Everything Nac

The serpentine length of the Neches River, which winds its way over hundreds of miles from East Texas’ Van Zandt County to the Gulf Coast, has been documented for the first time in a new book published by the Stephen F. Austin State University Press.

“Let the River Run Wild! Saving the Neches” is the product of more than two years of collaborative work between photographer Adrian F. Van Dellen and SFA Professor Emeritus of English Dr. Francis E. Abernethy. The 152-page photographic odyssey of the river’s past, its environment and the efforts to preserve it is intended to inspire people to take a second glance at an often overlooked East Texas treasure.

Abernethy said he hopes the book will show people why the river is worth preserving, especially as organizations devoted to the river continue working to have it designated as a National Wild and Scenic River – a federal status that would protect it from development and preserve the surrounding habitat.

Though he grew up hunting and fishing along the Neches, Abernethy said helping put the book together meant seeing the river in a new way. By boat, he traveled the length of the river with Van Dellen, who previously wrote a book on paddling the Neches. Photos of the river are paired with GPS coordinates to allow others to easily find the landmarks pictured in the book.

The concept for a photo book about the river was born out of conflict. In 2007, the Texas Water Development Board proposed damming a section of the Neches to create a reservoir – an idea that garnered much criticism because it would flood some of the country’s rare hardwood forests, which border the river, and impact a number of historical areas.

Efforts by conservationists, private landowners and then-U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison succeeded in stopping the dam and creating the Neches River Wildlife Refuge in 2006. To further encourage the river’s preservation, SFA Press Director Kim Verhines said, copies are being donated to school libraries in communities along the length of the river.

The subject matter isn’t the only first accomplished with “Let the River Run Wild.” Verhines said the book is the first large, photo-centered project the SFA Press has produced.

“Everybody who’s looked at it has been amazed,” Verhines said.

Copies of the book are available from Barnes & Noble bookstore on campus, barnesandnoble.com, the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau and Amazon.com.

For anyone who appreciates music and would like to help young students enrolled in the Music Preparatory program of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music fulfill their dreams of becoming accomplished musicians, a special opportunity awaits.

The Music Preparatory Division is launching a scholarship fundraiser, “Pathway to Music.” The Music Prep House, 3028 Raguet Street, is the site of the pathway where bricks will be sold for $100 on the pathway, $200 on the porch steps and $500 for corporate donors. The corporate donors will have two bricks engraved with words of support for the Music Preparatory Division’s scholarship fundraiser.

“The scholarship fundraiser’s purpose is to raise money to assist students in their study of music,” said Pat Barnett, Music Prep division director. “Partial scholarships are awarded each August to those who make application. The scholarship fund has been depleted, so it is imperative to raise more funds.”

Music Prep offers musical training on any level of proficiency. Overall musicianship is stressed in addition to the study of an instrument. Private music lessons are offered in piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, classical guitar, voice, percussion, French horn, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone and flute. Also, Music Prep offers an orchestra, Piney Woods Youth Orchestra, as well as the Piney Woods Chorale, an adult piano class, musicianship classes and Kindermusik. Music Prep teaches all ages, from infants to 80 and beyond. Music therapy is also offered.

“During my 15-year tenure as director of Music Prep, I have seen music students mature and gain confidence through performance opportunities,” Barnett said. “Recitals, area and state competitions and sharing the ‘gift of music’ at community events have enhanced the students’ music abilities. I believe it is imperative that we continue to provide musical training, to offer scholarship monies in order to pursue the training, and to support the faculty and students. To quote Plato, ‘I would teach the children physics and philosophy and music – and of these, music is the most important. For the key to learning lies in the patterns of the arts.’”

The Music Prep faculty is comprised of SFA School of Music faculty, SFA students and musicians from the community and the Houston area.

“Serving approximately 270 students, the Music Preparatory Division is dedicated to the highest standard of music education, performance and outreach to the East Texas community,” Barnett said. “The faculty reflects these high standards.”

Founded in 1980 by Dr. Robert Blocker, then-chairman of the SFA Department of Music, and Shirley Wolfson Watterston, the program has continued the high standards set by Blocker and Watterston, according to Barnett. The program is a divisional school of the SFA School of Music. The divisional school is a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education.

Those who want to purchase a brick are encouraged to download a “Pathway to Music” order form available on the Music Prep website at www.music.sfasu.edu/prep. For more information, call (936) 468-1291 or email musicprep@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music voice faculty member Jamie Dahman will present his first recital at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 31, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Accompanied by Ron Petti, SFA pianist, Dahman’s performance will feature “An die ferne Geliebte” by Ludwig van Beethoven, which is “considered to be the first song-cycle, a category important in the Art Song genre,” Dahman said, along with “Poeme d’avril” by Jules Massenet.

