For the first time in 8 weeks a lot of good things happened for the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. The long awaited return of Quarterback Tony Romo to the starting lineup was certainly the most welcome news of the weekend. The day also marked the return of both Sean Lee and Rolando Blackmon to the defensive lineup. The trio's return sparked a revitalized Cowboys team forward to victory over the Miami Dolphions, 24-14. Yes they actually won the game!!!! To be sure, it was not a perfect outing, Tony threw 2 interceptions to go with his two touchdowns. However as great players always do in any sport, Tony made everyone around him better just by being there.
The defense got the ball rolling after Tony's 1st interception when Roloado Blackmon stepped in front of a Miami pass and did not stop running until he scored giving the Cowboys the early lead. A lead they never relinquished all day. They let the Dolphins back in the game toward the end of the first half after their 2nd Touchdown by way of a penalty and a short kickoff. That resulted in a Miami TD to close the half.
The Dolphoins tied the game early in the third quarter but never managaed to mount anything after that as the Dallas D got tough and snuffed out any whiff of a drive the rest of the day. The Cowboys did not answer the Miami score until the opening moments of the 4th quarter via a Romo to Dez Bryant thing of beauty that ended in the End Zone. The Cowboys ran the Dolphins in the ground for the rest of the day and they also tacked on an insurance FG to salt away their first win since week 2 and Romo's injury. The next test comes in 4 days and it is a gargantuan one as the undefeated Carolina Panthers come to the table for Thanksgiving. Should be a great game to fill my afternoon while preparing our ham and turkey feast for consumption. Hope for a better 2nd half of the season springs eternal with Romo's return and none are more glad to see it than I. (I must be a real optimist to think we stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting to the play offs, but stranger things have happened in the NFL. We shall wait and see.
Your Monday with Mozart features a 1994 recording by the Japan Shinsei Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Rudolph Barshai. Their performance is of the Piano Concerto Number 18 in B Flat Major, KV 456. The Soloist for this performance is Sviastislav Richter. Over on my tumblr I have another classic recording, this one from 1974 with an augmented Grumiaux Trio performing Mozart's String Quintet Number 3 in G Minor, KV516.
To wrap up today's post (or unwrap as the case may be), I have some lovely, lanky lads lounging about in their supremely sexy skivvies in this week's edition of Monday's Undies posted down below. Meanwhile, over on my tumblr, Your Hottie of the Day!, Favian, will make you rethink your aversion to kinks and fetishes. Thanks for the visit, see you again real soon. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Happy Hump Day and welcome to this edition of New Adventures in Good Music. Our featured Composer today is one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music, Sergei Rachmaninoff. I did not have time for a lot of research to develop a narrative for today, however, I did find some excellent source material available to you at Wikipedia and/or Rachmaninoff.org.
For our purposes here today, we will explore the progression Rachmaninoff makes from his Piano Concerto Number 1 and each successive Concerto though his 5th and final Piano Concerto. The Finale of our exploration is Rachmaninoff's last completed work, the 30 Variations on a theme of Paganini. To further illustrate his creative process, I have a treat over on my tumblr. There you will find Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata Number1 and two versions of Piano Sonata Number 2. The original Composition of Sonata 2 from 1913 and his own revision from 1931.
As this is Hump Day also, I have a scorching selection of lanky and lithesome lads in their finest examples of modern swimwear. You will find them all in this edition of Wet Wednesday splashing about down below. Over on my tumblr, Your Hottie of the Day!, Matthew Williams is making quite the splash himself. Thanks for the visit, see you again on Friday as we prepare for the weekend. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
By the time I returned home from work yesterday, I was completely exhausted from a week of burning the candle at both ends and the middle. So I napped most of the morning, did some running around in the afternoon, and watched a couple of my backlog of TV shows. Then I took a Klonopin a customer had given me and two over the counter sleep aids and slept for about 10 or 11 hours. I awoke fairly refreshed and ready for today. Of course, it is Friday and truck night, but I can do one 10 hour shift standing on my head because I have the whole weekend to recover.
I put the weekly shopping of until tomorrow morning, then I plan a video marathon in the afternoon and evening . Hopefully I will be able to clear my backlog of TV episodes I have not seen yet this season. I keep track of what I have and have not watched with a site called TVMaze which is and interactive TV guide and social media site that makes keeping up with what you have missed easy and gives you an outlet to discuss you favorite shows with the TVMaze community. Will turned me on to this site and it has been a wonderful tool to keep the video portion of my life organized. Then on Sunday it is an NFL marathon. So I should have fun this weekend
After nearly a week on the new computer, I continue to be amazed at the ease and speed with which I can accomplish things. The HD video is absolutely stunning on the new monitor, and posting to my blog and tumblr is really a snap. The only thing I can think of tho improve my computing platform would be new, larger faster HDDs, like the 1TB 7200 RPM Western Digital ones I put on my Newegg.com Wish List. But there are a couple of other priorities that will come before that purchase. However, it will all come in good time with the appropriate diligence and patience as Will and I work toward our goals.
Now, I have some great Music lined up for your listening pleasure today as well as a few visual delights to feed your over active imaginations. Today's featured composer is Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). Grieg produced only one complete mature string quartet, the String
Quartet in g minor, Op. 27 dating from 1878 when he was 35. The
historical record indicates that it was a challenge for Grieg, a
composer who was perhaps more accustomed to writing in smaller forms
such as his celebrated art songs and Romantic piano miniatures. Yet his
remains one of the most original and influential string quartets of the
late 19th century, approximately contemporaneous with the first
important quartets from Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Borodin and Dvořák. It was
written in the same year as César Franck's piano quartet with which it
shares some prominent elements of innovative cyclic design. Grieg's
quartet even managed to impress the aloof Debussy who, fifteen years
later wrote his only quartet in the same key, with more than a few
striking similarities.
