Susan Tabashnik: Meeting Patrick Swayze and His Impact

Sue Tabashnik and Patrick Swayze

Sue Tabashnik, author of four books on Patrick Swayze, discusses his films and his impact on fans. She highlights the enduring popularity of Road House (1989) and the challenges of remaking the film. She also delves into the themes and love story of Dirty Dancing (1987), as well as the behind-the-scenes stories and locations associated with the movie. Sue shares her personal experiences of meeting Patrick Swayze and his mother and discusses his inspiring life and advocacy work. She concludes by mentioning her books and her support for pancreatic cancer research.

Takeaways

• Roadhouse continues to hold up well for modern audiences, with Patrick Swayze’s character fighting for what is right.
• Fans of Patrick Swayze may be reluctant to watch remakes of his movies, as they believe he cannot be replaced.
• Dirty Dancing is a powerful love story that shows the power of acceptance and the message that anything is possible.
• Sue Tabashnik’s personal experiences of meeting Patrick Swayze and his mother were surreal and inspiring.
• Patrick Swayze’s life and work serve as an inspiration, showcasing his passion, talent, and advocacy efforts.
• Sue Tabashnik’s books on Patrick Swayze aim to preserve his legacy and inspire others.

Automated Transcript

John E. Cornelison (00:03.488)
Is Tabashnik? Is that correct? Okay. Hey, I’m very excited to have Sue Tabashnik as a guest today. She has written four books related to Patrick Swayze. She has also written articles for the official Patrick Swayze International Fan Club. Today we’re going to talk about a couple of Patrick Swayze films. Sue, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Sue Tabashnik (00:05.2)
Yes.

That was great.

Sue Tabashnik (00:28.336)
I so appreciate you having me, Jane. It’s great.

John E. Cornelison (00:31.584)
Thank you. Let’s just jump right in. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sue Tabashnik (00:38.192)
Oh, wow, sure. I became a fan of Patrick Swayze around 1988. That was about the time when Dirty Dancing came out, actually in 1987. And up to that point, you know, I was never a fan of anyone, but all of a sudden I became a fan of Patrick. And at that point I was a psychiatric social worker and a busy…

Metropolitan ER sort of did some writing on the side, you know, sort of dabbling a little bit. And then years later I joined his official international fan club in around 2000 and that was just, it was just awesome. I still have friends from the stay from the club.

And you know, I ended up meeting Patrick and some of his family. I think I met Patrick four times, or even a guest on a TV talk show to call in a question to him. And it just really changed my life. I found him to be very inspiring. And I decided after writing about 13 articles for his official fan club magazine that was quarterly, I’m going to write a book.

John E. Cornelison (01:47.2)
Oh wow.

Sue Tabashnik (02:02.)
And so here we are, I have four books, working on a fifth.

John E. Cornelison (02:06.624)
Okay, well we’re going to talk about those books in a little bit and what you do with it and I’ll get going. The great movie Roadhouse, 1989, of course released in 89, IMDB says, a bouncer’s hired to clean up the baddest home.

Sue Tabashnik (02:09.968)
Okay.

Sue Tabashnik (02:25.584)
So.

John E. Cornelison (02:25.632)
I got two dogs with me so I’m expecting a doorbell ring and a dog parade at something.

Sue Tabashnik (02:30.992)
Oh, okay. I’m so sorry. I don’t usually get calls like that. So, the role… Spam.

John E. Cornelison (02:34.4)
No, that’s fine. That’s fine. The great movie Roadhouse, 1989. IMDB says a bouncer is hired to clean up the baddest honky tonk in a Missouri town. Armed with a black belt and karate and a degree in philosophy, Patrick Swayze sets out to tame the double deuce for its owner. How does this tough guy played by Patrick Swayze who doesn’t fight unless he has no choice hold up for modern audiences? Is he still a hero?

