GOOGLE Lies Or My First Show At The Glasshouse

GOOGLE lies.  I thought I could trust them.  I had faith that their directions would get me to where I was going, guess that explains how I find myself driving down the Pomona Freeway heading out to Riverside when where I want to go is miles and miles in the opposite direction.  The directions I wrote down were simple enough.  Pomona Freeway East to the San Bernardino Freeway East exit Garey/Orange Grove Right Right at W. 2nd Blvd.  If you have half a mind for directions you already know there’s a mistake somewhere in that and it completely explains why I had to stop at a Target in Eastvale to consult a map.

My first stop is the Santa Anita Racetrack for Law Enforcement Day.  My mother, who works at the Inmate Reception Center, gave me a ticket to get into the park for the day.  Friends of mine have said some good things about the place--I have been there before but I was little more than a child at the time--so I wanted to take the chance to check the place out.  Now I don’t need GOOGLE to get to the Santa Anita Racetrack; I’ve been down in the area a few times to eat at a great dumpling place nearby.  I’m relatively familiar with the area and I have confidence that I can find a giant thing like a racetrack without much trouble, but I use GOOGLE anyway.

Without the free admission and parking, going to Santa Anita would have been about ten bucks more expensive for me.  And since I’m no fan of gambling or horses--though I wouldn’t be against eating horsemeat--I really wouldn’t go to Santa Anita.  Still, I’m there and I want to explore the extent of the place.  I greet my mother, aunt, and cousin Ganda.  I have a $6.50 Pacifco to pass the time until my cousin is ready to head out into the park proper to try her hand at betting on the ponies.

When we get to walking about, I notice the sheer scope of the the racetrack.  Through a tunnel we come out to the grandstand where we catch the end of the first or second race.  There’s some dispute to the order of finish, and when the results are posted cheers and groans flow through the crowd around us.  With twenty minutes or so until the next race, I explain to Ganda the basic principles of parimutuel betting.  It’s a simple concept that she grasps readily, but when I try to explain the basics of odds, she’s a little bit lost.  I let it go because it’s not necessary for her to really understand if all she wants to do is make a couple of small bets.  

We head into the space underneath the grandstands and walk around all the betting windows.  I don’t get to walk all around the place, but I’m sure I’m not missing anything but more of the same crowds of people carousing and betting.  I do note how freely everyone here smokes.  That alone is something rather cool, there aren’t any designated smokers ghettos where we are forced to gather to enjoy a bit of tobacco.  I get the feeling we can smoke anywhere we please for the most part except in clearly designated areas where we cannot.  Still as I walk through those places I can still smell the scent of fresh tobacco smoke.

The next race is set to start so we head back to the rail where I challenge Ganda to pick a horse and see how she does.  We watch the horses strut awhile before they take their places and the race begins.  They race past us and through the turn and around the bend and somewhere to our left out of our sight the race ends.  Ganda’s pick places.  That’s more than enough of that for me, so we had back to the Law Enforcement Day area.

I pick up some Space Dots ice cream before we settle back to the table.  I’ve got a couple of hours to kill so I do some reading until more of my cousins and their kids arrive.  Now we are seven or eight at the table and I’m talking to another cousin Dartanyum who’s still in either grade school or early junior high.  He’s not much of a talker but I promise him Space Dots if he eats some chicken and mashed potatoes.

While I wait for Dartanyum to finish his food the next race is gearing up and Ganda wants to make a bet.  We head out to the betting windows right next to the picnic area.  She’s going to do a Pick Six.  I know it’s a sucker’s bet, but a mark has got be a mark I suppose.  She gets her ticket just as the race begins.  We watch the board to see how the race is progressing because we can’t get to the rail before the race ends.  It doesn’t take long before my cousin’s first pick is out of the running and by race’s end her pick comes in at seven or eight.  I wait for her to tear up her now worthless ticket.  She doesn’t but I figure she’s keeping it as a souvenir.  When I see her the following day she explains that she didn’t know that her ticket was worthless.  I guess I failed to properly explain how the Pick Six bet works.