Like many composers (notably Schubert,
Mendelsohn and Shostakovich), Grieg borrows from his own music for the
main theme of the quartet: a portion of his somber song Spillamæd
(Minstrels). The icy theme is announced in unison by the quartet right
at the beginning, the emphatic slow introductory andante before the
bristling allegro. Almost all of the musical material in the first
movement is derived from it including several creative variations of the
full theme itself in a wide range of expression and affect. There are
at least eight clear permutations for the listener's delightful
discovery. But like the cyclic designs of Franck and, later, Debussy,
the theme extends beyond the bounds of the first movement to obliquely
influence the second, reappear in the third and frame the fourth
including a nearly literal restatement of the quartet's beginning just
before the final conclusion. Though the complete work comprises a
four-movement design with a great variety of music, it is fused together
with a rare artistic unity. Today's performance was recorded in the 1960 by the Copenhagen String Quartet.
Over on my tumblr, I have Grieg's Piano Concerto In A Minor, Opus 16 which was initially panned in the reviews at the time, but has gone on to become one of the most often performed Concerti in the modern Classical repertoire. That performance is by the Danmarks Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Thomas Dausgaard with Alice Sara Ott as you Piano Soloist.
As for the visual delights to feed your imaginations, I have an eclectic collection of handsome hunks ranging from the innocence of youth and young love to the more mature and somewhat more intriguing flights of fancy in this week's edition of Fantasy Fuel posted down below. Over on my tumblrSasha Kosmos, Your Hottie of the Day!, seeks to entice you into his bed for what would surely be one intense encounter. Thanks for the visit, see you again on Sunday for the Morning Concert. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Hello! Welcome to your Sunday Morning Concert coming to you today from the new turbo charged Nichevo 2.0! As you have surmised from the opening line, the building of my new computing platform is complete and running on all cylinders. Ain't technology wonderful? After the many days filled with equal parts of anticipation and trepidation, the end result of Nichevo 2.0 is more wonderful than I had imagined and so much faster than anything I have ever had the pleasure of owning. And it all started with this pile of parts:
And here is a first look at the new monitor and a close up of my new (Will's former) processor:
The only thing not shown in these two photos that became necessary was the video card which, at the time I took the photos, I did not know I needed. It turns out the Asus Motherboard Will had been using did not have integrated graphics so there was no video port on the board. This made the addition of a video card necessary to be able to take advantage of all the features of the monitor. Luckily, Will had retained his original Nvidia Geforce GTX560 Ti when he went to his present graphics card. The wow factor of the display went up about a 1000 % with its installation. I can also watch video in full HD for the first time and boy that is a vastly improved and incredibly beautiful experience!
The process did present its challenges as I had only ever modified an existing build. I had never taken an empty box and turned it into a working, viable computing platform. The experience was definitely educational. It was also stressful, volatile, emotional, frustrating, joyful, sometimes tearful and yet ultimately satisfying at the end of the more than three hours it took to accomplish. The end result was this sleek, powerful platform sitting at my side, ready to do my bidding:
The Fractal R4 Scandinavian designed, German engineered case is minimalist, beautiful and contains many hidden and some readily apparent features.
The front panel opens to reveal two DVD burners and the pop out front fan module that has space for two fans although only one is installed. There is also a rear fan, a fan on the power supply and one on the CPU. The only fan not behind a removable filter is the one on the CPU, but it only moves already filtered air so one there is not really necessary:
The side of the case has a window through which to observe the inner workings of Nichevo 2.0 which has room for up to 10 HDD or SSD easy out trays in two cages that can be removed or rearranged to support various configurations:
Thus we have Nichevo 2.0 Unleashed on the world:
I am still discovering the many wonderful aspects of having a computer that accomplishes what you want almost simultaneously with the thought to do so. The real estate available on my desktop allows me to multitask with ease with and see what is happening in both tasks at the same time.
The operating parameters as recorded by Speccy as I am writing this look like this:
I can put my hand on the window on the side and it feels cold which means the temperatures inside the case are well within established the safe operating limits. The most amazing thing so far is the speed at which tasks are accomplished. Web pages render almost before the thought to open them is completed, uploads and downloads a blindingly fast and the visual experience is marvelously magnificent. I also will not have to upgrade for my computing needs for quite some time into the future. Of course my requirements are much less demanding than Will's as he Games and I generally do not. Although, now I could if that was what I wanted to do. However, I think I already have quite enough activities to keep me more than occupied. Adding Gaming to the mix would probably cause a meltdown of my inner core causing massive damage to my psychological capacity to generate rational thought.
Bur before proceeding with further explorations into the world of modern computing, I guess I had better get on to this morning's concert lineup and the male art you have come to expect before it becomes afternoon. I am in a deeply satisfied and mellow mood this morning so I thought I would go with a little Johannes Brahms to ease our way into Sunday. Posted down below is his Piano Concerto Number 2, Opus 83 with today's performance coming to you from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and was their Sunday Morning Concert on January 16, 2011 in the Great Hall. On stage is the Radio Chamber Philharmonic under the baton of Michael Schønwandt with Ronald Brautigam as your Piano Soloist. Over on my tumblr is a beautifully intimate performance of Brahms' Piano Trio Number 1, Opus 8 coming to you from the Jurriaanse Doelen Auditorium in Rotterdam. That performance is by Hagai Shaham on Violin; Arnon Erez on Piano and Raphael Wallfisch on Cello.
Your fine male art selection this morning come from deep in the Nichevo archives for these smoldering studs who are Naked or Nearly So! which you will find posted down below. Over on my tumblr, Aden and Jordan are your intimately entwined double play Hottie of the Day! Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with me, tune in tomorrow as we began another week of Music, Men & More! powered by Nichevo 2.0!! See you then, until next time as always, Enjoy!
