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Rock 'N' Roll Headcase
When Alice Cooper's head starts telling you what to do, you probably shouldn't listen. Chaino Durante did. And this is his story.
Chaino Durante works at the worst fast food restaurant ever. He has the worst job in this fast food restaurant. And the worst life he possibly can. When he discovers a mysterious bag in the fryer, he takes it home. The bag contains the head of rock and roll icon Alice Cooper. This is unfortunate. What's more unfortunate is that Chaino gets the gun he's going to use to rob his workplace stuck in the head and the head stuck on his hand. A new weapon is formed. A weapon that lets Chaino rob his workplace and subvert the order of the world around him. A weapon that blasts holes in reality itself, which does not come without consequence. A no holds barred psychedelic cartoon in the tradition of Bill Plympton and Ralph Bakshi, with Pink Floyd's The Wall thrown in for good measure, Rock'n'Roll Headcase explores the ins and outs of expanding consciousness with a madness that never lets up.
Chaino Durante works at the worst fast food restaurant ever. He has the worst job in this fast food restaurant. And the worst life he possibly can. When he discovers a mysterious bag in the fryer, he takes it home. The bag contains the head of rock and roll icon Alice Cooper. This is unfortunate. What's more unfortunate is that Chaino gets the gun he's going to use to rob his workplace stuck in the head and the head stuck on his hand. A new weapon is formed. A weapon that lets Chaino rob his workplace and subvert the order of the world around him. A weapon that blasts holes in reality itself, which does not come without consequence. A no holds barred psychedelic cartoon in the tradition of Bill Plympton and Ralph Bakshi, with Pink Floyd's The Wall thrown in for good measure, Rock'n'Roll Headcase explores the ins and outs of expanding consciousness with a madness that never lets up.
- GenresBizarro Fiction
88 pages, Paperback
Published October 5, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 3, 2015
When Chaino Durante finds Alice Cooper's head in the bottom of a fryer, wrapped in a trash bag, he has no idea of the turn his life is to come. For Alice Cooper's head becomes fused with his hand and becomes a very strange weapon. And then things start to get strange...
The best thing about the New Bizarro Author series is how different all the books are from one another. Lee Widener's Rock N Roll Head Case takes the weirdness in a whole other direction.
You don't run across a whole lot of books where the talking severed head of a rock and roll legend serves as a weapon and isn't even the strangest part of the story. Rock N Roll Head Case is such a book. It also features Andre the Giant, Charles Manson, and a man with an eyeball for a head. Interested yet?
You should be. This is one fun, crazy, crazy-fun book. Chaino goes on a rampage with Alice Cooper as his spirit guide and an eyeball for a head, and remakes the world. What's not to like?
Rock N Roll Head Case is a very cool short book. Three out of five stars.
The 2015 New Bizarro Authors homepage
The best thing about the New Bizarro Author series is how different all the books are from one another. Lee Widener's Rock N Roll Head Case takes the weirdness in a whole other direction.
You don't run across a whole lot of books where the talking severed head of a rock and roll legend serves as a weapon and isn't even the strangest part of the story. Rock N Roll Head Case is such a book. It also features Andre the Giant, Charles Manson, and a man with an eyeball for a head. Interested yet?
You should be. This is one fun, crazy, crazy-fun book. Chaino goes on a rampage with Alice Cooper as his spirit guide and an eyeball for a head, and remakes the world. What's not to like?
Rock N Roll Head Case is a very cool short book. Three out of five stars.
The 2015 New Bizarro Authors homepage
October 8, 2016
An effortless read (seriously, I started it about 2 hours ago, stopping to eat dinner in the middle, and now I'm done!) and certainly one of the most BIZARRO books to ever claw its way into my brain! Lee Widener isn't concerned with things like reality. In Rock N Roll Headcase, reality is but putty for the author to mold - and to sometimes torture his protagonist with. A book SO real, it's SURreal.
Through a series of escalating peculiarities, Chaino Durante and his sidekick, Alice Cooper's severed head, learn about the world that exists to the left of this world, where possibilities are endless, and where a down-and-out loser like Chaino can start to realize the only thing that's been holding him back is himself. Yes, this is a book about the indomitable human spirit, and even though there are COPIOUS amounts of dead bodies that lie in Chaino and Cooper's wake, the book leaves a warm taste behind. It's about believing in yourself, even if everything else is unbelievable.
