Totally Bad Form. I'm Sorry.

So while I was chatting with Alice Cooper today at the Boys' & Girls' Club Fundraiser Banquet, he told me a neat story about his time filming The Muppet Show in London in 1978. The year I was born. I didn't tell him about that. I didn't want him to feel old.

He said they spent about a week rehearsing the show in London before they taped it. (Maybe he said 4 days and that they were in London for a week?) He seemed surprised by that. He also told me how wonderful it was to do a number with Miss Piggy...and then mentioned how interesting it was that, Frank Oz, being so into his character (and insisted that Piggy may have been coming onto him during their duet) Mr. Cooper would forget that it was just a puppet. He'd get an idea for something and say "oh, you should put your head on my shoulder, like this" but he'd look at the puppet while saying it & then realize, the puppet wasn't necessarily watching him and then he'd ask the same question again, this time toward Mr. Oz's face somewhere below. He lit up when he started talking about it. It was surely good times.

Ok, so yeah I make it sound like Mr. Cooper and I chat on a daily basis...we don't. This is really only my 2nd encounter with the man, and the first was so minuscule.

We used to attend his church (not for very long at all), but when my son was a toddler & getting wiggly during the service one Sunday, I had him walk up the steps toward the back of the church with me. Mr. Cooper (Vince) was sitting on an end seat. I didn't know it was him, just noticed that there was an older gentlemen with long black hair flirting with my little boy. My little boy totally dug it. Totally.

When my little boy grew up to be a bigger little boy (so maybe about 3), he saw Season 3 of The Muppet Show & from then on wanted to watch the Alice Cooper episode over and over and over again. I ended up telling him about how Alice Cooper flirted with him when he was a toddler at church and it just sealed the deal. He was a die-hard fan. School's Out was his favorite song (Oh and when Guitar Hero came out with that as one of the play options? WOW yeah...he knows that one). When Dave Goelz came to visit Arizona, I pulled the kiddo out of school that day so we could go watch The Muppet Movie with him at the library. So what does my inquisitive 4-year-old ask to the puppeteer with Gonzo on his hand in front of the boy's face? "What puppets did you do in the Alice Cooper muppets?"

So tonight, when we were at a fundraiser (totally bad form, I know, I'm sorry Mr. Cooper,...I feel bad...kinda), and I saw Alice Cooper 3 feet from my face, I had to just let him know, "Hey, we used to go to church together & I just have to say, my son thinks you're the bee's knees."

I didn't want to go home and say, "Hey! Guess who I saw!" and not also get to say, "Guess what he told me!"

So, thank you Mr. Cooper. My son will leap with joy tomorrow when he wakes up and I tell him how I got to talk to his hero, and how his hero had a story for me to relay back. You made my night because I know just how much it means to my little boy. And I promise, the next fundraiser we win tickets to, I won't accost anyone. Totally promise. I'll also not wear a hoodie to semi-formal event...probably.

As a side note: The banquet was beautiful. I don't know that I've ever had someone put a napkin on my lap for me before. The Boys' & Girls' Clubs in the Phoenix area raised close to a $1 million (if not more)! It was neat to see a large group of filanthropists still giving gobs of money to worthy causes in spite of rough economic times. Also, Shaquille O'Neal is really, really tall. like. Wow. Also, best word of the night: Shaq-lock-holmes. Also, here's a bee--for funsies' sake.