The New Spiral Circle

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The Spiral Circle  in its Mills/50 Location

(750 N Thornton Ave
Orlando, Florida) was founded on May 16th, 1975 by Beverly and William Ford. It is Orlando’s oldest running spiritual book store. I got a call from Julie Norris Wilder letting me know that the store was going to change hands. Julie was one of the founders of Dandelion Communitea Cafe only a block away from Spiral Circle . She explained that on the day she was looking for a location for Dandelion, she entered Spiral Circle and she was told that her destiny was not far away. When she left Spiral she drove down the street and saw that the Building Dandelion now occupies was for sale.When she had her daughter Maya there was a court case that ultimately lead to Julie leaving Dandelion and Orlando. I partnered with Julie on a calendar a few years ago and I got to see first hand her tenacious creative spirit. In this new business venture at Spiral Circle  she has partnered with Summer Rodman.

Summer is the CEO of Amazon Hose and Rubber which has been in business in Orlando for over 100 years. Summer’s Grandmother ran the business, then her mother and now Summer is at it’s reins. When Julie contacted me I hoped to sketch the new owners signing the paperwork for the building. Unfortunately work  kept me from sketching that signing at about noon. After work, I drove right over to Spiral Circle  to sketch the building. A sign in the window announced that the business was closed. I figured everyone must have gone home after the business changed hands. As I worked on the sketch of the building someone drove up beside me and rolled down her window. She asked me if the Spiral Circle  was open. I said that the sign on the window said it was closed and left it at that. She decided to park anyway and walked up to the entry since this was the time of day she usually stopped by to get her incense. Maya opened the door and soon Julie greeted me and offered me some water while I sketched. William Ford, the original owner of the spiritual bookstore exited the front door and Julie introduced me to him. He seemed a bit misty eyed as he left this spiritual home behind.

A new sketch opportunity presented itself since Summer was going to stop by and they were going to sign the business agreements. May was tasked with shooting photos of the occasion while I sketched. She stood on a chair to get an aerial shot and must have taken 50 shots of the historic signing. The phone kept ringing and Maya answered, making it clear that the circle was unbroken and business was already in full swing. The documents being signed needed the signature of a witness so I ended up adding my signature to the documents that cemented the start of this auspicious new venture. I felt a thrill that I was documenting a truly historic moment with my sketch.

I am excited by what can be found on their calendar, there are Angel Communication Sessions, Numerologist and Wellness Coaching, Bio-Field Integrative Arcing Light Chakra Balancing, Attunements and Intuitive Energy Healing and a Tibetan Meditation Group. The opportunities for spiritual self growth fascinate me.

Julie’s enthusiasm for this new venture is so contagious… “My heart is full. My new business partner is, like, the BEST ever. The
people I work with daily are incredible humans. My kid impresses me
always. My sweet romance gets sweeter by the day. I’ve been reconnecting
with so many people just by being at Spiral. I get to source and shift
dollars into ethical and fair companies, mostly woman-owned, often
independent. I’m so passionate about doing right by the land, one
another and respecting cultures around the world and now I get to bring
sacred offerings to our community with the same discerning eye that I
had at Dandelion for ingredient sourcing.  I am so grateful and thrilled this is my new reality.” Clearly this place will be a home base for a growing community here in Orlando. I find Spiral Circle  inspiring as an artist who hopes there is still magic and mystery in the world.

Amazon Hose and Rubber

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While driving to the College Park Jazz Festival, I noticed that Amazon Hose and Rubber will be moving from the warehouse they have occupied for years. The current location is 1625 West Princeton Street Orlando, Florida and the new Location (Coming January 2014) will be 4105 Seaboard Rd Orlando, Florida. The current location was always easy to spot since there is an old water tower behind it and the front facade is covered with a colorful mural that showcases Florida wildlife.

Summer Rodman is  the president of this family owned business started
started by her grandfather Harry Jacoby back in
1919.  Her grandmother Lorena did collections and worked int he office until
she took over in 1973 after his death. She was a little blond with a
big personality and many of the long time players in the industry still
remember her. Lorena ran this male-dominated business
at a time when a woman had many more challenges than now, and she not
only succeeded but set an example of leadership, dedication and the
pursuit of superior customer satisfaction. Summers mother ran the business for years and still consults. Though the business started small, it is now grosses over 11 million dollars by supplying Central Florida’s hose needs. They also serve national and international orders thanks to the Internet. It was ranked as one of the Top 5 Women owned Businesses in Central Florida by the Orlando Business Journal.

There is a counter at the front entrance of the current location where costumers can sit to wait for their hose order to be filled. Construction workers and do it yourselfers constantly muscled up to the counter. Staff would scour the warehouse which is like the Library of Congress for hoses. Row after row of shelving housed every kind of hose and bracket.

