File Under: Failure

As some of you readers may be aware. I have been trying to put together the Concert for the County, being a benefit to raise funds for home heating assistance for people Aroostook County. My plan was to have my favorite band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, headline the show with a very talented local singer, Brian Mosher opening. The idea was to have the concert on September 12 as GPN was going to be at a festival in Fredericton on the 13th.

I hit two hurddles right out of the gate. First, the United Way board was so worried about losing money, that they would only do the project if we raised all money to cover all the expenses first. An undertaking for which they would provide little or no help. Second, the venue was being blocked by an old bitch who was retiring and seemed to think rock and roll had no business in her performing arts center.

So I formed a committee and we set about raising money and finding a way into the optimal venue. All the while I was losing sleep over losing the date. We waited until the "lady" retired and then appealed to someone else who said "yes." However, fund raising had slowed after a great start. I continued to have hope for the project until today, when I received this email:

Sweet People Productions Press Release Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are returning to Maine!! When: September 12th, 2008. Doors open @ 7:30pm Where: Unity Centre For the Performing Arts 42 Depot Street Unity, ME 04988 Tickets: $25 in advance / $30 at the door Supporting Act: TBD This show is all ages!! Tickets are available now at all Bull Moose Music locations, and will be available online soon at www.unitymaine.org/theater/ The Unity Centre is only a 200 seat theater, so don't wait, get your tickets now. You don't get many chances to see a band this good in a venue this intimate. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals "One of the most soulful new bands around." - Bonnie Raitt "This is an amazing band! Keep your eyes on this one." - Taj Mahal Television appearances include: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Good Morning America This Is Somewhere (Ragged Company/ Hollywood Records) marks the coming of age of the young, Vermont-based rock band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. To say that this album makes good on the band's immense promise would be an understatement. While these assertions quite naturally invite skepticism, we respond: "just insert and press "play." The album manifests incredible growth in the writing and singing of 24-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, who has clearly found her true voice in both respects, as well as the instrumental prowess of the band: Potter on the Hammond B3, guitarist Scott Tournet, bassist Bryan Dondero and drummer Matt Burr. On this remarkable record, they make a glorious racket indeed. The band's timeless, organic brand of American rock & roll is fully in evidence throughout This Is Somewhere, starting with "Ah Mary," with its languid verses exploding into arena-scaled choruses in what is clearly a call to action. This heart-pumping rocker sets the stage for a dynamic song cycle that encompasses "Stop the Bus," a churning anthem that recalls Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers circa Damn the Torpedoes, the love-as-war lament "Apologies," the paean to a battered New Orleans "Ain't No Time," the soulful, horn-accented "Mastermind" and the concluding stunner "Big White Gate." Potter's timely and eloquent songs-some of them intensely personal, others politically charged-immediately lodge themselves in the listener's head (pretty much defining the de rigueur term "sticky") and bore in deeper with each successive play. This band has something else going for it - Potter's innate star quality. As critic Jeff Davidson wrote last September in a piece posted on TMZ.com, "...she is easily the most glamorous star to rise from the jam scene, and her million-dollar smile makes her as desirable as any pop songstress. The fact that she's amazingly talented...makes her even sexier." Website: http://www.gracepotterandthenocturnals.com myspace: http://www.myspace.com/gracepotterandthenocturnals Good Morning America appearance on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPYqdGGo9lw Please direct all questions to Erik Thomas of Sweet People Productions Phone - 207 649-2524 email - erik@digitalimageworks.biz

I want to be clear that GPN's people were excellent to work with and patient with a fool who had never done this before. I am also glad that they booked the date in Maine. They are a great band and I can't wait to see them again.

I have read that my generation doesn't know how to handle failure, as we haven't been allowed to fail. I can say that this is my first true, semi-public, failure. I am disappointed to say the least, but I can at least say I tried. My other feeling at this point, with a balloon festival in less then a month, a kitchen remodel to do, and the usual hell breaking loose at work: failure feels like one less fucking thing to do.