ALICE COOPER has issued his first blog post dubbed From The Inside at his official website. It reads as follows:

"Wow, my first blog. I thought a blog was some new monster in a Pixar film. Apparently it's not. Learn something new every day.

Anyway, we've just finished the Summer 2009 European tour, the final performances of the Psycho Drama show, which has really been a fun show to do.

As most of you probably know, this tour started off in a pretty bad way, with the sad news of the unexpected death of my long-time assistant, archivist and friend Brian Nelson. I don't want to dwell on it, but after 28 years it has been a truly shocking thing for him to be gone so suddenly. Every night, at some point, one of us still forgets for a minute and thinks he should be "right there" doing something. And he's not.

But the show must go on, and it did, all across Russia.

And when I say all across Russia, I mean you haven't lived 'til you've seen Vladivostok. And Khabarovsk. And Krasnoyarsk (which is in Siberia). And Ekaterinburg. And Rostov-on-Don (that means it's on the Don river). And Ekaterinburg is named after Catherine The Great. Not to be confused with Calico The Great, a true princess if ever there was one. Khabarovsk, we learned, is about 12 miles and just across a river from China. The Manchuria part of China! We went to the local Chinese market for some cheap shopping fun. Vladivostok is also close to the Chinese border but even more amazingly, it's just a short drive to the North Korean border -- and we were there just when all the nuclear tests and missile-firing were in the news. We could hear the sabre-rattling in the hotel. They don't get a lot of Americans through Vladivostok, except maybe some spies. Which is probably why we were invited to an American-style BBQ at the US Consulate's town-home complex, and the whole band and crew had a blast meeting our government's team there. A special thanks to Patricia from the consulate for having enough spare Sprite Zero and Caffeine Free Diet Coke to give me some, since you can't buy it yet anywhere in Russia.

The show in Novosibirsk was cancelled when the stage's roof structure collapsed, destroying the rigging and trussing that supports the lights and sound. There just wasn't time to repair and/or replace that stuff in Novosibirsk, which, by the way, is in Siberia. Which explains why there wasn't any replacement equipment available.

The shows were great, the crowds fantastic. We were touring with our old friends the SCORPIONS and our new Finnish friends THE RASMUS, plus KINGDOM COME. We all travelled together on one big Russian charter jet, but don't ask anyone about the terrifying sudden drop during the storm flying from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok, followed by the scary non-landing in Vladivostok and flight all the way back to Khabarovsk, where we had to land because we were running out of fuel. What should have been a late night 70 minute flight ended up taking over twelve hours!!!! The things we do for rock and roll.

Unfortunately, the Kiev and Minsk shows got postponed until November, so we took an unexpected four days off in Oslo before playing the Skaanevik Blues Festival. Yes, a Blues Festival, followed by the Montreux Jazz Festival. Two shows in ten days made for a lot of pent-up energy, and both shows were amazing. The crowds were so intense, it made for an even better show. Maybe we should have played some blues or some jazz...or maybe not.

The final weekend in Europe was a great festival Belgium and then a trip to Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean that doesn't get many shows. It's so close to Lebanon, Israel, and Syria!! Limassol is a lively beach town on the Mediterranean with sun and sand and boats and nightlife. And one of the seriously best steaks I've ever eaten in my life, at the new Columbia Steak House there. But more than that, the crowd was unbelievable! As it was the final performance of "Psycho Drama," we gave it our all, and the audience gave it right back. We did "House of Fire" for them, even though the band guys had never performed it live before (except maybe Jimmy, we're not sure). What a way to end a tour!

This whole blog thing is new to me, but I need to find out if we can add some photos, because you won't believe the practical joke we played on the Scorpions onstage in Krasnoyarsk.

I'll let Calico tell you that one, and more, because this blog thing is really From The Inside, from all of us -- we're even gonna let the band and crew contribute, which even I will want to read...or maybe I should be afraid, very afraid.

So...see you on the Theatre of Death tour, coming at you soon, with something like 75 shows planned across the USA, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe over the next five months. And hopefully to Canada, South America and beyond in 2010.

Like the saying goes, 'they keep killing me, and I keep coming back.' I wouldn't have it any other way!"