Wales Online

A Kiss fan has spent £25,000 on the band’s merchandise and following his favourite band all over the world – and admits his obsession has cost him a few girlfriends.

But devotee Dan Griffiths, who is a dwarf, said the band “who look like freaks” helped him come to terms with who he is.

Having battled with negative feelings about his height, Dan from Aberystwyth credits the American rock band  with giving him confidence during his teens.

Now aged 45, Dan, who has been to 48 of the band’s gigs, and met his heroes on numerous occasions, has a tattoo which covers his entire back with the faces of each band member, and the Kiss logo complete with lightning bolt in the middle.

“I have tried to get their autographs tattooed as well but, even signed with permanent marker, they have never lasted long enough for me to have a tattoo session,” he said.

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Kulick.net

Rock 102

Image courtesy of Courtesy of Bruce Kulick (via ABC News Radio)

Congratulations to former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick , who married his fiancée, Lisa Lane , in Los Angeles on Friday.  In a message posted Sunday on the 60-year-old rocker’s official Facebook page, Kulick wrote, “It was a magical day, with many wonderful memories to share.  Off for my Honeymoon, and some great photos I will be sharing soon.”

Attached to the note was a photo of Bruce’s and his new bride’s hands — sporting their wedding rings, of course.  Kulick also posted another pic showing his wife and him at the reception, raising a glass of wine sitting at their “sweetheart table.”

Kulick’s ex-KISS band mates Paul Stanley , Gene Simmons and Eric Singer all attended the nuptials, and each musician commented on the event in separate online posts.

Stanley took to his Twitter account on Friday to tweet , “My congrats to you and wishing you a beautiful life together!” along with an apparent snapshot of the wedding program.  Paul alsoposted a “selfie” of him and his wife, Erin , at the reception.

Simmons also sent out some Twitter messages on Bruce’s wedding day, including one that read , “All the very best to Bruce Kulick and his lovely bride Lisa on their wedding day. A great party.”

Lastly, Singer uploaded a photo to his official website that shows him signing Bruce and Lisa’s marriage certificate as the happy couple look on.

Kulick was a member of KISS from 1984 to 1996.  He joined Grand Funk Railroad in 2001.

Joel Eastwood | The Star

Tom Linhares, in makeup as the Gene Simmons’ ‘Demon’ persona from the band KISS, takes to the waters of Lake Ontario for the 29th anniversary of the Courage Polar Bear Dip for World Vision at Coronation Park in Oakville.

Greg Wyshynski | Yahoo Sports

When NHL COO John Collins told me about the Dodger Stadium ticket sales for the Los Angeles Kings andAnaheim Ducks – or lack thereof – he said this was going to be a big week in terms of marketing the game. Not only would the Winter Classic put the spotlight on outdoor NHL games, but “the musical act” for the game would be revealed as well.

Yes, the face-painted senior citizens have been revealed as the musical act for the Jan. 25 game, and it’s awesome. You know it’s awesome. You’re going to watch 20 minutes of the Ducks and Kings trying to puck-handle on soft ice, and then you’re going to watch the soft belly of Gene Simmons behind a giant bass as Paul Stanley screeches “Rock and Roll All Night” for the 100,000th time and flames shoot off and everybody parties ev-uh-ree-day.

From the NHL:

“Los Angeles is the premier hub for sports and entertainment in this country and we are honored to be part of an event that fuses both by rocking the first-ever outdoor NHL game in LA,” said Gene Simmons. “Fans can expect a spectacle at Dodger Stadium, similar to the one we will be creating at the Honda Center this season with our new Arena Football team, LA KISS.”

“Our goal with the NHL Stadium Series games is to give our fans an unforgettable experience,” said NHL Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer Brian Jennings. “Having KISS headline our entertainment lineup is the perfect way to make our celebration of hockey in Southern California even bigger and more memorable.”

