-
William Shatner…And You Book Review
William Shatner has done it all!!
He has fans the world over.
Regular people like me and celebrities like Ben Stiller.
Mr. Shatner’s latest book, William Shatner…And You is about his fans.
Co-written by Joshua Brandon, it was written with the intent of telling people’s stories as to how they became fans of Mr. Shatner’s work and how they have made their life in relation to some of his work or how he has lived his life.
When the book was announced, fans were asked to submit their stories in a brief essay of why they are fans and a select number of them would be interviewed by Mr. Shatner for the book.
I submitted mine but of course never heard anything, but I still got the book and it is a very good read.
This book truly is about how people can take inspiration from someone and ultimately live a life of their own and in some cases have inspired others through their life and work or just figured out to live their life.
Since my story wasn’t that impressive (it isn’t), I’ll just say it here: I grew up a fan of Star Trek and also of Mr. Shatner’s show Rescue 911. I also became a big fan of his show Tekwar and many other things he has done, including his albums and various books that he has written.
The original Star Trek series, the animates series, and the movies (and even a few of the many Star Trek books Mr. Shatner had a hand in writing) were there for me during a very dark time in my life that I somehow survived.
My life is still not great, quite frankly, but I’m still here and hopefully I’ll figure it out eventually.
But anyway, I’ve always been a fan and always will be.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Mr. Shatner in person and briefly meet him at a convention. And courtesy of someone I respect (Professor Steve Beverly), I received a Cameo video from Mr. Shatner on my birthday in 2019. I’ll forever cherish that.
Thank you sir for all that you do and I’ll always love you.
-
Anthrax Cursum Perficio Album Review
One of my favorite bands Anthrax finally released their 12th full-length studio album, Cursum Perficio, on September 18th.
I preordered a signed copy months ago and have been playing it a lot.
All the songs are quite heavy but also catchy, the band sounds great, and it is all well produced and mixed.
It fits right in with their last few albums, For All Kings and Worship Music, and dare I say even Sound Of White Noise.
I wish it would not have taken 10 years between album releases, but oh well. I’m just glad there is another Anthrax album and it rocks.
Joey Belladonna (vocals), Scott Ian (guitar), Charlie Benante (drums), Frank Bello (bass), and Jon Donais (lead guitar) are still going strong and if you are a fan, especially of the last few albums, you should enjoy this new Anthrax album
Rock on.
-
Stanley Simmons Dancing While The World Is Ending Album Review
Evan Stanley and Nick Simmons released their album Dancing While The World Is Ending on August 28th of this year.
I preordered the album from their website.
This is their first album together and it is really special.
It covers a lot of ground and styles, but all done very well.
Both Evan and Nick’s harmonies are phenomenal.
Some of it makes me think of Crosby, Stills, & Nash.
In fact, if David Crosby was still alive, I would recommend to him to check out some of these songs because I think he would have loved them.
They both sing lead too and both have their own distinctive voices and they are great.
The musicianship and songwriting is all there.
They really have something special and I hope this is not a one-off album.
It’s literally my album of the year. I cannot stop listening to it.
I’m seeing them in concert September 29th of this year and I can’t wait to see how they sound live.
If it’s as good or better than this album, wow!
Check out this album and go see them.
-
Onslaught Movie Review
I had heard about the movie Onslaught (released September 4th of this year) on actor Michael Biehn’s podcast Just Foolin’ About With Michael Biehn.
Michael has a small part in it and I believe actually met or certainly got closer with the director of the movie, Adam Wingard, when he had him on the podcast.
The plot of the movie is pretty basic, in which a trio of soldiers who died in battle but were brought back to life in an experiment (think Universal Soldier) to make them essentially super soldiers.
These soldiers ultimately go amok and go on a killing spree, ending up in a small trailer park out in the desert and they go up against some of the occupants there. Two of which are former soldiers themselves (Adria Arjona and Reginald VelJohnson).
Don’t expect an Oscar winning movie here.
It is a basic action movie, like the ones I grew up loving in the 1980s and 90s and still love today.
It’s well shot and the music score is good (think John Carpenter, actually the font throughout is very Carpenter too).
I’m not going to say it’s a great movie, but it’s a good action movie and I enjoyed it.
I took some pictures of when Michael was on screen. I couldn’t help it.
-
Michael McDonald With Paul Reiser “What A Fool Belives: A Memoir” Book Review
Singer/songwriter/musician Michael McDonald (The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Solo), along with actor/comedian/writer Paul Reiser (My Two Dads, Aliens, Mad About You, Stranger, and much more) wrote Michael’s autobiography “What A Fool Belives: A Memoir” and released it on May 21st of 2024.
I’ve been a fan of Michael’s work since I was a teenager, but I really did not know much about him outside of his work.
This book taught me a lot about him.
I honestly thought he was fairly squeaky clean, but he partied as much as many musicians have.
Luckily, he’s been sober since the 1980s, but for a while there, he was a party guy.
Like most autobiographies, Michael talks about growing up, getting into music, various bands he was in, ultimately joining Steely Dan by a chance encounter with a fellow musician, getting a call to join The Doobie Brothers initially as a fill-in, but ultimately stayed and helped the band attain just as much, if not more success, solo career and working with various musicians, relationships, and much more.
Michael is a PHENOMENAL talent.
If you are a fan, you must read this book.
If I have one complaint, I wish he would have mentioned the time he worked with Van Halen singer David Lee Roth on what would become a big hit for them “I’ll Wait”. But that’s OK. I’ve read that story in Michael’s frequent producer, particularly with The Doobie Brothers, Ted Templeman’s book.
Aside from that, Michael has a lot of stories and as a fan, it was great learning a lot more about him.
-
The Time Of My Life By Patrick Swayze & Lisa Niemi Book Review
Actor Patrick Swayze (The Outsiders, Red Dawn, North & South, Dirty Dancing, Road House, Steel Dawn, Next Of Kin, Ghost, Point Break, To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, The Beast TV series just to name a few) and his wife, Lisa Niemi, were working on Patrick’s autobiography near the end of his life.
It was released in September 29th of 2009, 15 days after he passed. An abridged audio book of this was actually narrated by him.
The book covers Swayze’s life growing up, dancing, ultimately meeting his wife Lisa and their life together, getting into acting, stories about many of his projects over the years, and about his battle with pancreatic cancer.
The book is very well told and thoughtful, but sad, knowing what was coming.
He was positive throughout and I soooo wish he could have made it through.
But as the title of the book says, he and his wife, through good times and bad, had the time of their life together.
I always was a fan of his and always will be.
I remember even near the end of his life he went on a talk show and did one of the Dirty Dancing routines with a fan. He looked great and I was hoping he would be OK.
What can I say? Cancer sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He will be forever missed and if you are not as aware of his work or are and haven’t seen any of it in a while, go check some of it out.
And read this book. It’s a good read.