Summer’s Fortieth Celebration

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Summer Rodman‘s husband, Steve McCall threw a huge surprise birthday party at their gorgeous modular Winter Park home. Summer turned 40. This wasn’t your average party, this was the kind of party you only see in the movies. There was valet parking out front and the entire home was illuminated with bright magenta stage lights. There were two food trucks handing out samples near Summer’s garden. The house itself is constructed of corrugated steel and the block shaped structures fit together like a puzzle. It is an amazing design that is apparently popular in New Zealand. There was dancing behind the house with a DJ on the second floor balcony spinning the mix. There was even a “Summer’s Fortieth Celebration” logo that was above the stage, on glassware and even printed on pink and white M&Ms.

About midway through the party, I found this perfect perch in Steve’s Den to sketch from. Employees from Summer’s family business, Amazon Hose and Rubber got up to the Mic to talk about and roast her. Then the dancing heated up on the dance floor. There was a large flat screen TV that could take photos of guests and allowed them to interactively sigh birthday greetings on the screen. Everyone got a swag bag that contained a CD with a Summer’s 40th mix of music, as well as a jar of Summer M&Ms.

Functionally Literate

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November 3rd was the inaugural episode of Functionally Literate held at Urban ReThink. The quarterly events aims to connect, entertain and enlighten Orlando’s growing community of writers, book club nerds and culturally curious. Each event will feature a visiting author along with thee talented local writers. The series is organized by Burrow Press and The Jack Kerouac Project. When Terry and I entered, a bit late, the place was packed. Large holiday lights were strung from the balcony creating a festive canopy over the audience. For some reason people were shy about sitting in the front row so we scored two front row seats.

Jared Silvia introduced the series and pointed out that Don Pomeroy‘s debut book, Wally, published by Burrow Press last month was available. Don Pomeroy thanked the book jacket illustrator Brian Phillips who had his work on display in the back of the room.  Summer Rodman and Rachel Kapitan then introduced Catlin O’Sullivan who is the resident novelist at the Kerouac House through the end of the month.  Catlin is working on a historical novel called The Kiss Off, involving a gangster on the lamb. She prefixed her reading by letting us know that a petite waitress had rented a room to the gangster. She went out with him one evening and things went from good to very bad. Upon returning home, she heard a raccoon in her attic. She went up to the attic with a hammer in her hand. What followed might upset any readers that despise cruelty to animals so I will end the scene there. If you want to read more, follow this link…

Susan Lilly read some wonderful poems. One was about a summer where she had to go to a camp where she was force fed sermons. A field trip to a rock concert exhilarated her to the point where she said, “If I had been a boy, I would have had a hard on.” She and her friend got in trouble for separating from the group. The other authors were John Henry Fleming and Don Peteroy. A reading versed in old English biblical phrasing told the story of Christ trying to win a basketball game to impress two girls. A large pad was flipped with the verses but the moderator unfortunately blocked my view. The audience would periodically respond with an Amen. It was funny but in time felt forced. Don’s story began to discuss how messy and gutturally funny human sexuality is when it is real. I will not even try to describe the slick, wet, messy, smelly and noisy details.

Afterwards, a large group of us went to The Wine Room a few blocks west of ReThink for some flat bread pizza and drinks. That morning the Kerouac Project had a garage sale that made over $1,400 which will keep the Artist residence running through the end of the year. There was plenty of laughter and barbed conversation to end the night.

Mennello Museum Folk Festival

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Thanks to Arts Fest and United Arts, the Mennello Museum was able to host a full day of folk performers at its annual Folk Festival. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a festival with blue skies and a cool breeze. Terry and I attended last year and we both decided it is one of our favorite events of the year. There are plenty of tents set up with artists of all kinds displaying their wares. We first stopped at the Kerouac House table where Kim Buchheit and Summer Rodman were having a lively discussion. I became infatuated with a book by Kerouac called “Sketches”. This is an amazing book in which Kerouac describes scenes and places in bold poetic broad strokes. All of the sketches were lifted from small moleskin notebooks in which he jotted down his notes on the spot. With words he recreates scenes very much the way I sketch every day. It is an inspiring read. I am maybe half way through the book now.
Dawn Schreiner had a tent set up with all her wonderful portraits and doodles. She was sitting in the grass with her children and sketching. Next to her tent was an artist who makes elaborate cigar boxes which are encrusted with glued on objects. I stood and watches as he made a space ship themed box with day glow paint a space shuttle and plenty of beads as planets. I wanted to sketch him, but this was Valentines day, and I had decided to stay focused on my wife and maybe sneak in a sketch of the stage if time allowed.
We had lawn chairs and set them up in front of the stage. As Sarah Purser performed, I felt myself become fully relaxed and at peace. I sat back and enjoyed the sun and view overlooking the lake. It was time to sketch. Travis Blaise who is dating Sarah explained that she is classically trained and in fact performs for the opera. Her voice is stunning and she has a lighthearted humor that is infectious. In the foreground I sketched Gordon Spears who was wearing a distinctive red hat and leaning back talking to a friend. Someone told me that Gordon booked all the acts for the event. Later that night I had to take down my display of sketchbooks at the Cameo Theater and Gordon was there helping Louise Bova as she took down her work. I had never met Gordon before, but here I was bumping into him twice in one day. This town just keeps getting smaller.