Back at the table, Dartanyum is done eating and his sister wants to go out to the kid’s midway and playground.  We follow them out but head to the Space Dots stand before rejoining them.  I ask him if he wants to try any of these midway games, but he casually says that they’re all fixed anyway.  You know how jaded these young kids these days get; all worldly and knowing they are.  I challenge him a bit and ask him how each of these games are fixed.  He makes some correct and incorrect guesses.  Then I ask him what the actual chances that any of these games are fixed.  He says low and I ask him why would they be low.  He says because these are for kids.  It’s a well reasoned and well spoken conversation.  I leave him to spend the rest of the afternoon with the family and head back to the table because now it’s time for me to head out again.

I bid farewell to everyone and climb back into my car.  My next stop is Frank and Sons Collectible Show over in Industry.  I just need to pick up some sleeves and a box for my sister’s belated birthday present.  If you are at all interested in any thing geek/pop culture or sports memorabilia then you must plan to check this place out sometime.  You must go unless you are particularly weak and undisciplined.  This Frank and Sons will rob you of your hard earned money and you’ll thank them for every great deal you find.  This is where I pick up my boxes for MTG.  I save ten bucks off retail.

I’ve been to Frank and Sons so many times there’s little chance I’ll get lost, but I’m not sure which freeway to choose that connects the 210 to the 60 so I check Google and I find that it’s the 605.  It’s a lot easier for me and cheaper too to take the bus out to this place, but I’ve got one more stop to make after so driving makes more sense.  I arrive with about an hour or so before the whole show shuts down for the day.  Parking is a bit of hassle, but it’s late enough for there to be a few people leaving.  I walk through the side door and I grit my teeth preparing myself to ignore all the booths except for the one booth that sells sleeves.  I do pass by the booth that sells MTG boxes and I can’t help myself.  I stop to ask them if they have any packs of Mirrodin Besieged and New Phyrexia.  I’ve got a couple of packs of Scars of Mirrodin lying around my room gathering dust; I just need ten more packs to have two sealed sets.  Luckily they’re sold out and I get away without spending any money on that or five dollar packs of Time Spiral.  I may not let my eyes linger on the tables of graphic novels priced to move, but I know they’re there.  I just tell myself I can find things like that downtown at the Central Library.  I finally make it to where I’m going and make my purchase.  And with that I’m out the door and back in my car.

On the road again and I’ve got about an hour and half before I need to be at the Glasshouse.  If I’m early I plan to just hangout somewhere until my friends Tony and Kendrick arrive.  It’s nice to make plans on the off chance I arrive early; it’s not so nice to have to turn around and back track so many times before finally figuring out how to get where I’m going.  Suffice it say I don’t arrive early to the Glasshouse.  I get there, park, and just as I’m crossing the street I see Kendrick and Tony unloading their gear.

Tony’s at the show to document the band In Colour.  Kendrick is another set of hands for a second camera.  Me, I’m just happy to finally get out to the Glasshouse.  I do end up with a task though; I have to make sure the Macbook hooked into the soundboard doesn’t turn off.  It’s the least I could do for a free ticket to a show.

I walk into the Glasshouse expecting something like the Troubadour or The Roxy; I’m expecting a classic music venue along those lines except for the fact that it’s been mistakenly transported to Pomona.  For the most part my expectations are validated.  It’s nicely sized with a reasonably large stage.  High ceilings give the spot an airy feel; there’s no sense of crampedness.  I can imagine a big crowd in here; I might even still feel comfortable here unlike nights at the Troubadour where I felt suffocated by the sheer mass of bodies.  It reminds me most of the defunct Ruby formerly The World over in Hollywood.  It also has a balcony to explore.  After properly exploring the Glasshouse I pass the time with Kendrick and Tony until I decide I need some refreshment.  I check out the snack bar where I’m confronted by the fact that the Glasshouse is a dry establishment.  GASP.  I tell my friends I’m heading out to “explore” and that I’ll be back.

