Serendip and Tea

LIKE I BELIEVE, BABY

2009-05-15T11:58:00.017-04:00

Marty Balin was the founder and a featured vocalist for Jefferson Airplane from 1965 to 1971. Miracles - from Starship's "Red Octopus" album is perhaps my favorite love song ever written, make no mistake. Certainly the most sensuous. I'm still blown away by the intimacy, the intensity of the lyrics. Marty's haunting vocals made him one of the most distinctive and charismatic singers on the rock scene.

"If only you believe like I believe...," are sentiments from Marty's heart. "I'm a spiritual-oriented person and I believe that music and art can help change the world for the better" he says.

Balin says of the song: "I wrote 'Miracles" about Barbara (his girlfriend at the time), and also about the miraculous powers of Sai Baba. I went to Puttaparti with Barbara and saw Sai Baba. We journeyed through the South Indian desert to the village; the song emerged from that darshan, that experience.""When I wrote 'Miracles,' I had my love for Barbara and my love for Sai Baba -- two very different forms of love -- running through me. So the song is about both of them. I picked up my guitar and I started singing: 'If only you believe, if only you believe like I believe, we'll get by' The words flowed one after another, along with the music; I got the song written down in one draft, on a sheet of yellow paper."

On a sunny spring morning, both Marty and guitarist Slick Agular played three special requests for the Innkeeper. "Today", "Coming Back to Me", and "Miracles".

ALL BELLIED-UP

2009-03-22T14:36:00.013-04:00

The Innkeeper attends her first Middle-Eastern Hafla with 20 performers and guest Asharah from Washington, D.C. It was a night of tribal and caberet belly dance that embraced this powerful feminine dance form.

Mira , a fine artist in oil painting from Hyde Park, NY moonlights as a belly dance artist. Her permormance began with a dramatic fan-tail dance behind peacock feathers. Sensually captivating choreography and costumed in deep jewel tones, this performer left little doubt in my mind that I was in the right place at the right time!

And who would beg to differ, to watch the ancient beauty of a goddess in Isis wings.

After attending Ashara's intense dance seminar, my body was utterly spent...as I ante-up a pain-for-gain payout to the goddess.

But, they make it look so effortless.

Dance on - Sisters!

MAGIC IN THE STARS

2009-02-10T19:52:00.014-05:00

The Innkeeper celebrates her 48th birthday on Feb. 6, 2009 at the MusiCares - Person of the Year Tribute, honoring Neil Diamond.

Performers on the stage at the L.A. Convention Center, included Terance Blanchard, trumpet; Marti Ladd, birthday girl; Cassandra Wilson, third from left; Eric Benét, next to Diamond; Josh Groban, waving; Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw, far right.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

MusiCares 2009 - Video Montage

LADY BRINGS HOME THE GOLD

2009-02-10T19:11:00.008-05:00

Cassandra Wilson, as she receives the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Female Jazz Voacal Album

THE POET

2009-01-26T18:55:00.010-05:00

Songs have the ability to capture our dreams, emotions and aspirations unlike any other art form. Such is the potency of words. In 1969, at the age of eight, one song lifted me beyond the status quo pushing ajar the door to inward perception. I cried the first time I heard Donovan’s tale of Atlantis---the pharse "knowing her fate" broke me. Juicy images of setting sail from a lost world foreshadowed a lifelong attraction to the Mystic. I've come to accept that it runs parallel to our own. Forty years passed until I meet the poet that introduced me to such wonder.

Don and his soulmate Linda Leitch are themselves limitless mortals…sharing playful anecdotes from days past and poignant affirmations of the present moment. We laughed plenty, ate heartily, and danced together to Turkish rock under a silver moon.

Their last morning was sweet departure…a reminder that chance encounters are precious yet fleeting…which is, at day’s end, the Innkeeper’s lament. The air was pungent with incence as we sat for a brief moment eye-to-eye. Mine, once again a childs, filled with tears. “Ah, …you are relieved”, Don whispered as fact.

He writes me: The Earthe turns Her Self towards the dark and curves out away from The Sun, and The Wind rushes around the corner with a message from Dame Winter, that She comes quicky with Her Frosty Breathe on every blade of grass. On the Eve of The Hallows, light the Fires of Spring.

It was October, after all, and the wind was rushing in the season of the witch!

SPIRIT IN THE SKY

2009-01-09T10:48:00.011-05:00

At the twilight, a moon appeared in the sky, then it landed on earth to look at me. Like a hawk stealing a bird at the time of prey, that moon stole me and rushed back into the sky.

