1973 - Muscle Of Love
Nov 19th 1973 'Muscle Of Love' album released
On a side note around this time there were reports that the record industry was suffing a "vinyl shortage". Oil shortages meant a short supply of polyvinyl cloride which in turn meant cutbacks on record production rates.
In a statement Wrner Brothers stated they expected no problems meeting demands for records by Alice Cooper or Neil Young but that smaller artists might suffer. It's unclear how long the shortage lasted or if it did effect sales of 'Muscle Of Love' in any way.
In South Africa, the Customs and Vice Squad met the LPs at the airport and stripped them of their record liners, which displays a comic scene in front of the Academy of Nude Wrestling, renamed "the institute" on the cover.
Nov 19th 1973 Alice attends the Ankrum Gallery in Los Angeles for the opening of an exhibition by artist Jonathan Winters. [Panama City News Herald Dec 23rd]
Nov 25th 1973 On returning to New York he attends a post show party for Hawkwind at the Hayden Planetarium where Alice met Lemmy (Hawkwind were playing a rare show in NY on the 25th).
Nov 1973 Alice and Cindy Lang attend the opening of the 'Grand Ballroom' club in New York. They are recently reported to have bought a house next to governor Barry Goldswater in Phoenix, AZ.
End Nov 1973 The band rehearse at the now closed FIllmore East, and probably film the video for 'Teenage Lament 1974' as they are seen at the Fillmore in the film.
Billion Dollar Babies Holiday Tour
ZZ Top support of most(all?) dates.
Dec 7th 1973 Alice meets another of his idols, Author Kurt Vonnegut.
Dec 8th 1973 Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, TN (w/ Stories) [Ticket] [Report in Fremont Argus 10th Dec and reviews in Walton Beach Playground December 11th and The Tennessean December 10th] - Reports nearly 1000 people turned away at the foor of the sold out show.
- 'Muscle Of Love' enters the Billboard chart at #76. 'Billion Dollar Babies' is still hanging on at #158.
Dec 9th 1973 Greensboro, NC Coliseum (w/ ZZ Top) - Greensboro Record December 10th reports 9,250 attended and there were 18 arrests for carrying drugs so the show definitly happened.
Dec 11th 1973 'Teenage Lament 1974' single released [Date from Billboard Information]. There is a full page advert for the single in Billboard on December 15th.
Dec 11th 1973 Madison, WI Dane County Expo Center.(w/ ZZ Top) [Review in the Madison Capital Times and Madison State Journal on December 12th]
Shep Gordon heads to LA for a court hearing about record companies. Presumably to do with Zappa and Straight.(MM)
The band stays at the Sheraton Inn.
At the press conference they are given the keys to the city in the form of a giant bottle opener. Alice: "He gave us the key to the city. It was like a giant key to open a beer,”(MM)
Alice is suffering from Stomach pains from a flu bug and suffering from a 103 temperature which effects the performance. The band pull together to help him out during the show.
[reviews in Madison State Journal and Madison Capital Times on 12th Dec]
"We are at the Dane County Expo Center in Madison, Wisconsin with over 10,000 fans. Alice is as sick as a dog. Backstage, he was barely able to look up but he's come to life for the show. He's a real trooper alright. The rest of us are covering for him as much as possible. Jumping around a lot where we normally give Alice the spotlight as not to compete with the dramatics of the character. But what looked like a pending disaster is surprisingly turning out to be an exceptional night all around. Go Alice!"
(Dennis Dunaway, 2012)
Dec 12th 1973 Ann Arbor, MI, Crisler Arena (Poss moved from University of Michigan Field House) (w/ ZZ Top) (ticket and advert say Chrisler Arena). Review in Detroit Free Press September 14th.
Dec 13th 1973 Toledo, OH Sports Arena (w/ ZZ Top) (only 10 mins. due to riot)
Toledo Riot. This was an additional date added in after the tour began.
Rolling Stone - 31st January 1974
Alice Bombed in Toledo
Toledo - Pelted by fireworks and debris, Alice Cooper recently walked off their "Holiday Show" at the Toledo Sports Arena. According to Ashley Pandel, Cooper's publicist, "Alice felt if they continued, there could be another Altamont."
