Talking about the past and here is a fun fact.
I sang for the fundraiser dinner
that funded the Santa Maria YMCA.
I sang a song, it was called,
"You Will Find Me"
and it went like this:
"Where a rose will always be
you will find me
Chase the wind and find your free
and you will find me
Draw a color across the sky
Reach for the highs that are too high
and you will find me trying...
who am I?
Free, free, free..."
I played my brothers
12 string guitar handed down from my father.
I was born into a family
of musicians and writers.
When I started my 'career' as "Peggy Penny"
it was never to be a star.
What does that mean?
Why do other writers insist that
a star is my goal?
A star on the sidewalk?
I naturally sing and dance.
I do everyday, even
this day, today, because
it is a natural state for me.
That AND
Nobody could ever spell
my name correctly and
at the age of six, I had reached
my limit of correcting.
I was tired of being embarrassed
every time a teacher
would stammer over my name,
then spell it wrong and
I would have to
endure the laugh of the class
at my expense.
I would patiently spell out
my name again
to the adults and to
the classroom with my piers.
I changed my name to be spelled correctly
In American English.
I am bilingual.
I blossomed from
a teen into womanhood living
in Santa Maria, California.
I taught myself better
Spanish hanging out with some Colombian
runners who I met at the YMCA.
They and I were all attending
the local community college.
I was working at The Santa Maria Inn
and knew Alex Maddonna,
was attending Chamber's Mixers and Parties of
City Founder Families
who founded the city of Santa Maria.
My family was known in law and law enforcement.
When I was asked to help raise funds
for The YMCA, I said,
"What can I do to help?" The organizer asked me
to sing a few songs
while the dinner was being served. A teacher from Santa Maria High School,
it was known that I was in theater and sang
in the musical plays put on by the students.
I began singing at other places looking for gigs.
I sang at a Pizza Restaurant in Orcutt
and a Club in Arroyo Grande.
I sang at D.W. Grovers.
Just me and my brother's guitar.
I worked my way around the circuit
meeting band members and others who entertained.
I meet Merrill Fankhauser at his Birthday Party.
He later saved me from an audio sneak.
I'll save that story for later,
it's a goodie goodie.
Merrill introduced me to Larry Ham
and suggested that I be on his show called,
"Midnight Beach Party."
This was the first television show I was ever on.
I had been in several local
commercials on television though.
A second television show
asked me to join their show
and I was delighted to join.
I was suddenly television busy.
I was learning to juggle when San Luis Obispo television station
asked me to have a public access television show of my own
on their new cable access, I was nervous.
I was asked because I owned a piece of video equipment
that was both analog and digital.
I had a Lynch Pin to helping
others be on the newest high tech
free public access community channel being offered
by Charter Communications. But, the one time I had loaned the camera out
to another producer, he ran off with the camera
for two weeks.
Then, gave it back to me broken. I had to call him 12 times to get him
to return the camera and I had to pay
to have it fixed.
When I didn't have the money
to pay to fix the camera,
I said a prayer. I would find some other way
to get what my community needed
if I could not afford to have the camera fixed.
Because at that time, the camera was valued at $5,000 and difficult to find,
and so it was also difficult to have fixed. Eek.
And, the camera meant making it possible
to give hundreds of others a chance to be
on public television.
I could make it EZ for them, no production work.
The problems of all these new programs
and changing program into program was difficult
and time consuming.
I paid out of pocket small fee for production and
lost money each month.
But, the show was free, and always free.
And there were no audition.
The only condition was No Politics.
Because it violates
the law of public access.
I managed to afford to fix the camera.
Now, anyone could just walk on the stage,
sing a song, and it would be broadcast
with my assistance acting as a host,
along with some wonderful other volunteers
who assisted as my production crew.
It was a wonderful exciting time in my life.
The show did not just host singers.
I had painters, sculptures, glass blowing, kite flying, car shows,
my neighbor's dog tricks...
I believe the count of how many acts I put on the show is approximately
Six Hundred and Fifty Six (656) "talent act segments"
which more often than not had
more than one person.
For example, I am counting a band of 4 musicians as 1.
In the later years, I began booking more than
1 act per show because I become
so busy booking acts, I had to host the show for 3-4 acts. The show was 1/2 hour,
so 15 minutes each was a good time amount for a comedian, 3 songs for a singer,
15 minutes to chat with a purse designer, to visit the boy's baseball game.
As for "how many people" were on the show, oh, that would be about three to four times as many acts
for about half the time.
Time moved on and my first
and second year as host, I was honored to sing for C.A.S.A. for Children, blessed to perform for children in our local schools and blushed by friendly fans that thanked me in the grocery store where I shop.
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