Sue Tabashnik (03:04.24)
Oh yes, it holds up very, very well. And whether it’s a male or female fan, you know what, he’s fighting for good things. He fights for right against wrong, you know, in the movie. The original classic Roadhouse movie, you know. And by the way, Patrick said that movie was…

really just supposed to be an action adventure entertainment movie, you know. Nothing more deep than that. So…

John E. Cornelison (03:39.072)
It’s a, it’s fallen into our collective consciousness. And I know there’s a whole episode on a family guy devoted to road house where he uses roundhouse kicks to steer, steer his car through town and it’s road house every time. Okay. I started watching the other road house road house, 2024 streaming on prime where Jake Gyllenhaal is an ex UFC fighter Dalton.

Sue Tabashnik (03:48.304)
Oh wow.

Sue Tabashnik (03:54.512)
That’s great. Yeah.

John E. Cornelison (04:07.808)
taking a job as a bouncer in a Florida Keys Roadhouse only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems. How are Swayze fans likely to receive the newest Roadhouse version?

Sue Tabashnik (04:21.712)
Well, first of all, the fans just greatly miss Patrick. Okay? There’s no question, there’s no doubt. I think people in general who are a fan of Patrick just super miss him. So, there are many fans who will not even watch a remake of any of Patrick’s movies. So, and then there’s some who might reluctantly watch it.

John E. Cornelison (04:27.36)
Uh huh.

John E. Cornelison (04:45.632)
Right.

Sue Tabashnik (04:49.68)
or they might watch it out of curiosity. So the fact that it’s on Amazon, you can stream it, I mean if you’re already a member, it’s not going to cost you any more money. So that makes it easier for people to watch instead of having to go out to a movie theater and pay what, 20 bucks for a ticket or something. But the fans, there’s a notion that there’s no way that Patrick can be replaced. Don’t touch any of his movies, just leave it alone.

John E. Cornelison (05:08.032)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (05:18.672)
So, I mean, even Jake Gilmpho admits he had very big shoes to fill, you know? And by the way, did you know Jake and Patrick, they worked together in Donnie Darko? A movie way back from 2001, I believe.

John E. Cornelison (05:35.904)
No, I missed that connection. I did not know that.

Sue Tabashnik (05:38.128)
Yeah, Jake was a star. He was only 19. Patrick played a supporting role, which was a very out of character role for him. He was a pedophile. So anyway, Jake, he’s gone, maybe you’ve noticed, he’s gone out of the way on all kinds of media to say how kind Patrick was on the set, how supportive he was, and he’s trying to honor Patrick.

John E. Cornelison (05:49.184)
Oh God.

Sue Tabashnik (06:05.488)
you know, in this new Roadhouse version. So, I mean, I haven’t read this little tidbit. I mean, it’s all over the media, this new Roadhouse, as you probably know, but I read this little tidbit a couple days ago that Jake told Howard Stern on his show that he had watched Point Break over a hundred times. So, he was a fan of Patrick. But anyways, getting back to your question.

John E. Cornelison (06:27.744)
Wow.

Sue Tabashnik (06:33.776)
It’s overall not well received by fans.

John E. Cornelison (06:38.112)
Okay, all right. Following up on that a little bit, what’s the difference between the old Roadhouse and the latest remake?

Sue Tabashnik (06:46.576)
Well, you know, the new one is set in the Florida Keys. They make up this fictional glass key, which doesn’t exist. It was really filmed in the Dominican Republic. To me, it seems like there’s even more violence in this new roadhouse. But overall, it just seems there’s more character, to me, is my opinion.

There’s more character development overall in the original Roadhouse, whether you talk about Dalton. And I’m not talking about Jake’s acting, I’m talking about the script here, the writing of the movie. You know, it seems like there’s more character development in the original. Patrick has this energy and charisma that no one’s going to be able to duplicate. In the new Roadhouse, there’s no Wade Garrett. There’s, you know, the part that Sam Elliott plays.

John E. Cornelison (07:23.68)
Mm -hmm.

John E. Cornelison (07:42.784)
Of course.

Sue Tabashnik (07:43.152)
and the old one and then also one of my favorite characters in the old roadhouse is Jeff Healy. He plays the band leader, you know, it’s his band doing all the music or most of it and he’s got a speaking part. I mean he’s an actor, there’s no one like that either. It seems like in the original…

John E. Cornelison (07:57.184)
Bye.

Sue Tabashnik (08:07.536)
you know the people who work at the bar are there and the double D’s, their characters are even more developed and have a little bit more going on than in the new one so I mean that’s just my take.

