Friday, November 13, 2009
Classmates team up to write coming-of-age novel
The cover of "East Bench."
— Courtesy of Jim Potter.
Emily Paine Carter is columnist So Salem. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Emily Paine Carter
Recent columns from Salem, Glenvar and western Roanoke County
It's flashback time.
Maybe you recall Jim Potter, whose story of his Beatles-inspired basement-band won the 2007 Newsweek magazine "Boomer File" essay contest.
Decades after writing a folder's-worth of songs, Jim's "NB3" band reconvened to record them -- complete with static for that genuine 1960s buzz.
Now the Salemite has rewritten his coming-of-age novel. It's titled "East Bench," after the Salt Lake City neighborhood where his family had lived before moving to Roanoke.
He shares writing and editing credit with Roanoke Catholic schoolmate Theresa (Terry) L. Vivanco, now a "splendid" L.A. writer/musician/comedian. Jim had connected with her via the cyber "Classmates" site; he'd been trying to track down her older brother Tony -- his teammate on RCHS's 1970 state championship chess team. ("Life has a sense of humor" like that, Jim figured.)
Got all that? We'll proceed with Jim's description of the book:
Living in Salt Lake City in the mid '60's, three naive parochial school friends are swept up by Beatle-mania and the British Invasion. Obsessed with music, their band, their original songs and equipment they can ill afford, the former altar boys also become infatuated with Mormon girls, much to the mortification of their priests and fanatically Catholic parents.
Despite being continually swindled by a psychopath music store employee, they relentlessly pursue their dreams. Thanks to a beatnik poet with a shady past and a talented orphan who manages the band, their destiny is changed forever.
He said the story is told in the first person, and is seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy.
The book -- self-published by East Bench Press, through Atlas Books -- was due to appear as this column went to press. It can be ordered via www.eastbenchpress.com.
