Two weeks into Spring Training and so far it's one of the worst in recent memory for the Yankees. Yet another A-Rod fiasco (who knows how this latest PED scandal will shake out) that may take Francisco Cervelli down with him. The Yanks look like they're counting on the Cisco Kid to take a good portion of the catching duties this season; a fifty game suspension would put a rather large stumbling block in the path of that plan.

And while during the spring, everyone "feels great," there really has to be some concern over how a triumvirate of Yanks who are aged and coming back from major surgeries, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia and Mariano Rivera, will respond when they are finally asked to kick it into actual game play mode. I am not a hand-wringer, worry-wart but the team is definitely counting on major contributions from that core of players and if they're not up to the task due injuries it definitely puts a pall on the 2013 campaign.

It's not just them either. Phil Hughes, who is a youngster all things considered, has a bulging disk in his back sustained in a play covering first base. No matter how it pans it does set him back getting ready for Opening Day so much so that Girardi has already been forced to say that it does make his prognostication of him being on the roster come April 1st "iffy." Now, generally you can get away with only four starting pitchers early in the season, you prefer not losing your #4 guy right off the bat.

Then there's Youkilis. He already feels like a "necessary evil" filling A-Rod's shoes to start the season - at the very least - and perhaps be the regular third-baseman for the majority, or all of this season, and he's already suffering a perhaps minor oblique issue, who knows? The line-up, sans last year's -- or really most years -- is lacking the power that crushed 245 homeruns last season. We already knew we were gone the big bats of Swisher, Ibanez, Martin, Chavez and Jones, but the biggest blow of the early "season" was Curtis Granderson having his arm fractured in his first appearance of the spring.

We were really counting on a repeat of his 40-plus HR bat, but he's out for ten weeks recovering - who knows how he comes back - and there's no quick fix on that front. His injury also messes up the Yanks' plan to flip-flop he and Brett Gardner in the center and leftfield outfield positions. The speedy Gardner will obviously start the season in center where he is better equipped - if you're one of those fans of the new statistics for measuring a player's worth - Gardner is one of the better outfielders in the game. But as Granderson will now lose the opportunity to try and learn to play the corner outfield position, one can only expect that upon his return he will re-take over center and move Gardner back to left.

Time to wrap the remaining players in bubble-wrap and to put the infamous "P" back up in the trainer's room. That was the scarlet letter the late George Steinbrenner put in his trainer's room, effectively notifying them that they were on "probation."

Okay, speaking of campaigns, I am still slowly plugging away at my campaign to bring my book, "A Rose by any Other Name," out on the road this spring. You can see that here  and I could really use any support you can muster.

Thanks,
Brian

i hope this doesn't come off as whiny, but i just wanted to share some information on the pushing-the-rock-up-a-hill struggles of being an author these days and especially a self-published one.
i found out over the weekend that the bookstore closest to my home (and quite a good one) has shelf space for "local/self-published authors." huzzah! i thought -- that's me!
so i just went into the shop with a small bunch of my books in the bag on my shoulder and inquired as to how a local/self-published author gets his/her book on that shelf. i was directed to their website. oh, okay -- i wouldn't have to be as local as i am for that, but i'll play along...
so this is what i found out: they accept book submissions with a non-refundable $10 fee. if they accept your book, they will take 3 copies on consignment, paying a standard 60% back to the author. now, on my $14 book that's $8.40 p/copy back to me. sorry for all the math, i know this is a monday morning.
but now if you subtract the $10 fee plus the fact that each book costs me nearly $4.50 what this finally works out to if they sell my 3 books is 59-freakin'-cents per book. i feel a little like Mojo Nixon saying "Where the hell's my money?!" so you mean like 2 quarters and a nickel and four pennies for my book. yeah... great... thanks
the local coffee shop (now next door following the fire) has a program for local writers called coffee & books. they just changed their policy: it had previously been $100 non-refundable fee to submit for consideration. now their program for books like mine involves sending them 100 copies on consignment (although they claim industry standard is a 55% royalty) and an initial $699 1-year term cost. thanks, but um, no thanks...
i appreciate you reading this far: no fee...
thanks,
Brian

Well, if you were coming to this page in hopes of news regarding today's first Yankee spring training game, you might as well flip to Twitter as I'm not quite on-board with the MLB package yet. Any and all funds I have to spare are going toward self-promoting my book, "A Rose by any Other Name." Of course, the unexpected auto-subscription was insult to injury: "sure, I'd love it if I could, but..." was my conversation with the rather kind and apologizing Indian customer service rep' who handled my reverse charge yesterday.

