A Little Bit Me | The Goddess of Groove By Mad Royal

The old year is closing out, and a new one is beginning. It’s a time of celebration, and a time of contemplation. As a newcomer to the Tolosa Press family, and with your kind indulgence, I’d like to take the opportunity to tell you about me.
I wasn’t always a goddess. I was one of those kids in high school who felt invisible much of the time. This was a small school, too, four grades, 500 students, all girls. I was in choir, school plays (minor parts and tech staff), dance classes, and eventually president of the Equestrian Club, but was largely ignored when I walked through the halls. Why, I still don’t know. I was near the top of my class scholastically, and I had my own friends, but I was a long way from popular. Not that it mattered to me. I was never into cliques, and I befriended misfits. Maybe I was a little bit of a nerd? I was definitely a wallflower at the school dances. Anyway, I survived childhood in the San Fernando Valley.
Music was always a big part of my life. I was in the children’s choir for at least a year in grammar school, and we sang at church every Sunday. My brother, Bill, shaped a lot of what I listened to on the radio and records, as he was the oldest of my three whole brothers. He introduced me to the Grass Roots, Steppenwolf, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and of course the Beatles, who I really started to listen to in 1974, when I was in sixth grade. I spent a lot of my teenage years flat on my back with the headphones on, listening to my favorite albums: besides the Beatles, I especially loved John Denver and Stevie Wonder. My mom had a great record collection going back to the 40’s, including lots of 78s, so I listened to Eartha Kitt and Harry Belafonte.
If I wasn’t listening to music or reading, I was probably out walking through the fields with the family dog, or, later, riding horses. Horses are my other great passion, and I started working as a groom when I was 13, and was training horses when I was 15. I would get home from school, ride till dinnertime, and then go back out until bedtime if it was warm enough. I probably had the only horse with a tape deck.
I studied Animal Science at Cal Poly, and from there went back to L.A. to continue training horses. I worked for a lot of celebrities. One of my jobs was to ride horses on the beach in Malibu for a famous movie producer.
I missed San Luis Obispo, though, and it was only seven years later that I returned to make my home on the Central Coast. I continued to work with horses, but also worked as an animal hygienist, for the State Parks, and for a hardware store for many years, as well as a lot of other jobs. I was the Garden Goddess before I was the Goddess of Groove. I have always been a housesitter/petsitter too.
About six years ago, I found myself dumped by my then fiancé. Although it was a relief to me, it was still the death of a relationship, and I found myself devastated by the loss of the life we had been planning together. I started hanging out at the now defunct SLO Down Pub in Arroyo Grande, which had live music seven days a week. I would just sit on the couch, stunned, and absorb the healing music. Eventually I was befriended by family members of the bands and some of the regulars. This grew gradually into a strong social group, of which I am one of the leaders,
From talking with the musicians, I learned how poorly they get paid in most circumstances, and I wanted to help them. I started promoting their gigs to everyone I could by word of mouth. People in my group started asking me what we were going to do that weekend! Eventually, I started texting “our” plans to the group. When that grew too cumbersome, I started sending out a weekly email, which now goes out to over 300 people, and lists my picks for great places to listen to live music and dance. About four years ago, at the request of one of my musician friends, I became a booking agent at my own agency, Love Live Music. I started producing my own events last year, and am organizer of the SLO County Live Music Meetup group. I just purchased my own dance floor, so we’re going mobile. I have created music venues. A few months ago, I was offered a column in this very paper, and here we are!
Most of all, I’ve made lots of friends. These are wonderful people who share my passion for live music. Many of them are musicians. Some of them are wealthy. One lives in a van. Many of them love me silly, and we take care of each other.
All of this came about because of my passion for music. I feel richly blessed and wonderfully loved every day. Every day people thank me for the work I do to help promote live music and musicians. What I’m going to say to you is nothing new, but it’s very true: Following your passion is the door to finding your purpose. There are doors everywhere. If you don’t see a door, make a door. Believe in yourself, and find others who believe in you, too. Most of all, never give up.
Today, I still work with horse, I petsit, I book music, I put on events, and I write a weekly column in the music section of the Tolosa Press.
Not bad for a wallflower.