin' Fine On Television' more footage has been edited to create fifteen live music video-style clips..."
Featured clips include rare, archival footage from the Dolls' early shows in the NYC clubs Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City.
Also included is footage of the Dolls' West Coast tour, Whisky-a-Go-Go, the Real Don Steele Show, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco and a whole lot more.
Tracks include "Jet Boy", "Personality Crisis", "Bad Girl", 'Human Being", "Bad Detective", "Subway Train", "Trash","Vietnamese Baby", "Lookin' For a Kiss", "Who Are...
"...in the early 70's, photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya purchased a portable video recorder. In a period of three years, they shot over 40 hours of the glam punk rock band the 'New York Dolls'. This footage became the documentary 'All Dolled Up'.
"For 'Lookin' Fine On Television' more footage has been edited to create fifteen live music video-style clips..."
Featured clips include rare, archival footage from the Dolls' early shows in the NYC clubs Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City.
Also included is footage of the Dolls' West Coast tour, Whisky-a-Go-Go, the Real Don Steele Show, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco and a whole lot more.
Tracks include "Jet Boy", "Personality Crisis", "Bad Girl", 'Human Being", "Bad Detective", "Subway Train", "Trash","Vietnamese Baby", "Lookin' For a Kiss", "Who Are...
- 10/10/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Hey! remember The Bangles? Walk like an Egyptian? Of course you do. Now you can celebrate the release of .Sweetheart of the Sun' Out Today; In-Store CD Signing and Acoustic Performance at Barnes & Noble Los Angeles. Iconic trio The Bangles release their new album today, Tuesday, September 27. As an early celebration, this past Thursday (9/22) the group hosted an exclusive CD release party with iconic DJ and early supporter Rodney Bingenheimer (Kroq) and performed an intimate acoustic session. Bingenheimer, one of the first DJs to play The Bangles. music back when they were previously called The Bangs, asked guitarist/singer Susanna Hoffs, guitarist/singer Vicki Peterson and drummer/singer Debbi Peterson questions about the new album and shared a few...
- 9/27/2011
- by April MacIntyre
- Monsters and Critics
Embedded above is a trailer crafted for the upcoming screening of the documentary Iconoclast, directed by Larry Wessel, which will occur at the 12th annual Melbourne Underground Film Festival. The fest runs on Aug. 19-28 and Iconoclast will screen on Aug. 24 at 7:00 p.m.
Iconoclast is a portrait of Boyd Rice, the controversial underground artist and musician. Rice was one of the originators of the Industrial Music scene of the 1970s and he’s gone on to create art and write several books. And he’s friends with both Charles Manson and Marilyn Manson.
This is a truly epic documentary, clocking in at about 4 hours long. (The Muff screening is spread out over two back-to-back sessions.) In addition to Rice’s participation, the documentary features interviews with diverse figures such as Ray Dennis Steckler, Allison Anders, Adam Parfrey, Gidget Gein, Stanton Lavey and Rodney Bingenheimer.
For more info on the film,...
Iconoclast is a portrait of Boyd Rice, the controversial underground artist and musician. Rice was one of the originators of the Industrial Music scene of the 1970s and he’s gone on to create art and write several books. And he’s friends with both Charles Manson and Marilyn Manson.
This is a truly epic documentary, clocking in at about 4 hours long. (The Muff screening is spread out over two back-to-back sessions.) In addition to Rice’s participation, the documentary features interviews with diverse figures such as Ray Dennis Steckler, Allison Anders, Adam Parfrey, Gidget Gein, Stanton Lavey and Rodney Bingenheimer.
For more info on the film,...
- 8/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
(Rodney Bingenheimer, the subject of Mayor Of The Sunset Strip, and Andy Warhol, above.)
Filmmaker George Hickenlooper passed away on October 29, 2010, at the way too early age of 47. This is an interview I did with George in 2004, around the release of his documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip, which I consider one of the very best films ever made about the entertainment industry and one of my Top 20 Films of the past decade. Hickenlooper's last film, Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, has just been released. This article originally appeared in Venice Magazine.
