- Camera
- Aperture
- Exposure
- Focal Length
- Canon PowerShot G5
- f/2
- 1/8th
- 34mm
About ten years ago I met up with Rodney at Canters where he would have his nightly late night feeding. After he has his usual grilled cheese sandwich, we walked out to the street where I got him to pose for this photograph.
Kudos to Brad Elterman (everyone who likes 70s rock, punk, and new wave should be following him) for putting up this poignant portrait of Rodney. I say poignant because there should be a crowd of people around Rodney asking for his autograph. Why? There are few people who did more to make Los Angeles the vibrant musical environment that it was in the 1970s.
But “The Mayor of the Sunset Strip” did even more when it came to Van Halen. In April 1976, Van Halen was in the middle of its second year of slogging it out in Hollywood at Gazzarri’s, a club that hadn’t been hip since the late 60s.
Rodney and his friend Hernando strolled in there on a whim one weekday night. The Strip was dead and they’d figured a dose of Gazzarri’s bad cover acts would be good for a laugh. They grabbed a couple of watered down drinks from the bar and walked up towards the stage.
Some band they’d never heard of, Van Halen, happened to be playing. Within minutes, they’d forgotten all about what they’d expected to hear and see onstage.
This band was cranking out hot versions of everything from Motown to the latest hard rock hits, and the four musicians onstage were just amazing players and performers. Rodney also noticed the huge contingent of hot young girls crowded around the stage, a sure sign that this band was going to be successful.
After talking to Dave and the others, they left the club, convinced that what they’d just seen and heard was the future of heavy metal for the 1970s and beyond.
Eager to help Van Halen, Rodney and Hernando dashed over to the notorious Starwood club the very next day. The booking agent at the Starwood, a nightspot that featured some of the biggest up-and-coming bands in rock, scoffed when Rodney said that this band Van Halen played at Gazzarri’s. The Starwood did not feature bands that played at Gazzarri’s. Ever.
But Rodney persisted and cajoled, and Van Halen got the gig. Just a year later, Van Halen would be signed by Warner Bros. Records at the Starwood after a hot performance in front of a small crowd.
Thanks Rodney.
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Kudos to Brad Elterman (everyone who likes 70s rock, punk, and new wave should be following him) for putting up this...
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