Luckman, Michael C.

views updated

Luckman, Michael C.

PERSONAL: Male.

ADDRESSES: Home—New York, NY. Agent—c/o Pocket Books Publicity Department, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

CAREER: New York Center for UFO Research, New York, NY, founder and director. New School for Social Research (now New School University), New York, NY, former administrator and teacher; producer, Underground Tonight Show (public-access cable television program), New York, NY. Producer of UFO conventions.

MEMBER: Cosmic Majority (founder).

WRITINGS:

Alien Rock: The Rock 'n' Roll Extraterrestrial Connection, Pocket Books (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael C. Luckman combines two of his areas of expertise—rock music and extraterrestrial contact with humans—in his book, Alien Rock: The Rock 'n' Roll Extraterrestrial Connection. Luckman was one of the first people to teach a college course on rock music while working at New York City's New School for Social Research in 1971. Since then he has become interested in representing what he calls the "Cosmic Majority," the majority of Americans who believe in life on other planets and the possibility that intelligent beings have either contacted, or will contact, humans on earth. Luckman's New York Center for UFO Research documents and examines cases of alien-human interaction, seeking to separate the prank claims from those that defy conventional explanation. Among the latter are testimonies by rock and pop musicians, past and present, of alien encounters.

Alien Rock documents the ways in which rock musicians have experienced extra-sensory episodes, many involving aliens. The book also recounts the views on extraterrestrials held by prominent pop musical groups from the Beatles to OutKast. According to Mike Tribby in Booklist, Alien Rock "relays some interesting trivia linking rock and UFOs." Matthew Moyer, writing in Library Journal, found fault with the work for its "scanty evidence" of true alien encounters, but the reviewer still recommended the book as "the first book of its kind" to go into mass market release.