With Mayor of the Sunset Strip, George Hickenlooper takes us on a tour of the modern history of celebrity, via the life of legendary pop music impresario Rodney Bingenheimer.
By Terry Keefe
Filmmaker George Hickenlooper clearly loves the dreamers that drive the entertainment industry, but he's also very familiar with how Los Angeles can eat them alive. Many...
Filmmaker George Hickenlooper passed away on October 29, 2010, at the way too early age of 47. This is an interview I did with George in 2004, around the release of his documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip, which I consider one of the very best films ever made about the entertainment industry and one of my Top 20 Films of the past decade. Hickenlooper's last film, Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey, has just been released. This article originally appeared in Venice Magazine.
With Mayor of the Sunset Strip, George Hickenlooper takes us on a tour of the modern history of celebrity, via the life of legendary pop music impresario Rodney Bingenheimer.
By Terry Keefe
Filmmaker George Hickenlooper clearly loves the dreamers that drive the entertainment industry, but he's also very familiar with how Los Angeles can eat them alive. Many...
- 12/22/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
George Hickenlooper, who won an Emmy Award in 1992 for directing Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, has died. He was 47.
In a statement Saturday, Denver mayor and Colorado Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper says his cousin died of apparent natural causes.
Los Angeles-based George Hickenlooper was in Denver for the premiere of his latest film, Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey as American lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Other films directed by Hickenlooper include Factory Girl starring Sienna Miller as Edie Sedgwick, documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip that profiled pop star impresario Rodney Bingenheimer and last year's documentary Hick Town, based on footage shot while he followed his cousin around during the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
In a statement Saturday, Denver mayor and Colorado Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Hickenlooper says his cousin died of apparent natural causes.
Los Angeles-based George Hickenlooper was in Denver for the premiere of his latest film, Casino Jack, starring Kevin Spacey as American lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Other films directed by Hickenlooper include Factory Girl starring Sienna Miller as Edie Sedgwick, documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip that profiled pop star impresario Rodney Bingenheimer and last year's documentary Hick Town, based on footage shot while he followed his cousin around during the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
- 10/31/2010
- by Associated Press and Cineplex Staff
- Cineplex
Besides the initial shock that comes with the news that writer/director George Hickenlooper died in the midst of a whirlwind festival run for his latest film "Casino Jack" at the far too young age of 47 is the great irony that he reportedly passed away quietly of natural causes. For anyone who has followed Hickenlooper's career, the latter fact may come as an even greater surprise since even more so than his films themselves, he may be best known for the struggles he endured in getting them made, the product of a indefatigable love of film, and as his cousin, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper said in a statement to The Denver Post, "his unquenchable curiosity."
As the late Hickenlooper recounted in the foreword to his invaluable 1991 collection of interviews with directors and film critics, "Reel Conversations," such passion for the medium was evident from an early age when he arrived in Hollywood at 17 from St.
As the late Hickenlooper recounted in the foreword to his invaluable 1991 collection of interviews with directors and film critics, "Reel Conversations," such passion for the medium was evident from an early age when he arrived in Hollywood at 17 from St.
- 10/31/2010
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
George Hickenhooper, known for producing films such as the making-of documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" about "Apocalypse Now," has died. He was 47.
The filmmaker was found dead in Denver Saturday morning (Oct. 30) and appears to have died from natural causes with no foul play suspected, reports the Denver Post.
Hickenlooper was in town to premiere his latest film, "Casino Jack" on Thursday at the Starz Denver Film Festival with his cousin, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. The film stars Kevin Spacey as corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"Shock and sadness do not begin to describe our emotions. We are devastated," says Mayor Hickenlooper in a statement. "George had immense creative talents and cinematic gifts, but he was so much more than that to us and all his family. His passion for life, zeal for people and unquenchable curiosity enriched everyone who had the fortune to know him. We will miss his sense of humor,...
