Author Sue Tabashnik on Her 5th Book – Patrick Swayze: Still Inspiring!

Author Sue Tabashnik on Her 5th Book – Patrick Swayze: Still Inspiring!

In this engaging conversation, Sue Tabashnik discusses her latest book on Patrick Swayze, reflecting on his multifaceted legacy as an actor, dancer, and advocate. She shares insights into the process of gathering contributions from those who knew him, the evolution of her previous works, and her hopes for the future of Swayze’s legacy in film and beyond. The discussion also touches on the challenges of remaking classic films and the importance of preserving the memory of influential figures, such as Swayze.

Automated Transcript

John (00:00.366)
I’m very excited today to have Sue Tabashnik with me, author and expert on Patrick Swayze, the great actor from Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse, and of course, my favorite, Red Dawn (1984). How are you today, Sue?

I’m great and thank you so much for having me, John. I really appreciate it.

I’m always glad to have a friend of the show back on. Last time we released something was June 6, 2024. I looked it up and that’s out there on YouTube. It’s on Apple podcasts. So you can get that interview after you finish with today’s. And there will be links in the description. So you have some exciting news about your new book coming out. Could you tell the audience about it?

Yes, my new book, which is my fifth book, is called Patrick Swayze. So inspiring and actually really sort of the end of January, early February of this year. And I’m really proud of it. I think it’s my best book. I wrote it to honor Patrick Swayze and to help preserve his legacy as a phenomenal performer, of course. It also

a man of great character and spirituality. And book has approximately 44 contributors. These most everyone in the book knew Patrick personally, actors and people from other jobs in Hollywood that work with Patrick. A lot of his movies and also on his TV show, North and South. We have friends, lifelong friends, family member.

Sue (01:30.988)
rabian horse enthusiast and everything. And I think it all came together really well. So really, really excited about it.

That’s a lot of work assembling all those people.

Yes, it was. And I reached out to a lot of people, I would say over 100. Oh, and I forgot, have entertainment journalists, choreographers, dancers. You know, Patrick was so multifaceted. You know what I mean? It wasn’t just about performing in movies and TV, but he was involved in so many activities. And I really thank the people who participated in my work.

Right. Yeah, he was, you told me last time he was in conservation, land and water conservation and raising horses and of course his dance.

Yes, and of course he was an advocate for advanced diagnostic and treatment for pancreatic cancer and all of cancer. So yeah, he was involved in many different things. He did so much. It was really incredible.

John (02:39.478)
like him because he was so cool in the movies, you know, Dalton in Roadhouse, and I guess whatever his name was in Red Dawn (1984) one of the brothers Jed I was thinking Matt but Jed of course

There’s so many attempts to make remakes and sequels and all this and that. And I guess it’s, you know, it’s good in a way because he did such a great job that sort of opened the door for that. But another way in my mind and many other people’s minds, no one can do what he did. mean,

You’re not going make it better. You’re not going to make it better. Why make a new one?

and if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

So on your new book, which is a major, major accomplishment bringing all those people together, how does this relate to your other four books that you’ve already put out?

Sue (03:28.942)
You know what, it’s been an evolution actually, because the first book came out in 2010 and then the second one in 2013 and both of them were about the movie Dirty Dancing. The fans love story and the fans love story encore. And of course, there was lot of stuff about Patrick, you know, in those books. Because what would the movie be without him? Right? Right. And then I, the third book, and by the way, the commentary is after, but the third book,

Patrick Swayze, The Dreamer was more a biography of him, lots of facts about his work and stuff like that. And that was in 2017 and that’s actually my most popular book so far. It’s still selling from 2017. And then I did a book about his mom, Cassie Swayze, Everyday Chance to Dance. And you know, she was such a renowned choreographer. I mean, I have a lot of interviews in that book.

And of course, there’s a lot about I mean, Patrick started taking dance when he was two or three years old in his mom’s dance studio. And then finally I came to this book and people, you know, they say, well, why did you write another book about Patrick or what inspired you? And basically I was thinking that, you know, so many people still miss Patrick, including myself. And I thought, you know, there’s more of a story to tell here. A lot of behind the scenes stuff.

