Author, performer, animal trainer, bon vivant – Dana Smith can be described as all of these and more! His real journey as new-age performing renaissance man can be traced back to 1972 when he witnessed Robert Shields and Ray Jason lighting up street scene in San Francisco with their ingenious performances. Two year’s later Dana was signed to a national tour with the Royal Lichtenstein Circus.
Known as that guy who did that bit with the chicken on his head and partner of Sunshine the performing dog, Dana could be regularly seen in the 80’s performing at all of the hotspots in San Francisco – The Cannery, Ghirardelli Square, The Anchorage and Pier 39.
During the 90’s, Dana based himself out of Arizona and played spot dates up and down the West Coast until the end of 1998. If sleeping in the back of one’s truck is glamours then he most definitely attained celebrity status!
Highlights of the first decade of the new millennium included becoming the 2001 recipient of the Golden Finkel Award, partnering with ‘Lacey’ the Jack Russell Terrier and getting to perform as a trio with legendary performers Robert Nelson, The Butterfly Man and Waldo for a series of outdoor amphitheater shows in Glendale Arizona.
Dana eventually made it back to San Francisco where he lived aboard a wooden sloop and started to focus more on his writing. He completed his first book Highway Home (which he had originally started in 1981), Pleasure Craft came next and Hot Spring Honeymoon, his third novel was released in the Spring of 2014.
The adventure continues with a healthy mix of performing shows in what he likes to refer to as ‘The Small Time’, writing novels and adventures with wife, Eileen Healy-Smith.
Check out Dana’s latest publication – Hot Spring Honeymoon –
Veteran Vaudevillian puts down his torches, picks up a pen and delivers all the laughs and charm we know from his show. Quirky, odd, fun… hijinks, heartbreak and sexual redemption. And it all happens in Nevada or as Dana would say: ‘Lust in the dust’. Give yourself a treat and go on a: Hot Spring Honeymoon.
Glenn Singer–Hero
Find Dana on-line at: http://www.thenoveljuggler.com
Facebook: Dana Smith
Blog: http://danasmith.wordpress.com
Dana’s Writings:
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