This interview was taken from the January 1987 issue of the Harrison Alliance. The interview was conducted by Janice Murawski.
Flashback to the Sixties
A conversation with Rodney Bingenheimer by Janice Murawski
Q: How and when did you first meet the Beatles?
Rodney: I guess the
first time I met them was when they played the Cow Palace in San
Francisco. I was going out with the
promoter’s daughter, the guy who presented the Beatles at the Cow Palace. She took me backstage.
Q: What was your
impression of them?
A: I thought they were
great. They were different, with the
hair and all that. I guess that’s what got
me to grow my hair long.
Q: You saw George
again in 1967 in Los Angeles. Briefly, what was the Hollywood scene like then?
R: It sure ain’t like
it is now! It was just wall to wall
people up and down the streets, everywhere you looked. There were musicians and kids all hanging out
together up and down the Strip. Ice
cream parlors, night clubs, it was like a teenage Las Vegas, 24 hours!
Q: You met George at
the press conference for the Kinnara School, Ravi Shankar’s music school, held
by Shankar and George in August that year.
Tell us how you became reacquainted with George.
R: I was at the Ravi
Shankar press conference and actually, it was pretty boring if you know what I
mean. I went with Ed Caraeff, who took
photos and Earl Lee, who was also a photographer for Teen magazine. Afterwards, George asked, “What’s happening? I want to do something. I am going to be in town for a few days.” So
we all loaded up in this little two-door Corvair which was driven by Jerry
Hopkin’s secretary. Jerry Hopkins, of
course, is the author of the book Elvis and one on David Bowie. We just literally drove all over town, all
over Hollywood, and of course, we went to Jerry’s psychedelic store in
Westwood; it was called Headquarters.
George bought everything there.
Q: What did he buy?
R: All kinds of
beads, weird roach-clips, that’s where we got the heart shaped sunglasses. “Here, try these on George!” They were gold framed. He bought some round ones too, several
pairs. Then we went up the street to a
place called Sat Purush, which was the place the Strawberry Alarm Clock did
their album cover. You know, those guys
sitting around in those weird Nehru things?
George bought a bunch of Nehru type things and shirts with ribbons in
them and stuff like that.
Q: Indian stuff?
R: Yeah. That’s where George was in the window in his
underwear trying on things.
Q: What was the
people’s reaction? I mean when he was
standing in his underwear in the window?
R: People didn’t
believe it was him!
Q: And he didn’t care
that he was standing in the window in his underwear?
R: No. Then we went driving around, went to the
Orange Julius stand on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Q: What did you talk
about, riding around in this Corvair?
Did you talk about music?
R: Yeah. He was asking
me about the Remains. He wanted to get a
hold of the Remains. They opened for the
Beatles. You know, “What are they doing
now, Rodney?” He asked me what happened to them. We were listening to the Doors on the radio.
Q: Did you talk about
his visit here?
R: Yeah; he was going
to go to the Ravi Shankar concert, then he was going to go to San Francisco to
visit Pattie’s sister Jenny.
Q: Was Pattie with
him that day?
R: Not that day. She went shopping and we went shopping
separately. She was at the Ravi Shankar
concert.
Q: Was George surprised he wasn’t bothered on the street?
R: Yeah. This was his first time alone without the
Beatles .. no, actually it was his second time.
He’d first been to America without the Beatles before they came to
America; he came on ahead of them.
Q: to visit his
sister. Did George seem to be experiencing
any cultural shock even though he’d been in the States before? I wanted to ask you, when he couldn’t get the
jukebox to work, did he just not know how to put the money in…
R: No. He only had English coins, so I put a quarter
in.
Q: What did he play?
R: The Doors’ “Light
my Fire,” “San Francisco Nights” by the
Animals, The Seeds’ “Pushin’ too hard.”
Q: did you ever go to
the house on Blue Jay Way?
R: Yeah, that’s where
Derek Taylor had that house. It was
really cool.
