Vincent Damon Furnier, aka Alice Cooper,
was born seventy-one years ago, on February 4, 1948; as well as one of
my favorite musicians, he is an American singer, performer and showman
extraordinaire!
photographer unknown
Cooper is known for his elaborate stage presentations and though not the originator, he is the most famous of the heavy metal, punk rock performers of the music form known as "Shock Rock."
Many of his performances feature chickens (link below), snakes, straight jackets, electrocutions and hangings; videos of performances on YouTube below. His first snake was named Kachina. She was the snake on the cover of the Killer album (links below). Neal Smith, his original drummer, gave it to him. A Kachina is a spirit being in the religious beliefs of the Pueblo people, Native American cultures located in the southwestern part of the United States.
According to Sick Things, UK (link below):
"Neal took care of it [Kachina], made it fat and sassy for Alice to use on stage at night. One night Neal asked me to go to the pet store at the Totem Department Store that used to be on 32nd street and Thomas in Phoenix. He wanted me to buy live white mice, Kachina's favorite, she wouldn't eat dead mice or brown mice, she liked them white and alive. When I told the sales girl what I wanted and what for she said, "I don't think I can sell them to you for that." Then I asked to speak to her manager he said "Our business is to sell them the mice, what they do with them after they are sold is their business." Well, the story has a happy ending for Kachina and Alice.
They sold me the mice. Kachina ate before the gig that night feeling fat and sassy, and Alice was spared for another show that night.
Neal said months later that they had to catch a plane and they couldn't find her. They looked all over, since she was nowhere to be found they had to leave thinking someone must have taken her. Shep got a phone call from the the Holiday Inn, evidently she had crawled up under the bed springs and was left in the room. The next person to get the room was Charley Pride, a black country singer popular at the time. He called room service because there was a snake in his room! LOL"
Viewfinder links:
Killer Vinyl LP
Killer (reel to reel tape)
Net links:
Rolling Stone ~ How Cooper’s Infamous Chicken Incident Really Happened
Sick Things, UK ~ The snakes
Spinditty ~ Things You May Not Know About Alice Cooper
The Telegraph ~ Cooper: "I lost a boa constrictor in a hotel"
YouTube links:
From The Inside (Live 1979)
1971 Studio Filming Ballad of D Fry (9 min., 31 sec.)
Happy birthday, you wild 'n crazy guy!
Styrous® ~ February 4, 2019
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