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Alice Cooper:
Brutally Yours is the new DVD/VHS video concert performance release.
Alice appeared in the U.S. sitcom That 70's Show (Fox network) on February 20, 2001. He played the part of himself in a dream by the character Donna.
Alice has filmed an acting appearance in the upcoming horror movie The Attic Expeditions. He plays the part of an escaped mental patient by the name of Samuel Leventhal.
Alice played new years at CoopersTown with a local band. Alice had previously also performed at a New Years Eve masquerade party show at Alice Cooper'stown restaurant on Friday, December 31st, 1999 to bring in the millenium with his own touring band.
Alice appeared at the British Rock Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall in the UK on June 28th to perform including the songs Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd), Start Me Up (Rolling Stones), and 5:15 (The Who), and ended with School's Out. See their web site for more details. An album is available with many of the songs performed. Hopefully a video of the Royal Albert Hall show will also be released. They also toured with the BRS in Australia in March and April 2000, and later in South America.
Alice appeared on the CBS Late Show with David Letterman on May 17, 2000. Letterman had requested the performance of one of the classic numbers, so Alice did No More Mr. Nice Guy. Ryan Roxie made an appearance on guitar and Paul Schaffer and his band played along.
Alice had a box set release party on Thursday April 29, 2000 at Cooper'stown restaurant in Phoenix. Alice autographed box sets. The next signing was in West Hollywood on May 12, 2000 at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd., where 350 fans showed up. He appeared there to kickoff the Rhino Musical Aptitude Test, where in theme with The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper box set, he arrived in a LAPD police car in handcuffs. Photos of this RMAT '99 are HERE.
Musicians for the 1999 tour were Ryan Roxie on lead guitar, Pete Friesen on guitar, Eric Singer on drums, Greg Smith on bass and Lindsay Vannoy on keyboards. Chlorine was the opening act for many of the shows with former MTV VJ Jesse Camp was mostly the opening act for early October. The race track gig in Chicago also featured Steppenwolf. Dallas had Chlorine and Dangerous Toys as openers.
Michael Bruce joined Alice on his tour for an encore song in Atlantic City on Sunday, October 3, 1999.
Alice played an unannounced show as a warmup at his Cooperstown restaurant on August 28, 1999.
Alice also made another special appearance at the restaurant on October 23, 1999 for the Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend, joining original bandmates Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith and their friend and collaborator Rockin' Reggie Vincent to play six songs live. The songs (in order) were Be My Lover, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Under My Wheels, I'm Eighteen, Billion Dollar Babies, School's Out. GBMW producer Paul Brenton introduced the reunited bandmates as Glen Buxton's Billion Dollar Babies. The fans totally ate it up.
The new album is a heavy dark rock'n'roll album named Brutal Planet. This is part of his rumored Last Temptation trilogy, not the rumored Alan Mencken project. Some of the songs have been co-written by the producer Bob Marlette. Bob Ezrin is the executive producer. It was released on the Spitfire Records label in the U.S., which is new for Alice.
The "Behind the Music" segment on Alice Cooper premiered on VH-1 on May 2nd, 1999. VH1 gave this description: "Cooper discusses his band getting signed by Frank Zappa, the friction that erupted between Cooper & his band, forcing him to go solo, his bout with alcoholism that sent him to the mental hospital for three months, the depression that overcame him when Heavy Metal became passe in the late 70's and early 80's and his alcoholic relapse. This time, Cooper was sent to a rehab-center in Arizona and has stayed sober ever since. In 1986 with the release of his album "Trash", Cooper made his comeback and has been rockin’ ever since. Includes interviews with the original band, Cooper’s wife and mother, Shep Gordon (Manager), Joe Smith (Warner Bros. Records), Slash, Rob Zombie, Dee Snyder and Pamela Des Barres famous groupie who became a writer)." Unfortunately, the mention of Glen Buxton's death ended up on the cutting room floor, as did the Dick Wagner interview and much else. It's very hard to cram 30+ years into 44 minutes. Reportedly, the producer of the show also was upset with VH1 for excluding the Buxton spot. If your curious about where the Carnival tour footage came from... it was Detroit.
