The Coop avoids going Under Their Wheels

The English press is always interesting when it collides with rock and roll. The British establishment can never work out whether to embrace rock and roll or claim its corpse has been found naked in a hotel room in bondage gear with a plastic bag over its head and an orange in its mouth. Pity their best music always gets swiped by the Americans.

Here's a sample of reportage from Alice Cooper's recent visit to the UK:

- A crazed English Alice Cooper fan was convicted of assault using a false leg after he bashed a fellow concert-goer who told him keep to his own seat. At least no-one used a (decapitated) bat as a weapon.

- Alice has been reunited with a bag containing 300 horror flicks from his personal collection after it went missing at Heathrow Airport. Beats watching those diabolical in-flight movies.

- The British press (well, The Guardian) has exposed the Coop’s stageshow as a morality play and in true tangental style has told Alice that it’s time to give up. More here. No surprise there. The Guardian doesn't approve of anything much.

Will this Suck or won't this Suck?

Horror comic Fangoria's online arm reports that filming will wrap this week in Toronto on Rob Stefaniuk's vampire horror-comedy "Suck". The production boasts an impressive cast of rockers like Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Moby, Henry Rollins, Alex Lifeson, Dimitri Coates and Carol Pope. Even Cooper's daughter, Calico, has jumped on board.

Written and directed by Stefaniuk, "Suck" is about a group of musical wannabees in search of immortality and a record deal. The rock band THE WINNERS have sunk so low, they will do anything to make it big. After a life-changing encounter with a vampire, they rocket to stardom only to discover that fame and fortune are not all they're cracked up to be.

"I love the mixture of horror and humor,” says Alice Cooper, who stops just short of calling Stefaniuk a genius in this specific area. “And what’s cooler than a vampire?”

I dunno, Alice. Golf?

Bob Seger is Michigan's Number One Musician

Yes, that's one of those provocative headlines designed to provoke outrage and flaming, just as I suspect Michigan live music website mlive.com's Michigan Music Face Off was meant to be. In the end, Bob Seger triumphed over the MC5, Iggy/the Stooges and Alice. A bunch of flummery, really, but here it is for your brief amusement.

Alice Cooper for President

Vote early, vote often here. Link courtesy of The Iceman.

R.I.P. William Hoyle

Tuesday, July 24 is the funeral for William Hoyle, 23-year-old son of Pip and Sally. You may know his Dad as the keyboardist for Radio Birdman. The short story is that William passed away with a brain tumour last Wednesday, just as Pip and bandmates were about to be inducted into the Australian Recording Artists Industry Association Hall of Fame.

As you may have read in a past Barman's Rant, Pip passed up the recent North American Birdman tour to be at home with William in Sydney. Pip tells my mate, Italian rock journalist Roberto Calabro, that William had the thrill in their recent time together of meeting a touring Alice Cooper when he played Sydney's Enmore Theatre. The moment's been recorded in Rob's blog but for those that can't read Italian, we've reproduced the photo here.
None of our words will, be adequate but feel free to leave some in the comments and they'll be passed on.

Celeb review on I94 Bar

Working on the outer fringes of the music biz, as I do, I often feel very privileged to catch a glimpse of little bits of the day to day, back and forth stuff that makes things tick.
One such is an email I was copied in on last week, from Sacred Cowboy Garry Gray, to the Barman, editor of my regular haunt, the I94 Bar.
Garry had submitted a review of a record that I don't believe is available in Australia yet, and this is what he said:

Gentlemen,
I have unearthed a classic album, finished this year by an unsung hero of rock, a friend of mine, and a fucking great human being-Mick Mashbir. Before you start saying "Ah, not another mate" (he is also a mate of Penny's), I promise you this is a great album by a great artist.
I stand by everything I say in this review, and if you guys dug the original Alice Cooper Group as much as me, you won't feel any different to me. This man played lead guitar on nearly every song on 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Muscle of Love', AND toured extensively with the original ACG group. The guitar is fucking wild and the lyrics, great. The missing follow up to 'Muscle Of Love', a missing original ACG album? I'm lucky enough to have the disc...you can get a good preview on CD Baby.
Be great if you could post this review of Mick's disc as soon as possible. I know it's not usual but I've given it 5.5 beers. Attached is a JPEG of the cover, the correct amount of beer, and the review.
Listen to this one....you'll be blown away.

best regards

Garry

Of course it went up on the Bar.
Go here to read it.

Alice on the air.

Crappy radio network DMG is syndicating Alice Cooper every weeknight from 10.00 til midnight, on their Vega stations in Melbourne & Sydney. Worth a listen if you are up that late with nothing to do- he's a very funny guy. But then you knew that already.