The Solid Rock Foundation was founded in Phoenix, AZ in 1995 by long-time Arizona residents Alice and Sheryl Cooper, along with Chuck Savale. It was envisioned aa a faith-based organization dedicated to making an "everlasting difference in the lives of kids and teens in the community". Originally, Solid Rock existed to raise money for other organizations with like-minded missions, however the eventual aim was to create a center to allow local teens to "build confidence and discover their passion through music, dance, self-expression, and creativity."
With that aim in mind in 2006 Alice and Sheryl began organising various fundraising events as well as diverting the money raised at the annual celebrity golf tournaments and Christmas Pudding shows towards the project. In May 2012 'The Rock Teen Center' finally opened at 13625 N 32nd St, Phoenix, AZ as a partnership with the 'Genesis Church. The 22,000 square foot facility houses an auditorium, dance studio, rehearsal rooms, instruments and computers where local teens between 12 and 20 years old can take free classes or hang out in a safe enviroment.
In 2021 a second Rock Teen Center was opened in Mesa, Arizona.
You can find out more about Solid Rock, The Rock Teen Center, and donate at their official site: alicecoopersolidrock.com or check them out on facebook.
Alice's Attic
Opened in 2015 'Alice's Attic and Thrift Store' was a shop for new and used items, including furniture, housewares, electronics, and clothing, as well as many of Alice's personal possesions. It was located at 13627 N. 32nd Street, Phoenix, AZ, right next door to the teen center. Alice donated many of his own and his family’s items, many autographed, which featured in a special 'Cooper's Corner' in the shop. A portion of the proceeds from the store directly benefited The Rock Teen Center. The store closed in 2016.
Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding
The Alice Cooper Christmas Pudding show takes place each December in Phoenix to raise money for the Solid Rock Foundation. Styled like a variety show, it features various acts and bands that in previous years have included Kiss, Rob Zombie, The Tubes, Damn Yankees and many others, as well as local Phoenix bands and acts. Alice normally appears on and off all through the show as well as closing the evening. Members of the current Alice Cooper band normally act as the house band for the night. The show is preceeded by an expensive VIP Xmas dinner which Alice attends.
There is also an annual 'Proof Is In The Pudding' competition for young local musicians, the first prize being a spot on the Pudding show bill.
In 2013 Alice spoke to the Phoenix New Times about the Pudding shows and The Rock Teen center:
In November 1995, Cooper and his wife, Sheryl, a professional dancer, began the foundation 'Solid Rock' to raise money for music and arts programs. But then the duo proposed a teen center to provide an outlet where teens could learn and equip themselves for their future.
The variety show Christmas Pudding kicked off in 2001 as a way for them to raise enough money to open up the center, dubbed "The Rock," where teenagers could be taught dance, music and art in a safe place. In Cooper's mind, the best way to get teens off the streets is to put a guitar in their hands, teach them how to play, and get them into a band. And as each year passed, Christmas Pudding grew a little larger.
"Christmas Pudding isn't necessarily a rock show; other entertainment includes jazz singers, comedians, dance, keyboards, classical . . . It's a mish-mosh 'pudding' of all kinds of things," Cooper says.
Some of the biggest names in music flock to the desert to be a part of the show, which raises around $100,000 each year. This year's lineup includes members of Kiss, Rob Zombie (who claims that his first metal moment was seeing Alice Cooper on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert when he was young), Joan Jett, Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, Stephen Pearcy of Ratt, Kip Winger, and many more. Former Seinfeld star John O'Hurley will serve as a guest host for the festivities, and Blue Collar Comedy Tour star Bill Engvall will be this year's guest comedian.
"It's fun to watch people who should never play together be together on stage," laughs Cooper. "It's insane combinations of people. A Christmas party with all headliners."
Christmas Pudding's original mission was finally achieved in May 2012, when Alice Cooper's Rock Teen Center opened. The 22,000-square-foot Rock Teen Center offers teens an outlet for their creativity, gets them off the streets and away from drugs, guns, or gangs, and encompasses an auditorium, dance studio, and music room full of donated amps and guitars from Fender. Teens can take free classes to learn bass, drums, guitar, and even vocals or sign up for a variety of dance classes from ballet to hip-hop to jazz. Soon to be launched will be vocational training in sound, lighting, and staging to provide valuable career training in the music and entertainment industry.
"Why not let every teenager come in who wants to learn and make everything free?" Cooper says. "When I see kids selling drugs on a street corner, I think to myself, 'How does that kid right there know or not if he's the best guitar player in town?' Because he's never had that opportunity to actually pick up a guitar or sit behind a set of drums or pick up a bass."
More than 100 kids spend time at the center every day doing homework, learning, hanging out with friends, and meeting new ones. And it was all made possible from the Christmas Pudding fundraiser each year.
"I'm not a teacher, but I have a great Rolodex," he adds. "So for Christmas Pudding, I can go through that Rolodex and call different people and they will show up and do a few songs."
And that's how other people can help, too. Own a home improvement store? Offer a great deal on paint to help spruce up the Rock Teen Center's walls. Know someone who works with the Phoenix Suns? See if you can get a deal on basketball hoops for the center's gym.
