Cook, Calc and Jake Trout talk Cooper, rock & roll
By Mark Williams, Champions Tour staff
Alice Cooper, the man born Vincent Furnier, who legally adopted the bands name as his own, is an American icon whose career has spanned four decades. Alice Cooper, the band, will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on March 14.
Cooper helped to shape the sound and look for heavy metal, but he is also an actor, an author and he performs several concerts to raise funds for charity.
Cooper hosts an annual golf tournament, all proceeds of which go to his charity, the Solid Rock Foundation, dedicated to helping teens. He has played golf with Champions Tour stars, such as John Cook, Mark Calcavecchia and Peter Jacobsen, in pro-ams and other charity tournaments. He has been a regular fixture at the Bob Hope Classic over the years. Cooper has also appeared in commercials for Callaway Golf equipment.
He also claims the game of golf saved his live. Cooper credited golf as having played a major role in overcoming his alcohol addiction. His 2007 autobiography was titled Alice Cooper, Golf Monster: My Twelve Steps to becoming a Golf Addict. Asked to review the book, Champions Tour professional Gary McCord suggested it was "the only book I've ever read that should come in 3-D."
After a stint at rehab, Cooper realized he had to find a new hobby. "When I got out of the hospital, I realized that my worst enemy was going to be time," he said. "So I took up golf. I played 36 holes a day, a lot of times with the pros at the golf course who helped me start to understand the game. It was basically a nine-hour daily lesson."
Cooper thinks that many touring musicians enjoy the game of golf because of the daily grind. "Musicians spend so much time on the road with nothing to do," he said. "Even if you're no good, it's still fun to go get after it as best you can."
As far as being one of the inductee's into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the band posted this on their website, "We will happily be the Hall's arch villains. We are grateful from the bottom of our black little hearts."
Other inductee's in 2011 include Neil Diamond, Dr. John, Darlene Love, Tom Waits, Jac Holzman, Art Rupe and Leon Russell.
The Champions Tour staff caught up with John Cook, Mark Calcavecchia and Peter Jacobsen to ask a few questions about the upcoming induction of Alice Cooper, and music in general. Here's a look at what they said.
Six-time Champions Tour winner John Cook was born in Ohio but grew up in Southern California. Cook was a three-time All-America selection while at Ohio State University and won the United States Amateur Championship in 1978. He was inducted into the OSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986 after winning twice on the PGA TOUR, and went on to capture a total of 11 victories. Cook posted a two stroke win over Tom Lehman at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in January. He also won the 2010 Charles Schwab Cup Championship to close out last season in San Francisco. The win on the Big Island was his sixth Champions Tour title and it earned him the distinction of being the first player since Gil Morgan in 1997-98 to claim the season-ending event the previous year and the season-opening event the following season. Cook has been a music fan all his life.
Peter Jacobsen was born in Oregon and now resides near Naples in Florida. The 57-year-old has captured seven career titles on the PGA TOUR, including a pair of victories in Hartford. Jacobsen has also won a pair of major championships on the Champions Tour, claiming the 2004 U.S. Senior Open and the 2005 Ford Senior Players Championship. While he's an accomplished professional golfer, Jacobsen is best known in some circles for his musical talents, having helped form "Jake Trout & The Flounders" in the early-80s. He's also had the opportunity to get up on stage and jam with some all-time greats like Glenn Frey, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Vince Gill, Alice Cooper, Edwin McCain, Hootie & the Blowfish, Huey Lewis and the News and REO Speedwagon.
Mark Calcavecchia was born in Nebraska and now resides in South Florida. The 50-year-old captured 13 career titles on the PGA TOUR, including the 1989 British Open when he beat the Australian duo of Greg Norman and Wayne Grady in a playoff. In his Champions Tour debut last year, Calcavecchia posted six top-10 finishes in 14 starts, including a solo second place at the 3M Championship. In his 30-year career as a professional, Calcavecchia has accrued more than $25 million in prize money. He's also attended a lot of concerts while traveling around the globe.
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Q. Two prominent inductees for 2011 are Alice Cooper and Neil Diamond. Which music of the two do you prefer ... and if you're on the fence, who do you lean toward?
COOK: Wow ... I'm more Alice than I am Neil Diamond but my wife and her family are big Neil Diamond fans so I'm sure that they'll enjoy that as well.
CALCAVECCHIA: I'm definitely on the Alice Cooper side of the fence there, but having said that, Neil Diamond is probably the only singer alive that I tear up on a few of his songs. There's something about his voice that gives me the tingles, you know what I mean? He almost makes me cry.
JACOBSEN: I grew up listening to Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper sang with me on one of our Jake Trout & The Flounders albums. When I grew up, my parents thought I was going to be in huge trouble because all I listened to was Alice Cooper. My wife loves Neil Diamond but I love Alice Cooper.
Q. Can you name a song from each of them?
COOK: Well, of course, "School's Out" is the Alice Cooper song that was always one of our favorite tunes. Once it got to April or May and that song started playing on the radio you knew it was almost time for school to be out. Neil Diamond ... there's all kind of tunes. They're good karaoke songs ... not for me though.
CALCAVECCHIA: Oh yeah ... "Song Sung Blue", "Cracklin' Rosie", "America" ... there's a few. "School's Out" is obviously Alice's anthem.
Q. Ever met either of them?
COOK: Alice goes in to the Hall this year. I've played a few times with him. I've played with Eddie Van Halen and that whole crew. I think a lot of us have a dream to be rock stars and I know a lot of them want to be golfers.
CALCAVECCHIA: I've played with Alice. I've played with quite a few music guys over the years. Glenn Frey from the Eagles ... I'm sure they're in the Hall of Fame (they were inducted in 1998).