Corinthian, the toy manufacturer that produces Headliner sports figures, are coming out with a rock line featuring Kiss, the Beatles, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, and Garth Brooks.
Alice's first "Cooper'sTown" rock'n'sports bar (in Phoenix) opened to the public December 19, 1999 at noon, located next to the ballpark on Jackson Street. There was a VIP opening the previous night, with Alice performing on both nights. Attendees claim that jamming on Friday night included Nils Lofgren and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth and on Saturday night included Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce and Neal Smith playing together! The unplanned and unrehearsed three-union had the ACG members performing Billion Dollar Babies, Is It My Body, Desperado, Muscle of Love and No More Mr. Nice Guy. And they say that before Neal arrived, Alice and Michael also performed others including I'm Eighteen, Be My Lover and School's Out. Laz from Scott Rowe's Tribute band (and for a short time in the original Michael Bruce Group lineup), who also played, had played bass and Rockin' Reggie Vincent, who played guitar with the ACG on School's Out album joined in background vocals. Click HERE for pictures by AZdAVE!. The next restaurant to follow in this future limited chain will likely be in Detroit... also nearby the baseball park. Also look for the restaurant to have a web site soon, which will sell Cooper'stown merchandise online at http://www.alicecooperstown.com.
Guitarist Ryan Roxie couldn't make the previous tour, so former Alice Cooper guitarist Pete Freisen filled in. Ryan had played only the California shows until the in Phoenix show, where Ryan played lead for the first time in place of Reb.
Drummer Jimmy DeGrasso no longers tours with Alice because he's joined Megadeth to replace ousted drummer Nick Menza. Menza has tendinitis in his knee and had required surgery. For awhile former Alice Cooper drummer Eric Singer was filling in Jimmy's previous place. This after Eric returned from a six week trip to Europe, where he appeared at KISS conventions and conducted drum clinics. I once went to one of these conventions (Dallas) and Eric gave me a Pearl drums baseball cap! Also Eric had toured with Brian May (Queen) this past fall. Eric returned to play with Alice on the upcoming new years gigs. Eric is again playing with Alice this tour.
Winston Watson (originally from Gentlemen Afterdark) had played drums with Alice in September and October 1999.
Derek Sherinian had been playing keyboards, thus reuniting the 1991 Hey Stoopid tour lineup with Eric Singer and Pete Freisen for awhile. Derek played up until the Canada shows and then went on tour with his ex-band Dream Theatre who played opener for Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Deep Purple. Paul Taylor had returned to the Cooper lineup again in August and September 1999, but Derek rejoined for the last three shows in October 1998 before Dream Theatre returned to touring again. Check out his Derek Sherinian International site for more info.
And Reb Beach became the guitarist in Dokken, replacing George Lynch. They have released an album together and have moved their official web site to www.dokken.net
Bassist Todd Jensen toured with The David Lee Roth Band in summer 1999 as an opening act to the reformed Bad Company, which made him unavailable to tour with again with Alice.
Weird Al Yankovic even chatted with Alice in Hollywood about possibly producing Alice's next video. We'll see.
Alice has an annual summer golf tournament in Phoenix. See HERE for details of the event. Last years event had an Alice in Wonderland theme and here is an autographed promo poster that Dan Mittelstaedt landed.
The Alice Cooper box set, The Life And Crimes Of Alice Cooper, was released by Rhino Records on April 20, 1999. It contains 4 disks, an 80 page booklet and custom packaging. Check out the song list and ordering (via CDNow or Amazon.com) HERE.
