Even in despair, comedian and long time radio personality Rickey Smiley does not appear to lose hope.

With the September 17 publication of his memoir Sideshow: Living with Loss and Moving Forward with Faith, Smiley is pulling back the curtain on his own personal tragedy and revealing how he processed the sudden loss of his son Brandon from drug abuse.

“Yeah man, it was a real process putting the book together,” the father explains. “It was emotional. There was so much trauma there. That was the hard part about it, just reliving everything that you had been through. But I really am extremely excited I finally got it done and it is going to help a lot of people as well.”

With W Publishing Group, an Imprint of Thomas Nelson, at his back, Smiley is embarking on a national tour to promote his words with a stop schedule at Houston’s own Kindred Stories on Stuart Street hosting him for a book signing and story sharing on Thursday September 19 at 7 p.m.
Peeling back the layers on one of the most painful moments of your life is no light task, but from how Smiley describes his experience, the ability to share these memories could be instructive for others in similar situations. “One thing about it is I remember every single thing, every single detail. I was able to compare it to what I went through when my Dad died in ’74 because I remember every single detail about that. A lot of time with a lot of trauma either you remember every single detail or you don’t remember it at all, and I remember every inch of it.”

“I laid it all out on the line, but of course they had to edit because it couldn’t be as thick as a Webster’s Dictionary. ‘Cause I can go all day! But the editors had to narrow it down. But everything that happened to me, I talk about it and I got down to the nitty gritty of all of it. Every single detail, I told. I shared it. It was real vulnerable and I open up to talk about things that were uncomfortable.”

The book itself has an intimacy to it, and as Smiley agrees, it reads how he talks. For long time fans, this will be a different experience – but one that shows the character of entertainer and highlights his dexterity to flip across the pages of his own life and make connections across his own family history.
Separating the personal from the end product presented difficulties, but Smiley’s refuses to let his efforts be in vein. “This particular situation was different because you are talking about the loss of a child,” he says seriously. “But whenever you are doing the audiobook, your professionalism kicks in. You just have to get the content and the material done, sometimes you have to separate getting the work done from the emotions. There were moments when I was emotional but was still able to get the content done.”

In some ways, it sounds like writing this book for Smiley was a method of putting out the message to his supporters who knew he was going through a painful chapter of his story. “Being a radio personality for over 25 years,” he starts. “I have a big following and a lot of people were concerned. Just wanted to give people the inside look to see what happened to me. Some of the things I did to get through this situation and how they can get through the situation they’re currently dealing with. Or the situations they have dealt with in the past like therapy or having faith in God. Leaning on God to the point where God is gonna have to carry you through certain situations. It will definitely be a helpful tool because all of us at some point are gonna have deal with death if you haven’t already.”

As the national tour kicks off, in many ways, Smiley is still getting first reactions from his fans. But so far, the feedback sounds glowing. “People say the book was helpful, they have said they could not put it down,” he says with satisfaction. “They missed meals because they couldn’t stop reading the book. The book is written the way I speak, so there are a lot of commas. It has a really nice flow. I am so grateful to have the ability to express because I imagine a lot of people go through this thing but they don’t get to express it. Everybody has a story! At some point in that book, there will something that everybody can relate to. It was just a blessing to be able to share that with our potential readers.”

The comic says his faith was strengthened through this experience. “When you go through something traumatic, you have no other choice but to lean on God. You have no choice.”

While in Houston, Smiley shares he intends to make a visit to The Lighthouse Church to visit with Pastor Keion Henderson. “I want to go to Pastor Keion’s church, I want to go to the Lighthouse.”

After his services complete, Smiley shares the other pit stops that no trip to Houston could be without. “Then I definitely got to get them chicken and waffles at the Breakfast Club, am I right?” he says exploding with laughter. “I might have to swing by the House of Pies at night. You know how it is, you’ve got to swing by. That’s my little Houston thing, my daughter was raised in Houston, so I was in Houston a lot. Always good to be back.”

Smiley’s appearance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 19 at Kindred Stories on 2304 Stuart. For more information, call 713-396-2396 or visit kindredstorieshtx.com. $33