Great times on Thursday night with Brian Griese at Nuance Gallery here in Tampa. It was amazing. I had never met Brian before and he's such a gentleman. I was honored to have him there with me and we raised some funds for a great cause…. Brian's charity, Judi's House. It's mission is to support and aid grieving children who have lost a parent or family member. Brian is obviously passionate about the cause and very involved. It was inspiring to listen to him talk about working with kids to steer them in the right direction after what is probably the hardest thing they will go through at their young ages.

Award-Winning Bay News 9 anchor Melissa Eichman was our fine emcee and Miss Tampa USA 2009 Lees Garcia joined us for the unveiling….i'm grateful to both of them…two wonderful ladies!

It's Thursday, but it already feels like Sunday! I arrived in Tampa on Monday afternoon and haven't stopped since. It's been great. We hit the road running on Tuesday morning with a 7:30 AM radio interview on WFLA (FOX). I don't get to do radio as often as i would like…being that my art is VISUAL…but we had a great time. The crew there is a lot of fun and i enjoyed talking to them. We left from there and went over to Nuance Gallery where i was interviewed by Bill Ratliff, the anchor of the local NBC affiliate's news programs…another great guy and i enjoyed the interview. Tuesday night was a benefit for the Jewish National Fund at Nuance Gallery…..a nice pre-Super Bowl event.

On Wednesday, i hadt an early-morning (re: 5:30AM!) live shot on the local CBS affiliate from the Stadium. It was DARK…but a good spot. From there, we went over to Daytime Tampa where i painted live on air for an hour. We were outside and i actually got a sunburn!

Last night i did another Romeo y Julieta Cigar Signing for the Museum Edition Humidor at Tampa Humidor here in Tampa. Miss Tampa and Miss Plant City joined me there and i met so many nice people…i had a lot of fun there and … we sold a lot of cigars!

This morning was more media….and tonight is the show at Nuance Gallery. Tampa Bay Quarterback, Brian Griese is co-hosting with me and we'll be donating a portion of the sales from the show to his charity, Judi's House.

In between somewhere – i'm not sure how – i got over to St. Petersburg to visit the Salvador Dali Museum. I loved it and will blog about it separately…later! Now it's off the the NFL Experience! Hope to see some of you there.

–Charles

Rudy Saviano was in the studio a few weeks ago. We're talking about working together to increase exposure for my hand-painted baseballs. He has some great ideas and I'm looking forward to working with him. He happened to mention to Fran and Julie in the office that he had co-written a children's baseball book……we learned first hand what a good storyteller Rudy is because he told us about how he got the legendary Bob Feller to write the introduction. Then Tom Seaver came on board to author the foreword. What a great story. Within days, Rudy sent us a copy of his book. I'd like to share it with you. It's pretty amazing…the previously untold story of the role that Casey's son played in that fateful game in Mudville.

Through this book, Rudy shows us again how life's lessons can be taught through art and cultural stories can be passed through generations by art…all kinds of art….books & literature, paintings, music, poetry, photography, etc.

Here's what Bob Feller writes on the back of the book: “I have never seen a baseball book that teaches family values and life's lessons to children as does 'The Deal is on Strike Three.' Parents should read this book and discuss the lessons it teaches with their children. I'm very proud to be part of it.”

You can read more about the book and order it from Rudy's website at www.thedealisonstrikethree.com.

Enjoy!

–Charles

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I wish I could have been glued to my television set this weekend, but I was out of the country. Admittedly, I'm not happy that my New York Giants are not in it anymore. I'm especially sorry for my friend Justin Tuck who I hear played his heart out. He's a true gentleman and an incredible competitor. Something tells me there will be plenty more rings for his fingers before he's done!

I'll be heading to Tampa myself on January 27th and I'm looking forward to taking part in my ninth Super Bowl celebration week. I'll be doing a gallery show at Nuance Galleries, a Cigar signing, appearing at the NFL Experience, and signing at The Taste of the NFL. I've done a new limited edition print, open edition poster, and hand-painted equipment for this Super Bowl. You can read more about my artwork and where I'll be when in Tampa on fazzino.com.

I look forward to seeing many of you there!

I'm always interested in Super Bowl predictions…so tell me yours!

–Charles

Blog Moderation: Please note that Charles Fazzino's blog is moderated. If you post a comment, please allow 24-hours for that comment to be approved and posted live to this site by our moderator. Thank You.