The filmmaker was found dead in Denver Saturday morning (Oct. 30) and appears to have died from natural causes with no foul play suspected, reports the Denver Post.
Hickenlooper was in town to premiere his latest film, "Casino Jack" on Thursday at the Starz Denver Film Festival with his cousin, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. The film stars Kevin Spacey as corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
"Shock and sadness do not begin to describe our emotions. We are devastated," says Mayor Hickenlooper in a statement. "George had immense creative talents and cinematic gifts, but he was so much more than that to us and all his family. His passion for life, zeal for people and unquenchable curiosity enriched everyone who had the fortune to know him. We will miss his sense of humor,...
- 10/31/2010
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
by Terry Keefe
Sad news that filmmaker George Hickenlooper has passed away at the age of 47. I interviewed George several years back for Mayor of the Sunset Strip, his documentary on Rodney Bingenheimer, which was one of the most insightful films about fame and show business ever made.The films of Hickenlooper often centered about an artist of some sort, and dealt with examinations of fame, the frenzy of renown, and artistic obsession. Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl, chased fame for its own sake, through the Warhol Factory, to her own destruction. Francis Coppola, in the documentary Hearts of Darkness, nearly loses his sanity in the Philippine jungles bringing home Apocalypse Now. The floundering, fictionalized author played by Andy Garcia in The Man from Elysian Fields becomes a kept man to the young wife of a famed, ailing writer played by James Coburn, in order to both support his own writing,...
Sad news that filmmaker George Hickenlooper has passed away at the age of 47. I interviewed George several years back for Mayor of the Sunset Strip, his documentary on Rodney Bingenheimer, which was one of the most insightful films about fame and show business ever made.The films of Hickenlooper often centered about an artist of some sort, and dealt with examinations of fame, the frenzy of renown, and artistic obsession. Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl, chased fame for its own sake, through the Warhol Factory, to her own destruction. Francis Coppola, in the documentary Hearts of Darkness, nearly loses his sanity in the Philippine jungles bringing home Apocalypse Now. The floundering, fictionalized author played by Andy Garcia in The Man from Elysian Fields becomes a kept man to the young wife of a famed, ailing writer played by James Coburn, in order to both support his own writing,...
- 10/31/2010
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
George Hickenlooper, the award-wining director of "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse," died Saturday. He was 47.
The director was in Denver for a screening of his latest film "Casino Jack," starring Kevin Spacey as D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It is set to be released in December.
Hickenlooper's body of work includes "Hearts of Darkness," about the making of the film "Apocalypse Now"; "Mayor of the Sunset Strip," the story of Los Angeles rock icon Rodney Bingenheimer; and last year's documentary, "Hick Town," based on footage shot during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
...
The director was in Denver for a screening of his latest film "Casino Jack," starring Kevin Spacey as D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff. It is set to be released in December.
Hickenlooper's body of work includes "Hearts of Darkness," about the making of the film "Apocalypse Now"; "Mayor of the Sunset Strip," the story of Los Angeles rock icon Rodney Bingenheimer; and last year's documentary, "Hick Town," based on footage shot during the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
...
- 10/31/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Sex Pistols star Steve Jones has landed another major radio gig at Los Angeles' leading rock station Kroq. The guitarist's acclaimed Jonesy's Jukebox show will return to the airwaves on Sunday, October 10 and will air weekly between 7 P.M. and 9 P.M. local time.
The thrilled punk icon says, "They are letting me play whatever I want - and that's good for me." Ironically, Jones will take over from radio legend Rodney Bingenheimer as the star of Kroq's Sunday night schedule - Bingenheimer was one of the first DJs in America to play the Sex Pistols on radio.
Jones' irreverent Jonesy's Jukebox program was previously the top-rated show at Indie 103.1. The Sex Pistols star quit in January 2009 just before the network closed. The rocker has spent much of this year broadcasting online.
The thrilled punk icon says, "They are letting me play whatever I want - and that's good for me." Ironically, Jones will take over from radio legend Rodney Bingenheimer as the star of Kroq's Sunday night schedule - Bingenheimer was one of the first DJs in America to play the Sex Pistols on radio.