Through a series of escalating peculiarities, Chaino Durante and his sidekick, Alice Cooper's severed head, learn about the world that exists to the left of this world, where possibilities are endless, and where a down-and-out loser like Chaino can start to realize the only thing that's been holding him back is himself. Yes, this is a book about the indomitable human spirit, and even though there are COPIOUS amounts of dead bodies that lie in Chaino and Cooper's wake, the book leaves a warm taste behind. It's about believing in yourself, even if everything else is unbelievable.
July 27, 2016
I love the ideas this book is carrying: how can art elevate you pass an oppressive life and a rigged system. Art is meant to inspire and help you create a new life for yourself and it's exactly what Alice Cooper's head does to fast food worker Chaino Durante's life. It helps him remake the world and become a legend. ROCK N' ROLL HEADCASE is a lot of fun, the way midnight cartoons that aired on HBO were during my youth. Will review in length on www.deadendfollies.com next week! In the meantime, pick it up!
February 18, 2016
The disembodied head of Alice Cooper guides a young dude on a spiritual journey. Wow, I've never read anything like this before! Please welcome the metaphysical Bizarro revolution! When I was younger, this is kind of what I imagined Kerouac and the beat writers to be like, but I tried to read that stuff and it was so boring. Yuck! This, my friends, is not boring. Not at all! It is very philosophical and very fun at the same time. There will probably be many comments like "Dude, this guy must be tripping", or some other nonsense. Drugs are not needed to enjoy the wonderful imagination present in Rock 'N' Roll Headcase.
February 27, 2016
What starts out as a pretty ordinary premise (for a bizarro story) - a loser finds Alice Cooper's head in a bag - quickly becomes less and less connected with reality. It runs the risk of being weird for weird's sake, but stays grounded in the main character's arc, and never dwells on any one spectacle for too long enough to wear out its welcome. I found it hard to put down, and people who are willing to turn off the rational parts of their brains and enjoy the ride will dig it as much as I did.
August 9, 2016
The main thing that kept me from loving this book was that almost everything was told, instead of shown. Moreover, there were a lot of textual errors, which I found distracting. With that said, it's a wild little book that will keep surprising you from start to finish. And while the dialogue felt forced at times, there are many amazing philosophical (and inspiring) moments within the characters' words. Overall, and especially if you're familiar with the NBAS and bizarro, this novella is worth checking out. It just wasn't the book for me.
September 2, 2018
In the end, whether you’ll enjoy Rock ‘N’ Roll Headcase depends on how much you can tolerate 60s-70s style weirdness. If you’re the type who finds the idea of spending an afternoon queuing up some of The 13th Floor Elevators and reading some trippy-ass shit appealing, then this book is perfect for you.
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October 11, 2020
An acid-trip fever-dream, if I knew what acid was like. WOW. Absurd, gory, hilarious—all in one sitting. There’s even socio-political commentary! Perfect timing :)
February 18, 2016
It's Like an Adult Swim Epic Cartoon You Just Can't Unread!
ROCK N ROLL HEAD CASE is an action-packed, fun-filled story the whole family can enjoy!
Haha! No. It’s not. But it IS a damned good Bizarro novella with a ton of hidden wonder, not too surprising considering the author is none other than Lee “The Neverendingwonder” Widener. Think of the Adult Swim cartoon, The Regular Show, but under a Takashe Miike, Ichi The Killer-style production. The story is classic Bizarro, plenty of dreamscape style weirdness with a touch of the old ultra-violence and gore, yet remarkable sophistication that can only come from life experience. The best example of that last is in the title and theme: Alice Cooper’s head. Most readers are too young to remember, but this was the Godfather of Shock Rock’s signature card. He carried a severed head around and tongue kissed the thing as part of his live performance. Hats off to Mr. Widener! Well played!