Another big project on the horizon includes a possible collaboration with Alan Menken, multiple Grammy Award-winning soundtrack composer of Beauty and the Beast. It turns out they have a mutual friend. "We don't want to release what it's going to be," Coop says, "but trust me, Alan is not doing what he normally does. I'm doing the lyrics, he's doing the music. I can't tell you what it is," he chuckles gleefully. "It's too good." It is reported the project would be tentatively titled "The Seven Deadly" (as in the seven deadly sins), and that it is a combination of a spoken story and rock music. The project is now nearly completed and Alice thinks the show would run upward of two weeks in each city because of the elaborate stage setup for the theatrics including some audience involvement.
Alice Cooper merchandise is now available online via Signatures Superstars(formerly Sony Signatures). Go to www.signaturessuperstars.com/artists/rock/alicecooper to check it out.
Michael Bruce:
Michael has released 2 new CD's. I'll Never Forget Old What's His Name is a compilation of his works from the In My Own Way and Rock Rolls On releases plus four new releases from Michael's musical archives. He has also launched a new official website at www.michaelbruceofalicecooper.com and the CD's may be ordered from there.
The second edition of No More Mr. Nice Guy: The Inside Story of the Alice Cooper Group has been released. An additional chapter is included to bring the book more up to date. You can order it from his new web site also.
Michael also has a new official mailing list for up to date news at groups.yahoo.com/group/TheOfficialMichaelBruceMailingList
Michael kicked in Y2K with a big show in Bear, Delaware.
Michael joined Alice Cooper on stage at his Atlantic City Trump Marina concert on Sunday, Oct. 3, 1999. See photos here.
Michael sang a couple of songs on 1999's Bruce Cameron CD Midnight Angel. Cameron tragically took his own life on Oct. 15, 1999 shortly after the debut release.
Michael made an appearance at the KISS Expo in Hackensack, New Jersey on Friday, April 25th with Richie Scarlet and Neal Smith. Click HERE for pictures from Michael's appearance on stage and afterwards. Watch for more touring from Michael later in 1999 including more involvement with Richie.
Michael also played at CBGB's in New York City on June 12, 1999 and August 21, 1999. Click HERE for pictures from the June show!
The Michael Bruce Group is looking to record an album this year. Michael is also possibly recording Cooper songs he wrote/co-wrote with Richie Ranno from the band Starz, Neal Smith and Dennis Dunaway.
Michael contributed to a recent Alice Cooper interview by senior editor Chris Scapelliti of Guitar World magazine. Cool photos are included.
Michael attended the grand opening of the Cooper'stown restaurant in Phoenix on December 19, 1999 doing some jamming on classic ACG tunes along with former bandmates Alice Cooper and Neal Smith. (See the Alice Cooper section above for more details.)
Michael and Alice had attended a late summer fund-raiser in Phoenix in which the two talked for the first time in awhile. The meeting went very well as a few small apologies and some catching up on old times were needed.
Michael also had met up with Alice backstage when Alice played Houston in 1998. Click HERE to see pictures. Michael again then attended Alice's show on New Years Eve in Florida. See pictures HERE.
In 1998 Michael met other known rockers such as Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Sebastian Bach, Marky Ramone from the Ramones/the Intruders, Jesse Camp and Monster Magnet. Click HERE for a half dozen snapshots of Michael with Monster Magnet, thanks to Terry Svejda. Click HERE for photos of the boys and Marky Ramone together at Chiller Theatre.
Michael had took to the stage at the February 20, 1998 Sebastian Bach show at the Galaxy Club in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. The performance included good friend Richie Scarlet on lead guitar, Baz on vocals, Larry the Indian on bass and members of Pantera onstage also. They played School's Out... a song MB co-wrote, Richie played bass on at Area 51 and Billy Blues last fall, and Baz also sang on the Scream soundtrack album.