Oh yes, I am definitely ready for Friday!. I rested so very well on my new bed last night, I feel ready for the day!. It will be a busy one, being Friday, truck night and all that. I have lots to do during the day today also as I haven't as yet done the weekly shopping. So I do have my work cut out for me. However, I still am making time for you guys first so we can get the Weekend off on the right note.
Speaking of, as I promised yesterday, I have two more performances from the 2015 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition in Brussels. The National Orchestra of Belgium under the baton of Marin Alsop accompanies both soloists as they did yesterday. Down below, I have 21 year old American violinist Kenneth Renshaw performing Brahms’
‘Concerto in D Major, Op. 77’ in the Finals of the Competition. Over on my tumblr, 24 year old German VC ‘Young Artist’ violinist, Tobias Feldmann performs Bela Bartok’s ‘Violin Concerto No. 2’ also in the Final round.
Now to make sure you are in the proper frame of mind to kick off the Weekend, today's collection of exquisite examples of art in the male form may be found posted down below in this edition of Fantasy Fuel for your visual appreciation. Over on my tumblr, Your Hottie of the Day!, Judah Gavra, can't wait to get 'down and dirty' with you. Thanks for the visit and your unflagging loyalty to one busy old man who just happens to have great taste in both Music and Men! We will see you next for the Sunday Morning Concert, tune in to see what I come up with! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
You have probably noticed by now that I have not been around these pages much this week. There are a couple of good reasons for that, but suffice it to say the struggle to fit things in this week was real but ultimately successful. The real high light of the week came this morning at 8:30 when two nice young men arrived with my new bed and proceeded to professionally assemble and place the bed where I wanted it. They also left me the necessary tools to disassemble it should the occasion to move occur. Down below is what I now proudly have in my front room and it has been sleep tested and approved by me already!
As you can see I was pretty spot on with my bedding selections as it is gorgeous and matches up with the framing wood and iron perfectly. I dressed the bed then snuggled in for a nap and for the first time in I don't know how long, I dropped right off with no 'outside help' and slept soundly and peacefully. Uncle is a very happy camper today!
I have made another significant improvement in my life this week with the purchase and delivery of my new mouse. I was having horrific tracking issues with my old mouse, and improving the mouse pad with gaming one from Corsair did not greatly improve matters. So Will ran the configurator over on the Razer site and came up with what should be the perfect mouse for me, The Death Adder Classic, which comes with its own custom mouse pad. As you can see below it is a dynamihe presentation and it tracks like a dream!
So my online experience is bound to be enhanced by a mouse that actually does what it is designed to do every time. It came with a bonus virtual surround sound program for my headset which makes all my classical music sound that much better which is a definite win for me! Seaking of great classical music, I have some good stuff lined up for you today.
Like I told you on Monday, I have performances from the 2015 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competetion in Brussels to share with you . I have 3 performances today and 2 for tomorrow so we will be rocking out to some of the world's great violin concerti. Down below, I have two performances from the Final Round of the Competition, recorded live with the National Orchestra of Belgium under conductor Marin Alsop. First is 26 year old Ukranian violinist Oleksii Semenenko performing Jean Sibelius’ ‘Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 42’ followed by 23 year old German violinist Thomas Reif performing Tchaikovsky’s ‘Concerto in D Major, Op. 35’. Over on my tumblr, I have 20 year old Taiwanese violinist William Ching-Yi Wei performing Shostakovich’s ‘Concerto No. 1 in A Minor Op. 77’, also from the Final Round with the National Orchestra of Belgium and Marin Alsop.
Then to add special-ness to this special edition, I have managed to put together 3 collections with the intention of posting each day, but you see where that got me, lol. Anyway, down below is a Triple Treat Thursday post with all the eye candy I have gathered for your visual appreciation this week.Over on my tumblr there is also a trip treat of Hotties of the Day! for your drooling pleasure. Thanks for still being here when I showed up at last. I promise I will see you again soon. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Happy Labor Day to those of you in the US celebrating the holiday and Happy Monday to the rest of you folks out there. I have had a good weekend so far, trying a lot of new things out with my new kitchen toys. All of which have been imminently successful I might add. Over the last few days I have baked a chicken ( see On the Menu! from last Friday for details), banana bread with pecans, and cod with a 4 cheese topping. Then last night I really tested my skills and the new oven after I got home from working so a coworker could have the day off.
I came home from work to 3 frozen pork chops and a pound and a half of little round red potatoes and one hungry Will. Here is what I did to solve the challenge before me. Kroger sells a pork chop seasoning mix an cooking bag that I like a lot so I took the seasoning packet and sprinkled it on the frozen pork chops after rinsing them in cold water. I sprinkled both sides, making sure each side got a healthy coating of spice then placed them on the 3 inch grill in the NuWave Oven. I had the extender ring in place as this was going to be a dual layer cook. I took the remaining seasoning mixed with a little water, poured that over the chops and left that in the liner tray to add some steam effect, maybe. I then placed the 2 inch grill atop the 3 inch grill and went to the next step.
I quartered the potatoes, rinsed them and set them aside for a moment . I then mixed a 1/4 cup olive oil with 1 teaspoon of ground thyme, 1 tablespoon ground rosemary and 2 tablespoons oregano and stirred them together I then tossed the potatoes in this mix then layered them skin side up on the 2 inch grill. I put on the dome and power head, set the cook temp at 350 and the cook time at 10 minutes. When the oven beeped after 10 minutes I turned the chops over and the potatoes skin side down, then cooked the whole thing for another 10 minutes at 350. When the oven beeped again, the potatoes and the chops were done to perfection with correct internal temperatures in both meat and potatoes. The chops were moist and flavorful and the potatoes were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and very flavorful. Total time including prep time of 15 minutes from frozen to table of only 35 minutes. Awesome does not begin to describe how pleased I am with this new machine.
