HARK!
I hear ….a Hall of Famer …
What I learned from two chats with Alice Cooper, one just before he opened his second HARK Valley/Phoenix teen center, the second shortly before his concert to kick off the joint (showtime 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 3, at 122 N. Country Club Dr., Mesa, AZ 85201):
video clip here
-”Who’s Led Zeppelin?” he wondered, walking up Sunset Boulevard and seeing the marquee for a show he was on at Whisky A Go Go in 1969.
-He and his made up bandmates shrugged at each other as their aggressive music and presentation drove the Whisky crowd to the doors.
-A member of one of the other bands tipped off Frank Zappa, the brilliant performer-producer who later invited Cooper and his band over and produced their first record.
-He babysat for Keanu Reeves, down the block from Zappa’s studio
-His wife, Sheryl Goddard, a dancer-choreographer, goes on all his tours with him and is part of the show.
-He was a heavy-duty partier, with “last man standing” drinking bouts with the likes of John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, but has been sober for nearly 40 years.
-In 50-plus years, he’s only taken two breaks from touring: when he went to rehab and during the pandemic/lockdown.
-Keith Richards is about the only one who refuses to call him “Alice,” which is his legal name. (He’ll say to me, “Vinny, how long since you had a drink...30 years? 40 years?‘Begs the question: ‘Why?’”)
-He’s doing about 25 shows over the next few months, and plans Hollywood Vampires (featuring Johnny Depp and Joe Perry) shows next year.
-His advice to bands starting out: “Young guys in bands should not be doing any business. Any business at all. You have to find a guy you trust...I do not know how much we make a night, I don’t know how much we pay the band, I don’t know how much merchandise we sell. I see young bands saying, ‘I get 11 percent of the T-shirts.’ I go, ‘Why don’t you just worry about your guitar part?’”
-When his son, Dash, started a band, he told him to “have a Plan B” -- even though he never did.
-It’s all an act: the “Welcome to My Nightmare” shock rocker is a religious family man dedicated to getting kids off the streets and into the studio!