Alice Cooper’s 7th Annual Christmas Pudding Concert

Alice Cooper’s 7th Annual Christmas Pudding Concert
a fund raiser for the Rock Teen Center
by LeeAnn Sharpe

It’s almost 1am and I just got home from the 7th Annual Christmas Pudding Concert by Alice Cooper. What a show! Alice calls all of his friends and they turn out for what has to be one of the best rock shows in Phoenix this year! Starting at 7:30pm it was over 4 hours of incredible jams. My hands are sore from clapping so much!

The finale with Alice Cooper & Band had the place hopping, but then when he brought out all of the performers to sing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, the crowd went wild.

Jordin Sparks, the 2007 American Idol Winner, and her band (two guitarists and back up singers) shared her hit “Tattoo” and a new song she wrote “Virginia is for Lovers” as well as the duet from her album, “No Air” she says will be her next single release.

CTA with Danny Seraphin & Marc Bonilla belted out all of the top hits from Chicago days. Danny’s drum solos were an example of how years of experience can out perform youthful exuberance. I remember hearing him years ago and he is so much more exciting now!

Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers rocked the joint with hit after hit. You can see why this Tempe band is the only independent band to have five consecutive top-10 albums on the Billboard Internet Sales Chart.

Flo & Eddie of The Turtles flooded the audience with memories of “Happy Together” and “She’d Rather Be with Me” and more. The generational gap was evident as the parents all knew the lyrics and the kids giggled at their parent’s enthusiasm. By the end they had the entire audience on their feet singing along.

Whiskey Falls provided al little country. "Proof is in the Pudding" Winners Brewed to Perfection and Shaun Patrick Moe performed with the hope that their future will follow the footsteps of former “Pudding” winner Jordin Sparks.

Rock Demarco "The World's Fastest Painter" demonstrated his talent and creating a work of art in minutes on stage. The painting was latter sold along with an autographed guitar for $13,000. Two other guitars sold for $8,000 each.

Destiny Dancers led by Cheryl Cooper opened the show with a variety of talented dancers showcasing their dance styles.

Videos were shown, as the stage was being reset for each act, highlighted past “Christmas Puddings” with each year raising more and more bucks for the Solid Rock Foundation. Last year Funds are slated for the Rock, a Teen Center. Groundbreaking is anticipated for the coming year at the present rate of fund acquisition. The website www.alicecoopersolidrock.com tells the entire story of how Solid Rock needs to raise 7.3 million for the 29,000 sq ft facility which will be located on the campus of Grand Canyon University at 33rd Avenue and Camelback. It will reach out to youth and teenagers in the surrounding community and throughout the whole valley. Panorama Hills Newspaper will have continuing articles about the Rock’s progress and how you can help with not only donations of cash and equipment, but mentoring skills as well.

Alice Cooper

Alice Cooper

by LeeAnn Sharpe

Alice Cooper’s classic image is one of horror and outrageous antics, the macabre perversion beyond anyone else. In fact, next to Halloween masks of Frankenstein, you can find the Alice Cooper mask resplendent with the trademark black eyeliner and wild black hair. None of it would have built a rock and roll dynasty lasting 40 years if there wasn’t a solid base of really good music. Alice Cooper’s music stands the test of time as rock classics as viable to today’s audiences as they were in 1969 when he started out.

At his recent Arizona State Fair Halloween concert a mother and daughter came out to enjoy the night together. “Alice Cooper was the first concert I went to when I was a teenager and now I’m taking my 15-year old daughter to her first concert to see him too,” says Betty excitedly. The crowd was heavily populated with older Alice Cooper fans, many with families in tow.

Alice Cooper’s portfolio of work is pretty remarkable with some 45 albums. The “Poison” video on YouTube has been viewed 836,992 times! “School’s Out” is still an anthem for every kid in the world on the last day of school. “Only Women Bleed”, “Welcome to my Nightmare”, “Love’s a Loaded Gun”, and “Eighteen,” are favorites the audience mentioned.

On stage Alice Cooper is more than just a rock singer. He becomes a total performer using stage props and characters telling a story through the music. His long legs and lean form carry him in costumes as varied as a white tuxedo or a black lycra jumpsuit cut to expose his front down to the nether lands. His most frequent costume in the past has been a red devil jumpsuit. This night he dons black pants decorated with a skeleton theme, trademark black top hat and a walking stick which he throws to the crowds several times to hysterical cheers.

The emotion and torment he performs are themes the audience can relate to and contribute to the cult like following his fans maintain through decades. His voice can be pretty and melodic when necessary, but more often it is jagged and cutting punctuated with screams and howls.

So how does this rocker take his show mainstream? Alice is in commercials for the Arizona Department of Transportation reminding Arizonans to renew their vehicle registration. More humorous was his Staples commercial where he’s buying school supplies for a petulant little girl who says, “I thought you said school’s out forever.” He responds, “No, the song says School’s out for summer”. Or there’s the Marriott commercial where he tells a guy mowing his lawn to take a vacation with his family so they won’t grow up to be weirdos. Hilarious! Calloway has a commercial where Cooper is a machinist. Of course golf is one of Cooper’s favorite pastimes.

You’ve become an American icon when you appear on the Muppets singing “Schools Out” with the Muppet characters in his trademark red devil jump suit.

A frequent participant in charity golf tournaments, Alice has lent his name to a number of charity projects. The biggest commitment is The Rock, a Christian youth center at the Grand Canyon University campus in west Phoenix. Chuck Savale, Executive Director of the Solid Rock Foundation says, “To date he has helped raise $2.5million.” They are working towards a goal of $7.25M. The 29,450-square- foot center would include sports facilities, a concert hall, recording studios and sound room, coffeehouse, computer lab, a rock-climbing wall, game room, dancing space, skateboard area and other amenities. They believe it can be the model for teen centers across the U.S.

He’s often said Alice is a character he plays as far removed from himself as he can get. That separation has allowed him to maintain a stable personal life. Married faithfully for 30 years and raising three kids his life seems pretty grounded. A tour takes him to the UK, Russia, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden in the coming weeks. But he will be home in time for the December 15th Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding, a night of comedy and music to raise money for The Rock Teen Center.

Alice Cooper has taken a path he started at 16-years old, followed the curves and turns, climbed the hills and grown in the process. He allowed his music and audiences to mature right along with him as he approaches 60. His humor and outrageousness along with compassion and brains have kept his fans and built a new younger base who pull out mom and dads vinyl and say, “Can I get this on MP3?”

For more photos and extended story visit www.azphm.com/alice.htm

Author: LeeAnn Sharpe is freelance writer/photographer in Glendale Arizona and can be reached at www.leeannsharpe.com or lasharpe@cox.net