Rocker throws holiday bash for charity...again
By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out

As it turns out, the man synonymous with a theatrical rock stage show in the ’70s that included boa constrictors, baby doll heads and electric chairs is more Santa Claus than the hard-rocking Scrooge his old persona embodied.

“I am the biggest Christmas addict of all time,” Cooper laughs. “I definitely over-celebrate Christmas — it takes four hours to open up the presents!”

For the past five years the rocker has given his hometown a special holiday gift. This year the annual “Alice Copper's Christmas Pudding,” a variety show featuring a mixed bag of live music and comedic performances, will take place at the Dodge Theatre Saturday.

In the past, the event has featured performances by English rocker Peter Frampton, brilliant musical satirist Weird Al Yankovic and former Traffic guitarist and solo artist Dave Mason, but Cooper believes that this year will be the best Christmas Pudding show yet.

“It's a Christmas party and we actually do serve pudding,” Cooper says of renowned local chef Mark Tarbell's tasty holiday treat. “And the one thing I love about this year is that seven or eight of the acts are headliners.”

To gather such a vast array of talent for a charity show seems like it would be a daunting task, but Cooper says it couldn't be easier. “I call people like Cheap Trick and I say ‘I'd love to get you down here for this’ and they say ‘We'll be there,’” Cooper says. “I call up Ted Nugent and he says ‘Tell me when.’ I can call just about anybody I want and they'll show up. Anybody I call wants to do it.”

As is the case every year, the show will benefit Cooper’s own charity for at-risk youth, the Solid Rock Foundation, which he founded 10 years ago.

“Every bit of it goes to the kids, which is usually $200,000 plus,” Cooper explains. “I wanted to do something in the Valley for the kids, for their spiritual needs and their physical needs. The worst enemy for a kid is time. If you have nothing to do you're going to get in trouble, and it's usually because they don't have a home life or a spiritual life. “We keep forgetting we're the fifth biggest city in the United States, so we have the fifth biggest problem.”

Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding
With: Robin Zander and Rick Neilson from Cheap Trick, Glen Campbell, Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw from Damn Yankees, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Sinbad and more
Where: Dodge Theatre, 400 W. Washington Street, Phoenix
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Tickets: $33-$103 (benefits charity)
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