In the Beginning

Sunrise Over 7th Street, looking East from my store.

Before I begin, I would like to extend my condolences to one of my oldest friends, Steve R. in Virginia who lost his Mom this week.  She was a gentile Southern Lady who was charming, funny, gracious and compassionate.  She will be missed I know, but the circle of life will continue and memories of her will warm the hearts of all who knew her.

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 When I first came to the offices of Stay The Course at the behest of the VA, I did so with not a little trepidation but a lot.  Was I ready to reveal all my deep dark secrets?  I did not know, but I did know that I had to change the course of my life and thoughts or I was going to end up in that rubber room with a straight jacket.  I had been seeing my psychiatrist, Dr Moradi, at the VA on a quarterly basis and she recommended I engage a therapist and pointed me in the direction of Stay the Course.  I placed a desperate phone call and of course got voice mail.  I left a message and Tempa called me back and set an appointment for our first session.  It was early in the establishment of her practice with just she and one other therapist.  I have watched her practice grow to several therapists and staff members.  Many of the staff there are either Veterans themselves or spouses of Veterans, all of whom have the best interests of the Veterans and First Responders who come to them for assistance foremost in their minds.  Tempa herself is married to a Veteran and knows first hand how difficult life is when transitioning from military to civilian life.  Our common experiences as Veterans or First Responders results in a shared bond which one cannot really understand without having been there, done that for yourself.

Tempa is a tall willowy red head with a heart as big as Texas with whom I found it easy to talk.  In our first session, she asked me what my goal was for my course of therapy.  I forget now what turn of phrase I used at the time but basically I wanted Clarity,  Stability and Sanity.  I am a classic bi-polar person.  It was either depression so deep as to be inconsolable or giddy happiness that knew no bounds.  I wanted to be somewhere in the middle with the ability to handle the daily stress that comes with life.  If there is anything I have learned in my lifetime, it is the fact that I can only handle so much stress (very little in fact) before having an adverse reaction to it.  Medication certainly helps, but the ability to handle stress for me is that core feeling of inner peace, and I had no such feeling when I began my sessions with Tempa.

I am prone to erratic behavior, irrational thought, extremely OCD and easily angered.  I am also the caring, compassionate, witty 'Uncle' to everyone.  I often try to provide the means to achieve that inner peace for others that I so desperately seek for myself.  Unfortunately for me, that inner peace has never been possible.  I am closer now than ever I have been.  Tempa has guided me in my journey to get as far as I have.  I have revealed to her things I have never told anyone, often not even myself.  She helped to pry open the cellar door in my mind, sweep out the corners and is helping me to discover what I need to keep and what I need to throw away.  She has helped me to see that staying in the here and now moving forward is the more preferable state of being.  The Past is full of pain, pitfalls and traps which lures me in and then destroy my mental state which has painful physical ramifications.  However, by taking past events in my life, examining them one at a time, then deciding whether it is a treasure to be kept or just plain trash which needs to be disposed of properly has not been an easy task.  I have had to remember things sometimes best forgotten and un-remember things that did not promote a healthy mental state.  I am by no means done with my journey, but before I can tell you where I am going, I must first tell you where I have been. I have hopes my story will help someone else avoid some of the pains and pitfalls life throws at one when one least expects it.

It will take a while for the whole story to come out and deciding to share my tightly bound and hidden secrets was not an easy choice.  However, I have learned to loose their bonds, deal with them face to face one at a time and move on.  Learning how to deal with my issues has helped me face life with a few more tools in the box to deal with whatever comes my way and the way of others in my life.  I have held some of these things so tightly and buried so deep for so long, I had no recollection of them.  In order to discover what has been hidden in the corners of my mind, I must first sort through the pile of crap covering them before I can see what is truly in those dark corners.  Next week I will begin the uncovering with events of my youth, which of course is long past at his point and not always on ready recall.  The past is never as really clear as what we think it is and only by a careful examination of these things can one retain as valuable or reject as unnecessary what it is one finds there.  I hope this will not be as painful for you as it has proven to be for me.

