CasiNotes: Alice in the looking-good glass: At 60, Cooper's happy, healthy, sober and still having fun with blood

FOR ORIGINAL shock-rocker

Alice Cooper

, 60 is the new 30.

"I'm in better shape now than I was when I was 30," bragged Cooper over the phone from wintry Newfoundland. "I was a mess at 30."

There's no secret to the success of the iconic '70s superstar who tomorrow brings his latest blood-splattered extravaganza, "Along Came a Spider," to House of Blues inside the Showboat.

"I'm clean 26 years," he reported. "That's the reason I'm here."

More specifically, Cooper (nee Vincent Furnier) hasn't had a drink since the middle of Ronald Reagan's first term. And make no mistake - back then, the guy seemed to have a brewery-a-day habit. But reality ultimately punched him in his bloodshot eyes.

"It all got to the point where I had to make a decision," he recalled. "Either turn things around or die."

There were those in the music industry who no doubt expected Cooper to fall off the wagon. But then again, the Detroit native who introduced over-the-top, Grand Guignol spectacle to rock-'n'-roll has made a habit of confounding expectations.

He debuted the Alice Cooper concept in an era - the turn-of-the-'70s - when peace and love were the order of the pop music universe. Show business was for the Liberace crowd, and any rock star worth his salt hit the stage in jeans, T-shirt and maybe a fringed suede vest.

But there was Alice, sporting ripped tights and a "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" makeup job, spitting out lyrics about such un-Aquarian topics as "Dead Babies" and the mental deterioration of a criminally insane man ("Ballad of Dwight Fry," which he performed live while extricating himself from a strait jacket).

Not surprisingly, Cooper and his crackerjack five-piece band were dismissed as a freak show destined for a quick trip to obscurity.

"That was one of the biggest hurdles," he said. "People would say, 'What are you guys doing? You can play, but this other crap . . .?'

"But I always looked at [rock-'n'-roll] as show business. How could you go out there in a T-shirt?"

The last laugh, he continued, is his. "Forty years later, I'm still here."

But even for someone abstaining from alcohol, 60 is 60. Screeching two hours of turbo-charged rock five nights a week is physically challenging for someone half Cooper's age. So how does he do it?

"I never smoked cigarettes," he said. "That has a lot to do with it. I know [singers] who smoked all their lives who today can't do more than two shows a week. And I play golf every day. And I used to be a distance runner. I don't think I ever lost that body type. I'm just kinetic. My system's always moving."

Cooper's latest CD, "Along Came a Spider," is much more an aural horror film than a mere collection of songs. The "Spider" of the title is the story's twisted protagonist, a serial killer whose modus operandi is disturbingly arachnid-like (for instance, he binds his victims in silk).

While the material delves into the psychology of sociopaths, Cooper denied having any abiding interest in the subject. Instead, he offered, "It was just the title. 'Along Comes a Spider' - what would that be? Why would this guy take on the attributes of a spider?

"This guy is a maniac. And when you have a maniac, you have a lot of songs. This guy was a lot of fun!" *

House of Blues at Showboat, Boardwalk at Delaware Avenue, 8 p.m. tomorrow, $47-$57, 609-236-2583, www.hob.com/atlanticcity.

A challenge when dining at Borgata is deciding which gourmet restaurant to patronize, as one is better than the next. Now the casino is providing the opportunity to taste several of its eateries at the same time.

A challenge when dining at Borgata is deciding which gourmet restaurant to patronize, as one is better than the next. Now the casino is providing the opportunity to taste several of its eateries at the same time.

On Nov. 8, the complex's Water Club hotel is hosting "Savor Borgata," a one-night-only culinary orgy featuring dishes from celeb chefs Bobby Flay (Bobby Flay Steak), Michael Mina (Seablue), Geoffrey Zakarian (Water Club room service) and Michael Schulson (Izakaya), as well Thaddeus DuBois, who, as White House executive pastry chef, has whipped up munchies for President George W. Bush and his family and guests.

The soiree begins with cocktails at the Water Club's indoor pool, then moves to the tower's second-floor events room where the five-course meal will be served, along with the chefs' explanations of their offerings. *

Borgata, One Borgata Way, 6:30 p.m. (cocktails), 7:30 p.m. (dinner) Nov. 8, $225, 866-692-6742, www.theborgata.com.