Meet N Greet Stories!

[andyrew]

I'm going to be meeting Alice near the end of the month for a photo opp and hopefully get something signed!

What's Alice like when you first met him in a casual setting? I've heard a few stories that he's very down to earth and friendly.
And what kind of convo did you have? Would love to hear stories!

[Inmate]

I, sadly, haven't got to meet him yet. I've also heard that he's a really cool and down to earth guy! I'm seeing him live on November 3rd and I'm gonna try to get a VIP. Hopefully I do!

[darkmenace]

Saw Alice at a record store in the 80s in Cleveland. He was signing autographs during the Constrictor tour. I hated the Constrictor album but was glad to see he was making a comeback.

There was a long line at the store. Alice was inside with Kane Roberts. I wanted to have something to say about the new album so when I met him I said something like, "I really like Thrill My Gorilla," to which he replied, "Yeah, well you're the only one." It was an unusual reply but I thought he was trying to be funny or maybe humble.

[andyrew]

Wow that's a strange reply. Did he laugh or smirk when he said it?

[GNDM]

Ask him if he has a red jacket.

[wind_up_toy]

My favourite comments I've heard from him...

Alice - What's your name?
Woman - Alice!
Alice - Stupid name for a girl!

Alice - What's your name?
Woman - Mary (I think that's what she said)
Alice - My first girlfriend was called Mary.....








She's dead now!

[andyrew]

Haha I can picture Alice saying that.

What would be the ideal question to ask him? I can think of so many but I can't choose which 1 would be the best.

[danielleV]

i would have plenty of things to report as ihave met him 7 times..

[andyrew]

Wow...I would love to hear the stories Danielle!

[darkmenace]

He said it with a smile, I think he was trying to be funny but the idea of him making fun of his own song took me by surprise.

On a related note I used to go to a record store in Cleveland Heights that specialized in rare albums and imports. I have bought some of my most interesting Alice collectibles there.

One time around 1982 the store owner told me he visited with Alice who was in Cleveland (I can't remember why) and asked for autographs for three fans at the store of which I was one of them. He told Alice "I'd like three autographs for customers at my store that are big fans of yours. One is in an institution, another wants me to tell you he's going to kill Reagan for you, and the other one seems normal." (the last one was me!)

The autograph was on a half sheet of paper and reads: "To my loyal friend...Alice Cooper."

I thought it was a nice thing to say and probably reflected how much loyalty meant to him at the time (around 1982) when his album sales were falling and he was no longer in the news.

[tuneylune]

Met him at a convention in March 2009-found him very low key and polite. Bit of a drag waiting over two hours in the cold and I thought $30 per auto graph was a bit steep-maybe to keep the line moving?- so only had him sign KILLER, GOLF MONSTER, a ALONG CAME A SPIDER promo photo and THE LAST TEMPTATION. Remarked how I really liked TLT and considered it one of his best. He seemed pleased and told me how religious book stores carried it. Told him "My Golf Story" which he laughed at and he happily posed for a photo with me and one with my wife.
Enjoy your meeting-he really is a nice guy (as were the rest of the band that were at the con, especially Dennis Dunaway) and does appreciate his fans. Best advice I can give you is stay cool when you meet him and maybe comment on a personal LP favorite of yours or any horror film you like that he might also. Also remember other people are waiting, so don't be all day, tempting as it might be.
Let us know how it went!

[andyrew]

Thanks for the advice and sharing that story! I'm hoping it does smoothly with a few laughs! I'm also still deciding what he should sign. Maybe my welcome to my nightmare album and a poster

[Luney Tune]

I met Alice twice, first time was in 2005 in Oslo, Norway. I was staying at the same hotel and waited in the lobby for him to come down going to the show. Suddenly the elevator doors opened and there he was. While he was standing there signing things i said "Thank you Alice I have waited 30 years for this, and without looking at me he quickly answered "Not in the lobby I hope.

Next time was in Haugesund, Norway in 2009 when he signed my selfbuilt Alice Cooper tribute old school HD chopper. It was only me and him for 20 min talking about setlists, favorite Coop songs and so on. I have approx 400 pictures from that. Alice sitting on my bike etc. Great moment !! Met Calico and the rest of the band as well. It ended up as a big story in Norways biggest selling biker Magazine.
Last year I took the bike to USA and rode there for 6 weeks including a stop ar Cooperstown in Phoenix. Just missed Alice as he had been there just before we came.

[cherrypie]

Met him last Tues, Vip at Hanau.(and also twice in the hotel before the gig the previous night in Saarbrucken) He was charming as usual, and signed lots of stuff for everybody,, including a large beetle that the guy before me brought in!

