Southeastern NEWS
Southeastern Louisiana University
Public Information Office
SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
publicinfo@selu.edu
www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
Date: 9/26/97
Contact: Christina Chapple 52k
Editors: Photos accompany release -- Please note local interest
ANN RICHARDS, EINSTEIN, JAZZ HIGHLIGHT FANFARE'S WEEK TWO
HAMMOND -- A peppery former Texas governor, the 20th century's most famous
scientist and New Orleans jazz are center stage in the second week of Fanfare, Southeastern
Louisiana University's annual October festival of the arts, humanities and sciences.
Albert Einstein has been dead for more than 40 years, but television and screen actor Ed
Metzer brings him back to life in a one-man-show, "Albert Einstein: the Practical Bohemian,"
scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Oct. 6, in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Metzger, who has
performed the show he co-authored with his wife, Laya Gelff, for 15 years, presents Einstein as
the man behind the brilliant scientific mind. In Metzger's portrayal, Einstein is the original
absent-minded professor, a confused and troubled father, an outspoken protestor against the
outrage of war, a philosopher, a womanizer and -- a lover of vanilla ice cream.
On a stage furnished only with an armchair, table, park bench and music stand, Metzger,
who looks remarkably like the wild-haired scientist, delivers what the Seattle Times called, "a
monologue that is by turns exuberant, contemplative, funny and nostalgic. He brings to life the
unbridled curiosity that drove Einstein to seek answers to the mysteries of the universe."
Tickets for "Albert Einstein: the Practical Bohemian" are $5 general admission and $4
senior citizens, SLU faculty/staff and all students.
Ed Metzger and Ann Richards have something in common. Both have appeared on the hit
television show "Murphy Brown." When Richards, who was elected governor of Texas in 1990,
was a child, her father told her that she could be anything she wanted to be. During a lifetime of
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public service and leadership, she has proven him right. Richards captured national attention in
1988 with a dynamic keynote address to the Democratic National Convention and two years later
was elected governor of Texas. A gifted inspirational speaker, she continues to address causes she
believes in and to transfer to others the confidence her father gave to her.
Richards will speak at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 8, in the SLU University Center. Tickets are $15
general admission, $10 senior citizens, SLU faculty and staff and non-SLU students. SLU
students will be admitted free with their university I.D.
As week two ends on Oct. 11, one of the community's favorite Fanfare events, Art and
All That Jazz, will begin. The special weekend of music, art and fellowship, starts with "Jazz
Downtown," beginning at 6 p.m. on the stage outside of Deposit Guaranty Bank on Northwest
Railroad Ave. in downtown Hammond. This year's headliners for the mini-jazz festival include
Wanda Rouzan, who fuses blues, jazz, gospel, soul and rock into a "sing along" music revival;
Phillip Manuel, who captivates audiences with his smooth, warm signature jazz sound; Leah
Chase, who delivers an eclectic mixture of jazz, pop, and Broadway; the famed Contemporary
Arts Center Jazz Orchestra; and Astral Project, "New Orleans' finest modern jazz ensemble."
Art and All That Jazz will continue with "Gallery Stroll," 1-5 p.m., Oct. 12, featuring art
exhibits in more than three dozen downtown businesses, children's activities, music by the Leon
Anderson Group and a special artisans row.
Also during Fanfare's "Week Two":
The "Music for a Sunday Afternoon" series at Hammond churches continues at 3 p.m.,
Oct. 5, when the popular and acclaimed Centenary Choir will be the guest of the First United
Methodist Church, 2200 Rue Denise.
An audience-interactive video and musical installation, "Jambori Rimba," a tribute to
the Malaysian rainforest, opens Oct. 6 at Clark Hall Gallery. A collaboration between video artist
Hasnul Jamal Saidon and "the McLean Mix" -- musicians Barton and Priscilla McLean, who will
present a special Fanfare concert on Oct. 14 -- the art work evokes the oldest rainforest in the
world and its special people in Borneo. Jambori Rimba encompasses the cicadas, drums, singing,
and bird calls of the Borneo jungle, an art video of mysterious jungle images melting into one
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another, handmade instruments that the audience can play to add their own creativity to the
exhibit, and the McLean's composed music mingling with authentic cries of insects, birds, and
frogs. The exhibit will be open through Oct. 10 and gallery hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m., weekdays. An
opening reception is scheduled for 4-6 p.m., Oct. 6, in the gallery.