Gene Simmons is a puckhead, having attended Kings games for years. He also completely blew this surprise on Twitter six days ago, before deleting it.

I love Gene Simmons, by the way, because no man has ever been this shameless in inventing new ways to market his product – see KISS Coffin, KISS condoms and KISS checkers set. The NHL wishes it had an ounce of this man’s hubris; they’d be selling “Winter Classic Snow” in little logo-covered vials if it did.

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Something Else!

Kiss appears set for some sort of appearance featuring its original lineup as part of this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. But Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons aren’t considering any larger-scale reunion.

“It’s like you have great memories of former girlfriends, or whatever,” Stanley says in this Artisan News clip, “but it doesn’t mean you want to spend time with them.”

Stanley and Simmons formed Kiss in 1973 with Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. Frehley was in the group through 1982, and then again from 1996–2002. Criss only lasted through 1980, but has made two returns — from 1996–2001 and then from 2002–04.

“The trouble with getting together with certain people is that you remember why you got separated,” Stanley adds. “We wouldn’t be here today without them, and we couldn’t be here today with them.”

Kiss has moved on with current members Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Together, the group issued its 20th studio album in 2012, called Monster.

“That was then, this is now,” Simmons adds. “I would not be up on stage with anybody else except these three guys.”

Krazy Knights

Bruce Kulick

“Everyone have a wonderful New Year! Be well, be happy, enjoy! Here’s to an amazing 2014!!!”

Dave Lifton | Ultimate Classic Rock

Paul Kane

Given the rock n’ roll lifestyle he’s led, we can expect a lot of juicy gossip in Paul Stanley’s upcomingautobiography. But in a new interview, the Kiss singer says that, in the book, he also discusses something a lot more serious, his lifelong struggle with microtia and partial deafness.

“Y’know, my book is about my life starting from the very beginning and certainly a certain amount of adversity and having a birth defect and being deaf on one side and the family that I came from,” he toldPulse of Radio. “Certainly people have had more adversity in their lives — and some less — but I, I would think some people would get a certain amount of inspiration and a sense that positivity and belief in yourself will ultimately lead you to a great place.”

Microtia is a congenital disease where the external ear is underdeveloped. Stanley suffers from Grade III microtia, which has rendered him deaf in the right ear. It is believed to occur in one out of every 8,000 – 10,000 births.

Although it’s not something he discusses often, Stanley hasn’t kept this a secret. He is an honorary director of AboutFace, a Canadian organization devoted to people with facial differences, and has appeared at many of their fundraising efforts over the years.

Stanley’s memoir, ‘Face the Music: A Life Exposed,’ will be published April 22, 2014.

Matthew Wilkening | Ultimate Classic Rock

Kiss will re-issue nine of their old albums on vinyl in March of 2014, and also release their 1998 effort ‘Psycho Circus‘ on the format for the very first time.

Among the nine titles returning to record store shelves on March 18 are the band’s self-titled debut and sophomore ‘Hotter Than Hell’ albums (both from 1974) as well as their double-live 1975 breakthrough album ‘Alive!‘ — which was already reissued back in 2008. Also arriving are 1976′s ‘Destroyer,’ 1979′s ‘Dynasty,’ 1980′s ‘Unmasked,’ 1983′s ‘Lick it Up,’ 1984′s ‘Animalize’ and 1992′s ‘Revenge.’ No further details about bonus tracks or packaging features have been released so far, although the albums are available for pre-order on Amazon.

 you can find a pattern somewhere in those choices, be sure and let us know; to our eyes this looks like a roughly equal blend of properly recognized classics and acknowledged misfires. There’s also some very curious omissions — hopefully there’s a second wave to follow, with ‘Dressed to Kill, ‘Love Gun,’ ‘Creatures of the Night‘ and so on. And are we the only ones who’d like a non-bootleg copy of ‘Carnival of Souls‘ for our collections?

One thing you can’t question is the timing of this reissue campaign. These records will be out about a month before the group is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. Which is also the same month frontman Paul Stanley‘s autobiography is released.

