My hometown newspaper did an article on me.

This is so Janis Joplin/The Rose. My east Texas hometown newspaper, the Buna Beacon, did a front page article on me in celebration of New World Waking.

by Juliee Beaver.

It has been almost 40 years since lyricist and composer Steve Schalchlin
graduated from Buna High School in 1971. A lot has changed since then,
but much has remained the same.

Roden Theatre closed its doors and the old elementary school has been torn
down, but the infamous Polka Dot House still stands.

Born in Arkansas, Steve Schalchlin, his brothers and parents moved here in
1968. Mother Carolyn worked as a nurse at the Buna Medical Center and his
father, Bro. Neil, pastored at Northside Missionary Baptist for 14 years.

His brother, David, enjoyed playing basketball while Steve worked at the local
Buna newspaper, East Texas News. In addition to taking photos and writing
stories for the paper, he also had a cartoon called "Leafy."

Steve's early musical development was in the church when his piano lessons
began at the age of seven. He wasn't a particularly good student. He hated
practicing his lessons and he couldn’t join a dance band since Baptists don’t
dance. But he did love rocking out the little church on Sundays until his mother
scolded him, "The church is not a rock group!"

On a full-ride scholarship to Jacksonville College near Tyler, he earned his AA
degree in Music Education and was chosen for vocal leads in the school's gospel
quartet, choir and mixed ensemble. He also wrote and sang with a gospel band

called "The Damascus Road" which released three albums.

Relocating to Dallas and moving on to lounge bookings and cabaret gigs, his music
career was taking off while he was slowly coming to terms with his attraction to
the same sex. Landing a job at a high class dinner theatre, he found his love of
storytelling was a perfect match and began writing for the stage shows.

A cruise ship performance led him to meet his now life partner, Jim Brochu. A job
offer for Jim from Hollywood brought the couple to Los Angeles. Steve dove head
first into his first love of writing songs by first volunteering and then quickly
becoming the managing director of the National Academy of Songwriters.

His job allowed him to lead workshops, seminars and fundraisers with some of
the biggest names in entertainment, including Stevie Wonder, Bacharach and
David. Whomever Schalchlin wanted to meet, he would just call and ask them
to do a seminar.

With Steve’s guidance, the Academy grew and pulled itself out of debt, adding
hundreds of hit songwriters to its membership. The year 1994 was bittersweet.
Though hugely successful, Steve was diagnosed with HIV and his progression
to full blown AIDS took about a year.

Given 12 months left to live, he began an online diary to keep his friends and family
appraised of his failing health. Miraculously responding to a last treatment option,
he found his ground-breaking "AIDS blog" had gained quite a following. Cited by
Wikipedia, Steve is regarded as one of the first HIV/AIDS bloggers. Impressive,
considering that very few people even had an email address back in 1996.

Regaining his strength, Schalchlin and his partner, Brochu, focused on their talents
and composed "The Last Session." The musical production was critically acclaimed
and was the first of many honors awarded to the couple for their cult smash off-
Broadway hit. Unbeknownst to Steve, he had also created the first website for an
off-Broadway show.

Citations of "Best L.A. Theatre Production," "Best Concert of a Musical," "Best Original
Writing," "Best Lead Actor," "Best Musical Director," "Best Musical," and "Best Score"
are just a few of the many accolades achieved by this dynamic duo for "The Last
Session," "Zero Hour" and "The Big Voice: God or Merman?"

Opening Dec. 1 at Davies Symphony Hall by the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is
Schalchlin’s next production, "New World Waking!" featuring special guest Piper Laurie
and special guest soloist Jennifer Holliday.

Today Schalchlin is alive and strong, but must strictly adhere to a regimen of pills
to maintain his health.

Looking back on his East Texas memories, Steve warmly acknowledges the differences
and similarities of days past. "I know people in Buna probably don’t understand, or may
have difficulty with the fact that I’m gay, but I’ve always felt like people there are
smart and compassionate."

He further elaborated, "In my time, no one had a lot of money, but they taught me

generosity of heart, and what it means to truly love your neighbor."

Steve still resides in Los Angeles and his parents now live in West Monroe, LA. Go to
www.bonusroundblog.blogspot.com to view Schalchlin’s video footage of early 1990s Buna.