That networking has become a tradition of its own, one that's helped spur one of the biggest Christmas traditions in the local music scene.
"Christmas Pudding is one of the biggest events Solid Rock puts on," adds Elston. "Everyone around here gets really excited."
December 13th 2001 - 1st Pudding at the Celebrity Theatre
Performers included:
- Peter Frampton
- Nils Lofgren
- Sam Moore
- Alice Tatum (wife of Spiders guitarist John Tatum)
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
- Desert Bell International
December 19th 2002 - 2nd Pudding at the Celebrity Theatre
Performers included:
- Dave Mason
- Garland Jeffreys
- Gary Mule Deer
- Glen Campbell
- Theives In The Temple
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.
December 17th 2003 - 3rd Pudding at the Dodge Theatre
Perfromers included:
- Billy Bob Thornton
- Weird Al Yankovic
December 18th 2004 - 4th Pudding at Dodge Theatre
Performers included:
- Cheap Trick
- Gin Blossoms
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
- Glen Campbell
- Sinbad
- Ted Nugent and Damn Yankees
- Jessi Colter
December 17th 2005 - 5th Pudding at the Dodge Theatre
Performers included:
- Dick Wagner
- Don Felder
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
- Tesla
- The Tubes
December 16th 2006 - 6th Pudding at the Dodge Theater
Performers included:
- Alice Cooper band reunion - Alice, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith (with Damon Johnson)
- Ace Young
- Al Di Meola
- Don Felder
- Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw
- Jonathan Cain
- Stephen Stills
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
- California Transit Authority
December 15th 2007 - 7th Pudding at the Dodge Theatre
Performers included:
- California Transit Authority
- Jordin Sparks
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
- The Turtles (Flo and Eddie)
- Whiskey Falls (Damon Johnson)
December 13th 2008 - 8th Pudding at the Dodge Theatre
Performers included:
- Bob Welch (Fleetwood Mac)
- Icon
- Robby Krieger (The Doors)
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
- Runaway Phoenix (with Dash Cooper)
- Whiskey Falls (with Damon Johnson)
- Marty Mitchell
- Les Stroud
- Craig Gass
December 18th 2009 - 9th Pudding at the Dodge Theatre
Performers included:
- Lita Ford
- Dee Snider
- Runaway Phoenix (with Dash Cooper)
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
December 18th 2010 - 10th Pudding at the Comerica Theatre
Performers included:
- Rob Zombie
- Glen Campbell
- Cheech Marin
- Don Felder
- Lauren Black
- Michael Grimm
- Nightranger
- Nils Lofgren
- Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers
December 17th 2011 - 11th Pudding at the Comerica Theater
Performers Included:
- Rob Halford
- The Tubes
- Bruce Kulick and John Corabi
- Kip Winger
- Brian 'Head' Welch (Korn)
- Runaway Phoenix (with Dash Cooper)
- Gary Mule Deer
December 8th 2012 - 12th Pudding at the Comerica Theater
Performers included:
- Johnny Depp
- Orianthi
- Don Felder
- L.A.Guns
- Sebastian Bach
December 7th 2013 - 13th Pudding at the Comerica Theatre
Performers included:
- Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer, Tommy Thayler of Kiss
- Vince Neil
- Joan Jett
- Hairball
- Kip Winger
- Rob Zombie?
- Tom Keifer
- Stephen Percy (Ratt)
- Dee Snider?
December 13th 2014 - 14th Pudding at the Comerica Theatre
Performers included:
- Night Ranger
- Nils Lofgren
- Johnny Lang
- P.O.D.
- Joe Lynn Turner
- Gary Mule Deer
- Johnny Lang
- Thousand Foot Krutch
2015 - No Pudding show due to Motley Crue tour
December 3rd 2016 - 15th Pudding at the Celebrity Theatre
Performers included:
- Hollywood Vampires
- Sammy Hagar
- Korn
- Gin Blossoms
December 9th 2017 - 16th Pudding at the Celebrity Theatre
Performers included:
- Rob Halford
- Slash
- Ace Frehley
- Filter
- Edgar Winter
- Nita Strauss
December 8th 2018 - 17th Pudding at the Celebrity Theatre
Performers included:
- Hollywood Vampires
- Blue Oyster Cult
- Sebastian Bach
- Beasto Blanco
- Larry The Cable Guy
Arizona Central Photos and review
Alice Cooper Golf Tournaments
The annual Alice Cooper golf tournament takes place in Phoenix each year with various celebrity contestants and nomrally a "jam" night the evening before featuring many of the guests including Alice. There's often other events coinciding with the tournament including auctions and dinners. More a corportate event then a anything for a Cooper fan, pretty much eveything related to it is extremely expensive, sometimes mindblowingly so, but as all the funds raised go to the Solid Rock charity it's probably forgivable.
The most interesting thing about the tournament is really the advertising. Each year Alice adopts a different theme with promotion ads and merchandise featuring him in different roles, some of which use some amazing images like the ones below:
