Viewpoints: Kate Valentine talks with Michael Luckman

Michael Luckman is director of the New York Center for Extraterrestrial Research and founder of the Cosmic Majority, an organization that seeks to advance the views of the majority of people living on planet Earth who believe in UFOs, life on other planets throughout the Universe, the paranormal, the New Age and the sanctity of the environment.  From Elvis to the Beatles, from Michael Jackson to Marilyn Manson, rock stars claim to have seen, communed with, been inspired by, and sometimes even descended from extraterrestrials. Alien Rock by Michael Luckman is an irreverent, illuminating, all-access pass to the stars' unearthly encounters--some friendly, some frightening, and some frankly bizarre, including: • The birth of Elvis was marked by the appearance ofa mysterious blue light over his house. • In August 1974, John Lennon spied a UFO from the window of the penthouse he shared with then-girlfriend, May Pang. • Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull encountered a luminous cigar-shaped mothership while camping in the English countryside in 1968. • Jimi Hendrix told a friend, "I am a spiritual messenger, sent here from another place." Whether you're a UFO skeptic or a true believer, Alien Rock provides a fascinating new perspective on the long, strange trip that is rock 'n' roll history, and suggests that, wherever the road takes us, we may not be traveling alone.