-
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.
-
“I Am Phil” By Phil Ehart With Paul Braoudakis Book Review
Phil Ehart, the drummer/manager/leader of the band Kansas, released his autobiography, “I Am Phil”, in April of 2026.
In collaboration with Paul Braoukakis, Phil tells his life story of growing up on military bases, becoming a drummer, ultimately being one of the founding members of the band Kansas, talks about making their albums, all the members of the band over the years, becoming a Dad and learning about and becoming an advocate for Autism, doing USO tours, and so much more.
If you are a fan of Kansas, then you will love this book.
Phil has lots of great stories and the book is an easy read.
Thank you Phil for signing the book too!! I preordered it and was able to get a signed copy.
-
Outland By Alan Dean Foster Book Review
I first saw the movie Outland when I was a kid growing up in the early 1990s.
The movie was released in 1981, and starred Sean Connery and Peter Boyle.
Honestly, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it, so I did go back to it from time to time.
Eventually, I really enjoyed the movie. I think it was just more dramatic, and not as action packed as I would have liked when I was a kid watching action movies.
But as I got older, I dug it more and I love it now.
Anyway, long story short, the story is about a Marshal on a mining colony, played by Sean Connery, who uncovers corruption at the highest level of the colony, involving drugs being given to miners to make them work more at a faster rate, but ultimately drives them insane and to death. The GM of the colony, played by Peter Boyle, is the man ultimately supplying these drugs, and Connery’s character is expected to look the other way. Well, he doesn’t and actually wants to do his job and stop all of this from happening anymore. And of course trouble ensues.
Outland is a solid science fiction/action/mystery story.
I recently got a copy of the novelization of the movie, and I was curious as to how different, if at all, it was to the movie.
It pretty much follows the movie, with a few different details.
Alan Dean Foster does a fine job adapting the script, written by Peter Hyams (also the director of the movie).
It’s a pretty straight forward story, and if you like science fiction/action/mystery stories, then you should like this book and movie.
And in the movie, Connery does a great job and Boyle is a good bad guy. James B. Sikking also does a good job playing a police sergeant who works both sides.
-
Ringmaster: Vince McMahon And The Unmaking Of America By Abraham Josephine Riesman Book Review
Ringmaster: Vince McMahon And The Unmaking Of America was first released in 2023 (revised in 2024, I have the 2023 version) by Abraham (now Josephine) Riesman.
Ringmaster is a unauthorized biography of wrestling promoter Vince McMahon.
I personally think this may be as close as we will get to an official biography about Mr. McMahon, but who knows.
Either way, it is a very well done book, talking about Mr. McMahon’s early history, which many do not know about. Talks about how he ultimately bought his Dad’s company and made it into the biggest wrestling/sports entertainment company we will ever see. Talks about various wrestlers that worked for and with Mr. McMahon, his relationship with his family, various wrestling story line angles, and his relationship with President Donald Trump and many comparisons there.
This book is quite detailed, and I really need to check out the updated version too.
The author Abraham (now Josephine) Riesman did a great job with it.
If you are a wrestling fan, then this is a must read. Some stuff is already quite known by fans, and a lot is not.
Either way, I recommend reading this book.
-
Lay It On The Line: A Backstage Pass To Rock Star Adventure, Conflict And Triumph By Rik Emmett Book Review
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Rik Emmett (Triumph/solo artist) released his autobiography Lay It On The Line: A Backstage Pass To Rock Star Adventure, Conflict And Triumph on October 10th of 2023.
Rik has a lot to say in this book.
He talks about growing up, early bands he was in, some Triumph talk, a lot of talk about his solo career and solo albums, family life, family tragedy, philosophies, you name it.
I wish he would have spoken more about Triumph, and clearly, he was in a different place in his life when he wrote this book.
I say that because when he wrote this book, he was retired from touring, and as I type this in April of 2026, he is back on tour with Triumph for their first tour in over 30 years, which is great.
It is a good book, but again, I wish there was more Triumph talk, even though he did cover a lot about them, and I wish the book was being released now or next year in 2027 because he would have even more to say.
Maybe there will be a revised version or follow-up. Who knows.
Either way, it’s worth reading if you are a fan of this tremendously talented guy.
Rock on Rik!! See you May 30th.
-
“The Last Outlaw: My 50 Years In Southern Rock & Country” By Henry Paul w/Gary Hertz Book Review
“The Last Outlaw: My 50 Years In Southern Rock & Country” by Henry Paul (The Outlaws, The Henry Paul Band, Blackhawk) w/Gary Hertz, was released in 2025.
This is a fantastic book.
Henry talks about growing up, ultimately forming The Outlaws, and later The Henry Paul Band and Blackhawk, and many stories involving those bands.
My only complaint is that I wish it was longer.
Again, a fantastic book and I cannot recommend this enough, especially for fans of Henry and his music.
And his music is very good. Especially Outlaws, The Henry Paul Band, and his one solo album called Henry Paul. BlackHawk is good also, but I’m just not a big country music fan.
This book ROCKS!!
And thanks Henry for signing it (courtesy of TalkShopLive)!!
-
“Shirtless In Hollywood”, “Shadow Affairs” and “Hit Hard-Die Last When Action Was Real” by Matthias Hues Book Reviews
Action movie star Matthias Hues (I Come In Peace/Dark Angel, No Retreat No Surrender 2, Cage, Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, TC 2000, Digital Man, The Last Kumite, just to name a few) has written three books as of this typing.
The first is his autobiography called “Shirtless In Hollywood”. It traces the steps of how he ultimately ended up in the movie business and many adventures and relationships he has had over the decades.
His book “Shadow Affairs” could easily be an action movie, in which a military and CIA sniper is left for dead, but ultimately survives and ends up being hunted because he knows something that he shouldn’t. If he ever does this movie, I would definitely like to see it.
And his book “Hit Hard-Die Last: When Action Was Real” is a little more in-depth on his acting career and many stories about certain movies and shows he has done over the decades.
If you are a fan of action and/or of Matthias, or even just a fan of the underdog or of someone who chased a dream and is still chasing and living it, then you should check out Matthias Hues’ books.
-
The Justice Riders/A Threat To Justice by Chuck Norris, Ken Abraham, Aaron Norris, & Tim Grayem Book Reviews
One of my favorite actors Chuck Norris, along with his brother Aaron, Ken Abraham, and Tim Grayem wrote two western books and released them in 2006 and 2007.
The first is called The Justice Riders. It tells the story of Ezra Justice and his group of six men who have been assigned by General William T. Sherman to do special assignments during The Civil War and other adventures they were involved in right after the war.
The second book, A Threat To Justice, picks up where The Justice Riders left off, in which the group go their separate ways but ultimately come back together when one of them is in trouble.
Both of these books are really good western books, with some religious overtones to them.
Both are really good stories and both should be movies, in my opinion.
My girlfriend and website partner Mariah bought both of these books for me for Christmas.
Great gifts for sure.
I love both books and I highly recommend them.
-
Heroes And Friends: Pro Wrestling Remembrances By Jim Cornette Book Review
Wrestling manager/booker/author/podcaster/historian Jim Cornette released his book Heroes And Friends: Pro Wrestling Remembrances in 2025.
I bought it on his website jimcornette.com.
It features stories and background about some of Jim’s favorite wrestlers, managers, and announcers.
Some include Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Bruno Sammartino, Lance Russell, The Original Sheik, Vader, Paul Bearer (Percy Pringle), Ray Stevens, and more.
If you are a fan of wrestling, this book is for you.
And thanks Jim for signing it for me.
