I am going to let someone else write my blog today. This is the press release that went out to a number of publications in Los Angeles last night in preparation for the first leg of the book tour for "A Rose by any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales About a Man and a Woman."

For Immediate Release

26tales@gmail.com 

The Rock a Rose Tour:

Live Tattooing and Twenty-Six (Alphabetical!)Tales Of Love

That’s right. Buy a book, get a tattoo! Or the other way around, however you wanna look at it.

In a book tour like no other, screenwriter and author Brian Mazo brings his collection of short stories, “A Rose By Any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman” to LA for a duo of readings and signings accompanied by the stellar inkwork of East Hollywood custom-tattoo artist Tracy Ray!

Then, after the tattoo sessions: Returning to the scene of the crime - or at least the bars & coffee shops in which "A Rose by any Other Name" was written - Brian Mazo's last scheduled stop in Los Angeles will be a reading/signing at The Bar (neé Bronson Bar). Tales will be spun, there will be some music to drown 'em out and perhaps a drink special or two from Bronson barkeep Dave Knapp.

“A Rose By Any Other Name” is twenty-six snap-shot short stories, each about a moment between two people at a crossroads. From New York to Los Angeles, from an old folks’ home to a backseat in a torrential downpour, from Black Rock City, Burning Man back to Brooklyn again, the tales give us a voyeur’s view to sweet first kisses all the way to the bitter endings.

Just The Facts, Ma’am:

Event 1: Tracy Ray Tattoo Studio

·         Sunday May 5, 2013, Noon-3pm

·         Mazo will sign and read from “A Rose By Any Other Name” while guests get their choice of two rose designs inked, a process that will take approximately ½ hour.

·         $40 gets you access to Tracy’s private studio, the reading and the signing, PLUS a tattoo and a signed copy of the book.

·         Location is secret. To schedule your tattoo & reading, email 26tales@gmail.com. Those with a Facebook account can schedule their timeslot via the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/113556932176754/

Event 2: Book ‘n’ a ‘Beam: Bronson Bar

·         Sunday May 5, 2013, 3pm-6pm

·         Mazo's last scheduled stop in LA will be a reading/signing at The Bar.

·         5851 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028; 323-468-9154.

·         Free event. Music & drink specials.

About the Author:

Brian Mazo has impersonated David Blaine at the Magic Castle in Hollywood for the LA Weekly, irked the Scientologists for a story in the LA Alternative and faked the death of a fictitious friend in the WTC bombings to get out of his fantasy baseball league.

His wild life has crisscrossed the country repeatedly and he claims to be the only screenwriter in captivity to write movies starring women who have won both the Best Actress Academy Award (Faye Dunaway) and the porn equivalent (Taylor Hayes).

MORE…

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Mazo now writes books as an excuse to get tattoos. “A Rose by any Other Name,” a collection of twenty-five short stories and a “Dear Jane” letter for which he had no other good use, was published in 2012. After a wildly successful indiegogo.com campaign, he’s currently on the road (LA, SF, and NYC) promoting it – and getting more tattoos – while working on a novel entitled, “Live Fast! (Die out of Town).” Mazo is currently ducking the Scientologists by residing in Minneapolis, MN with Thurman, his Russian Blue cat.

About the Book:

“A Rose By Any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman” is a collection of twenty-six snap-shot short stories, each about a moment between two people at a crossroads. From New York to Los Angeles, from Black Rock City, Burning Man and back to Brooklyn, the tales give us a voyeur’s view to sweet first kisses all the way to the bitter final ones: 

A man in the midst of an ugly break-up rips out the last page of each of his lover’s book collection and then wishes he could change their ending (“Last Paige”). 

A flower-bearing man, who hates taking taxis, has the duration of a ride to win over his cabdriver and her alluring smile (“Hail Mary”). 

A piece of jewelry solves a mystery and leads to a twisted tryst (“The Cross of Lorraine”). 

An unexpected, second chance at love and happiness amongst Senior Citizens in Florida is sparked by a hurricane and the ability to drive at night (“Mustang Sally”). 

Also included: a tale of breakups and breakdowns (“Nina, the Pinto & the Santa Ana Winds”), fortunate mistaken identity (“A Rose by Any Name”), one man’s obsession with his bartender (“Fiona, the Irish Girl”), sex during a torrential downpour (“Hannah & the Hitchhiker), jealousy (“Charlotte’s Web)”, deceit, (“Victoria’s Secret”) and one woman’s first foray into nude modeling (“Ursula, Undressed”).

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If how the New York Yankees perform at Tropicana Field is any indication, baseball simply should not be played indoors. Much credit has to be given to the effective kiddie-corps of pitchers the Rays throw out there night after night. The funny thing is that the David Price (2012 Cy Young winner) versus Phil Hughes (Cy Nada) game on Tuesday night was the one I thought the lost-cause, wound up being the only game the Yanks took in the three game set. Baseball is a funny game, indeed.

