Music on tap in second half of October

Grossmont Jazz Ensemble and Afro-Cuban Ensemble – Double Feature

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013  7:30PM – 9:30PM

Come join us for what promises to be an exciting evening of Jazz, displaying the many talents of our Grossmont Music Department students under the direction of John Reynolds and Derek Cannon.  The varied selection of music will span from Classic Jazz to the vibrant Afro-Cuban jazz, showcased in a venue that caters to the live jazz experience.  Dizzy’s Jazz Club offers an environment for the whole family to enjoy quality music without the bar scene or the distraction of TV’s.  Don’t miss it!

Dizzy’s Jazz

4275 Mission Bay Drive

Pacific Beach 92109

(in the showroom of San Diego Jet Ski Rentals)

(858) 270-7467

Admission (CASH ONLY):   $15 cover charge; $10 for students with I.D.

ALL AGES WELCOME

Tickets are available at the door on the evening of the event and will go on sale approximately one hour before show time.

Plenty of FREE parking in the front of the business.

Please visit the website “dizzysjazz.com” for additional directions to the location.

“Guitar Fantasy” Robert Wetzel, solo classical guitar

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013 – 8:00PM

Robert Wetzel, one of Grossmont College’s highly skilled guitar instructor’s, will bring you gorgeous classical compositions for guitar which are sure to delight the senses and warm the soul.

Cuyamaca College

900 Rancho San Diego Parkway, El Cajon

Performing Arts Theatre B-117

Admission at the door:

$10 general, $8 seniors, $5 students

“Tropical Sounds”  The Manny Cepeda Orchestra with guest Derek Cannon

Fundraiser for Grossmont College Music Scholarship program

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2013 – 6:45PM

Come enjoy some of the most exciting music around and support our Music Scholarship program, which will receive 100 percent of all proceeds. Manny Cepeda and Derek Cannon, both superb Grossmont instructors,  bring their exceptional talents in the music of Salsa, Merengue, Cha-Cha and the like, and will surely make you want to get up and dance. We will be providing a dance floor, so bring your dancing shoes!  This event follows the sold out Culinary Event on this evening, but everyone is welcome to join us for only a $10 admission fee.

Grossmont College

8800 Grossmont College Dr. El Cajon, 92020

Griffin Gate – Building 60, Room 180A

$10 at the door (included in the $30 Culinary Package price)

“Reflections of Two Guitars in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean” Odeum Guitar Duo -- Fred Benedetti and Robert Wetzel, classical guitars

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013 – 8:00PM

This acclaimed duo, both guitar instructors at Grossmont College, will bring a variety of sensational compositions from different periods and cultural influences.  Many years of this duo performing together will showcase their phenomenal abilities and expressive techniques working in tandem.

Grossmont College

8800 Grossmont College Dr. El Cajon, 92020

Building 26, Room 221

Admission at the door:

$10 general, $8 seniors, $5 students

Choral and Orchestral Mass:  Grossmont Symphony Orchestra and Grossmont Master Chorale

Special guests:   San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) and Grossmont Symphony Woodwind Quintet

Repertoire includes Berlioz’ Symphonie Triomphale et Funèbre, a ten year anniversary celebration of the July Revolution and rise to power of Louis-Philippe, and Anton Bruckner’s Mass No. 2 in E Minor, WAB 27, a hauntingly beautiful and majestic Mass.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013 – 8:00PM   Performance 1

St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church

7710 El Cajon Blvd, La Mesa, CA

Admission:  Free-Will Offering

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2013 – 2:00PM  Performance 2

All Saints Episcopal Church

625 Pennsylvania Ave, San Diego, CA

(6^th and Pennsylvania Avenues, Hillcrest)

Admission:  Free-Will Offering

Nutritionist to inaugurate 'One Campus, One Book' lecture series

EL CAJON -- Prof. Christine Zoumas, a nutritionist whose research specialty is foods that fight cancer, says your mother was right. Eat your vegetables and get plenty of exercise!

Zoumas will be the inaugural speaker in an interdisciplinary lecture series at Grossmont College this semester to complement the campus-wide reading of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, authored by Siddhartha Mukherjee. Zoumas's 12:30 p.m. lecture, Thursday, Oct. 24, in Griffin Gate will be followed on Nov. 7 by Allison Shearer, who will discuss "The Biology of Cancer and Cancer Research" and on Nov. 21 by Pete Schmidt, who will lecture on "Tobacco Smoking and 20th Century American Visual Culture." Other events including art exhibits, a debate, and documentary film production will be part of Grossmont College's continuing "One Campus, One Book" program.

