I watched the Learning Channels' "Popular Science" last night. It was pretty cool! KISS had a slot near the middle of the show and they basically went over the scientific aspects of the stage show: flares, gun powder, flash pots, fireworks etc..., The company that does the KISS show is out of Toronto and they are called Pyrotek. They interviewed two gentlemen from the company and asked what exactly happens during the show. Well, they have spotters which keep an eye an the audience and the pyro, and the main guy himself watches the band members to make sure they are in the right positions. If one of the band members is in danger of being "scorched" than they won't flick the pyro switch. All of the pyro is controlled through computer and the controls and pyro are state-of-the art... so it is a lot better stuff than they had in the 70's. One of the interviewees told a story of how they got the job and their audition in front of KISS. They did a mock concert, without the band... they were watching, and they fired controlled rockets straight at the members who were watching. Needless to say, Gene wasn't much of a Demon anymore! You could say he was more like a giddy school child who had just seen a ghost. More to the point, the band loved what Pyrotek could offer and hired them.

As of today, The KISS Asylum proudly welcomes two new pages / sites to the kissasylum.com family.

"KISS fans whose appetite was whetted for more after the band's blockbuster summer tour will be interested to discover that a "new" Ace Frehley solo album is on the way. According to Ice magazine, the album, 12 Picks, will be released March 4 on Megaforce, and will feature six of the "best" tracks from his now hard- to- find solo albums and six new live, unreleased tracks. The latter will include Frehley's versions of such KISS classics as "Cold Gin," "Deuce," "Shock Me," and "Rocket Ride," all of which were recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1989. Ice also reports that the first limited run of the CDs will come with an Ace Frehley pick inside, for those true KISS collectors."

(KA Note: KISS Hell provided the track listing on the Jan 18th News day)

I was hoping to see prototypes of the figures and the packaging, but no such luck. They will be officialy revealed next month at the Annual Toy Fair, and in stores some time in April. I did get to see a black and white photo of them though, and they are KILLER!!! If anyone is familiar with McFarlane Toys and SPAWN, they know how detailed their figures are. The KISS figures are more or less based on the Love Gun/current costumes. Peteršs and Pauls are pretty much accurate, Acešs is close but it has some tube like things coming off of his back. The Gene figure seems the most far out. The costume kind of looks like the one hešs wearing in the KISSNATION comic book, with spikes sticking out all over it. And of course, his famous toungue is sticking out. All of the figures have real hair. The sculpting is pretty good and life-like, yet a little exaggerated to make them appear more heroic and comic-book like. Peter appears to be the most muscular of the four (LOL!). Ace is the skinniest. They will be coming with instruments that change into weapons (Genešs will be the famous "Axe" bass). Peteršs drum sticks will shoot something. It was also mentioned that they may be coming with removable armor, to make the costumes more heroic, etc. One cool thing is that the figures will each come with stands that can be put together to form the KISS logo. Gene comes with the "K," Paul has the "I" and Ace and Peter each come with an "S." The figures will be sold at all of the typical stores (Toys "R" Us, Kay-Bee, Target, etc) as well as at music/record stores.

They said this line will continue on idefinately. Some of the other guys there were KISS fans, but myself and one other appeared to be the most hard-core of the lot. We stressed to them that this line will be huge because it appeals to action figure collectors, comic collectors and KISS collectors. I told them that what KISS fans really want it accurate figures based on all of their original costumes, makeup variations, etc. We told them we want the "Destroyer" costumes, the "Elder" costumes, "Dynasty," etc. Even street suits that look like the cover of "Dressed To Kill" was suggested. I hope they listen to our suggestions, because this is every KISS fanšs dream. I am going to try to get email addresses for McFarlane Toys so we can bombard them with suggestions for these figures.

On funny story was told to me by Todd McFarlane's cousin (who is involved in the marketing of the company). It seems that they met with KISS recently to go over the toys. Peter really wanted his figure to have a cat-tail. Basically, he was really insistent on it and wouldn't shut up about it, even when they were discussing other things. Finally, Gene had to tell him to cool it, but it worked. Peter's figure will have a removable cat-tail with spikes on the end of it.

