Off the I-15

Last week we ran a story about “Leaving Barstow” an independent film that recently wrapped up production. After talking to the filmmakers, I was intrigued enough to make the two-hour drive to Newport Beach after work yesterday and check out the movie’s premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

As the title might suggest, the film depicts our city as a land of little opportunity and lots of meth, and the plot centers around various people who hope to leave it. Being a relatively recent transplant myself, I wasn’t offended. I would guess that native Barstonians will be split between love and hate of the film, if it ever finds distribution and makes its way to theaters.

Some people will probably relate to it, like the man who reportedly said to director Peter Paige when he came across the film crew on Main Street, “Leaving Barstow? That’s what I gotta do!” Others will probably feel that a bunch of outsiders had no right to typecast Barstow without really getting to know the town and its good features.

The film centers on 18-year-old Andrew, who is socially inept, smart and angsty. He works in a bookstore — a dead give-away that none of the filmmakers are actually from Barstow, which doesn’t have a bookstore — lives with his single mom, who seems to be bent on recapturing her youth through cleavage-baring shirts and an inappropriately young aspiring country singer boyfriend. Andrew’s main sources of support are his best friend, Carlos; his teacher/father figure Mr. Johns; and a late-night radio DJ who goes on long, rambling on-the-air rants because, as he puts it, “There’s nobody listening at this hour, and if you are awake, you’re probably on meth.”

Enter Jenny, the attractive newcomer, who somehow got stuck in Barstow on her way to L.A. and dreams of an acting career. We never find out how Jenny ended up marooned in Barstow working at a Chinese restaurant and living in her grandmother’s apartment; or why Mr. Johns, who makes it clear that he didn’t want to end up as a high school teacher Barstow, got derailed from his chosen path. Likewise, we never find out exactly what Andrew’s ambitions are, outside of leaving his hometown.

Being a reporter, I like to have details and specifics, so some of the film’s omissions left me fretting. The vagueness may have been intentional, to make the story more universal, or maybe it simply came about because the movie was written by an actor in his 20’s who was more interested in the characters’ inner struggles than in nitty-gritty details.

The acting is definitely the movie’s finest feature. The characters felt like real people, with human flaws, loves and dreams. I didn’t feel that I was watching people acting; I felt as if I was simply a voyeur in the lives of these people for two hours.

The storyline was a little overly dramatic, piling bad luck on poor Andrew’s head until I wondered if he was going to go on a shooting rampage. Overall, though, it was an intelligent, heart wrenching movie about people who feel trapped in their lives. Unfortunately for Barstow, if the movie ever reaches theaters, our town will probably become a national synonym for that feeling. But hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

Check out more info and the film trailer here.

Abby Sewell | reporter

Apparently he doesn’t want to make a big deal (or no deal) out of it, but Fort Irwin’s own Brig. Gen. Dana JH Pittard was on spotted on NBC’s “Deal or No Deal.”

The commanding general at Fort Irwin presented the show’s contestant, Shequila Farrelly with a National Training Center coin, given out as a symbol of excellence. Pittard said he wanted to thank Shequila, whose husband is a soldier at Fort Hood and bound of Afghanistan, for her role as a military family.

“The sacrifice, the selfless service of all our soldiers is so important,” Pittard said on the show, “but just as important is the sacrifice and the service of our family members just like you Shequila.”

In a post-show interview, Shequila, who also got to meet Ellen DeGeneres and walk away with $36,000 — not a bad deal — said she was honored to have Pittard on the show with her.

“For him to show up and give this to me was incredible,” she said. “That Shequila was presented this coin was amazing.”

Watch Pittard in this post-show interview clip from www.nbc.com. Pittard comes on with about one minute and 36 seconds left to go in the clip.

Pittard on “Deal or No Deal”

Aaron Aupperlee | city editor

With its history of cowboys, miners, railroaders and military folk, you’d think Barstow would have a ghost story or two to its credit. It may, but I couldn’t find one for this Halloween.

I know Calico claims to have a few lingering visitors, but I wanted to find the classic town ghost story — the victim of a gruesome murder who haunts the crime scene, Harvey House girls killed in freak accidents that still walk along the tracks, miners trapped in caves, explorers lost in the wilderness, something.

I started with the Harvey House. Not too long ago I heard it was haunted. Graduates of Barstow High School told me stories of bumping into ghosts in the upstairs portion of the building during a prom one year. However, no one else could substantiate the claim of ghosts at the Casa Del Desierto.

The city employs to resident Harvey House experts. Both Patricia Morris and Jeanette Hayhurst used to give tours of the old train depot; Morris dressed as a Harvey House girl, she said. They’ve spent hours investigating the historic monument and even more time inside of it, but never once saw a ghost, never once heard a ghost story. Hayhurst recalls hearing something about high school students seeing ghosts and remembers an incident when the body of transient was found inside the Harvey House, perfect fodder, but no story there.

In 2006, a group of ghost hunters — members of the High Desert Paranormal Society —visited the Harvey House with the latest in ghost detection tools. I couldn’t track the society members; Web sites were down; phone lines were disconnected, and the group looks to have vanished.

