As a youngster growing up in the late 70’s/early 80’s, I had a misconception of L.A. life. Since my reality was based on what I saw on television, Los Angeles was all palm trees with tanned blondes sailing on yachts during the day, then going to the clubs at night, mostly to enjoy female mud wrestling. Why would I have such a skewed vision of Los Angeles? Eye On L.A., of course. Eye on L.A. is Los Angeles’ longest running news segment program, and it is still on today. I feel that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay must have watch many hours of Eye On L.A. as well to have created a movie as twisted as Anchorman. In fact, check out this promo for Eye On L.A. back in 1982, which starts with the startling tale of heiress Patty Hearst, the “Slave Of The SLA,” then ends with female mud wrestling. I can’t make this stuff up.


They used go on and on about the female mud wresting so much that Phranc, former member of Catholic Discipline and All-American Jewish Lesbian Folksinger, once wrote a song about Eye On L.A. called “Female Mud Wresting.” I always remember the line in the song, “Not like Steve and Melody, I do not like female mud wrestling.” The Steve that she referenced in the song is none other than Steve Edwards, who is still in the “light news” game on Fox’s Good Day L.A. Now Phranc has her own Internet show called Phranc Talk. It’s sort of like a Mr. Rogers show, only if an All-American Lesbian Folksinger did it. Maybe she could have Steve Edwards on her show one day. In this episode, she shares her song-writing skills and her bird named Pickles.

This was inspired by the yacht rock movies.

In the 70’s, I was in my single digit years. (Christopher Cross- Ride Like The Wind) Even though I was raised in a Mexican immigrant family, I still lived in 70’s-mellow Los Angeles. We were inundated with those laid back, playing on the beach, (George Benson-Breezin’) Mimosa drinking, macramé wearing, big sunglasses wearing, sitting on wicker furniture on our balcony with our Southern California vibe, thanks to the media. The media made some of us forget we were growing up in the ghettos of Los Angeles in dilapidated housing with no jobs or low-paying jobs. It made us forget the Vatos down the street were smoking Angel Dust.  It made us forget we never had time or the funds to get to the beach, even if it was only a few miles away.

Television was full of it. (Boz Skaggs - Lowdown) Three’s Company, The Love Boat, even the local T.V. news fluff piece shows like Eye On L.A. had us believing everyone lived on the beach and had a yacht. Even my heroes as a kid, the Los Angeles Dodgers, seemed to succumb to the laid-back images with their gold chains outside their uniforms, porn 'staches and long hair.

Radio was worse at perpetuating the myth. Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Steely Dan, (Green Earring) Boz Skaggs. Even former funksters like The Commodores and Earth Wind & Fire went soft. Everyone was in such a mellow haze that my impressionable siblings and I thought that’s how normal adults lived their life. If that was the case, what was wrong with our parents? They worked all the time, looked horribly unhip in their work clothes and they never went out on the town. (Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street) My father was always stained with paint from his job; my mother listened to big band music as she sewed us our clothes because we couldn’t afford to buy clothes from the store.