Tonight I take on a sacred cow down here in the South. Up North you all know it as 'country fried steak'. Here in the South it is know as Chicken Fried Steak and it is becoming increasingly hard to find a good one anywhere. There is a recipe for Country Air Fried Steak at NuWaveCookingClub.com that I looked at for a basis in comparing my own recipe. I then decided to take the best of both and try that on for size. I will try that out tonight and tell you about that tomorrow when chicken enchiladas are On the Menu! Suffice it to say I am well pleased with my little investment and the results have spoken for themselves. We will keep you posted as we try more and more new things.
Now it is time for your Monday with Mozart which this week features concerti written for 2 different instrument groupings. Beginning with Mozart's Keyboard Concerto In F Major, Kv 459. That performance is by Viviana Sofronitzki at the Piano accompanied by Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense conducted by Tadeusz Karolak. We conclude with Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, Kv 299. That performance is by Samuel Coles on Piano, Naoko Yoshino on Harp and the English Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Yehudi Menuhin. Over on my tumblr, Sir Neville Marriner leads the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields in their performance of Mozart's Concerto for Basson and Orchestra with Klaus Thunemann as the Bassoon Soloist.
Down below I have your weekly dose of lithesome lads in "lingerie" as the strut their stuff in the finest Monday's Undies for your visual appreciation down below. You may also want to take a peek the fine ass belongig to Jayden Tyler, Your Hottie of the Day! on display in that pretty white jockstrap over on my tumblr. Thanks for the visit, see you again soon. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Today is the 97th Anniuversary of the Birth of Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the USA to receive worldwide acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history."
His fame derived from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, from his conducting of concerts with most of the world's leading orchestras, and from his music for West Side Story, Peter Pan,[3]Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town, On The Waterfront, his Mass, and a range of other compositions, including three symphonies and many shorter chamber and solo works.
Bernstein was the first conductor to give numerous television
lectures on classical music, starting in 1954 and continuing until his
death. He was a skilled pianist, often conducting piano concertos from the keyboard.
As a composer he wrote in many styles encompassing symphonic and
orchestral music, ballet, film and theater music, choral works, opera,
chamber music and pieces for the piano. Many of his works are regularly
performed around the world, although none has matched the tremendous
popular and commercial success of West Side Story.
I could think of no better way to describe Bernstein than in the words of his brother Burton who wrote the following tribute shortly after Leonard's death in 1990. It is permanently posted at the Leonard Bernstein website:
"My Brother Lenny
by Burton Bernstein
My brother Lenny, who was always larger than life, turned out to be smaller than death. Amazingly – just like that! – he is no more. It seems impossible.
Those of us who were closest to him, who knew him best and longest, who loved him most, we – such lucky ones we are! – we somehow assumed that he would go on forever, like time itself, that he was somehow immortal, not just perishable matter like the rest of us.
There would, we felt, always be our Lenny doing what he did so passionately, so brilliantly, so charmingly, so originally, so lovingly, and, yes sometimes so excessively – always so full of life and so much larger than life.
All the world knows what he did:
Teaching people – his favorite occupation, really. Descended from rabbis, he was a rabbi at heart, a master teacher. Just listening to Lenny was an education. (I know this better than because I was taught by Lenny from just about my first day on this earth.) There was nothing he'd rather do than stimulate new thoughts for, especially, young minds.
Making history. He was the living precedent for American music – the first American to be taken seriously on the concert stage. I think it can be said that he made it possible for any talented American kid to follow in his footsteps.
Experimenting with the new, even though he was a hopeless traditionalist. He welcomed the avant-garde, but he cherished the pristine, lovely tune – the simple song.
Revivifying the old – which I believe was his greatest gift as a conductor. How often have we heard, as if for the first time, an echt Lenny rendition of, say, Tchaikovsky's Fifth or Brahms's First, and marveled at all the nuances we had missed over the years? How often have we seen and listened to him draw, through sheer love and musicianly example, unforgettable performances from orchestra – performances the musicians would later admit that they never knew they had in them? His very last concert – conducting Beethoven's Seventh at Tanglewood – was only one case in point.
Preaching love and peace. Naively, he wanted the whole world to love itself into one big happy family, and he took it as a personal affront when the world refused to comply. He maintained unflinching optimism and religious trust in the ultimate improvability of man, despite all the hard evidence to the contrary. Lenny was in love with love.
Helping young talent and his less celebrated, less lucky contemporaries, some of whom responded to his kindnesses with rank envy and disloyalty, which typically, Lenny was quick to ignore or forgive.
And for those of us who were his nearest and dearest, there will always be the special memories:
His love of games, and particularly, his infuriating success in trouncing us at anagrams – the game of games, at least to him. And then there were tennis and squash and skiing and swimming and sailing and touch football – the last featuring the annual Thanksgiving classic, called the Nose Bowl [note spelling correction: not "Nose Ball"], in the backyard of his house in Fairfield, Connecticut.
His grand generosity with his worldly goods and with his loving spirit. No one in Lenny's company was ever left wanting. And a compliment from Lenny was like no other compliment; it was total, absolute, and thoroughly thrilling for the fortunate recipient. (Of course, he could also be occasionally tactless. Shirley once said that if you happened to have a pimple on the end of your nose, Lenny would lose no time in pointing it out to you – and perhaps the entire world. He was an enfant terrible to the end.)
His happiness at others' happiness. He really did share in others' joy, and also in their grief.
His "obliging at the pianoforte," as he would put it – at Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, Passover, whatever, whenever, great occasion or not.
