Cassius Morris

Celebretainment

Gene Simmons has told Justin Bieber to “get a life”.

The KISS rocker has hit out at the ‘Sorry’ hitmaker after he cancelled the remaining dates of his ‘Purpose’ world tour and insisted the 23-year-old pop star has “nothing to complain about”.

Asked if he has any advice for Justin, he told TMZ: “Get a life. You don’t have to worry about anything. You’re rich. In case you didn’t notice, you’re white. You’ve got white privilege b***h. You have nothing to complain about.”

However, the 67-year-old star insisted he still wishes Justin well.

He added: “I wish him well. He’s young; he’s got lots of fans.”

Gene spoke out after Justin addressed the cancellation of 14 concerts for the first time on Instagram.

In a lengthy message, he wrote: “Im so grateful for this journey with all of you.. Im grateful for the tours but most of all I am grateful i get to go through this life WITH YOU.! Learning and growing hasn’t always been easy but knowing I im not alone has kept me going. I have let my insecurities get the best of me at times.

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Blabbermouth

Dey Street Books (formerly It Books), an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, has set a November 14 release date for KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons‘s new book, “On Power: My Journey Through The Corridors Of Power And How You Can Get More Power”.

Simmons told “The Ride With JMV” on 107.5/1070 The Fan that the book is about how “everybody can make more money and actually become relatively rich.” He explained: “There are certainly enough economists in the world who have broken through the glass ceiling and taken the message out there that we’ve always assumed that the top should only be the people that are the smartest and the richest and all that stuff, and that the masses — the great unwashed masses — can never attain the heights, and that is patently untrue.”

In “On Power”, Simmons, multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, and master of self-invention, shares his philosophy on power — how to attain it, how to keep it, and how to harness it as a driving force in business and in life.

As co-founder of KISS, America’s #1 gold record-award-winning group of all time, Simmons knows the thrill and seduction of power firsthand. But gold records alone don’t equal power. The decisions you make once you attain a certain level of success are what separate the pretenders from the pantheon.

Dey Street Books (formerly It Books), an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, has set a November 14 release date for KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons‘s new book, “On Power: My Journey Through The Corridors Of Power And How You Can Get More Power”.

Simmons told “The Ride With JMV” on 107.5/1070 The Fan that the book is about how “everybody can make more money and actually become relatively rich.” He explained: “There are certainly enough economists in the world who have broken through the glass ceiling and taken the message out there that we’ve always assumed that the top should only be the people that are the smartest and the richest and all that stuff, and that the masses — the great unwashed masses — can never attain the heights, and that is patently untrue.”

In “On Power”, Simmons, multi-hyphenate entrepreneur, and master of self-invention, shares his philosophy on power — how to attain it, how to keep it, and how to harness it as a driving force in business and in life.

As co-founder of KISS, America’s #1 gold record-award-winning group of all time, Simmons knows the thrill and seduction of power firsthand. But gold records alone don’t equal power. The decisions you make once you attain a certain level of success are what separate the pretenders from the pantheon.

Inspired by Niccolo Machiavelli‘s “The Prince”, Simmons offers his unique take on the dynamics of power in every realm of life, from the bedroom to the boardroom, to the world of rock, celebrity, and social media, to politics. With one-of-a-kind anecdotes from his life and career, as well as stories from historical and contemporary masters of power, including Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Warren Buffett, Michael Jordon, Oprah and Elon Musk, Simmons crafts a persuasive and provocative theory on how the pursuit of power drives civilization and defines our lives.

The rules of power are changing in today’s fast-paced, hyper-connected world in a way that Machiavelli never could have imagined, and we all need to learn to adapt. Simmons tells readers: Ignore the negatives. Be unrelenting. Rise above the rest. You are the architect of your success.

Simmons‘s last book, “Me, Inc.: Build An Army Of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win In Life And Business”, came out in 2014.

Although Gene has long portrayed himself as the brains behind KISS, his bandmate Paul Stanley‘s memoir, “Face The Music: A Life Exposed”, painted a different picture, with Stanley claiming that Simmons was always more concerned with the Gene Simmons business. According to Keith Spera‘s review of “Face The Music” in The Times-Picayune, Paul wrote in the book that he, along with his therapist at the time, realized in the 1980s that KISS‘s financial managers were acting in bad faith. Other managers — not Simmons — encouraged diversification into a wide and lucrative range of merchandising opportunities.

“I saw the term ‘marketing genius’ used in reference to Gene quite frequently… [and] it turned my stomach,” Stanley wrote of Simmons. “Neither Gene nor I has had an active hand in any significant deals.

