William Shatner ‘Ponder the Mystery’ video premieres today

William Shatner’s new album, “Ponder the Mystery,” on which he’s accompanied by progressive-rock musicians including Rick Wakeman, former Yes member Tony Kaye, guitar shredder Steve Vai, country star Vince Gill, jazz guitarist Al Di Meola and others, is out Tuesday, and he’s got a couple of special events up his sleeve for the occasion.

At 4 p.m. Pacific time, AXS TV’s “AXS Live” show will premiere the video for the title track, which Shatner directed with Kevin Layne, and at 6 p.m. the veteran actor, director, writer, poet and sometime recording artist will drop in at Amoeba Music in Hollywood for a signing of the album.

Shatner spoke to The Times for a profile coming soon in Calendar, in which he discussed the process of writing the lyrics that were then set to music by prog-rock composer-performer-producer Billy Sherwood.

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“I sort of lurched into a method of writing everything that comes into my head, just spewing it out,” Shatner, 82, said. “Then along the way, I would discover a phrase, an attitude or a word that resonates, that captures what it is I think I’m writing about. I use that word, that phrase, that line to become the entity of the song.”

The album is a concept album following the arc of a man’s experience through a dark night of the soul that leads to spiritual rejuvenation. Shatner will perform the album in its entirety, accompanied by the prog-rock band Circa, in three L.A.-area shows later this month: Oct. 23 at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach, Oct. 24 at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills and Oct. 25 at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Stay tuned for the full profile of Shatner and his latest project.

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