(KA Note: The KISS Asylum has also heard that news. My guess is that you might want to check out the new Special KISS Metal Edge magazine that comes out in April (hint, hint))

Rock In Park, Nurnberg, May 16th :
8 bands : KISS

1. Gloria Estefan -- 16% (of people voting)
2. LeAnn Rimes -- 11%
3. Los del Rio ("Macarena") -- 10%
4. Alanis Morissette -- 10%
5. Celine Dion -- 9%
6. Smashing Pumpkins -- 6%
7. KISS -- 5%
8. Toni Braxton -- 5%
9. Fugees -- 4%
10. Oasis -- 2%.

If you could hire on of the following musical acts to play at your party, which would it be?

1. Garth brooks -- 20%
2. Barbra Streisand -- 15%
3. Hootie and the Blowfish -- 14%
4. Rolling Stones -- 13%
5. Frank Sinatra -- 9%
6. James Taylor -- 6%
7. KISS -- 4%

If you could ban one of the following musical acts, which would it be?

1. KISS -- 16%
2. Smashing Pumpkins -- 15%
3. Hole, with Courtney Love -- 13%
4. Barbra Striesand -- 8%
5. Hootie and the Blowfish -- 6%
6. Garth Brooks -- 5%
7. Rolling Stones -- 4%
8. Frank Sinatra -- 4%

(TKA Note: In this message Bruce is addressing the KISS chat that he quickly attended a few days ago and about how some people had the nerve to bring up the 'Ace vs Bruce' debate at the chat with Bruce right there in the room!!!)

(KA Note: I left out the reasons why he stopped doing it as it is his story to tell and I want to respect his privacy)

It will be previewd on Ace Radio (http://acefrehley.com/audio) with an interview from Richie himself...

The album is called Wise Guy from New York and you will be able to order it online at the Axis Records web site... http://members.aol.com/AxisRecord

Kiss on TV in Japan:
*Spaceshower TV, January 1st, 19:00-21:00
*Music Station, January 17th , 20:00

Shuffle box for remastered CDs will be available from middle of February until the end of April directly from Mercury Music Entertainment Japan. You will be able to get a box if you purchased at least six of the remastered CDs (point collection system, no need to buy them all at once).

The song list is:
MVP (TNT)
Packanoid (Paranoid)
Lair Of The Pack (Hair Of The Dog)
Green & Gold (Purple Haze)
Take Us All The Way (Dance the Night Away)
Green Bay Pack City (Detroit Rock City)

A portion of this project is dedicated to people with developmental disablilties in Northeastern Wisconsin. 105.7 WAPL also has a web sit at http://www.wapl.com

Also, in a recent post from Gerri Miller on the Metal Edge AOL bbs she said:
"An exhausting but productive day--talked to Peter Criss on the phone and then spent the afternoon at Gene Simmons' place, where we talked for about two hours (he went out and brought back lunch for us) and went through material for the second KISS special. There are some interesting developments, but I'll have to review the tape for details since I'm fairly fried right now."

1. Most if not all of the stage show was still in Europe and probably won't be on this mini-leg of the tour. This was visible at the show by the lack of the inflated dolls behind the stage. It doesn't look much different, though I think there was a bit less pyro than I remember from shows last July in Boston.

2. When the band went to their catered preshow meal next to their dressing rooms, Paul took a look at what was offered and said something to the effect of "What the hell is THIS?" He then walked over to the banquet area where the crew was eating, saw what they had, walked back and got the rest of the band and they all ate with the crew.

3. I caught a quick look at the band's meals rider. What does the band drink when they're onstage? Paul and Peter have Pepsi, Ace prefers Squirt and Dr. Pepper. Gene? Diet Coke.

4. The opening band, the 4th Floor, apparently got the gig because their manager is a very old friend of Paul's.

About the setlist, they have added "Come on and Love Me" as the second tune. Also added was "I Stole Your Love" and missing was "Rock Bottom". A funny moment happened when between songs later in the set Paul announced "We have a new light man...Brian, turn down the fucking lights!!!" They went down REAL FAST... All in all, they sang and played great. They also looked lean, mean, and rested.

Finally, we all are fimiliar with the fact that the band produces concert T's that celebrate the night (nights) of the performance in the city they are in. They did make some for the New Years Eve show BUT were VERY hard to get. Apparently there were only approximately 500 made. I could not get my hands on one as they were sold out even before the opening band played their first (and painful) note. Other cool, new shirts were available but the "Meltdown at the Meadowlands" ones were sold out quick. The front was a live picture of the band (new stage and all!) with the back having the back cover picture on You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best. Very cool shirt.