I Want to Be Alice Cooper When I Grow Up
If you like rock music and love golf, why wouldn't you want to be Alice Cooper?
When he's not busy entertaining his legions of longtime "shock rock" devotees by night - like he will next month here in North Myrtle Beach at the House of Blues, with such classics as "School's Out", "Feed My Frankenstein" and "Poison" - you'll more than likely find him on the golf course by day.
As Cooper details in his new book, Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: A Rock 'n Roller's 12 Steps to Becoming a Golf Addict, the game became an obsession for Vincent Furnier (Cooper's birth name) in the early 1980's as his salvation from the ravages of alcoholism. And it's been an obsession ever since: he still plays six days a week in and around the Phoenix area, sports a 2 handicap and is one of the best players on the celebrity and pro-am golf circuits.
Cooper's really a renaissance man of sorts. When he's not onstage or on the links, he keeps busy with his family and faith (Cooper's a born-again Christian); does the occasional acting gig (like "Wayne's World" on the big screen, and "Monk" on the small screen); runs a popular sports/rock 'n roll restaurant in Phoenix (Alice Cooper'stown, featuring servers in full Alice make-up and two-foot-long hot dogs to choke a horse); and hosts an internationally syndicated radio show,"Nights with Alice Cooper".
It's fascinating to see how Cooper distinguishes what he sees as his three personas: the former "drinking Alice," the current "sober Alice," and the offstage Vincent Furnier. To hear him tell the CBC in this brief interview, Vincent loves golf, but Alice really hates it. Huh?
Despite the fact he'll celebrate his 60th birthday in 2008, don't expect Alice Cooper to slow down any time soon. As he told Andrew Denton in a 2005 interview, "I look at Mick Jagger and they're on an 18-month tour and he's six years older than me so I figure, when he retires, I have six more years.
"I will not let him beat me when it comes to longevity."
Guy’s been at it for four decades now. God bless him.