MAYOR OF THE SUNSET STRIP

Director George Hickenlooper / 2004 / USA
Mayor of the Sunset Strip USA

'Rodney Bingenheimer has been a disc jockey at the venerable Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM for some thirty years. His legend is that he was the first to play records by the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Van Halen, The Go-Go's, The Clash, The Smiths, Nirvana, Oasis, Coldplay and many more. Before that, he was the unlikely impresario of 'Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco,' a glam-era club where Bowie, Iggy Pop, T. Rex, Led Zeppelin and The Sweet were regulars. A publicist for Linda Ronstadt and Rod Stewart. Living with Sonny and Cher. A double for Davy Jones!

'such is the chronology of a twentieth-century boy, a life forged not in the white heat of pop culture, but in its forlorn shadows. And director George Hickenlooper captures it with eye-popping zest and rigour. The question of celebrity, and the depiction of the culture that congeals around it, is at the core of this kinetic chronicle.

'something is captured in this vibrant portrait: not just the chipper decadence of that moment before big money kidnapped rock culture, but something that is gone. Is Rodney Bingenheimer the last DJ'-'Toronto International Film Festival

D/S George Hickenlooper P Chris Carter, Greg Little, Tommy Perna WS First Look Media TD 35mm/Col/2003/94mins

George Hickenlooper was born in St. Louis, USA in 1965. Films include: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991, co-dir), The Man from Elysian Fields (2001).

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