GENE SIMMONS’s ‘On Power’ Book: More Details Revealed

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 ChurchillNapoleon BonaparteWarren BuffettMichael JordonOprah and Elon MuskSimmons 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-PicayunePaul 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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Paul Stanley has no idea why Gene Simmons attempted to trademark hand symbol

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.”

Loudwire Podcast #26 – KISS’ Paul Stanley + RIP Chester Bennington

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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PAUL STANLEY Finds The Idea Of Making Another KISS Album ‘More And More Enticing’

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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Texas calf resembles Kiss rocker Gene Simmons

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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Are you in these photos? KISS rocks the Cow Palace in 1977

Peter Hartlaub | SF Gate

San Francisco played host to Elvis Presley’s shaking hips, the Rolling Stones after “Sticky Fingers” was released, and Menudo when the multilingual boy band was eliciting its loudest screams.

But few concerts in Bay Area history struck simultaneous terror in the minds of conservative adults and joy in the the hearts of young rock and roll fans, as Kiss at the Cow Palace on Aug. 16, 1977.

“Sixteen thousand kids put up $6.50 apiece to catch tiptoe glimpses of the four silversuited contortionists from New York who constitute the rock group known as Kiss,” Chronicle reporter Steve Rubenstein wrote in an article that appeared two days later. “It was dazzling, deafening and looked outrageously profitable.”

The concert was part of the Bill Graham Presents Mid-Summer Music Festival, which included the Ramones at Winterland, and Led Zeppelin playing a Day on the Green concert at Oakland Coliseum. Opening for Kiss was the mostly unknown Cheap Trick, misidentified by The Chronicle as “Cheap Tricks.”

Kiss and the Cow Palace were both at the peak of their powers in 1977. But looking back on The Chronicle’s coverage, there were two other notable elements:

• The band performed on the day Elvis died — a fact that many young concert-goers didn’t realize until Kiss sang a tribute to the King near the end of the concert.

• Chronicle photographer Stephanie Maze focused her lens on the young crowd, taking dozens of photos that captured the feral joy of a 1970s rock concert. The resulting photo essay, which mostly went unpublished, included children as young as 10.

Kiss had released the albums “Alive,” “Destroyer,” “Rock and Roll Over” and “Love Gun” in a two-year period before the concert, and had just been named by a Gallup poll the most popular band in America. The band was entering the final stretch of the 1977 “Love Gun” tour through Canada and the U.S., so their voices were hoarse, but the stage show was polished.

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KISS’ Paul Stanley Picks Floyd Mayweather Over Conor McGregor – Podcast Preview

Graham Hartmann | Loudwire

For Loudwire Podcast #26, we’ve got an exclusive interview with KISS legend Paul Stanley! In this podcast preview, Paul breaks down the massively anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor.

Just a few hours before KISS’ performance at Chicago Open Air, we went backstage to speak with the iconic Starchild. After asking if he feels any pressure to write a new KISS album, as it could possibly be the band’s final recording, Stanley mentioned that even the greatest boxing champions got knocked out towards the end. When it comes to KISS’ legacy, Stanley already feels it’s golden, regardless of how a potential final album is received by fans and critics.

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Alive! ’75: The Evolution Continues

Anthony De Lucia, Jr. | alive75.com

It has been less than three years since Alive! ’75 burst onto the scene, entertaining fans in the northeastern United States with their “ultimate classic KISS tribute” experience.  Each year has proven bigger than before, and this year is no exception as they continue to innovate and push the boundaries in the KISS tribute space.  We caught-up with Anthony De Lucia, Jr., the band’s  manager and “Demon” to discuss a few highlights from the first half of the year, as well as their plans for the future.
“This year kicked-off with a BANG!” says Anthony, “including our very first international show.  We’d been kicking around an idea for an Alive! / Alive II double-bill for a while but we needed to find the right venue or event to host the show and we needed the right tribute band to partner with.  Most fans we spoke with were very excited by the idea and we were determined to make it happen – we just needed the right opportunity.”
 
That opportunity presented itself in Montreal, at the “Rockin’ New Year’s Bash!” thanks to Pasquale Vari of The KISS Army Nation Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/kissarmynation).  “We then connected with KISSed” said Anthony.  “They are a phenomenal KISS tribute – real pros that do a great job.  The energy and excitement in their performance is like no other we’ve seen.  But even more than that, they are a great group of guys that love what they do.  They are Montreal-based and we were honored to have shared the night with them in their home town.”
Then in February the Band was contacted and asked to perform at the NYC KISS Expo planned for June.  “We were totally flattered to be considered” says Anthony.  “The special guest line-up included Peter Criss and Bruce Kulick.  We were very excited to be a part of this event.  Unfortunately, it turned into a nightmare, a complete logistical nightmare…”
Anthony continued, “It was very memorable for all of the wrong reasons.  Completely inadequate support made for an extremely frustrating and stressful day – for fans and guests alike.  We’ve chronicled the entire experience in our “Stories from the NYC Expo” (www.facebook.com/notes/alive-75/stories-from-the-nyc-kiss-expo/1381908288568972/), for anyone interested in the gory details.  Thankfully, the story had a happy ending – at least it did for the die-hard fans that muscled through it with us right to the end.”

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Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley To Open Rock ‘N’ Roll Restaurants In Chicago

The Eagle

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS are bringing their Rock & Brews restaurant chain to Chicago with plans to open 10 to 15 locations in the city

The Chicago Tribune reports that the rockers plan to expand the chain over the next five to seven years with the first Chicago-area restaurant scheduled to open next year, though the location is still being negotiated.

An expansion that large is considered a risky gamble. The 67-year-old Simmons said, “Either Chicago is America or it’s not. Everywhere we’ve gone, it works beyond expectation. The only thing you could say is, it’s not going to work here because we’re in Zimbabwe.”

He added, “Look, we’re not McDonald’s, we’re in a higher end, but when it works, boy, it works. When a brand gets it right for their audience, it can work almost anywhere.”

Since launching in 2012, Rock & Brews has grown to 20 locations in the U.S. and Mexico. They offer rock-themed casual dining with a wide variety of locally brewed craft beer on tap. Each location has 30 to 40 televisions, playing sports and rock videos.

The plan is to get to 100 locations in the next five years.