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Warwick Valley Jazz Musicians: Talkin' Jazz

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Written by George L. Nitti George L. Nitti

Category: Music Music

"Kind of Blue" and "Live Evil" - Miles Davis

Miles.  It had to be him........How do I pick one?  I won't. "Kind of Blue" and "Live Evil".        

The elegance of ensemble playing, the direction of Miles, the fire of Cannonball, the new sound of Trane and the blissful swing of Jimmy Cobb. Throw in some brilliant composition, 2 remarkable pianists and you have the quintessential jazz album for players and  fans.

Kind of Blue is always fresh, and returning to it is a workshop for jazz.  This is how to do it.  Reminds me of my  limitations and the remarkable gifts of  others.

Live Evil...hmmmm   the critics banned it, the jazz academia sneered at it's lack of "legitimate " jazz content and the purists accused him of selling out. Quite the contrary.  This record  is an extension of an artist always in transition.   Selling out might have been to play it safe. Jack DeJohnette, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea on electric keyboards, a Motown bass player, Gary Bartz, Steve Grossman, Airto and John McLaughlin.  Does it swing?  Well not like Basie or Duke.  Does it bop like Bird?  No. It grooves.   It's group listening and improvisation on simple themes.   But the players!    It's live. ( mostly) and it's happening...............always.

Jazz for me is a metaphor for high consciousness living. What's good for the ensemble, collective, is good for the individual.  They live interdependent on that relationship. The music succeeds on the merit of that perspective.When Louie came up, and Diz was on 52nd st. someone was always unhappy. "It just isn't jazz."

Jazz lived and will survive by stretching the paradigm. We'll always gravitate to a preference.  But attachment to a singular definition and rejection of variations on familiar themes holds us back. Miles gave us "new directions."  And man are we the fortunate recipients.

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"August Dream" - A Wedding Story

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Written by Matthew S. Field Matthew S. Field

Category: Books and Writing Books and Writing

On a warm August evening at a high school football game, I met Lori when we were both 14 years old. We’d learn later that we’d been born nine days apart at the same hospital, and we’d probably been in the same nursery together for a short time. The two of us lived in the same, rural Missouri town and shared many of the same friends.

I remember that moment as if it only just happened last weekend. Lori stood in a circle of her new classmates and friends. She wore the white sweater with a blue letter, “D,” super-imposed on a red, white, and blue bullhorn, a flattering, white-pleated blue skirt, the ankle socks that the other freshman cheerleaders wore, and had the biggest, warmest brown eyes and a smile brighter than the Friday night lights. She was beautiful. I know it sounds funny to say it now, but I knew at that moment that Lori would be my wife.

This is a documented case of “love at first sight.”

Mutual friends introduced me using Lori’s full name – first, middle, and last. I barely managed a bleating, “Hi,” and that may have been all I said to her the entire night. That didn’t stop me, a few days later, from getting her phone number from a friend, calling her, and asking her to the freshman fall semi-formal dance at my high school. She told me she “had to think about it,” but called back a couple of minutes later and politely declined, citing as her reason the her belief that she “wouldn’t know anyone.” I tried again as the winter semi-formal approached, but Lori’s answer was also, “No.” The second time, she didn’t need any extra time to decide.

Clearly, I am an acquired taste.

☺

    During the next several years, I lived my life and Lori lived hers. I focused on sports and did all right with academics at the St. Louis County boys’ prep school I attended. Of course, I dated and even had a sort of “serious” girlfriend. Lori kept busy, too. Our mutual friends would tell me about Lori’s nominations for homecoming and prom queen and the boy who she dated for the better part of three years. Eventually, each of us went to college; I started at a small university in Texas, while Lori stayed in Missouri. Occasionally, I’d see her at a party during winter or summer break. Over time, though, education and other interests pulled our friends to other parts of the country, so my opportunities to see her became increasingly less frequent. It wasn’t until the summer after our college sophomore year that I did have a chance to spend some time with Lori again.

My good friend Brad, who was also Lori’s high school classmate, would celebrate his 21st birthday in August. Brad was the first of our group of friends to reach “legal age,” so another shared friend, John, suggested a surprise party. John and I began to plan.