Throughout the first third, there are plenty of hidden cameos of Alice Cooper lyrics, and part of the fun was spotting them. But as the initial brouhaha becomes more and more twisted, ROCK N ROLL HEAD CASE turns into a whip-snap rollercoaster ride stretching to epic proportions, with flying pirate ships and giants. The scariest, however, is Mr. Widener’s ability to home in on the signs of the times and incorporate them into his stories. In this case, it’s the political state of affairs of the U.S… yet he wrote this a year before Donald Trump became a political icon.
Overall, the story is fantastic and the writing holds the direct and deliberate voice I’ve come to look forward to with Mr. Widener’s work. A few copy edit errors aside, this is a perfect example of classic Bizarro and well worth the read for us lost grownups who prefer to read our Saturday morning cartoons with gratuitous violence and necrophilia. Excellent choice!
ROCK N ROLL HEAD CASE is an action-packed, fun-filled story the whole family can enjoy!
Haha! No. It’s not. But it IS a damned good Bizarro novella with a ton of hidden wonder, not too surprising considering the author is none other than Lee “The Neverendingwonder” Widener. Think of the Adult Swim cartoon, The Regular Show, but under a Takashe Miike, Ichi The Killer-style production. The story is classic Bizarro, plenty of dreamscape style weirdness with a touch of the old ultra-violence and gore, yet remarkable sophistication that can only come from life experience. The best example of that last is in the title and theme: Alice Cooper’s head. Most readers are too young to remember, but this was the Godfather of Shock Rock’s signature card. He carried a severed head around and tongue kissed the thing as part of his live performance. Hats off to Mr. Widener! Well played!
Throughout the first third, there are plenty of hidden cameos of Alice Cooper lyrics, and part of the fun was spotting them. But as the initial brouhaha becomes more and more twisted, ROCK N ROLL HEAD CASE turns into a whip-snap rollercoaster ride stretching to epic proportions, with flying pirate ships and giants. The scariest, however, is Mr. Widener’s ability to home in on the signs of the times and incorporate them into his stories. In this case, it’s the political state of affairs of the U.S… yet he wrote this a year before Donald Trump became a political icon.
Overall, the story is fantastic and the writing holds the direct and deliberate voice I’ve come to look forward to with Mr. Widener’s work. A few copy edit errors aside, this is a perfect example of classic Bizarro and well worth the read for us lost grownups who prefer to read our Saturday morning cartoons with gratuitous violence and necrophilia. Excellent choice!
February 23, 2016
Rock 'n' Roll Head Case by Lee Widener
I'm going to make a confession at the beginning of this review – I totally underestimated this book. It wasn't in my top 5 of must reads. The idea seemed a little wild, a little disjointed – just not my style of bizarro. Dear reader, I was wrong. Dead wrong. I should know better by now, that all bizarro is my kind of bizarro.
Lee Widener's Rock 'n' Roll Head Case is a fun smashing together of a crazed road trip movie and deeply disturbing LSD flashbacks. It's something that Quentin Tarantino would dream up - if he were deranged, well more deranged than he currently is. Or more accurately, it's like a Hunter S. Thompson freak out.
Our hero Chaino Durante, is a two bit loser, who finds the severed head of Alice Cooper and ends up with it stuck on his right hand, forming a weapon. Chaino then uses this weapon to rob his place of work, runs from the cops, and endures hijinks and calamity while listening to the advise of Alice Cooper. On the surface, it's a simple road movie. We've all seen them. True Romance, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you know the drill.
But, scratch a little closer, dear reader, and you'll find that that is only a veneer. There's a beating heart below. There's a philosophical standpoint that Lee wants you to acknowledge. It's wisdom boiled down from the 60's flower children and brought to you via a sequence of dreamlike vignettes.
Some readers may struggle with this, some may crave for a more coherent story, Lee's response: “Life doesn't make sense, better get used to that!”
So, strap yourselves in, my precious little ones, let old uncle Lee tell you a story. It's a story of failure and redemption, of violence and peace, of the truth behind the facade of this dimension we live in. It's the story of Alice Cooper's f***ing head!
I'm going to make a confession at the beginning of this review – I totally underestimated this book. It wasn't in my top 5 of must reads. The idea seemed a little wild, a little disjointed – just not my style of bizarro. Dear reader, I was wrong. Dead wrong. I should know better by now, that all bizarro is my kind of bizarro.
