Claremont Insider: Packing House Weekend Event

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Packing House Weekend Event


Although the Rotary's Taste of Claremont managed to avoid a scheduling conflict with the Claremont Folk Music Center's annual folk fest, they still left locals having to choose between supporting the Rotary's fundraiser and a concert at the Packing House.

Tremoloco, an LA-based band that played at the Folk Center in January, is appearing at the Packing House Saturday, April 18. The event is sponsored by the Claremont Forum, and the money raised will help support the Forum's good works.

Tickets for the event are available at the Forum's Thoreau Bookstore, located in the Claremont Packing House at 586 W. 1st St. Tickets are $10, and the doors open for the event at 7pm Saturday evening. The concert begins at 7:30. Call the Forum at (909) 626-3066 for more information.

We didn't make it to the January Tremoloco concert, but some friends of the Insider did get over there, and they say it was an excellent concert, blending some delta blues, Tex-Mex, and country music with a side of jazz thrown in. We hear the lead guitarist, Bob Robles, was fabulous.

Robles' bio, by the way, says he's the son of the 1950's singer/songwriter/actor Lalo Robles, who appeared in a number of movies, including Rio Bravo, East of Eden, and Pillow Talk - about as eclectic a triple bill as you could conjure up.

Rick Shea, a local San Berdo musician who started out playing in the 1970's around the same time as Mary McCaslin and Jim Ringer (two other semi-famous San Bernardino natives), will be playing as well. Shea opened for Tremoloco at the Folk Music Center back in January, playing a mix of Merle Haggard/Bakersfield-style country, blues, and Norteno music.

That San Bernardino music scene, we hear, was pretty lively at one time, and Mary MacCaslin was probably the biggest of them all. MacCaslin did some nice covers of Beatles songs like "Blackbird" and "Things We Said Today." She also penned a number of memorable songs, including "The Bramble and the Rose":

See how the bramble and the rose interwine
Love grows like the bramble and the rose
'Round each other we will twine

If $60 for a Taste of Claremont ticket will break your budget, try to get over to see Rick Shea and Tremoloco. You won't see a better concert for the money.