photo by t.klick, courtesy of flickr.com

Hooray for Guns N' Roses and all, but let's not forget AC/DC. Even if Guns are the comeback story of the year (though we're not yet sold on Chinese Democracy, and may never be), AC/DC's tale is just as praiseworthy -- maybe even more so. It's one of consistency, reliability and sheer professionalism, an epic that never seems to end and doesn't falter in its enjoyability. AC/DC are a microcosm of rock n' roll as fountain of youth. Angus looks like hell offstage (what is he, 90?), but with a guitar in his hands, he's the eternally mischievous teenager and ever-present rock God, and he and his bandmates still rock with the fervor of a newly signed rock group earning its stripes. Read more...

Shock rock veteran Alice Cooper -- the man who long ago helped turn Rob into a Zombie and provided Manson imagary for a very young Marilyn -- broke a rib last week during a concert in Redmond, Oregon.

After collapsing, Cooper got up and finished the show and most fans figured the fall was part of the performance. While he played a few gigs in the days following the accident, his side continued to ache and when he finally saw a doctor he discovered he had suffered a broken rib and ligament damage. The doc told him it would take three weeks of inactivity and rest to fully recover... What the hell do doctors know?

While he's laying off golf for the moment, Cooper remains on the road. He plays St. Louis tonight and Milwaukee tomorrow. Click "more" to play his Along Came a Spider pinball game (which is safe for broken ribs), hear tracks from the record and read about Cooper's daring escape from a Los Angeles earthquake during a promotional film shoot. Read more...