His humor, which so often went with the "obliging." A great joke was a great performance for Lenny. He could laugh – and make us laugh – in a dozen languages, including our very own private family language called Rybernian. Language: To Lenny, words were mysterious, astonishing creatures – to be scrutinized and analyzed like cells under a microscope. Words were the equals of musical notes for him, and he loved them with equal fervor.
Just as long as people care a damn about something finer in life than power and money and their imagined superiority over others there will always be Lenny around to educate, entertain, edify, move and inspire – to change us all in some wonderful, subtle way"
In celebration of this momentous occasion I have posted down below is Howard Goodall's Twentieth Century Greats profile of Bernstein that presents a great overview of his life and legacy. Then the year before his death, Bernstein conducted a Christmas day concert celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall in the former East Berlin with an international Superstar Cast. The cast included the Symphonieorchester des Bayerisches Rundfunks and members of Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestra of the Leningrad Kirov Theatre, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Orchestre de Paris. The video of that historic celebration, one of Bernstein's finest performances as a Conductor follows the documentary footage. The celebration continues on my tumblr with a marvelous live performance from the Konzerthaus in Vienna. Leonard Bernstein conducts the venerable Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Piano Concerti Numbers 1 & 2 by Johannes Brahms. The Piano Soloist is Krystian Zimerman.
Finally for today, I have gathered a comely collection of Random Hotness which you will find posted down below. Also on my tumblr, you will find your Hottie of the Day! who is all 'Buff in Blue!'. Thanks for the visit, be sure to tune in tomorrow for this week's edition of New Adventures in Good Music when we travel to Paris to discover something about this week's Featured Composer. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
I arranged for the new girl to take my short shift on Thursday evening as I was feeling worn out. I have spent the greater portion of the last 24 hours catching up on my rest and generally vegging to a video marathon. I feel refreshed and ready for truck night and then I have the whole weekend to rest, refresh and see what mischief I can get into! I am ready for my weekend, let's see what I can do to get yours started on the right note (pun intended) and maybe add a little fuel to the fantasy fires as well.
The right note or notes as it may be comes to us courtesy of one of Mozart's running buddies and billiards partner, Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Hummel of course was himself a Composer and Virtuoso Pianist who, like Mozart, enjoyed a good time along with great music. Posted down below is Hummel's Grand Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. This outstanding performance is from a 1986 radio broadcast of the Stavanger Radio Orchestra conducted by Frank Shipway. Robert Rønnes is the Bassoon Soloist and he also wrote the Cadenzas used in the recording. Over on my tumblr, I have his Piano Concerto in A-minor, Op.85 with a wonderful performance by Alessandro Commellato accompanied by Solamente Naturali under the baton of Didier Talpain.
As for adding a little spice to inspire your desire, well that is where this week's edition of Fantasy Fuel comes in. You will find it full of hunks and hotties any one of which would be enough for a forest fire of fantasy and posted down below. Meanwhile over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day! is a naked 'Pole Dancer' who begs of you the question, 'Won't you dance on my pole?". Thanks for the visit, see you again on Sunday for your Morning Concert! Until next as always, Enjoy!
I have had an incredibly busy day so far that shows no sign of stopping any time soon. I have accomplished a lot but jeez I'm tired. Tonight is truck night so I need to head off to nap land or I won't be worth a shit when work time comes. So let's just do Music and Men and be done, then it is off to nap land for me.
Musically I have the Opus 7 Oboe Concerti of Tomaso Albinoni with a performance by I Musici with Heinz Holliger as the Oboe Soloist and Maurice Bourgue as Second Oboe. You will find Numbers 1-8 posted down below and Numbers 9-12 plus two Sonatas over on my tumblr.
Since it is Tuesday it is time for a prime selection of Random Hotness for your viewing pleasure down below. Also, be sure to check out Logan Franklin, who is your Hottie of the Day!, over on my tumblr. Thanks for the visit, 'scuse the tardiness, but some things can't be helped. Have a fabulous day! See you Soon! Now it is sleepy time for me! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Here in Texas we have no shortage of Nut Jobs and Wackos dotting our political landscape. Well it seems a bunch of them have gotten together in the latest backlash against the SCOTUS ruling. The Arch Conservative Coalition of Wackos and Nut Jobs of TX (ACCWNT or Arch Conservatives Crying With No Tolerance, my own terminology invention and interpretation of course) has planned a 8 city circle jerk tour to tout their brand of religious intolerance. Only in Texas could this many Nut Jobs gather in one place at the same time and still be considered a legitimate interest group or even reasonable. Of course we know they are neither legitimately interested in political progress or reasonable in their beliefs. They are just a bunch if bigots parading in public only without the hoods, robes and burning crosses. The article below reposted from Towleroad.com will tell you all about it:
"Last week, we mentioned how Texas anti-LGBT leaders are planning an anti-gay hatefest at a church whose pastor is also a state representative.
Now, if you’re still keeping track, many of the same bigots are planning an eight-city “Faith Family Freedom” tour in August, September and October:
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” states an email announcing the tour from Houston anti-LGBT activist Jared Woodfill. “It’s time for us to stand up and fight to take back our government from the godless Secular Humanists, Pro-Abortionists and Political Homosexual Movement. We will trust God! We will take action! We will fight to restore our Constitutional liberties based upon Biblical truth!”
The rallies will be held in Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas, San Antonio, Tyler, Lubbock, Corpus Christi and Waco.
The tour is sponsored by 17 people, including:
• Former Congressman Tom Delay (above right), who recently suggested the U.S. Department of Justice wants to legalize sex with animals and little boys.
• Cathie Adams (above right with Sen. Ted Cruz) of the Texas Eagle Forum, who recently said same-sex marriage would lead to the end of America if the state Legislature didn’t act to undermine SCOTUS’ ruling.
• David Barton of WallBuilders, who said the SCOTUS ruling will force churches to hire pedophiles to run day care centers.
