From Dusk 'til Dawn

Dallas At Dusk

I have been a lazy slug today, way too lazy.  I did get up around 9 this morning.  I did the preliminary work on this post, putting together the music and the men, but then came an early lunch.  This was followed with a supposed short nap.  Ha!  I woke up somewhat after 5 pm.  Needless to say, productivity was nowhere in the picture.  However as it approaches dusk here in the Metroplex, I still have the main body of the post to write.  Unfortunately I am at a fairly uninteresting portion of My Life (to me anyway).  The last couple of years in junior high school were  a mixed bag of highs and lows where my bi-polareity began to assert itself as I began to realize who and what I was which was in no way what I could be. Talk about sexuality was not allowed, much less discussed in my home.  I got no "birds and bees" talk, in fact the only 'sex ed' we got at the time came from the Southern Baptist Church which was basically don't until marriage.  I never got the premarital speech from Dad because I never married.  I had to discover myself in an age before the internet with precious little valid information available.  Naturally my internal feelings did not match my religious and familial upbringing and the reconciliation of the two polar opposites left me mostly in a quandary. 

When it came time for high school, most of my friends and church mates were going to the school for our district Polytechnic High School.  However both my Mother and Father attended Technical High School which became Green B Trimble Technical High School after the founding principal died the year before my older brother entered studies there.  One interesting note there, my brother's first year was also the first year any school in the Fort Worth Independent School District was integrated and Trimble Tech was the first school to do so.  By the time I arrived two years later it was old hat and just a part of life.  Much like the arguments for Gay Rights today, the arguments against integration evaporated in the reality of life and people being just people, no matter who they were.  We had leaders among the students who were White, Black and Hispanic as well as teachers.  When we had the first male to run for Cheerleader and win, the whole 'he must be a fag' thing went around, but he was really good and he won.   Back to my point, I really did not want to go to Tech, I had no burning desire to learn a trade and I knew virtually no one who was going there.  However there was no choice to be made, my Mother signed me up for Tech and chose business classes for my courses the first year.    I was signed up for  marching band which luckily for me was the only class time I shared with my older brother who was a senior at the time.  I as a sophomore was not allowed into such a high social stratosphere, but I did OK, coming in 2nd for Class Favorite at the end of the year.  However I still felt overshadowed by my older brother.  That was going to end with his graduation which could come none too soon for me.  

I started to come into my own, although I was still very confused sexually and heavily closeted.  At the end of the year I ran for Drum Major and came in Second which made me the Assistant Drum Major.   This bode well for the beginning of my final two years in high school,  a new dawn if you would.  I had made friends as I am basically good being friendly and listening to others while masking  my own inner turmoil.  But I was going to get my moment in sun with out an over shadow for the first time in my life.  I was looking forward to it while living in terror of someone getting to know the 'real me'.  Next week, I will get into my last two years of high school which are a story in and of themselves.

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For your listening pleasure, today's playlist is a review of one of the 19th Century's most prominent Piano Virtuosi and Composer with his most recognized works.  Sigismond Thalberg was believed to be the illegitimate son of the aristocracy born in Switzerland although his birth certificate reads Frankfurt-am-Main.  Whatever the circumstance of his birth, his music is wonderfully melodic and beautifully inspiring.  We begin the review with the piece most often heard on classical stations today, his Berceuse or Cradle Song performed here by Guiseppe Devastato.  From the cradle, we move to the salon with Thalberg's Grande Sonate in C-minor, Op.56 (1844) Dedicated to Charles Louis, Duc de lucques, Infant d´Espagne with a performance by Adrian Ruiz.  Next up is his most ambitious work, the Piano Concerto in F-minor, Op.5 (1830) here wonderfully performed by Francesco Nicolosi accompanied by the Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra.  We stay with Signori Nicolosi for the conclusion to our review with Thalberg's Les Soirées de Pausilippe, Op. 75. A Tribute to Rossini : 24 Musical Thoughts.

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Finally for today are four exquisite photographic portraits from my collection of photographs which most impressed from the Eyecatcher blog.  Each portrait permits the viewer to intimately commune with the subjects who fairly overflow with vibrant life and subtle sensuality.  Thanks for the visit, do come again and as always, Enjoy!