John E. Cornelison (08:23.552)
Okay. Jeff Healy has that great line where he goes, the name is Dalton, you know, where he introduces Patrick Swayze after one of the fights. Um, I w I watched, oh, sorry. Go ahead. I watched the, uh, a little bit, like I said, of the new one yesterday and I was, it just kind of struck me as you got a bar with 20 people in it and you’re throwing 10 of them out. How could you afford to pay for

Sue Tabashnik (08:31.376)
Yeah, it was great. No, I’m done. Thank you.

John E. Cornelison (08:50.432)
you know, bouncer and first run bands that are coming through there. So I thought that was kind of interesting. I’m only about an hour into the whole thing. Um, I’m,

Sue Tabashnik (08:53.488)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (08:58.896)
I had to watch it in two parts on a side to turn it off. The first time I just, I’m not saying the original Roadhouse doesn’t have violence in it because it does, but to me it’s a little bit more cartoonish.

John E. Cornelison (09:16.992)
Yes, yes. It’s always almost a deliberate after effect when he breaks a bone or something instead of something that happened during the fight. I thought that… So I think you’ve already answered, can this Roadhouse stand with a 1989 version? And that’d be a pretty resounding no, I guess. Okay. All right.

Sweet, by the way, just for the record, I’m the Red Dawn fan. That’s the one I would watch a hundred times over and over.

Sue Tabashnik (09:47.632)
I mean they did a remake of that too that bombed right? I didn’t watch it but that’s what I heard so…

John E. Cornelison (09:50.784)
Yeah, it was terrible. I didn’t even watch it. No. Yeah, they turned it into some political thing and I just didn’t ever even bother to watch it. Okay, so we’re going to switch a little bit. IMDB .com says, Dirty Dancing, 1987 is about spending the summer at the Catskills Resort with her family. Francis Baby -Hausman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle.

Sue Tabashnik (10:03.472)
Mm -hmm.

John E. Cornelison (10:19.488)
Now Baby was played by Jennifer Grey who also worked with Swayze in Red Dawn 1984. But this movie is about a lot more. It’s about social class, trust, coming of age. What’s captivated you most about the Dirty Dancing film?

Sue Tabashnik (10:34.961)
Well, I would say to me the biggest thing is the love story between Baby and Johnny, between Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. It shows the power of love, they accept each other for who they are, even though they’re from different backgrounds. There’s an age difference, of course. But also, I would say that to me the movie is very optimistic.

And it’s like the message is to me, anything is possible. And I just really dig that. And then secondarily, I would say that the dancing and the music, how it was intertwined with the story was also wonderful, very captivating.

John E. Cornelison (11:20.832)
Great soundtrack. Great soundtrack. Well, what are some of the things, I believe this is one of your questions, what are some of the things that people may not know about dirty dancing?

Sue Tabashnik (11:22.32)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (11:33.936)
Okay, well I could go on and on, but let me pick anything about Patrick and Dirty Dancing. But you know what, it took Linda Gottlieb, who was one of the producers, I mean, multiple tries to get a film company willing to be involved. I mean, she contacted major film companies and she got like 43 rejections before Vestra.

pictures, took it on, so that’s one thing. And then, sort of along with that, even one of the producers from Dirty Dancing said, you know, burn the negatives, it’s a piece of fluff, you know. So good thing they didn’t, right? And Jennifer, she was the first one to audition out of around 150 females. And she ended up obviously bagging the part.

John E. Cornelison (12:12.96)
Oh man. Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (12:31.376)
And maybe a lot of people know this already that Patrick, who was, you know, a professional dancer, dancing since he was like two or three years old, he had to definitely tone down his dancing for the movie until they got to the last finale scene, you know, where he jumps off the stage. And there’s another one I think is really cute that in real life…

John E. Cornelison (12:49.376)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (12:56.56)
at Grossinger’s, which was in the Catskills, supposedly, where this took place, and though it was not filmed in the Catskills. But anyway, you know, the whole part about baby and carrying the watermelon and stuff, the watermelon was spiked with vodka for their parties. Yeah, because I ended up becoming friends with Jackie Horner, who was the story consultant.

