Ariadne and Theseus

This is a CD of mostly original music with a lot of love songs. They were written mainly in 2009 and released in the fourth quarter. Following are some of the liner notes, lead sheets on the tunes and links to the mythology of Ariadne and Theseus.

Theseus was the young Athenian who slayed the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. Ariadne provided the sword and the thread that guided Theseus out of the labyrinth. She had loved him at first sight and honored that love with her actions, and then left her father's kingdom with Theseus.

Most versions of the story tell of Theseus abandoning her on the island of Naxos, either from his own free will or through the intervention of the gods. Dionysus finds Ariadne in despair, falls in love and marries her. Immortality is her wedding gift from Zeus, they have a family together and there is no story anywhere of their separation. Theseus went on to become king of Athens and to establish that famous first democracy by turning over his royal powers to an elected assembly. He ruled wisely and well.

Ariadne represents spinning, the fiber arts, and the meaningful support of a strong and wise woman. She acts with the force of true love and then grieves its loss. Her story shows how truly good things can follow the apparent finality of tragedy.

There was this girl once, and Ariadne was her middle name.

Our story has a similar beginning. We were young together in Seattle and loved deeply, but could not stay together because of distance, money, workings of the world (or maybe the gods) over which we had no power yet. We both felt profoundly abandoned, but then went on to lead surprisingly similar lives. We tried to find each other at times through the years and then one day there was a listing on the internet that was almost certainly her. He sent a letter from Chicago, she made a phone call from San Francisco and we were connected again, already, still, as deeply as ever.

Decades have been lost to us but we are reclaiming what was once ours, making the most of the chance we now have, moving toward the life together we should have built in the first place. We are changing the story that precedes us by writing a new chapter, making the ending our own.

These songs celebrate this love that has persisted, this remarkable second chance, and this couple who has come through an Odyssey of their own with a story to tell. They celebrate the evening of a day which had a bright and beautiful morning, but which never saw the sunshine of afternoon.