So, I'm more than two weeks into an approximately six week IndieGoGo campaign and I guess I should have gone with KickStarter, or so I have been told. But we march on; that rock isn't going to push itself up that hill, now is it?

It's not lost on me at this time where I'm trying to raise money to get Rose out into the world, and I'm working on both editing what will eventually be my next book - and my first novel - "Live Fast! (Die Out of Town" and scribbling ideas and bits and pieces of what will be the next long-form piece I write. Tentatively entitled "Memory of the Stairs: An Arsonist's Confession" I am finally going to plumb my childhood as source material. Fire will be a major character in that book.

Here's a repeat posting of the video/story of what has become the popular favorite from "Rose" - the story for my grandpa, Izzy Hecht, entitled "Mustang Sally."

The running time is under eight minutes, so please take a look and a listen. Yes, I am working on bringing some higher quality video your way, but for the time being, this is the best I have.

If you would like to help me come to your city with Rose and read some of these stories in person, why-- I'd love to do that. So much so that I have set up just the place where you can aid me in that mission. Here's the link to my IndieGoGo campaign page. I need to average over a $100 a day from this point on to even come close to making my goal. So far, it's been only been "Hello, Wisconsin," but "Greetings, Los Angeles" and "What's up, Berkeley?" have a nice ring to 'em...

Thanks for your time,
Brian

The Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour 2013: The "Still Hopeful" Department

I woke up one crisp October morning with a story in my head. This isn't terribly out of the ordinary, but the form that it was in was totally different. With a film background (grad of NYU Film School) all the works of fiction that I created were for the screen.
But this was a short story and it flowed out onto the page and I thought little about it until another story burst free, nearly fully formed, and demanded space on a page. Before none too long, a theme had developed and I wrote the twenty-six tales that became my first book, "A Rose by any Other Name" although it took me a number of years to finally push this puppy out of the nest.
The book was released in April 2012, but immediately after that my time was demanded toward a greater goal of assisting a dear friend who had been diagnosed with a terrible disease and while I have been able through direct sales, Amazon and Kindle to put my stories in front of some sets of eyes, I hadn't had the opportunity to really present the book to the world.
With your help, I would like very much to be able to begin to do that this Winter.

What We Need & What You Get

I am looking to raise $3500.00 to help with the above stated goal. What I would like to do is to be able to afford to send copies of the book in to publications and websites for review in an attempt to spread the book beyond my own wingspan.
Additionally and perhaps even more importantly, I would like to be able to take the book and myself on the road and present it to the public in personal appearance and readings/signings in some of the cities in which the tales take place: Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York first and foremost.
The advantages of first bringing "Rose" to those cities in which I have lived is that hopefully I have something of a built-in audience of friendly faces. But from a practical stand point, I will be able to keep the costs of the mini book tour minimal as I will have places to stay and venues at which I can perform.
But hopefully visits to those cities will permit me to be able to add more: Boise, Austin, Seattle, Tel Aviv? You're all on the list.
The funds would go to airfare but also for publicity to make those appearances worth while. The money would also permit me finally to purchase and submit copies of the book for review and PR purposes.
Perks of contribution will include:
* grateful acknowledgement in future print and electronic editions of "Rose"
* inscribed copies of "Rose"
* original, hand-written versions of the tales in "Rose"
* original, signed art-work by Meital from the publication of the tales in the Jerusalem Post Lite
* your name as a character in my upcoming work
* the grand prize: a lifelong promise that I will never use your name in any of my upcoming work.

The Impact

The world of self-publishing really is fantastic. Unlike my experiences in the world of film where there are so many cooks are in the kitchen, I was able to put "Rose" out into the world - warts 'n all - as I saw fit and in the manner of my own choosing. That said, getting the book into the hands of other people has been the ongoing challenge.

Other Ways You Can Help

I know we get asked to contribute to campaigns such as this all the time and I am fully conscious of that fact. If you can help - great! I really appreciate it. If you cannot - great! I understand that fully as well, but if you could share this with friends who may wish to assist, I would really appreciate your help.
If you would like to read some of the tales for free, go here: http://www.wattpad.com/user/BrianMazo
You can purchase a copy here: https://www.createspace.com/3527985
Thanks for either "coughing" or "squealing" ... or just scroll on to the next campaign. I sure do appreciate your help.
Brian
click HERE to go my IndieGoGo page

I just posted the latest video/story on my IndieGoGo campaign page, but you can see it right here. This is the last of the 3 videos Zed shot in my apartment. I'll be adding some snippets of video that Kristin shot at my personal appearances last weekend ... as soon as I can figure out to do that.