John asked for a list of friends from Brad’s parents to complement the names we already had. Lori was on the list. Knowing I had been long-smitten, John asked me if I wanted to address Lori’s invitation, which I did using her full name – first, middle, and last. I didn’t really think anything of it because Lori’s full name was the way I’d always known her.

The party was a huge success. Brad was surprised, but not as surprised as I would be. At the party, Lori was especially curious about her invitation. She asked John who had written her full name on the envelope. A week later, Lori and I had our first date.

☺

     I still never had much doubt that dating Lori and, later, having a relationship with her would eventually result in a white dress, formal wear, family, friends, and a walk down the aisle. After a year or so together, I think, Lori began to come around to my way of thinking. I’d joked with tongue in cheek that, because Lori made me wait for six years for a date, I’d make her wait six years for one, too. Not surprisingly, my attempts at humor didn’t always get the desired reaction.

Early on, Lori and I had our share of obstacles. First, we were both still students. By that time, I’d also returned to Missouri to study, but our school campuses were separated by a hundred miles. Then, Lori finished her degree a semester early and I finished mine a year late, so Lori took a job while I was still in school, still separated by a two-hour car ride. Finally, when I did finally finish school, I took a job that required me to move to Connecticut. Because I was literally less-than-penniless, five figures in debt with student loans, I knew I couldn’t yet be a financially responsible husband or father. Consequently, when I drove the rental truck away from my driveway, the passenger seat was empty.

Still, we made the best of our circumstances. When we were both still in school, we took turns making the trip to see the other. After Lori started working, she’d generally make the trip, sit at the end of the bar I tended on Fridays, and sip rum and pineapple juice until my shift was finished. Later when I was a young professional manager on my own, I’d often meet Lori in “neutral” cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toledo, and Windsor, Ontario. Some of our favorite memories included the Picasso exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art, seeing the Pittsburgh Pirates with a skinny Barry Bonds at the old Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, and Louie Linguini’s Restaurant and Pantages Theatre in Windsor. We explored and enjoyed the world, or at least a part of it, as we explored and enjoyed one another. Sure, we had our share of disagreements and misunderstandings, which were often exacerbated by the geographic distance that separated us most of the time. We worked those out together. When I asked her if she’d be my wife on a Thanksgiving Day, it would have been hard to imagine that any two mid-twenty-something’s knew one another better than Lori and I did.

☺

     On an unusually hot day in August when Lori, who wore a white dress and was even more beautiful as she walked toward me than she was when I first met her at that high school football game, was asked by the clergy if she would be my wife, she said, “I do.”

So did I. Husband, of course.

The next day, Lori and I sat at a table lit by candles at hotel restaurant in New Orleans’ French Quarter, and she asked if I would order for her. As I heard myself speak, it was almost as if it wasn’t me who was talking with the waiter. Rather, it seemed that I was looking over at a young, happy couple at the next table.

I heard myself say, “My wife will have the . . . “

After the waiter had left the table, Lori told me that she had to catch her breath when she heard me order dinner for the two of us. It hadn’t really sunk in until then that she was married. She was someone’s wife. She was my wife.

☺

     Ironically, it had in fact turned out that we’d waited six years for that date. Lori never did appreciate the humor.

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Matthew S. Field 

Sam Clemens, Tennessee Williams, and Matthew S. Field have in common their claim of Missouri river cities as their hometowns. Of course, the two former are (were) writers.

Matt Field’s credits include the illustrated children’s books, Father Like A Tree and The Three Pigs, Business School, and Wolfe Hash Stew, and the mainstream fiction title, The Dream Seeker. The non-fiction, The Single Father’s Guide to Life, Cooking, and Baseball, will be released through Arundel Publishing on September 1, 2012.

Field was voted "Best Author of 2011" by the readers of the Times Herald-Record. He lives with his two daughters and son in the charming and historic Village of Warwick in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Restoration of Historic Home as Labor of Love

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Written by Claudia Jacobs with George L. Nitti / Photography: David Sherfey Claudia Jacobs with George L. Nitti / Photography: David Sherfey

Category: Home and Garden Home and Garden

About 6 years ago I worked with Mr. Thomas Bartolomeo, a client who was looking for ideas on what to do with his historic home. His plan was to continue the restoration process and eventually sell the property.