Jones' irreverent Jonesy's Jukebox program was previously the top-rated show at Indie 103.1. The Sex Pistols star quit in January 2009 just before the network closed. The rocker has spent much of this year broadcasting online.
- 10/7/2010
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
Warning: Minor Spoilers
The Runaways had a typical teenage dream: they wanted to be rock stars. But unlike most restless adolescents with that vague hunger, they actually came close to superstardom. That's not a story you hear every day, especially not when the musicians are female and the music is an aggressive jumble of glam, punk, and straight-ahead rock.
The rise and fall of this pioneering all-girl band is a tale worth telling, but the film The Runaways isn't quite up to the task: it misses opportunities for fun and reduces heartfelt dreams to hackneyed drama. Luckily, Kristen Stewart is more than able to fill in the gaps and remind us why we love rock 'n' roll.
The Runaways depicts the formation, first tour and subsequent unraveling of the band. To writer/director Floria Sigismondi, "band" really means guitarist Joan Jett (Stewart) and lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) — guitarist...
The Runaways had a typical teenage dream: they wanted to be rock stars. But unlike most restless adolescents with that vague hunger, they actually came close to superstardom. That's not a story you hear every day, especially not when the musicians are female and the music is an aggressive jumble of glam, punk, and straight-ahead rock.
The rise and fall of this pioneering all-girl band is a tale worth telling, but the film The Runaways isn't quite up to the task: it misses opportunities for fun and reduces heartfelt dreams to hackneyed drama. Luckily, Kristen Stewart is more than able to fill in the gaps and remind us why we love rock 'n' roll.
The Runaways depicts the formation, first tour and subsequent unraveling of the band. To writer/director Floria Sigismondi, "band" really means guitarist Joan Jett (Stewart) and lead singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning) — guitarist...
- 3/12/2010
- by scribegrrrl
- AfterEllen.com
Best Films Of The Decade (aka The Naughties) From Alex & Terry
List # 1
By Alex Simon
When Terry and I initially discussed writing these lists, I had a tough time thinking back on 20 films over the past decade which I was really taken with, thinking that movies have sunk so low over the past ten years, that even choosing a dozen would be a short-order job. Thirty minutes into it, my list had nearly 60 titles! After much cutting, pasting, and re-cutting and pasting, here are my top 20 films (in no particular order) of the first decade of the 21st century, dubbed by many as “the naughties.” --A.S.
1.No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007) An elegiac blend of stark beauty and full-throttle despair from two of our finest filmmakers, set in the contemporary American West. Every frame is damn near flawless, and would have been an even more perfect vehicle for the late Sam Peckinpah.
List # 1
By Alex Simon
When Terry and I initially discussed writing these lists, I had a tough time thinking back on 20 films over the past decade which I was really taken with, thinking that movies have sunk so low over the past ten years, that even choosing a dozen would be a short-order job. Thirty minutes into it, my list had nearly 60 titles! After much cutting, pasting, and re-cutting and pasting, here are my top 20 films (in no particular order) of the first decade of the 21st century, dubbed by many as “the naughties.” --A.S.
1.No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers, 2007) An elegiac blend of stark beauty and full-throttle despair from two of our finest filmmakers, set in the contemporary American West. Every frame is damn near flawless, and would have been an even more perfect vehicle for the late Sam Peckinpah.
- 12/28/2009
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
MacKenzie Phillips was raped as a teenager - several years before she embarked on an incestuous relationship with her father John.
The former child star stunned fans and family by detailing in her new tell-all book High on Arrival how her father raped her the night before she married Jeff Sessler in 1979.
Now she reveals it wasn't the first time she had been assaulted - a motorist sexually abused her at the age of 14 as she hitchhiked in Hollywood.