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For your listening pleasure today, I have another of my favorites among the Italian Baroque composers, Luigi Boccherini, with this recording of 5 of his 6 Flute Quintets featuring Jean-Pierre Rampal, Flute; Régis Pasquier, Violin; Roland Pidoux, Violoncello; Mathilde Sternat, Violoncello and Bruno Pasquier, Viola.  You will find the play list after the video.  Also after the playlist is this week's visual treats.  This week we are sticking with the Art side of Male Art with 7 more paintings of young men.  Thank you for the visit, please do come again and as always, Enjoy!

Quintet No. 3 in C Major, G. 439 : I. Allegro vivace (Instrumental) 00:00 

Quintet No. 3 in C Major, G. 439 : II. Cantabile (Instrumental)  

Quintet No. 3 in C Major, G. 439 : III. Andante con variazioni (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, G. 438 : I. Allegro (Instrumental)15:00 

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, G. 438 : II. Adagio non tanto (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, G. 438 : III. Andante con variazioni (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 1 in F Major, G. 437 : I. Allegro (Instrumental) 28:51 

Quintet No. 1 in F Major, G. 437 : II. Largo (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 1 in F Major, G. 437 : III. Grazioso (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 5 in G Major, G. 441 : I. Moderato (Instrumental 41:00 

Quintet No. 5 in G Major, G. 441 : II. Adagio (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 5 in G Major, G. 441 : III. Grazioso (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 6 in B-flat Major, G. 442 : I. Allegro (Instrumental) 53:45 

Quintet No. 6 in B-flat Major, G. 442 : II. Adagio (Instrumental) 

Quintet No. 6 in B-flat Major, G. 442 : III. Rondeau. Grazioso (Instrumental

New Adventures In Good Music

When I first began listening to Classical Music, the local station, WRR101.1 FM, played a syndicated program every evening entitled Adventures in Good Music with host Karl Haas.  Karl would play the second movement to Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata as his theme song live every evening.  He was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of Classical Music and his Sonorous voice.  Karl Haas single handed popularized Classical Music in America with his combination of knowledge, personality and humor.  He made Classical Music fun for millions of people here in the US and wherever 'Adventures' was syndicated.  

Haas began his radio program Adventures in Good Music on WJR in Detroit, Michigan in 1959.  Syndicated broadcasts of the show across the United States began in 1970, syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around the world.  'Adventures' became the world's most widely listened-to Classical Music radio program.  As a tribute to the man and the program from whom I learned to appreciate Good Music, I though I would start a new feature to give hump day a little different flair.  Wednesday now will be known not only as Wet Wednesday but also as the day for New Adventures in Good Music.  Each week we will explore a musical artist/performer/composer, instrument, orchestra or musical insider in a little more depth than my usual blurb by way of introduction for a video.

For the premier edition of New Adventures in Good Music, we start with music for the starting block of any orchestra, the Violin and its cousin the Viola.  When one thinks of the Violin, certain names come to mind.  In the performance department Itzhak Perlman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Joshua Bell, and of course Nicolo Paganini to name but a few.  While several composers come to mind, Vivaldi, Paganini again this time as a composer,  Bach, Branms, Beethoven and Sibelius.  Today's featured Musical Artist/Composer predates even Paganini himself.  Alessandro Rolla (22 April 1757 – 15 September 1841) was an Italian Viola and Violin Virtuoso, Composer, Conductor and Teacher. 

His fame now rests mainly as "teacher of the great Paganini", yet his role was very important in the development of Violin and Viola technique. Some of the technical innovations that Paganini later used largely, such as left-hand pizzicato, chromatic ascending and descending scales, the use of very high positions on Violin and Viola, octave passages, were first introduced by Rolla.  In 1772, he made his first public appearance as a soloist and composer performing "the first Viola concerto ever heard", as reported by a contemporary writer.  In 1782, he was appointed principal Viola and the leader of the Ducale Orchestra in Parma, playing violin and viola until 1802.  In 1795 he received a visit by the father of the young Paganini, wishing him to teach his son.  After the death of the Duke of Parma, Rolla was offered a position as leader and orchestra director of the La Scala Orchestra in Milan in 1802.  Here the new governors, the French and later the Austrians, wanted to create the most important orchestra of Italy and therefore hired the best virtuosos of the time.

