Catching Up

Catching up with AC news

Maybe it’s just me, but since the announcement of the US tour for September it’s seems to have been pretty quiet on the Cooper front, but here’s what has come in since then:

Alice and Sheryl Cooper will be appearing on Facebook Live with AC tribute band ‘Almost Cooper‘ on June 12th at 7om CST (1AM UK time). Almost Cooper seem to do quite a bit to raise money for Alice’s Solid Rock and seem to have a pretty accurate stage show. Check out the clips here.

Alice was at Bernie Taupin’s 71st birthday bash on May 23rd in Los Angeles along with Bernie’s long time writing partner Sir Elton John, and they took the chance to recreate a famous photograph taken at Bernie’s 21st birthday bash, with ‘Will & Grace’ actor Eric McCormack standing in for the deceased Paul Lynde. You check out the pic on instagram.

June 9th sees the release of ‘Permanent Damage: Memoirs Of An Outrageous Girl’ by former GTO ‘Miss Mercy’ Fontenot, and to launch the book Alice took part in a livestream on June 2nd with co-author Lyndsey Parker, Pamela Des Barres and Alice! You can watch the 45 minute show here. The book features several Alice Cooper stories and is likely well worth checking out if you are interested in the ’69/’70 LA scene.

On May 26th Alice joined guitarist Joe Bonamassa for a great hour long interview on Joe’s ‘Live from Nerdville’ video podcast which you can check out on YouTube here.

The full version of Alice’s interview on BBC6 Music’s ‘Liz Kershaw’s Legends in Their Own Lunchtime’ can be heard on YouTube here.

May 26th saw Alice show up briefly at the ‘White Castle 100th birthday bash’ livestream (around 55 minutes in) which you can see here.

There’s a new video interview with Neal Smith courtesy of North Wales Drum Promotions up now on YouTube.

To mark his 77th episode of ‘In The Trenches’, Ryan Roxie was himself interviewed for nearly 2 hours by Dave ‘The Rat’ Rattenbury and you can check that out now. Other recent interviews include Blaze Bayley and ex-Alice drummer Tommy Clufetos and you can check them all out on Ryan’s Youtube channel.

Detroit News

More new interviews promoting ‘Detroit Stories’

Things are definitely gearing up for ‘Detroit Stories’ now with several new interviews appearing including The Independent, Noise11 (video), Metal Hammer (In the new issue), Pasadena Weekly, Kerrang!, and Kansas City Pitch. Alice was also on Australia’s ‘Studio 10’ yesterday for a short interview which you can see here or embedded below.

There’s a new two minute promo video for the album which features a short clip of ‘Shut Up And Rock’ along with Alice chatting about the album. In fact there are 30 second preview clips of the whole album up now at MediaMarkt in the Netherlands if you just can’t wait another week.
UPDATE: Just after posting this an official preview of the album appeared here which I’ve also added below.

According to TalkShopLive it appears Alice will be launching the new album online with a livestream interview on February 25th (2AM on the 26th UK time). It appears to be free so don’t miss it!

The news of Alice and Sheryl getting vaccinated has been covered pretty widely. AZ Big Media has a different photo and a couple of AC quotes.

Chuck Garric was interviewed by Czech site Frontman.cz which Google translates here. It’s not the greatest translation (Alice seems to change sex in the course of a sentence) but you get the gist.

One I missed earlier is a short interview from Phoenix restaurant ‘Los Sombreros’ on Alice’s birthday from AZTV7 with updates on the new Teen Centre in Mesa, AZ.

Friday Update

Alice Cooper Appears On Kesha Podcast and other news

Alice will be at guest on the first episode of pop star Kesha’s supernatural podcast ‘Kesha and the Creepies‘. Alice and Kesha first came together one ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’ and have appeared onstage together a couple of times. The podcast launches today via iHeartMedia.

Goodyear has partnered with Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers for a live streamed concert tomorrow, November 21st, between 5pm and 9pm local time. For local bands will take part, and it’s always possible Alice will make a brief cameo appearance as well.
In other Solid Rock news the opening of the second teen center in Mesa, AZ has been delayed due to the pandemic and is now hoped to open in late January.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Alice shows up singing on a children’s record by ‘Splash & Boots’ called ‘Heart Parade’. Well now there’s an article in The Star explaining how it came about with quotes from Bob Ezrin.

‘Nights With Alice Cooper’ has a new video in which Alice chats to Jimi Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer and Hendrix bassist Billy Cox about the new Hendrix film "The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live In Maui" which is out soon.

The Marc Bolan tribute show which Dennis Dunaway took park in a couple of weeks ago will be repeated on November 29th at 8PM eastern time (1AM UK time) at iheart.com. Dennis chats about the legendary Morgan Studios jam session near the end of the show.

