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Rockstar's Dinner With PAUL STANLEYFrom: Kris Kancler Posted: October 20, 2008 It all started when the management from the beautiful Wentworth gallery decided that their biggest connoisseurs of PAUL STANLEY paintings should be rewarded with an exclusive "invitation only" private dinner party with the artist himself. Since my brother already has the largest and most extensive PAUL STANLEY guitar collection known to man, it was a no brainer that he would also strive for eventually owning the largest PAUL STANLEY art collection as well. That's how he rolls - over the top with everything he does! Together, we have collected 14 art pieces and feel very fortunate that we are able to enjoy these in our home on a daily basis. Marc and I, I mean, Rock and I decided to fly into Washington D.C. the night before the event to catch up on some much needed shopping in the area. By doing this, we were also ensuring that we would not be late for the dinner party with Paul to be held the next day. Anyone that knows Rock knows he is always late. After all, he is a Rock Star. The gallery was located in an upscale shopping center that is adjacent to the Ritz, our hotel, so we had plenty of access to all the shopping that we could want on a Friday night. The next day was the big event. Before the dinner, we attended a gallery VIP party at noon. This was held exclusively for people who purchase PAUL STANLEY's art and is great because it allows those who have purchased Paul's art the chance to meet him and have the artwork singed personally by him. Rock and I have followed him around the country to attend these shows, with this being our 6th, just to get a chance to share with him how wonderful and significant his artwork is to us. We go not only because we are huge fans of his accomplishments throughout his career, but because we truly appreciate what he is able to do with a blank canvas every time his brush touches it. After the VIP party, we had some more time to kill before the big dinner event. We met a couple named Joe and Lisa while shopping who would also be in attendance during the dinner party. In an instant, they went from being strangers to becoming friends. Joe and Lisa proved once again that the nicest people in the world are KISS fans. After spending more time in the mall, we treated them to lunch at the Ritz and before we knew it, it was time to go back to our hotel room and get ready to have dinner with the great PAUL STANLEY!
We entered the lobby of the Ritz promptly at 6:15pm. Paul and special guest, TOMMY THAYER, arrived at 6:30. As Joe, his beautiful wife, Rock, and I started to mingle with the other KISS fans, we soon took notice of Paul and Tommy already making the rounds and conversing with the other coupes in attendance. It wasn't but a few minutes before Paul came over to us and started chatting. However, it wasn't Paul talking about Paul. He was genuinely interested in joining our already existing conversation and as soon as I noticed this, I knew we were in for a really intimate and personal dinner with him and Tommy. With the exception of Rock Star, there were to be no egos that night - just fans of Paul's amazing art. After our conversation with Paul ended, another one began with Tommy. Tommy couldn't be any more accommodating to his fans. He is a true class act. We would have many more conversations with him during and after dinner. There were approximately 30 guests invited to this gathering. As you can imagine, this would have made for quite an uncomfortable and crowded group if sat at one table. So to make the best use of our time with Paul and Tommy, the Wentworth management came up with the great idea of separating us all into four different tables, thus maximizing our quality time with each of them. At our table sat the management, our new friends Joe and Lisa, along with some other new acquaintances from all parts of the country. There were about 8 to 10 people per table. The plan was that Paul and Tommy were to share their time with each table per course. Since we were last in rotation, we were lucky enough to have them sit with us at our table for dessert. Paul and Tommy's time at our table was amazing. My brother even got a chance to arm wrestle Paul himself! The rest of us shared our stories of KISS with Paul and Tommy and there was not one question left unanswered by them. Nothing was out of bounds. We were now amongst friends. Every step of this event was planned perfectly by a woman from the gallery named Irma. She even went so far as making sure that each course had some item on our dish that was to be in the shape of a star. What an amazing meal, what an amazing night! After dinner and having spent so much quality time talking and conversing with Paul and Tommy than I ever thought would be possible, we were treated to an acoustic set from the legends themselves. As each were handed a guitar, we were relocated to a corner of the room and we each were given a seat with a front row view. Everyone was a VIP tonight, everyone got front row. As Paul sat down, he informed us that he would take requests for some KISS tunes as well as any Beatles tune that we wanted to hear. His voice was great, and Tommy and Paul's timing together was perfect. You would have thought that they were in the studio recording a CD. It was a fantastic set which songs included, in order: Hard Luck Woman, Shandi, Forever, You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, It's Only Love, I Should Have Known Better, Rock and Roll All Night, and finally, with an audience member who was lucky enough to strum alongside Paul himself, Strutter. The night ended with Paul signing whatever anyone brought to him. I had him sign a paintbrush and jokingly told him that he needs to release his own line of signature brushes. I asked him why he had not yet done this and to my surprise, his reply was, "I guess I hadn't thought of that one yet." With this, we reminded Paul and Tommy that Rock and I owe much of our great marketing sense to what KISS has been able to do year after year, decade after decade, and that is to keep the masses wanting more from the greatest band on earth. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine I would be having dinner with the greatest guys on earth that make up the greatest band in the world. Rock and I look forward to working together with the both of you in the near future but in the meantime you can see us at www.rockstarrockstar.com. Thanks for dinner, guys! |
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