Located in Ridgebury, one of eight hamlets (including Slate Hill) in the town of Wawayanda, the home was originally purchased in 1981 and was in a sad state. Bartolomeo recounts this fact in a personal letter he set aside for the next home owner. "When the real estate agent drove me to the house I was at first dismayed. There was so much wild growth on the front lawn I could hardly see the house." 

You would never know it, looking at it today, thanks in a large part to Craig Morrison, the architect whom Bartolomeo hired to carry out the restoration. Over time, through gradual restoration, this neglected house became a warm and comfortable living space while its rich historic heritage was preserved. Bartolomeo writes, "it proved to be the most important decision I made in restoring the house--marking the time my personal education in Colonial American history began, and I have been learning ever since."

The original house was only a single room when first erected. According to Bartolomeo, "In the 17th century it would take two years to build a homestead, one year to clear the land and cut the wood and another year to build the house with ax and hand saw....The superstructure of my house is entirely made of ax-hewn oak and hemlock beams joined by mortise and tenon and large wood dowels. No nails, just wood on wood."

Since nearly every part of the house was constructed by hand, nothing was discarded but rather saved for another day. For example, the beautiful one inch thick wide-floor boards in the keeping room (dining area) were found in the attic.

The attic was an empty space, just a roof overhead and outside walls with no floor boards, ceiling or lighting. When I entered the space it was ridden with bats. Bartolomeo wanted me to come up with ideas on what to do with it. My suggestion was to turn it into a master bedroom suite with lots of closets and he did. It is now the largest room in the house with 11 foot high ceilings and three large walk-in closets. The master bath features a large shower and cast-iron enamel-claw foot soaking tub with elegance from the late Victorian and early 19th century periods. It is hard to believe it is the same space from 6 years ago. 

 The home itself is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, where you will find the nation’s official list of properties worthy of preservation. The National Registry recognizes the importance of these properties to the history of our country and provides them with a measure of protection." In this Registry, the home was listed as "The Dunning House." The local town authorities, however, whose records only go back to 1850, recorded the deed to Young who sold the house to Thomas Ellis. The house was later referred to as "The Ellis House.”

There are no existing municipal records indicating who built and owned the house when it was only a simple one room home but one of the restoration contractors told Bartolomeo that the house was constructed by Palatine (German) immigrants who immigrated to our shores in the mid-1600s and came in large numbers in 1709 with the offer of free land promised by England's Queen Anne. This contractor had worked on other Palatine houses for the National Parks Service and recognized the house's particular Palatine construction.

In the early 18th century a neo-classical revival of Greco-Roman architecture swept the county. These styles are evident in the high quality woodwork in the Center Hall and Federal parlor and was one of the key factors persuading Bartolomeo to buy the house. He writes, "The hall itself, however, had a presence about it, graceful and imposing, with a pilastered center arch of intricate wood carving. I remember just standing under the arch and saying to the agent, "I'll take it." 

Architect Morrison, upon returning to the restored site, wrote Bartolomeo a letter, expressing his awe at the magnificent restoration.  "Stepping inside, one can only gasp. The entry hall, with its wide elliptical arch and carefully restored grained doors, not only matches the fine craftsmanship around the door, it is fully comparable to what one sees in the great mansions of 18th-century Virginia."

The "Gunston Hall" wall hanging in the hall is a copy of the original which hangs in the Virginia home of George Mason, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and friend of Thomas Jefferson. Waterhouse wall hangings manufactured a reproduction for this house. This alone put the house on the Federal Registry.

Adding to the awesome restoration of this room, the one-piece canvas Colonial floor-cloth in the hall was meticulously marbleized with 13 layers of paint. Bartolomeo writes, "It took them three months to complete. The wood floor under the floor-cloth is fully restored as are the other floors in the house.” 

In early Colonial America the best floor covering available was a painted marbleized canvas floor-cloth as the one in the hall. Later when we ceased being colonies and became the United States, fast sailing clipper ships brought home hand-loomed oriental rugs such as the one in the Federal parlor.