And, at this point, I am totally open to suggestions as to what I can do better in attempting to promote myself and, more crucially - the work - "A Rose by any Other Name." Getting over the nerve factor "on the road" in Wisconsin was very valuable. But now I am ready and willing to come to your town - or book store - so all I need is the "able" and alas, trying to promote and market a book (or anything) without the benefit of a publisher or a PR-agent is a pretty daunting task.

Back in the Golden Age, a patron would have been an amazing person to have in your corner, but these days, we get facebook and they've worked very hard and making it not a very useful promotional tool: yes, you can pay $7 so that 50 people can see your post, instead of 5, but in the economy of self-publishing I would have to sell a book or two to make that financially viable and it just hasn't seemed to make a difference.

So, outside of saying, "rob a bank," or "take down the campaign" (they don't let you) drop me a line and let me know what else I can do.

thanks
Brian

The Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour 2013:

Getting an early start in Wisconsin

That's me, breaking the cherry of public readings for my first book, "A Rose by any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman." The first appearance was Saturday, February 16th at Driftless Books, housed in a very old tobacco building in Viroqua, WI.

I read four tales, "Kat & Kismet," "Last Paige," "Zora, the Last Girl," and "Mustang Sally." As this was, in essence a Valentine's Day promotion, I featured more of the sweet or positive tales than what I would normally pick to read- Paige being the only story that gets into the ugly ... and stays there.

That same night, I wound up doing an impromptu reading at a house party with a Lupercalia theme to it. I would have only read one of my favorites - and one of the darkest tales in the entire collection - "The Cross of Lorraine," but I got an offer I couldn't refuse from Kristin to also read, "Mustang Sally," too. Sally, which is dedicated to my grandpa, Izzy Hecht, tends to be peoples' favorites, so I've included it in all my readings. The  room featuring the entertainment was packed with over forty people, so that energy felt great, getting laughs in places intended.

The previous weekend I had read "Sally" along with "Paige," "Lorraine," and "Olive and He whose Name She Shall Never Mention" on the SoundWaves radio program on WDRT.

Wanting to change things up on Sunday, the 17th at Pearl Street Books in LaCrosse, WI, I was going to flip the ratio of nice to not-so-nice, but finally settled on alternating tales, reading, "Paige," "Zora," "Nina, a Pinto and the Santa Ana Winds," before closing with "Sally."

Kristin shot some video along with the stills seen on this page and she and I will trying to figure out how to get a few of the highlights from the weekend's appearances up on here or on the IndieGoGo campaign which  has just over a month left to meet its goal. Right now, that goal seems awfully far away, but it really is great and exciting to get out in front of an audience and to share my stories from off the page and out of the book.

I'll add another of the YouTube videos of me reading a short story on this blog -- and on the Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour 2013 IndieGoGo campaign later this week.

Thanks and ... go read a book ... preferably mine.

Brian

Happy Valentine's day to you, and you, and you... not so sure about you... and you.

My IndieGoGo campaign has stalled this week. I've had some offers that will hopefully come to fruition that will permit me and "Rose" to get to the old stomping grounds of Los Angeles where the book was written, but I'm really hoping to be able to expand my reach beyond that.

Towards that end, today is "Show Me the Love" day: in addition to the regular perks being offered, the largest contributor will also receive an inscribed, very, very early edition of my novel-in-progress, "Live Fast! (Die out of Town.)" I'm working on a re-write, polish now having started reading the book aloud yesterday to my dear friend, David Anderson. Unlike my radio appearance on WDRT last Sunday night, where I did actually get to say "crap" on the radio, but none of the 7 words you can't say on TV (or radio, for that matter) there's an awful lot of expletives in my novel.

That's not me -- that is George Carlin ^ back in the day doing the famous piece on bad words....

If you're reading this in Wisconsin, or are looking for something to do this weekend other than seeing the new Die Hard movie, I will be making my first personal appearances in support of "A Rose by any Other Name" at a couple of books stores:

1) Saturday, February 16th @ Driftless Books in Viroqua, WI @ 5pm. Complimentary Organic Valley cheese and crackers will be served with (boxed) red wine and Surly Furious beer. Come for the drinks, leave with an inscribed copy of the book for you or your Valentine.