“He was no marketing genius. He just took credit for things. It was unwarranted, selfish, and hurtful, and there was no way to excuse it. Calculated strategist? Sure. Genius? No.”

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Star

The bassist withdrew his application to trademark the symbol late last month (Jun17) after receiving backlash from fans and celebrities like Sharon Osbourne, Nikki Sixx and Ronnie James Dio’s widow, and now his Kiss sidekick is weighing in on the controversy, admitting he has no idea what Gene was thinking.
“Well, you know, Gene elicits some very strong reactions from people,” the rocker told the Loudwire Podcast, “and what he does he does for the reasons that only he knows. So I can’t really say that I have really any thought about it.
“It was really something that he wanted to pursue, and the reaction was how people felt about it. So I don’t know why he pulled it, and I don’t know why he started it.”
Simmons initially applied to trademark the symbol for “entertainment, namely, live performances by a musical artist”, and “personal appearances by a musical artist”.
Dio’s widow Wendy criticised Simmons for attempting to trademark the hand sign, telling TheWrap, “To try to make money off of something like this is disgusting. It belongs to everyone – it doesn’t belong to anyone. It’s a public domain, it shouldn’t be trademarked.”

Jason Herndon

Graham Hartmann | Loudwire

On Episode 26 of the Loudwire Podcast, we welcome KISS legend Paul Stanley. Podcast hosts Graham Hartmann and Joe DiVita sat down with Stanley to talk about a potential new KISS album, Gene Simmons’ attempt to trademark the “love” hand sign and much more!

Before the interview with Paul Stanley begins, Graham and Joe take some time to speak about Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. The rock world is still reeling from the vocalist’s suicide, with tributes pouring in from musicians everywhere. Graham and Joe discuss Linkin Park’s impact and legacy while speaking about the issue of mental health, specifically trying to describe what depression feels like to those who don’t suffer from the disease.

Right before KISS’ set at this year’s Chicago Open Air festival, we journeyed backstage to interview Paul Stanley. The KISS legend revealed he’s more excited about the prospect of a new album than he has been in a long time. “As time has passed, I find it becoming more and more enticing — the idea of doing another album,” Stanley describes. “I’m kind of more into it than I was before. For me, it really just comes down to, ‘Is it going to be exciting creatively?’”

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Loudwire

Paul Stanley says that he finds the idea of making a new KISS studio album “more and more enticing” as time goes on.

KISS hasn’t released a full-length disc of new music since 2012’s “Monster”, which sold 56,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on The Billboard 200 chart.

The band’s previous LP, “Sonic Boom”, opened with 108,000 units back in October 2009 to enter the chart at No. 2. This marked the KISS‘s highest-charting LP ever.

Asked by the Loudwire Podcast for his thoughts on the prospect of recording a new KISS CD, Stanley said: “If we’re going to do an album, it would be because we want to do an album, not because of sales. I think we’re living in a time, obviously, now where albums don’t sell what they once did, so you either do it because it’s a creative outlet and because it satisfies something in you, or not. If you’re doing it purely for sales, then you’re probably doing it for the wrong reason. So if we do an album, it’s only gonna be because it feels right to do it. And as time has passed, I find it becoming more and more enticing, the idea of doing another album. For me, the only thing we have to make sure is that we don’t do ‘Son Of Monster’ or ‘Son Of Sonic Boom’. Unless we are in a different direction — not to go to the route of ‘The Elder’ [KISS‘s much-maligned 1981 concept album] — but, again, if we’re doing it for ourselves, then if people like it, that’s great. But the only way to do an album, for me at this point, is to do something that I find intriguing. So I’m kind of more into it than I was before, only because once you set the parameters and your expectations… So, for me, it really just comes down to: is it gonna be exciting creatively?”

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BBC News

The internet has gone udderly wild for a Texas calf’s uncanny resemblance to Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.

The baby cow, named Genie, was born on Friday at a ranch in Kerrville, Texas, and even likes to stick out its tongue like the rocker.

Hill Country Visitor, a tourism agency that promotes the region of Texas Hill, shared the image on Facebook, joking that Simmons could be the father.

Simmons himself was delighted, tweeting: “This is real, folks!!!”

The bovine doppelgänger’s markings quickly drew comparisons to Simmons, who is famous for his long tongue and black-and-white face paint.

Genie was born on a ranch kept by the family of Heather Taccetta, who works at a local steak house.

“Obviously, we can’t serve this fine specimen,” Hill Country Visitor wrote.

“Where were you on or about November 25, 2016?” the website posted, tagging the singer of such hits as Rock and Roll All Night and Detroit Rock City.

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Jody Havenot

Matt Porter