Blue Juice 

A chapter excerpt from Topanga Beach Rodeo Grounds (Brass Tacks Press, 2025) 

by J. Murf, (as told to Pablo Capra)

I used to hear George Trafton blasting chords through an amplifier. He just knew how to make noise, so I taught him my licks, and he taught me to surf. 

In 1971, we formed a rock band called Eclypse to play cover songs at parties with two of his former Pacific Palisades High School classmates, Robert “Bullet” Bailey (drums) and Bob Gordon (bass). Our first paid gig was a police party in Culver City that George’s sister set up. 

Eclypse evolved into my most successful band, Blue Juice, in 1972, with George and two other Topanga Beach surfers: Jeff Ort (drums) and Don MacVicar (bass). Bullet and Bob Gordon still subbed when someone couldn’t play, like Jeff, who worked at Moonshadows restaurant most weekend nights. We practiced in Jeff’s garage, and later next door at George’s yellow house, which we called The Yellow Submarine. Every rehearsal was like a show with people dropping in to watch. 

Bob Gordon’s cousin, Jim Erickson (“Gyro”), worked for the Malibu Surfside News, and described us as “Blue Juice” in a write-up of one of our shows. We kept the name because it expressed the energy of the blues combined with the energy of the ocean. 

The way I thought about the band, we had the blues, and George had the juice. He had the longest hair, and was already a surf celebrity, so people treated him like the band leader. And because he was dating a popular high-school girl, we played every girl’s 18th birthday party in the Malibu/Palisades area in the 1970s. Our first paid gig was the Pali High Homecoming Dance, where the school advertised the musical guest as “George Trafton,” with no mention of our band name.

We were still playing cover songs—like The Rolling Stones’ “Little Red Rooster” and Aerosmith’s “Train Kept A-Rollin’”—but I began adding in my own material. The first song was “Easy and Bluesy,” which Jan performed solo on the German talk show Drei Mal Neun in 1973. George wrote “Po’ Lil Rich Boys” about the Pacific Palisades kids (it was originally “girls,” but “boys” sounded edgier). Don wrote “Gas Lines,” about the gas shortages, and “Lonely Road,” a collaboration with his brother Bobby MacVicar.

We sometimes invited guests to sing the cover songs, like Jan-Michael Vincent, Gary Busey, Rick Dano, and Doug Avery (who did a great Mick Jagger impression). Our guest guitarists included Bernie Leadon (Eagles), Andy Halpert (Surf Punks), and Denny Aaberg. Artist Norton Wisdom painted live with us a few times.

Everyone wanted to be part of the action. Sometimes, people showed up to our shows with their own amplifiers and just plugged in, thinking they could perform with us all night. Neighborhood girls Libby Neal, Heidi Van Meter, and Andrea Weiner climbed through bathroom windows to be at our shows. They started singing backup, so we named them The Juicettes. Another neighbor, Craig Colich, made himself our bouncer and roadie (you couldn’t tell him no). He was the baddest, and would fight anyone who disrespected us. He once threw someone through a sliding glass door for messing with Jeff’s drums.

We began playing more nightclubs after Jeff switched to a construction job in 1978. 

At the Roman Inn’s penthouse in Santa Monica, we could draw 500 people. The owner told me he got to buy a new car every time we played. One of the shows was a fundraiser for the legal defense of the Topanga Beach residents, who were being evicted to make the beach public. When the battle was lost in 1979, Bernie Leadon joined us to play at the “Last Tango in Topanga” party, which ended with surfers burning down The Yellow Submarine.

At the Troubadour, we opened the night, and had a bigger crowd than the headliners.

Jeff eventually got another restaurant job, at La Scala, where he happened to meet Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys in 1982. Jeff said, “I’m in a rock band with musicians who really surf,” and invited Brian to our next show at Madame Wong’s West. Unfortunately, as soon as we started playing, a peg popped off of George’s guitar. He crawled around the stage but couldn’t find it. I lay down in the audience and played on my back. Brian Wilson left.

Jeff lost faith in the band after that and went on a surf trip to Tahiti. He was replaced by George’s high-school friend Sandy Morison. Then Don’s brother Bobby committed suicide, and Don decided to give up the rock and roll lifestyle. He was replaced by Sandy’s friend Richard Ickes. 

Our biggest (and last official) show was at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in 1983, playing at a screening of Hal Jepsen’s film We Got Surf.

Blue Juice recorded three times, in 1979, 1980, and 1981, at David Vaught’s Sweet 16 Studio in Hollywood. Norton Wisdom produced sessions one and two, which we called 18674 Topanga Beach Road, in memory of The Yellow Submarine. My mom, Katherine Murphy, paid for the third session, Fresh Tracks, which included the songs “Drive with the Lights Out” (about Heidi’s sister Morning) and “Contagious” (sung by George). 

When Libby shouts, “Hey, George!” at the beginning of “I Don’t Wanna,” it’s because he dropped his pants in the sound booth just as we hit record. We tried to stay loose in the studio.

The last Blue Juice song was “Too Much Medication.”

We passed out our demos on cassette tapes, but never broke into the music business, probably because we weren’t serious enough. We didn’t want to leave to go on tour, and we couldn’t compete with disco, so we disbanded. Blue Juice formed when we were in our surfing prime, and every day felt like the best day of our lives. We played music to extend the fun.