SLICE OF TOWN'S HISTORY ENDURES:ONETIME WOMEN'S CLUB RECLAIMS ITS PLACE AS COTATI'S HUB WITH SATURDAY DANCES AT CONGREGATION NER SHALOM

Cotati's Reconstructionist Congregation Ner Shalom performed some root splicing last night when it launched the Saturday Night SpiceBox Cabaret.

The Polkanomics' mix of standards and style blends must have shaken the rafters of a 101-year-old building first constructed as the Women's Club but best known to baby boomers as the Cotati Cabaret.

A major music venue of the 1980s, that club featured famous and soon-to-be famous singers and bands that included Janis Joplin, Santana, Huey Lewis, Tower of Power, John Lee Hooker, Arlo Guthrie, Neil Young, Rita Coolidge, Randy Newman and a few rowdy guests who contributed to the venue's closure by Cotati police.

When the congregation took over the derelict building in 1994, part of the remodeling included plugging the bullet holes in the ceiling.

Over 10 decades, the building at 85 La Plaza has been a center for Cotati life and community.

It housed the town's Women's Club, its first lending library, Saturday night American Legion dances, Fire Department card games and decades of Independence Day and other holiday celebrations.

Today it holds a thriving community of progressive and liberal Jews from throughout Marin and Sonoma counties. It also has a reputation for sharing its landmark space with other faiths and the community at large when its religious calendar allows. Traditionally, the Jewish Sabbath lasts from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, which has limited community access to Ner Shalom on Saturday nights, the most popular slot for musical events. But, just as traditionally, Sabbath services often end in a ritual called Havdalah, which involves passing a box filled with spices through the congregation. Each person takes a moment to enjoy the smell, to relieve the sadness of the Sabbath ending, to enliven the senses for the coming week and to celebrate life's pleasures.

Congregation Ner Shalom has determined that a series of public musical events following services on Saturday nights would be well in keeping with Judaic law. It would also fit with 85 La Plaza's history and be a suitable extension of the spice box ritual's joyful intentions.

"We are planning to hold a musical evening every other month," said Lorenzo Valensi, the shul's music director. Their next date is May 28, but they haven't booked a band until they see what people have to say about Saturday's debut. "Our plan is to bring the spice of Sonoma County to the community, so there will be a different group playing every session," Valensi said.

"This space has always had a vibration to it," he said, and hosting a live band last spring convinced them to find ways to welcome the public in for dancing and fun.

In that vein, future events will offer beer and wine as well as gustatory treats made by members of the congregation.

For more information, visit nershalom.org or call 664-8622.