Category Archives: KISS News

Ace Contest

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Michael Brandvold

It is the Summer of Ace Frehley at Three Sides of the Coin and we are keeping the summer exciting by giving away three Ace Frehley Ultimate Vinyl Bundles! It is easy to enter, just head over to www.threesidesofthecoin.com/contest/ and enter your email address, that’s it, done!
Each of the bundles contain the following Ace Frehley vinyl releases:
BRONX BOY E.P. NUMBERED
ORIGINS VOL. 1
SPACE INVADER PICTURE DISC
ANOMALY DELUXE

Gene Simmons makes surprise appearance at meeting of Millard principals

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Michael O’Connor | World Herald

A group of Millard school principals got a surprise visit Tuesday from a guy who likes to rock and roll all night. And party every day.

Gene Simmons, bassist for the rock band Kiss, showed up at a back-to-school kick-off meeting for Millard Public Schools administrators.

Simmons was in Omaha to perform a private benefit concert for two local nonprofit groups, Global Partners in Hope and Avenue Scholars.

Avenue Scholars CEO and President Ken Bird, who is friends with Millard superintendent Jim Sutfin, asked Simmons if he’d pay the principals a visit to get their school year started with a bang.

Rebecca Kleeman, a spokeswoman for the Millard district, said the rock star told the group about his life before his music career, including a stint as a teacher.

Simmons talked about the importance of building trust with students and helping their imaginations grow.

She said Simmons was charming and generous with his time, posing for numerous pictures before he left.

Only Bird, Sutfin and a couple of others at the gathering knew Simmons was going to show up, so most of the 80 or so others at the meeti Continue reading →

GENE SIMMONS: ’27: The Legend And Mythology Of The 27 Club’ Book Due In October

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Blabbermouth

“27: The Legend And Mythology Of The 27 Club”, the inaugural release of the new Simmons Books series, is Gene Simmons‘s witty, insightful, and no-B.S. take on the myth, and the actual people, that make up the “27 club” — the groundbreaking musicians, artists, and celebrities who died at the age of 27, frozen in the collective consciousness at the zenith of their creative output.

The summer of 1969 was a momentous one in modern history. It was a season punctuated with change. Apollo 11 landed on the moon, thousands of young fans flocked to rock ‘n’ roll festivals like Woodstock and the controversial Altamont Freeway concert, the Manson Family cult were on a high-profile killing spree, and the first uprisings that would become the Stonewall Riots began. It was an electric summer of violent endings, new beginnings, and social unrest.

It was also the summer that a myth was born–beginning with the tragic, untimely death of THE ROLLING STONES founder Brian Jones. The world soon lost two more huge music stars: Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Not only did losing these three beacons of music culture seem to signal the end of a musical era, it also felt like a foreboding sign; they had all died at exactly the same age. All three had lost their lives at the pinnacle of their creative output, and all three were exactly 27 years old.

People have speculated that there could be a dastardly lineage, from the poisoning of blues pioneer Robert Johnson in 1938, through these icons of the ’60s, and more recently to rebel chanteuse Amy Winehouse‘s death from alcohol poisoning in 2011. Could it be a twisted fate that the world’s very best creative souls come to early, often violent, deaths at just 27 years old? Over time, this idea began to be known as, “the 27 club,” and it has persisted in the public imagination.

In “27: The Legend & Mythology Of The 27 Club”, rock ‘n’ roll icon Gene Simmons takes a deep dive into the life stories of these legendary figures, without giving credence to the romanticized idea that being in the “club” is somehow a perverse privilege. Simmons wills us to acknowledge the extraordinary lives, not the sensational deaths, of the musicians and artists who left an indelible mark on the world.

Gene told the WRIF 101.1 FM radio station that he didn’t really set out to write a book that would play up the supernatural aspects of the “club” — instead, he wanted to talk about what lies at the root of self-destructive behavior.

“It’s really about when you become rich and famous and everybody admires you, what is that thing that makes people destroy themselves, even to die? What is that?” Simmons said. “The rest of the world adores you and your fans love you and they give you money and fame and all that, and then you kill yourself. I don’t get it.”

