Yup, that's my book cover. Beautiful work by my friend Darren; I did the stuff in between those hot-pink covers. "A Rose by Any Other Name" was the first prose fiction I had written in so long I can't rightly recall. I had been mostly writing for the screen or journalism or first-person pieces for newspapers. So I was shocked as anyone one October morning when I woke up with what felt like a fully-formed short story in my head, so I sat down and wrote "All Hallows Eve" as quickly as my hand could move my pen.

A few days later, I was struck with an idea that also very much felt like a short story, so I wrote that one, too. Over the course of a week or two though, a theme developed: these rather short 'snap-shot' moments between two people: a man and a woman at a romantic crossroads. Over the next four or five months during a period of some fairly serious romantic tribulations of my own, I wrote these twenty-four short stories, one letter and one poem that comprise the book.

It took me now about five or six years to push this puppy out of the nest, but that finally happened this week. There was the normal editorial rounds, there was the desire to have the cover be an actual twenty-six pedaled rose tattoo be the cover. I got the tattoo by the wonderful Tracy Ray, and I got my right forearm (tattoo location) photographed not once (thanks, Alan) but twice (thanks Patrick) but just couldn't make it work from a graphics standpoint. That said- I am very happy with the covers and the appearance of the book.

The words inside have been with me for so long and were written a while back, and reflect a lot of where I was then as both a man and as a writer, but I happy to release them into the world. There are tales I like more than others, I am sure if you read it you will have your favorites (and not so-favorites) and I doubt that they will be the same. The book is as good for the back of the toilet as it is for your subway commute or for a day sitting on the beach.

If you would like some more information or to purchase the print edition, go here: https://www.createspace.com/3527985
The Kindle version is available now on Amazon as well.

Thanks very much,
Brian

Happy freakin' birthday to me. If you happen to be a facebook-friend of mine you know that is how I wish everyone I know a happy birthday. Here's the back-story to how that particular greeting came into being.

Probably fifteen years ago, my best friend J. Haran (who was murdered by cancer about a dozen years ago) gave me a birthday card. It had a simple drawing of a guy who looked like he should be a plumber. The words in the bubble were the very apt, very man-to-man in a self-deprecating nature said, "Happy Freakin' Birthday."

The next year on my birthday, J. gave me the exact same card. When I told him that he had given me the same card the previous year, J. said, "Did I?"

The next year, same card again. When I told J. that he had given me that same card the year before, he said the exact same thing. I told him that we had this very same conversation - verbatim - the year before.

This happened again the following year. And now, well, first I miss the crap out of him and I still don't know if he didn't know he was getting me the same card -- if it just seemed appropriate -- or he was messing with me. J. took that secret to his too-early grave...

Today is the Yankee Home Opener. I wish I was there, but will be watching on the computer. A nice little present to me.

And my present to you is the first opportunity to purchase the print edition of the long, long-threatened book. I sure hope this link works; Kindle has started giving my book away for free which is a great way to get the words out, but it doesn't pay the rent.

https://www.createspace.com/3527985

But if the Universe and technology is on my side for a change today, then that will take you to the site where you can get yourself, your significant other or your mom a copy of my book.

Thanks much,
Brian

The first week of the baseball is about as skewed a sample as you can get. Most pitchers (outside of the Baltimore Orioles) are not going to end their season with ERAs over 10.00. The Giants and the Braves will do better; the bosox and the Twins (especially now after losing Scott Baker for the season) may not. Mariano Rivera will blow another save and the sky will not fall... yet.

The Yankees dropped all 3 games to the Rays despite scoring 6 runs in 2 of those games. Then they turned around and took the same brooms to the Orioles, who had been feeling good about their 3-game sweep of those aforementioned Twinkies. But the Yankee pen was taxed as the last two games went extra innings. You don't feel as tired, though, when you pull those games out.

Today is the Yanks first day off of the 2012 season as they travel to the Bronx to meet up with the Angels for opening day, tomorrow at 1pm. Kuroda gets his second start; Yankee fans get their first look at Albert Pujols. I wish I were spending my birthday there, but the computer screen will have to suffice.

I am working on a positive (but not "puff") piece on the Yankee Captain, Derek Jeter, for this Sunday's edition of BronxBaseballDaily. In the coming week, I am hoping to get a quick, interview with a friend of a friend who had been the editor of Yankee magazine back some years ago. I recall being told some pretty funny and/or juicy tales of Yankee players activity off the field, and I hope I can get him to go on the record for something juicy.

The last installment of "Turtle Power" appears in the Jerusalem Post Lite today; the next one to get the illustrated/serialized treatment is my tale of impersonating David Blaine at The Magic Castle in Hollywood. And then they will start in with some of the more chaste, less risque stories from "Rose."

