Written by Eddie Ferranti
ImageThings are really going great for us at HMR these days promoting mainly the singer/songwriter landscape of Houston and Austin. But it never hurts to venture into the bigger arenas and kick out the jams to keep our rockin’ roots rollin’. Rose & I did just that in the form of original shock rocker Alice Cooper.

I’ve been an Alice fan since day one way back when the “Killer” album came out in 1971. My bedroom was graced with posters and pics of him painted up with snakes and the like. Quite frankly my parents worried a tad about their son digging a dude who did songs about dead babies, going to hell, getting his head cut off, etc.- and sporting a woman’s name! HA!   

AC slid into our fave venue, Bayou Music Center in H-Town, and proceeded to show that at 67 he still can deliver the goods major. He is a class act and a consummate front man who always surrounds himself with killer talent to deliver his vast catalog of tunes. 

Drummer Glen Sobel is a beast masher, bass was held down by Chuck Garric, and ample guitar jams exploded from Ryan Roxie, Tommy Hendriken and the lovely Nita Strauss. 

“Hello Hurray” kicked it off and the joint really went off when he did the back to back gems “No More Mr.Nice Guy” and “Under My Wheels”. Drum intro on “Billion Dollar Babies” smoked the already “dungeonistic” (is that a word?!) feel of the stage which propelled AC to a higher level on “Lost in America” and “Hey Stoopid”, which veered into a four song tribute out of no where to dead legends of rock featuring tombstones ta boot!  “Break On Through” (Doors), followed by rowdy “Revolution” (Beatles), ultra sexy Strauss shredding on “Foxy Lady” (Jimi Hendrix) and concluding with Garric’s epic bass riffs on “My Generation” (The Who). Yikes!

ImageCooper’s gigs are more of a rock stage show if you will with the full gambit employed this night.  Giant coffee cup on “Caffeine”, playful bull whipping on “Go to Hell”, an electric “device” transforming him into a ten foot giant on “Feed My Frankenstein”, plus the obligatory straight jacket, demonic nurse (his wife!) and guillotine on “Ballad of Dwight Fry/Killer”!   

Alice just keeps it coming without banter directly to the audience other than tossing funny money, play swords and balloons a plenty throughout the show.  Cooper might be a little rough around the edges, but he still knows how his bread is buttered and that is rock the house and don’t give a rat’s ass what people think or say. 

The trio of “I’m Eighteen”, “Poison” and his biggest hit “School’s Out” sent the folks home satisfied and then some. Dude still has the charisma and know how to control the room big time. The blistering pace he kept up amazed me even after seeing him umpteen times over my life. All in all AC proved that good ole Rock ‘N’ Roll is still alive and well with no signs of slowing up. He said he was already planning his tour for 2015 and I’d recommend you get your ROCK on with him when he comes to your town…………..Peace and go see somebody playing LIVE music please!