Q: Derek had rented
it…
R: Yeah; but even
before all that, when the Beatles played here in ’66, they had a beautiful
house at the top of Curson. I went to a
party at that house, all four Beatles were there, Jim McGuinn of the
Byrds. We ate a lot of food and the fans
were climbing up the hill. We were
throwing steaks at the fans!
Q: Did you get along
with George really well? Were you at
ease with him? Was he at ease with you?
R: I was really shy,
but I was really comfortable.
Q: How old were you
at the time of the Tigerbeat article in 1967, you look so young in that photo.
R: Real young … 14?
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George and Rodney on a shopping spree in Hollywood, 1967. Photo by Ed Caraeff |
Q: What about George
impressed you the most?
R: His sense of
humor. I remember a guy came up to get
his autograph and George kept making these jokes about the guy, because the guy
had bad breath and George was making all these jokes, “Remember that guy, the
guy with the bad breath?”
Q: So the people did
leave him alone, they didn’t try to mob him?
R: Yeah, it was the
big hippie thing, real cool then.
Q: Reflect on this
little bit here that was in this other article, about someone coming up to you
and offering drugs.
R: Another time,
George…I guess he loved L.A., he kept coming here by himself, without the
Beatles. It was in 1968 and we ended up
at Wallach’s Music City, which was at the corner of Sunset and Vine, which was
the happening record store. We pulled
in, and George was out there, got to sign a few autographs and somebody approached
him with some LSD. He said, “Look at
this Rodney” and handed me the LSD. I
said, “This is LSD, don’t take it George” and immediately threw it on the
street.
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George and Rodney, Ravi Shankar concert, Hollywood Bowl, 1967. Photo by Ed Caraeff |
Q: George’s interest
in Indian music and Eastern religion was in its early stages at that time. Was that obvious? Did he talk about those interests with you?
R: Yeah; we went…we
met up with George at the Hollywood Bowl at the Ravi Shankar concert. Shankar was onstage and they placed a few
people beneath him, around his feet. My
friend Ed Caraeff, who was a real happening photographer and I went and then
George met us and he came up and sat next to me. There’s myself, and George and Pattie, and it’s
so quiet and mellow there. No one was
flashing photos or anything. So Ed managed
somehow to take a picture of George and I with his foot, no flash, an open lens
and this is how the photo turned out.
Very little available light and he did it with his foot, without even
looking in the lens and luckily it came out!
There was a party afterwards at Ravi’s house, a lot of Indians, a lot of
incense…
Q: Was anybody taking
drugs at that time?
R: People were
smoking marijuana but they didn’t consider it a drug. It was an herbal plant; it was never
considered a drug.
Q: Did George discuss
the Beatles at all? Group projects or
what they saw in the future?
R: He kept saying
there’d be another album coming out soon…
Q: Did he talk
anything about what kind of future he had?
What he was going to be doing?
R: No really. He was interested in Ravi and Indian music
and culture. He and Pattie went to San
Francisco the next day, and saw Haight-Ashbury.
He wore the same heart-shaped glasses.
He asked me to go but I couldn’t make it.
Q: Did he write any
songs while he was hanging out, or sing anything for you?
R: He had a little
notepad, he took down notes. I guess
that’s where he got ideas.
Q: When you went to
England did you see the Beatles over there?
R: Of course I went
to Apple and hung out with Derek Taylor.
Q: Tell us about your
club in the ‘70’s. Did any of the
Beatles go there?
R: Ring would come
by, and Phil Spector. That was the place
where everybody hung out…Led Zeppelin, Marc Bolan.
Q: Did any of the others come into your club?
R: Just Ringo
regularly. There was one time when John
stopped out in front and held up traffic!
Q: Was that in ’73 when
John was split from Yoko?
R: Yeah, back when
John was hanging out at Schwab’s Drugstore.