And then this to me was another way to help preserve his legacy. So I mean, these people who I interviewed that were in sets with Patrick, they, mean, I always knew he was really well liked on these sets, but these people took it beyond that level. I mean, they really loved him. They still love him and they miss him. And it was, you know, besides all that, were like said, there was a of behind the scenes information on his movies. So.

So here we are and there’s some photos in it. Some of the people who participated gave me some photos to use in the book from on the set. I don’t know if people know about the movie Green Dragon and Peltor Blue. Actually two movies, Timothy and Lynn Bowie wrote them, directed and produced them, became friends with Patrick and you know, he gave me some photos to use. Then we had Joshua St. Clair who did the second to last movie with Patrick. wrote it, directed and produced. He gave me some.

Sue (05:49.336)
photos and then there was a lot, a lot of photos. Well, not a lot. I mean, I was given a lot, I had to take me all down to like three photos from Point Break of Patrick skydiving from the guy who, you know, was in the movie. took, I was a stunt cameraman. So these people were very generous who agreed to participate in the book. And I’m really grateful.

That sounds exciting. That’s a really deep dive into something about an artist you don’t always see. You don’t always get that background in there of the people that knew them. I was doing a totally unrelated podcast the other day and it was James Cagney, quote, tough guy dancer and George Raff, quote, tough guy dancer and Patrick Swayze, tough guy dancer. And I love these guys that make dancing accessible to everyone because I love to dance, you know.

Okay, well I kinda dance on DVD.

I used to do a little bit of South Carolina swing. It’s been a while, but yeah. So, So let me just switch track. We talked about a lot about dirty dancing last time and the festivals up there. That sounds pretty exciting. I think when we left it last time, neither one of us had finished that terrible new road house. I did finish it eventually. And I thought Connor McGregor was pretty funny, but that’s about

all that I saw good out of it.

Sue (07:16.334)
Yeah, I I finished watching it too because I wanted to, not because I really wanted to do it just to see it, but because I want to know what people are talking about.

And I really, I did not care for it. But look, it came out on Amazon. It never was in the theaters, but it made $100 million. I mean, what is with that? So what’s up with that? So now they’re making a sequel to The Roadhouse 2, which is going to hell again, a different director against Guy Ritchie.

explosion.

I don’t know. I don’t think I’m gonna watch it.

Yeah, I guess Guy Ritchie’s one of those directors that blows everything up,

Sue (08:06.402)
I don’t know. I know he’s done a lot of films. I just, it’s so different than the original and without Patrick and stuff. They don’t have the same Elliot character. There’s really nothing. To me, there’s not the character development. What they had in the first movie. What’s up? I don’t know. I’m sure it’s going to be a big hit though. And if they made a hundred million dollars without it even being released in theaters.

That’s enough to make another one, I guess. I’m gonna ask you about something funny that I’ve seen. I’ve been seeing a lot of memes going around lately that if you watch Dirty Dancing as an adult, a baby was a 16 year old girl that was running around with a 30 something year old dance instructor at a, and if you watch the movie now, you think that baby should be put in the corner and not dance. What do you think about those kind of funny?

You know, she was going into adulthood, you know, but, and so she was in the movie 17 or 18, baby character, mean. And she, believe, was in real life about 27. And Patrick was 10 years like, older, like 37, in real life. I don’t know the age of Johnny in the movie. I bet you’re.

Yeah, but he was obviously more experienced and all that kind of stuff, but I don’t know, he was probably in his 20s in the movie. I think he played

just thought that was, I thought that was funny, know, that there were people going back. You know, they obviously love the movie because they’re talking about it, though, at 30 years almost.

Sue (09:42.798)
Yeah, and mean, you look at about the sequel or Dirty Dancing 2, whatever you want to call it. Really, there’s nothing since about October that I could find. And that’s when Jennifer Grey was on the red carpet for I think that movie was called A Real Pain. And the press asked her, what’s up with the sequel, Dirty Dancing? And she said something like, you know, they haven’t nailed it yet. We have to have it perfect.

You know, there’s been nothing said about it since then. It was supposed to come out in summer. Obviously, it’s not, right?

Right. It’s hard to that.

They have a big job trying to make that movie without having Patrick. And I know they were in talks with Lisa, Patrick’s wife, as to how are they going to incorporate him in the movie, but you don’t hear it. mean, there’s nothing on the internet really since last October that I could find.

Well, looking forward, what do you think your next project is going to be?

Sue (10:44.298)
I’m, you know what, I have various thoughts and people ask me to write a book about Patrick’s father, but I think, I think he was a great guy and I think that would be really tough. And so I have some ideas through some other non-fiction books that I hate to say it have nothing to do with Patrick. So, and then, you know, I’ve been asked to write a memoir in the past and this and that. So I had a lot of interesting things happen.

that I’m not sure, I mean, I like to write because it’s a passion and it, you know, I feel happy and everything. So I’m not sure if I want to go into any dark subjects, you know, so it’s still up in the air. I’m so busy marketing this book and I’m hoping on this latest book that it can go outside the range of hardcore Patrick fans because I think there’s a takeaway for everybody in the book.

You know, this was a good guy. mean, yeah, he was a great performer, but this is a good guy. And, you know, he followed his moral compass and he was kind to other people. And I’m not saying he was perfect because nobody’s perfect, right? And he would be the first to say he’s not perfect. But I think, you know, he’s almost to me, he’s almost like a hero because, you know, that fight with cancer and that touched countless lives.

and the advocacy who would do and just being kind to other people and just, I don’t know how to explain it, but I think, you know, the dose of that for the world is great. You know, so I hope this book can reach outside like, quote, the hard core fans of Patrick.

So you could say chicken soup for the soul and Patrick Swayze, right?

Sue (12:27.862)
Yeah, I like their chat. That’s great.

So where is the best place to get these books? Is it still Amazon?

Yeah, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Rift Books, I mean it’s all over the place. people can ask their favorite bookstore, their local bookstore to order it. Okay, because it’s, have Ingram is the distributor and even libraries can order it. So it’s really all over the place. People who live in the United States and want to have a copy of it, like an autographed copy of it.

can get in touch with me. I have a website. It’s lifedirtydancing.com. There’s a contact form on my website. Send me a message. I get an email and you know, I can make that happen for you. So the book is really, it’s a paperback and it’s also an ebook. Right now the ebook is only on Amazon at the moment. That may change later. So I have, could show you the cover of the book, which I think is an actual picture.

Can you see it?

John (13:35.31)
You gotta back up a little bit. There? Yeah, I can see the bottom of the horse and everything.

I’m sorry.

Sue (13:41.526)
Okay. Anyway, yeah, that’s my favorite photo of Patrick who’s riding an Arabian. Now that wasn’t his favorite Arabian in the photo there, that was Tammon, but you know, it a dumb end of photo shoot. You could see his hair was really long because that was like, that was either during or after the filming of Point Break, he had that long hair and stuff. And there’s, you know, there’s like 20 photos in the book.

So like I said, some of the people who were involved in the movie projects with him just sent me photos. I mean, it was just unbelievable.

So I will put links down in the description for all that, website, this website where you can get the autograph book if you want it. And I’ll put the links to the books in the video description. So that’ll all be there.

Thank you, I so appreciate that.

It’s really, really good of you to come on again, Sue. I appreciate it. Congratulations on this fifth book. That’s amazing. you know, one day they’ll put out a, maybe the Dirty Dancing 2 will come out and we can sit down and talk to that, talk about that or some other movie.

Sue (14:41.186)
Okay.

Sue (14:49.804)
Yeah, that would be great. I so appreciate you having me.

glad to do it. So before we end it up, end it, is there anything else you’d like to say? Any final word?

Wow, okay, so the first three books that I have, I do donate a portion of the proceeds to the Stanford Cancer Institute. They have a special fund over there that’s Patrick Swayze Research Fund. I can’t think of the exact name. So yeah, I think that they’re still working on that. The illness, try to figure out a timely diagnostic procedure in treatment. So yeah, and I just thank all the people.

to help with the book or in the book and the readers.

Okay, well thank you very much and I hope to talk to you in the very near future.

Sue (15:38.734)
Well, thanks, John. It’s been a pleasure. Take care.

Bye bye. Bye.