Speaking to U.S. chat show host Larry King, Phillips says, "I was 14... I was hanging out with some friends at a club on Sunset (Boulevard) called Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco. And I was allowed to hitchhike at that age... And we were hitchhiking home, my friends, Billy, Jody and I. And a gentleman. Someone I thought I knew. We thought we knew this man. We got in the car and he turned off of Sunset."
The man ordered her friends out of the car before holding a knife to Phillips' neck and speeding off.
She adds, "He took me up into the hills and raped me. And he told me he was going to kill me... I was let out of the car on the street above Sunset. He shoved me out of the car. I ran back down to the club. The police were there. Billy and Jody were there... Everyone was crying. And I was taken and done (sic) a rape kit on. I was clearly raped."
The man repsonsible for the attack has never been traced.
The former child star stunned fans and family by detailing in her new tell-all book High on Arrival how her father raped her the night before she married Jeff Sessler in 1979.
Now she reveals it wasn't the first time she had been assaulted - a motorist sexually abused her at the age of 14 as she hitchhiked in Hollywood.
Speaking to U.S. chat show host Larry King, Phillips says, "I was 14... I was hanging out with some friends at a club on Sunset (Boulevard) called Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco. And I was allowed to hitchhike at that age... And we were hitchhiking home, my friends, Billy, Jody and I. And a gentleman. Someone I thought I knew. We thought we knew this man. We got in the car and he turned off of Sunset."
The man ordered her friends out of the car before holding a knife to Phillips' neck and speeding off.
She adds, "He took me up into the hills and raped me. And he told me he was going to kill me... I was let out of the car on the street above Sunset. He shoved me out of the car. I ran back down to the club. The police were there. Billy and Jody were there... Everyone was crying. And I was taken and done (sic) a rape kit on. I was clearly raped."
The man repsonsible for the attack has never been traced.
- 10/1/2009
- WENN
Kevin Spacey has signed up to star as Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Washington power broker, in Casino Jack. The project will be helmed by director George Hickenlooper, with a script from writer Norman Snider.
Spacey will take the lead as a formerly high-powered lobbyist who eventually wound up in prison over his indulgence in bribery schemes and fraudulent dealings with Native American casinos.
Abramoff was accused of defrauding indigenous peoples' tribes out of $25M for lobbying activities.
Hickenlooper was actually a co-director on the legendary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. He also directed the excellent Mayor of the Sunset Strip, about Rodney Bingenheimer, and the passable Edie Sedgwick bio Factory Girl.
Snider’s most notable credit is as a co-writer, alongside David Cronenberg, of Dead Ringers.
This sounds like an interesting project for Spacey. He does well playing the smarmy,...
Spacey will take the lead as a formerly high-powered lobbyist who eventually wound up in prison over his indulgence in bribery schemes and fraudulent dealings with Native American casinos.
Abramoff was accused of defrauding indigenous peoples' tribes out of $25M for lobbying activities.
Hickenlooper was actually a co-director on the legendary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. He also directed the excellent Mayor of the Sunset Strip, about Rodney Bingenheimer, and the passable Edie Sedgwick bio Factory Girl.
Snider’s most notable credit is as a co-writer, alongside David Cronenberg, of Dead Ringers.
This sounds like an interesting project for Spacey. He does well playing the smarmy,...
- 5/13/2009
- CinemaSpy
You never think, "Oh, this documentary is going to make tons of money," but I certainly hoped that would be the case for George Hickenlooper's Mayor of the Sunset Strip. It's not just that it's a great piece of filmmaking, but the story it tells is one any real music fan would enjoy.
If it happened in rock n' roll in the 1970s, Rodney Bingenheimer was probably there. A Los Angeles social scene icon whose nickname became the title of the documentary about his plugged-in life, Bingenheimer was on the ground floor of glam, punk, alternative, and whatever the hell it is now. And that's not even the half of it, as you'll learn in the film. His radio show, Rodney on the Roq, has been breaking new music on The World Famous Kroq over 30 years.
Alas, Mayor of the Sunset Strip did not make a lot of money,...