In an interview, Zoumas said that cancers start from a single cell that undergoes many changes.  Through the process of mutation, some of these changes permanently alter the DNA. "We are lucky that our body has many defense strategies for making sure these cells do not get a chance to reproduce," she says. "The food we eat can play an important part in these defense mechanisms.  Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables such as brussel sprouts, rapini, green and red cabbage, cauliflower and white turnips are helpful not only in preventing the initiation of cancer, but also have properties that may address the cancer growth."

She said that other fruits and vegetables that may help the body to resist the initiation of cancer include apples;  blueberries;  cherries; coffee; cranberries;  flaxseed;  grapefruit; legumes such as dry beans, peas and lentils; soy; squash;  berries; dark green leafy vegetables; garlic;  grapes and grape juice;  green tea; tomatoes and whole grains.

Vegetables and fruits with eye-arresting colors - such as red and yellow peppers, or various colored squashes, orange carrots, red tomatoes  - contain phytochemicals which aid to prevent the initiation of cancers.

In an interview, Zoumas stated that there is overwhelming evidence that maintaining a healthy body weight, being physically active and eating smarter can greatly reduce the risk of many cancers.  "Eating smarter includes a diet high in plant-based foods, including a variety of fruits and vegetables and whole grains," Zoumas said.  "Research also indicates that limiting consumption of red meats, alcohol and added sugars and fats can also reduce the risk for cancer."

Zoumas is a professor of nutrition both at Grossmont College and at the UCSD Medical School.   She said she is acutely aware of cancer because her father died of pancreatic cancer when he was 69 and her mother developed breast cancer at 49.   She said she makes it a point to follow a regimen that greatly increases her chances of warding off cancer.

This includes incorporating numerous fruits and vegetables into her diet, even though she is not particularly a fan of fruit and vegetables. Accordingly, she said, she "sneaks them in" to her diet in "fun ways," such as by mixing up shakes and smoothies, or roasting peppers and putting them onto bread.  She loads her spinach salads with walnuts and cranberries and a little bit of blue cheese.

"You have to eat what you like, what you can get, and what you will stick to," she said.

Zoumas also exercises daily, but varies her routine to relieve boredom. On some days she works out on the elliptical machine, usually with a friend besides her, because she is gregarious.  On weekends, she likes to take long hikes in Torrey Pines State Park, and on other days she goes to group classes like Zumba.  "I love doing all these things!" she said.

The nutritionist said that she doesn't diet, but that she is food-conscious, incorporating cancer fighters into her diet whenever she can, and also, to the extent possible, avoiding added fats, sugars and
watching her calories.   She said that maintaining a healthy weight along with exercise and diet could prevent about one-third of most common cancers.

"Cancer does not develop overnight.  Some cancers take a long time to develop and in many instances may take years.  The bottom line is that it is never too late to start making healthy choices that may slow or halt the cancer process and decrease the risk of cancer in one's future," she said.

-DHH-

Transformed student actors star in ‘Pygmalion’ Oct. 3-12

EL CAJON – Pygmalion, the George Bernard Shaw play that is based on an old Greek myth about a sculptor who fell in love with his statue of a woman which then came to life, will have opening night at the Stagehouse Theatre at Grossmont College at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 3, and will be presented seven more times through Oct. 12.

Director Jeannette Thomas  was asked in an interview whether she, as a theatre arts instructor, ever feels  that, like that ancient Greek sculptor,  her work has helped bring  student acting careers to life.

She answered modestly.  “Sometimes you see a student that you have had as a beginning actor, and they’ve been in the program for a while and they audition for you, and you give them the lead role and you watch how they’ve grown.   It is really great to see how they’ve grown from the beginning to where they are now.”

The two leads in Pygmalion— Derek San Filippo as Henry Higgins and Hannah Hedgecock as Eliza Doolittle—are at different stages in their careers, yet they play very well off each other, according to Thomas.  While Hedgecock has appeared in several productions and is nearly ready to graduate from the theatre arts program, this is only the second time that San Filippo has appeared on stage.  The last time was in the comparatively minor role of Zeus in the play The Odyssey.

Nevertheless, said Thomas, “his understanding of the character is spot-on.  He understands Higgins exactly right.”   Many people who have watched My Fair Lady, the musical based on Pygmalion, perhaps picture Rex Harrison in the role.  As Thomas evaluates the character, Higgins “is brilliant, driven and focused on what it is he wants to do – in this case it is phonetics and the universal language he wants to develop.  Because of that, everything else falls by the wayside, not because he wants to be mean, or rude, or to ignore other people.”

During auditions, Hedgecock nailed down the role of Eliza Doolittle, the lower class flower vendor whom Higgins transforms into a British lady, byHege being able to switch easily from “the very hard Cockney accent” of the flower vendor to the cultured accent of the “prim and proper” lady that Doolittle becomes.  “She was able to make that distinction between the two far better than anyone else,” said her director.  “She is really great.”

