1 Nov 2010

I MET ALICE!!!!


I was trundling through my inbox last Wed, and I came across an email that said 'You're A Winner! The Meet Alice Cooper Competition' Oh yeah, I thought, how much money do they want for that?
And then I got another one...followed by a third, and then a phone call, all confirming that I'd won two tickets to the Hallowe'en gig at the Roundhouse, and I could pick up my tickets at the box office - TOGETHER WITH (and this is the important bit) invites to the after show party if I would like to meet him afterward!!!!!! Would I? OH. MY.GOD. I AM NOT WORTHY!!

When I'd picked my jaw off the floor, I immediately called my mate Carol and we dithered about several different ways of getting there, finally deciding on driving the whole way and hoping we could park somewhere without getting the car towed away. Which was something both of us worried about the whole journey, like a couple of elderly spinsters on an outing to the seaside.........
Needn't have worried, Camden High St. still has free parking on Sundays - amazingly - and the market was still in full swing when we got there. Not having been to London much since moving away about 22 years ago, we'd both forgotten how lively and colourful it was, so there was much gawping at the market stalls, most of which seemed to be selling the same kind of stuff you could get in Kensington Market 35 years ago.....Vinyl records, second hand army clothes, a million different types of foreign food..........We found ourselves a hippy caff and had a very attractive dinner consisting of many lentils and every type of bean on the planet.






























Being Hallowe'en, it was a great night to be out people watching, so we did that for a bit and then went in to get a good spot. As we are both the wrong side of 5'5', we couldn't see a lot from the back, (must take my crate next time) so we got as near to the front as we could. Unfortunately this meant a bank of speakers was in the way of some of the theatricals, but, hey ho, the sound was AWESOME.

Now, I've been a fan of Alice's since 1972 when I bought my very first LP, School's Out, but I have to say, I haven't listened to it too much in the last 30 years, so I was very surprised to find I could still remember ALL the words to Billion Dollar Babies, and many other obscure album tracks that I couldn't even remember the names of. Good to know there's still some life in the old memory yet. Although, I guess it's not that hard to remember the words to 'I Love The Dead' now is it? LOL.

We weren't quite near enough to get any of the fake necklaces or billion dollar bills he was throwing out (shame), but then that meant we also weren't near enough to get splattered with fake blood every time he got killed - and there was a lot of that flying around.

By the time the set had finished, we were both slightly deaf - but in a good way. And being vertically challenged does have it's advantages, it's much easier to weave your way through large crowds quickly, which is obviously very important when you need to go and hob nob with Celebrities. Had to wait about an hour, but then he suddenly appeared in the room, and signed autographs, posed for pics etc.

I decided that I would take my aforementioned LP cover with me for him to sign (I took out the record first and was surprised at how, er, vintage it looked- like a piece of old bakelite), and when I told him that it was the first one I'd ever bought, he said something amazingly cool, witty and charming, like 'uh huh'.

I still love you Alice, and thank you for taking me back to my 14 year old self xx
ps, please send me a billion dollar note, I neeeeeed one to complete my scrapbook..........

20 comments:

  1. Oh wow!.. sounds like you had a great time!

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  2. LMAO - brilliantly humerous and accurate account of a wonderful evening which I will remember for a very L O N G time. Thanks for taking me along Pen (actually I took you but who cares! LOL)

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  3. Oh wow, what a fab day out you guys had. I saw him on Strictly and that brought back memories of all those years ago............nice to hear a happy story.........

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  4. Glad you got the chance to meet Alice. I'm sure it was awesome!!!!

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  5. Love your account of the day, Pen. What a fab time you must have had. One to remember for a long long time.

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  6. Lucky you!!! What is a Halloween night without Alice!
    CariƱos de Trudis

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  7. What a fantastic run down of your day. Took me back when you mentioned the stuff on the market. LOL
    Glad you had a great time.

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  8. Oh my goodness! How amazing! Looks like a fantastic time, what a fabulous prize :)

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  9. Sounds likes an amazing evening! Congratulations on winning those tickets.

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  10. you lucky pair of moos!!!!! sounds like a brilliant night, I would have been the same with the first email though.....glad it turned out genuine. LOVE the pic of you and him, that's a brilliant thing to keep, amazing!!! (not that I'm jealous...MUCH!!!!)

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  11. Wow!!! What a fantastic prize, sounds like you had a really great time.
    xxx Hazel.

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  12. awwwww - so lovely to read and sounds like a wonderful day

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  13. Aw bless! Lucky you - I would have lurved to meet him - saw him on Strictly that is about as near as I got!! How FAB that he signed your LP too.. yep, remember those big old thick records... these young 'uns don't know what they are missing LOL You made me LOL with your old spinsters outing comment... I get where you are coming from LOL
    Thanks for sharing hun x

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  14. I want to thank you for posting about meeting Alice on here. First of all, I think that is EPIC beyond belief! Second, because you mentioned him on your blog, and I just happened to stumble across one of his songs on youtube, I decided to check it out. I'd never heard his stuff before. OMG! I loved it so much! Alice is amazing, and I feel partially that I have you to thank for introducing him to me! I've purchased two of his CDs in the past month....So jealous that you met him, but WOW! That's awesome!

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  15. Thanks for the return comment on my blog, and for your concern after my shoveling excursion :P I'm feeling much better :)

    I have purchased Alice Cooper's Superhits (just to give me an intro into some of his most popular songs, and Along Came a Spider, which I think is his newest album but I'm not positive...LOVE them both ^_^

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  16. What Contest? Will they have again and how do you enter?

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  17. Hi Anon - can seem to find any other way to contact you - It was a competition on Planet Rock last Halloween (he does a show every night from 9-1am) They do have other comps, but the only sure way to get to meet him is buy a VIP ticket to his next concert - a few tour dates have been announced but I'm expecting to hear of more later :)

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