John E. Cornelison (13:00.288)
Mm -hmm.

John E. Cornelison (13:14.816)
Okay.

Sue Tabashnik (13:22.8)
for the movie and she had told me that story. She was a dance pro, a dance teacher in the Catskills for decades. She has passed on about four years ago, but she told me all kinds of stories.

John E. Cornelison (13:37.28)
Oh, that is… Now, I don’t have this in the list, but was Patrick raised basically in his mother’s dance studio? That’s why he’s such a… such an amate.

Sue Tabashnik (13:46.128)
Yes. He was… Yeah. I mean, he was… I heard an interview where he talked about, you know, even as a baby, he would, um, you know, be there. And, um, I guess he seemed to enjoy music right from the very beginning, all kinds and stuff like that. So, yeah, that’s true.

John E. Cornelison (14:07.808)
Mm -hmm.

John E. Cornelison (14:13.312)
Okay. All right. I started digging into Dirty Dancing a little bit more and I was surprised to find that there was a musical and some places that you can visit that are dedicated to the movie. Will you please tell us what happens at a Dirty Dancing Festival?

Sue Tabashnik (14:28.464)
okay yeah there let me just say the first that what you refer to the musical or stage show that’s been in effect since 2004 written by Eleanor Bergstein the same person who wrote the movie and she deliberated a lot whether or not she wanted to do it and she didn’t and it’s played all over the world still playing and I happen to see it here in Detroit um

So, let’s see, okay, so there are basically two filming locations for Dirty Dancing. One was Mountain Lake in Pembroke, Virginia. I’ve been there, I visited the set for, you know, not the set, but where they film the movie. They still have a lot of buildings and stuff from the movie. And they have Dirty Dancing weekends.

John E. Cornelison (15:13.6)
Ha ha.

Sue Tabashnik (15:22.48)
throughout the year. There’s probably around eight or so. And then the second film location, Lakeler in North Carolina, they have a dirty dancing festival once a year. It’s been pushed to the fall. And I was lucky enough to go there. I was actually guest speaker in 2018 for the festival. So what happens at these places? The movie is shown. In fact, in North Carolina, it’s shown.

outside, you know, when the sun sets, it’s really cool. And then at both the places, they have like so much going on. There’s dress -ups, like, you know, the women dress up as baby. They have penthouse. In like in North Carolina, they had a water lift penthouse, actually in the light there, and it was really kind of crazy.

John E. Cornelison (15:52.992)
Oh nice.

John E. Cornelison (16:07.872)
Okay.

Sue Tabashnik (16:19.952)
They have just different contests and tributes, all Dirty Dancing focused. There’s dancing in North Carolina. They have, it’s sort of almost like a fair. They have tons of vendors and they got music going on with the band. And it’s really fun for any Dirty Dancing fan. There’s more landmarks left in Virginia than in North Carolina. And you can tour.

and see that you know where baby and her family in the cabin you could even stay there if you want you know and just various there’s a memorial stone to Patrick there’s the gazebo now their lake has usually it’s dried up so but they really modernized the hotel there and then the hotel in North Carolina is where

The cast stayed and you can stay in the room where Patrick stayed or where Jennifer stayed. You can imagine.

John E. Cornelison (17:18.24)
Okay.

Oh, that’s awesome. You said they did the dancing lift in the water. So in case anybody fell.

Sue Tabashnik (17:30.192)
Yeah, that’s how they practiced it in the movie. Hopefully you can’t get hurt in the water. So they never have a contest that was in the water. You probably see it in different commercials and movies and TV shows where they try to duplicate the lift, right? It’s just so iconic.

John E. Cornelison (17:51.296)
Right. It’s enough.

John E. Cornelison (17:57.184)
Yeah, it is. So how successful do you think the Dirty Dancing sequel is likely to be? I think it’s tentatively titled Untitled Dirty Dancing Project 2025.

Sue Tabashnik (17:58.32)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (18:11.01)
Yeah, um, that’s a really hard question to answer because once again, a lot of fans aren’t happy. Now, the fact that Jennifer Grey is going to be playing baby again, maybe grandma baby, and she’s, no for real, and she’s an executive producer, and from what I could, I mean there hasn’t been that much information out on the movie.

