Billy Dukes | Ultimate Classic Rock

Frazer Harrison / Paul Kane / Ethan Miller, Getty Images

Almost eight months after opening its doors with a superstar week of rock music, the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy is lining up more talent to raise money for the music school. Alice Cooper and Kiss will be there again, as will Vince Neil, Rob Zombie and others.

The Brennan Academy is located in Sioux Falls, S.D., but the Dec. 5 fundraiser will take place at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Tickets go on sale Oct. 11 at the venue’s website. Reserved seats cost $100, with proceeds going to a school known for offering free music lessons and instruction to kids who otherwise can’t afford them. Rock instruments are the focus.

The school’s founder, Chuck Brennan, is a former concert promoter and friend of both Cooper’s and Kiss’. In March, Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger and Sebastian Bach were part of a week-long celebration at the school that also included sets by comedians George Lopez and Louis Anderson. (Recently, Slash jammed with the kids from Brennan.)

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Michael Sedon | Staten Island Advance

photo – Jan Somma-Hammel

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — KISS’s Peter Criss is a rock ‘n’ roll legend — a man’s man teens idolize and men want to be.

But for a year, he kept a secret because he didn’t know how fans would view him.

Criss is a breast cancer survivor.

“It was embarrassing to talk about, because it’s not a man thing,” Criss told more than 100 students and faculty members gathered in St. John’s University’s Kelleher Center on Thursday for an event to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

After discovering a painful lump while working out six years ago, he visited his doctor, who initially told him it was nothing to worry about before diagnosing him.

“I was freaked out,” Criss said. “Immediately, I went ‘What? Men don’t get breast cancer.'”

Because it was caught in the beginning stages, the growth was removed by
surgery, avoiding the painful regiment of chemotherapy.

For the next year, Criss didn’t tell anyone of the ordeal because he felt embarrassed as a man to have had the disease.

But once he began noticing that there really were not any prominent figures — or any figures for that matter — raising awareness that men can get the disease, he decided to speak out.

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This party is unique in that it has been taking place at the Hard Rock Cafe Miami every October since 2011 when the very first KISS KRUISE was launched. This has therefore now become a beautiful tradition…a tradition we hope you will join us for and be a part of.

You are all cordially invited to attend what is sure to be an AMAZING evening. This is no ordinary party, it is a Benefit for a very worthy cause, the Wounded Warrior Project. 100% of the proceeds from raffles/auctions will go to them.

It is also a chance to get to know fellow KISS fans from far and near in a very special way while sharing the excitement of kicking off what is sure to be the voyage of a lifetime~The KISS KRUISE!

Special Guests:

The one and only….BRUCE KULICK (KISS Guitarist 1984-1996)

MARIA CONTESSA (KISS’ Original Costume Designer; 1974-1983.

Live Performances by:

PRISS (All female KISS tribute band/Winner of “Hottest Tribute Band Contest 2013”  (picked by KISS themselves as well as hundreds of KISS KRUISERS)

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