2) Sunday, February 17th @ Pearl Street Books in LaCrosse, WI: same refreshments unless there's a crazy run on 'em Saturday...

Click HERE to go to my IndieGoGo campaign page and to see me reading "Mustang Sally" one of the stories from "Rose."

Thanks,
Brian

As promised yesterday, here is a sneak-peak of the next video/read of one of the tales from my book, "A Rose by any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman." This one, "Mustang Sally," is dedicated to my grandfather, Izzy Hecht. Gramps did get to read a draft of the story, but never got to see the book in publication. He would have turned 100 next month and on the same day that my beloved cat, Poe, would have turned 25 (both have been gone for 5 years now). Oddly enough, March 26th is the same birthday as my current feline/familiar, Thurman.

"Mustang Sally" has more non-fiction in it than fiction; nearly more than most any of the tales included in the book. Here's me reading it to you. Shot by dear Zed.

So, part of not being fully clear of which side of the Mississippi River I am on: I cross the thing so often these days, perspective gets lost, but I have vivid memories of the very first time I crossed it. That was about twenty years ago at the mid-point of a cross-country motorcycle trip with another dear friend, Carl Ihling. Should the IndieGoGo campaign be successful, Carl's Auto Repair in Boise, Idaho will be the site of one of my readings/signings although I know that Carl will demand that I read his favorite, the Thanksgiving tale of break-ups and breakdowns, "Nina, a Pinto and the Santa Ana Winds."

So, the correction regarding the mighty Mississippi, is that I will be reading 3 tales and maybe the poem from "Rose" this coming Sunday evening at 7:30pm local time on the Soundwaves programme on WDRT.

Please click HERE to go the page with details about my intended book tour, The Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour 2013 and how you can help me. Thanks.

And yes, I know that pitchers and catchers report to Yankee Spring Training in a matter of days and I am more than well aware that at least two Yankees (A-Rod and catcher Francisco Cervelli) are embroiled in yet another PED scandle and I will tackle all of that in due time.

Baby, it's cold, go read a book. "Rose" makes a great Valentine's Day present. Get your print copy HERE or the Kindle edition RIGHT HERE

Thanks again,
Brian

Here's the copy from my Indiegogo campaign. I am hoping to finally be able to get the book in front of readers; reading it to them one at a time if that gets the job done. Hey Ho! Let's Go: The Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour 2013:

Short Summary

I woke up one crisp October morning with a story in my head. This isn't terribly out of the ordinary, but the form that it was in was totally different. With a film background (grad of NYU Film School) all the works of fiction that I created were for the screen.

But this was a short story and it flowed out onto the page and I thought little about it until another story burst free, nearly fully formed, and demanded space on a page. Before none too long, a theme had developed and I wrote the twenty-six tales that became my first book, "A Rose by any Other Name" although it took me a number of years to finally push this puppy out of the nest.

The book was released in April 2012, but immediately after that my time was demanded toward a greater goal of assisting a dear friend who had been diagnosed with a terrible disease and while I have been able through direct sales, Amazon and Kindle to put my stories in front of some sets of eyes, I hadn't had the opportunity to really present the book to the world.

With your help, I would like very much to be able to begin to do that this Winter.

What We Need & What You Get

I am looking to raise $3500.00 to help with the above stated goal. What I would like to do is to be able to afford to send copies of the book in to publications and websites for review in an attempt to spread the book beyond my own wingspan.

Additionally and perhaps even more importantly, I would like to be able to take the book and myself on the road and present it to the public in personal appearance and readings/signings in some of the cities in which the tales take place: Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York first and foremost.

The advantages of first bringing "Rose" to those cities in which I have lived is that hopefully I have something of a built-in audience of friendly faces. But from a practical stand point, I will be able to keep the costs of the mini book tour minimal as I will have places to stay and venues at which I can perform.

But hopefully visits to those cities will permit me to be able to add more: Boise, Austin, Seattle, Tel Aviv? You're all on the list. 

The funds would go to airfare but also for publicity to make those appearances worth while. The money would also permit me finally to purchase and submit copies of the book for review and PR purposes.

