Song Celebrates When the HOLLYWOOD Sign Became HOLLYWEED

YUMA, Ariz. - Feb. 17, 2023 - PRLog -- On January 1, 1976, the famous HOLLYWOOD sign was changed to HOLLYWEED by the late Danny Finegood of Los Angeles, and some of his college friends. During those pre-Internet times, the stunt still got a large amount of worldwide publicity.

A fun song was written about that event, with words by journalist David Batterson of Yuma, AZ, and music by deejay/musician Mark Giles of Santa Barbara. Batterson and Giles previously lived in Tulsa.

It's called HOLLYWEED, USA. Batterson and Giles have their demo recording circulating, and hope to find a known singer to record it. They are members of ASCAP (American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers), and it's registered with that organization.

Finegood and his crew accomplished the stunt using ropes and sheets, and reportedly spent around $50 for materials. The prank was a class project while he was an art major at Cal State Northridge. He got an A for the project.

Finegood considered himself an environmental artist, not a vandal. In a letter to the Los Angeles Times in 1983, Finegood said of the HOLLYWEED sign: "An artist's role throughout history has been to create representations of the culture he exists in. By hanging four relatively small pieces of fabric on the landmark, we were able to change people's perception of the Hollywood Sign."

Batterson was living in Hollywood at the time of the prank, and thought it was an awesome achievement. So he penned a song about it (lyrics only) in January 1976, and sent the lyrics to Giles. But Giles put the song aside. Giles rediscovered the lyric sheet 30 years later, composed music for it, and recorded a demo.

The music video is on YouTube: http://youtu.be/pJFAlaW403Mw