Simmons is the co-founder of KISS — America’s #1 gold-record-award-winning group of all time in all categories (RIAA), Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees since 2014, and 45 years strong as one of rock’s most influential bands. With KISS, Simmons has recorded 44 albums and sold over 100 million records worldwide, and the band continues to sell out stadium tours today. Simmons is also a bestselling author, boasting New York Times bestsellers “Me, Inc.”and “On Power” among others, and has founded a number of hugely successful businesses, including the restaurant chain Rock & Brews.

“27: The Legend & Mythology Of The 27 Club” will be released on October 2 via powerHouse Books.

GENE SIMMONS DISCUSSES EX-KISS MEMBERS APPEARING ON UPCOMING TOUR: ‘WE TALKED ABOUT IT’

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Loudwire

Last month, Gene Simmons revealed that a three-year long KISS tour is set to launch in January. Now, in a recent interview, he addressed whether any former members of the band would be taking part in the shows, saying that the subject has been discussed, though no plans have been set in stone.

“We talked about it. But we have not decided anything,” Simmons tells Imperiumi. “The problem is if you bring out a special guest, they come on without makeup. They do. We have not really gotten that far. You can not put on the makeup. You’ve been out of the band 20 years. It’s not going to happen. And it’s a difficult question because if we did bring anybody who was in the band, they could not put on the makeup.”

Simmons has been on the road as part of the celebration of his 50 years in rock and roll where he does meet and greets and delivers his 150 track box set The Vault to fans who have purchased the collection. At designated locations, buyers of the set receive a pre-pack and join a small group of other fans for “Songs and Stories” from The Vault and a Q&A with Simmons.

Original KISS members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss have taken part in recent Vault events; even long estranged guitarist Vinnie Vincent has joined the Demon in the intimate setting. Simmons has also co-written two songs for the next Frehley solo album.

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NJ rock music: Remembering when future KISS members played a ninth-grade dance in Linden

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My Central Jersey

LINDEN — The year was 1971. Students at the Linden school, which then housed grades 7 through 9 and was known as McManus Junior High School, were getting ready for their ninth-grade spring dance and needed a live band.

The instrumental music teacher at the time, Brooke Ostrander, offered up his band, which played original songs and some contemporary rock hits of the time from such bands as the Moody Blues, the Rolling Stones, and Jethro Tull. Ostrander, who had just started his career at McManus in January 1969, played keyboards and flute for the band, known as Wicked Lester.

While those names may sound unfamiliar, the names of two of Ostrander’s bandmates from that night may ring a bell: Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley — founding members of the legendary rock band KISS.

KISS made its debut in 1974 and went on to be one of the biggest rock bands of the ’70s, known for songs such as “Rock and Roll All Nite.” KISS sold out stadiums to fans drawn by its ground-shaking sound, glam-rock costumes, and, of course, one-of-a-kind makeup, which kept the members’ faces hidden from the public for years.

But in 1971, Simmons and Stanley were in a small New York-based band that was known first as Rainbow and then Wicked Lester, playing small gigs at an armory, a college campus and a youth convention.

And at least one in Linden, according to multiple sources, with a keyboard and flute player whose full-time job was as a band teacher at McManus.

News of the McManus show resurfaced this year when Mark Kohut, art teacher at School No. 8 and School No. 9, was reading “KISS: Behind the Mask – Official Authorized Biography” by David Leaf and Ken Sharp, which was published by Grand Central Publishing in 2008. The book talked about the band’s early days, including Ostrander’s contributions to Rainbow and Wicked Lester.

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The KISS Room – July 2018

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Matt Porter

KISS ARMY – cool off in THE KISS ROOM! Matt Porter is joined by Bobby Dreher and Alex Richter with guests: * BOBBY ROCK, talking about his new book: “This Boy Is Gonna Rock, a drummer’s journey from Houston to Hollywood in search of hair metal heaven” * CHRIS CZYNSZAK from the Decibel Geek Podcast talking about the Nashville Rock Pod Expo 2 * THE KISS ROOM HOUSE BAND™ (Fran Galanti, Steve Foerst, Jim Zagiel, Bobby Dieckmann, with Diana Zagiel and KISS Kidz Miabella and Beth! and MORE! Originally broadcast live on Friday, JULY 13, 2018 via Montco Radio.