Guitarist Michael Bruce was reportedly cut on the face after fireworks thrown from the audience shattered an overhead light bar. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where a particle of metal was removed from an eye. He suffered no serious injuries.
Alice and the rest of the band left the arena shortly after their walk off. During a half-hour wait - while the audience lingered, waiting for resumption of the show - seven carloads of police were summoned to join 20 off-duty cops at the auditorium to control the near sell-out crowd of 8,000.
"Security at the concert was nonexistent," charged James Randi, who plays the executioner in the band's "I Love Dead Things" (sic) act. "There was only a two-foot barrier to separate the crowd from the stage."
Trouble began to develop even before Cooper appeared. Fireworks, including Roman candles, were set off during Z.Z. Top's opening set. Then, according to Mark Scheerer, newsman at WIOT-FM Toledo, "Alice got the first bars of 'Hello Hooray' out and got hit in the chest with either an egg or vegetables. He did a mock stagger and went on. Then people started throwing a variety of missiles at a fairly steady pace. Alice did the second number, 'Billion Dollar Babies,' and the lights went down. Alice told the people, 'We came to play, and we don't appreciate being targets.'"
A cherry bomb, as Scheerer described it - arena manger Gerald Francis said it was an M-80, equal in power to one-eighth of a stick of dynamite - went off, shattered the light, and Bruce was hit and led offstage. Alice then decided to cancel, Pandel said, "before someone got killed."
The band - and most witnesses - were unable to explain the violence. Pandel said the crowd seemed more "bewildered" than angry at anything. A crush of people directly in front of the stage, he said, began pushing forward, shoving matches began "and then things were being thrown." Scheerer said Toledo rock fans had no history of violence. "It was just a handful of malcontents. I think they just felt it was obligatory. You know, to match his violence."
Pandel disagreed. "Alice is only trying to relieve tension in kids. When they leave an Alice Cooper show, they sure won't get into violence. They've seen it already."
Ironically enough, the night before in Ann Arbor, Dennis Dunaway said before the concert, "We get off more on a Detroit-type crowd - crowds that physically get into a concert."
After an hour's wait, the crowd was finally dispersed, according to police. No arrests or refunds were made.
In fact, as is reported in great detail in 'Billion Dollar Baby', the story of Michael Bruce being hurt was actually a cover. The band, and especially Alice were genuinely afraid of what would happen if they returned to the stage, especially if they performed the Guillotine. Alice would be a sitting duck.
An eyewitness account:
The Muscle Of Love tour, really called the Billion Dollar Babies tour at the time, in Toledo, OH was opened by ZZ Top. This was the concert that ended in a so called riot. What happened was, ZZ Top played a full set. During their set balloons were released from the ceiling and the crowd was tossing them around. When the Cooper set started people were still tossing balloons, but then started tossing other things on stage. At one point Alice was hit with something and slammed his mike down on the stage. At that point he ran to the other side of the stage and grabbed another mike.
At the end of the 2nd song, as the lights went dim you could see spark coming from something thrown from the crowd and it exploded on stage. It appeared to be a firecracker or M-80. At this point the band left the stage and it was announced that they would be back out. When the lights came back on some time later, the Toledo Sports Arena was filled with police. It was then announced that the band would not come back out and that the concert was canceled.
I don't know that I would call what happened a riot. I know as I left the arena there wasn't any problems, but then next day in the local newspaper the said a ticket window at the arena had been broken and there was some fighting by a group of kids. As always as stories are told they get wilder.
(Ron Prentice, Aug. 2000)
Another Eyewitness:
That was my first concert at age 16. The reason the riot happened in my opinion was that 1-1/2 - 2 hours passed after ZZ Topp played and Alice Cooper hit the stage. The crowd was upset having to wait that long. Some fools started throwing things when he finally came out. I heard a rumor that the reason he took so long was because he was watching a hockey game on TV. At least we got to see ZZ Top, which was a treat for a Texas native like myself. I remember coming out of the stadium to a blizzard and a lot of police cars. I don’t remember any violence besides the fireworks.
(Wayne Beal, December 2007)
And another eyewitness!
