KISS To Kiss Off Gear In May Auction
From: SonicNet.com via Mike Hogan
Flamboyant hard rockers to offer practically all the instruments, costumes, memorabilia used since 1974. By Richard B. Simon
Theatrical hard-rock veterans KISS will auction "substantially all" of the instruments, costumes and miscellaneous memorabilia used by the band since 1974. The gear set for the auction blocks is estimated to be worth more than $5 million. "They're probably just tired of housing the stuff," said Bill Hughes, 37, vice president of the New Jersey-based Greg Manning Auctions' Collectibles Division. "Since they got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and announced their breakup [this year], it's probably as good a time as any."

The auction ã co-sponsored by KISS bassist Gene Simmons and singer/guitarist Paul Stanley; Kiss Catalog, Ltd.; Greg Manning Auctions, Inc.; and the eBay online auction house Butterfields (formerly Butterfield & Butterfield) ã is expected to take place in May. It will accept both live and online bidding, and it will feature some type of live appearances by Simmons and Stanley.

The auction will include Simmons' and Stanley's costumes from the band's 1975‚1976 KISS Alive! Tour; original KISS comic book art; the band's first rejection letter from a record company; and original handwritten lyrics to such tunes as "Rock n' Roll All Nite," "Christine Sixteen" and "Calling Doctor Love." The goods will be grouped into chronological lots, by album and tour.

Although original drummer Peter Criss and guitarist Ace Frehley are now merely "contract members" of the band, some of their gear also will be available, Hughes said. Frehley's onstage guitars, some of which shot fireballs out of the neck, are expected to fetch between $5,000 and $25,000 each.

The auction houses anticipate success similar to that of last year's $5 million auction of more than 100 of Eric Clapton's guitars. Hughes also expects a complete drum kit used onstage by late KISS member Eric Carr (who died of cancer in 1991) to be a hot item.

While the venue for the live auction has not yet been chosen, auction items will be on display in San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles. Hughes explained that the auction likely will take place in Los Angeles, with an online agent sitting next to the auctioneer to register online bids.

At least one KISS fan had mixed feelings about the auction. "I'm still a KISS fanatic, but it seems like the last thing that's important right now is the music," KISS memorabilia collector John Candella, 27, of Milford, Conn., said. "It upsets me. It just seems like they want a ton of money right now. ... If they're gonna auction off all their stuff, then maybe they are going to call it quits."

KISS were one of the 1970s' hottest rock bands, wearing outlandish costumes and face paint and inspiring a cult following known as the KISS Army. The band moved through several "unmasked" incarnations after Criss, then Frehley, left. The original lineup reunited to tour in 1996 and recorded 1998's Psycho Circus.

[KISS ASYLUM Note: While in the first paragraph this article from SonicNet says that KISS has " announced their breakup" this is in fact totally inaccurate. KISS has not broken up and in fact is planning on a Spring tour.]

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