If it happened in rock n' roll in the 1970s, Rodney Bingenheimer was probably there. A Los Angeles social scene icon whose nickname became the title of the documentary about his plugged-in life, Bingenheimer was on the ground floor of glam, punk, alternative, and whatever the hell it is now. And that's not even the half of it, as you'll learn in the film. His radio show, Rodney on the Roq, has been breaking new music on The World Famous Kroq over 30 years.
Alas, Mayor of the Sunset Strip did not make a lot of money,...
- 5/6/2009
- by Colin Boyd
- GetTheBigPicture.net
Kino-Eye American
Rodney Bingenheimer, that soft-spoken fixture of the Los Angeles music scene, is given his colorful due in George Hickenlooper's exuberant "Mayor of the Sunset Strip".
Rightly assessed by Hickenlooper as an enigmatic morphing of Woody Allen's Zelig, "Being There"'s Chance Gardner and Forrest Gump (not to mention Andy Warhol), the impish individual also known as KROQ radio's "Rodney on the ROQ", with a Dennis Wilson tune to prove it, has lived a lifestyle that reveals much about the seductive cult of celebrity and fame's fleeting footing.
Receiving its world premiere at, fittingly, the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival, the documentary nevertheless has a commercial reach that goes beyond local hero worship thanks in part to an all-star lineup of interviewees, including Cher, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Gwen Stefani and Courtney Love, to name just a few confirmed Rod-heads.
Writer-director Hickenlooper, who reportedly followed his subject around for six years, traces Bingenheimer's ascent from starry-eyed hanger-on to influential act-breaker with an entertaining mix of archival footage, snapshots from Rodney's personal collection and candid remarks from family members and famous and not-so-famous friends.
And through it all -- from mid-'60s pop to glam to punk to new wave to grunge -- there's Rodney freakily mimicking the individual style of the act he was posing with at the particular time.
Not surprisingly, just beneath all the partying and clubbing (once holding court at his very own, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco), there's a prevailing loneliness and melancholy that goes along with living in someone else's spotlight.
Given the subject matter, it's no wonder the film's soundtrack is a bursting-at-the-seams survey of the past four decades of music, for better or worse, ranging from vintage Monkees and Troggs through to such Rodney-boosted bands as Sex Pistols, Blondie, Oasis and Coldplay.
Rodney Bingenheimer, that soft-spoken fixture of the Los Angeles music scene, is given his colorful due in George Hickenlooper's exuberant "Mayor of the Sunset Strip".
Rightly assessed by Hickenlooper as an enigmatic morphing of Woody Allen's Zelig, "Being There"'s Chance Gardner and Forrest Gump (not to mention Andy Warhol), the impish individual also known as KROQ radio's "Rodney on the ROQ", with a Dennis Wilson tune to prove it, has lived a lifestyle that reveals much about the seductive cult of celebrity and fame's fleeting footing.
Receiving its world premiere at, fittingly, the IFP Los Angeles Film Festival, the documentary nevertheless has a commercial reach that goes beyond local hero worship thanks in part to an all-star lineup of interviewees, including Cher, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Gwen Stefani and Courtney Love, to name just a few confirmed Rod-heads.
Writer-director Hickenlooper, who reportedly followed his subject around for six years, traces Bingenheimer's ascent from starry-eyed hanger-on to influential act-breaker with an entertaining mix of archival footage, snapshots from Rodney's personal collection and candid remarks from family members and famous and not-so-famous friends.
And through it all -- from mid-'60s pop to glam to punk to new wave to grunge -- there's Rodney freakily mimicking the individual style of the act he was posing with at the particular time.
Not surprisingly, just beneath all the partying and clubbing (once holding court at his very own, Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco), there's a prevailing loneliness and melancholy that goes along with living in someone else's spotlight.
Given the subject matter, it's no wonder the film's soundtrack is a bursting-at-the-seams survey of the past four decades of music, for better or worse, ranging from vintage Monkees and Troggs through to such Rodney-boosted bands as Sex Pistols, Blondie, Oasis and Coldplay.
- 6/30/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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