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speakup

Being of a certain vintage, I’m looking forward to the return of shock-rocker Alice Cooper to the Moncton Coliseum next October.

Cooper's act is the antithesis of the squeaky clean harmonies and just-play-the-songs ethic of the Eagles, who will draw a crowd at least 15 times larger when they play an outdoor show in Moncton in August.

Back in the seventies, Cooper outraged many guardians of the public morality with his over-the-top theatrics. (I say "his" but it should be noted that Alice Cooper was an actual band in the early years, not just an individual with a bunch of back-up musicians). Props like a guillotine, gallows and boa constrictor were light years removed from the hepcat moves of Elvis Presley that shocked parents in the 1950s.

Nowadays, Cooper's antics on the classic-rock circuit seem as threatening as the Munsters, and I'm not even sure if Cooper "descendants" like Marilyn Manson are still considered outrageous.

Which says much about society's new level of tolerance for blood and gore, doesn't it? Ah, the blessed numbing effect of gratuitous violence in movies, video games and on TV programs like CSI...

PASSING NOTED

My heartfelt condolences to the friends and family of Clovis Roy, who died in Moncton last month. A former Bathurst resident, he worked at The Northern Light for a number of years, in the 1980s and the 1990s. He looked after maintenance and worked on the printing press.

Clovis was always polite and in good cheer, and was well liked by all who worked with him.

BELATED CONGRATS

Just want to offer my belated congratulations to Bathurst author Gail MacMillan on winning a Maxwell Award back in January.

She won the prestigious award from the Dog Writer's Association of America for Celidh's Quest, her 14th book. A non-fiction work, it told the tale of one of her dogs that never forgot its original master.

I have known Gail for years, going back to when she was the administrative assistant at Parkwood Elementary, and we have written various stories on her literary endeavours. She is currently published by Double Edge Press, based in Pennsylvania.

For more on Gail, you can visit her website at www.gailmacmillan.com

Editor Greg Mulock can be reached at mulock.greg@thenorthernlight.ca and story ideas, suggestions and feedback in general on anything related to the newspaper are always welcome.