The bass player for Alice Cooper mixed metaphors at the Hard Rock Cafe Lake Tahoe last week.

He sang “School’s Out,” while he in fact was raising money for his alma mater.

Nearly $2,000 was raised for the music program at South Tahoe High School during an event that celebrated Chuck Garric’s rock ‘n’ roll career.

The 1985 STHS grad donated a bass guitar Oct. 16 to the Harveys Resort and Casino restaurant where he played a set of songs with Alice Cooper band members Damon Johnson, Keri Kelli and Jimmy DeGrasso. A few hours later the musicians were joined by Alice Cooper for a concert before a sellout crowd at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.

“I’ll never forget it,” Garric said. “It was like a career homecoming to me.”

Perseverance led to Garric’s success in the music industry. He played in a handful of bands in South Lake Tahoe before moving to Los Angeles where he played in more bands and attended Dick Grove School of Music. He steadily joined higher-profile bands until 2002 when he became a member of Alice Cooper’s band.

Garric says his professional ascent would have been easier if he’d taken music classes in high school.
“That’s why I wanted to draw attention to it,” Garric said.

Hard Rock’s marketing manager, Natalie Yanish, said more than $2,000 was raised for the music program from nearly 250 people who attended the event, which concluded with a musical set from South Lake Tahoe punk rockers Ninja Slaughterhouse.

Because DeGrasso’s Tahoe arrival time was uncertain, Garric prepared the local band to perform with him.
Lead singer Chad Davis admitted he was relieved to see DeGrasso and the other Alice Cooper players arrived on time.

“Those are great guys and they have a great band,” Garric said of the Ninja crew — Davis, Chris Nungary, Marc “Monkey” Jensen, Adrian Mills and Ian Beightler.

“The bass will be shipped to Orlando, Fla., where the Hard Rock headquarters are, and it will be catalogued, authenticated and insured,” Yanish said. “Then at some point one of the memorabilia department’s staff will bring it to the cafe and install it.

“I was starstruck when Chuck played in the cafe with Jimmy, Damon and Keri, and they were the coolest, easiest-going guys. Chuck was the one who really put the party together and wanted to support the high school music program.”

Across the street, a raucous crowd witnessed what might have been the loudest show ever performed in the historic, 50-year-old South Shore Room. At the end of the show when Alice Cooper introduced each band member, the greatest cheer came when the macabre theater-rock pioneer broke character and broadly smiled and shouted, “From Lake Tahoe, Chuck Garric!”

The bassist ran to the front of the stage and played a solo.

“It was a sweet ending to the evening,” Garric said.