Michael was working with musicians from Houston who had formed "The Michael Bruce Group". The band debuted at Cardi's in Houston on Saturday, March 28, 1998 and The Outback Pub in Houston on Saturday, May 9, 1998. They also played many other clubs, mostly in the midwest. The band had included keyboardist John Glen (sometimes), who worked at the Area 51 show, and former members of the Alice Cooper tribute band that backed Alice imitator Scott Rowe (who played at the above mentioned fund raiser that both Alice and Michael attended, and the Cooper'sTown restaurant grand opening). Dave (AKA Vito) on guitar was let go first and they are toured for awhile as a three-piece band. Dave has since rejoined Scott Rowe. Drummer Troy Powell also went elsewhere - I hear it's another tribute band based out of the Chicago area.
Shortly after Piney Woodstock, where I got to join the boys onstage to sing along on School's Out, Michael and the band temporarily relocated to the Aurora, Illinois area, but Michael is now back in Houston, as well as spending time around Phildelphia.
Michael joined Neal Smith and Richie Scarlet for the Chiller Theatre event in Arlington, Virginia as well as the Halloween Chiller convention alongside Neal Smith, Dennis Dunaway, and Richie Scarlet. Click HERE for pictures!
Michael also appeared again at Chiller in New Jersey in May '98, as did Richie Scarlet, Cherie Currie (The Runaways) and Neal Smith. See pictures here.
Michael also appeared at the Dragon*Con 1999 convention in Atlanta on July 2nd. Michael again blew feathers all over the place.
Glen Buxton:
G.B. passed away at age 49 in the early morning hours of October 19, 1997 in Iowa after complications from pnuemonia. This was only seven days after he performed with Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, Richie Scarlet and keyboardist John Glenn at a small Houston club called Area 51. The show was eventually released on both VHS and audio CD.
The 1998 and 1999 Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend were both a smashing success. Nearly everyone who attended not only was very touched and happy to meet the Buxton family, but they also saw the unveiling of the memorial firsthand (98) and many got a chance to play music alongside their idols Michael Bruce and Neal Smith. There's 1998 digital camera pictures online here.
The 1999 annual GBMW here was held in Phoenix, Arizona on the weekend October 22-24.
Lonesome Roadie Productions videotaped some of the 1998 GBMW event and has professionally edited a memorial tape that was available for awhile for only $14.95 including shipping in the U.S.. Producer Paul Robertson has a web site at www.lonesomeroadie.com which has more information on ordering the G.B. tape. Note that the profits from the sales of the tape go to the memorial fund. Paul can also be ed at paulr@lonesomeroadie.com
Neal Smith:
Neal's solo album Platinum God, originally recorded in 1975 was finally released via his web site. Neal found two new tracks and added them with added guitar parts by Richie Scarlet.
Neal played drum tracks on several songs on the Bruce Cameron CD Midnight Daydream, released a short time before Bruce took his life on Oct. 15, 1999.
Neal has done some recent jamming with Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Ian Hunter and Richie Scarlet.
Neal attended the grand opening of the Cooper'stown restaurant in Phoenix on December 19, 1999 doing some jamming on classic ACG tunes along with former bandmates Alice Cooper and Michael Bruce. (See the Alice Cooper section above for details.)
Neal Smith was at the Glen Buxton Memorial Weekend in August, 1998. He received a rousing standing ovation on Friday night when he was in attendance during the showing of the Area 51 performance on videotape at Little Willies. Then on Saturday night, he took to the stage to play live with Michael Bruce, Skip Ladd, Mike Postel (Virgin), Mike Flynn (Buxton-Flynn) and others. I also spoke with Neal and Dennis Dunaway at Alice's Mohegan Sun casino concert. Neal enjoyed the show. He had then planned on spending his upcoming birthday on September 23, 1999 "attending a charity golf function all day, which I'm looking forward to". Neal is working in the real estate business in Connecticut and has a web site at www.nealsmith.com which includes purchasable music memorabilia. See the pictures from Connecticut HERE.