Across from the center hall is the Victorian parlor. The wood in this room is both massive and impressive in its full Roman Revival trim work. The crown molding, window columns and architrave, and baseboard offset the rich red oak flooring. Four massive two-over-two windows panes reach to the 8' 4" ceiling and allow the morning sun to stream through brightly. The wall fill, frieze and cornice wallpaper is a rich Persian Victorian design, screen printed by Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers. You'll feel like you are inside a jewel box in this room, which is centered by a ceiling medallion holding a reproduction Victorian chandelier with light shades of fading amber to a cream tone color.

The keeping room or ‘second kitchen’ pre-dates Federal period architecture as does the fireplace and built-in beehive oven which are originals. The old primary kitchen (or butchery) was attached to the house and is long since gone. As you enter the keeping room through the iron-strapped Dutch door you may feel as though you are entering another world. What you will see directly ahead in the room is a massive stone fireplace with a built-in beehive oven. Modern Thanksgiving turkeys have been cooked or rather broiled in the tin reflector-oven sitting in front of the burning logs in the fireplace. Yes, bread, too, has been baked in the stone beehive oven.

The house is as old as it looks, and yet it is as new as today which is what restoration is all about. “The love this owner bestowed on his home is featured throughout with historically accurate renditions of rooms, all the way down to the methods, materials, and craftsmanship that were used to bring them back to life. Amazing!” says David Sherfey of Keller Williams Realty, Goshen who is the Realtor of the house.

This home has been around for well over 200 years. A loving owner brought it back to life again with hopes of passing it on to a family. This home is a museum of American architectural style. Morrison writes, "For generations, this house has grown with its generations. Each has treasured it while adding the best of their own time. Together they have made it a veritable museum of architectural styles. Your loving care has continued the tradition in the finest possible way.

Bartolomeo, in expressing his own gratitude, said, “Our history and our traditions, the important things we take into the future, prepare us for life. Every day I have lived in "this ole house" I am reminded of that and hope that the new residents have their lives enriched in this house and appreciate the treasures it holds within its walls.

A fully restored historic home is a rare find and even with the modern conveniences this one speaks of another time and place brought to life through a labor of love.

Claudia Jacobs is a decorator, professional stager, columnist, mom, friend & not in that order. Living life with joy & owner of Claudia Jacobs Designs in Goshen, NY. Voted 2011 RESA Professional Stager of the Year in the Northeast. Visit www.claudiajacobsdesigns.com or call 845-294-8993. Send questions and photos to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Facebook & Twitter.

David Sherfey, real estate writer & photographer, specializes in Internet
marketing of residential properties. An Associate Broker with Keller
Williams Realty in Goshen, David is also the incoming 2012 President of the
Warwick Historical Society. For more information about this home, along with primary sources referenced in the story and more photography, please go to the home's website, http://633RidgeburyRoad.com

Fetch: Comfy Food with Gourmet and Exotic Flair

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Written by Kerryl Ann Ebneter and George L. Nitti Kerryl Ann Ebneter and George L. Nitti

Category: Food & Wine Food & Wine

The love we have received, given and felt for our two dogs has been deeply profound. Having two dogs in our lives, a Maltese named Gigi and a Chihuahua named Chiquita, Kerryl and I feel blessed to have them as companions and best friends.  We love our dogs and can’t imagine our lives without them! They definitely have made our lives whole.  Who that has dogs, can’t say the same? 

Which brings us to Fetch, a new addition to Main St. dining in Warwick, NY, where you won’t find a more dog friendly environment, at least in spirit. At Fetch dogs rule. Yet don’t worry, you won’t have to share your dish. There anyway. Unfortunately or fortunately, dogs are not allowed, only their pictures, which adorn the walls of the restaurant. This canine theme resonates throughout the space and helps create the warm and friendly ambiance.  It might be comforting to know that your dog too is welcome to hang amidst a crowd of their brethren.

Whether you love dogs or not, Fetch has a great menu for its diversity, uniqueness and creativity. You have to experience the menu to believe it. It’s like none other that we know, unless you have eaten at Fetch’s other restaurant in the city.  You can get “pubby” food such as buffalo wings, chicken fingers, and burgers, “heartier dishes” like beef stew and turkey pot, “original dishes” like spaghetti and meatballs, philly cheesesteak or baked macaroni and cheese, “exotic foods” like thanksgiving eggrolls and asian barbequed skirt steak salad,  and “finer faire” such as the grilled Atlantic Salmon, or cracked black pepper crusted tuna. They even have fajitas and cincinnatti style chili. And if you feel like something from the Greek Isles, you’ll find a Greek flat bread salad!

