The Saga of the Dust Bowl

Yes. The venue for Rock the Bells was changed to one of my least favorite places in the world. The Hyundai Pavillion at Glen Helen. The name sounds friendly enough. I mean, I have nothing against Hyundais or Pavillions.

We call the Hyundai Pavillion the Dust Bowl. We vowed a few years back, after spending the day in the Dust Bowl... without shade or easy access to viable food or water... that we would never go again. Well, we went again. Now, not even Rage Against the Machine will draw us back!

Upon our arrival, I remained optimistic about our excursion. We had VIP tickets. We were going to have a glorious air conditioned, shaded tent that we could hang out in. We would be showered with VIP ammenities, like a cool Rock the Bells back pack. Once we checked in, all those things came true. We were chilling out in the tent on leather sofas, drinking pretty decent 'concert' Margaritas, listening to the artists talking to the fans. We went out to the 'upgraded' food stands and got a couple burritos. They were delicious. After a little while, we decided we'd go walk around the performance area with our 'ALL ACCESS PASS'. This is where the night took the first turn for the worse.

We went to the Orchestra Pit access. At the Dust Bowl, this is the closest you can get. Only VIPs are supposed to be in there but the area had been closed by the fire marshal because there were too many people in there. A quick look down into the area revealed that the people there were not VIP ticket holders, as they had no wrist bands on. We were told we can access the area through another entrance and were told to go there. We found space to cram ourselves into a small walkway that provided us a view that was completely obstructed by a huge pillar speaker / monitor stand. We waited in the area for Wu-Tang Clan to finish up, and then the crowd loosened up a bit and we got closer... but we were still restricted from accessing the lower loge area, and more importantly, were not permitted access to the Orchestra Pit section. In other words, the promoters of this concert basically committed FRAUD! We were simply not permitted to enter areas we had every right to be.

Then, the night took an even worse turn!! (Yes, this is a saga series blog entry!!)

When Rage Against the Machine was about to take the stage, we encountered exceptionally rude assholes. First, a guy was digging his nails into my arm trying to move me to squeeze his way past. (For those of you who have been in a mosh pit, you can understand how hard it is to move forward). I told the guy, quite forcibly, to stop grabbing me. He of course acted really tough. Seconds later, someone tried to push pass Princess. Quite forcibly. The man kept saying, "My Father is right there!" There was no room for him to move through, his Father reached past Princess and started to try to pull him through. (The 'son' was about a 300 pounder!) This was followed by Princess' # 1 self defense mechanism... her BLOOD CURDLING SCREAM! The man then proceeded to verbally assault her and squared off like he wanted to physically assault her!! (Princess is a tiny 100 pounder)

Here we go... it takes another WORSE turn!

When the lights went down, and everyone behind us yelling the traditional 'pit' chant "RUSH THE STAGE, RUSH THE STAGE" -- Then, the expected crown surge came, where the people in the back begin to push everyone, with hopes of loosening up the crowd and forcible moving any security barricades that are up. Then, the event staff sprayed MACE on the entire area we were in. The people in the front were basically maced right in the face. This loosened up the crowd even more and just made the surge more successful.

Now, let's go over that again. The event staff, at a concert, making most likely close to minimum wage, are now empowered to spray MACE on people? Although we weren't close, we definitely felt it, and we were not doing anything but trying to survive in the crowd surge.

The event staff, provided by a company called Contemporary Services Corporation, have absolutely no right to use any type of weapons against people who paid to be at an event. The fact they feel empowered to do so is an example of the type of bullshit that our society has learned to put up with.

I wonder what Damon Zumwalt, the President and CEO of Contemporary Services Corporation, would have to say about it? Give him a call at 818-885-5150 and ask him how he would like to pay $160 to be maced in the face.

(No, neither Princess or I wasn't maced in the face, but other people with wrist bands were.)

To be continued...