Say It Aint So

Boy you'd think it was a slow news week the way that the BDN reported the story on the Waterfront Concert Series contract negotiations. This rag is one step away from the National Enquirer in my book. They've always had a slanted spin, but this is a little much. With one headline they pretty much called Alex Grey a crybaby who should "take his ball and go home", and blasted the Council for being dysfunctional. Neither are even close to being accurate. It's no real news that the negotiations with WC have dragged on to long, but the relocation of the stage created an issue that was not really thought about (site grading and particularly the seeding of these disturbed areas). Mr Grey was very sincere in his discussions with the City concerning the need to have the grass established prior to the start of the 2012 season. He would not sign any contracts with performers without a guarantee was given that the "product" (venue) would be ready and acceptable to the booking agents. When promoters pay for a grass lined hill with portable seating and you get a muddy field, that's a breach of contract. The grass in question would need to be well established to handle the foot traffic and demands of several back-to-back bookings for April and May. Not rocket science here kids. The Council intended to have this agreement in place prior to the November vote, but that was not to be. Therefore, the 3 new Councilors were being asked to vote/approve the agreement without being part of the development process. (They could have watched it on TV like me, but that's another story). I see nothing wrong with waiting a week or so to give these new kids a chance to properly review the agreement. Alex has no problems with this, except being quoted totally out of context in the BDN. So before you go off singing "Bye Bye Mr Waterfront Guy...", take a deep breath, there's no story here. The Waterfront concert Series will continue well beyond 2012.

Holiday madness has started up again. It's been picking up steam these past few weeks and now its a runaway freight train. If you see me at the mall, please don't mace me, or hit me with a tazer. I don't need the new flat screen that bad. Honestly, why do folks go nuts for a good deal? My sister-in-law is a classic shopaholic. She headed out at 4am on Black Friday to save $50 on a snowblower. I'm not sure why, she could easily pay full price with the salary she makes. Its the thrill of the hunt I guess. I like the thrill of sleep on my day off.

Bangor PD has put out the word that they will be setting up DUI roadblocks all thru town for the month of December. All you morons driving with a "good buzz on" have been warned. If you must get hammered over the holidays, take a cab or stay the hell home. Nuff said.

The Bob Carlson mess has been pretty awful for a lot of folks. Ms Ordway's column in the BDN was very well done and brought up some good points. The good works vs the evil works debate is a tough one. The fact that this man was a complete psychopath has people looking deep inside at there own judgement. Many people were well aware of what was going on, but most were not. This is very similar to the whole Penn State debacle. The kids of today are watching this unfold. What are we to say to them? Don't trust the clergy? Don't trust your High School coaches? Don't trust anybody? WTF???? I hope parents have used this opportunity to talk frankly to the younger kids about these situations. As the OWS protesters have said over and over, we are the 99%. The creepy twisted sick bastards are the 1%.

Speaking of the OWS folks, the Bangor protest looks more like a homeless camp-out than any political rally or statement. This fire never really took up here in the Big Potato.

That is for now, keep the faith .