Accept no substitutes

That’s me: Defending Bill Shatner

Has Been cover

Dave Menconi can’t get behind celebrity vanity recordings. He forgets that Bill Shatner is a true artist whose self-awareness sets him far ahead of the pack specifically in his 2004 Ben Folds produced project “Has Been.”

I say in the thread to Dave and a Nimoy-defender:

In his dreams, Nimoy is half as self-aware as Shatner.

“Has Been” made it to number 22!

“Transformed Man” well good for a yuck, but also as a template for what could be and was transformed by Folds into something unique and wonderful — “Has Been” The great Joe Jackson piano on “Common People” is worth the time to download (err buy). The guitar (Adrian Belew) on “I can’t get behind that” is as good as the Rollins-Shatner interaction. Then there is “That’s me” Lyrics by Nick Hornby.

Further evidence that Shatner is the greatest: “Common People” with Folds, Jackson and others on Conan O’Brien.

2 Comments

  1. SteveK.

    I was in Calgary last week, and a local gallery has something called “The Shatner Show.” I didn’t have time to check it out, but it seems to be a snarky hipster tribute to one of Canada’s finest. Here’s a link to the show’s site:
    http://vangooldesign.com/shatnerweb/SHATNER-WEB.asp?pname=intro

  2. Patrick Herron

    It’s very hard to outshine Adrian Belew even if you hire him to sit in the back of the room and play second fiddle. Belew was, after all, Zappa’s stunt guitarist, the yin to Robert Fripp’s yang in the 80’s incarnation of King Crimson, the founder of the sadly ignored but phenomenal band The Bears, and solo composer/musician/creator of some of the best pop records since the Beatles (among them Twang Bar King and Young Lions). Belew/Shatner/Rollins? I need to check that out for sure. Go Adrian! Go Bill!

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