University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 7, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 29, 2004 Page: 3 of 6
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Concert series celebrates 15th anniversary season
heiglhe “Lamarissimo!” concert
seiMs made its debut in 1990,
directors looked for a name to
vey excellence, excitement and
expansion of Lamar’s musical
orizons. Over the past 15 years,
the term “Lamarissimo!,” a deriva-
tion of “bravissimo,” which is
defined as “very well done” or
“splendid,” has served the pro-
gram well.
Lamar choir members create holiday magic and tradition.
The concert series has
enjoyed remarkable success,
attracting thousands of music-
lovers and producing musicians
who enjoy international promi-
nence as performers, conductors,
composers and arrangers, Louise
Wood, media specialist at Lamar,
said.
The 2004-2005
“Lamarissimo!” concert series will
kick off its 15th anniversary sea-
son with an evening of “Song and
Dance” on Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at
the Julie Rogers Theatre in down-
town Beaumont.
The concert, featuring the
Lamar University Wind Ensemble
and Concert Band and sponsored
by ExxonMobil, will feature music
from around the world, conducted
by Scott Weiss, director of bands.
“We will entertain our
‘Lamarissimo!’ audience with
songs and dances from around the
world — everything from polkas
and reels of Europe to British sail-
ing chanties and Cajun folk songs
of Louisiana,” Weiss said.
Musicians will perform com-
positions from England, Scotland,
Austria, Germany, Russia and the
Faeroe Islands of the North
Atlantic Ocean.
The featured soloist for the
concert will be 27-year Lamar fac-
ulty member and a former soloist
with the U.S. Navy Band, Wayne
Scott Weiss conducts the Lamar Concert
Band.
Dyess, who will perform the virtu-
oso showpiece “Blue Bells of
Scotland” on the trombone with
the Concert Band.
During the “Dance” portion
of the program, the Lamar Wind
Ensemble will preview some of
the selections it will perform dur-
ing an hour-long concert for the
final evening of the Western
International Band Clinic Nov. 19
through Nov. 22 in Seattle, Wash.
“For more than 50 years,
Lamar University bands have
been continually represented at
prestigious music conferences
around the country, and the
Western International Band Clinic
will be yet another feather in the
cap for Lamar’s music program,”
Weiss said.
Also during the concert, Jason
Buckingham, a graduate student
from Lakeland, Fla., will conduct
the Wind Ensemble during a per-
formance of Symphonic Dance
No. 3 — “Fiesta” — by Clifton
Williams.
The season will continue Nov.
2 with performances by Lamar
faculty artists at 7:30 p.m. at the
Julie Rogers.
While known primarily for
the excellence they impart in
Lamar classrooms, the singers,
musicians and dancers remain
active throughout the year on the
performing arts scene, Wood said.
“The Faculty Artists Concert
enables our ‘Lamarissimo!’ audi-
ence to enjoy our faculty in rarely
experienced solo and ensemble
performances,” L. Randolph
Babin, chair of the department of
music, theatre and dance, said.
“This concert is very special for
our faculty members, who consid-
er it one of the most outstanding
events they are involved in during
the year.”
Audience members can
expect a wide variety of music, tra-
ditionally ranging from classics
and opera to jazz, Dixieland, rock
and musical genres in between.
Among faculty artists featured will
be former chair of the department
Text and Layout by Kathryn Eakens • Photos Courtesy of Rohn Wenner
of music and current Lamar presi-
dent Jimmy Simmons — a peren-
nial highlight of the concert series.
The fall schedule will continue
Nov. 30 with the holiday choir
concert, under the direction of
Eduardo Garcia-Novelli, Lamar’s
director of choral activities. The
concert, which will begin at 7:30
p.m. at the Rogers, will feature the
A Cappella Choir.
The season will resume March
8 at 7:30 p.m. with a performance
at the Julie Rogers Theatre, featur-
ing Lamar’s award-winning jazz
bands, directed by J. Wayne Dyess. —
The final concert of the sea-
son will consist of a joint perform-
ance by the Cardinal Singers,
directed by Garcia-Novelli, and
the Lamar Dance Company,
directed by Lou Arrington, on
April 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rogers.