Especially lately, because of the strike. But from what I’ve seen, it seems like she’s determined to do a good job. So that might draw people in. Supposedly they’re supposed to have other actors and actresses who are in the original in this too, but they haven’t said who. I mean, a lot of the other people have passed away too, unfortunately. And then you get in, it’s set in the 90s.

John E. Cornelison (18:41.984)
Right.

John E. Cornelison (19:03.296)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (19:08.56)
Supposedly the soundtrack is going to be like half from the old and then they’re going to have newer modern. So, and I was reading, I saw a couple places where it was said that the movie people were in talks with Patrick State, his wife, to see how they could incorporate Patrick Gibson’s movie, whether it’s going to be like flashbacks or what. So it’s just…

John E. Cornelison (19:35.456)
Okay.

Sue Tabashnik (19:36.432)
It’s really hard to say. I mean, I think they’re trying to get a younger generation involved in this. It’s so hard to say.

John E. Cornelison (19:47.072)
that has the, with the mixed music that has the potential to go off the rails kind of bad. If they try to do Breaking Bad, Electric Boogaloo or something like that, you know, kind of, I think anyway. Well, I’m going to get into the more little into Patrick. What was it like to meet Patrick Swayze and his mother?

Sue Tabashnik (19:58.032)
Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (20:10.512)
It was surreal. I mean, but they’re both very down to earth, gracious, humble, welcoming. I have to say the first time I was going to meet Patrick, he was coming to Detroit. I lived just outside of Detroit, Michigan. And I have to admit, way back then, I think it was 2002,

I had for the first couple days before I met him, I could hardly sleep or eat. I was that revved up and then after I met him three more times, I was calmed down and normal. And so Patrick though, when he was in Houston in 2003 with his wife Lisa, they had a premiere of their movie, One Last Dance.

dancing and that was exquisite in my opinion. But anyway, he interacted with us fans at various things and he introduced the movie. The movie was playing in four different theaters at the same time, you can imagine, but we were in the, the fans had special seats in front of the family.

John E. Cornelison (21:22.4)
Wow.

Sue Tabashnik (21:29.52)
and we were in the primary theater and he gave a speech before the movie and I was so passionate and the movie was focused on realizing your dreams. So I got to meet his wife, his wife’s mother, his mother and then his mother -in -law because they had a reception.

After the screening of the movie, he was in a hotel, he was running around, there’s like a thousand people there, honestly. And he didn’t even have like a bodyguard at first or security. And anyway, he was so passionate that convinced me I was going to go from writing articles for his fan club magazine to writing a book. So, and it worked. So it was really cool.

John E. Cornelison (22:04.224)
So.

John E. Cornelison (22:15.648)
Okay.

Sue Tabashnik (22:22.416)
needing them.

John E. Cornelison (22:24.928)
I bet it’s always great when you meet somebody and they’re nice. So many times you’ve run into somebody you want to talk to and then not so good.

Sue Tabashnik (22:35.248)
Right, and what they did, our fans, the people for that premiere from the fans, they came from Europe, Canada, all over the states, and the fan club president was from England, and she had a surprise for us. We were on a bus, we were going to go take a tour.

of different spots in Houston related to Patrick where he grew up. His mom’s day in school, where he got married, stuff like that. So anyway, his mom comes on the tour bus and she says, Patrick’s gonna come on the bus. He just asked, please don’t take any more photos, because his eyes are really sensitive from all the photos from the night before. So he comes on the bus.

It was a total surprise and he and his mom stayed on the bus with us for almost an hour. We could ask anything we wanted. I was like, happy to be in around the third row. It was just surreal. I mean, how many people would do that? I’m not sure.

John E. Cornelison (23:37.312)
Yeah.

John E. Cornelison (23:41.632)
Not many, not many. Well this next one is kind of an inside joke for me. Can you tell us what Swayze has to do with takes a licking and keeps on ticking?

Sue Tabashnik (23:42.992)
I don’t think.

Sue Tabashnik (23:54.288)
Oh, okay. Well actually, John Cameron Swayze was the person who did that. He was doing Tymac commercials for the watch. And so Patrick was like a sixth cousin once removed from that gentleman.