So now that we’ve given you a taste of what’s on the menu, what did we order?  We started out with the Thanksgiving eggroll, which is stuffed with roasted turkey breast  and cranberry sauce served with Harry’s mushroom gravy.  It was delicious!  Then we had Adam’s Apple Salad, another winner, which consisted of grilled granny smith apples, spiced rubbed pecans, wild mushrooms and crumbled stilton blue cheese served over a bountiful helping of fresh spinach.  My main course was mom’s meatloaf, and I will say no more. Meatloaf is my favorite all-time dish and this one rates way up there for taste and tenderness.  I particularly loved the roasted root vegetables that it was served with. Kerryl ordered cracked black pepper crusted yellow fin tuna served in a burgundy and balsamic teriyaki reduction with pickled ginger, sautéed spinach and carmelized onion mashed potatoes. Again, another comfy and delightful dish.

Kerryl and I were pleasantly surprised with the subdued lighting, which created a romantic ambiance that we often appreciate when we go out to dinner. It was perfect, fitting for Valentine’s Day, which we were celebrating. We were also very happy with the service, which was warm, attentive and professional, as we definitely felt we were being treated as “one of their best friends.”  Since Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday, we were able to participate in a live band Karaoke open mic which starts every Tuesday at 9 p.m.

At the root of all of these key ingredients making Fetch a hit, is its owner and executive chef, Adam Powers. His warmth, generosity, and talent have made Fetch a fun and worthwhile dining destination.

 The generous portions of food reflect his generous spirit.  The gracious offer of coming in on your birthday for a free dinner is another giving and endearing gesture. When you sit at a particular table called the doghouse, part of the check proceeds go to the Warwick Valley Humane Society.  And on the first Sunday of every month, you can come for lunch and adopt “your new best friend”  as the Warwick Valley Human Society puts up for adoption several dogs and cats outside the restaurant. 

At Fetch, you surely won’t go home hungry. And your dog will be thankful, for you’ll have left-overs to share with your favorite pooch. Just ask Gigi and Chiquita.

To learn more about Fetch, visit their website at http://fetchbarandgrill.com/

and follow them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fetch-Bar-Grill/211904445540828?sk=info

INNERrOUTe - a CD Review

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Written by Steve Rubin Steve Rubin

Category: Music Music

If you're hoping to read the usual CD review, it's not happening.  What is happening is live improvisational music.  And it's being performed by INNERrOUTe.

 Rather then discuss the tunes, the details of what happens, I'd like to respect what strikes me most about the CD. Artistic courage.

 Living in the moment and capturing a recording of it is one thing.  Having the artistic courage to release it is another.  Michael D'Agostino, drums, Bill McCrossen, bass, Rick Savage, trumpet and Joe Vincent Tranchina, keyboards took a collective leap of faith.   Who does that these days?

 I've listened to this, not as a musician who has worked with these wonderful musicians, but as curious listener.  And not with the “for musicians ears only” perspective.   This music is accessible.

 The magic, which happens in the improvisational moment, is self-evident.   It's not about the academic analysis.  The listener is drawn in.  It's your own valid experience.   You don't need a guidebook, or musician to get inside this.

 I recommend getting this CD. Why?

 Maybe it'll remind you of Miles, or Weather Report or Sun Ra or Anthony Braxton.   Maybe for you, it's a film score, and ambient vibe or a completely different take.   Good.   There is no singular definition or high ground subjective description.   Yours is as valid as the next.

 INNERrOUTe is none of the above, it's fresh because it happened in the moment.  Fortunately for them and now us, they recorded it!

 As musicians define their own identity and signature to their playing, it's a customized brew of their preferences and influences.   If you hear Bitches Brew or any of the aforementioned, it's not a function of an intended choice.  I for one am glad to hear a little bit of this.  At a time when the preservation of jazz in the mainstream revisits early bop and straight ahead, I love that this CD takes me to the '70's mind set.  Good for them, that was happening music.

 This is wonderful stuff and rather then color your opinion by reviewing each track, I think the spirit of the music and it's genuine intent is to experience it as it was created.  Without preconception. In the present.