I looked at myself, I did not see me anymore, for in that moon, my body turned as fine as soul. The nine spheres disappeared in that moon, the ship of my existence drowned in that sea.

- Rumi

“Once I saw a chimpanzee gaze at a particularly beautiful sunset for a full 15 minutes, watching the changing colors [and then] retire to the forest without picking a pawpaw for supper.”

- Adriaan Kortlandt

WILL FIDDLE FOR VITTLES

2008-12-29T18:33:00.016-05:00

As winter tapped wildly at the window...who came a knockin' but my old friend and past brother-in-law Richard Gregory-Allen. He's a real Renaissance man with a mind for mathematics (PhD. from MIT) a heart filled with song (Woods Hole Folk Orchestra) and the true soul of a sailor.

In answer to so many questions about the Innkeeper's recipe for "down-time"...grab a willing musician and add a little funky chicken!

A Gentle Woman Farmer

2008-12-11T11:44:00.021-05:00

Cassandra Wilson has picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal album of the year! During the rehearsal phase of this album band members were guests at the Inn and I handled their catering needs at Levon Helm's studio. The gig was serendipitously fruitful for all involved...and laid a corner-stone for the tour de force recording that took place in Jackson, Mississippi.

Each day served up a different "throw-down" menu ...even a rendition of Pecan Brittle which simply became known as Pecan Crack -(a commidity... which can get you into the men's dressing room)! The hilarious jam which paid homage to the feasts will always be cherished by this girl. "Oh...no....Don't take that cannoli away...(Reginald) ............ lasagna (Herlin)".

Cassandra's voice is a rare instrument...double smoked strings with full bodied resonance, and a reed that whispers "come hither"... rising and falling through obscure phasing like passion itself. Loverly is an organic masterpiece with superlative players. I listen between the lyrics, in the silence between words. Through the delicate shadings of meaning and emotion I hear my friend C.W.

Buttercup, you are a beacon of light ...we stand immaculate in it's radiance!

Play it Forward

2008-11-25T09:31:00.002-05:00

Country rocker Michael O'Neill stepped into the Alumni den...and what a jam it was! I made no bones about being a neophyte uker... and the veteran graciously accepted my invite to strum along. Professional guitar players just get giddy when they see a resonator ukulele - nickel-plated, engraved bell brass body, much more volume and projection than a wooden bodied instrument, yet still retaining that distinctive ukulele sound.

A smile of intrigue passed his lips when I broke into a strong bum-ditty-bum version of "Friend of the Devil".

Michael admits he never gave much attention to this 4-stringed fun-machine, but after an hour of silver-surfing, and 6 rounds of "Five Foot Two" he was hooked. Seems like there'll be some uke background to his upcoming project. Paying it forward, Brother!

Alumni in the News

2008-11-17T12:47:00.001-05:00

Wild Rose alumni Al Franken predicted to be victorious in his bid for senator status.

And, just where did I get my information:
Tzvee's Talmudic Blog .

I'm ready to send that gift basket from Zabar's but it might have to wait until after Christma-Hana-Kwanzica!

WOODSTOCK HALLOWEEN - 2008

2008-11-14T10:18:00.003-05:00

I discovered Woodstock in 1979 - with only a backpack, guitar and two hundred bucks to my name. Instant recognition: It's a place where you can wander the streets in your pajamas and feel like you fit in. As darkness falls on Hallow's Eve the town fills with hundreds of folks. If you're not flying your Freak Flag...you're missing all the Fun. Gotta love this place!

Wilson State Park

2008-11-14T08:32:00.010-05:00

Woodstock's best kept secret!

Visualize that your mind is a pristine mountain lake. At the edge of the lake is a mountain ridge with its image reflected upon the lake’s surface. Imagine that your thoughts are winds that ripple the lake’s surface, preventing you from seeing the reflections clearly, but as your thoughts slow down and the breezes cease… you see the image of the mountains perfectly. ....Joseph Cornell

Completely surrounded by the beautiful Catskill mountains, with panoramic views creating a picturesque setting, Kenneth L. Wilson Campground offers secluded, wooded campsites and many outdoor activities. Campers can enjoy a hike on the nature trails or ride on the mountain bike trail, and nearby villages offer numerous shops and restaurants, as well as inner-tubing the river.
The seclusion and pristine beauty of this small park is a year-round pleasure. Bring along a picnic lunch and your camera!