Lee Widener's Rock 'n' Roll Head Case is a fun smashing together of a crazed road trip movie and deeply disturbing LSD flashbacks. It's something that Quentin Tarantino would dream up - if he were deranged, well more deranged than he currently is. Or more accurately, it's like a Hunter S. Thompson freak out.
Our hero Chaino Durante, is a two bit loser, who finds the severed head of Alice Cooper and ends up with it stuck on his right hand, forming a weapon. Chaino then uses this weapon to rob his place of work, runs from the cops, and endures hijinks and calamity while listening to the advise of Alice Cooper. On the surface, it's a simple road movie. We've all seen them. True Romance, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, you know the drill.
But, scratch a little closer, dear reader, and you'll find that that is only a veneer. There's a beating heart below. There's a philosophical standpoint that Lee wants you to acknowledge. It's wisdom boiled down from the 60's flower children and brought to you via a sequence of dreamlike vignettes.
Some readers may struggle with this, some may crave for a more coherent story, Lee's response: “Life doesn't make sense, better get used to that!”
So, strap yourselves in, my precious little ones, let old uncle Lee tell you a story. It's a story of failure and redemption, of violence and peace, of the truth behind the facade of this dimension we live in. It's the story of Alice Cooper's f***ing head!
June 14, 2016
Hijinks abound in Lee Widener's 'Rock N Roll Headcase' - a bizarro horror romp through psychedelica, heavy metal, pop culture, and humor.
Widener is not a stylist; the prose is straight and declarative, often letting the author state exactly what the main character, Chaino Durante, is seeing, feeling, and thinking. Nuance and inference is thrown by the wayside as Widener gleefully narrates Chaino's traipse through a bizarre, hallucinogenic world full of giants, sentient Fender amplifiers, witches, and politicians comprised of various body parts. Jeff Goldblum's lips, for example, play a solid role during the novel's climax.
Rock N Roll Headcase is a short, funny, less-than-frightening trip through a world where Alice Cooper's disembodied head shoots flames and spider's from its mouth, people sprout giant eyeballs where their heads should be, and sundry other visual and philosophical gags. Charles Manson, Andre the Giant, even Donals Trump (or at least, his hair) make appearances along the way, providing a generous dash of humor along with some quieter, more introspective moments dealing with self-doubt and discovery. These moments are short-lived, however, and it's right back to lazer-blasting eyes, cars in the shape of giant skulls (rock and rolllll!), and even weirder.
A great quick read, for fans of bizarro, horror, and especially satire. Recommended!
See the full review at www.indiehorrorbookreviews.com
Widener is not a stylist; the prose is straight and declarative, often letting the author state exactly what the main character, Chaino Durante, is seeing, feeling, and thinking. Nuance and inference is thrown by the wayside as Widener gleefully narrates Chaino's traipse through a bizarre, hallucinogenic world full of giants, sentient Fender amplifiers, witches, and politicians comprised of various body parts. Jeff Goldblum's lips, for example, play a solid role during the novel's climax.
Rock N Roll Headcase is a short, funny, less-than-frightening trip through a world where Alice Cooper's disembodied head shoots flames and spider's from its mouth, people sprout giant eyeballs where their heads should be, and sundry other visual and philosophical gags. Charles Manson, Andre the Giant, even Donals Trump (or at least, his hair) make appearances along the way, providing a generous dash of humor along with some quieter, more introspective moments dealing with self-doubt and discovery. These moments are short-lived, however, and it's right back to lazer-blasting eyes, cars in the shape of giant skulls (rock and rolllll!), and even weirder.
A great quick read, for fans of bizarro, horror, and especially satire. Recommended!
See the full review at www.indiehorrorbookreviews.com
June 30, 2016
Wow!
I took a while to read this book because I just didn't think it would be up my alley, as I don't really know anything about Alice Cooper and my taste in bizarro is usually pretty dark. However, I was completely and utterly wrong. I loved this book. Loved it. There were tons of fun jokes and references, and even though I probably didn't get half of them, it didn't matter. The prose is clean and straightforward, the pacing is great, and its just perfect bizarro to me. The whole trip was a very surrealist, alice in wonderland feel for me, but with lots of unexpected weirdness and strange creatures. But it doesn't just go weird for the sake of weird, and all the threads Lee starts are tied up in the end. Not only that, but there is a pulsing undercurrent of meaning to the story and a lot of interesting themes about reality, time, dimension, etc are brought up. I loved it. Read it. Do. Its fun as heck and weird and great.