What's not been so funny in the early part of the season is the debacle created by the schedule makers. Mind you: the task was different this year than it has ever been. When the Houston Astros were reassigned to the AL West, it created an odd number of teams in each league requiring that there be an Interleague game on the schedule each day so as to not necessitate too many days of for teams. Okay. Got that.

Why am I mentioning indoor vs. outdoor baseball then, you ask? Well, they really screwed the pooch in setting the locales of early April games especially in cities where there could be inclement weather. And with the new schedule there was a new wrinkle: teams travel but ONCE per season to cities outside of their division. Those same teams come but ONCE to your park. This makes make-up games far more difficult to schedule and you would think someone bore that in mind.

Nope.

Colorado, Minneapolis have been getting snow-- and trust me, I have this one on experience -- not just a dusting. Sure MidWesterners are a tough lot, but nobody here wants to sit out in the snow for 3+ hours watching the Twins get pounded by the Mets. Same goes for Rockies fans.

No one really needs many days off in April. The players for the majority should be in the best shape they've been all year, should be the most rested. But come down the dog days when you have to travel on your off-day to another city to perhaps even have to play a double-header like the Yankees have looming vs the Indians, could take a big toll on a team down the stretch. This doesn't bode well for a more veteran (read: old) team like the Yanks.

Someone - or some computer - should lose its job.

Cheers
B

Hello Los Angeles--

Me and my book, "A Rose by any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales about a Man and a Woman" return to the city in which it was written in a few weeks. The twenty-six tales poured out of me over a four month span spent in Hollywood a few years back. It was the first prose I had written in as long as I can remember and much of it was written in less than ideal conditions.

My girlfriend at the time - she's in a few of them in bits and pieces - was living with me in my tiny studio apartment, so to get away from hearing her over-loud thoughts in my head, I had to write elsewhere. Much of the book, handwritten in notebooks, was done on the bus in LA. More of it was written in two coffee shops within a few blocks of the aforementioned apartment.

The Karma Cafe - defunct now, I wonder whose bad karma caused that - was my favorite location for writing: good coffee, comfy couches and a creative vibe local shop (ie, not everyone in the joint was "writing a screenplay"). The only problem - and it was a rather big one - was that they wouldn't keep out or kick out the bums. And I was fine with that attitude - really, I was - except for that the place often got too stinky to stay in long enough to finish penning a short story.

My other option was Starbucks. Bad coffee, none-too-comfortable seating and really just a sterile, McAtmosphere, but ... and this is a big  B  U  T  ... they forced the bums to stay out on the patio/smoking area out front. Hated this piss poor attitude but I was never driven from my writing spot because of offenses to my olfactory system.

I will be making the first leg of the mini-book tour from May 3rd to 6th in LA. The events the first two nights: one at a loft party downtown (Friday), the other at house party out in Malibu (Saturday), are quasi-private, invite-only events, but if you think you qualify, drop me a line for an invite.

But on Sunday early afternoon, I will be doing a joint promotion with the tattoo artist/friend who has done much of my ink. Click here to see the facebook-invite for this very special promo: for $40 you get to hear me read you a tale from the book as you get a Rose-tattoo and then leave with not only some fresh ink, but also with an inscribed copy of the book. Again, all for just forty bucks!

The final appearance of the Los Angeles leg will be that afternoon at the Bronson Bar in Hollywood. I'll be there from 3pm-6pm reading a tale from Rose on or near the top of each hour. There's very good chance that I'll be able to squeeze a drink special or two out of the manager/friend so come on down, hear a story, drink a beer, buy a signed copy of the book ($14) and still be home in time for Game of Thrones. Click here for more details on the facebook-invite.

Thanks much and I hope to see some of you in LA next month: I promise I won't bring any melon-farming snow out there with me. Details soon on the New York City leg of the Rose tour for June.

Cheers,
Brian

Two weeks into the season and the Yankees are more than treading water. Hell! I woke up on my birthday to the Bronx Bombers being in 1st place. With all the hand-wringing and worrying, the starting pitching has been (mostly) getting the job done, the same goes for the bullpen (mostly- Joba, I'm talking to you). And then there's the scrap bin pickups: Wells, Hafner, Overbay-- all getting the job done. I am not one who will ever yell, "Youk'" but he has showed up healthy, hitting for average and for power in the middle of the lineup and playing a pretty good third-base. It's not like we're missing A-Rod; even I'd take the ex-Bosox player over Al.