The December 13th, 1974 show at the Toledo Sports Arena was a replacement show for the canceled June 1, 1973 show. The tickets we used were purchased for the earlier show, but honored at this one. These 'Holiday' shows were a rehash of the previous 'Billion Dollar Babies' shows and the staging was the same as the descriptions of that tour. After waiting nearly 6 months most of the crowd was there to see Alice Cooper and had little interest in the (at that time) relatively unknown ZZ Top. Oddly, the 'house lights' were never turned down or off during their opening set. My group (and many others nearby in the seats) passed the time drinking smuggled in liquor and smoking a lot of marijuana. After the previously noted balloon drop, the balloons became the major focus of the crowd. There was indeed a very long delay between acts. We had time to go down to the floor and work our way up to the front to check out the amazing staging up close and then return to our seats. By this time, people were becoming intoxicated, and angry about waiting so long. Various isolated fistfights occurred, but nothing major that I recall. Finally after at least 1.5 hours of waiting the show began. The crowd was pissed off and intoxicated, and yet really excited to finally see this show we had waited for for so long. The lights (finally) went down and it started. Poor Alice had barely gotten through the first few bars of Hello, Hooray when the food started flying, but he made it through the song. The previous descriptions of the fireworks and the end of the show were quite accurate, as was the delay before they actually turned on the lights and told all of us to go home because the show was over. (Probably a blessing because it gave many of us a chance to sober up a bit.) What we discovered as we left the building was NOT a blizzard, but a classic Northwest Ohio ice storm, leaving EVERY surface covered with a thick coating of ice.
Why do I remember this event so clearly 35 years later?? Because I had to drive 40 miles to get home that night! It was not possible to drive much faster than 20 or 30 MPH because of the ice on the roads. About 2/3 of the way home my car slid through an intersection and off the road, hitting a guardrail just hard enough to crack the radiator and disable the car. It was nearly 5 hours later before we were rescued by a friend and driven home, but we had quite a story to tell!
(Bill Orwick, May 2008)
Dec 14th 1973 Toronto, Ontario, Maple Leaf Garden (w/ ZZ Top) [Ticket][Ticket] (5,300)
Tour equipment didn't arrive for this show and the next two. The band had to make do with what they could get which included The Amazing Randi executing Alice with a sword.
Dec 15th 1973 Syracuse, NY, Onondaga County War Memorial (w/ ZZ Top) [Ticket]
- 'Muscle Of Love' has risen to #33 on the Billboard chart.
Dec 16th 1973 Norfolk, VA, Norfolk Scope (w/ ZZ Top) - Small preview in Newort News Daily Express December 16th.
"We're at the Norfolk Airport destined for home. They've discovered a problem with the Starship. Apparently, something had struck the tail and it's being welded. As expected, Klotzman came through. Even in the nasty cold rain, we were greeted by a marching band playing "The Stars And Stripes Forever" and a red carpet with a row of beautiful girls with umbrellas who placed leis around our neck and poured us a glass of champagne. And the backstage bash was a luau with hula girls and a roasting pig's head, which Cindy felt sorry for. But for the third time, the truck driver didn't make it with our stage. We didn't mind because we are a rock band. Neal was on fire and it was by far the best night of the tour. The roadies gave us a standing ovation afterward. They deserved one themselves. We have two days off before another Klotzman gig in Washington D.C."
(Dennis Dunaway, 2013)
Dec 19th 1973 Largo/Landover, MD, Capital Center (w/ ZZ Top)[Ticket][Local listings]- A "reproduction" poster exists.
First use of Video screens during a performance.
Dec 21st 1973 With the next show canceled it appears Alice headed to LA and was seen at the Troubadour in Los Angeles at an opening night party for Anne Murray (who Shep Gordon had recently become manager of). Also there were John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, Micky Dolenz, and others.
Dec 22nd 1973 Tampa Bay, FL Tampa Stadium (CANCELED) The cancelation was initally blamed on cold weather but a later report suggested the real reason was poor ticket sales, which is surprising, although as it held over 50,000 it could have been a little ambitious! A small show preview was in the Tampa Tribune on Dec 1st and the Orlando Sentinal Dec 2nd, and lots of show adverts so it wasn't due to people not knowing about the show, however the Tampa Times on December 19th reports that only around 7,000 tickets have been sold and they need to sell 20,00 to break even. The show was advertised up until Dec. 21st but finally canceled on the morning of the show due to "cold weather".... The following day the Tampa Bay Times reported that as the "show uses a lot of special equipment and has to go on after dark, with temperatures around 30 the grop was afraid of equipment failure, and they were afraid they wouldnt be able to play because of cold fingers". The fact they had apparently only sold 14,000 of the 32,000 capacity also probably had a little to do with it!
