Sunshine, look at us now

Calypso, The Legacy

1968-1969

Born sometime in the early 1950s, Calypso grew up just off the coast of Holleywood Hills of Los Angeles California. The daughter of elusive and wealthy Atlas Elysia and an unknown Greek woman; she was quick to build a reputation for herself on Sunset Strip.

Calypso: My first memory is of an island. White sand and that blue-green ocean.

Rick Riordan (Rock historian): Calypso is actually a quite disturbing case of child neglect.
From birth she was ignored, having human interaction with only the few servants hired at her fathers disposal.
Atlas Elysia was a brooding wealthy man, known for having very few people in his circle and only being seen in public once or twice a year. A recluse, and some would argue- a nutcase. He ignored the world, and his daughter was no exception to his carelessness.
His only act of fatherhood was purchasing a small island off the coast of Hollywood Hills, and putting Calypso on it for the extent of her young life.

Calypso: Maybe my memory is just reflection of what I felt looking back instead of in that moment, [laughs softly] I do tend to be bias.
But I remember hating it. The sand, the ocean, the the silence.
I remember wanting more.
Even then.

Rick Riordan: Somehow, despite all the neglect Calypso grew up to be a very bright, very eloquent girl.
Other than her memories of her childhood- which are few and far between- there is no way to discover just what was happening on that island in those ten or so years.
No birth certificate, no hospital records, no school enrollment, no trace of the first ten years of her life.
Calypso didn't exist at all until she showed up in The Cherry club one night and sang a song.

Calypso: It's a crazy thing, to go from complete isolation to the heart of California.
I went from never speaking to anyone, never connecting with anyone, to the same life- but with a pill in my pocket and someone else's hand on my chest.
In some ways better, in a lot of ways worse.

Becky Riordan (Biographer, author of "Titaness"): The first thing about Calypso that draws you in, is her beauty. It's an almost shallow fact, but it's try. She's undeniably gorgeous. She's got shining perfect hair, that effortlessly falls so perfectly. Just the right amount of volume, the color of honey and caramel. Her skin is ivory with such soft undertones of warmth. Almond eyes, so dark they look black. She carry's herself so classily, perfect posture, formal speech patterns, like she was raised in nobility.
But the most captivating part is that she has this kind of impenetrable sadness. An ache that never seems to leave.
We love stars, those untouchable, otherworldly, iridescent figures. Calypso was just that. Shining, mesmerizing, isolated- just out of reach.

Calypso: I snuck into my first club in 1968. I think I was fourteen, but there is no real way for me to really find out.
I had just been brought over from the mainland by my father and I was desperate to see everything, all at once.
I had no idea if or when he would decide to send me back to Ogygia, so I soaked it all in as fast as I  could. I went from 0 to 100 in one night. I mean I was on everything.
Looking back, that's the kind of night not a lot of people survive. I got lucky that nobody handed me a downer. I mean I didn't care what I was putting in my body, if somebody gave me Heroin or Benzos I was going to take it.
It was a bad scene.

Percy: I met Calypso when I was fifteen. She always went by just Calypso. No last or middle name.

Calypso: I didn't like the association to my family name. So I got rid of it. Cut it off like a bad limb.

Percy: She was around my age I think, but you couldn't tell by looking at her.
She was mature, and she had this beautiful face that somehow looked otherworldly.
A sort of timelessness.
We spent the summer together.
[smiles] She was the one who helped me fall in love with music.
And at that point I didn't know all the stuff she was getting into. She was never open about it, and you could never tell.