After I graduated college in 1986, I spent the next seven years working for Schwan Sales Enterprises in their marketing department. Many of my vacations were spent on the road going from one Grateful Dead concert to the next. Before leaving Schwan's, I happened upon The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse. I started developing and playing The Game.

The Game, evolved and suddenly blossomed into the massive concept of Aromatic Omnivision, a harmonic synergy of sound, light and aroma capable of leading the mind through archetypal states of consciousness by tuning brainwave frequencies. I reasoned that as intervals of harmony and dissonance are found in sound, so too in color and AROMA! Bam! It was like someone socked me right in the nose! Aroma was the key for me and I set out to discover the wonders of nature in 1993.

Armed with a concept and modest "retirement" from Schwan's, I began this intrepid journey. We moved to a duplex in Rogers Arkansas and started in our bedroom with a desk, computer and phone. It took fully 6 months to put all the pieces together to make our first sale, but after mailing 300 catalogs in January 1994, we had made that crucial step.

I can't tell you all the ups and downs we've been through, but the journey is intense. The evolution never stops and today it shouldn't seem strange, but does, that the home of our brand - Imani Natural Products - is Terrapin Station. Terrapin Station is a music, art and wellness centre, which is a tangible manifestation of the concept of Aromatic Omnivision, which sparked the whole adventure.

We are still a family business, though our children are branching into lives of their own. This business is our life and it is real. I can't overestimate the value of our connection and I hope that you will sense it to. Thank you

Entry January 10, 2010

I was born in 1962. Am I getting old? I don’t feel old, not yet anyway, but I have been around for awhile. Among my earliest memories was in the Summer of 1967. It was the “The Summer of Love”. I began to listen intently to songs on the radio. It was fun to classify the songs as part of the “old”, or “new”...or the posers that were trying to be new, but hadn’t quite made it to an acid test. Of course, I didn’t know why the music had changed or anything about acid tests, but change it was...clear and unmistakable...even for a five year old.

I got a guitar when I was twelve. My first songbooks were Neil Young’s “Harvest” and Cat Stevens’ “Tea for the Tillerman”. I got both those albums too and learned every song. I still love those songs! But it was the Moody Blues that really moved me emotionally and spiritually. I listened to “Thinking is the Best Way to Travel” with headphones, at night, in the backyard, under the stars and imagined myself deep in space. “In Search of the Lost Chord” is among my all time favorite albums, for sure.

During high school I backtracked and explored musical icons, like The Beatles, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Lynryd Skynyrd and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. But there were others like Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells that I really dug. I remember taking mental note of Brian Eno. I can’t recall why, but his name seemed to pop up unexpectedly in intriguing places. Much like Zoroaster. I feel a palpable, yet somewhat irrational, connection to both of them.

Entry January 19, 2010

My guitar got rusty through high school. I didn't even pack it for college, but my roommate, Bruce, had one and I started playing again. Shortly thereafter I was asked by the folks at Quattelbaum music if I could teach guitar lessons. I learned more than my students including a fair amount of music theory. It became pretty philosophical for me...humans making instruments to snatch sounds/frequencies/vibrations out of the realm of unlimited possibilities. YES!

Music theory is such an elegant language. The relational mathematical patterns opened my mind to what felt like a "meta-organization" not really dependent on what it is organizing per se. What I mean is the PATTERN is more instructive than the specific key or chord, etc. There is potentially alot to talk about here, but I'm going to move on for now.

I credit Bruce, and his brother Bill, (my college roommate in case you skipped that part), for introducing me to The Grateful Dead. I was only dimly aware of the Dead, having heard Truckin', Casey Jones and probably at least, Sugar Magnolia, but the amount of music by The Dead that just wasn't on the radio was the real revelation. It struck a chord with me that had begun back in The Summer of Love. Their improvisational style punctuated by songs played with varying energies was very engaging (to put it mildly).

Brother Brian