Everything Nac

A fun evening of jazz featuring the Swingin’ Axes, Swingin’ Aces and the Faculty Jazz Combo from Stephen F. Austin State University will be presented from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11, at LugNutz Bar & Grill.

If weather permits, the jazz bands will perform on the outdoor stage. In inclement weather, the concert will be moved indoors.

The Axes, directed by Dr. Deb Scott, professor of trombone, will perform a variety of music including big band favorites from the 1940s and ’50s, such as Glenn Miller’s “American Patrol” and Count Basie’s “Fly Me to the Moon.” More modern jazz styles will include Gordon Goodwin’s energetic Latin-style “Mueva los Huesos” (Shake Your Bones) and Tower of Power’s funky “What Is Hip.”

The Swingin’ Aces, directed by Dr. J.D. Salas, associate professor of tuba and euphonium studies at SFA, will perform several standards from the library of the Count Basie and Stan Kenton Jazz orchestras, including “Put It Right Here,” “Just Friends” and “My Romance.” They will also perform a fun jazz rendition of “Take Me Out to The Ballgame.”

The jazz combo will play jazz standards arranged by former SFA music professor the late Darrell Holt. Salas, playing bass, and Scott, playing trombone, will join Dr. Jacob Walburn, associate professor of trumpet, and Dr. Gary Wurtz, director of the School of Music, on trumpet, adjunct professor Mike McGowan on piano, and assistant professor Dr. Brad Meyers on drums.

Concert tickets may be purchased ahead of time at the SFA Fine Arts Box Office for $10. Tickets at the door will be $15. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu. Tickets do not include food or beverages.

All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the School of Music jazz program.

LugNutz is located at 5287 U.S. Highway 59 approximately five miles south of Loop 224, Nacogdoches. Drinks from the bar and food from LugNutz’ Spitfire Grill will be available for purchase.

By Christine Broussard, editorial marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The Stray Cats’ Lee Rocker will bring his high-energy rockabilly show and signature upright bass to Nacogdoches to perform in the University Series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

Presented by the SFA College of Fine Arts, the 2019-20 University Series season brings another versatile and exciting lineup of touring shows that range from musical theatre and dance to superstar gospel music and the world’s foremost children’s chorus. Rocker’s classic rock concert is up next in the series.

“What a thrill it was to realize that a charter member of the one-and-only Stray Cats was available to perform at SFA,” said Scott Shattuck, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and director of the series. “The band, whose sound fuses the roots-rock of Carl Perkins and Bill Haley with the wild punk of the ’80s, recently got back together for a reunion tour, and on this solo tour Lee Rocker continues to play their biggest hits in versions that are as raucous as they are authentic.”

Rocker made his mark singing, playing, standing on, spinning and rocking his giant upright bass as a founding (and current) member, along with Brian Setzer and Slim Jim Phantom, of the Grammy-nominated rockabilly group the Stray Cats, which sold more than 10 million albums and garnered 23 gold- and platinum-certified records worldwide. Rocker and his band are headed to Nacogdoches to perform Stray Cats hits like “Sexy and Seventeen,” “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town,” plus many other rock-era songs he has performed post-Stray Cats with music legends from Ringo Starr and George Harrison to John Fogerty and The Rolling Stones. The performance is sponsored in part by Lehmann Eye Center.

Prior to the SFA performance, Dr. J.D. Salas, associate professor in the SFA School of Music and a professional jazz-blues bassist, will present an informative talk at 7 p.m. in Griffith Gallery. The gallery is located across the hall from Turner Auditorium, which is inside the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. The audience is invited back to the gallery for a post-performance reception to meet the performers and recognize the corporate sponsor.

Single event ticket prices for the University Series are $30 for adults, $24 for seniors, $15 for SFA faculty and staff and $12 for non-SFA students/youth. Tickets for SFA students are $3.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit finearts.sfasu.edu, stop by the Box Office in Room 211 of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

Other upcoming University Series events include the beloved holiday story of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” on Dec. 10; the powerhouse Argentinian dancing of Che Malambo on March 3; and a boisterous celebration of the Harlem Renaissance in the musical “Ain’t Misbehavin'” on April 16.

Two special Encore Events will feature the angelic-voiced musicians of the Vienna Boys Choir on Nov. 21 and the bluegrass Southern gospel of The Isaacs on Jan. 24. Encore Event tickets are $45 for Section A seating; $36 for Section B seating; and $27 for Section C seating. Discounts are available for seniors, students, children and SFA faculty and staff members.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Oct 10 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St. Jocelyn Moore, assistant education coordinator for SFA Gardens, will present “Changing Young Lives, One Garden Bud at a Time.”

Passionate about teaching our youngest citizens how to value and protect the environment through experiential learning an engagement, Moore teaches outdoor environmental education to local youth during field trips, after-school clubs and summer SFA Gardens Pineywoods camps,

She leads an interdisciplinary team of SFA college students, who teach and mentor Boys and Girls Club members. Each week, elementary school students visit the Pineywoods Native Plant Center to learn about nature, gardening and nutrition. Moore said she loves the layers of mentorship and skill-based learning that unfolds each week, with both college student workers and elementary school students. When she is not working at SFA Gardens, Moore often volunteers with local school and community garden groups.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.

Join Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens for a free outdoor skills family adventure day from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center located at 2900 Raguet St.

Families are invited to hone or try out new outdoor skills with a team of trained SFA student leaders from the SFA Gardens environmental education program. Participants will learn a variety of outdoor skills through hands-on activities, including archery target practice for all ages, making and tasting Dutch oven treats and old-fashioned frozen yogurt, guided tree identification hikes, compass and orienteering games, creating plaster animals tracks, educational games that encourage leave no trace principles and more.

