News Archive March 2011

A Gene Simmons KISS And Tell
From: JewishJournal.com
by David Bertola
Posted: March 13, 2011

Growing up in Hamburg, Joe Kontrabecki III was a huge KISS fan.

"They meant a lot to me, and Gene Simmons seemed larger than life," said Kontrabecki, co-founder of Phoenix Marketing & Apparel LLC in Elma.

Today, at 41, Kontrabecki has photos of Gene Simmons. But they're different than what he may have had in his room as a kid. That's because the rock star autographed them, and Kontrabecki is posing with him.

From 2002 to 2005, Kontrabecki was living the dream as Simmons was among his freelance Web design clients. At the time Kontrabecki was in the midst of a 15-year span where he was creative director for Stereo Advantage/Tony Walker. When he first had heard Gene Simmons was getting into the magazine publishing business to produce "Gene Simmons' Tongue Magazine" with a virtual nationwide staff, Kontrabecki built a website to pitch himself.

"It touted my abilities, my affinity for KISS and explained why they needed me," Kontrabecki said.

After submitting it, some time passed and he hadn't heard from anyone. So he made a hardcover book version of it and shipped it overnight to Simmons' business partner, Allen Tuller.

"The next night, I was sweeping the garage and the phone rang," Kontrabecki said. "It was Allen Tuller, who asked me if I was interested in becoming the webmaster for the magazine."

Kontrabecki, of course, said, "yes." Tuller told him to expect a call from someone else with more details about the job and expectations. That someone else was Simmons, who called the next day. After hanging up with Simmons, Kontrabecki asked himself in disbelief, "Did that just happen?"

Then, while working on the website, the magazine designer left midway through an issue, and Kontrabecki was asked to complete it. He remained magazine designer and earned $5,000 per issue, plus his webmaster fee. Six issues of Tongue were published every year for around three years until it closed down.

While he never found out what led to the magazine's demise, Kontrabecki suspects a glut of other men's magazines jockeying for advertising money may have been one reason. Regardless Kontrabecki loved the experience, and said working alongside Simmons was a privilege. He found the rock star to be funny, self-deprecating, humble and accessible.

Plus, Kontrabecki has good stories to tell. In one, he was at dinner with Simmons in New York City that ended with Simmons giving him his tickets and backstage passes for a Guns N Roses concert. And each time a magazine was completed, a party was thrown. It was a Hollywood Who's Who, and Kontrabecki, too.

"To be thrust into this scene was surreal," said Kontrabecki, who also got to visit Simmons at his Beverly Hills home. At one meeting, Simmons was considering starting a record label. They were talking about demo tapes, Kontrabecki said, when Simmons reached behind his desk and dug out Van Halen's demo tape, which dates back to around 1977.

Simmons is credited in music lore as discovering Van Halen. At Simmons' website, it says he produced their 15-song demo. Kontrabecki remembers thinking to himself, "There I was, sitting in Gene Simmons' home office, listening to the Van Halen demo tape," Kontrabecki said.

"Not too shabby."