I'm sure everybody in SoCal has a memory of Rodney Bingenheimer. I used to go down to LA for the holidays in the '80s and record his KROQ shows on cassette, which I'd listen to for the rest of the year. Thanks to Rodney, I was a weird Oregon boy with a taste for the Ramones, the Smiths, and even Brian Wilson. With all this talk of people selling out in the surfboard industry on the Surfing Magazine Blog and other sites, I was reminded of a guy who did his job purely for the stoke (and never did get paid). If you haven't seen Mayor of the Sunset Strip, you should beg, borrow, steal, or even rent it.
Brian Wilson - Surf's Up
(Wowee! Now you can even hear the music link!)
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11 comments:
He's a total one-of-a-kind kook. I first listened to his radio show in 1981. What a revelation to hear LA punk when I was a kid. I was so far away from KROQ in Laguna, I had to make a homemade antenna on my roof to hear the show - good times.
Smile : )
I have some fond memories of the Rodney on the Roq show too, so fresh and new at the time, and that voice, it sounded different than all other DJ's at the time, you felt like you were at the cusp of something new and different and his show was the soundtrack to your life.
Cool pic! How'd you get that? Odd dude.
Too bad I can't even stand to skip over KROQ and hear a second of it.
KROQ...wow...hadn't thought of that station in years. Not sure how we managed it...but we always got some sort of feed to come through whenever we crossed into CA for swim meets. Good stuff...
And...even though I'm older than you...you weren't the only Southern Oregon kid with a penchant for The Ramones or The Smiths.
I say we also give a nod to Curtis Mayfield.
-Lamont Sanford
I'd never heard of this great guy.
We have the same kind of music maniac on french radio: Bernard Lenoir. Funnily, he's also into surfing (well more bodysurfing & bodyboarding I must admit...).
I watched the trailer and was happy to hear a Dramarama song in it.
It reminded me of my 80's. ;)
Pushingtide, the photo is from his myspace page. He's my friend, yo!
Isn't that Jed the Fish holding the tail of the board?
Does Rodney on the Rocks still have a show, yo? Gotta say, my favorite radio show is Jonesy's Jukebox. Great, gruff, low key banter and amazing music.
Check out some vintage Rodney shows I posted at
http://fromthegarage.blogspot.com/
Riff
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