I asked him what he did with all the stuff people give to him, paintings, drawings etc, and he said that he puts them up in Cooperstown. Got him to sign a drawing from a 13 year old fan who was standing behind me at the show - she was so happy!

Met him several times now, and he never ceases to be friendly. Even when I accidentally kissed him..............oops, dunno what came over me

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... =1&theater

[andyrew]

It's interesting that Alice seems to have a better attitude than most celebrities when meeting fans. Although I've met 2 hockey players a few years ago for an autograph, they weren't nearly as friendly as I hoped and the experience wasn't all that great. I'm sure this will be way better!

[AlongCameASpider27]

I've met the Master 4 times (with a 5th coming soon on Halloween Night) and he has always been total class.
The first time was a time Brian helped me meet him backstage in 2008. That is when I earned an actual nickname from Alice (one he still knows to this day...he may not know my real first name of Chris, but he knows my nickname). which is Skittles. A name under most circumstances I would grimace at being called but Alice calls me that...I'm totally cool with that...as it was a favorite candy of his, I would buy a lot of bags of it for him.

The second time was the next night when I was at a casino and happen to see him with Sheryl and Sonora Rose. I yelled out 'Alice' and he waved and said "Skittles!" Then he waved me over to walk with his family as they made their way from one side of the casino/hotel to the other. I got to talking to Sheryl and told her of a personal connection I have with her: that the friend she knew in high school, has a daughter I am close to at my place of work. Further, it was funny when Sheryl pointed that out to Alice, he laughed and thought of just how small a world it really is.

The third time was at the MonsterMania in 2009 when I got to talk to Alice and Sheryl and even filmed our conversation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZkiTd28Gd8

The last time was last year in my hometown of Louisville when I did the VIP treatment. I got to ask him about W2MN, if he was to play anything from RYFAY what would it be, asked him about the symbolism of I am Made of You, and how much I loved Something to remember me by.

Can't wait to add to that this Halloween...

[andyrew]

That's pretty epic! It was great you got so many questions in for him. I hope my Meet and Greet will be that long. I think i'll get him to sign my WTMN and W2MN vinyls and Golf Monster.

When you talked about W2MN with him, did you ask if he has given part 3 a thought for the future? I know W2MN is not a direct sequel to WTMN, but it would be great to see it in trilogy form, kinda like Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell trilogy. I can picture the background being a darker shade of grey/black with the old school WTMN cover art in the centre with spiders crawling everywhere. Almost like the alternative artwork that could have been used in W2MN. A great tile would be "Welcome To My Final Nightmar3"

I think that's one of the questions I'm going to ask him. I'm not expecting it anytime soon, but given a 5 year gap from W2MN, he can answer the question of whether Steven is really dead (In hell) or if it was a dream. Hopefully it was a dream and there is a conclusion in a part 3. If he is in hell again, then maybe ACG2H is in order, although I don't think that kind of album would work for this day and age. He got some criticism for Disco Bloodbath Bogey Fever, so I don't see him going all out with disco like in the majority of ACGTH.

[darkmenace]

Got another one although weirdly it's not so much an Alice story as a Renfield (Brian Nelson) one.

Alice was in Cleveland (around 2001) to visit his restaurant Cooperstown which has since closed. There was a Meet and Greet at the restaurant. I am an entrepreneur and I'd spoken with Brian by phone ahead of time about a possible business deal with Alice regarding licensing of some characters from Dragontown. I went to Cooperstown and got in line for Alice and Brian was sitting next to him. I finally got to Alice and mentioned the licensing idea and Brian said, "Let's not hold up the line, come here and speak with me." So I stopped talking with Alice and sat down and spoke with Brian for a few minutes before he had to get back to business also. We spoke again by phone at a later date. It was a business opportunity that didn't materialize, I can't remember why, but it was fun to pitch the idea even though it somehow got mixed in with a Meet and Greet with Alice!

[andyrew]

How long did you end up talking with Alice before being pulled aside by Brian? We're you satisfied by the meet and greet from the time you spoke to Alice?

[darkmenace]

I spoke with Alice for maybe 20 seconds but it was a bad time to try to talk business so it didn't bother me. I had spoken with him before, I'm not wild about meet and greet events because you don't really have time to talk just say a few things and move on.

I enjoyed speaking with Brian and like I said I wish we could have worked out a deal, more for the fun of it than making a lot of money. I also spoke with Calico by phone once for another licensing idea. She was on a movie set in Canada if I remember correctly.