William Shatner is Coming to Phoenix Comicon 2012

Get your best/worst Shatner impression ready, because Phoenix Comicon announced today that none other than Captain James T. Kirk himself, William Shatner, will be the esteemed guest at the convention on Saturday, May 26, 2012. Fellow nerd Benjamin Leatherman alerted me to the announcement while working on his own post about the news for our sister blog, Jackalope Ranch.

Though best remembered for portraying the good captain, Shatner has a couple dozen books, ruled those Priceline commercials, acted in T.J. Hooker, Boston Legal, and $#*! My Dad Says, and most importantly, released a couple of pretty kooky albums, including 1968's The Transfored Man, 2006's Ben Folds-produced Has Been, and Seeking Major Tom, a space-themed rock 'n' roll record released earlier this year, which features contributions from Sheryl Crow, Alan Parsons, Peter Frampton, Nick Valensi of The Strokes, Zakk Wylde, Bootsy Collins, and many more.

I'm pretty pumped. Now I get to write the "music of William Shatner piece" to accompany my Leonard Nimoy article.

Phoenix Comicon is scheduled to Memorial Day weekend, May 24-27, at Phoenix Convention Center. To get you primed for The Shat, here are a couple of his greatest musical hits. I'm not counting on it, but a musical performance of some kind sure would be kick ass.

"Space Oddity," featuring Richie Blackmore.

"Iron Man" featuring Zak Wylde

The infamous take on "Rocket Man."


A demented take on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"


On a more somber note, "That's Me Trying." Seriously, this makes me tear up a bit. Beautiful lyrics written by Nick Hornby.