When in Rome...
Well, here I am in the city of my birth - Los Angeles.
One of the most influential things during my late teens and early 20's was Rodney on the ROQ, the KROQ radio show hosted by Rodney Bingenheimer on Sunday nights.
Rodney did not have a big LA DJ personality. Instead, he was mild-mannered. The music did all the talking. Rodney played all the records by local bands before anyone else did - Bags, Eyes, Weirdos, X, Germs... you name it. AND of course, Rodney was big on the British bands. If not for Rodney, Pleasant and I would never had had the opportunity to spend so much time with Billy Idol. Of course, a huge part of hanging with Billy was because Brendan Bourke (of Chrysalis Records at the time) totally understood the value of getting his artist premier coverage in a fanzine.
I'm proud of the legacy of Lobtomy, to be sure.
So, today in 2005... KROQ has relegated Rodney to a late night broadcast, which is a shame and a crime. We need our punk rock in prime time! But good things in 2005 for the aforementioned friends from back in the day - Brendan Bourke manages The Sights, a fantastic trio from Detroit. Eddie Baranek is a powerful frontman in a small package - not unlike Steve Marriott, to whom I favorably compare him. Kid Congo makes the coolest music and is currently on tour in Europe. Randy Detroit for years worked at Slash Records and is currently scheming something super fabulous with Pleasant, who continues to write and does a sultry belly dance thing as Princess Farhana.
Here is a funny thing specific to LA:
Comments