All in all, this tour — which seems more like a last-gasp fundraising scheme — promises plenty of great entertainment.
More from the announcement:
“Enough is Enough!” One need only look around and see that our country is being radically changed by the left. It is time to stand-up, speak-up, and refuse to give up when it comes to our principles, value and beliefs! We must stand on our faith and boldly defend our religious liberties, our Constitutional freedoms, and our Judeo Christian heritage. We have a duty to protect our children and our grandchildren from a political movement that stands for abortion, redefines marriage and removes God from the public arena.
Leaders of the conservative organizations listed above will be speaking in the cities listed on key issues threatening Christian values and on the nuts and bolts of politics, so that we can take back our government. These events will give you the knowledge and tools you need to have in order to make your voice heard and to make a difference for your children and grandchildren. You will be receiving emails as locations are confirmed in each city. Save the date and make a plan to attend in the city nearest to you. I look forward to seeing you at one of the locations identified above."
This would all be laughable if these people were not so dead serious in their bigoted delusions of grandeur. We will definitely have to keep an wary eye on all these folks lest we fall victim to their bigotry. And so we shall. Now on to more pleasant things.
Your Monday With Mozart has two marvelous live performances posted down below for your listening pleasure. First up is my favorite of all of Mozart's Symphonies, Number 40 in G Minor with an spirited performance by the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Ilya Stupel, recorded at S. Ljudkievich Philharmonic Hall (2013-02-15). Rounding out the play list is the wonderfully intimate Sunday Morning Concert from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam from May 2014 of Mozart's Sinfornia Concertante for Violin and Viola, K364. This performance is by the Basel Chamber Orchestra with Vilda Frang as the Violin Soloist and Nils Mönkemeyer on Solo Viola.
Your Monday with Mozart continues over on my tumblr with Piano Concerto Number 20 in D Minor, K466 featuring a
marvelous performance filmed live May 20, 2012, at Freiburg im
Breisgau, Germany. The Cadenzas are by Mozart’s favorite student - and
billiards pal, Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Michael Erren Conducts the Freiburger
Mozart-Orchester with Valentina Lisitsa as your Piano Soloist.
Then of course it being Monday it is time for us to indulge in our weekly underwear fetish with a large lot of lithesome lads clad in variations on a skimpy theme in this edition of Monday's Undies posted down below. Oh and please allow your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr offer you a little "Canadian Comfort". Thanks for the visit, see you again soon. Until next time as always Enjoy!
After burning the candle completely out at both ends yesterday, I pretty much napped the morning away today after coming home from work. Now that I am awake, I have no clue what's going on in the world outside my little bubble. That's OK, sometimes it's all I can do just to keep up with my own shit much less the world. At any rate, it is a brilliantly sunny day and I am torn between lazing at the pool and shopping therapy. Maybe I should do a little of both, eh? First things first however, as I am sure you have come expecting beautiful Music and gorgeous Guys to accompany all my pithy commentary. And I have some good stuff lined up for you today.
Let's start with the Music which today features the works of Johannes Brahms, one of the famous "3 B's" of Classical Music along with Bach and Beethoven. In addition to being a prolific Composer, Brahms traveled extensively and used his travels to inspire his compositions. His works are a staple of any orchestra's repertoire and he remains as popular today as at any in his lifetime. Here in these pages today, the man who is seemingly everywhere in Classical Music today, Daniel Barenboim performs Brahms' Piano Concerto Number 1 in D Minor, Opus 15 with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under their legendary Conductor Sergiu Celibidache. This performance was recorded live at the Stadthalle Erlangen in 1991. While over on my tumblr I have another wonderful live performance featuring Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello in A Minor, Opus 102. That performance is by the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Christoph Poppen, Conducting. The Soloists are Julia Fischer on Violin and Daniel Müller-Schott on Cello.
For a visual enhancement to your aural pleasure, since this is Tuesday, you get a mixed bag of Random Hotness that is sizzling with sultry sexiness which you will find posted down below. Over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day! is a surfer who is definitely 'Sex on a Stick'! Thanks for the visit, now I have to decide between shopping and swimming or both. Decisions, decisions, a (rude euphemism)'s work is never done, lol. Anyway, you guys have a fabulous day, and we will check in with you tomorrow with this week's episode of New Adventures in Good Music. See you then. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Happy Monday, all! I don't really have much to say today, I pretty much vegged on my day off and today it is back to work like everyone else. However, I have not been remiss in my most pleasurable duties of selecting beautiful Music and muscular Men for your aural and visual edification on this fine Monday. There is one thing on the horizon this week and that is the Marriage Equality ruling from SCOTUS. Thursday is the next and probably final opportunity for a ruling to be announced this session. There are 7 cases remaining on the docket, but the one that most interests me is Marriage Equality of course. Not that anyone is beating a path to my door with a proposal, but it would be nice to finally be recognized as a citizen of value for the first time in my life. We shall be watching and will keep you posted.
Your Monday with Mozart features the 1953 London Studio recordings of Mozart's four Horn Concerti by the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Herbert von Karajan. Dennis Brain is the Horn Soloist for the Concerti Numbers KV 412, 417, 447 and 495. Meanwhile over on my tumblr, Monday with Mozart continues with the Divertimento for Violin, Viola and Cello, KV563 with an intimate live performance from the Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, Italy by Sonig Tchakerian, Violin; Danilo Rossi, Viola and Mario Brunello, Cello.