John E. Cornelison (24:17.472)
Okay, back in the pre -internet days when we watched that commercial, the rumor was that John Cameron Swayze was his uncle. You know, like a first uncle. But I just bring that up because it’ll be a little shout out to people my age that remember those commercials. Well, how do you think Patrick’s life can be an inspiration to us all?

Sue Tabashnik (24:33.872)
Oh, OK. Yeah.

Sue Tabashnik (24:45.168)
Well, I think he brought his passion and his talent to make a difference in the world. I mean, look at all the movies that he left us. I mean, he did around 37 cinema movies. He did TV movies, TV shows, and Broadway. And he wrote songs. And he sang the songs.

He was an Arabian horse breeder. He did a lot of charity events for them. So he sort of, he was inspiring because of all his talent, but he was also his character, his spirituality.

he was a fighter against adversity because obviously when you pancreatic cancer that’s what it came through the most and to me it was a very courageous, graceful fight against the cancer. He was doing the TV show The Beast in Chicago when he was ill with cancer.

John E. Cornelison (25:42.432)
Mm -hmm.

Sue Tabashnik (26:01.616)
working during the week, like 10 to 12 hour days, and then flying back to the LA area for his chemo on the weekends. I mean, come on. So, and I think that, I think that was very inspiring to a lot of people. I mean, he didn’t have to go on the Barbara Walters show. I don’t know if you saw it.

John E. Cornelison (26:09.664)
Oh wow.

Sue Tabashnik (26:23.728)
There was an interview probably around six months before he died, something like that, and he and his wife were talking about it. Did you see it?

John E. Cornelison (26:28.832)
It’s been a while, but I’ve seen it.

I guess I believe it, but it’s been a long time, but I remember Barbara Walters.

Sue Tabashnik (26:35.792)
Yeah, I mean there was an initial interview way back in 88 and that also got me to be a big fan, right? Because he broke down on the interview because she asked about his father who had died suddenly of a heart attack and he broke down and started crying and he said, well, my dream was to have a ranch to honor my father.

His father was in the ranching and horses and stuff and you know, he ended up having two ranches. But anyways, he was an advocate for a lot of things.

talking about the pancreatic cancer, he made a surprise appearance at the Stand Up to Cancer TV show. It was their first telethon. And Patrick was so ill, they didn’t even know if he would come on. So they didn’t want to say anything ahead of time. So it was a big surprise when he came on. And of course, I got a standing ovation. And he…

John E. Cornelison (27:35.296)
I’ll bet.

Sue Tabashnik (27:38.864)
you know, but he was also an advocate for conservation, dance in the arts, and what am I forgetting? We already talked about Arabian horses. So, I mean, he had his ranch in New Mexico. He had a big forest, like…

John E. Cornelison (27:51.52)
forces.

Sue Tabashnik (28:02.192)
hundred or two hundred year plan to conserve the trees and he was well into that plan. And then I guess there was a project having to do with the water that was nearby at the New Mexico Ranch and it was a long term forestry project to save the trees and…

John E. Cornelison (28:06.656)
Oh wow.

Sue Tabashnik (28:26.576)
But also the water, without going into more details, but I guess that improved the habitat for fish and wildlife greatly. About the dance, he was obviously from dirty dancing, he was a role model for male dancers, right? It’s okay, just still be masculine and be a dancer.

John E. Cornelison (28:46.336)
Right. Mm -hmm.

Sue Tabashnik (28:52.08)
He did benefit speeches. I was at two of the benefits in Detroit for contemporary ballet complexions and he was on board with directors to this company and he was involved with other dance companies like Alonzo King and Doug LaRone, the Nevada Ballet, and then he was involved with dancers against AIDS.

So I think that he did stuff that people didn’t really know about, you know? Yeah, so pretty, pretty, I mean, he was a busy guy. He was always doing something, right?

John E. Cornelison (29:22.88)
Yeah, I haven’t heard of a lot of this.

John E. Cornelison (29:35.648)
Kind of a renaissance man. Okay, let’s switch it up a little bit. Let’s go ahead and talk about your four previous books and you can say whatever you want and your fifth book that’ll be coming out later and how this is personal to you and what you’ve done with the royalties and just kind of wrap it all up into one question.