I took a while to read this book because I just didn't think it would be up my alley, as I don't really know anything about Alice Cooper and my taste in bizarro is usually pretty dark. However, I was completely and utterly wrong. I loved this book. Loved it. There were tons of fun jokes and references, and even though I probably didn't get half of them, it didn't matter. The prose is clean and straightforward, the pacing is great, and its just perfect bizarro to me. The whole trip was a very surrealist, alice in wonderland feel for me, but with lots of unexpected weirdness and strange creatures. But it doesn't just go weird for the sake of weird, and all the threads Lee starts are tied up in the end. Not only that, but there is a pulsing undercurrent of meaning to the story and a lot of interesting themes about reality, time, dimension, etc are brought up. I loved it. Read it. Do. Its fun as heck and weird and great.
June 16, 2020
I had the pleasure of getting this novella from the author in exchange for an honest review. When I received the request, I was prepared to pass, but when I read the synopsis I knew that I could not pass up the opportunity.
The opening scene is our hero, Chaino Durante is working a dead end job at the Nuclear Burger when he finds something in a bag at the bottom of the deep fryer he is cleaning. The bag holds the head of Alice Cooper. From there, the novel turns into a road trip, at first with the purpose of running from the police and later with a purpose. They run into many different characters along the way, some real people, some fictitious, some dead, some alive. The truth is that time and life are flexible throughout Widener’s novella, and this makes for a story where absolutely anything can happen.
If anyone were to ask me what the Bizarro genre is all about, I could give them Rock ‘N’ Roll Headcase and one of the more strange examples. It has all of the elements that I would say sum up a great deal of my favorite parts of the genre. A celebrity as part of the main characters, a great deal of grisly, oddball deaths, a fluid plot, and of course existential thought. The book is one of the more absurd examples, but it is also short, moves fast, and is filled with humor and gore. There cannot be enough of these books for us to read. Rock 'N' Roll Headcase is a wonderful example. It is really a shame that it did not get the readership it deserved when Eraserhead Press initially released it in 2015.
I love that Alice Cooper is a character in this novel. I have been listening to him since I was a teenager, and i think that if anyone can be in any bizarro novel, it could be him. I would love to see more stories with him, maybe make an Alice Cooper subgenre. In this story, he is the voice of advice, not always sound, not always wrong, but advice nonetheless. I like him as the sage in the story, and his head is really the reason why this novella is going so stick out. I loved every sentence in this book and would recommend it to anyone.
The opening scene is our hero, Chaino Durante is working a dead end job at the Nuclear Burger when he finds something in a bag at the bottom of the deep fryer he is cleaning. The bag holds the head of Alice Cooper. From there, the novel turns into a road trip, at first with the purpose of running from the police and later with a purpose. They run into many different characters along the way, some real people, some fictitious, some dead, some alive. The truth is that time and life are flexible throughout Widener’s novella, and this makes for a story where absolutely anything can happen.
If anyone were to ask me what the Bizarro genre is all about, I could give them Rock ‘N’ Roll Headcase and one of the more strange examples. It has all of the elements that I would say sum up a great deal of my favorite parts of the genre. A celebrity as part of the main characters, a great deal of grisly, oddball deaths, a fluid plot, and of course existential thought. The book is one of the more absurd examples, but it is also short, moves fast, and is filled with humor and gore. There cannot be enough of these books for us to read. Rock 'N' Roll Headcase is a wonderful example. It is really a shame that it did not get the readership it deserved when Eraserhead Press initially released it in 2015.
I love that Alice Cooper is a character in this novel. I have been listening to him since I was a teenager, and i think that if anyone can be in any bizarro novel, it could be him. I would love to see more stories with him, maybe make an Alice Cooper subgenre. In this story, he is the voice of advice, not always sound, not always wrong, but advice nonetheless. I like him as the sage in the story, and his head is really the reason why this novella is going so stick out. I loved every sentence in this book and would recommend it to anyone.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews