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Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories
It's the era of Peace and Love. The mid-sixties. Mike, a typical college freshman attended classes and hung out in the Student Union with musicians Glen, Vince, and Dennis. He had the one thing they lacked in their quest for a vehicle to haul them and their equipment. They made him an offer to be their first roadie.
This is the story of Alice Cooper, the group that nearly never was, and Mike's adventures with them as they overcame all odds and grew from a cover band to a super group. Mike Allen, nicknamed Amp Boy by Vince, and the group lived and travelled together on the exhilarating, sometimes punishing road to the top. Their shared experiences molded them into a family.
Some of the adventures
•A catastrophic accident nearly ended it all. There was a band "What do we do now?" was the question. Alice said, "We don't know how to do anything else!" They had to find a solution.
•On a warm spring night in the Arizona desert, Neal Smith suffered a gunshot to his foot. He confessed to the police that he shot himself. But is that the way it happened?
•At their Topanga Canyon home, the band experimented with the occult holding a séance that made an everlasting impression on everyone who witnessed it - especially Jim Morrison of The Doors.
•Because of a chicken and a flare gun, the group achieved notorious worldwide attention at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival by putting on the most extreme visual show in the rock and roll world. Did Alice bite the head off the chicken and drink its blood? Was the chicken torn apart by the crowd and the remains thrown on stage? Was the stadium set afire by a flare gun?
•Cindy, sister of Neal Smith their drummer, became their costume designer and house mother, tagging along for the adventure as her love story with Dennis begins, and Mike clumsily pursued the girl of his dreams.
Together they had wild and fun experiences, and hung out with Jim Morrison, David Crosby, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and other famous and soon to be famous rock stars. They found love, had all too-frequent police encounters, and discovered theatrical talents that would define them and shock the world.
These are stories of friendship and family, hardship and near disaster, failure and success, laughter and pain, the mundane to the ridiculous-- living the rock and roll life.
Included are close to 100 photographs, nearly 70 unpublished, from the early years of the group as they evolved from The Earwigs, The Spiders, The Nazz and finally to Alice Cooper.
This is the story of Alice Cooper, the group that nearly never was, and Mike's adventures with them as they overcame all odds and grew from a cover band to a super group. Mike Allen, nicknamed Amp Boy by Vince, and the group lived and travelled together on the exhilarating, sometimes punishing road to the top. Their shared experiences molded them into a family.
Some of the adventures
•A catastrophic accident nearly ended it all. There was a band "What do we do now?" was the question. Alice said, "We don't know how to do anything else!" They had to find a solution.
•On a warm spring night in the Arizona desert, Neal Smith suffered a gunshot to his foot. He confessed to the police that he shot himself. But is that the way it happened?
•At their Topanga Canyon home, the band experimented with the occult holding a séance that made an everlasting impression on everyone who witnessed it - especially Jim Morrison of The Doors.
•Because of a chicken and a flare gun, the group achieved notorious worldwide attention at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival by putting on the most extreme visual show in the rock and roll world. Did Alice bite the head off the chicken and drink its blood? Was the chicken torn apart by the crowd and the remains thrown on stage? Was the stadium set afire by a flare gun?
•Cindy, sister of Neal Smith their drummer, became their costume designer and house mother, tagging along for the adventure as her love story with Dennis begins, and Mike clumsily pursued the girl of his dreams.
Together they had wild and fun experiences, and hung out with Jim Morrison, David Crosby, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and other famous and soon to be famous rock stars. They found love, had all too-frequent police encounters, and discovered theatrical talents that would define them and shock the world.
These are stories of friendship and family, hardship and near disaster, failure and success, laughter and pain, the mundane to the ridiculous-- living the rock and roll life.
Included are close to 100 photographs, nearly 70 unpublished, from the early years of the group as they evolved from The Earwigs, The Spiders, The Nazz and finally to Alice Cooper.
- GenresMusic
435 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 1, 2023
4 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 26, 2023
An engaging book
Michael Allen has come across a compelling book with a variety of stories; one is better than the other. “Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories” is a truly entertaining novel that includes the adventures of family, friends and acquaintances.
It's set in the mid-sixties where love and peace were in vogue. People enjoyed life differently. Here, Alice Cooper joins Mike together with his friends; they embark on different adventures that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Along the pages, there are photographs that accompany these people´s journey.
It's an engaging read because it’s written as if it were a journal. The moment I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Each tale deals with themes that are common when people travel and I felt identified with some of them. In short, this is a well-written book highly recommended.
Michael Allen has come across a compelling book with a variety of stories; one is better than the other. “Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories” is a truly entertaining novel that includes the adventures of family, friends and acquaintances.
It's set in the mid-sixties where love and peace were in vogue. People enjoyed life differently. Here, Alice Cooper joins Mike together with his friends; they embark on different adventures that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Along the pages, there are photographs that accompany these people´s journey.
It's an engaging read because it’s written as if it were a journal. The moment I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Each tale deals with themes that are common when people travel and I felt identified with some of them. In short, this is a well-written book highly recommended.
June 17, 2023
Intressant och trevligt skriven bok, nyktert framställd med lite nätt humor, bandets första fem år innan berömmelsen men bland annat inklusive den berömda kycklingincidenten. Påminde lite om Dennis Dunaways bok vilken också rekommenderas starkt.
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September 30, 2024Vive la France!
I want to thank Patrick Brzezinski for sending me a review of my book by the French magazine Rock&Folk the July issue. Not to worry he had it translated into English.
Review from French a magazine called “Rock&Folk”
Alice's Roadie
The history of rock is often most interesting when told by its little hands. In other words, the people who were really there, who saw it all, but whose names have been lost to those of the musicians and producers, engraved in the marble of the record sleeves. Like Michael Bruce before him, Dennis Dunaway has produced a highly commendable autobiography, a pretext for evoking the beginnings of the band that made them famous.
"Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories” (Manhattan Book Group), by roadie Michael Allen, adds a few grains of salt to the saga's beginnings.
Prompted to collect his memoirs by fans, Allen is a modest fellow who has long doubted they could be of any interest. In truth, his book is a delight, favoring facts over gossip, while reminding us that, alongside the music, the rock we love has always been one hell of a human adventure.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say mine is the only book out there about a rock and roll band that was called a “delight.” Also my hands are quite large.
Thanks again Patrick
I want to thank Patrick Brzezinski for sending me a review of my book by the French magazine Rock&Folk the July issue. Not to worry he had it translated into English.
Review from French a magazine called “Rock&Folk”
Alice's Roadie
The history of rock is often most interesting when told by its little hands. In other words, the people who were really there, who saw it all, but whose names have been lost to those of the musicians and producers, engraved in the marble of the record sleeves. Like Michael Bruce before him, Dennis Dunaway has produced a highly commendable autobiography, a pretext for evoking the beginnings of the band that made them famous.
"Living and Touring with Alice Cooper and Other Stories” (Manhattan Book Group), by roadie Michael Allen, adds a few grains of salt to the saga's beginnings.
Prompted to collect his memoirs by fans, Allen is a modest fellow who has long doubted they could be of any interest. In truth, his book is a delight, favoring facts over gossip, while reminding us that, alongside the music, the rock we love has always been one hell of a human adventure.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say mine is the only book out there about a rock and roll band that was called a “delight.” Also my hands are quite large.
Thanks again Patrick
October 25, 2025
Very underwhelming for a rock biography. Almost nothing about the records. I guess that makes sense since he wasn’t in the band, but as essentially an honorary member, I was just expecting more interesting stories.
November 2, 2025
A very good read!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews