News, blues, etc.

Here's what Alice Cooper had to say about performing with the Rock School All-Stars on the Sony Music Forum Board

"ALICE COOPER, BILLY IDOL & OTHERS RECAST HITS FOR 'ROCK SCHOOL' SOUNDTRACK

Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and members of Heart, Deep Purple, and Yes join forces with aspiring rock-and-rollers for the soundtrack to the upcoming documentary Rock School. The film, which is due out early this summer, traces the success of Paul Green's School Of Rock Music, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1999 and inspired the Jack Black movie School Of Rock. The Rock School soundtrack, which will be released on May 31st, teams established stars with Green's students for versions of their hits. Green's corps also perform three songs by themselves.

Cooper recorded his hit "School's Out" with the kids, and he told us that they blew him away: "When I got there, they were playing (King Crimson's) '21st Century Schizoid Man' -- and they were 12! My band can't play '21st Century Schizoid Man'! (laughs) So they're all little geniuses, and great kids, too."

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Err...the kids aren't 12 years old, I'd say the median age is 16, but yeah, Alice baby, you're right - they are geniuses. And they were taught by a genius, too.
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So my son has the kind of weekend coming up for which he lives.
Friday night: He has a gig with his band Flamingo down in Old City;
Saturday afternoon: He has a gig at BB King's in NYC with kids from the Paul Green School of Rock doing an encore performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. Hey, if you are in the New York area, you've got to catch this show. I was its staunchest big mouth objector - I hated the idea of the show, the music, the premise...and then I go to see it and my jaw fucking dropped to the ground. This production is better than anything you'll ever see on Broadway or even at a usual rock concert. Trust me on this. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. and BB Kings is right on 42nd Street.
Sunday: He gets to hang out with his old pals Napoleon Murphy Brock and Ike Willis when they perform with Project Object at the World Cafe Live at 8:30 p.m. Last time Project Object played Philly, Eric joined them on a song and got a warm introduction from Ike and Napi...so who knows...it could happen again...I dunno, it's enough to make me leave my house to go check out in any event.
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So how lucky am I. Newmarket Films together with Paul Green are sponsoring a little west coast mini tour in support of the movie's premier and I get to go to Los Angeles from May 23-25 to see a private screening and then watch a performance by the kids. This isn't just any performance. It reunites Rock School graduates Louie Graff and Teddi Tarnoff and Julie Slick with Rock School All-Stars Eric Slick, C.J. Tywoniak, Madison Flego, Larry Allen, and Dom Milandro. Since these are the kids in the movie, it's awesome that they are getting together one final time (heh...I don't believe that for one minute...but that could be my wishful thinking) to blow out the L.A. crowd. I can't wait! There's a lot more I could say about this trip such as give some awesome, exciting details but I'm going to wait until it's closer to May 23 because I don't want to jinx anything.
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In other news, I leave next Wednesday for the RT Convention in St. Louis. I wish I could say this excited me but I'm more scared than anything. On the plus side, my book should finally be in print and I'll have something to autograph as opposed to an ebook on a computer screen; on the minus side, I'm not a romance writer and am not exactly gregarious when in situations where I'm socially uncomfortable. Okay, I'm always socially uncomfortable, but I can hide it with vast quantities of alcohol. However, this would probably not be a good idea (getting drunk) under the circumstances. Oy. It also means I miss the New England mini-tour with the Rock School All-Stars...Baltimore, MD April 29, Boston April 30, and Burlington, Vermont May 1. But the Newmarket Films event in Los Angeles in late May should more than make up for that, huh.
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Finally, yeah, yeah, I have the blues. Spring fever, and my house needs all of these repairs for which I have neither the time nor inclination. Not to mention the fact that I'm terrified of what I'm going to find out...like, yesterday I heard from a roofer that my roof "is a disaster". I'm still waiting for him to call me back with the estimate. It's not the money that bothers me -- I just don't want to have to deal with mundane every day shit....all I want to do is write all day, go see great live music at night, and continually stuff my face with awesome food and alcohol. In other words, I want to be a child, not an adult. Though there are some people who probably are of the opinion I act like a child and should grow up already, but well, who the fuck cares what they think.