 So, do yourself a favor and disregard the little bit of interpretation I've given and trust your own.  You'll not be disappointed.

To purchase CD, visit CD Baby at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/innerroute1 or itunes at

 

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Steve Rubin is the producer of the Warwick Valley Jazz Festival and drummer for the Skye Jazz Trio. 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Peace on Earth Possible?

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Written by Rev. Alyta Adams Rev. Alyta Adams

Category: Health & Spirit Health & Spirit

How can we create Peace on Earth? Wise spiritual masters tell us that only when each person works to build  peace in his or her individual heart can the ideal of world peace be realized. When we cultivate serenity of mind, letting go of resentment, anger, blame, the many causes of suffering, as Buddha called them; when we end our resistance to what is; when we accept life on life’s terms, then peace will spread like a wonderful virus throughout the world.

Taoism offers  a beautiful prayer that expresses the essence of
this idea:
If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace among nations;
If there is to be peace among nations, there must be peace in the cities;
If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors;
If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home;
if there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.

I’ve been attending the “World Peace” meditations at Kadampa World Peace Temple in Glen Spey, NY, every Sunday since November of 2011. Each week a lesson about inner peace is taken from “8 Steps to Happiness”. The idea is that when we know we have a choice, we can turn off “monkey mind” (our constant stream of thousands of thoughts) for awhile and contemplate our natural inner serenity. 

The first lesson I heard was on “cherishing”--that if we cherish one another without expecting or judging, we may be able to accept the possibility of seeing all beings as rare and precious.  If we can see their special preciousness, then perhaps we can accept that they (and we) deserve to be cherished. Another lesson was about longing; we can never be peaceful if we believe there is something or someone outside ourselves: our position in the world, wealth, the right partner, a new computer, that we must have in order to be happy. This teaching says our happiness will only come about when we understand that it is the inner peace we carry, nothing material, that will fulfill our real needs. 

Speaking of our “real” needs, it occurs to me that our inner wealth depends on developing emotional “muscles”. One might be when we irritate others, or they irritate us, it may be that we  need annoying people around to  help us to exercise our “patience” muscle.  As Carlos Casteneda pointed out, “the petty tyrants” are our best teachers. How could we perfect ourselves in the areas of anger, patience, taking things personally, if we didn’t have these “personal trainers” to work with us? You might consider that idea when you’re confronted by someone who triggers your anger, or Hurts your feelings.

There’s a saying, “Within, within...my wealth is within...” We are never poor as long as we treasure and have compassion for others. According to Buddha, all our reactivity is caused by delusions. In the 12-step communities they say, “feelings are not facts”. Buddhism says all negative states of mind --anger, craving, jealousy, pride, selfishness; all are poisonous delusions that cause suffering. We are temporarily controlled by these delusions, like a computer mouse that’s controlled by a giant hand. When we are stirred up, “upset”,  we’re like a glass of dirty water--the delusion is the dirt. Clarity helps us see that our judgement of others’ behavior and what’s causing it  is coming from our own belief system, our attitudes. When someone criticizes me, I can take it as an insult or I can wish for that person to stop being harmed by their own poisonous delusions.  Which thought will bring me a sense of peace?

A prayer I’ve found helpful in learning to let go and forgive others goes like this:
—If anyone has hurt me, knowingly or unknowingly, I forgive them and I let them go with love.
—If I have hurt anyone, knowingly or unknowingly, I ask their forgiveness and pray they let me go with love.
—And if I have hurt myself, knowingly or unknowingly, I forgive myself, and grant myself peace.

May all who read this let go of any delusions that are keeping them from peace and happiness. May we all learn to cherish one another. And as a result of our awakening, may Peace on Earth manifest in our lifetime. Amen.

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Rev. Alyta Adams is an ordained  Interfaith Minister since 2004. You can call on her to

serve as officiant for unique, personalized weddings, baby blessings, memorial services,

or any life-transition ritual.  She is the founder of the SPIRAL CENTER, a real, yet visionary space.  As an Interfaith Minister (meaning: including and beyond traditional religions), my dream and my intention is to offer an inclusive, loving, and respectful experience of the “Divine” for those who consider themselves “Spiritual, but not Religious” For more information about Rev. Alyta Adams and the Spiral Center, visit her website by clicking here.