Neal joined Michael Bruce and Richie Scarlet for the Arlington, Virginia Chiller Theatre convention. Neal also attended the 1998 Halloween Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey and the 1999 KISS Expo in Hackensack, NJ. Click HERE for lots of pictures from both previous Chiller shows! Neal also signed autographs at the Chiller Theatre convention in New Jersey in May '99 and joined Michael Bruce on stage to play on the song Eighteen.
Neal again played with Michael Bruce at the CBGB's show in New York City on June 12 for one song - "School's Out". Neal also attended Michael's September show there.
Dennis Dunaway:
Dennis was a guest of the Chiller Theatre convention in October 2000 in New Jersey. If you are a subscriber to the ACG Mailing List, you can see a few photos from the convention in the files section there.
Just after Chiller, Dennis attended Alice's Y2K performance at Fox Woods Casino alongside former Deadringer bandmate and Blue Oyster Cult original member Joe Bouchard. The guys visited Alice on the tour bus shortly after the show.
Dennis appeared in New York City at a box set signing at Coconuts along with Alice and Neal. Dennis also came to the two 1999 Michael Bruce shows at CBGB in NYC.
Dennis recently had done some jamming with Michael Bruce, Neal Smith, Ian Hunter, and Richie Scarlet. It is unknown what, if anything, will come of any of these sessions.
I received a letter from Dennis Dunaway on April 20, 1998 in which he explained to me that his recent operation was successful and he is getting stronger daily. He reconfirmed this to me later on September 6th and November 1st, 1998, when I saw him again. He had been a little sick for awhile and diagnosed with Crohn's disease. We wish him the best! Neal Smith also told me in August that Dennis is better since the operation. Also, apparently he didn't make it to the GBMW in Clarion, Iowa because of some back pains. His condition has greatly improved ever since he had some surgery.
Dennis joined Neal Smith, Michael Bruce, and Richie Scarlet for the Halloween Chiller Theatre event in New Jersey. Click HERE for pictures! He also considered making it to the last New Jersey Chiller Theatre in May 1999, but didn't show. Maybe because it was raining on that Sunday.
Miscellaneous:
Can't get enough of Alice Cooper Group discussion? Well we've gone and created a new mailing list just for you then!
Click here to subscribe to "ACG" - The Alice Cooper Group Mailing List
The "Humanary Stew" Alice Cooper tribute album was released in February 1999. It features many well-known artists including Ronnie James Dio, Eric Singer, Don Dokken, Steve Jones, Rudy Sarzo, Roger Daltrey, Carmine Appice, Randy Castillo, Bob Kulick, Mike Inez, Eric Singer, Derek Sherinian, Paul Taylor, Billy Sheehan, Joe Elliot, Phil Collen, and Phil Soussan. Bob Kulick and Bruce Buillet will be the producers. For more info on and ordering this tribute CD, click here.
The movie The Faculty had two Alice Cooper cover songs on it's soundtrack CD also. The two Cooper cover songs are School's Out by Soul Asylum and I'm Eighteen by Creed. Click HERE to order the CD from CDNow.
"The Illustrated Collectors Guide to Alice Cooper" book by Dale Sherman hit the stores in June. The collectors guide type book has a lot of great references for the Alice Cooper collector. Dale previously wrote the KISS collectors reference books Black Diamond and Black Diamond II. You'll likely see some of my collectibles in the book.
Also Pioneer Entertainment has started releasing a series of classic rock concerts on DVD. The programs have been culled from the archives of MusikLaden, one of Germany's most popular live music television shows of the late 60's and 70's, formerly known as The Beat Club. Their volume two includes the Alice Cooper Group performing Under My Wheels.
And I also got an from Alice's sometimes guitarist Ryan Roxie who let me know www.dadspornomag.com is also now online
And last, but not least, Rockin' Reggie Vincent is developing a web site at www.rockinreggie.com, so check it out. Also look for a book by Reggie to come out this year.
And 1999 should also bring the release of an album collaboration of former Alice Cooper guitarists Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner.
Remember... You heard about it at Wonders in Aliceland!
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