Perks of contribution will include:

* grateful acknowledgement in future print and electronic editions of "Rose"

* inscribed copies of "Rose"

* original, hand-written versions of the tales in "Rose"

* original, signed art-work by Meital from the publication of the tales in the Jerusalem Post Lite

* your name as a character in my upcoming work

* the grand prize: a lifelong promise that I will never use your name in any of my upcoming work.

The Impact

The world of self-publishing really is fantastic. Unlike my experiences in the world of film where there are so many cooks are in the kitchen, I was able to put "Rose" out into the world - warts 'n all - as I saw fit and in the manner of my own choosing. That said, getting the book into the hands of other people has been the ongoing challenge.

Other Ways You Can Help

I know we get asked to contribute to campaigns such as this all the time and I am fully conscious of that fact. If you can help - great! I really appreciate it. If you cannot - great! I understand that fully as well, but if you could share this with friends who may wish to assist, I would really appreciate your help. 

If you would like to read some of the tales for free, go here: http://www.wattpad.com/user/BrianMazo

You can purchase a copy here: https://www.createspace.com/3527985

Thanks for either "coughing" or "squealing" ... or just scroll on to the next campaign. I sure do appreciate your help.

Brian

ps- tomorrow I will link a sneak-peak to the next story/video

Hey HO! Let's GO! The Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour 2013 Campaign is on. If you would just like to see and hear me read one of the stories from my book, press that ^ arrow in the middle of my forehead and it will almost be as if you were in my living room with me.

But if that's not enough for you, if you would like to see me in person in your town, now there's something you can do about that. My Indiegogo campaign just went live this morning and I'm attempting to raise funds to finally be able to promote my book, "A Rose by any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman" so that I can do the rock 'n roll thing only with pages and words instead of with guitars and amplifiers.

Here's some background information straight from the copy on the campaign:

I woke up one crisp October morning with a story in my head. This isn't terribly out of the ordinary, but the form that it was in was totally different. With a film background (grad of NYU Film School) all the works of fiction that I created were for the screen.

But this was a short story and it flowed out onto the page and I thought little about it until another story burst free, nearly fully formed, and demanded space on a page. Before none too long, a theme had developed and I wrote the twenty-six tales that became my first book, "A Rose by any Other Name" although it took me a number of years to finally push this puppy out of the nest.

The book was released in April 2012, but immediately after that my time was demanded toward a greater goal of assisting a dear friend who had been diagnosed with a terrible disease and while I have been able through direct sales, Amazon and Kindle to put my stories in front of some sets of eyes, I hadn't had the opportunity to really present the book to the world.

Click HERE to go to the IndieGoGo page and thanks, as always, for your time.

Cheers,

Brian

So, was I the only person who thought "terrorists" when the lights went out down in N'awlins last night during the 47th SuperBowl? I couldn't have been, right? Thankfully, football season is over and the MLB can take the back page back.

Of course, of late that back page especially in New York has been all about a-rod and the seemingly very damning news out of Miami that the admitted cheater is also a full-fledged liar. Arod claimed in 2009 when SI was about to bust him that he had used PEDs in 2001-03 and he apologized and claimed he was clean ever since. While nothing has been proved yet, and while MLB has not given out any suspensions as of yet, there's nary a soul out there at this point who would give arod the benefit of the doubt.

Now, since his admission was during a period in baseball before taking Jose Canseco at his word about the rampant usage in the big leagues, this would only be his first suspension, a 50 game one and one that he would serve while on the DL following his second hip surgery. If you're keeping score at home and if the story proves true, this would be the 2nd suspension for ex-Yankees Bartolo Colon (now in Oakland) and Melky Cabrera (now in Toronto) and that would earn them each 100 games at the start of the 2013 season. A rather big dent out of the 162 game schedule and the last strike before permanent banishment from MLB.

The other big names - Texas' Nelson Cruz and Washington's Gio Gonzalez - came somewhat unexpected and there are potentially another 20 players would could be facing suspensions too. My biggest fear is that arod "buddy" Robinson Cano is implicated for his association with arod. The Yankees' biggest wish right now- even more for a righthanded outfield with some pop falling into their laps - is that if there's no legitimate way to void arod's 5 years, $114M remaining on his albatross of a contract is that he won't be physically capable of returning to MLB. Insurance would cover the majority of that huge sum and would come off the Yanks' payroll books. Brian Cashman can dream...

Speaking of dreams: you have that one in which you cut off all your hair?

Thanks.
B.