LOS ANGELES (THE HUFFINGTON POST)
 By MICHAEL CIDONI LENNOX


The story was inspired by one of Grand's own.

"I was a 13-year-old boy (at camp)," noted the 23-year-old singer-songwriter, speaking by phone from his hometown Chicago.

 "One of my counselors was warm and strong and he took an interest in me — not sexually, but as a friend, and it really moved me.

 I remember leaving with a horrible ache in my heart."

 He's a musician without a record label, a card holder without any remaining credit. And the gig that supplies what he calls "food money" may now be in jeopardy.

But after events of the last week, Steve Grand said "I would die a happy man today," and not for the reasons he's suddenly getting attention.

Grand's first music video, for his country-tinged rock ballad "All-American Boy," was posted on YouTube last Tuesday.
By last night, it had exploded, attracting more than 400,000 total views — nothing for top-charting videos from big-name recording artists, but an impressive figure for one from a complete unknown whose only promotion has been internet buzz.

The video cost just $7,000, a fraction of the major-names' going rate, but it was a fortune to Grand, who came up with the entire budget himself by maxing out his only plastic to tell the video's story.