JACOBSEN: I've jammed with Alice.
Q. How about Alice Cooper's golf game?
COOK: He's improved, I know that! When he started playing golf at the Bob Hope Classic in the '80s he couldn't play at all. Then, all of a sudden, he got to a single-digit handicap and I see him as a single-digit handicap. He's pretty good.
CALCAVECCHIA: He's not bad. He's getting better with age.
JACOBSEN: Alice has got a pretty precise golf game. He takes a pretty good cut at it. What I love about his golf swing is it's not controlled at all. I'm impressed with the way he hits the golf ball.
Q. Ever been to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland?
COOK: I haven't been. I know some of the artists that have been inducted. I've never been to see the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but, absolutely, I'd love to get there at some point. I'm an old rock & roll guy. I love music and it would be great to go see it. A couple of years ago at the Senior PGA Championship at Canterbury Golf Club in Ohio we were trying to figure out a way I could do it. The days just got a little short and I couldn't get it done.
CALCAVECCHIA: I've never been ... and I'll never go until they put Rush in there. (Rush were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994).
JACOBSEN: I have and I love it. I'm a Rock & Roll nut. I think it's a great spot. I think I spent about four or five hours there.
Q. Do you play any musical instruments?
COOK: I play guitar ... not very well ... terrible, in fact. I'll sit at home ... I've got a couple of guitars ... and I'll try to put something together that sounds like something ... which it usually doesn't ... but it sounds good to me.
CALCAVECCHIA: I call myself an 18-handicap guitar player. I know a lot of beginnings to a lot of songs. I can do a little stuff up the neck of what I know of a few Rush songs. I've got my amp set where I sound pretty good. I play power chords and stuff like that. I play some Scorpions, some Rush, some AC/DC ... Back in Black ... stuff like that.
JACOBSEN: I actually started playing guitar when I was about 10. I took some lessons early on for about two years, but it was classical and I didn't like that. I decided to teach myself and bought a chord book. I just learned the chords from A all the way thru G and all the variations thereof. I just taught myself.
Q. Anyone else in your family play any instruments?
COOK: My wife was a good piano player. Both my daughters play piano. My son is more of a guitar ... bass player type kid. One of my wife's brothers is into music. We're music fans, all of us. I grew up a music fan. I'm a rock & roll guy ... I like a lot of it.
CALCAVECCHIA: Brenda, my wife, plays piano and she's a pretty good singer. My sister was a great piano player. I grew up playing the trumpet, as did my brother. My father played some sort of brass instrument.
JACOBSEN: My daughter, Amy Biery, plays the piano. She's got her own album out on iTunes.
Q. What type of music do you have on your iPod?
COOK: I enjoy alternative rock and bands like 311, Van Halen, Alter Bridge and No Doubt.
CALCAVECCHIA: Everywhere from classic rock to hard rock to a little metal ... hardly no country or opera. My cell phone ring tone is usually an Iron Maiden song.
JACOBSEN: I've got everything from The Beatles to Mickey & The Motorcars to Reckless Kelly to Jars of Clay.
Q. Who on the Champions Tour is a 'music guru'?
COOK: Well, apart from me, Calc would be, certainly. He's a big Rush guy. There's all kinds of different bands he follows ... he knows the guys from Rush pretty well. He went to see Lady Gaga in concert in Canada. She's coming to Orlando soon and we've got our tickets that week so I think we might have to get the meat outfit on. Her show is the Friday of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in Tampa. If I get a late tee time on Saturday we'll probably come back and see it. Calc is definitely your guy.
CALCAVECCHIA: There's quite a few guys. I know Mark O'Meara is. John Cook is ... he loves Rush. I hooked him up at Tampa last year. He and his wife, Jan, sat next to us at their concert and they had a blast. I remember the sound system Mo (O'Meara) had in his home at Isleworth that blew my mind. He had all these remotes and stuff ... it was pitch black ... then all of a sudden he was like 'watch this' and the sound made my hair stand up.
JACOBSEN: Tom Byrum and I talk music a lot. Tom Pernice Jr. as well. His daughter, Brooke, sings beautifully.
Q. Can you remember the first concert you went to?
COOK: It was a long time ago and I think it was Elton John, The Who or Eric Clapton.
CALCAVECCHIA: 1976, Kiss. I was hooked.
Q. Mark, you went to see Lady Gaga's concert while you were at the Montreal Championship last year. How many concerts do you go to?
CALCAVECCHIA: I'd say I go to a minimum of five a year. Brenda's always looking for a reason to get to New York City for two or three days so this year during the week of The Masters we're going up on Friday to see Green Day's American Idiot ... she's seen it, I haven't, she loved it ... and then we'll see Rush in Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. We plan ahead. When we find a concert we want to see, we plan our schedule around it.
Q. Peter, how did the musical group, Jake Trout & The Flounders, come about?
JACOBSEN: Deane Beman, the PGA TOUR Commissioner at the time, asked Payne Stewart, Mark Lye, Larry Rinker and myself to put together a show for The PLAYERS Championship dinner back when the tournament was played at Sawgrass Country Club. Larry was an original member of the group and he knew some band members in the area. They all played a musical instrument and we put it together. I was the lead singer by default. Nobody else wanted to be the lead singer.
Q. Do you remember any memorable gigs?
JACOBSEN: The most memorable was probably the two-hour show we did on Golf Channel. Peter Kessler was interviewing us and we played six or eight tunes on the air. We also did the PGA TOUR Awards banquet one year at LaCosta and also opened for The Blues Brothers at the old Isuzu Invitational at Kapalua one year. I also remember us opening for the Brian Setzer Orchestra at the Hard Rock Café in Las Vegas. It was fun because we were all such good friends. We haven't done anything since Payne passed away.
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