The SFA Gardens’ environmental education program, Nacogdoches Naturally, is the recipient of the Community Outdoor Outreach Program grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which provides funding for hosting free, family events that introduce new and diverse audiences to the outdoors.

Event parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary. For more information, call Jocelyn Moore, assistant education coordinator for SFA Gardens, at (936) 468-1863 or email moorejv@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s award-winning timbersports team, the Sylvans, invites members of the community to see if they have what it takes to be a lumberjack or lumberjill at the 2019 Lumberjack Games, which will be held during SFA’s Homecoming from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 26.

Dr. Jeremy Stovall, professor of forestry and the Sylvans faculty advisor, said campuswide lumberjack competitions were held in the past, but they have not taken place for at least a decade.

“From what we’ve heard, the original events had pretty diverse participation from all across campus,” Stovall said. “We’re trying to revive that SFA tradition.”

Teams of five will compete in a range of timbersports, including the axe throw, single and double crosscut sawing, caber toss and tug of war. Single individuals also may sign up as a free agent and be assigned to a team.

“A lot of people come to SFA and aren’t sure what it really means to be a lumberjack or don’t know SFA has a timbersports team,” said John Mike Arnett, forestry senior and Sylvans president. “I think it’s a great way to get our names out there and let people experience what it is like to be a lumberjack.”

Timbersports experience is not necessary, and members of the Sylvans will be on site to provide coaching and answer questions. Safety gear and equipment also will be provided.

The event will serve as a fundraiser for the Sylvans, with the potential to support other student organizations within the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, based on funds generated through registration.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top teams, as well as a custom-made wood-burned trophy.

The Lumberjack Games will take place behind the Forestry Building, located at 419 East College St. For more information on the games, as well as how to register, visit www.sfasu.edu/lumberjackgames.

Story by Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture. Contact information: (936) 468-1185 or fullersa@sfasu.edu.

In constant search of new ways to highlight campus diversity, Stephen F. Austin State University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs has added a new event to its fall semester slate that will celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

In honor of National Coming Out Day, which takes place Friday, Oct. 11, the OMA will host a “celebration to promote LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion and raise awareness about the community to SFA and Nacogdoches residents,” according to Tegan Mingo, OMA student ambassador.

In partnership with the Lumberjack Multicultural Association, SFA’s Residence Life Department and Pride Nac, OMA’s celebration will provide food and entertainment while educating the community about accessible health services, safe spaces and more.

The national event began Oct. 11, 1988, exactly one year after half a million people participated in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, according to the Human Rights Campaign website.

“National Coming Out Day is an annual LGBTQ+ awareness day that allows individuals to have the space and opportunity to come out, if they so choose,” Mingo said. “Locally, this event will be of significance because we are in a rural, conservative city and can promote inclusiveness so that the LGBTQ+ community feels welcomed and can be themselves in Nacogdoches. Celebrating this day shows we are allies and fully support the LGBTQ+ community.”

The free, public event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 11, at SFA’s Ag Pond. It will include a picnic, yard games, group activities, and an educational segment covering health issues, labels and history about the LGBTQ+ community.

For more information about OMA’s slate of fall events, visit sfasu.edu/oma.

By Christine Broussard, editorial marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s East Texas Historical Association will host civil rights activist Joan C. Browning during the Georgiana and Max S. Lale Lecture at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom.

Browning is one of 436 people who were part of the Freedom Riders, a group of civil rights activist who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 and subsequent years to challenge the non-enforcement of Supreme Court decisions that ruled segregated public buses were unconstitutional.

The Freedom Riders were arrested, beaten and jailed, but despite their brutal receptions, they succeeded in taking down the “white” and “colored” signs in bus and train terminals and on buses and trains.

Alongside 177 other Freedom Riders, Browning appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and was one of 14 women Freedom Riders honored by the National Women’s Law Center at an event where former President Barack Obama met with the women.

Browning, who is white, grew up on a family farm in Telfair County, Georgia, working in tobacco, watermelon, cantaloupe and vegetable fields and picking cotton. She attended Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville until 1961 when she had to leave for worshipping with blacks at Wesley Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1994 at West Virginia State College and completed courses toward a master’s degree in humanities/history at Marshall University.

In addition to being a Freedom Rider, Browning was a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee volunteer, worked in anti-poverty and social justice programs in the 1960s and 1970s, was an organizer of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, and served as treasurer of Georgians for Robert Kennedy.

Additionally, she served as special assistant to Andrea J. Pendleton, the first woman elected mayor of Rainelle, West Virginia, served 10 years on the Supreme Court of West Virginia’s Fatality Review Committee and chaired the West Virginia University Center for Women’s Studies Visiting Committee. She also served a term on the West Virginia Human Rights Commission.

Browning has received numerous awards and recognition for her work as an activist. Her experience as a 1960s Freedom Rider and social justice activist are described in “Shiloh Witness,” an autobiographic chapter in the volume “Deep In Our Hearts: Nine White Women in the Freedom Movement,” and her article “Invisible Revolutionaries: White Women in Civil Rights Movement Historiography” in the fall 1996 Journal of Women’s History. She now writes and lectures about the struggle for freedom.

This event is free and open to the public. The ETHA presents this annual lecture

through a generous grant from the late Max Sims Lale, a noted East Texas journalist, author and historian.

For more information, contact Dr. Scott Sosebee, SFA associate professor of history, at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-2407.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.