4 O' Clock Friday Redeems Itself

I ragged on the new changes to the concerts after the Del Mar races. And I stand by what I said because the new rules are truly ridiculous. I also found out that the Saturday concerts are now 18 and older...which makes absolutely no sense and would have completely enraged my high school self.

With Jimmy Cliff (who brought Club Paradise, one of my all-time favorite movies, to life) playing last night, I decided to give the concerts another shot and went with my mom and my sixteen-year-old sister.

Based on the tragedy of the Cake concert, we planned to leave at 5 p.m. instead of 6:30 p.m. Luck was on our side because we were able to park in the nice, main lot for $10. Not free, but a lot more reasonable than $20. We then learned from a security guard that we didn't even need to buy the $10 race ticket to get in. All we had to do was walk down to the main gate and it would be $6. Amazing. We arrived so early that we were even able to watch the last couple of races and secure an incredible second row position in front of the stage.

Jimmy Cliff is incredible on stage. He was wearing a bedazzled headband, an all-leather black and red suit a la Eddie Murphey, and a red, green and yellow scarf. The music itself was so much fun to dance to. It was upbeat, positive and beautifully crafted. He is by far the most adorable man I have ever seen. He was flailing his arms, moving all across the stage, high kicking, doing faux tai chi moves and genuinely enjoying himself the whole time. His joy and happiness was truly infectious.

4 o'clock Friday, you better write Jimmy Cliff a really nice letter. I forgive you.

A Free Concert Shouldn't Cost $40

I remember in high school always looking forward to the free concerts after the Del Mar races in summer. Seeing as I had even less money in high school than I do now, it was a very exciting prospect for a Friday or Saturday night. It's how I was able to see Billy Idol (amazing with a costume change every song and then downright near nakedness), Cake, The B-52s, The English Beat, The Violent Femmes, Flaming Lips...I could go on and on. Even parking was free if you got there late enough. And usually by that time all of the guards had abandoned their posts, opened up the gates and allowed the masses to just pour in.

It was the most amazing concert series. I haven't been in a couple of years though and assumed that nothing had changed. I tried to go to see Cake (who I'm not even really that into, but hey, a free concert is a free concert) and was met with a big surprise. Not only was parking between $10 (for the dirt lot across the street) and $25 (for the cush, paved lot), but the new rule is if you arrive too late, tickets are $20 to get in. Usually it's the price of a ticket to the races, which is $10. Or, as I said, for those of us in the know, just show up late and pay nothing. I'm a little disgusted and saddened that they're trying to turn a profit on the concerts now. Half of the appeal is that you can get in for practically no money. When it came down to it, we flipped a bitch and left because I don't like Cake enough to shell out $40 plus to see them in concert. Again. In fact, $40 is asking a lot to see most bands where you're standing on a dirt infield next to all the sweaty drunks spilling out from the Beerfest next door.