Jean Shea, of Hemet, took me to task for my praises of concerts at Soboba Casino, a place where I appreciate the chance to see major headliners such as Steely Dan and Santana close to home.

Shea understandably was upset after being stuck in traffic before the big Sept. 12 Alan Jackson country show. The delay, she wrote via e-mail, was so long she only saw the last 25 minutes of his act. She thought the concert was far too short.

"At 7:15 we were in line on the Ramona Expressway, south of Lake Park Drive. At 8:40 p.m. we sat down in our seats," she wrote.

"Could not believe it was only a one-hour concert, and we paid $65 each. We had friends coming from San Bernardino, and they were in line on the Ramona Expressway around 7 p.m. and they got to the gate at 9 p.m."

She wishes I would have warned her about parking difficulties and the short length of the show.

Traffic flow always is a challenge for Soboba Casino officials, but the snarl before the concert appears to be extreme.

Rose Salgado, a Soboba Tribal Council member, said there were regrettable traffic problems at the concert that hadn't occurred at other events. She said those issues will be resolved before the Santana concert Sunday.

She said there was miscommunication between a valet parking service and general parking-control workers. Before this year, the tribe has used the California Highway Patrol to control traffic. She said the tribe plans to return to hiring the CHP. "We had a bottleneck at the valet parking," Salgado said. "We've got it corrected."

Bob Frear, an assistant general manager at Soboba, asked that people attending concerts allow sufficient time to park and reach their seats. He said the casino is discussing complaints with upset people who attended the Jackson show and will take steps to resolve their concerns.

When I've gone to other concerts, I've arrived about an hour before show time. I always try to park near an exit. I've had fun walking around the arena and visiting with people I know who I spot in the stands.

I leave during encores. I listen to the final songs at my car and escape before the after-show traffic slowdown. I usually arrived home 10 or 15 minutes after a show.

Soboba Sleepover

Rod Tolliver of Tolliver's Tax Services in Hemet turned the parking-lot blues into fun. He drove a motor home to the casino more than three hours before the Alan Jackson show and parked in the rear of the lot. Friends partied at his RV before the show and congregated after the concert until the lot cleared.

Around 1 a.m., roadies who haul Jackson's equipment parked their rigs near Tolliver's RV and joined the motor-home festivities. Tolliver said the only disappointment was that Jackson only played a little more than an hour. "I woke up in the morning, fired it up and drove home," he said.

Santana Tickets Available

Carlos Santana appears to be a harder worker than Alan "One Hour" Jackson. Santana has been playing for about 2½ hours nightly on his tour.

Tickets are available at Soboba Casino and through Ticketmaster. Seats in the first 10 rows cost $150. The rest of the reserved floor seats sell for $95. General admission grandstand seating is $75.

Reach Bob Pratte at 951-763-3452, bpratte@PE.com or 474 W. Esplanade Ave., San Jacinto, CA 92583.