The Sound of Music

Like many others in the valley, I’m looking forward to seeing “The Sound of Music” at Highlands Church (formerly La Crescenta Baptist Church) at 4441 La Crescenta Ave. from Aug. 4-12. (For more information see the ad in this week’s paper or visit www.highlandsla.com.) However, on Monday Steve and I headed to Highland (is there a theme here?), California to the theatre in Yaamava’ Casino (formerly San Manuel Casino) to see Train in concert.

I had never been to Yaamava’ Casino before so let me start with an overview of the venue.

It was super. The seats were comfortable and plush. The venue itself isn’t too big so wherever people sit they’re pretty much guaranteed a good seat. Also, ticket prices weren’t exorbitant (remember I’ve seen Foo Fighters in concert before and those tickets are pricey).

The theatre is inside the casino, too. That’s nice because unlike the theatre at Fantasy Springs Casino, which is located in a building outside of the casino, you don’t cook if waiting in line to gain access to the theatre. Of course, the flip side of that is ticketholders have to hunt their way through the casino to find the theatre.

More than once Steve commented on the high quality of the sound we heard, too.

For those unfamiliar, Train is a pop band that is fun to listen to. Songs that may ring a bell include “Hey, Soul Sister,” “Drops of Jupiter” and “Meet Virginia,” among many others. Its first hit was in 1998, so they’ve been around a while. But they’re still active; in fact, their latest soon-to-be hit “I Know” was released this year.

We stayed at the new Home2 Suites in San Bernardino. The cost of a room at Yaamava was, for us, cost prohibitive. However, Home2 Suites was super. It was about a 15-minute drive to Yaamava’ and the hotel was beautifully appointed. Our room was large; it had a microwave, a large refrigerator and coffee maker along with a flat screen TV. It obviously was outfitted for long-term guests as there were glass cups and plates as well as steel flatware near a sink. Breakfast was provided downstairs, too (I had a waffle that I made myself). The pool is still under construction, but that didn’t bother us because we were only staying overnight. I would definitely go back.

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Just a quick shout-out to the City of Glendale and C and B Law Group that presented Cruise Night along Brand Boulevard on Saturday night. There were hundreds of cars and other vehicles and thousands of people on the boulevard on Saturday night. Believe it or not, Sonya Marquez (one of our sales divas) and I actually were a little cold in our booth after the sun went down due to the breeze that was channeled between the tall buildings.

I’ll include some photos in next week’s paper.