Rolla remained at La Scala until 1833 as the "Primo Violino, Capo d'Orchestra" while prolifically composing solo instrumental music , chamber and orchestral works.  He was instrumental in bringing the music of the 'Viennese Composers' like Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven to La Scala and other venues and made it popular in Italy.  He wrote about 500 works, from didactic compositions to sonatas, quartets, symphonies, concertos for violin, and at least 13 concertos and other works for viola and orchestra. Significant was his contribution to the dissemination of Beethoven's works in Italy and his familiarity with Beethoven and other Viennese composers is shown in his compositions. He continued to compose and play chamber music until few months before his death at 84.

To illustrate the Music of Maestro Rolla, I have chosen a set of Violin Sonatas from the 4 disc set of Rolla's Chamber Works by Symphonia recorded by Ruggero Marchesi, Violin and Roberto Guglielmo, Piano.  The recording is of Disc 4 of this set which runs about an hour.  Over on my tumblr, I have the inspiration for the choosing of Rolla for our Premier Adventure, which I heard on Venice Classic Radio the other day while I was at work.   It is the Duo Concertant for Violin and Viola in C Major with a performance by Augustin Dumay, Violin and Gerard Caussé on Viola. 

That should do it for our Premier New Adventures In Good Music post except to link you to the additional beauty to be found splashing about the page in this week's edition of Wet Wednesday down below and the Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  thanks for the visit, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Friday

Well we made it to Friday once again, and mostly in one piece.  Just one more truck night and then the Weekend is mine.  I am getting used to having 'normal' weekends off after years and years of working on Saturday and Sunday.  I may bar the door this weekend though, and hermitize myself for some much needed R & R.  Maybe not, we shall see what the weekend shall bring.  

For today, we continue Ensemble Week with a couple of wonderful performances by the Khachaturian Trio ( Armine Grigoryan, Piano; Karen Shahgaldyan, Vion and Karen Kocharyan, Cello) and their Friends, Sona Barsegyan on Piano and Hayk Ter-Hovannisyan on Viola.  Recorded live at the Special Events Auditorium of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Yerevan, Armenia this two part concert entitled 'Fantasy' features works from Bazzini, Sarasate, Schubert and Brahms.  In the first part of hte concert Armine and Sona perform 3 Fantasies:  Bazzini's Fantasy on themes from Verdi's La Traviata, Sarasatae's Fantasy on the theme from Mozart's Magic Flute and Schubert's Fantasy for Piano Four Hands.  In part two, Hayk joins the Trio for Brahms Piano Quartet in G Minor.  Over on my tumblr, the Khachaturian Trio puts on an intimate Chamber Concert featuring Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio Number 1 in D Minor, Opus 49.  

Since this is Friday, and we all need us some fantasy... I tried to select the most sizzlin' studs among the many in the file I had pulled up for this week's edition of Fantasy Fuel which you will find posted down below.  Each portrait evokes its own spark to set fire to your desire.  To add spice to the mixture, be sure to check out the 'Lascivious Latino', Your Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.  Thanks for the visit, stop in tomorrow for Ensemble Week's Saturday Evening Concert.  Until next time as always, enjoy!

Techy Stuff and Other Things

It was a fairly quiet and uneventful weekend with beautifully warm spring like temperatures.  People were out in droves in the cultural district and they really could not seem to get enough beer and wine.  We sold a ton or two of it over the course of the last 3 days.   In  my off time, I had caught up on all my feeds and most of my books, therefore I looked for something to occupy my time.  I have been having some issues with my computer which Will thought was due to some corruption in my OS.  So I bit the bullet, backed up all my data files to my second hard drive, then reformatted my main drive.  Then began the rather time consuming process of reinstalling Windows 7 Ultimate then in turn reinstalling all my programs and copying my backup files back over to my main drive.  I finally got all the MS updates downloaded and installed and I can't tell you how many times I had to restart my computer to get all that done.  However I have the task completed now and it seems to have removed most of the nagging little things which had been annoying me. 

Once that process was complete, before I left for work yesterday, I thought I would test to see if the problem I had been having with it not booting back up was resolved.  That was the wrong thing to do, as the reinstall did not fix the problem.  I could not get the computer to boot no matter  what I did.  My computer just refused to wake up from sleep mode.  Luckily for me I have my own little geek miracle worker living wiith me (Will).  He was able to get the computer to boot and I did not loose any data in the process.  From all we can determine, I either had a bad stick of RAM or the slot into which it fits is bad.  By removing the offending stick of RAM, Will was then able to get the computer to reboot.  So essentially I can do anything I want except put it to sleep.  I can restart it or shut it down, I just cannot wake it up from sleep mode. 