To brighten your day and mine, this week's indulgence in our mutual underwear fetish will be sure to please one and all. You will find this edition of Monday's Undies posted dutifully down below for our mutual entertainment. Cruising over to my tumblr will gain you the pleasurable sight of 'Veritas Vos Liberabit', your Hottie of the Day!. Thanks for the visit, see you again soon. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
It was a bright and sunny weekend that had its moments both fair and foul. Suffice it to say all came out well in the end, but I would not want to do it again. That being said, Monday has again dawned bright and sunny which has given me a belated but severe case of Spring Fever. I think the bulk of my activities (or non-activities as it may be) will be confined to either vegging on the patio in the shade or getting in some quality nap time. With a high temperature expected to be around 96, the late afternoon sunshine would be better supplanted by that modern convenience of air conditioning while snoozing away comfortably ensconced in the bedstead. Sounds like a plan to me. I have to go to work at 11 tonight, so I now decree Lazy Monday to be the Plan of the Day.
Now while we have established that I am being lazy today, no amount of laziness is enjoyable without the appropriate accompaniment. As this is Lazy Monday, we should have some Melancholy Mozart to fill our Monday with Mozart quotient of the day. I think these two Piano Quartets, K478 in G Minor and K 493 in E Flat Major should do that quite nicely. Today's performance is by the Fauré Quartett of Erika Geldsetzer, Violín; Sascha Frömbling, Viola; Konstantin Heidrich, Violoncello* and Dirk Mommertz, Piano. The * is to tell you about the Cello which was crafted by Carlo Antonio Testore in 1755, kindly loaned to Heidrich by the Parker Family of New York. This is a beautiful performance of two of Chamber Music's most difficult pieces.
Meanwhile over on my tumblr, you may join Bart Schneemann, Oboe and the Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam under the baton Lev Markiz for their performance of Mozart's marvelous Oboe Concerto in C major, KV 314. While your are there be sure to check out the 'Petit Q In Blue', Your Hottie of the Day! But before you go, you might want to cruise down the page to indulge in our Mutual Monday Underwear Fetish with the delicious models on display in this week's edition of Monday's Undies posted down below.Thanks for the visit, see you again soon. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
... I have finally gotten all my chores and errands done for this pay day, but lord knows it was not easy this week. I have yet to sleep, but at least all I have left is the laundry. I will do that tomorrow once I have had some rest. As it is I am one tired puppy, but I did not want you guys to think I had abandoned you to other blogs. I just ran outta time, lol. I did manage to gather some excellent photographs both days which I combined in a mega Post: "Thursday Combo, Splashy Sexiness and Denim Delights Just For You!". You can cruise on down the page to peruse the bonteous beauty to behold in the 48 gorgeous photographic portraits found there. As for Music, I was in a very Vivaldi mood when I went to look for a selection for today. Therefore you will get a slight overdose of Antonio Lucio in 17 of his 39 Bassoon Concerti beautifully recorded by Klaus Thunemann and I Musici in a 2 CD set available here. The play list below includes tracks;
1. 1-3 Concerto In A Minor, Rv 497 La Mineur A- Moll
2. 4-6 Concerto In C Major, Rv 473 Ut Majeur. C-Dur
3. 7-9 Concerto In G Major, Rv 493 Sol Majeur.G-Dur
4. 10-12 Concerto In C Major, Rv 471 Ut Majeur.C-Dur
5. 13-15 Concerto In A Minor,Rv 500 La Mineur.A-Moll
6. 16-18 Concerto In D Minor, Rv 481 Re Mineur.F-Moll
7. 19-21 Concerto In B Flat Major, Rv 504 Si Bemol Majeur. B-Moll
8. 22-24 Concerto In G Minor, Rv 496 Sol Mineur. G- Moll
Welcome to the Weekend and your Saturday Evening Concert. I have a couple of terrific classic live performance recordings lined up for you tonight. The concerts, both here in these pages and over on my tumblr, offer excellent interpretations of the Music of my favorite Russian Gay Icon & Composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Tonigh's performances feature all star casts, the recordings of which I am sure will last forever.
Down below you will find Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio, Opus 50, the recording of which comes from a 9 CD box set featuring the artistic talents of Pinchas Zuckerman on Violin, Daniel Barenboim on Piano and the late Jacqueline Du Pre on Cello. The Amazon.com Editorial Review reads:
"In the main, the youthful Beethoven chamber music collaborations between
Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zuckerman, and the late Jacqueline du Pré are
characterized by broad, liberally fluctuating tempos, ripeness of tone,
and a tendency to place expression ahead of stylistic considerations.
Zuckerman's sweet vibrato, for instance, seems misplaced in Beethoven's
terse, combative syntax (the earlier trios and violin sonatas, for
example). Likewise, du Pré's throbbing solo lines impose a late-Romantic
patina on the music that some listeners will find more appropriate to
Arensky or Glazunov. More often than not, Daniel Barenboim's piano
provides the decisive voice, by way of setting tempos and effecting
transitions.
While the leaner, more economically expressive Abegg
Trio (Tacet) and Vienna Piano Trio (Nimbus) Beethoven Trio offerings
better reflect the composer's headlong brio and nervous energy, the
Barenboim-Zuckerman-Du Pré team oozes sheer musicality and involvement
in every bar. For this reason, one might well prefer Zuckerman and
Barenboim's overwrought rapport in the Violin Sonatas to the violinist's
tighter RCA remakes with Marc Neikrug at the piano. Du Pré's tragic
illness prevented her and Barenboim from tackling the Cello Sonatas in
the studio. Happily, their exciting, communicative live 1970 Edinburgh
Festival traversals (plus the variation sets) were broadcast by the BBC
and captured in excellent sound. So was a touchingly indulgent
Tchaikovsky Trio preserved from one of Du Pré's final concerts, included
as both a bonus and a memento. Tully Potter's excellent booklet notes
give equal time to music and artists, and rightly discuss the
performances in the context of their time. It's good to have these
recordings gathered in a budget-priced, space-saving box. --Jed Distler"
While over on my tumblr you may join the legendary figures of Arturo Toscanini and Vladimir Horowitz along with the NBC Symphony Orchestra for their 1943 performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Number 1 in B Flat Major recorded live at Carnegie Hall.
