ALICE COOPER guitarist Damon Johnson has checked in from the Theatre Of Death tour:

"Greetings earthlings, freaks, and all lovers of the trash rock.

Damon Johnson here, resident hillbilly guitar slinger for the Alice Cooper Band.

It's great to be back in the band this year and it's been awesome seeing so many familiar faces at the shows and meet & greets. (And a special shout out to those AC fans that attended Whiskey Falls concerts in the last couple of years)

This is without a doubt one of the best shows Alice has put together in many, many years. I could never be bold enough to label it “best show ever,” out of my deep respect and adoration for the original Alice Cooper group and shows of the 70's. But do not miss my use of the word “special” in describing the “Theatre of Death.”

Playing guitar for Alice is still a dream come true, and each night I'm reminded of that at several moments throughout the show. It's as exhilarating as you would think, standing on the risers when the front curtain drops during the intro of “School's Out.” And I love to see the jaw-dropping expressions of the audience during 'Dwight Frye', 'Nurse Rosetta', and 'Killer'…priceless!!!

One of the things I enjoy most, that probably none of you are even aware of, is kicking the crap out of Pat Nowak every night. The only person I've ever met that is starved for attention onstage more than Alice is Pat. He needs help…or rather, he needs a swift kick in the pants with regular intervals. And I am more than happy to oblige. When you come to the show, see if you can count how many times Pat gets a “boost” from my very cool size 11 stage boots. After the show, whoever gets it correct might even get a chance to kick Pat themselves!!

So we had the craziest thing happen to us in Torrington, Connecticut, at the Warner Theatre. Maybe you heard, but probably not. It's one of those great old theatres that has been remodelled and upgraded (well, not the dressing rooms, but that's another story entirely) over the years. The weather had been suspect all day and the winds had picked up just before show time. We had only barely begun the show, and during the second song I could feel some raindrops on my head. A few seconds later, I looked up to see the rain coming down in a substantial amount. But there was one problem: WE WERE INDOORS!! IN A THEATRE!!!! And during “Wicked Young Man,” so much water was on the stage floor that poor Tiffany busted her rather adorable tush when coming onstage for the “spike through the roadie” bit. Apparently this theatre had recently installed large vents in the roof that open automatically to let any smoke escape before setting off the fire alarm. But ... did I mention it was raining outside? And now INSIDE? The building crew were rushing to try to get the vents to close, and the rain is pouring down on us. So, for the first time in all my many performances with Alice Cooper, we had to actually pause the show. WOW!!! An indoor rain delay!

And that's not all! Once the crew dried the stage and we resumed the show, the fire alarm indeed DID go off -- remember, the vents were now closed -- and automatically shut down all the stage power (another fire prevention plan gone awry) causing yet ANOTHER pause to the Alice Cooper Show. Twice in one night!!!!

And then we ended up hanging out downstairs laughing about it after the show with both Dennis Dunaway (whose own band opened the show for us that night!) AND Neal Smith. Can I mention again how much I am in awe of what those guys, along with Alice, Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce created back in the '70's? To be hanging with THREE of them after our show and laughing about a crazy, whacked out show together was surreal.

It's an honor to be onstage with not only Coop, but also Chuck, Keri and Jimmy. These guys are definitely among the best in the world at what they do. People ask me all the time what is the best band I've ever played in (and any of you familiar with my resume knows the list of bands I've been in is LONG). This might just be the best band I've EVER been in. Period. Try and debate it with me. You will lose."