And yes-- after sooooooo much hemming, hawing, excuse-making, heal-dragging and just run-of-the-mill procrastination, "A Rose by Any Other Name" is available on Kindle and sits in the devices of some people. I'm having some issues with their site and with how the material uploads, formats and becomes available for purchase. But I also think I am more than a little prejudiced against the contraption. To me: a book is something you hold in your hand.

Hoping that UPS comes early today with the proof copies of the print edition. Really looking forward to having that fly out of the nest and onto your bedside table or the back of the toilet in your bathroom. I said "back of the toilet," but... whatever.

Okay, off to the mine...

Cheers,
B.

For immediate release:

Well, I have threatened and threatened and now it's all coming to fruition. My first book, "A Rose by Any Other Name" was released via Kindle yesterday. I am hoping that the print edition will be available by the end of this week. Below is the book project summary and a link to get more information and/or purchase an electronic edition of the short-story collection.

Personally, I am holding out for the copy I can hold in my hands, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with having both, right?

Project Summary

A Rose by Any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales About a Man & a Woman

Authored by Brian Mazo

List Price: $14.00

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
Black & White on White paper
236 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1456458898 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1456458892
BISAC: Fiction / Short Stories

“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”).

A Rose By Any Other Name: An Alphabet of Tales About a Man and a Woman [Kindle Edition]

Brian Mazo (Author)

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Kindle Purchase Price:	$6.99
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·         Includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet

Brian Mazo had his first by-lined column in a sports collectibles magazine at the age of 13. Since then he has graduated from NYU Film School, written for a number of newspapers and magazines and has had a few movies produced from his screenplays. Mazo lives in Minneapolis, MN with Thurman, his Russian Blue. This is his first book.

Purchase here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007SABVQC/ref=tag_dpp_yt_edpp_rt

And thank you very much,

Brian

That first inning grand-slam by Pena off CC Sabathia in the first after Girardi had him walk Rodriguez to get to him, had be slamming cabinets in the kitchen. But the Yanks started to chip away against Tampa's James Shields Opening Day and then newest Yank, Raul Ibanez hit a 3-run shot and all looked good in Yankee land. Yeah, CC didn't have his best stuff, but he kept them in the game. Soriano tossed a scoreless 7th. Robertson did his Houdini-act getting out of a first and third, no outs jam that he got himself in, by striking out the side.

This is how we draw it up. Enter Sandman, right? Mo comes in and that's that. But not yesterday, the great Mariano Rivera faulted, the Rays scored two of him in the 9th and we turn the page to tonight and Kuroda. Feh.

Here's my piece that will appear on Bronx Baseball Daily tomorrow; I call it my take on being a Yankee fan living in the diaspora; it may appear under a different title. Probably something like this:

Yankees Suck or: It Ain't Easy Being Gray

“Yankees suck, Yankees suck,” it’s a common chant, but for most of you Yankee fans, it’s something you probably only hear on TV. Me? Well, I’ve been living in what I like to refer to as the disapora for much of the last fifteen years, so when I get to see my team play live, it’s in road grays and it’s at the opposing team’s stadium. Even my cat, Thurman, is gray.

Fortunately, these days I am living in Minneapolis so I actually don’t hear it that much. I have yet to miss a Yankee game at the Twins’ beautiful new, downtown park Target Field. Unlike most other cities, Twins fans seem to know their place, they know their team is going to lose to the Evil Empire. How much so? Last season, I nearly felt sorry for Twinkies fans suffering though an awful season. There I am in my Dave Winfield #31 pinstriped Yankee uniform consoling them before the game that AJ Burnett “pitched” that they would probably take that one out of the four game series.

But, having spent two seasons living in the Bay Area, I can’t say anything nice about A’s fans. Maybe it’s their awful park, or maybe it’s their now-perennially awful team, but Oakland fans tend to just be kind of nasty to Yankee fans; there I have had things thrown at me – and I don’t just mean words.

Now, back to that chant which started up in Boston (personally I wouldn’t go to Fenway unless they burned it to the ground and salted the earth so nothing could ever grow in its place) but has spread like the flu. When I left New York and moved to the West Coast after the 2011 World Series, I was lucky to have the Yankees make the trip out West very early in the season. I travelled along for all three games against the aforementioned A’s and then three more up in beautiful Safeco field versus the Mariners.

The first game up there in Seattle, I recall sitting in the right-field seats as the Yanks started to take it to the home-team and that chant started up, but it was feeble at best. Me and another Yankee fan, who was sitting near me, stood up and joined their “Yankees suck” chant, but with gusto. Heads turned, people looked at us – garbed in all our Yankee finery – and didn’t know what to think. The best part? The PA announcement at the commencement of the following day’s game warning fans that language used the day before would not be tolerated. Yeah, I did that.

Now, I have had the glorious privilege of seeing quite a number of post-season games at Yankee Stadium, so don’t feel too sorry for me. At my first World Series game in 1981 (game 2) I had the honor of being flipped the bird by Dodger’s pitcher Jerry Reuss; I’d been getting on him about the homerun he’d given up to Bobby Murcer the night before, so I guess I had it coming.