- 'Muscle Of Love' is up to #19 after three weeks on the Billboard chart.
Dec 26th 1973 New Haven, CT, Veterans Memorial Coliseum (w/ Jett Black) [Ticket] [Ticket] - Apparently ZZ Top were stuck in a snowstorm so didn't make the show.
'The Exorcist' opens to the public. Alice has made mention frequently of the fact he was at the Premier accompanied by star Linda Blair. The film opened today so presumably the Premier was a short while before, however this premier he speaks of could have been the UK premier(see later).
Dec 27th 1973 Montreal, Quebec, Forum (w/ ZZ Top)
Dec 29th 1973 Utica, NY, Memorial Auditorium (w/ ZZ Top)
- 'Teenage Lament 1974' enters the Billboard chart at #84.
Originally this was to have been Binghampton Broome County Coliseum but the City Fathers refused to let them play so it was changed. The change probably also accounts for the chea and cheerful adverts that were placed for the show!
Dec 31st 1973 Buffalo, NY Memorial Auditorium (w/ ZZ Top) [Ticket] [Ticket] - Last ever US show of the original Alice Cooper.
1974
Jan 5th 1974 'Muscle of Love' is at #11 on the Billboard chart. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is at #74.
Jan 12th 1974 'Muscle Of Love' is at #10 on the Billboard chart. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is at #64 after three weeks
Jan 17th (3rd week) 1974 Alice films 'Snoop Sisters'(MM) (contract dated 17th January).
Jan 19th 1974 'Muscle Of Love' is still at #10 on the Billboard chart. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is at #54.
Jan 26th 1974 'Muscle Of Love' is at #12 on the Billboard chart. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is at #48.
Jan 30th 1974 Alice attends the opening night of Liza Minnelli's residence at the Las Vegas Riviera and hangs out with her backstage. There are rumours in the press that the two are dating.
Feb 2nd 1974 'Muscle of Love' is at #16 on the Billboard chart. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is still at #48.
1st Week Feb 1974 Alice is in Acapulco, Mexico on what is described as a 'Golf Sojourn.' He's renting a house down there with Cindy and he gets food poisoning!
Disc Feb 16th 1974 states that Alice was heading to Mexico a week before, so he must have been there for a few weeks as:
Circus Apr 1974(Interview by phone from Mexico presumably done in February): 'Two days back from a vacation in Acapulco, Mexico, the game-loving ghoul taped a "Hollywood Squares" segment for their evening show.'
They also report 'To facilitate his own TV viewing, Alice has installed the huge 50-inch Sony television that works like a movie projector, with the picture being cast from a projector to an enormous screen. Sony has made only a handful of these gigantic television sets which cost upwards of $3,000. They are, to be sure, color, and come complete with your very own video tape unit, so that you can make your own films. '
Disc also infers that he's already recorded 'Snoop Sisters': 'He recently played a con man in one episode of a television serial, and thoroughly enjoyed it. "I had to learn my lines and everything - I loved it!"
Neal and Babbette move to Miami. Alice and Cindy move to LA
Feb 9th 1974 'Muscle of Love' is at #17 on the Billboard album charts after 10 weeks. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is still at #58.
Feb 16th 1974 'Muscle of Love' is at #28 on the Billboard album charts. 'Teenage Lament 1974' is still at #68. Both are heading down the charts now.
Mid Feb 1974 Reports in US newpapers suggest Alice and Liza Minelli have been dating. Alice and Liza have certainly been spotted together a few times in the last couple of months, however just a few months later Minelli gets married so seems unlikely these were really "dates" although photos from Liza's hotel in Las Vegas in March (where she was performing at the Rivriera) certainly show them being very cozy!