At 2 p.m., Oct. 6, in the Music Recital Hall, veteran Southeastern history professor
Howard Nichols will speak on "Rivers, Rails and Roads: Historical Development of the Eastern
Florida Parishes." A popular lecturer on local history, Nichols is the author of four books and
many articles on the region, including "Tangipahoa Crossings: Excursions into Tangipahoa
History," "Centennial Souvenir, A Hammond History Source Book," "Mandeville on the Lake: A
Sesquicentennial Album" and "Gathered at the River: One Hundred Fifty Years of Christ
Episcopal Church."
The Missoula Children's Theatre will return to Fanfare, recruiting more than 50 local
children to follow the enchanting tunes of "The Pied Piper" in an original musical adaption of the
legend of Hamelin's musical leader. The children's week of intensive rehearsals culminates in two
fantastic performances of the timeless children's favorite. Auditions are scheduled for 4 p.m., Oct.
6 in Room 162A of the Music Building Annex, while performances are set for 7:30 p.m., Oct. 10,
and 2 p.m., Oct. 11, in Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Tickets are $5 general admission and
$3 all students.
Southeastern history professor and author Sam Hyde speaks out in "In Praise of the
South: Dispelling the Myth of Southern Backwardness," at 2 p.m., Oct. 7, in the Music Recital
Hall. According to Hyde, no class of Americans in currently is subject to the institutionalized
ridicule that characterizes interpretations of common southerners. "The popular media continues
to regard average southerners as lazy, ignorant, bigoted, and virtually devoid of redeeming
cultural traits," Hyde says. Hyde traces the historical emergence of this unflattering portrayal,
explaining the sources of misunderstanding and contempt for the South and demonstrating the
fundamental contributions of Southerners to a distinct American identity.
Fanfare's Foreign Film Series begins with "Zentropa," a German film about a young
American of German descent in post-war Germany whose relationship with the daughter of his
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boss at the Zentropa railway company leads to sinister links with Nazi activities. "Zentropa" will
be shown free at 3:30 p.m., Oct. 7, in the Music Recital Hall.
I Musici de Montreal, 14 artists under the "inspired and ardent" direction of cellist Yuli
Turovsky, perform at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 7, in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. I Musici de
Montreal's musicians lend their talents to a wide spectrum of chamber repertoire, from Baroque
to 20th-century works. The chamber orchestra performs 100 performances every year in the
world's major concert halls and, since its beginnings in 1983, has recorded more than 30 compact
discs. International critics have named I Musici de Montreal one of the best chamber orchestras in
the world. Wherever it appears, critics and audiences alike are captivated by this youthful
ensemble--with its precision, cohesion, expressiveness, assurance and flair. Tickets are $10
general admission and $8 senior citizens, SLU faculty and staff and all students
I n a free concert at 2 p.m., Oct. 9, in the Music Recital Hall, Zhao Rongchun, who has
been called "a Chinese Itzhak Perlman," will introduce Western audiences to the Erhu, a more
than 1,000-year-old traditional Chinese stringed instrument that is China's answer to the violin.
Zhao Rongchun is not only a master of traditional Chinese music, but he also dazzles and moves
his listeners with his own transcriptions of virtuoso violin solos and haunting American ballads.
His playing, his fans say, "is like being thrust into a new and exciting musical world."
Southeastern Theatre's five performance of Tennessee Williams' classic "Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof" opens Oct. 7 in Vonnie Borden Theatre, featuring a special guest appearance by
veterans New Orleans actor Blair Zeigler as the Pollitt family patriarch, "Big Daddy." As the
Pollitt family Big Daddy, his favorite son, Brick, and Brick's unhappy wife, Maggie gathers on
their Mississippi Delta plantation for Big Daddy's 65th birthday, petty quarrels, desperation, greed
and absolute inability to believe in the truth spoil the celebration. Kay Files is the director of what
is considered one of the most successful American plays of our time. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m.,
Oct. 7-11, and tickets, available at the theatre box office in D Vickers Hall, are $5 general
admission, $3 senior citizens, SLU faculty and staff, and non-SLU students. SLU students are
admitted free with their university I.D.
For a Fanfare brochure and ticket order form or for additional information about Fanfare
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events, call the SLU Public Information Office, 504-549-2341, or send e-mail to
publicinfo@selu.edu. Fanfare information is also available on the World Wide Web at
www.selu.edu/fanfare/fan97.htm. Fanfare tickets are available at the Fanfare box office, 504-
549-2323, at Gate 1 of the SLU University Center on University Ave., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
weekdays.
-SLU-
This press release is available on the World Wide Web:
www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/PublicInfoOffice/newsf97.htm