Happy New Year, 70s baseball fans!
Last week, while manfully fending off this damn cold/virus thing that's going around, I put the finishing touches on the final edit of Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of '76, my long-awaited follow-up to Big Hair and Plastic Grass. The book won't be out until April 29, but Amazon already has an advance order link up for it, as does Barnes & Noble.
In honor of the forthcoming book, I've started a new Facebook page; while the Big Hair FB page will keep cookin', I figured that it (and what people expect from it) has become too calcified over the last few years for me to seriously change things up and go "all 1976"; the new page will also feature much more in the way of pop culture-related pics and links than I usually post on Big Hair. Along those lines, just for kicks, I've also waded into the world of Tumblr with the Bicentennial Boogie page, which will be devoted strictly to 1976-related images, baseball and otherwise.
(And speaking of images, how 'bout a round of applause for the design folks at St. Martin's? They set the bar pretty high with the cover of Big Hair and Plastic Grass, but I dare say the cover they concocted for Stars and Strikes is right up there with it!)
As of this point, I'm just starting to get my plans together for the Stars and Strikes "book tour" — offhand, it's looking like a few reading/signing events in SoCal during May (more on that in a second), a visit to the East Coast (Philly, NYC, Boston, maybe one more city) in late June/early July, and a trip to the Midwest (Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit) in late July/early August, though I'm certainly game to go elsewhere if more opportunities present themselves. (If you would like me to come and speak about baseball and the 1970s at your organization's dinner, luncheon or other gathering, and can foot the bill to get me there, please drop me a line via this website.)
Right now, the only Stars and Strikes event that's currently set in stone is a reading/signing on May 3 at the Allendale Branch Library in Pasadena, CA. The program, which is co-sponsored by those fine folks at The Baseball Reliquary, will begin at 2 pm; the library is located at 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena, 91106. For more information, please see the Facebook invite that the library has posted for the event. Hope to see some of you LA-area folks there!
Finally, folks have been asking if I still have signed 1st edition hardcovers of Big Hair and Plastic Grass available for sale. I do indeed! Just shoot me $30 ($25 plus $5 shipping in the US; contact me for international shipping rates) via the PayPal link below, and I will happily hit you with your very own personalized copy.
Thanks as always to everyone who has helped support and encourage my funky forays into baseball's past. May you all have a peaceful, healthy, love-filled and totally righteous 2014!
good comment
Posted by: yvonne | 07/03/2014 at 01:39 AM