Mental Health and Me

"Omaha Electrified"

Over the course of my time in absentia from these pages, I have been on a journey of Discovery.  I was seeking to plumb the depths of my mind to understand the causal factors behind my mental and behavioral health issues.  It has been a difficult journey at times and just as hard on Will as it has been on me.  In order to understand myself I engaged the services of Tempa Sherrill M.S., LPC, the founder of Stay the Course Veterans Services to guide my process.  Tempa has become more than a therapist to me, she is the friend I needed who could listen without judgment and offer practical solutions to help me as I resolved my issues.  I will be eternally grateful to her for her warmth, compassion and understanding as she has guided me to a better place than ever I have been.

There have been many painful moments in our discussions as I opened the cellar door in my mind to let the secrets out one at a time.  Above anything else however, she has helped me get to the point where I can honestly say "It is totally OK to be me".  A simple statement that has profound reverberations in all facets of my life.  To be sure the medications proscribed by my VA psychiatrist and other VA Doctors have aided the journey.  I am in fact healthier physically than I have been in a while.  Mentally I am still getting there, but I know I am on the right path with the proper support group to insure I get to where I want to be.  

As I reiterate my adventures (and misadventures) along the way, I hope to broaden your knowledge base as well as receive the cathartic recompense from seeing my life in printed form.  I will also try to make it as interesting as possible with out being over bearing or boring.  There has been laughter and tears, terror and calm and everywhere in between as I have wandered the dark corners and bright paths in my own mind.  I will also try to help eliminate the stigmatic specter that usually blossoms in the minds of people when the phrase mental health is mentioned.  Not everyone with mental or behavioral health issues is bat shit crazy or an inmate in the asylum.  But lots of folks need a little help understanding themselves and their relationship to the world around them, myself included.  I hope you stick around as I fight the procrastination bug each week in order to indeed put my life in print.  I hope you sitick around for the journey that is Nichevo.

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Now for your listening pleasure, I have an excellent recording of the Teleman Double  Concerti for an instrument not often heard in concert today, the Recorder, featuring Erik Bosgraaf as the soloist.  Erik Bosgraaf has won international acclaim for his Brilliant Classics recordings of music from Jakob van Eyck (Der Fluyten Lust Hof, BC93391) to Pierre Boulez (Dialogues, BC94842). His discography includes no fewer than three previous albums dedicated to Georg Philipp Telemann, the composer who more than any other in the German Baroque elevated the recorder and its relatives to the status of a high-art instrument, capable of hitherto undreamt expressive range and technical refinement. 

This recording contains the double concerti with recorder: for two recorders or in combination with transverse flute, bassoon or viola da gamba. Telemann himself was a professional recorder player. These concerti contain some of his most personal music, his usual brilliance, wit and virtuosity alternate with passages of deep emotion and melancholy. 

Erik Bosgraaf is one of the most remarkable recorder players of today. Equally at home in early as well as contemporary music he extends the limits of his instrument, achieving an extreme range of expression and unheard-of effects.  Erik is joined on the recording by his friends and Ensemble Cordevento.

You will find the track list just below the recording.  Following that is a bit of the Art side of Male Art with these six photographs of young men for you to peruse.  Thanks for the visit and as always, Enjoy!.

00:00:00 Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E Minor, TWV 52:e1: I. Largo
00:03:52 Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E Minor, TWV 52:e1: II. Allegro
00:08:07 Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E Minor, TWV 52:e1: III. Largo
00:11:47 Concerto for Recorder and Flute in E Minor, TWV 52:e1: IV. Presto
00:14:32 Concerto for 2 Recorders in A Minor, TWV 52:a2: I. Gravement
00:16:45 Concerto for 2 Recorders in A Minor, TWV 52:a2: II. Vistement
00:18:19 Concerto for 2 Recorders in A Minor, TWV 52:a2: III. Largement
00:20:16 Concerto in for 2 Recorders in A Minor, TWV 52:a2: IV. Vivement
00:22:24 Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon in F Major, TWV 52:F1: I. Largo
00:26:50 Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon in F Major, TWV 52:F1: II. Vivace
00:32:11 Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon in F Major, TWV 52:F1: III. —
00:36:27 Concerto for Recorder and Bassoon in F Major, TWV 52:F1: IV. Allegro
00:39:58 Concerto for Recorder and Viola da Gamba in A Minor ,TWV 52:a1: I. Grave
00:43:48 Concerto for Recorder and Viola da Gamba in A Minor ,TWV 52:a1: II. Allegro
00:47:54 Concerto for Recorder and Viola da Gamba in A Minor ,TWV 52:a1: III. Dolce
00:51:25 Concerto for Recorder and Viola da Gamba in A Minor ,TWV 52:a1: IV. Allegro
00:55:37 Concerto for 2 Recorders in B-Flat Major, TWV 52:B1: I. Grave
00:57:44 Concerto for 2 Recorders in B-Flat Major, TWV 52:B1: II. Vivace
00:59:17 Concerto for 2 Recorders in B-Flat Major, TWV 52:B1: III. Tendrement
01:01:05 Concerto for 2 Recorders in B-Flat Major, TWV 52:B1: IV. Gayment