From time to time, Jillian and those associated with her label Tarith Cote would like to share a perspective of theirs on areas of interest. These perspectives are not restricted to the subject of the music industry and when not expressed by Jillian, does not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of her or her company Tarith Cote.
Issue 3
By Jillian LaDage
August 18, 2011
Community. How do we define it and what is it?
After a visit to my local bookstore Read Between The Lynes this week to buy a gift, I came home thinking about community. The idea behind it, if it is present in today's society, and social/multi media world presented itself in my mind's eye walking the faded red brick pavements on the Woodstock Square and all through my drive home. You see, Read Between The Lynes holds a special place in my heart. It was the first local retailer to pick up my debut album, The Ancestry. Arlene and her staff showed their enthusiasm from the first and introduced me to a new community. And there's that word again. Community.
It was essentially the email my husband received from Read Between The Lynes detailing the economic struggles of a small town bookstore and looking for ways to remain open that started these thoughts rolling like a giant stone without a place to go.
In an effort to formulate a complete sentence, I looked to my 1927 New Century Dictionary. It may be a bit old and tattered, even perhaps worn on the edges, but I figured who knew better about community than previous generations whose very survival depended on it.
Community. The state of being held in common; common possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.; also, common character; agreement; identity; also, social intercourse; association; life in association with others.
And that's where I stopped because the phrase "life in association with others" caught my fancy. It fueled my thinking. How easy it is to hop on the computer and pull up a larger online retailer and order your book or music or whatever it may be. You need never leave the comfort of your home, get out of your pajamas, talk to another person or in anyway communicate with anyone other than the little numbers and figures dancing beneath your fingers, much as I do now typing this. However, where is community in that? Have we become so dependent on our own isolation media that we never strike up that conversation or care enough to see how our neighbor or local stores are doing? Do we now their names; do they know ours? I suppose there is the convenience of it and I am not against it so to speak. But are we choosing to live "life in association with others" or would we rather click the mouse and avoid it all together to save a trip out or a few dollars time. What is it worth to you to form lasting friendships and attachments with those around you versus the silence of the electronic devices that we are told need to run our lives? Community. Living, breathing, out there.
So, after all this and what essentially amounts to my ramblings, I am devoting myself to seek out my community, establish a deeper sense of community, and be thankful that the community which is around Read Between The Lynes has come out to support them and another hometown bookseller's storefront remains open for our enjoyment.
Issue 2
By Jillian LaDage
May 1, 2010
Beltaine, a time when light mixes with fire and the peace and abundance of the year open to new possibilities, when the fires light at dawn we celebrate in dusk amidst the ancients gone before us, those to come after us, the sidhe around us. The magic is almost palpable in the air and the veil seems thinner between our realities. Do you celebrate that which is abundant in your life or the abundance of what is to come?
It drives winters cold away, this ritual of Beltaine, this celebration surrounded by fire, a time to open and expand.
"You start in April and cross to the time of May
One has you as it leaves, one as it comes
Since the edges of these months are yours and defer
To you, either of them suits your praises.
The circus continues and the theatre's lauded palm,
Let this song, too, join the Circus spectacle."
Ovid, Fasti(V.185-190)
"For we are up, as soon as it is day-0,
For to fetch the summer home,
The summer and the May-o,
For summer is a-coming in
And winter is a-gone."
Cornish May Song
Beltaine is upon us. Light the fires and celebrate the goodness & abundance of Summer to come.
Blessings Celts,
Jillian
Issue 1
By Jillian LaDage
November 7, 2008
As I pull together the past four years of traveling, researching, and writing my debut album, I sit looking out my office window at a gray stormy day. Winter is almost upon us as the album becomes ready for release and indeed Midwinter, as it once was called, comes for us on November 8th. As I have recently learned, it is when the sun reaches 15 degrees Scorpio in the circle of the zodiac in the sky and is one of the days known as "cross quarter days," the mid-point between the solstices and equinoxes. According to our modern calendar the Winter Solstice, the first day of winter, is on December 21, when in fact the Winter Solstice is the mid-point of the season.
It is now approaching four winters since the concept for this first studio album was conceived. Of course, I did not plan on spending four years to get to the completion; but life has a way of bypassing the best laid plans and requiring a study in patience! In those four years there has been the preparation of music, finding the right musicians, a website, design and all those other little tasks that have led to here. It is good to finally be here, I must say!
While staying in Scotland in November 2006, the ideas of remembrance and memory first took hold in my mind as I pieced together parts of the early Celtic migrations. As it turned out my own ancestry (Scots/Irish) did not play the significant role I had allotted it at the beginning of this project. Instead the ideas of remembrance, memory and honouring ones past became the focal points as I moved through the myths and legends that have kept these ancient people at the forefront of my interest.
As I look back to the diverging paths that have come together to make this recording, I cannot help but think that there are at least three other albums waiting to be written. However, I feel the challenge of managing the creative side along with the business aspect of running my record label Tarith Cote. I am happy to do so, and it is my hope to share with you in the coming months and years the many paths I may walk down and the inspirations behind the music and meet as old friends along the way.
Warmest Regards,
Jillian |
