Author: Tony Lazzarini

Book: "Highest Traditions"

Interviewed by: W. H. McDonald – President of the MWSA

W. H. McDonald: Tony Lazzarini is a Vietnam veteran, screenwriter, playwright, race car driver, documentary film maker, businessman and an award winning author. Tony is an all around creative genius who tried his hand at many things. Currently he is hard at work trying to put together a short documentary film about the Vietnam War. He is married and has a daughter. He lives across the Golden Gate Bridge in the east bay.

Question: Various people know you from different walks of life since you are involved in so many different creative pursuits. Can you tell us a little about your newest film project?

A: Thanks for the compliment Bill, but I feel I’m quite a ways off from being a “creative genius.” The film project is coming together nicely and will be finished by the end of February. Last year I was invited to participate in a program put on by the Monterey Film Commission. Patrick Fries was showing “Shadow.”  I had met Patrick two years ago at a fundraiser for the Anglefire Monument in New Mexico. At a brunch sponsored by the Commission he was telling them the fact I had been a door gunner in Vietnam. He then asked if anyone knew what a door gunner was. No one had a clue. I decided then I needed a visual to show when I spoke to groups about my book, Highest Traditions.

Luckily for me, my sister Christine had become interested in film making a few years prior. I ran my ideas past her and the next thing I knew we were making it a reality.

Q: Your books have been selling well for several years now but are there plans for a new novel or non-fiction book coming out in the next year or two from you?

A: My first book, Never Trust A Man In Curlers, was a series of short stories. I have gotten great response from just about all who have read it. I really am a short story writer. I feel a sequel in me. Look for, The Return of The Man In Curlers, in the future.

I would also like to see my new play, Looking for…. produced.

Q: Your signature book called “Highest Traditions” is about your old assault helicopter unit in Vietnam. People have said that it really defines that part of the war very well but the true test for any war memoir is what your own unit members think about it. How has the acceptance been from your old unit the “Little Bears”? Do you get to see any of these guys at reunions or talk through emails?

A: The greatest reward to me comes from the positive responses of my Viet buddies and other Vietnam Veterans. It’s the credibility of the book that makes it do well. The fact it is not all “blood and guts” or “how I won the war” gives it a sensitive side and hopefully helps readers better understand the Vietnam Veteran and the war itself.

Q: You almost got yourself killed in 2004 crashing your motorcycle. Are you okay now and does your wife let you out on the highways again on your “bike”?

A: I have to laugh a little at this question. There are people who think I was not quite okay before my motorcycle accident. I’m glad to report I was given a total release by the doc's last year. My wife still rides with me whenever we have a chance to go out.

Q: Did that crash cause you to rethink your life in any way? I ask that question because it seems that it only slowed you down until you healed a little then you got right back into all kinds of creative projects?

A: The “slowing down” was due more to the spending of funds geared for other projects more so than rethinking my life. The two months recovery gave me plenty of time to promote my book through the Internet. Also gave me something else to write about.

Q: Can you tell us something about the plays that you have written? I believe that you also have a screen play ready to do about a Vietnam veteran is that true?

A: Looking for…dot, dot, dot is what I feel to be the best play I have ever written, but then I always feel what I finish last to be the greatest thing I have ever written. I’m also working on the screenplay version of it. Funny that it should be the story whose main character is a Vietnam Veteran writer. It’s a combo thriller/three hankie flick.

Q: You mention your brother in one of your books can you tell us something about that relationship and what effect it has had on your life?

A: My older brother Jim was a x-Marine. He later became the president of the San Francisco Hell’s Angles motorcycle club. His combat experience came from another type of conflict. No matter what you hear or read about them, the H.A.s are one of the few groups who understand brotherhood. They wear the 1% patch (1 percent outlaw). A lot of combat vets understand what this means. Jim died 10 years ago. I wrote a short story about him in the “Curlers” book.

Q: How long did it take for you to write your books?

A: I’m pretty fast once I get going. Both books took less that two months to write and another month to correct once they came back from the editor. I knew I should have paid more attention in English class!

Q: We did a book signing together in New Mexico several years ago after a showing of the documentary “In the Shadow of the Blade.” Was that movie experience one of the inspirations perhaps for your own desire to create a short film? And how long before the public can view your own movie?

A: There is no doubt this film influenced me. Not because of the subject matter but the style it was presented. It deserves all the awards it has received. My short film runs about 10 minutes and also includes some original songs and music written by a Vietnam Veteran. All other songs and music are also original. The voice-overs are excerpts from Highest Traditions. Photos used are my own and some of the film is actual footage shot from Hueys during the Vietnam War. It will be shown publicly for the first time at my next speaking engagement.

Q: What are your creative goals for the coming decade? Books? Movies? Plays? Something new and different?

A: I would still like to be involved with a Vietnam Veterans Expo. displaying their creative projects. I’m also building a new hot rod Jaguar.

Q: How about some personal insights on your life. What was your childhood like and what were you like in high school? What were your parents like?

A: Childhood was not the best but it was not the worst either. Not a groupie in high school. I was a four-year drama student. Found out in my last year I was not as bad a writer as I was an actor. Realized without writers, actors could not exist.

Q: What motivates and inspires you?

A: Anything that makes me feel an emotion. I always have the ending to something first before I have the complete story. Arriving at that emotion at the end of what I have written makes the story complete. I’m driven to make the reader feel this too.

Q: Is there anything about yourself that you would like to let others know about that they would not discover from your books?

A: I’m a Scorpio and enjoy good tequila.

Q: Any parting wisdom or thoughts to share?

A: We all have a creative side to us. I think we need to tap into it to keep our lives balanced. I don’t care what you write, paint or build, the fact you have created something from nothing, to me, is a great personal accomplishment. Sharing it with others is something only the artist will determine. Knowing what we have accomplished, even if no one else knows, gives us an internal peace.

Bill’s closing remarks: Tony, thanks for answering our questions and good luck on your film project.

*You can learn more about Tony Lazzarini and his latest endeavors by visiting his website.