Dan Nitro Clark

Taking a day off in Sedona Arizona for a little Rest and Relaxation after a mini-Book Tour Road Trip!  Started in Tampa, then onward to Orlando.   The CBS and FOX affiliates were both fantastic and supportive there, as well as, in New Orleans. 

New Orleans seemed full of life and vibrant.  There were still plenty of signs of Katrina’s devastation, but there was also a skip in the step of the people and the streets at night were alive.  I somehow ended up in the world famous Pat O’Brien’s drinking hurricanes at the end of the night.  I didn’t get hurt though.  It was one and done.  Now that is wisdom.   Or maybe it’s simply that I don’t like sweet drinks.  Give it to me hard on the rocks or give me wine or give me death.  Okay, being a little dramatic… but New Orleans does that to a guy.  However, as I pulled away from New Orleans, a wave of guilty washed over me.  I felt guilty that I didn’t do anything to help.  It’s weird how everything seems just like a story on the news until you live, eat, drink, and breath it.  

I wish I would’ve done something to help.  Does anyone else feel that way?

Galveston Island, Texas was the next stop.   It reminded me a bit of Rosarita Beach, Mexico.  A strip of hotels on a spit of land with brown mucky-water.  The saving grace of the beach town — were the people with their Texas-twang and Southern friendliness.  

From there we went on to San Antonio to do the “Great Day San Antonio” show  on the CBS affiliate.  They were the bomb.  The two female hosts, Bridget and Eileen read the book, gushed effusively about it, and were just fantastic.   I wonder if I would’ve said the same thing if they didn’t absolutely love the book?  LOL.  Here’s Great Day San Antonio Video.  It’s one of my favs from the entire tour.   

I also was able to give a shout out on air to my ex-in-laws.  Is that how you write it?  Ex -in-laws?  The marriage wasn’t so good — but the in-laws were always fantastic to me.  I miss them.  It’s sad that we also divorce the family when we divorce the spouse.  Sometimes the family is the best part. 

From San Antonio it was on to El Paso for a little publicity, the on to Tucson for a touch more, and as said earlier, I’m now in Sedona.   It’s absolutely stunning here!!!

Before I head off, I have to give a shout out to my favorite local producer in Los Angeles, Janet at KTLA 5.  She is a rockstar!

~ Dan

     Kicked it on the set of EXTRA with my long time bud Mario Lopez Friday.  We met at our first autograph session, a car show, in Ohio when he was 16 and I was uh… 17.  Well, I was just a little older than that.  But never in my wildest imagination did I think 19 years later he’d be hosting his own prime time show and I’d be on it because I’d just written:  GLADIATOR – A True Story of Roids, Rage, Redemption.  It’s amazing how life comes full circle.  I’m proud of Mario beyond belief – he’s doing a great job and still a great guy.   

Also, I did my first TV interview via satellite Thursday for a late night FOX show called "Red Eye" with Greg Gutfield. Satellite is a tricky thing.  I’m surprised most people, even those with a little media experience, just don’t incinerate right there on the sound stage.  Here’s how it’s set up.   I’m sitting on a stage at FOX in Los Angeles with an artillery of lights blasting my retinas — in the midst of them is one camera man.  That’s it.  Just him and I and — oh yeah — a really cute make up girl.   In my ear is a mic where I can hear the show live while it’s being filmed in NY.  It’s a round table comedy – news format, so there’s 4 people talking and jiving about the events of the day.  To me it sounds like I’m talking to a bud on the cell phone in the middle of a crowded airport.   In the face of the camera — the one that is point right at me –the one that I need to look into while doing the interview — is the live video feed of the show.  So basically you look into the camera and respond to the questions of the interviewer.  The only trick is there’s a THREE SECOND DELAY from what you’re hearing in your ear and seeing.  

Does that make sense?  

You are hearing the question 3 seconds before you see him actually ask you the question in the camera.   It’s freakin’ confusing.  Because you have to respond to the question in your ear when he asks it — not when you see him asking you it in the camera.  So, you’re actually answering the question in real time from what you’re hearing (and you can barely hear it because of all the static and poor feed)… while you’re watching him still ask you the question.   Finally , I had them turn the picture off in the camera, so essentially I was looking into a blank camera, pretending I was talking to someone, while answering the questions.   That being said, he was funny, and I think it went pretty damn good, even though all we talked about was steroids, and I didn’t get to go into depth on the book at all.  But I did work up a good sweat with nerves and adrenaline rushing full speed.   

Be Brilliant!

Dan Clark

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