Sorry for the delay but I was in prison. I didn’t do it. Well, I didn’t mean to do it. At any rate, I broke out a few days ago and immediately went back to work on this blog. I hate the word blog. So does my daughter Kerry. She might have blogged about it on her blog but I wouldn’t know because I’ve been too busy flogging (rhymes with blogging) my book. The main tour is over and I’m suffering separation anxiety having been separated from my friends in The Outlaw Family Band. (see “Separation Man” performance on earlier…blog) The band came along for the midwest leg of the tour, backing me up on the readings, the Today show live shot, RV park downtime and other moments that called for lively background music. (my jail break) They are great musicians, good guys and wonderful cellmates.

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Quicktime | Windows

In a continuing effort to bring greater understanding to the world, I submit this second installment of my book tour video diary. It’s a condensed version, skipping many events, some cities and that ugly incident involving the pet lemur. This section of the tour starts in San Francisco and ends in Cleveland where I am joined by The Outlaw Family Band and members of my own family for another try at RV living. Or dying.

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Quicktime | Windows

For a book to sell people have to know about it. That’s why authors go on book tours. It’s all about publicity - TV and radio interviews - Newspaper coverage - Book store appearances - Readings - Signings. To add spice to my tour I asked some friends in the Outlaw Family Band, a Chicago based bluegrass/rock group to back me up in the midwestern markets. This is the first installment of a video diary about that tour, starting with a TV interview in Chicago and then a reading and signing session in my hometown of Winnetka, Illinois. The next morning I was off to New York City for a Today show appearance and then on to California. This is just the beginning.

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Quicktime | Windows

On April 18th Random House/Ballantine will release The Ride of Our Lives - Roadside Lessons of an American Family. It’s my first book so I have no idea what to expect when the twenty city book tour kicks off on that same date…other than getting my ass kicked by the crazy travel schedule. The book is based on an RV trip taken with my goof-ball parents and three of my four children and a daughter-in-law. Here’s another clip taken from the first episode of a four part series that aired on Today in July of 2004.

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Quicktime | Windows

On April 18th Ballantine, a division of Random House, will release a book I wrote based on a cross country RV trip taken with my eccentric parents. The title is “The Ride of Our Lives: Roadside Lessons of an American Family” and the subject matter goes beyond the month-long journey to chronicle the ups and downs of an average (yet goofy) family. The book will come with a DVD that will include all four segments of the Today show series that highlighted the trip as well as a behind the scenes look at how the RV adventure and the writing process changed our lives. Below is a short clip from the first Today show installment.

Click on image below to play movie.

Quicktime | Windows