The moon was full the night before Felix Padilla met his bride, Emily Sabol, at the Midtown Lounge in Arroyo Hondo. It was March. He’d been burning the candle at both ends, working days as the head butcher at Albertsons for 30 years, and after work, since 1988, at his mom and dad’s meat shop. “It just felt like it was time for a change. I didn’t know what kind of change. The moon was just up there and I said a little prayer, something’s gotta change.”
The next night, Emily Sabol, known around town as Madame M, the owner of The Enchanted Parlore, a metaphysical shop, was the evening DJ at Midtown. She spun the tunes, dressed in boho gypsy style. Long silk dress flowing, gold hoop earrings and thigh-high boots. She was playing “Journey, ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and ‘Living on a Prayer’ — I thought she was a very interesting and beautiful woman. I wanted to get to know her and talk to her.”