I've got a secret. And now I can shout it from the rooftops via The Eagle's new spiffy looking pages.
You see, while my 34-year work career has placed me face-to-face with some of sports' all-time greats, doing this -- telling the tale of local theater and the various other arts -- has always been solidly on my bucket list.
I've followed in legendary footsteps before and Jim Butler's are among the deepest. Like a grand choreographer, Jim kept us in step with the B-CS art scene for more than two decades, and in doing so, just added to the fun.
Now I get to keep an eye on the arts while keeping another eye on my terrific full-time gig at Bryan Broadcasting, a third eye on the Veterans of the Valley show on KAMU-TV, and my fourth eye on roaming the sidelines of Kyle and other fields for your weekly upclose report of fumbles, stumbles and crashing helmets.
I just turned 60, the age when men start to think about releasing jobs. I'm adding them!
I beckoned this freelance work because of my fervor for amateur musical theater. That's not a cue for directors to ask me to try out for anything; I won't. Can't sing, can't dance, can't act, can't teach anyone else to.
My theatrical credit is short. It was the summer of '57 and I played the title character in an off-Broadway production of St. George and the Dragon -- I was the nonhuman title character with no lines, only an occasional snort. Oh, and it wasn't THAT Broadway, it was my Sunday school class a block-and-a-half off Broadway in San Antonio.
Indeed, my fondness for low budget musical theater came from watching in amazement the most talented baritone performer I've ever known. His name was Bob Turbiville.
My big brother worked the Texas circuit with occasional flights to Kansas City and even New York once. He picked up an expense check now and then but essentially did it for the love of the game. And yeah, he was my brother, but he was good -- real good. He played male leads in The King and I, Carousel, Oklahoma, Most Happy Fella, Annie, South Pacific and four straight summer as General Santa Anna in the Galveston Outdoor Theater production of Lone Star -- just to name a few.
We lost Bob in 1999. He was only happy when on stage and, sadly, his passion for living did not match his passion for performing.
So I will dedicate this new venture to him and forgive me if I find myself picturing him in the roles I'll have the honor to see.
Now let's get on with it, the breadth of our local arts is vast and you deserve to know as much as possible. That's my job here.
It's a Carnaval!
New Orleans has Mardi Gras but in Europe and Central and South America, they call such celebrations Carnavals. The Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History brings the flavor of these events to us starting Monday and running through Oct. 23.
The exhibit was developed by the Museum of International Folk Art and will feature images, costume pieces and masks from various Carnaval performances all over the world.
The museum is attached to the Brazos Center on Briarcrest and its hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and students, and age 3 and younger is free.
Hispanics at Forsyth
Siempre! Hispanics at Texas A&M Celebrating 130 years is an exhibit that will spotlight the contributions of Hispanics to the university since the school opened in 1876. The Hispanic enrollment has grown every year and the last freshman class at A&M included more than 1,000 Hispanics.
Siempre! will be at the Forsyth Galleries at the Memorial Student Center from Tuesday through Dec. 14, and will portray Hispanics in student life, Corps of Cadets, athletics, food service workers, past and present faculty and staff, members of the Board of Regents and those in public and professional service.
Among those featured are Irma G. Alvarado, class of 1970, the earliest known Hispanic woman to graduate from A&M; and Hector Gutierrez Jr., class of 1969 and the first cadet Colonel of the Corps of Cadet.
The Big Band at Blinn
Houston's Ronnie Renfrow will bring his seven-piece Big Band to Blinn's W.W. O'Donnell Center in Brenham on Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. concert.
Renfrow has been a fixture on Houston's KQUE Radio for more than two decades. He describes his band's sound as Ballads, Blues and Classic Swing, Too.
You can even try before you buy by listening to sample cuts on his Web site, at www.nicework.com/renfro.
Tickets are $15 at the Blinn College Student Center or by calling 830-4024.
Treasure hunting
The cast is set and the curtain will rise on Stagecenter's next offering, The Adventures of Treasure Island, showing the next three Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
This account of treasure maps, mutiny on the high seas and pirate booty follows the race for fortune between the youthful James Hawkins and and the dastardly Long John Silver.
Steve Schlemmer directs Stagecenter regulars Chuck Beard, Deborah English and Larry Boozer, along with newcomers Jacob Ramirez, Allison Brown, Srikanth Sastry and Martin Codrington.
The show runs at 7:30 p.m. this Thursday through Saturday, and Sept. 18-20 and 25-27.
Save the Date
Sept. 14: Diane Bish in Concert at Christ UMC; Sept. 19: Rattletree Marimba-Zibabwean Road Show; Sept. 20: 22nd Library and Museum Collections Forum "Sinner, Saints and Spanish Colonial Influence"; Sept. 23-24: MSC OPAS presents Tuna Does Vegas; Sept. 26-28: 1st Magnolia Music Festival; Sept. 27: Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History Sporting Clay Shoot and Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day.
Tom Turbiville's e-mail address is tom.turbiville@theeagle.com.
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