I went to a recording session; I think it was at Record Plant. I thought it was for Mick Jagger. I’m talking to Mick Jagger, right and all of
a sudden I feel these hands come up, form behind me, and pick me up and then
drop me, I turned around and it was
John! There I was for a brief second in
the middle, between John Lennon and Mick Jagger. Buddy Miles was there and all those session
guys who used to play on all that stuff…Jim Keltner, Bobby Keyes... I was at the recording session after the
Beatles split, in 1973 at Sunset Sounds…
Q: The “I Am the
Greatest” track, Ringo’s album, right?
R: Yeah. I was there with Michel Des Barres, who is a
good friend of George’s now.
Q: Didn’t George just
kind of show up at Sunset Sounds at that session?
R: Yeah. John and Ringo were working together and
George just sort of popped in. Mal Evans
was there, the Beatles road manager who was shot by the LAPD. Michael DesBarres and I were up the street
recording some stuff with Silverhead, a band that Michael was in, and it was
like, “oh let’s go see, the Beatles are up the street!” and he goes, “No, no
way…” he couldn’t believe it! We went
down there and sure enough, there were the Beatles, a little bearded, but they’re
all there!
Q: You kept in touch
with George since those visits?
R: He would pass
messages to certain people, musicians, or John.
I was with John in ’69. You know,
“George said to say hello..” and Dave Edmunds.
Just recently, George passed words along to Michael DesBarres to say
hello and stuff.
Q: Did you see George
when he was living in Los Angeles in the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s?
R: I saw him once,
and that was at the Rainbow, the Rainbow Bar and Grille on Sunset
boulevard. I was walking by, he said
hello and I sat at his table for a little bit.
![]() |
Yoko, Rodney and John backstage at the Toronto Peace Festival, 1969. Photo by Ed Caraeff |
Q: About John in ’69…
R: I was in Toronto
with John Brower. I picked up John and
Yoko at the airport. I went in the limo,
greeting John and Yoko at the airport and rode with them into the concert
(Toronto Peace Festival). I presented
John with a tape of Elvis Presley doing “Hey Jude” and “Yesterday” from an
Elvis show I was at in Las Vegas the month before --- before it came out on
record. I gave it to John and he couldn’t
believe it! Elvis Presley dong a Beatles
song!
Q: Was he really
nervous before the show?
R: Oh, very. He was sick…he had the flu. He was very sick plus he was jet lagged. He came right form the plane onto the
stage. And Yoko was pregnant then. He performed…I guess he followed the Doors or
something. I wrote an article about it
at the time; it was called “Give Yoko a Chance” and it was in this magazine
called “Entertainment Tonight.”
Reflecting on his adventures and the friendships and
associations he made, Rodney figures that it all comes down to good fortune
and, despite his shy nature, some fortitude on his part
R: See, this was
before they had bodyguards, before they had security backstage, before they had
assassins. You could go to a concert,
like the Bob Dylan concert at Santa Monica Civic, and just get up from your
seat and walk backstage. I was just
around at the right time, in the right place.
Incredible! This guy seems to have been everywhere with everybody - I only stumbled over his name in a Stooges forum (Iggy was at the English Disco as well) and so only now recognized here it is the same guy again!
ReplyDeleteRodney is a legend here in L.A... everyone knows him. He drives around in a blue Pontiac with "LIL GTO" on the license plate. I knew he had met The Fabs, but I had never known until I read this article that he had actually hung out George. What a fab story... thanks for posting it, Sara! I used to live by the Orange Julius they visited... too bad I was in pre-school at the time!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Rodney is notoriously vain. He said he was 14, but he was actually just shy of his 20th birthday in the Summer of '67.
Whoah!!!!! What a find! I can't believe he's popping up everywhere....hanging with George in '67 and backstage at the Toronto Live Peace concert! Thank you for posting this!
ReplyDeleteThis guy loved the Toronto band Chicklet. I found it on their Wiki page
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicklet