When I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to go to the racetrack. My grandpa had trained and raced horses at Caliente long before I was born, and though he'd eventually lose all his horses, he never lost the love of the track. He was a farmer, always in his tan long-sleeve button down work shirt and work pants with a scruffy face of stubble and his hole-ridden straw work hat. That is, unless it was a day at the races, in which case he'd shave, slather on his Old Spice, a long sleeve button down dress shirt and dress pants, and his fancy boots and hat. It was joyful. Sometimes it would be the whole family at the races, sometimes just Tata, my dad, and me. I'd race with him to the paddock, because he always had to see the horses before they'd race, and he and my dad would teach me how to handicap.
Memories are sweet and I'll cherish them forever, but it's 2018, and I have to say that I'm only halfheartedly sharing this year's Del Mar Summer Concert Series. I'd be an asshole if I didn't share shows that are so popular to San Diegans, but I feel like horse-racing will go the way of bullfighting in the next generation. And I'm not a vegan by any stretch, so perhaps that makes me a big fat hypocrite, but I feel like if I'm going to post a link to the concerts, I should also post a couple links to the very real and ugly side to horse racing.
If you do choose to attend the summer concerts, they're free with the cost of track admission ($6) so long as you arrive before the final race. Shows are standing room only and 18+.
2018 Del Mar Summer Concert Series:
7/20- Psychedelic Furs
7/21- Iration
7/27- Steel Pulse
8/3-Matisyahu
8/10- Aloe Blacc
8/11- Reggae Fest with Ziggy Marley
8/17- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
8/24- Tribal Seeds
8/31- Café Tacvba
9/2- Ice Cube
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