For Thomas, the fact that many people know the story of Henry and Eliza from the movie and stage versions of My Fair Lady presented an interesting problem.  Shaw’s Pygmalion has a different ending, and Thomas was determined to remain true to the playwright.  The ending as Shaw wrote it leaves the question of the future relationship between Henry and Eliza an open question, whereas in My Fair Lady they realize their attraction for each other.  Interestingly, Shaw in a reflection following the production of Pygmalion, said he thought Eliza eventually would marry another character, Freddy.  Audiences at the Stagehouse Theatre, commented Thomas with a mischievous smile, will have the opportunity to decide for themselves.

In the movie, an unforgettable scene was when the newly prim Eliza accompanies a refined group to the race track, where she gets caught up in the competition and screams at the horse she bet on, “Move Your Bloomin’ Arse,” much to the horror of her companions.   There is no such scene in Pygmalion, but there is a scene that nevertheless shocked Victorian audiences.  At the home of Henry’s mother, Eliza is asked if she plans to walk across the park.  “Not bloody likely!” Eliza responds.  In those days “bloody” was considered a curse word, tantamount to “dropping the F-bomb in church,” Thomas commented.   The director said we should all watch for that scene.

Another challenge for the production is the Stagehouse Theatre’s relatively small stage, which needed to accommodate three different sets – the interiors of Henry Higgins’ home and the home of his mother, and the exterior of St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Thomas gave credit to set designer Craig Everett for solving that problem.

Eliza Doolittle is not the only character in the play who speaks with an accent, Thomas noted.  Brian Rickle was brought in to help other actors in the production speak in a variety of accents, including high British, Cockney and Irish.

Accents were very important in George Bernard Shaw’s day, and perhaps still are.  “We still classify people,” Thomas commented.  “In some ways we have it in the States.  If we hear someone with a southern drawl, or a crisp New England accent, we may think things about them, regardless of who they might be.   I like Eliza’s line: ‘The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves but how she is treated!’”

Thomas said “that idea of self-respect is something I would like people to take away from the play.  Maybe we need to treat each other with a little kindness.”

Tickets for the plays may be obtained via the box office at (619) 644-7267.  Play dates are 7:30 p.m. Oct 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, and 12, with additional Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., Oct. 5, and 12.

-DHH-
 

Bike ride will memorialize Gordy Shields

EL CAJON -- Agustin Albarran, Grossmont College's dean of English and Behavioral/ Social Sciences, and Pat Murray, a health science technician, will lead an 11 a.m., Friday, Oct. 25th bicycle ride in memory of Gordy Shields from the front of Building 10 to the Fletcher Hills Library,576 Garfield Ave, El Cajon, a round trip ride of approximately four miles.

Shields, who served as a counseling instructor at Grossmont College from 1965 to 1979, is one of six people honored in the "San Diego Legends" exhibit created by the San Diego County Library and Aging and Independence Services.

An 11:30 a.m. ceremony at the library will celebrate Shields'advocacy and accomplishments for the creation of bike paths throughout San Diego County.



One of the panels in the library exhibit states: "Gordy Shields represented the very best in civic engagement. He kept busy throughout his retirement by setting national bicycle racing records and advocating for local bicyclist's rights. Gordy picked up cycling when he was fifty, and raced against the likes of Lance Armstrong, was a four-time national champion, and earned a total of 36 gold medals. But he was never just in it for the win. Gordy was a leader, advocating tirelessly for bike lanes and the importance of sharing the road. Through his efforts, 14 out of 19 miles of the Bay Shore Bikeway were completed, including the Coronado Bridge. Gordy passed away on June 30, 2013, at the age of 95."

Following the ceremony, the bikers will return at approximately 12:30 to Grossmont College.

Those interested in joining the bike ride and attending the library ceremony are encouraged to contact Pat Murray at 619-644-7316.

-DHH-

  

Panel to Discuss Living Through a Big Earthquake

EL CAJON—Do you know what to do if a big earthquake hits?

All over the state at 10:17 a.m., on Thursday, Oct 17th, public institutions including Grossmont College, will observe the Great California Shake-Out.  This will involve practicing the steps people should take if they suddenly find themselves in a large, shaking quake. 

To prepare for the drill, a panel discussion will be held one week before, at noon, Thursday, October 10, in the Griffin Gate meeting room in Building 10.

Panelists will include Earth Sciences Prof. Tim Cliffe, who will discuss the Richter Scale and the tectonics responsible for faults and earthquakes; former radio traffic reporter Monica Zech, who is now a spokesperson for the City of El Cajon, who will discuss earthquake safety; and student Yuta Takahashi, who will tell his experiences as a rescue worker following the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that wreaked destruction on Japan in March 2011.

-DHH-