UCSD to honor local blues icon Cheatham

By: PAM KRAGEN - Staff Writer | Wednesday, January 2, 2008 11:52 AM PST ∞

This month, UC San Diego is honoring the career and legacy of local blues icon Jeannie Cheatham, with a special art exhibit and an appearance and concert by Cheatham and friends.

Jeannie and her late husband, Jimmy Cheatham, who died in January of last year, were longtime fixtures on the local blues/jazz scene. The monthlong exhibit at UCSD's Geisel Library, "Jeannie Cheatham: My Life in Music" will feature photographs, archival items and excerpts from her autobiography. It runs through Jan. 31.

To kick off the exhibit, UCSD will host a reception for Cheatham from 4 to 5 p.m. Jan. 6 in the library's West Wing. Cheatham and friends will read excerpts from her autobiography, "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On," and the readings will be followed by a live concert.

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Every holiday season, San Francisco-based pianist Scott Pratt comes home to his native city of Escondido for the holidays, and the occasion is usually marked with a free concert for the community.

This year is no different, with Pratt ---- who teaches piano at San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Laney College of Oakland ---- scheduled to perform not one, but two, local concerts during his visit home.

Pratt's great-grandparents migrated to the Ramona area in a covered wagon in 1892. His grandfather, Arthur Earl Pratt, attended Ramona High around 1900 and his family ran a dairy in Ramona. Pratt himself grew up in Escondido and studied music at Palomar and MiraCosta colleges. He holds music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music.

The first concert takes place at 7 p.m. Jan. 3 at the Escondido Public Library. The "Music to Welcome the New Year" concert will feature works by Beethoven, Chopin, Poulenc and a special homage to Edith Piaf. The concert is at 239 S. Kalmia St. in Escondido. Call (760) 839-4601.

Pratt will also perform a more formal, full-length concert for the Ramona Concert Association at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 4 at Olive Pearce Middle School, on Hanson Lane in Ramona. The concert will include works by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin and Poulenc. And he'll also perform works from his new CD by composer Frank Levin called "San Francisco Souvenirs."

Tickets to the Ramona concert are $15 for adults and $5 for students and children. Call (760) 789-7474 for tickets.

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Bluegrass virtuoso musicians Rob Ickes and Joe Craven will make a rare dual appearance Jan. 4 for a concert at the Del Mar Powerhouse.

The concert, sponsored by the Del Mar Foundation and San Diego Bluegrass Society, is being billed as "Bluegrass and Beyond." Ickes has been named "Dobro Player of the Year" nine times by the International Bluegrass Society and was the youngest dobro player to appear on Sugar Hill's Grammy-winning 1994 CD "The Great Dobro Sessions." As part of the bluegrass group Blue Highway, Ickes has been twice nominated for the Bluegrass Album Grammy Award. His most recent recording effort was sitting in for Merle Haggard's 2007 "Bluegrass Sessions" CD.

Joining Ickes for the Del Mar concert will be fiddler/mandolinist Joe Craven, a 17-year veteran of the David Grisman Quintet.

Tickets to the concert are $20. For more information, call (858) 205-3834.

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Local sculptor Lynn Forbes has opened her own sculpture school in the city of Carlsbad.

The School of Sculpture at 300 Carlsbad Village Drive, Suite 102, will offer hands-on classes in figurative sculpting, teaching classical Greek expression through modern techniques.

The 1,500-square-foot sculpting studio will hold classes for up to 10 students at a time. It is being managed by Forbes' husband, Dr. Ralph O. Muncaster. Classes range in price from $35 for a three-hour session to $245 for a 10-week class.

Forbes has won many first-place honors in local sculpting competitions, including the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League's recent regional open juried exhibition. Her work is sold at La Bottega Dell'AcQuaforte in Laguna Beach and her own gallery. She is now at work on a 7-foot bronze sculpture, "Girl at Buena Vista," which will be installed at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Las Flores Road in Carlsbad Village.

For information about the school, call (949) 444-1926 or visit www.sculptureschool.net.

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The Ten Tenors, the Australian classical/pop ensemble of 10 opera/pop tenors performing music from the 17th century to the Beatles, were big ticket-sellers when they appeared in 2005 at the San Diego Civic Theatre.

A new American tour will bring the group back to the region on Feb. 10, when the dectet is slated to perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. Tickets for the 7 p.m concert are $40 to $55 and are now on sale. Call (800) 988-4353.

Pam Kragen is the entertainment editor of the North County Times.

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