I investigated other leads. A gas station attendant in Flagstaff, Ariz., told me that the mountains around Newberry Springs were haunted. With what, he didn’t know but swore seeing ghosts lurking around the peaks. After many late night drives up and down the I-40, I saw no ghosts.

An employee at the Mojave River Valley Museum and known Barstow history buff racked his brain for me but shook out no ghost stories either. He offered to make one, perhaps start a tradition, but told me he would need more time, and it probably wouldn’t be ready for the Halloween edition of the Desert Dispatch.

But just so Halloween does not pass without the sharing a few ghost stories, here are two I dug out of the Desert Dispatch archives from an article about Calico Ghost Town written in 1997.

Aaron Aupperlee | City Editor

From about 1987 to 1993, Lucy Lane reportedly visited her old home on Ghost Town Main Street. As the story goes, Goldsmith’s wife, Lee, worked at the renovated museum and stitchery shop.
Each Wednesday night, when she thoroughly cleaned the place, she moved Lane’s rocking chair into the center of the room away from its position near the window.
During her life Lane was often seen sitting in the rocking chair looking out the window at the happenings on the main street.
When Lee Goldsmith left for the night, she would lock the shop up tight. But occasionally she would arrive the next morning to find the rocker moved back to its place by the window.

The story is told of a young man who was caught in a cave-in at one of the Calico mines. His body was never recovered.
His mother reportedly held out hope her son’s remains would be found and he would have a proper burial. So, when circumstances were such that she had to leave the town, she purchased a plushly padded casket and left it for her son.
The General Store on Main Street used to display the box for visitors. After certain windy nights, when the shop was opened the next day, various employees have reported seeing an indentation in the cushions, as if someone had slept there and only recently vacated the coffin.

The newly opened skate park on Barstow Road was full of people skating, biking and just taking in the scene on Tuesday. For those of you that missed the opening here’s a video.

-David Heldreth Staff writer

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A little more than a month ago I got a flat tire while driving through town and discovered I didn’t have a jack in my car. I was stuck waiting around in the midday Barstow sun until a friend brought me a jack to change the tire.

While that wasn’t any fun, I can just imagine how metal band and Ozzfest tour member Nile felt when their tour bus broke down on the I-15 near Barstow. The band was stranded in Barstow before being towed to the Hyundai Pavilion in Devore by Freedom Towing.

I got word of the breakdown from Sports Editor Matthew Peters who discovered it on a post at blabbermouth.net. Calls and e-mails to the band and their management were not returned, and I attempted to track down the bus by calling every tow company in Barstow to confirm the rumor.

Nile were forced to use vans to play a show at the Hollywood House of Blues and to cancel a date in Phoenix due to the bus difficulties. Nile later rejoined the Ozzfest in Albuquerque.

Nile apparently isn’t the only band to breakdown in Barstow. Check out this video Michael Franti of Spearhead filmed during his adventure in the desert.

— David Heldreth

With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows scheduled to be released at midnight on Saturday thousands of people are preparing to stay up late to get their copy before anyone else.
That is everywhere except Barstow. There are no Harry Potter parties scheduled here at stores. Anyone looking to participate in some midnight magic will have to make the drive to Victorville’s Barnes and Noble bookstore. In fact, Wal-Mart is the only location I know of to get the book in Barstow. They will have 600 copies of the book, but you have to wait till they open at 6 a.m. on Saturday and you won’t get to try any Troll Mucous or Dragon Drool. What fun is that?
Apparently Barstow is full of Muggles. I ventured to the Barstow Library to talk to some kids about the book release only to find that none of the kids there had read any Harry Potter books. Not a single kid, in a library no less, had read the book. However, librarian Steve Smith, like I, read every book J.K. Rowling put out. Oddly enough I eventually found kids who had read the books at the Henderson Pool. Who would have thought to look for bookworms at a pool?

-David Heldreth Staff writer

Barstow got a lesson in how to laugh at itself Saturday night as members of the Street Hustle Comedy Jam took the stage at Club Inferno.
Small town jokes erupted as soon as comedian Jabari took the stage.

“I know you can’t run from the police here,” Jabari said. “You only got like three blocks to run on. Your mom probably went to school with the officer anyway.”

However no one took got to the heart of the city better than Barstow native Scott Fig. Fig hit a nerve with the crowd with jokes about growing up in Barstow.

“Man my family put all the bills in my name. I had bad credit by the time I was 9. In fact I was the only kid at Crestline with a bankruptcy,” Fig joked onstage.

Barstow may have taken the brunt of the verbal assault, but it was the PA system that everyone attacked.

“Can you hear me now?” Fig jokingly asked between jokes.

Comedians and musicians spent the better part of three hours entertaining the crowd. The comedians may have brought laughter to the room, but it was local Clinton Wayne that drew them off their feet and to the front of the stage. The audience spilled out of their seats and even the stage filled during Wayne’s performance.

Hopefully we’ll see Wayne and Fig in bigger venues in the future.

-David Heldreth, Staff Writer