Meet Darren Paltrowitz | Author, Host & Licensed Investigator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Darren Paltrowitz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Darren, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
These are questions which I will answer much differently in 2023 than I would have in 2019. I used to think there had to be a huge divide between one’s work and one’s personal or non-work life. As in you were failing by not keeping the two very separate, because you “worked too much.”

But when you work in the creative capacity and/or do work related to the entertainment field, for better and worse, work is everywhere. Inspiration is not just a 9-to-5 thing. Your eyes and ears should be open for creativity, networking, and industry news. Sure, you may want to entirely tune out news and social media at times, but sometimes inspiration comes when you are least expecting it to.

It sounds like a joke to schedule fun — reminds me of the Weird Al album title “Mandatory Fun” — but I recommend putting post-its and calendar entries reminding yourself to take some time off. I also recommend keeping lists related to movies, restaurants and products that are interesting and you intend on checking out. But be sure not to stress out when you are not getting enough fun in, of course. Downtime will eventually find you.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
When I was younger, I was guilty of trying to copy what others did. Eventually I learned that sometimes your weaknesses are your strengths and what help set you apart in a good way.

A good example of that is one of my favorite bands, The Ramones. Someone may say “all the songs by The Ramones sound the same.” A lot of those songs sound similar, yes, but when you hear a Ramones song, you probably know it’s The Ramones. Furthermore, if you like/love one of them, you will probably like/love most or all of them. Adding to that, The Ramones may not have been one of the biggest bands of all time — although they did play soccer stadiums in South America — yet their level of success was still massive, and the group is still being talked about close to 30 years after their last gig, and the group’s songs are still being played and covered, a long time after its original members have still passed away.

In my case, I write articles and tape interviews 5 or 6 days a week on average and my 3rd book — “DLR Book: How David Lee Roth Changed The World” — is coming out in January, beyond some other creative projects I toy with. To me, the creative part is easy as long as I’m feeling good. If I’m not feeling good, then time to refresh and do things to make myself feel good so that I want to be creative and productive.

Definitely not easy to get to where I am now — I still, in my 40s, think about what I want to do when I grow up — but it’s been worth it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If that friend were visiting me here in Long Beach, Long Island, New York and we had a full day to work with, it’d probably be a mix of time around the beach, walking or cycling on our city’s boardwalk, checking out a few breweries or pubs in town (e.g. Bright Eye, Shine’s Bar), grabbing some food at excellent local eateries (e.g. Nagahama, Das Biergarten, LB Social), and seeing who’s around.

Sometimes Long Beach has festivals or notable live events — e.g. comedian Ryan Reiss regularly brings in major comedy headliners to Borrelli’s on the West End, the Long Beach Public Library brought in Run-DMC’s Darryl “DMC” McDaniels earlier this year for a live performance and Q&A which I had the honor of hosting, Bright Eye often hosts live music and comedy as have Cabana and other nearby spots — but those are not needed to have a great time in LBNY.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Primarily, my wife Melissa, my parents Stu and Donna, and my siblings Adam and Shari (and their partners and offspring), as they — and some close friends in Long Beach — have been especially supportive over the last year or so whenever things were challenging.

Website: http://www.paltrocast.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/paltrowitz

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darren-paltrowitz-44a6a11

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/paltrowitz

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/darrenpaltrowitz

Yelp: https://www.tiktok.com/@paltrowitz?lang=en

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/asellout/videos

Other: https://paltrocast.com/where-to-watch, https://imdb.com/title/tt14955106/episodes?season=20, https://www.amazon.com/DLR-Book-David-Changed-World/dp/1493072528/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=darren+paltrowitz&qid=1680463985&sr=8-1

Image Credits
All photos provided and/or courtesy of Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz