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 All news should be considered an unconfirmed report unless verified, and all information published at KISS Asylum is attributed to the source from which it was received so that readers may judge the validity of the statements for themselves. All information is confirmed where possible, and all publication is governed by common sense.
From: Miami Hearld GENE SIMMONS and his fellow KISS bandmates once fretted that their image had become too cartoonish. Too much merchandising and a move toward pop and disco in the late '70s and a silly NBC movie, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, had the hard rock quintet morphing into the realm of family entertainment. Imagine what that late '70s GENE SIMMONS would make of this GENE SIMMONS, now on display in A&E's new warm-'n'-fuzzy reality series, GENE SIMMONS Family Jewels. This Gene doesn't spit blood. He cleans the kitty-litter box. He doesn't take Polaroid pics of his naked groupies -- at least, not in the first few episodes -- but chuckles in bemusement after farting in bed and grossing out his longtime partner, Shannon Tweed, who handles this new and (?) improved bad boy with good humor. Simmons may not have written a Top 40 hit since 1977's Christine Sixteen, but he and Tweed, the 1982 Playboy Playmate of the Year he gleefully refuses to marry despite 23 years together, may have contributed something of more value to the world: two seemingly well-adjusted, genial children in 17-year-old Nick and 13-year-old Sophie. If Family Jewels is nothing more than a rip-off of MTV's previous reality series, The Osbournes, Simmons and his near-missus top Ozzy and Sharon in the parenting department from what we can see here. Nick and Sophie aren't foul-mouthed brats like Jack and Kelly, and the teetotaler Simmons would never appear in public as a fried buffoon -- or, worse, like Britney and Kevin, Whitney and Bobby, and others on post-Osbournes reality shows. The series is entertaining when we witness Simmons, the mogul, meddling in Nick's fledgling rock band by booking a gig before the young band feels ready, hyping it at a music industry convention, even hiring a plane to fly a banner touting the gig and volunteering to play bass. Unfortunately, Simmons still tries to cultivate a sex pig image here and there on Family Jewels. At his age (56), this feels forced and trite, and more than a little crude. Now that's GENE SIMMONS. |
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