Then to top off the evening with more beauty to behold in all its glory is this week's edition of Naked of Nearly So posted down below. Cruise on down and you will find it chock full of sizzling studs all of whom are hale and hearty, while some are even horny! Then over on my tumblr, Marco Scott, Your Hottie of the Day! will make you want to dive right in and suck him right up, dammitall! Thanks for sharing a part of your Weekend with me, see you again on Monday for another week of Music, Men & More! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
In days of yore, before technology ruled the world, group presentations and proposals were often done using visual aids. One of the most popular was the utilization of an easel to hold essentially a giant sketch pad. The presenter would create their presentation on the pages of the pad, then during the presentation, the presenter would flip the pages of the pad to illustrate the various points in the presentation or proposal. That is the general premise behind one of the apps that is native to my new smart phone. Flip Board is a customizable news feed where you pick the topics that interest you, and the app creates story boards with articles related to the topic at hand. Instead of scrolling down the page, you flip the boards to read the stories, like turning the pages in a book only the flips are vertical not horizontal.
Flip Board is where I ran across this story from the folks at Buzz Feed......
(*** It was at this point in my day that my FF decided to eat itself and basically lock up my computer. The whole ordeal that transpired this afternoon drove me to tears. After finally uninstalling FF, deleting all files and folders associated with FF and then reinstalling the latest version, I think I am back to where I was about 7 hours ago.)
.... relating the stories of LGBT service members all the way back to the Korean War and WWII. Here is the headline blurb from the Article:
From a closeted gay sailor who typed the dishonorable discharges for
Korean War servicemen accused of homosexuality, to a lesbian
correctively raped by Marines while serving in Desert Storm, these are
the stories of LGBT veterans and their decades-long fight for equality
in the armed forces.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is a fairly lengthy yet fascinating look at the lives and history of our heroic LGBT Service Members who have always been there alongside our hetero compatriots. It ran 38 boards on Flip Board, but it really did not take that long to read. At the end of the article is an 8 minute documentary on the closeted gay sailor from the Korean War, Otto Bremerman. Also discussed in the article is proposed legislation to make it the review process easier for those dischaged before the repeal of DADT to have their discharges upgraded. My own appeal is ongoing at the moment.
The article also mentions the fund raising efforts of National LGBT Veterans Memorial Project for a LGBT Veteran's Memorial to be erected near the grave of Leonard Matlovich, the first Out Gay Service Member in the early 70's in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. You may recall Leonard's epitaph written on his headstone: “They gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.” Been there, done that, got the fucking T shirt. Still fighting the battle and so....... life goes on.
For your musical entertainment today, I have four Concerti by Johann Sebastian Bach. Included in the play list are the Violin Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041; the Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043; the Violin Concerto in E Major, BWV 1042 and the Concerto for 3 Violins (reconstructed form the Concerto for Harpsihord, BWV 1064 by Simon Standage). Today's performance is by Simon Standage and Collegium Musicum 90 featuring Soloists other than Standage in Micaela Comberti and Miles Golding. Over on my tumblr you may join the Cologne Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Helmut Muller-Brühl featuring Christian Hommel as the Soloistfor 4 Concerti by Bach for Oboe/OboeD'Amore.
As for some eye candy, your splashing good times are to be found in this edition of Wet Wednesday down below as well as the 'Tropical Treat' who is your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.One final note on a long and stressful day and then I will let you be on your merry way. Today is my birthday, and absolutely no one remembered. Not even Will. Makes me wonder if I am even relevant any more. Any way , you guys have a great day and we will see you on the flip flop. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
Welcome to the Weekend and you Saturday Evening Concert. We have been featuring the Great Concerti and Sonatas for the Violin all week and we conclude our exploration in Grand Style with tonight's Fabulous Live Performances. Getting right into it, you may have guessed already that the Music I am featuring tonight is composed by perhaps the world's acknowledged 'greatest Violinist of all time', Nicolo Paganini. After all, what exploration of the Violin and its music would be complete without the inclusion of this Violin Virtuoso. All week I have been pairing Concerti with Concerti or Sonatas. Paganini composed 6 of the most difficult Violin Concerti ever written to showcase the ease with which he could play them. They have been a challenge to all Violinists ever since. Paganini also wrote 24 Capriccios for Solo Violin which are among his most famous works, especially number 24. Therefore tonight's performances feature Paganini's Concerti and his Capriccios.
On February 20, 2014, the 6 Concerti of Niccolo Paganini were performed in one historic concert by
Violinist Nikolay Madoyan. Madoyan was
accompanied by the National Academic Theater Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Karen Durgaryan. This is first time all of Paganini concerti were played live in a one
concert. A feat not even accomplished by Paganini himself. Usually violinists play only one concerto in a concert due to
the extreme difficulty of the concerti. The cadenza of E.
Sauret, which is the most difficult cadenza in the world for Violinists
to play, was included and performed with the first concerto. You will will find this 4 hour Passionate Paganini Performance posted down below. Likewise in another historic concert, Nikolay Madoyan for the first time by any Violinist including Paganini performed all 24 Capriccios in the order they were written. This intimate performance by Madoyan can be enjoyed over on my tumblr.
Then to set your heats a pumping along with the Music for a very different reason, cruise on down the page to peruse this week's prime candidates for 'my next future ex husband', all of whom are Naked or Nearly So (Choose Wisely, Grasshopper). Additionally, Your Hottie of the Day!, J R over on my tumblr will definitely add fuel to any fantasy fire you wish to conjure in your lascivious minds. Thanks for sharing part of your Weekend with me. Tune in again on Monday for another exciting week of Music, Men & More! Until next time as always, Enjoy!
