2012 (hardcover)
Not Only Women Bleed
by Dick Wagner
Vignettes From The Heart
of a Rock Musician
What actually made me get this book is his stories w/ Alice Cooper who also wrote the
book's Foreword. Vignettes is correct as this book just flies by. Wagner
gives you these
anecdotal stories from his life. Going through the ups
and downs of a rock musician that
falls into the typical sex and drugs
pitfalls.
Matter of fact Wagner talks quite a bit of his
time touring w/ Alice Cooper.
It seems Wagner wasn't that close when
playing w/ Lou Reed, KISS, and Aerosmith
among other artist. According to Wagner, Lou Reed fired the band who was not happy
about them getting more press attention than himself.
Alice at this time starting his solo career needed a Michael
Bruce to compose songs w/
and Wagner was the perfect musician. Matter of
fact Alice wouldn't tour unless Wagner
came along. One of the stories I
loved is the making of DaDa a very dark album by Alice
Cooper. In press
Alice always says he doesn't remember doing this album so hearing
Wagner
tell what went on was very interesting. It was well worth the
price of the book.
One story was the creation of "Scarlet & Sheba" that was
in a hotel lounge in Toronto,
Canada. Wagner and Alice use to go down to
the lounge and play on the panio coming up
w/ tunes. During this time
they were being waited on by a gorgeous blonde and redhead women.
Alice and Dick called them "Scarlet & Sheba" and created the song in
making them dominatrix.
But this book is about Dick Wagner and he goes
through a lot. Being popular in his home state
of Michigan w/ bands as
The Bossmen and Frost that seemed to bring the local crowds in to
clubs. Once leaving his hometown came the ups and downs. Marriage and
relationships failing
as he starts to move around from Saginaw, New
York, Boston, Texas, Tennesse from
4 star hotels to cheap motels &
spare rooms. Dick falls into drugs and at times he tries to quit
always
to return. Also dealing w/ a heart attack that leads to major heart
operation.
But w/ his fight and musicianship he was able to survive when
others would of just give up.
This book also includes quite a number of photos w/ Alice.
Also includes 2 CDs Full Meltdown and friend of Wagner's SkinnerRat
that he is guest on.
that he is guest on.
BTW there is an excellent In-depth interview w/ Dick Wagner on the making of "DaDa"
at Decibel Geek
Cover
Back Cover
quote by Alice Cooper
and Bob Ezrin
Foreword from Alice Cooper
FOREWORD
A few words from Alice Cooper
“ I first saw Dick Wagner while he was playing with The Frost in Detroit,
and quickly I filed him under ‘guitar players I’d like to steal.’ Later I
had the great pleasure of adding him to the Welcome to My Nightmare
touring band, where along with Steve Hunter they became known as the
‘Dynamic Duo,’ a name given to them by Steven Tyler. He considers them
two to be the best tandem American guitar players in Rock N Roll.
But Dick isn’t JUST a guitar player...
He’s a gifted writer, and I wrote most of the post Alice Cooper Hits
with him... ‘I Never Cry,’ ‘You and Me,’ ‘Only Women Bleed,’ ‘How You
Gonna See Me Now,’ ‘Welcome to My Nightmare,’ and on the new album,
‘Something To Remember Me By‚‘ were all Alice Cooper and Dick Wagner
collaborations... Most of them all Top 40 Hits. My personal and musical
friendship with Dick goes on and on, and thankfully it’s not over yet.”
- Alice Cooper 2011
Following are just the Alice Cooper related photos
Steven Tyler called Wagner and Hunter
The Dynamic Duo
The 2 CDs included in the back of the book.
Full Meltdown is 15 lost songs recorded by Dick Wagner between 1979 and 1995.
This is one of my favorite Wagner recordings.
In the book Dick explains that Full Meltdown is a collection of songs wrote for a band
called Meltdown while living in Boston, MA. "I'd Take The Bullet" "Ecstasy"
are some of
my favorite tracks. Wagner covers the classic rocker
"Stagger Lee" by Llyod Price and Wagner
co-wrote "I Might As Well Be On
Mars" w/ Alice Cooper on Hey Stoopid album
and "Another Twist of The
Knife" w/ John Wetton "Sinister" album.
Dr. Gary Telgenhoff is a friend of Wagner. Dr. T started off as a
drummer who played
w/ former Frost rhythm guitarist Donny Hartman then
later became a Senior Medical Examiner
for Clark County, Nevada, Las
Vegas. Dr. T also became an advisor to the CSI television series.
Dick
being a guest plays lead guitar on this unusual style of music. A lot of
knobs twiddling
and computer software. Sort of Industrial/Techno
sounding. Wagner mentions in the book
that SkinnerRat are a visual band.
Maybe the book should of included a DVD instead of CD.
I find this
monotonous and tried a number of times to play the CD through but
haven't
succeeded yet. Wagner comes through w/ a few good riffs but they
don't last long.