Late Feb 1974 LA sketches for movie
Disc Mexico article says "we start filming in LA in about ten days. "
Feb 19th 1974 Alice is at Century Plaza. LA for a Kiss album launch party where he makes the famous quote "all these guys need is a gimmick"
Mar 2nd 1974 Alice appears at the Grammy Awards at the Hollywood Palladium presenting an award to Stevie Wonder with Helen Reddy.
Sat Mar 1974 'Hollywood Squares' filmed-three shows
Around here, Alice also meets Elvis.
Mar 5th 1974 'Snoop Sisters - "The Devil Made Me Do It' airs in the US with guest star Alice.
Mar 9th 1974 'Muscle Of Love' is down to ##65 from #53 on the Billboard album charts. - Alice is invited to join the prestigous 'Friars Club'.
Mar 10th 1974 Alice arrives in Holland
There was a European tour planned for this period but it was canceled However Alice still headed to Europe alone. Alice attended the soccer match between FC Haarlem vs. AFC Ajax in the Dutch city of Haarlem. There he was presented with a gold disc for 'Billion Dollar Babies' by FC Haarlem's coach, Barry Hughes (the album had been number one in the Dutch album charts for seven weeks).
After the match, Alice did a press conference in Haarlem, and then went to Amsterdam, where Dutch
gossip journalist Henk van der Meijden invited him to his 'Club Prive', located at the Leiseplein in Amsterdam. In the evening, Alice was interviewed in his Amsterdam hotel room by Bert van de Kamp, a writer for Dutch music paper 'Muziekkrant Oor'. Van de Kamp's article was published on March 27. Alice was also interviewed by Dutch deejay Lex Harding. The interviewed was taped and aired on Radio Veronica on March 15.
You can see photos from this date here.
Mar 11th 1974 Still In Holland but travels to Finland that afternoon
Alice discovered that Colonel ('Kentucky Fried Chicken') Sanders was staying in the same hotel. Dutch photographer Gijsbert Hanekroot took some pictures of them. Alice also did another press conference, where parts of a concert movie were shown. In the afternoon, he took a plane to Helsinki, Finland.
In Finland, authorities have to close the airport due to 5,000 fans turning up to meet him! He also meets the Russian press about a possible Russian show but the Russian government aren't interested. When Alice arrived to the airport, he was welcomed by ten model girls (wearing Muscle Of Love t-shirts) with roses. Alice was so touched about the gesture that apparently he started to cry. Alice was interviewed (in his hotel suite) for Finnish television. A part of this interview was shown on a program called Rockstop in the summer of 1990
Mar 12th 1974 Alice flies from Helsinki to Copenhagen, Denmark
Mar 14th or 15th 1974 Alice is in Paris where he's seen talking to Aristotle Onassis at a nightclub.
Mar 15th 1974 Alice flies to Heathrow, London
Mar 16th 1974 Alice is in London
Daily Express March 19th reports Alice is in London (for 3 days staying at Blakes Hotel in Chelsea). He's seen at a party in his honour held by Tessa Elwes (nee Kennedy) at her flat in Hyde Park Gardens. They dine on avocado with caviar, and lamb before watching a 16 minute clip of a new film Alice had made (Good To See You Again?).
He also appears in 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' and spends an evening at the Speakeasy club drinking with Bernie Taupin.
Yve Marie Snake is dead. (MM).
'The Exorcist' opens in London during his stay. Could this be the premier that Alice refers to attending with Linda Blair? An interview infers he hasn't seen it by the beginning of March (MM)
March 18th 1974 Alice leaves London for Hamburg Germany
March 21st 1974 Alice is in Holland
March 22nd 1974 Alice arrives home in the US
March ??nd 1974 Alice is spotted at a party for Burt Bacharach at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vagas.[Bradford Era 26th March]
March 28th 1974 The band travel to Sao Paulo
March 29th 1974 Rehearsals at Anhembi
March 30th 1974 Sao Paolo, Brazil, Anhembi Palacio Das Exposicoes (Hal l) - Start of the 1st South American rock tour ever.
The largest indoor audience ever recorded (120,000-148,000 depending on report) by Guiness Book Of Records.
Band stay at Copacabana Palace Hotel
From Mick Mashbir (June 1988):
I was just looking in my diary for some clues. Found a couple. We played in Sao Paulo on March 30. That was the gig that nearly wasn't. I'm sure you heard about the crowd control problems that effectively stopped the show. There were over 70,000 people in a building so large that there was a Volkswagen factory in the other half! Next show April 2 was in a concert hall.
