Steel Notes Magazine
Dennis: So now it’s like, well what are you going to see the hang-
ing or the guillotine? [ Laughter ]
Alexxis: Choices, choices!
Dennis: It’s still the same! It’s like
there’s more ways to execute some-
body if you have to keep executing
someone. [ Laughter ]
Alexxis: [Laughter ] Right.
Dennis: I just thought all of a sudden
it turned into the sort of people
when they go, they get what they ex-
pect and there’s nothing wrong with
that except it went totally against
what we wanted to do. We wanted to
because we had a million ideas all the
way back when we were just starting
out. We just didn't have the money
to do it. So now when we finally were
about to sign a new contract and had
the money to do these ideas, now all
of a sudden the rug was pulled from
under us. So it was a very difficult
time and I put it all behind me, I had
some dark years where thank God I
had Cindy and she would come in the
room where I’m sitting in a rocking
chair sort of pouting. And she would
be like “Is this what you’re going to do? Is this what you’re going
to do with the rest of your life?”
Alexxis: That is a shame; it must have been really rough for you...
Dennis: She was right you know? The good thing about it Cin-
dy and I had decided too when we were out on the road for all
those years that we were going to have a family someday but we’re
going to first wait until we're done doing all this traveling because
when we have a family we want to be there with our kids and all
that. So that worked out perfectly because we had two wonderful
daughters and I was home to raise them you know, and my artistic
inclinations shifted from me getting things out and painting a
picture to me getting out everything that my kids needed to paint
a picture. If they were doing a water color and needed clean water
I would run down to the kitchen and get some clean water for
them. [ Laughter ]
Alexxis: Those were precious times for you.
Dennis: I got a video camera and oh boy, we have a million hours
of them putting on shows and I was home! So that was really the
blessing.
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Steel Notes Magazine
www.steelnotesmagazine.com
Spring 2017
Alexxis: So you were lucky that way because a lot of artists obvi-
ously if they’re touring and and having kids they miss out on all
that and those years of their kids growing up you know?
Dennis: It’s tough you know and some people are more cut out
for that
obviously like entertainers like Bob Hope
and you know Phyllis Diller, people that
spend their whole lives in it, they are
entertainers and that are what they are
on this earth for, and Alice falls into that
category. Me, it was more like the creating
an artistic statement and creating a way
to present it to people was the whole
thing and getting out there and being on
the road so long that you would wake
up and not know what town you were in
and not even care what town you were
in and having The Holiday Inn Menu
memorized, that wasn’t my thing you
know? [ Laughter ]
Alexxis: [ Laughter ] I can imagine!
Dennis: You know, Alice manages to do
it well because of course his wife Cheryl
is an amazing dancer and entertainer
in her own right and so she’s out with
him again. She took a break for a while
when their kids were younger and their
daughter Calico was in the show so you
know they manage as well as they can
but Alice is still doing hundreds of shows every year.
Alexxis: Oh yes, absolutely, ok so then at this point you raised
your kids, and your oldest daughter’s name is Renee right?
Dennis: Yes
Dennis: Yes she's a self-motivated person and a go getter and she
decided she wanted to be a singer but when the record industry
was starting to belly up she was hip to that and she decided to go
Corporate and said “Well it’s very unlikely I’ll make any money
in music so I’ll go this other direction.” And then she gave up a
successful corporate job to volunteer for a special unit of the AS-
PCA helping animals that were busted from hoarder cases or dog
fighting rings so she’s gone back to something else that she loves.
Our daughters grew up with Saint Bernard’s, Cindy and I had four
of them.
Alexxis: That’s awesome!
Dennis: The first one lived with The Alice Cooper Group in Pon-
tiac, Michigan and then it also lived at the mansion in Greenwich.
So after that we got another one then we got another one then we
got another one, not all at the same time. One at a time, but our
daughters grew up with Saint Bernard’s and have that love of ani-