STOP, LOOK and LISTEN!!! Alice Cooper at Aquinas High School, Southgate, Michigan (69-70ish)

My travels within the colourful land of creepy-crawly Lilliput were sonically interrupted by my neighbor and girlfriend Julie. “Mischa! Mischa!”

I looked up at her gleaming eyes, and with an ear-to-ear smile, I noticed she proudly held an album in her hands. “It's the new Alice Cooper and look, Mischa,” she exclaimed, “does not his thumb look like a penis?”

Funny, as I examined the cover—cool picture, nice spotlight, but so very black and white—quite the reverse of the neonistic, colourful image of the band my memory flashed on, when my boyfriend Mark took me and our friend Bob to witness the very first time the band Alice Cooper ever graced a stage in the Detroit area.

I glanced at the reddish-hued Easy Action laying upon the floor nearby, then scanned the brand new Love It To Death, and in a nanosecond my mind's eye, accompanied by the beautiful host of LSD, was spinning to the intensifying psychedelic trip, and began traveling back a short journey in time, in time, in time....

Mark and I were all abuzz. We had prepared well for the upcoming show at Southgate's Saint Thomas Aquinas High School. This was a Catholic region and Aquinas was the coolest venue for music in the entire downriver area. We had attended their music festivals for some time now, rocking to performers such as The Zombies, James Gang, Bob Seger and more. However, this night was entirely different. We sat in the theatre, in the third row of folding chairs, patiently awaiting the arrival of a uniquely-named band. The emcee had announced at the end of the last show we had attended that Alice Cooper would be here this evening, and our anticipation had been steadily climbing ever since.

“Mischa, they were kicked out of Los Angeles for being the worst act on the strip—they couldn't get any gigs!” exclaimed Mark. “Wow, how cool is that, to have to leave LA to get gigs!” God, this was going to be great, I thought, the band coming from all the way from California to play Detroit. Damn, were we ever excited! The stories and myths grew, reaffirming that this little-known band would be an ultra-cool act to see.

Our excitement was mounting, only to be jolted when the emcee appeared and made the following announcement: “The band's arrival has been delayed at Metro airport, but Alice Cooper will be here tonight.” First a hush, then murmurs, then disgruntlements were heard being well-expressed throughout the crowd of around 100 or so concert-goers.

Mark stomped his foot on the floor in displeasure. “I knew this night was too good to be true!”

“Let's give it some time,” I reassured him in a consoling manner. “We're already here and it's a long walk back home.” The crowd around us began to thin. The wait was long, very long, and our grass buzz was fading, but still we waited....

Then it happened—The coolest, most colourfully dressed guys I'd ever seen in my life took their places upon the stage. And yes, I had to really look, as I was expecting this band to be comprised of girls by virtue of their feminine name. Instead I saw guys with the longest hair I'd ever seen on dudes before. They looked and dressed more like groupies, like the girls I’d seen hanging around other bands.

They began their set with an instrumental, “Titanic Overture.” A clashing cacophony of notes ensued, screeching and squealing. Wow, this was great! Not only were these guys foxes—their magnetic presence, vibrant colors and sexual charisma made for some hot eye candy—but they could rock! Like electricity pulsating outward, the beat of their sound became waves of tingling, erotic vibrations flowing directly to the sexual pleasure zones of this girl’s body. Their movements were playfully serious, chaotic yet calculated, like colorful splatter-art spilling out over the stage. I was hypnotically enthralled. Yes, I thought, reveling in my own pleasure, this was well worth waiting for—so fantastically surreal.

My mind was at an apex. I flashed back to the future and my purchase of the album Pretties For You, so ecstatic that I had finally found a copy after a relentless search through multitudes of record stores. Mentally, I seemed to be wavering between the LSD of the moment and the high of Alice Cooper’s Aquinas High School performance. But as I flashed upon this concert again, I realized that I was back there, in the now, at the concert. This was some good acid, very good.... So time travel is real.

The band was assailing our senses with their musical barrage. As they began their second number, another figure emerged from behind the curtain and began crawling about the stage with a hammer. “Sun Arise, Sun-a-rise, Sun-a-rise...bringing back the warmth to the ground.” Blam, blam! He pounded the stage with the hammer. It was frightening, dark and seductive. He crept, cat-like, around the stage. Blam, blam! With every pounding strike the hammer made, this clamoring mixed with his distinctive vocals, echoing resoundingly throughout the hall. “Bringing back the warmth to the ground….” Blam, blam! This was just getting better and better!

There wasn't any letup in sight or sound, the band just kept playing song after song of crashing visual and audible treats. Sliding guitar rhythms and roaring leads combined with thunderous bass scales and pounding drum kicks. The stunning sounds and guttural vocals of the intro to “Return of the Spiders,” highlighted the vibe and showcased this divine ennui. “Stop, Look and Listen....”

This sonically vibrating attack had the band thrashing about wildly, giving the impression there were actually more than five people on stage. Such power in their movements, visually alive with every note that hit the air, accompanied the beauty of this glorious “easy action.” This was a band in their prime; this was the performance of a lifetime!

Each individual member continued this assault on my senses in strobe-light, Gatling gun succession. The flamboyant lead singer slowed his moves for “Mr. and Mrs. Demeanor,” and the tauntingly sexual “Refrigerator Heaven” was enticingly performed. With the graces of gazelles the band swayed as the vocalist sauntered across the stage. He could have very well been floating on air with his seemingly effortless near-levitation. Next, the guitar screeching of “Below Your Means” sliced through the air as if it was creating trails of heavenly musical havoc. I was firmly entranced by the excitement and style of these musicians, and then it happened...

Wild guitar reverberations and echoing feedback exploded throughout the room, the place was pulsating...weird and alive with fervor. Glorious musical lunacy was dripping from the walls with every second of every sound of “Still No Air,” and the intensity never abated, much to our wondrous delight.

Our eyes were moving with the rapidity of a strobe light on speed, trying to catch each and every band member’s flashing movements. The drummer was on a child’s high-chair, of all things, pounding away with calculated abandon. The bass player was on his back manically stamping his feet, all the while pounding out the bass lines. The lead and rhythm guitars both surfed out to the crowd, riding their axes as if on a psychedelic wave of total chaos. The two stopped one row in front of us as they ran scales to the tune of marvelous mayhem. It was so very much to take in, this splendid blur of passionate sound and movement.

Then it ended just as it began, like no other. We jumped up for a standing ovation along with perhaps 20 others; our insides, both body and soul, had been shaken to the core and we loved the thrill. Yes, there was booing from some unenlightened members of the crowd, but nothing could dampen our elation. The audience now numbered around 60 or so. As I looked about the theatre, I noticed the faces of others staring agape, completely stunned, not knowing what to make of it all. However, I was in a state of euphoria, for the excitement that this evening presented had filled my mind with a metamorphic vision—this style of music and performance were the coming evolution of rock and roll….

Meanwhile, back in the present moment, and wanting to keep this vibration of time-defying reality alive, I smiled at Julie and said, “Let's play Easy Action first, as a warm up to the new album.” Reflecting back my smile, Julie moved in to sit next to me. Our legs overlapping, she lit up a joint, and while exhaling, she passed it to me in total agreement.

“Stop, Look and Listen!!!” is an excerpt from The Incredible Adventures of Mischa
by Michele Saint Thomas.