Some History of Matrix Software By Michael Erlewine

middle 1960s.Photo Michael Erlewine circa 1968In the beginning Circle Bookslooked pretty empty, some simplepre-made bookshelves placedagainst the wall and not-quiteenough-yetbooks. I am not surehow I got involved, but I did. Afterall, I was Stephen‟s older brother.That would do it or was it mygrowing interest in astrology and allthings metaphysical. Stephen wasalready an astrologer and I was,well I was many things. At the time Ibelieve I encouraged or enthusedJohn Sullivan to invest more moneyin the store to modify it.Within weeks of opening I was hardat work helping them to remodel thestore so that it had a more new-ageand sophisticated look. I ended updesigning and supervising the rebuildingof the entire store inredwood and glass. Back thenredwood was just another (beautifulof course) wood at the lumber yardand in fact it was cheaper than clearpine. Imagine that! When we weredone, the entire bookstore wasfinished in redwood with frostedglobe lights and back-lit frostedglass panels at the top of someshelves, and with boxed-in areasdown by the floor. Better yet, wehad two really great aquariums, onefor fresh water fish and a really bigone for salt water. And finally wehad a four-foot chart wheel (alsobacklit) that displayed the currentastrology of the day. It wasbeautiful.John Sullivan and Stephen &Morgen ran the bookstore. I endedup calculating the astrology chartsfor the bookstore, at first by handusing the traditional log tableapproach and later in the early1970s using a little 4-functoncalculator. I probably helped outwith sales at times and I know Ioccasionally gave classes in thelarger second room some evenings.Mostly I just hung out there a lot.Circle Books was the perfect placeto spend time, meet new people,and have lengthy intellectualconversations on astrology and theoccult and all things spiritual. Peoplecame from towns near and far toshop at Circle Books. Until thenmost of us had no place and no oneto talk with about these spiritualmatters. The bookstore was aconversation waiting to happen.Circle Books was almost like adream come true - otherworldly attimes. There were plenty of outsidewindows and the inner store with itsglobe lights and backlit panels madethe overall effect something veryspecial. You just naturally wanted togo there. How many times did Icome up those stairs two steps at atime and then step down into CircleBooks for a wonderful time – many,many, many.You could probably say that I heldcourt there. And I wasn‟t the onlyone. It just naturally happened.Before long I had not only somestudents but many new friends. AnnArbor had never before catered tothose with an interest in spiritual and