So, it's the Friday before Memorial Day which traditionally marks end of the first quarter of the MLB season and surprise! surprise! The New York Yankees are in 1st place. And while there is a whole load of baseball yet to be played, this great start despite all the injuries and the prognostications, the Bronx Bombers and their fans have to be pleased with how things have started.

If there was a Manager of the Year Award for the 1st quarter, Joe Girardi gets it hands down. What kind of a job has he done? Nothing short of amazing, actually. Much credit has to go to GM Brian Cashman for finding the castoffs and re-treads that Girardi has maneuvered through the first 40+ games as well, though.

What does the team look like? On the left side of the infield, we have the 4th string guy playing third-base and the the 3rd string guy at shortstop following the injuries disabling Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Kevin Youkilis and Nunez. Overbay, filling in for the injured Tex, has probably delivered more offense than could have been expected from the traditionally slow starting Texeira. Behind the plate, currently it is rookie Austin Romine, the 3rd string guy at that crucial spot with Francisco Cervelli on the DL with a broken hand.

The aforementioned Overbay has been bolstered by Vernon Wells and Travis Hafner who are all playing like it was 5 seasons ago. Will they be able to sustain the early season production? Maybe yes, maybe no, but now the regulars are starting to come back. Granderson came back this week and is getting his stroke down. Tex and Youk should come back in the coming weeks as well as Joba to go back to the 7th inning spot.

The bullpen, even minus Chamberlain, has been outstanding; Mo has never been better: he is perfect closing through the first 40+ games. The starting rotation - which is missing 40% of its regulars (Andy Pettitte & Ivan Nova) has been stellar, lead this year by Kuroda. The fill-ins be they Phelps, Nuno or Warren have delivered starts that have kept the Yanks in the games where they were needed.

The Yanks are winning the close games, they're winning series, they're avoiding losing streaks all despite the steady rotation (currently 39 different players on the major league roster in 2013) of guys coming and going. This team has been more fun to watch than of many seasons past. Some of what I predicted in my pre-season blog on this team's chances have come out to bear. Sure looks like some of the "washed up" guys and the "baby Bombers" are playing very well as a team. Outside of Robinson Cano, most of the star players have been non-existent and yet, they're playing at a .609 clip which is second best in the AL only to Texas and 3rd overall in baseball when you add the Cards into the mix.

Again- a lot of baseball yet to play, but if the goal of the early season was the tread water and not get buried in the tough AL East, then the 2013 New York Yankees are already way ahead of that curve.

Play ball!

Cheers
B.

• Dixon Place Presents To Begin Again: A Modern Campfire A music video collaboration between Brian Mazo and Darren Gaines - “To Begin Again” - will introduce Gaines reading vignettes from his forthcoming novel, “Billboards.” Gaines, born in San Francisco but working in New York for the moment, will also perform a song from his book. Mazo, born in New York, wrote “A Rose by Any Other Name” in Los Angeles and published it from Minneapolis, where none of it takes place. The twenty-six short stories that comprise the collection take place at that crossroads where lovers meet, bisect, dissect each other. Mazo, fresh from appearances in the Mid-West and LA, will read three of his tales in his native accent. Roses and red wine: New York is all right if you like trombone… BIOs Darren Gaines: “Gaines is a poet in the same sense that Exene or Lou Reed is a poet.” – PopMatters Gaines records have been favorably compared to the “gutter street” styles of Tom Waits, Jim Carroll and Nick Cave. (LA Weekly, Village Voice, SF Chronicle). His DIY albums have graced year-end lists from Boston’s WFNX to Spain’s Ruta 66. He’s charted on CMJ, made a record with the producer who recorded The Clash’s Combat Rock, enjoyed an artist-in-residence at The Gershwin Hotel, broke a guitar at the legendary Mint in Los Angeles and even performed in a cathedral on a mountaintop in Jamaica. Brian Mazo: Brian Mazo graduated from NYU Film School, had a few movies produced from his screenplays and has written for a number of newspapers and magazines. Mazo claims to be the only screenwriter in captivity who has written movies starring women who have won both the Best Actress Academy Award (Oscar) and the porn equivalent (AVN) “A Rose by any Other Name” is his first book. “If there is one thing Brian Mazo knows about it is women...and words, and together, this is what you get!” – Pamela Holm, author of “The Toaster Broke So We’re Getting Married”. We are proud to be the debut installment of the monthly series, Gershwin Live at Dixon Place, hosted and curated by Michael Wiener and Neke Carson. The Dixon Place Lounge is open before, during, and after the show. Proceeds directly support Dixon Place’s artists and mission.