But still, nothing to date beats being at Game 3 of the 2008 World Series against the Padres. A partisan crowd to be sure, I was very lucky to get a ticket at the last minute. Having called in sick to work, I was sitting high up down the first-base line and San Diego fans had been getting on me something fierce all night long. And they were as loud as Southern California fans can get, gloating over the lead Trevor Hoffman had in the ninth.

Then Scott Brosius took Hoffman yard and I think even their closer could hear me down on the mound because the place, which had been rollicking, got dead quiet; just like their season and their hopes. Yes, not much beats singing, “New York, New York” at Yankee Stadium after a World Series win; but that night singing it alone, as a Padre fan, who had been on my case all night long, bought me a beer, was something else. Yankees suck, indeed.

Cheers,

Brian

Happy freakin' Opening Day! Yes, there have been some games played already, but as @GeorgesGhost put it: "It's not Opening Day until the Yankees play," and yes, I do know that that rhymes. CC Sabathia makes his 4th straight opening day start. Only Whitey "Chairman of the Board" Ford (rhyming again) had more with 7. The Yanks are mostly healthy heading into the season, which with a veteran team is essential, and that bodes well to get off to a good start. Unlike those bosox, who looked like they were already missing having an actual closer (although Papelbon did a great job for the Phillies yesterday) and Ryan Sweeney is not going to make anyone forget Jim Rice out in right.

I just ordered the second set of proof copies for "Rose." It looks like it should be complete and available for purchase hopefully by this time next week. You want to get me a birthday present (4/13) -- buy yourself a copy, buy your wife & girlfriend one, too and keep me away from honest employment.

Here's my review of Wednesday night's Lucero show at First Avenue. It also appears here: http://musicscenempls.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/lucero-first-avenue-april-4-2012/

“Well, if we’re gonna fuck up someone else’s song,” drawled Lucero’s front-man, Ben Nichols, about an hour into their set Wednesday night, “it might as well be The Replacements.” And then in a moment that would have made the late Bob Stinson proud, Nichols wandered off stage and returned with a liter bottle of Jamesons, before launching into a honky-tonk version of “If Only You Were Lonely.” The crowd around me up-front and center who had been singing along with nearly every word, starting with opener, Iowan William Elliot Whitmore (or, “Willie!!” as the guy behind me had been screaming since before the screen rose) seemed not to recognize the local legend’s song, but it was a great tribute.

Lucero, headlining for the first time at First Avenue, seemed very enthused to be playing this stage and delivered a great set from open to close. The set – and they don’t work from a list – was heavy on the last two, major label releases, 2009’s 1372 Overton Park and Women and Work, which came out a few weeks ago and the way the band is set up now with 2 guys on horns supplementing the 2 guitars, keyboards, the pedal steel and your standard rhythm section, these songs play great live and fill a bigger venue such as First Avenue.

Personally, I miss their days of small bars and the stripped down, punk rock alt-country sound, but I can’t fault Lucero for finding a bigger sound and a bigger audience. And I suppose I miss the days when they were seriously drinking, but again: who wants to see Ben Nichols go the way of Shane MacGowan (The Pogues) or Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster) other than the aforementioned Stinson? And when Lucero send some of the extra musicians off-stage for a breather and, hopefully, a drink, the old sound and feel is still there. And how can I complain when they do play the four songs I was hoping for: “Drink ‘til We’re Gone,” “Tears Don’t Matter Much,” “Night Like These,” and my yelled request of, “My Best Girl.” Yeah, no complaints. Great band, great show.

My only complaint about opener Whitmore, who only needs his own gravelly voice, a banjo (that had its battery go out early on him), the guitar that replaced it for the rest of his set, a bass drum and his soul on his sleeve was that I wished I’d been seeing him at Palmer’s. Well, and the guy yelling behind me. Yeah, he could have been somewhere else, too.

Cheers,

Brian

The 2012 MLB season starts today, but the Yankees don't open until Friday vs. the Rays in Tampa. Today they play the second of two straight games versus the Mets. Good thing Mr. Steinbrenner is dead; he would have declared both games "MUST WIN" so he's probably rolling in his grave after the 7-6 loss yesterday.

I may post a review of the Lucero show from First Ave. tomorrow, but then again, I may not. This wouldn't be an assignment for MusicSceneMPLS so they're not entitled to one, but it could happen regardless.

Short & sweet 2012 predictions:

AL-East: Yankees
AL-Central: Tigers
AL-West: Rangers
Wild Cards: Rays and Angels

NL-East: Braves
NL-Central: Brewers
NL-West: Giants
Wild Cards: Phillies and Marlins

Yankees over Braves in 5 games World Series

See how much time I just saved you?

Cheers,
Brian