Documentary about legendary DJ Rodney 'on the Roq' Bingenheimer (he broke glam rock, punk, new wave, britpop, alt-rock and tons of sub-movements in the States + created the legendary/notorious English Disco in LA (underage groupies in the 70's)). I always had him down as virtually a pimp working his way through all the underage girls with the sexually abusive lunatic Kim Fowley, but this documentary caught my attention 6 minutes in with the following exchange -
"Do you wish your life had been different?"
"Yeah actually." Followed by a look of pure despair!
This is actually a fascinating look at a generation of kids with poor parents. They fled the abuse or neglect and headed for LA/Hollywood. Rodney is a tiny put-upon figure; bullied at school; with a mother who was so ill-equipped that she was divorced by the time he was 3; and when he reached his teens she dumped him and his suitcase outside the house of a TV star he had a teen crush on...and abandoned him! Rodney's escape was into celebrity (a trait of his mother's) and music, especially if made by pretty English boys. He's like this Zelig figure who first crops up in The Monkees and is then seen with, works with or is photographed with everyone who was famous...EVERYONE! Simultaneously he is the de facto leader of all the other abandoned kids, with his wing-man Fowley. He had this despairing puppy-dog look that made all the girls want to mother/sleep with him. By the time this documentary was made though, the look is just despair. Just about everyone he loved/loves let him down. It happens several times during the filming (in particular the interview with him and Camille on the bed...you'll know the one). I am actually really surprised he allowed such an invasion into his private hells. What saves him though is his two passions. His uber-networking skills provide a living via celebrity, and he has a handful of very close friends there as well (Nancy Sinatra, Cher and Joan Jett are very good at explaining how alone these people really are). His immense love for 'positive' music meant he could discover and break all the great rock-pop that streamed out of Britain in the 70's from Glam to Punk, which, in turn provided careers with the English Disco and then KROQ Radio where he effectively created THE radio format for at least a decade in the US. Even that is failing him by the time this doc is filmed. The money-men and young shits are side-lining him and/or stabbing him in the back. AND he didn't do any of this for the money!
It is a great, albeit heartrending, story and brilliantly told and developed. Finally, at the heart, is this peculiar friendship with Fowley. I have to declare an interest here. I cannot forgive Fowley for what he did or allowed to be done to The Runaways (there is an unreleased doc called Edgeplay which occasionally surfaces...see that and you will understand) BUT I am reasonably certain that he is a genius. What he sees, is what Rodney doesn't, that they were effectively a couple of damaged kids/tramps that fought and fucked their way through the Cali-bullshit and survived, and are still surviving, and longevity in Hotel California is darn near a miracle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDp2oHQaRI
"Do you wish your life had been different?"
"Yeah actually." Followed by a look of pure despair!
This is actually a fascinating look at a generation of kids with poor parents. They fled the abuse or neglect and headed for LA/Hollywood. Rodney is a tiny put-upon figure; bullied at school; with a mother who was so ill-equipped that she was divorced by the time he was 3; and when he reached his teens she dumped him and his suitcase outside the house of a TV star he had a teen crush on...and abandoned him! Rodney's escape was into celebrity (a trait of his mother's) and music, especially if made by pretty English boys. He's like this Zelig figure who first crops up in The Monkees and is then seen with, works with or is photographed with everyone who was famous...EVERYONE! Simultaneously he is the de facto leader of all the other abandoned kids, with his wing-man Fowley. He had this despairing puppy-dog look that made all the girls want to mother/sleep with him. By the time this documentary was made though, the look is just despair. Just about everyone he loved/loves let him down. It happens several times during the filming (in particular the interview with him and Camille on the bed...you'll know the one). I am actually really surprised he allowed such an invasion into his private hells. What saves him though is his two passions. His uber-networking skills provide a living via celebrity, and he has a handful of very close friends there as well (Nancy Sinatra, Cher and Joan Jett are very good at explaining how alone these people really are). His immense love for 'positive' music meant he could discover and break all the great rock-pop that streamed out of Britain in the 70's from Glam to Punk, which, in turn provided careers with the English Disco and then KROQ Radio where he effectively created THE radio format for at least a decade in the US. Even that is failing him by the time this doc is filmed. The money-men and young shits are side-lining him and/or stabbing him in the back. AND he didn't do any of this for the money!
It is a great, albeit heartrending, story and brilliantly told and developed. Finally, at the heart, is this peculiar friendship with Fowley. I have to declare an interest here. I cannot forgive Fowley for what he did or allowed to be done to The Runaways (there is an unreleased doc called Edgeplay which occasionally surfaces...see that and you will understand) BUT I am reasonably certain that he is a genius. What he sees, is what Rodney doesn't, that they were effectively a couple of damaged kids/tramps that fought and fucked their way through the Cali-bullshit and survived, and are still surviving, and longevity in Hotel California is darn near a miracle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EDp2oHQaRI