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So, I am back in the Twin Cities following the first leg of the "Rock 'n Rose Spring Tour" in Los Angeles. It started snowing as my plane was on the tarmac, which seemed more than fitting. The fact that it was 90 and that the sky was filled with wild fire smoke when I touched down in SoCal was not lost on me: out of the freezer and into the frying pan.

The above photograph (c) Marc Evans was taken on Friday night, May 3rd in Paynie's downtown "Red Loft" and I already have a painter buddy wanting to immortalize that night on canvas. It was the only event I had planned on the LA-leg that wasn't my event per se, I was asked to read at a Wine and Grilled Cheese party.

But when it did become my time to take the mic, the wine had poured, the cheese had clogged and despite my friend's insistence that I don't read, I did anyway. Hard crowd- a bunch of quasi-intoxicated people who didn't quite know they were attending a book reading. Despite that, I did get them to listen to "The Cross of Lorraine" and discovered I could handle a "hostile crowd" but from a promotional or sales tack, this event didn't get it done for me. Was drinking J&B scotch and the event gets a C-.

Saturday, May the 4th be with you was the first event that was of my creation: something of a salon up in Malibu. Great house, amazing location on the PCH -- but far away from most people, alas. This show was something of a practice run for the event in NYC in June (details to follow) and I think the format worked really well.

I had another writer, Coburn Hawk, read from his novel, "Middle Man," and had the lovely & talented Deanna Neil sing a small handful of her plucky songs accompanied by euk' in between the words that Coburn and I delivered. He read two chapters, I read 3 tales from Rose (Last Paige, Cross of Lorraine and Mustang Sally) during an approximately hour long set.

My hosts, the wonderful and generous Chris & Annemarie Penny, opened their amazing home for me and Rose. The room was filled (although I had but a small group of friends in attendance) and the audience stayed with us throughout, including a follow-up Q&A when the readings and songs were done. Signed some books, put some bodies in some tank-tops. I would give the event a B and I was drinking Glenlivet.

The final event that went down (the Rock a Rose Tattoo event on Sunday early afternoon was just me and Tracy Ray, friend/tattoo artist so I got the beginnings of a new tattoo outlined so I wouldn't call the day an entire bust) was a reading Sunday, May 5th at the Bronson Bar in Hollywood.

I had a really nice crowd -- over 20 people in a small bar on a Sunday late afternoon -- a melange of friends from NYU, from the film biz, from Burning Man and read 4 tales adding "Nina, a Pinto and the Santa Ana Winds" to the same 3 I had read the night before.

As I read, friend/bar manager Dave Knapp, poured shots of Jim Beam on me (not literally), I played Lucero on the bar's speakers and parted with quite a number of signed copies of Rose as well as some more pink tank-tops. While I was a little exhausted by the schedule and schlepping all around LA for the last few days, this was a great event: I think the book and me lend themselves to a bar-setting and will plan on replicating such an event in the other cities I hit on the tour.

I would give this event an A and I was drinking Oban. I realized yesterday that the quality of the event for me was directly proportionate to the quality of scotch I was drinking and will keep an eye on that as I get to other cities.

Speaking of other cities -- and NYC you're up next: June 7-9th -- if I am not coming to your city, or if you just can't wait, the pink Rose promo tanks and T's are available via mail order. The tanks are available S/M/L and the T-shirts in M/L any size for $16 including shipping. If you want a signed copy of the book along with the shirt, make it $30 and paypal me at: 26tales@gmail.com

Thanks for reading. Hope I get to read you some tales in the future as more legs of the tour roll out.

Brian