Then we went to Rio. April 5 Played a club!! It was fun but a little crazy April 7/8/? Played in a sports arena. I don't have a set list but I'm sure it wasn't any different than the X-mas MOL tour. I'm sure someone has that.
April 1st 1974 Sao Paolo, Brazil Anhembi Palacio Das Convencoes [Different Hall in same venue as first show, seated capacity 3,300] - Tickets for the previous show were sold at a flat rate of $3 each while tickets to the seated shows were between $20 and $35.
April 3rd 1974 Sao Paolo Brazil Anhembi Palacio Das Convencoes (second show mentioned on official press release and Billboard)
April 5th 1974 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Canecao [3,000 capacity sold out]
April 6th 1974 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, Maracanacinho [18,988 capacity sold out]- The last ever show by the original band.
April 8th 1974 Alice leaves Brazil and flies home to the US - Billboard May 18th carried a report about the shows.
Oct 1974 Circus reports the band at rest.
'After the last Brazil show, Glen disappears into the jungle for six weeks before returning to Conn. via New York, where he's playing with video equipment (he then watched as an electrical fault caused $300,000 of damage to the mansion during a fire). Dennis is also in Conn. relaxing with Cindy. Mike has sold his Connecticut house and has moved to Lake Tahoe where he has built his own studio and is working there with Mike Mashbir. Neal is in Conn. putting finishing touches on 'Platinum God'. Alice is also beginning to plan his own Solo album. He's also spotted in Hawaii playing golf at James MacArthur's (Hawaii 5-0) Hawaiian Adventure Celebrity Golf and Tennis Tournament.'
April 9th-16th 1974 Hollywood Squares shown.
April 30th 1974 Alice is at an event celebrating Groucho Marx's honourary Oscar award at the Hillcrest Country Club in Hollywood, CA. Towards the end of the show Alice brings Groucho back on stage to present him with an 'Alice Cooper Living Legend Award'. [Pasadena Star News 6th May and June 28th Medicine Hat News]
May 1974 'Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper' opens (including LA on May 30th) but is then re-edited and released again in the fall.
May 7th 1974 Episode of Hollywood Squares airs featuring Alice, Lily Tomlin, Jan Murray (Managed by Shep) and Dionne Warwick
Early May 1974 Alice and Groucho are seen dancing together at the Beverly Hills Hotel at a party for Gary Glitter. [Lima News 13th May]
May ??th 1974 Alice and Groucho Marx attend a party (on a Sunday) at the Bel-air estate of Viola and Alfred Hart in aid of the 'Concern Foundation for Cancer Research'. Alice brings his own "screen door on stage to stand behind and sing "Nobody Loves Me". Then with Marvin Hamlish on piano Groucho and Alice sang "Omaha, Neb.". [Van Nuys Valley News 2nd June]
A related news story followed the party. There was a young girl who was about to graduate from high school and as a present her parents promised her a ticket to the charity party. When they went to buy the $100 tickets they were completely sold
out and the youngster was heartbroken. Somehow apparently Alice heard the story and obtained the young girls phone number, called her up. and invited her and her mother out for lunch at a restaurent of their choice in Beverly Hills. [Anderson Herald June 6th]
Mid May 1974 US newspapers report a young 14 year old boy. David Andrew Coomes from Calgary Alberta, has hung himself after attempting to imitate the hanging from the 'Killer' tour, having seen it on the 'ABC In Concert' show. There are also suggestion of youths holding 'hanging parties' but there is little if any evidence of this.
June 1974 Rolling Stone:'Details of what apparently were Cooper-inspired hanging parties surfaced last month at a coroner's inquest into the death of a 13-year-old boy who was found swinging from a sturdy length of hemp in his bedroom closet. The boy's father told the inquiry that his son's experiment with execution dated from his viewing an In Concert show aired in Canada in March in which Alice did his staged demonstration of do-it-yourself death with a gallows and a hangman's rope'
May 17th 1974 Alice attends the charity premiere of 'That's Entertainment' in Los Angeles and is photographed with Fred Astaire.