“Though Massenet is better known as an opera composer, his songs were very popular for a brief period in Parisian salons,” Dahman explained. “‘Poeme d’avril’ is one of the earliest and most important French song cycles.”

Dahman will also perform three songs by Bulgarian composer Georgi Zlatev-Cherkin.

Daham had the opportunity to study and collect Art Song repertoire when he was a Fulbright Fellow at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Art in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

Grammy Award-winning Texas-born singer, composer and actor Lyle Lovett will be the featured guest at the 2014 installment of the Archie McDonald Speaker Series at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Lovett has broadened the definition of Americana music in a career that spans 14 albums and more than four million records sold. Coupled with his gift for storytelling, the Texas-based musician fuses elements of country, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a manner that defies convention and breaks down barriers.

The speaker series event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in the Grand Ballroom of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus.

“We are very pleased to be honoring a renowned artist as the 2014 guest of the Archie McDonald Speaker Series,” said Dr. Richard Berry, SFA provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Lyle Lovett is a very gifted performer whose talents extend to acting on stage and screen, as well as singing and composing music that has garnered praise from fans and critics all over the world.

“Like all the previous guests of our series, Mr. Lovett’s accomplished career is most deserving of this special recognition, and we look forward to presenting him with the university’s Lifetime Cultural Achievement Award in conjunction with this event.”

Lovett has won four Grammy Awards: Best Country Album (1996 for “The Road to Ensenada”); Best Country Duo/Group with Vocal (1994 for “Blues For Dixie” with Asleep at the Wheel); Best Pop Vocal Collaboration (1994 for “Funny How Time Slips Away” with Al Green); and Best Country Male Vocal (1989 for “Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.”) He received the Americana Music Association’s inaugural Trailblazer Award and the Texas Medal of Arts Award, and he was named the 2011 Texas State Musician. Lovett has celebrated more than two decades of acclaimed work and garnered seven top-10 albums on the Billboard charts. Beginning with his 1986 self-titled debut and continuing through his most recent projects, Lovett has taken one artistic chance after another while crafting songs that resonate with fans and critics across the globe.

For the past few years, Lovett has been alternating “Large Band” tours with acoustic shows teaming him with John Hiatt, as well as larger songwriter circles also featuring long-time friends Hiatt, Guy Clark and Joe Ely.

Lovett has appeared in 13 feature films, which include the Robert Altman-directed movies “The Player” (1992), “Short Cuts” (1993) and “Cookie’s Fortune” (1999), and he scored “Dr. T & the Women” (2000). He also has acted in “The Opposite of Sex” (1998), “The New Guy” (2002), “Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story” (2007) and, most recently, “When Angels Sing” (2011). Among his television acting credits are “Mad About You,” “Dharma & Greg,” “Brothers & Sisters” and “Castle.” In theatre, he participated in three Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles productions, including “Much Ado About Nothing” (2010) opposite Helen Hunt.

Lovett resides in north Harris County, Texas, where he was raised in the farming community of Klein, named after his great-great-grandfather. He began his music career while attending Texas A&M University in the late ’70s, where he graduated with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and German.

Despite the departures to stage, television and screen, Lovett always returns to the music world. His stories and songs remain a powerful reminder that he possesses one of today’s most distinctive artistic voices.

SFA’s speaker series was created in spring 2010 by the College of Liberal and Applied Arts to honor and preserve the legacy of Dr. Archie McDonald as a distinguished scholar, educator and community commentator. In the tradition of McDonald’s writings and oral presentations, a prominent national figure is hosted annually at SFA to discuss contemporary cultural issues.

McDonald taught history at SFA for 48 years and served as director of the East Texas Historical Association and editor of the association’s journal for 37 years. He was a past president of the Texas State Historical Association, past vice chair of the Texas Historical Commission and author/editor of more than 20 books on historical topics. Along with teaching, McDonald served as the university/community liaison for SFA, was a weekly commentator on Red River Radio in Shreveport, and wrote a weekly column for The Daily Sentinel in Nacogdoches and other newspapers. He passed away on Aug. 16, 2012.

McDonald participated in the first three events in the speaker series, interviewing former heavyweight champion boxer and iconic businessman George Foreman, Apollo 12 astronaut and professional artist Alan Bean, and 61st U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III. McDonald’s widow, former Nacogdoches Mayor and Nacogdoches Economic Development Corporation President Judy McDonald, interviewed the series’ 2013 guest, former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The speaker series is sponsored by SFA’s Student Government Association, and the event is free and open to the public. Passes may be obtained at the Involvement Center on the first floor of the Baker Pattillo Student Center or at the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau downtown. For more information, call (936) 468-5406.