Boy, it’s almost like they knew it was gonna happen…

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Pagliacci

Eddie Trunk

Cassius Morris

Blabbermouth

KISS members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons will be recognizing their former bandmates at the upcoming Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony next April at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Among the other inductees in the 2014 class are Peter Gabriel, NIRVANA, Linda Ronstadt, Daryl Hall & John Oates, and Cat Stevens. Although Simmons has sworn off ever reuniting with KISS co-founders Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, he tweeted a heartfelt message to all past and present members of KISS congratulating them on the honor: “Congratulations to Ace–Peter–Eric Carr (RIP)- Vinny–Mark (RIP)- Bruce–Tommy–Eric Singer & my partner Paul. And mostly, to The KISS ARMY.”

Seeing as how Simmons thanked former members Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick, many fans are already bracing themselves for a possible performance of all living members of KISS at the Rock Hall. Drummer Eric Carr died in 1991 at age 41 of heart cancer and guitarist Mark St. John died in 2007 at age 51 of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Gene Simmons told Rolling Stone: “KISS is Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. It’s like, if you introduced me to your wife and I go, ‘Wait, where are all the other wives?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, I was married to them and now I’m here.'”

He went on to say that he was open to performing with Criss and Frehley at the ceremony, stating: “They were equally important in the formation of the band. When you have kids with your first wife, you give kudos. The fact you got remarried doesn’t delete or minimize the important. Hey, ‘You have gave birth to this thing, KISS, with Ace, Peter, Paul and Gene.'”

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Cacey Moffitt | Chicagoist

Peter Cade

Can someone give Jann Wenner a well-being check because we’re not exactly sure how he let his guard down long enough to allow KISS to be inducted into his mausoleum to the spirit of Woodstock aka the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The announcement came from up high this week that KISS is part of the class of 2014 inductees—along with Nirvana, Cat Stevens, Linda Ronstadt, Hall and Oates, Peter Gabriel, Beatles producer Brian Epstein, The E Street Band and Andrew Loog Oldham, the legendary producer and manager of the Rolling Stones’ early career. But for KISS to actually make it past the gate keepers at the Hall was kind of surprising, given Wenner’s apparent distaste for anything that sniffs of hard rock or heavy metal.

KISS has been eligible for induction since 1997 but for some reason this is the first year the band was even nominated. Whether you love them or hate them, when you look at the criteria for induction it’s hard to say that KISS doesn’t meet the requirements laid out by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:

Artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Criteria include the influence and significance of the artists’ contributions to the development and perpetuation of rock and roll.

How many bands have been influenced by KISS, either musically or in terms of putting together a killer live show? We’re not even going to try to count. The significance of KISS’s contributions to rock and roll certainly can be debated. Let’s face it, KISS is a cheap thrills act. However, people love cheap thrills and if cheap thrills have no place in popular music then maybe we should scrap it as a whole and try to start all over.

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Peter Criss celebrates his birthday at the Capital Centre December 20, 1977.

eBay

For sale now on eBay – a fresh fruit sculpture melon head with makeup drawn by Gene Simmons.

Seller says it is now in her refrigerator and should last about a week, so, our advice – bid early! It may even make it until Christmas!

See the KISS Melon Head on eBay HERE before it’s gone….literally.

ABC News

NEW YORK (AP) – It’s legacy time for Kiss frontman and co-founder Paul Stanley.

Not only are Stanley and fellow band members being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he has a memoir scheduled to come out less than two weeks after the ceremony.

HarperOne announced Tuesday that Stanley’s “Face the Music: A Life Exposed” is coming out April 22.

The publisher says the book will feature rare photographs and candid memories about his wild life with the mega-selling band.

Earlier Tuesday the Rock Hall announced that Kiss, Linda Ronstadt and Peter Gabriel were among the performers voted in. The ceremony is scheduled for April 10.