May 25th 1974 The Hollywood Vampires Baseball team (including Alice and Mickey Dolenz) play a game against Cedu at Rim of the World High School in Twin Peaks, CA [Redlands Daily Facts 23rd May]
June 1974 It is announced Alice and Michael Bruce will be recording solo albums.
Early June 1974 Alice hosts "a small dinner party" at La restaurante in Hollywood attended by Paul and Linda McCartney, Cindy LAng, Elton John, Peggy Lee, Mickey Dolenz and HArald Pinter. [Chicago Tribune]
June 15th 1974 Billboard reports both Michael Bruce and Neal Smith have been in the Record Plant studios in New York with producer Jack Douglas working on solo albums.
June 16th 1974 Alice appears at "An Evening with George Burns" at the Shubert Theatre in LA, alongside Jack Benny.
June 19th(?) 1974 Alice is in in NYC at the Playboy Club to see Barbi Benton perform.
June 22nd-23rd 1974 Alice and Liza Minelli are spotted back at the Riveria in Las Vegas.
June 25th 1974 Second Alice appearance on 'Hollywood Squares' airs also featuring Lilly Tomlin, Dionne Warwick, Vincent Price, Marty Allen, McLean Stevenson.
July 1974 There are reports that Alice spent the summer in the Bahamas with Dick Wagner writing the material that would become 'Welcome To Me Nightmare', although with all the other celebrity sightings of Alice since returning from South America he couldn't have been there more than a couple of weeks!
July 1974 Alice, along with John Lennon and Harry Nillson amongst others attend the wedding of songwriter Jimmy Webb and Birgitta Sullivan in Ojei, CA.
July 29th 1974 An advert was placed in several papers advertising an Alice Cooper show (w/ Edgar Winter Group and Doobie Brothers) near Wheeling, West Virginia with tickets available for $10 via postal application. There was no such show booked and the perpetrator was prosecuted for mail fraud. [Charleston Daily News 14th June]
Aug 11th 1974 Alice is spotted at the 'Catch A Rising Star as Eastside Club, Manhattan and the following day he arrived at the office on roller-skates.
End Aug 1974 'Neal Smith celebrated his first wedding anniversary with a $20,000 party aboard a luxury yacht at the weekend, and on the day of the party Alice's bassist Dennis Dunaway married Cindy Smith who took the part of the tooth during the dentist routine on Alice's last tour. Also at the party were Alice's guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, and Todd Rundgren.' According to the Bradford Era [30th Aug] the party started at the 'Catch A Rising Star' nightclub and moved to the yachet when the club closed.
Aug 24th1974 Alice is reported to be in the studio in Toronto recording with Bob Ezrin.
Aug 31st 1974 Billboard run a classic full page advert for 'Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits' as the album enters the Billboard charts at a lowly #187. It rises to #96 the following week.
Sept 16th 1974 Alice attends the Liza Minnelli/Jack Haley Jr. wedding reception at Ciro's nightclub on Sunset Strip. [Pasadena Star News Sept 18th]
Sept 18th 1974 - 'Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper' reopens in Kansas City,MO. Promoting the film will be TV and radio adverts, and hour long radio special, souvenir booklets (sold at theatres) and T-shirts.
Billboard 14th Sept 1974: "What may be the largest promotional and merchandising campaign ever centered around a rock movie will be launched Sept. 18 in Kansas City for the opening of 'Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper.' Heading the merchandising and promotional plans is Product Communications Inc., with a firm dubbed Creative Coalition (distribution for the film) and Penthouse Productions (producers) involved in the distribution. The movie first released last May, has now been edited and Los Angeles and San Francisco openings will follow the Kansas City opening."
Late Sept 1974 Alice is seen at a Manhatten Transfer show at Reno Sweeneys in New York. - Bob Ezrin starts Migration Records based out of an office at Nimbus 9 in Toronto.
Sept 21st 1974 Billboard reports that sessions for Alice's forthcoming album have been completed in Toronto's Nimbus 9 studios. 'Greatest Hits' is up to #41 on the Billboard chart.