I have decided that since I have  2 good SATA hard drives, two good CD/DVD burners and a good 10/100/1000 ethernet card, instead of replacing the whole computer, I will upgrade the motherboard, processor and RAM.  This should be way more cost effective and I will not have to once again transfer all my files or reinstall any programs. That's a WIN for me any way you look at it. 

Before I can do that, I have to get us moved to a new and hopefully better complex in which to live.  While we have yet to  secure an alternate domicile, I hope to have that process completed so we can make a timely egress from our present little den of maintenance horrors by the first of May.  The I can work on funding the new parts for my computer so that the upgrade can be made.  With the upgrade completed, there is only one financial goal left in the plan for the rest of the year,  That would be to set aside the $500 to cover the deductible on the car insurance should anything untoward happen to my new car.  So things seem to be progressing in a timely fashion financially, so I need to start thinking of new financial goals and formulating a plan for next year.  All in good time. 

Today your Monday With Mozart features a live recording of Mozart's Viola Quintet in G Minor, K516 by the Ensemble ACJW.  The Ensemble ACJW was created in 2007 by Carnegie Hall's Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillinson and The Juilliard School's President Joseph W. Polisi, Ensemble ACJW is an inspirational collective of young professional musicians who are fellows in a two-year program that supports them in building careers as top-quality performers, innovative programmers, and dedicated teachers who fully engage with the communities in which they live and work.

Ensemble ACJW includes music performance at the highest level, partnerships with New York City public schools, residencies at Skidmore College, opportunities to perform in a variety of community settings, and a robust commitment to professional development.  Today's performance was recorded at Music at our Saviour's Atonement, as part of Carnegie Hall's free Neighborhood Concert series on December 4, 2011.  You may also hear Arabella Steinbacher performing Mozart’s 3rd Violin Concerto with Marc Albrecht and Gothenburg Symphony over on my tumblr.

Then as is traditional in these pages on Monday, I have a little collection of Twinks, Twunks, Bears, Cubs and Otters lounging about the page in their finest Monday's Undies for your visual appreciation.  You can also see Bernardo Arriagada in his best Undergear, your  Hottie of the Day! over on my tumblr.   Thanks for starting your week here at Nichevo, see you again tomorrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Kinky Boots

We were experiencing some Internet access issues this morning that prevented me from posting earlier.  The are coming out to look at it this afternoon, however for now it seems to be working OK.  On Thanksgiving Day as a part of the Macy's Parade, some of the cast members from the Harvey Fierstein/Cindy Lauper Broadway Musical Kinky Boots performed a number from the show.  This of course set the Conservative and Right Wing Religionist talking heads to wagging their tongues vociferously about the appropriateness of the performance and the damage it did to 'our children'.  As usual all their commentary was full of poppycock and plain old bullshit and lies.  Much ado about nothing as is their way.  However, the Reverend Michael Piazza, formerly Senior Pastor at the Cathedral of Hope in Dallas and now Senior Pastor at the Virginia Highland Church in Atlanta had a different perspective on the matter.  If you are unfamiliar with the premise of the plot, Kinky Boots tells the story of  a shoe manufacturer that upon the advice of a drag queen, seeks to reinvigorate his failing company with a line of  Kinky Boots designed and sized with drag queens in mind.  There are many elements to the plot, but I think Pastor Mike tells the story better than I in his 17 minute sermon last Sunday which is posted below.  Even if you are not of the Christian persuasion, I think you will find the story sad, funny, uplifting and definitely meaningful to one and all.  Take a listen:

For your Musical Moment today, I have a rare and beautiful piece of classical music in the Double Concerto in C major for Organ, Viola and Strings, MH 41, Perger 55 by Johann Michael Haydn, who is the brother of the more famous Franz Joseph.  Until I ran across this piece of music, I did not realize Franz Joseph had a brother who was also a composer.  There is a goodly list of pieces on You Tube of Michael's various works, but this one seem to be one of his best.  Unfortunately the uploader did not list the performers so I can not give due credit for this marvelous performance to them.  

Then to close out today's post I have a comely collection of tantalizing torsos and delicious derrieres to serve as your Temptations for this Tuesday.  Thanks for sharing a part of your day with me, see you again on the morrow.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!