Rolling Stone gets Alice to name his top 10 albums of all time in a new video.

Local Spins recalls the night Alice Cooper played the Civic Centre in Holland, MI in 1972.

According to an article in the Worcester News UK Cooper fan Chris Sutton has a book about "Alice Cooper in the 70s" on the way via publisher ‘Sonic Bond‘. It’s due in March 2021 and seems to part of a series of books concentrating on bands at their peak in the 70s.

Alice At London Comic Con

Alice Cooper has been announced as a guest at this years ‘London Film And Comic Con‘ at the Olympia, London between July 24th and 26th. This is NOT a concert, but an autograph and photo appearance. Tickets for the convention are on sale now, but getting an autograph and/or photo will cost a LOT more on top of your admission price. Prices quoted are an eye-watering £65 for an autograph and $75 for a photo, or a "diamond pass" that gets you an autograph, photo and "gift" for £175. Alice will be there all three days and tickets are available now.

‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ is getting another UK showing at the ‘Manchester International Film Festival‘ which runs between March 7th and 15th. The film will be shown on Saturday March 14th at 7.45 at the Odeon, Great Northern.

Blue Coupe will be back in Europe for the Silja Rock Cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki on May 18th. Hopefully there will be more European shows announced soon.

Alice and Sheryl were at former elementary school Westwood High School in Mesa, AZ on Wednesday to announce that there will be a second ‘The Rock’ Teen center opening there this summer. ‘Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers’ will fund the renovations and provide more than $100,000 worth of music, arts and dance programming to youth ages 12 to 20 and the local community.

The Goon Squad (the Alice Cooper band without Alice and Nita) will be playing an "After Show Party" at ‘Frankie’s Pizza by the Slice’ at 50 Hunter Street, Sydney, Australia on February 15th. This takes place after the proper Alice Cooper show at Quodos Bank Arena.

Blabbermouth have posted video of Nita Strauss at NAMM last weekend which you can check out here. Nita is currently working on her second solo album between AC tours.

Alice’s appearance on ‘Jonesy’s Jukebox’ this morning is likely to be posted on the radio stations site soon so keep an eye out here.

It’s been confirmed that the ‘Fight Fire Australia’ charity show in Sydney next month WILL be televised by the ‘Seven’ and ‘Foxtel’ channels in Australia. The full nine hour plus show will be shown along with backstage footage and interviews.

Manchester Film Festival

More New Alice Cooper

Ex-Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell has released a lyric video for ‘Swing It’ from his forthcoming solo album ‘Old Lions Still Roar’ which is out October 25th via Nuclear Blast. The song features vocals from Alice Cooper, and you can watch it below. The album also features appearances from Dee Snider, Mick Mars, Rob Halford and Joe Satriani

Flaunt.com have a new interview with Calico Cooper AND a new video from Beasto Blanco. The video is for ‘Solitary Rave’ which is taken from the bands latest album “We Are”.

Michael Bruce, Dennis and Cindy Dunaway and Chris Penn will all be in Los Angeles on October 14th for another screening of the ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ and ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ films. It’s happening at the W Hotel Hollywood, 6250 Hollywood Boulevard, CA (across from Pantages Theater) and tickets are available here.

Sadly we’ve lost two more music legends this week. Firstly Eddie Money, most famous for the hit “Two Tickets To Paradise’, and who toured with Alice back in 1978. Alice Cooper posted the following:

“I first met Eddie when we did some shows together early in his career, and we’ve crossed paths many more times along the way,” he shared with Billboard. “He kept having huge hits, which was no surprise because he seemed to have a voice that was made for the radio. But of the things I can most relate to about Eddie is that like myself, Eddie had his struggles with addiction and he found his way out of it with the help of his family. Another thing about his family is that Eddie brought them all on the road with him. They all performed on stage with him in his band, and that’s the way my family works as well, we have that in common. Eddie Money is and always will be an American icon of Rock N Roll, and I love playing his music on my radio show every night. My condolences to his family and fans around the world.”

Secondly a few days ago saw the passing of The Cars’ Ric Ocasek and again here is Alice’s comment:

“We have lost another great in Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Famer Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Ric and I actually used to be neighbors for a time when we lived in the Hollywood Hills. Ric had a very unique voice for rock ‘n’ roll, there was just nothing complicated about it and that really gave The Cars an edge on the radio. They spearheaded a simplistic new wave of minimalist rock alongside producer Roy Thomas Baker, much to the delight of car stereos and fans everywhere. Condolences to his family and many fans. We’ll miss ya man.”

Alice will be the featured guest at ‘NAIOP Arizona’s Signature Speaker Series’. The event is scheduled for Thursday, October 24th at the Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe. Registration begins at 3 p.m. The event, ‘Alice Cooper “Unplugged’, a conversation moderated by Valley celebrity Mark Cordes, begins at 4:30 p.m. A networking reception begins at 5:30 p.m.

