A number of news services including the Washington Post picked up an Associated Press article on Friday about L.A. rock D.J. Rodney Bingenheimer getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. David Bowie and a cavalcade of other performers are featured in the 2003 documentary about Bingenheimer, The Mayor of Sunset Strip. Bowie sent a statement to him which was read at the dedication ceremony, saying “You getting a star is the high point of the season. We are all delighted for you.”
Hey, I’m with you, that really isn’t terribly newsworthy as far as David Bowie is concerned, but what fascinated me more than anything is that the article reports Bowie sent his statement in the form of a telegram. Really? A telegram? Our favorite technophile is communicating information via telegram? Didn’t Western Union send its last telegram at the beginning of last year? Can you even send a telegram anymore that isn’t actually transmitted by email?
I decided to get my questions answered by Wikipedia, because if Wikipedia says it, you know that it’s true. As it turns out, you can still send telegrams through companies like International Telegram. Your message gets transmitted via cable to an office close to your destination. Then it gets printed out and hand-delivered. It’s faster than postal mail and, unlike emails and phone calls, they can be received anywhere — “from the busiest city to the tiniest remote village.” Then you get an email confirmation of the successful delivery. Not bad. It sounds like the thing to do if you have relatives in Somalia.
You can read more about the dedication ceremony for Rodney Bingenheimer on the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’s website.
Comments
5 responses to “A Star for the Mayor of Sunset Strip”
Fun fact! The Walk of Fame star for the Mayor of Sunset Strip was not placed on the Sunset Strip, but on Hollywood Boulevard.
Also, the largemouth bass is, in fact, not a bass, but a member of the sunfish family.
And you say I’m tangential…..
Speaking of “The Mayor of Sunset Strip”, I copped the quote on the back page synopsis of my book “Catch a Falling Star” directly from a quote by Kim Fowley in the extras section of the DVD.Asked what it is about fame and celebrity that makes people so attracted to it, he replies: “inadequacy…it’s over-compensation for a crummy life,and you decide to have a fantasy life.” Which is what my character Nicholas “Nicky Nova” Walpole attempts to do,by trying spectacularly unsuccessfully to follow in the footsteps of his hero David Bowie.
No kidding! We’ve got to see that documentary.