To warm the cockles of your heart...

Welcome to thatwasrockandroll. 

With 211 MILLION people facing zero or below temperatures tonight and tomorrow, thought I'd send some virtual warmth into the ether and see what comes of it.  Let's dig (oops, poor choice of words) right in, shall we?

First off is "It's Hot Tonight", the leadoff single from Alice Cooper's Lace and Whiskey.  Like Welcome to My Nightmare and Alice Cooper Goes to Hell, L&W was a "concept album" when there were such things as "albums", and the pressure to deliver something new every other month was not as fierce as it is now. 

Cooper would release one more of these wannabe epics, From the Inside, a running diary of his time in rehab.  I saw the concert he created to promote this album, and it began with a short film projected onto a wall at the rear of the set.  At the end of the movie, Alice runs towards the camera, and the actual Alice breaks through previously-unseen slats in the wall.  He breaks into "From the Inside" and we were off to the races.  To my knowledge he was less adventurous in the studio from that point on.

So, put on your gumshoes and strap on your .38 holster.  It's hot tonight...

And while we're on the subjects of heat and Alice Cooper, let's try on some serious hotness with the title track to the album BEFORE L&W.  Might be my favorite AC tune ever, due in no small part to the autobiographical nature of the tune and how it follows nicely on the theme of "No More Mister Nice Guy" from a couple years earlier.  The opening verse says it all:

For criminal acts and violence on the stage
For being a brat, refusing to act your age
For all the decent citizens you've enraged
You.  Can.  Go.  To.  Hell...

Finally, a shameless opportunity to plug my favorite Pop/Rock/Prog band, Toto.  Last week I attended a concert by the LA Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA.  The program was devoted to the music of John Williams, he of Jaws/Star Wars/ET/Superman/Harry Potter fame.  The Great Man was even there himself to rapturous applause when he came on stage.  By the way, I highly recommend seeing a concert--ANY concert at the WDCH.  Even upstairs and way back, the acoustics are incredible.  Plus, the building is nothing short of amazing.

Why did I digress?  Well, turns out John Williams has three children--a daughter and two sons.  It's the second son that brings me full circle.  Joseph Williams (born 1960) is the lead singer of Toto.  Has been off and on since 1987.  It's obvious that the fruit didn't fall far from the tree, as Joseph writes music for the TV series Roswell amongst other projects.

Feel the burn, and stay inside for a day or two...



Pete