From what I can see the majority of the businesses on 2nd Street are closed.  I do note an open bookstore and a bakery.  Also about a block away Social Distortion is playing to a packed house at the Fox Theater.  There’s the sound of light jazz music playing.  I follow it passing too many beauty schools to count--Why would any town especially Pomona need so many beauty schools?  It’s a mystery.--and discover a small Jazz thing happening.  I hang back there a spell just listening until I start to wandering again.  Before I left Tony had asked me if I had gum, I told him I’d try to find him some.  Unfortunately I don’t see anything remotely like a Rite Aid or CVS nearby.  Really Pomona?  Where’s the love for convenience stores where a guy can buy a pack of smokes and some gum.  I do remember passing a couple of gas stations on my way in on Garey.  I don’t have anything better to do so I decide to walk the three or four blocks or so to pick up smokes and gum.

I walk past Joey’s Barbecue; it’s well lit and relatively uncrowded for a bar.  I’ll stop there for a beer before I head back to the Glasshouse.  Unfortunately I pick the wrong side of Garey.  I walk under the train tracks and walk up a flight of stairs and find myself at the Metrolink Station.  I walk around some but can’t find a way out of the station that leads back to Garey without taking a wide circle detour.  Shrugging I start back to Joey’s Barbecue and order a Dubbel Fist; the name spoke to me.  I sip it all away and smoke a cigarette before returning to the Glasshouse.

There’s music playing now, but the first band is noisy and too hardcore for my taste.  They’re not particular good either, so I can’t even appreciate their musicianship.  I wait out their set outside chain smoking.  When I get back inside another band is playing.  This one’s just a little bit better or at the least not bad enough to drive me outside.  They sound a lot like 400 Blows, but with a better lead singer who’s ample stage presence is interesting enough to keep and hold my attention.  The band finishes their set and Tony finds me to tell me that the band he’s shooting is up next.  I watch them fuss with their gear and they talk about their plans to shoot the stage from both sides.  I tell Tony he should try to get some shots from the balcony.  It’s a run for him, but I think it should be worth it.

When In Colour takes the stage I’m surprised to find that they are all a bunch of fresh faced suburbanites.  They are not the regular hipsters and scenesters I’m used to seeing onstage.  I don’t see their lead singer before they begin playing a tight set of instrumental rock songs a la Explosions In The Sky.  It’s bluesy and groovy; it’s like listening to the best bar band you can imagine.  They’ve got some chops; even the veteran sound guy agreed that they showed potential.  I’m sure he’s not easy to impress.  After the set of instrumentals, I’m expecting them to start off on their other original material this time with vocals, but instead they give us something comforting: a cover song.  Bands with more experience and ego might hesitate to give the crowd a cover of Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll, but bands who truly care about the crowd will throw us a bone every once in a while.  It makes for a perfect transition to second half of their set.  Kiana, their lead singer,  puts out a fine effort on Rock and Roll, but she truly shines on In Colour’s other songs.  She has a fine stage presence that I find entrancing.  Someone compared her to Fergie, but I didn’t think that comparison apt.  It took me a while but I finally saw her similarities to other female vocalists like Benatar and Hynde of the Pretenders.  I can just imagine In Colour doing a cover of Brass in Pocket as Kiana struts defiantly around the stage.  Their instrumentals can be found at http://betweenthespent.bandcamp.com/album/initio.  Sadly I could not find their other material, but they are playing tonight on leap day http://www.facebook.com/events/216071401822869/.  I expect I’ll go to hear them again and firmly solidify my opinion of them.

In Colour’s set ends and both Tony and Kendrick are exhausted from their efforts.  They’ve been running around the Glasshouse while I was standing behind a computer enjoying the show.  They pack up and put away their gear.  I finally get a fresh pack of cigarettes and gum.  We have a couple of rounds in Pomona; sadly Joey’s Barbecue closed at the ridiculous hour of nine.  So we end up at the bar adjoining The Glasshouse.  It’s one of those postmodern deals with exposed brick everywhere.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they had exposed brick toilets in the bathroom.  We three wind down before heading back to the city for a well deserved--at least for Kendrick and Tony--rest.

The next day I double check the GOOGLE directions and I discover how badly I was mistaken when I wrote them down.  My bad...I just have to be more careful writing down directions.