Season tickets are priced at
$30 for adults and $15 for students
and are available from the depart-
ment of music, theatre and dance
at 880-8144. Season and individual
tickets are available at the Julie
Rogers Theatre on the nights of
the concerts. Single ticket prices
are $10 for adults and $5 for stu-
dents.
Admission is free for Lamar
students with valid Lamar
University identification.
Season gift certificates are
also available.
Kevin Smith shows softer side with 'Jersey Girl’
Courtesy photo
Ben Affleck and Raquel Castro star as father and daughter in “Jersey Girl.”
DVD REVIEW
By JEFF DIXON
UP Staff Writer
Most of us are bom with an inherent desire
to have children. It’s ingrained in our DNA to
create miniature versions of ourselves. Ever
since my little cousin Catherine was bom, ever
since I held her in my arms and reached out my
finger and she grabbed it with her entire hand
and squeezed as hard as she could, I have want-
ed a daughter. So I guess that makes me a little
biased toward the new film from writer/director
Kevin Smith, “Jersey Girl.”
“Jersey Girl” stars Ben Affleck as Ollie
Trinke, a single father and former publicist, who
is forced to move back to New Jersey and live
with his father (George Carlin) after losing his
job. The film follows Ollie as he brings up his
I daughter Gertrude (Raquel Castro), works for
the city of Highlands, driving a street sweeper,
and strikes up a friendship with Maya (Liv
v Tyler), a girl who works at the local video store.
This movie is, in a word, amazing. It’s so
good that before I wrote this I had to see it a sec-
ond time because the first time I watched it I was
enjoying it far too much to even form a 700-word
opinion-. The movie works on so many levels that
I almost can’t believe it.
Affleck gives his best performance since
“Chasing Amy,” also directed and written by
Kevin Smith. In fact, Affleck’s performance in
“Jersey Girl” is the best he’s ever done. He per-
fectly captures how frightening it is to raise a
child on your own, how scary it is to hear crying
from the other room in the middle of the night.
How terrifying it must be to know that all their
happiness rests on whether you can make it to
their school play. He pulls it off wonderfully.
His chemistry with his daughter (Raquel
Castro) is uncanny. He is so natural with her you
would swear the two were actually related.
Every moment they’re on screen together is
golden. Affleck is a natural father, and I hope we
get to see him play the role of a dad more often.
The real surprise here is the performance
put in by George Carlin. Everyone knows Carlin
can be funny, it’s what he does for a living, and
he’s been doing it for decades. But I had no idea
he could turn in such a dramatic performance.
The scenes he has with Affleck, where he is argu-
ing with him cibout how to be a good father, are
spectacular. He’s the grandfather every kid
wants. The grandpa you go to when your parents
say no — the one who gets in trouble for trying
to convince them to say yes. Carlin deserves a
Golden Globe for best supporting actor, and if
he isn’t at least nominated then the foreign press
should be ashamed of themselves.
Liv Tyler turns in a quirky performance as
Maya, a girl with a slight crush on Ollie, who
quickly becomes his best friend. It’s nice to see
Tyler in a movie where she isn’t speaking Elvish.
It’s been too long since we’ve seen her in a movie
that required her to do more than look pretty
and cry. She takes this role and runs with it, mak-
ing Maya one of the cutest characters I’ve seen
on film in a long time. She has wonderful chem-
istry with Affleck and Castro and you can tell her
personality translates beyond the film. I mean no
one can pretend to be that nice.
Once again Kevin Smith brings a real sense
of honesty to his movies. Smith writes characters
that we know, characters that grew up down the
street from us, that we work with, that we love.
He makes us love them because he injects them
with so much humanity.
Smith has really grown as a director this
time out. Always a fan of just sort of setting the
camera down and letting the actors speak, Smith
has branched out this time around. And it works.
The directing is flawless, every shot is wonderful
and none of them take away from what really
matters — the performances.
“Jersey Girl” is full of heart. It makes you
realize that there are more important things in
life than your job or where you live. What’s real-
ly important is the people you come home to, the
people who care about you. When everything
else is stripped away, all you have left is family.
■
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Show, Mark. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 7, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 29, 2004, newspaper, September 29, 2004; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth500897/m1/3/?q=Lamar+University: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.