Varied Musings

Review of Alice Cooper's Golf Monster

paul@virtualcrayon.com (A. Paul Myers) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:27:00 +0000

The Father of Shock Rock shares tidbits from his 40 plus years of stage experience and how golf helped save him from the alcohol that was destroying his life and music. Half memoir, half golf-tips, Monster is not terribly revealing or instructional for that matter. The good news is that none of that matters because the stories are so entertaining. Alice finally gets to the bottom of the whole live chicken incident and is rather frank about his conversion to Christianity and his decision to continue his stage-show rather than enter the Christian music arena. Full of stories and insights into his fellow rock and roll contemporaries, Golf Monster is certainly entertaining.

FREE Pre-publication Commentary from Logos

paul@virtualcrayon.com (A. Paul Myers) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Logos has arranged with Tyndale to give away the Matthew, Mark volume for free--no strings attached! For a limited time (until the Pre-Pub ships) you can head over to the Logos Blog and add this title to your Libronix digital library absolutely free of charge. Use coupon code CORNERSTONE during checkout.

The Matthew, Mark volume includes work by the Internationally recognized scholar Darrell Bock. You don't want to miss this.

The World's Most Successful Pianist... Plays Ping-Pong

paul@virtualcrayon.com (A. Paul Myers) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:52:00 +0000

The world's most successful pianist, Lang Lang will be playing at Bass Hall tonight, but Sunday afternoon he played a ping-pong match with the local champion, signed autographs and played two pieces to a crowd of about 50 people at Steinway Hall in Fort Worth. The "rock star" of classical music who just signed a sneaker deal with Adidas (thus the jacket) was gracious, fun and enthusiastic. It was a great event, and one in keeping with Lang's style. He continues to challenge the normal conventions, while attracting a new young audience to the joys of classical music.

Lang graciously signed our CDs and the paddle we bought just for the event. It will soon be displayed proudly in the game room.

2007 Reading List

paul@virtualcrayon.com (A. Paul Myers) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 03:20:00 +0000

In 2006 I started keeping a list of the books I had read. The following is my list from 2007 and my personal ratings:

1. This Business of Music: Marketing and Promotion - B
2. The Last Dance - Ed McBain - C
3. Next - Michael Crichton - B-
4. The Club Dumas - Arturo Perez-Reverte - B+
5. The Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill (Stephen King's Son) B-
6. Brother Odd - Dean Koontz - A-
7. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - A+
8. Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz - A-
9. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Moshin Hamid - B+
10. Misery - Stephen King - B+
11. Alice Cooper - Golf Monster - C+
12. Blaze - Richard Bachman - C-
13. Forever Odd - Dean Koontz - A-
14. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? Lee Iacocca - D-
15. The Immortal Game - David Shenk (History of Chess) - B+
16. The Good Guy - Dean Koontz - B-
17. Lord Vishnu's Love Hanldes - Will Clarke - B-
18. 1408 - Stephen King short story - C
19. Complete Peanuts Book One - A+
20. Series of Unortunate Events #1 - A-
21. Series of Unfortunate Events #2 - A-
22. Dark Harvest - Norman Partridge - B+

It's interesting to look back and see the list. I fell in love with the Odd Thomas books. Lee's book was a poorly disguised Bush-Bash and Dark Harvest was a pleasant Halloween Surprise. It will become an annual read for me, for sure.

The Legendary Kerry Livgren

paul@virtualcrayon.com (A. Paul Myers) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:49:00 +0000

Let me just say that Kerry Livgren is one cool cat. We met on the set of The Imposter (He plays an interesting character) and he was just the nicest guy. You know Kerry. He is best known for his time with the group Kansas. He wrote "Carry on Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind." Turns out Kerry is a Photoshop enthusiast and we talked a lot about eBay. Apparently, he tried to win one of his own guitars on eBay, but the price got too high for his comfort!

This photo was taken on location at The Malt Shop in Buerleson. The shop is over 100 years old and a couple of scenes were shot here.

My personal highlight? I got to drive Kerry's personal truck several times. I had to call a friend and say, "I'm driving Kerry Livgren's truck right now!!" How cool is that?

The Imposter Movie has Wrapped!

paul@virtualcrayon.com (A. Paul Myers) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:06:00 +0000

As some of you know, I've been working on the set of The Imposter movie for the last month. The independent film features Kevin Max of DcTalk fame, Kerry Livgren of Kansas and Jeff Deyo. I'll be sharing more from my experience in the coming days, but for now here's a photo of me and Kevin. The photo was taken at the wrap party. Kevin was glad to be heading home the next day.