Sept 26th 1974 Californian newspapers report Alice will one of the hosts of Los Angeles radio station KHJ's Morning Show while the normal host is on vacation. Did this happen? Other substitute hosts are said to be John Lennon, Elton John and Cheech and Chong so at first it seems unlikely, but it turns out Lennon definitely DID appear on the stations 'Superstar Week' as a recoding of him chatting and answering calls still exists.
Sept 28th 1974 'Greatest Hits' is up to #31 in the Billboard charts and "I'm Eighteen" is reissued as a single to promote it. Maybe it worked, 'Greatest Hits' just rise up to #27 the following week.
5th Oct 1974 Alice is back in Detroit and attends the Detroit premier of the re-released 'Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper' at the Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills.
19th Oct 1974 Alice rumoured to appear on-stage with Lou Reed at Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada (this is Reeds only Toronto date in the period, the next closest is Dec 1973) singing the chorus of 'Walk On The Wild Side'
It's suggested this may have happened in New York and if so it would likely have been the 9th Oct.
20th Oct 1974 Alice came fourth in Nashville's Pro/Celebrity Golf Invitational, the tenth in its history.
'By the time Alice teed off on Sunday the crowd had risen to 25,000 apparently the largest the tournament has ever attracted, and Cooper, in two days, had signed 5,000 autographs and lost more than 40 golf balls to souvenir hunters. Fourth out of 35 not bad. Other competitors included Charley Pride, Mickey Mantle (the baseball player), Mac Davis, Flip Wilson, Pat Boone, Perry Como, Dale Robertson (Wells Fargo), Bobby Goldsboro and the governor of Tennessee, Winfield Dunn. '
[Stars And Stripes Dec 9th]
While he was down in Nashville he was made a deputy sheriff of Davidson County.
Oct 22nd 1974 Another episode of "Hollywood Squares" aired with Alice, Lilly Thomlin.
Nov 12th 1974 'Greatest Hits' reaches #3 on the Billboard album charts.
Nov 1974 'Billion Dollar Baby' hard cover published. It gets a possibly surprising amount of press coverage with sample sections appearing in local newspapers, long reviews, and even TV and radio interviews with Bob Greene. There is a second wave of press for the book around February '75. Could this have been for the paperback version?
Nov 17th 1974 Alice attends the US premiere/party for 'Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band' stage play in New York. Also in attendance were John Lennon, May Pang, Yoko Ono, Bette Midler, David Johanssen ("lead singer of the New York Dolls"), John Phillips, Wayne County, Johnny Winter, and Andy Warhol
Nov 19th 1974 'Greatest Hits' is down to #8 on the Billboard album chart. 'Vincent Furnier' is a new entry in this years 'Who's Who on America', and Alice has recorded an anti-drugs message for Radio Luxenburg but the station returns it as being "a little too blunt." The message went "Of all the ways to get off these days, hard drugs is not one of them. If you do take them I'll come round your house and slit you're puppy dogs throat." You can see their point!
Nov 30th 1974 Rolling Stone: Alice attended the November 30th wedding of new guitarist Dick Wagner (former Lou Reed crony) to Elizabeth "Lizard" Marsh of Grosse Ile, Michigan. However an eye witness claims he was supposed to be there but wasn't.
Nov 30th 1974 'Greatest Hits is at #34 on the Billboard chart.
Dec 1974 The Smoothers Brothers show filmed
Dec 19th/20th 1974 Alice is at Madison Square Gardens to see George Harrison and at the aftershowparty at the Hippopotamus club (Big Apple Dreaming) with John Lennon. [Chicago Tribune]
Dec 21st 1974 'Greatest Hits is at #92 on the Billboard chart.
Dec 25th 1974 Alice appears onstage at a Flo And Eddie show with fellow guest Keith Moon at the Troubador in Los Angeles. The guests take part during the encore and do songs including "Wooly Bully". Erik Scott is in Flo And Eddies Band.
"I had met Alice while playing with Flo and Eddie. He came up on stage in 1974 with Keith Moon at the Troubador in LA for an encore with F&E. Great sport. I think we did Wooly Bully as one of the tunes. The drummer, Craig Krampf ('Special Forces' album Drummer)....... he had just gotten the new
drum set from Rogers drums , and was afraid Keith Moon would trash 'em...so he wouldn't let Keith play his brand new drums...ha!"
(Erik Scott, July 2005)