Sue Tabashnik (29:37.968)
That’s exactly it.

Sue Tabashnik (29:51.696)
Okay.

Sue Tabashnik (29:58.16)
Yeah, the first three books I did, I do donate a portion of the proceeds to the Stanford Cancer Institute to the special fund his wife set up for research on pancreatic cancer treatment. The first book I did was, well the first two books I did were on dirty dancing.

And they’re a little bit older, the Fans Love Story and the Fans Love Story Encore. So that was like 2010, 2013 when they came out. And then Patrick Swayze, the Dreamer came out in September 2017. That seems to be my most popular book. If anyone wants a free chapter from this book.

John E. Cornelison (30:43.84)
Uh huh.

Sue Tabashnik (30:51.024)
and possibly autograph, they can go to my author website, contact form and request it. And the website is likedirtydancing .com. And then the last book came out in 2022, I did on his mom, Pansy Swayze, Every Day a Chance to Dance. And…

All these books can be found on Amazon, there is a logo on my website, on lots of other sites. And then my project I’m working on now is a brand new book on Patrick. It’s basically Tributes, Stories, Memories by people who work with him, friends, family, friends, and other people. So I don’t…

I’m not as far as to have her release date yet.

John E. Cornelison (31:46.464)
Okay, well I’ll put links to the websites and the Amazon links in the description below. So anybody that’s listening you can go right in the description and all the links will be there.

Sue Tabashnik (31:57.424)
I really appreciate that, John. That was really great. Also, yeah, on Facebook I have two pages. There’s a lot of Patrick Slazey pages as well that I go on.

John E. Cornelison (32:13.504)
Okay, now if you want to, you said why is pancreatic cancer personal to you? If you want to talk about that.

Sue Tabashnik (32:23.248)
Yeah, sure. So many years ago, because I’m pretty old myself, John, unfortunately my grandmother, no I am, who’s 72 next month. So anyways, many years ago my grandmother unfortunately passed away from pancreatic cancer and it was just a nightmare because no one could figure out what was wrong with her. And by the time…

You know, she had all kinds of things like, oh, you’re depressed. You know, you miss your husband. Oh, you have back spasms, you know, muscle spasms in your back. There’s nothing serious. And then by the time they figured out it was pancreatic cancer, she died three weeks later. So then, yeah, so then, you know, when Patrick got diagnosed years and years later, I don’t know exactly how many years later, but.

John E. Cornelison (33:12.288)
Oh my god.

Sue Tabashnik (33:22.256)
Then I come to find out that there’s still no good diagnostic tool. It’s usually still too late and they go on symptoms. By the time you have a lot of noticeable symptoms, it’s too late and they have to run a bunch of different tests to get a diagnosis.

and they’re not preventative, you know what I mean? It’s only after the tap. So that is being worked on. And that is, hopefully they can come up with something better, you know? So that is, it was just a nightmare. So.

John E. Cornelison (33:51.808)
Right.

John E. Cornelison (34:09.632)
That is such a terrible cancer and it’s amazing that you’ve supported it and what you’ve done. It’s very important. Thank you. And like I said, the links are below, so go there and get your copy and support. Um, now I guess this is the most important question. What have I forgotten to ask you?

Sue Tabashnik (34:15.728)
Oh, thank you.

Sue Tabashnik (34:28.432)
Wow, I mean you asked me so many great questions. I… Well, maybe I might just want to add, um… Like, I… With my books, I am trying to… Preserve Patrick’s legacy. And I think…

You know, like I said before, it’s sort of twofold, his performances, but also his character. And I know personally, he has been an inspiration to me. Like, I’m like, okay, if he can do that, fight against that pancreatic cancer, then I can do this, my own battles. So I think, I don’t think I’m alone in having that sort of inspiration. So that was the rapid, I think.

John E. Cornelison (35:28.416)
Okay, well thank you very much Sue. Thank you very much Sue. I am so happy you came on the show. You put a lot of information and I think everybody’s gonna really enjoy it. And you all that are listening, hit those links down there.

Sue Tabashnik (35:45.2)
Thank you so much, John. I appreciate it.

John E. Cornelison (35:46.56)
Thank you.