According to this press release Alice provides a voice during the new season (5) of Nickelodeon’s ‘Bubble Guppies’ which begins airing on September 27th in the USA. No information as to which specific episode he is in yet.

Paul Rodgers (of Bad Company and Free), Joe Bonamassa, and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford are the first names announced for this years Christmas Pudding show on December 14th. Tickets are expected to be on sale shortly.

MMH Radio have an article on the ’10 Underrated Alice Cooper Tracks’ which you can check out here. It includes some interesting deep cuts.

Big Apple Dreaming

The New York ‘Live From The Astroturf, Alice Cooper’ event on Wednesday appears to have been a huge success. As well as seeing the movie and Dennis Dunaway’s ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ film the sold out audience were also treated to a short live performance by the Snake Charmers (Dennis, drummer Russ Wilson, guitarist Nick Didkovsky and Tish and Snooky) which featured ‘Feed My Frankenstein'(Beasto version) with Chuck Garric and Calico Cooper, ‘Cold Cold Coffin’ with Chuck on bass and Dennis singing while Calico danced, a storming ‘Black Juju’ with Ryan Roxie on guitar, and a final ‘I’m Eighteen’ with everyone joining in.
Luckily all four songs were filmed and you can check them out courtesy of Otom Izot on YouTube. NJArts has a review of the evening and there are also lots of photos from the night all over facebook.

Thursday night on tour saw a mini-stage invasion in New Jersey when the band were joined by Halestorm and Chris Motionless (from opener Motionless In White) for ‘School’s Out’. With so many guitars on stage Tommy didn’t even bother to play and instead just sang and threw out picks. Check out this video to see how much fun they’re having this year!

Alice turned up briefly on Australia’s ‘Today’ show promoting the new Australian dates and you can watch that here.

Nita Strauss has announced three guitar clinics next month during the European tour. The dates are:
September 4th – Prima Cordes, Bordeaux
September 6th – Leturagia, Madrid
September 25th – DLX Music, Stockholm
Contact the venues directly for more info on tickets etc.

Solid Rock have announced that this years Christmas Pudding show, the 18th, will take place on December 14th at the Celebrity Theater in Phoneix as usual. Guest will be announced later in the year. They have also announced the date of next years Alice Cooper Golf Tournament which will take place on April 25th 2020. Again no further details this far ahead but keep an eye on the Solid Rock site for updates.

Bottlerock Happenings

Alice fails Rubber Chicken Record

When it was announced Alice would be a guest on the ‘Culinary Stage’ at the 2019 BottleRock in Napa Valley it seemed a little weird.. Well, it got weirder. He was there to take part in an attempt to beat the world record for throwing rubber chickens at the same time! Apparently a record of 1013 chickens already exists!! Sadly Coop didn’t succeed, as the Guinness Book Of Records official couldn’t confirm all the chickens did take flight at the same time.. Thankfully the Mercury News was on hand to file a report and has some video.

While at the BottleRock festival Alice joined Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) and his covers band ‘Chevy Metal’ to perform ‘School’s Out’. You can see video on YouTube.

Two more shows appear to have been added to next years ‘Rock Meets Classics‘ tour. They are 15th March at the Donau-Arena in Regensburg, Germany and 21st March at the Saturn Arena in Ingolstadt, Germany. Tickets are already on sale. Alice will be accompanied on the tour by Tommy Henriksen, and the show also features Robin Zander of Cheap Trick and Danny Bowes & Luke Morley from Thunder!

Beasto Blanco’s new album ‘We Are’ is now out and everyone who pre-ordered should either have their copy (USA) or expect it to arrive imminently (everywhere else). It’s another blockbuster record from the band but has a slightly different feel to previous records. Maybe a little less full on, and a little more refined? Just go get a copy and judge for yourself.
My Global Mind has a review of the New Jersey show with some excellent photos.

Blue Coupe have added two more shows on Ohio following their appearance at this years Sweden Rocks festival (where they will be joined by special guest Ryan Roxie!). The new US dates are:
July 12th – Ottawa Tavern, Toledo, OH
July 13th – Rhythm and Brews, Wapakoneta, OH.
New Jersey Arts also has a new article about the band which you can check out here.

Ryan Roxie has posted a report and video from his recent appearance with the ‘Sunset Winos’, a covers band that also features ex-Coop bandmates Eric Dover, Teddy Zig Zag, and Jimmy Degrasso as well as old friend Stefan Adika with guest Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats.

Solid Rock have posted photos from this years golf event at surrealsister.com. There’s lots of photos to look through only some of which feature Alice, and a few also feature Neal Smith.

CBN News have an article focusing on Alice’s religious beliefs.