The Stars and Strikes promo tour rolls onward like Jose Cardenal on a "penny farthing" bike, and I'll be hitting the Midwest in the middle of this month for five awesome reading/signing events.
Thursday, August 14: I will be reading and signing Stars and Strikes as part of a Bicentennial Rock Celebration at Liar's Club in Chicago (1665 W. Fullerton Ave.). Joining me will be The Good News Bears, a one-time only aggregation of Chicago rockers (including members of The Hushdrops, John's People, Plush and other fine bands) who will be playing two sets of 1976 AM gold following my reading. I will be joining them for guest vocals on a few songs, as will Liar's Club proprietor Herb Rosen. The fun begins at 7 pm and will go well into the night; be sure to don your most festive red-white-and-blue (or otherwise 1976-appropriate) clothing for the occasion. Admission is FREE, and copies of my books will be sold at the event by Chicago's Book Cellar, where I will be reading the following evening...
Friday, August 15: I will be doing a reading/signing at The Book Cellar, my favorite Chicago Bookstore, and a truly civilized place where you can get a glass of wine to enjoy with your book. I will be reading there at 7 pm, and the event is FREE. My last reading there, for Big Hair and Plastic Grass in 2010, was an absolute blast; if you can't make it to Liar's Club (or you prefer your readings in less raucous settings), come on out to 4736 N. Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Square.
Saturday, August 16: I'll be doing two Michigan events on this day. First, I'll be reading and signing at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor at 4 pm; Nicola's is located at 2513 Jackson Ave in the Westgate Shopping Center, and admission to the event is FREE. Later in the evening, I'll be reading in Detroit at "Bird Bash IV," the fourth annual celebration of Mark Fidrych's life. The event will be held at Nemo's Bar and Grill, which is located at 1384 Michigan Avenue, and begins at 7 pm; a $10 admission donation — proceeds will go to benefit Wertz Warriors and the Mark Fidrych Foundation — is suggested. Former Tigers pitcher Dave Rozema, former Tigers batboy Dennis Clotworthy and author Bill Morris will be among the other special guests in attendance. As a longtime Tigers fan, and a childhood resident of Ann Arbor, both of these events are pretty big deals for me.
Monday, August 18: I'll be wrapping up my Midwestern jaunt with a signing event at Milwaukee's Boswell Book Company, which is located at 2559 N. Downer Avenue. Instead of reading, I will be interviewed by (and talking all things 1976 with) Mitch Teich of WUWM's "Lake Effect" show, which should be a lot of fun. The event starts at 7 pm and is FREE.
And if all of that is already too much fun for one August, I've also been asked by the American Cinematheque to introduce their August 28 screening of the original 1976 version of The Bad News Bears at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA. It's a huge honor to be asked; not only is BNB the greatest baseball film ever made, but it pretty much kick-started my love of baseball... and I'm pretty sure that this will be the first time I've seen actually the film on a big screen since I saw it in a theater in Ann Arbor in the spring of '76. The screening is at 7:30 pm; I will be selling and signing books in the lobby beginning at 6:30 pm.
Finally, I'd just like to thank everyone who has bought, recommended and/or written about Stars and Strikes this summer, all the fine folks who have invited me to guest on their radio or TV shows, and everyone who has helped me set up these various reading/signing events — and, most of all, to everyone who has let me know via email or Twitter how much they've dug the book. You've made all of my hard work feel very worthwhile...
I'll leave you with this clip from the Padres Social Hour, which I guested on last week before my San Diego event. It was a real treat talking about Stars and Strikes with 1976 NL Cy Young winner Randy Jones, who of course had some interesting things of his own to say about the '76 season...
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