Because even when you think things cannot get worse around him, there's more. Just when the latest scandal had been dying down, word came out that MLB had offered to pay for the damning documents. Only one thing? Seems like A-Rod tried to buy them himself already to keep them away from from the powers-that-be. It will be a happy day if/when the Yanks are able to finally find just cause and legal precedent to void his contract. Should that be done - and mind you: it's really a long shot - the projected $189M self-inflicted salary cap for 2014 does become a little more realistic.

The A's, who many thought just got lucky last season, are still hot. I'm an Oakland fan and I don't know who many of these guys are, but they play hard and with heart. The same can't be said for the tumbling Angels who keep trying to buy a pennant only to find out that it's not as easy as everyone not a Yankee-fan assumes. Their pitching has been dreadful and missing Weaver isn't going to help. The Blue Jays and all their high-priced imports are seeing the same thing in the AL-East. It doesn't seem like any team is going to get buried in that mighty division - the 5 teams will beat up on each other too much for that - but I do like seeing Toronto toward the bottom.

The Rays, who will pitch (right?) have the bottom slot in the AL-East 5 games out. And it could be worse- not unexpected, but the Marlins are already 9 games behind the Braves in the NL-East; they're even 4 1/2 games out of fourth. You have to think their phones are ringing and ringing about Stanton. And maybe it was Boston- Carl Crawford is hitting for the Dodgers, but it's such a shame (uh-hem) that Greinke is out of their rotation for 8 weeks. So sorry about that... (uh-hem).

ROCK 'N ROSE BOOK TOUR:

The first leg of the tour is set for Los Angeles the weekend of May 3-6. I'll be reading at a downtown soiree on Friday night, at a quasi-private salon out in Malibu on Saturday night.

On Sunday from noon-3pm, I'll be doing a joint promotion with the friend/tattoo artist who inked my own Rose tattoo. Here's the deal: you schedule a 1/2 block on that day and arrive at the tattoo shop on time and sober. While I read you a tale from "A Rose by any Other Name," Tracy Ray tattoos one of a choice of two Rose designs onto your skin placement of choice. You're then sent home to heal with an inscribed copy of the book all for the bargain price of $40.00.

Following that, the last appearance of the trip will be a happy hour reading at the Bronson Bar in Hollywood. The narrow, dark bar at 5221 Hollywood Blvd  from 3-6pm. There will be stories, some music and probably a drink special or two. Signed copies of the book will be available for $14.00.

Thanks and I'll keep you posted on NYC dates upcoming for June.

Brian

How amazing is Andy Pettitte? Well, without him, the Yankees are possibly 0 for the season so far. His third game of the season start versus the rival Red Sox was declared a "must win!" by no other than the ghost of George M. Steinbrenner (see: @GeorgesGhost). Of course, had The Boss still been around, the Yankees wouldn't be in the position to rely so heavily on the old, once-retired Texan, but here we are.

Pettitte has turned himself into one of the best pitchers in the game despite not having the stuff he had when young. The old line about youth being wasted is rarely as obvious as with Major League pitchers. But not only did the crafty left-hander shut down the Bosox bats, he drove a nail into even thoughts of stealing.

Watching Pettitte from the stretch, especially with a runner on first, is something amazing. Whenever I remembered to look for it and when the TV camera angle permitted it, on nearly every single pitch to the plate, the runner on first was going back to the bag.

How big is that? First off, even if the guy wasn't attempting to steal second, the runner's momentum heading back to first can be huge. Trying to break up a double-play? Not so easy if you have to reverse course before trying to take out a middle infielder. Going first-to-third on a hit to the outfield also becomes less of a guaranteed or smart move with the kind of move Pettitte has.

Is it a balk? Most lefties have something of a balk move, but Pettitte is truly the master of it. His reputation and his seniority give him the benefit of the doubt from most umpires and make base-runners wary as all get out.

The bats have been slightly better than expected, which is something of a backhanded compliment no doubt, but one week into the season the castoffs and re-treads (Youkilis, Wells, Overbay) have been getting the job done in the early goings. Clearly, so much more is needed from the place-setters, Gardner and Ichiro I'm talking to you, so that this new "heart" of the lineup can knock some runners in.

Sabathia versus Verlander is an epic early season match-up and one the Yanks, who actually have fared well against the Tiger ace, need this one to not end the first week of the season with but the one "W" crafted by Andy Pettitte.

*************

Upcoming Rose news:

I'll be reading one tale from the book at the Midway/Hamline library in St. Paul this coming Wednesday, April 10th at 6:30PM.

The first stop of the book tour -- Los Angeles -- will be May 3rd-6th. I'm currently ironing out the details of the appearances and will share those with y'all as soon as those are concrete.

New York City dates should follow in June. Looks like I will be headlining along w/singersongwriternovelist, Darren Gaines, at the premier Dixon Place event night brought to you from the guy behind the great artist series at the Gershwin Hotel.

Cheers
B