KFBK News Radio

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced the nominees for its Class of 2014. In alphabetical order:

• Paul Butterfield Blues Band
• Chic
• Deep Purple
• Peter Gabriel
• Hall and Oates
• KISS
• LL Cool J
• Nirvana
• N.W.A
• The Meters
• The Replacements
• Linda Ronstadt
• Cat Stevens
• Link Wray
• Yes
• The Zombies

Voting will be done by more than 600 people from the music industry — musicians, historians, record company staffers — as well as (for the second year) fans. Fan voting begins today and ends December 10. You can vote at RockHall.com/vote.

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Steve Levenstein | Inventor Spot

KISS your buns? With pleasure but for a limited time only, and it’ll cost you 100 yen each time. We’re talking about the KISS Super-Spicy Chili Tomatoman meat buns on sale at Japan’s Circle K Sunkus convenience stores of course, a tasteful promotion seeking to boost awareness of Gene Simmons and the band’s upcoming Japanese tour.

The buns are delivered cold to each individual Circle K Sunkus location and are then heated to serving temperature in an in-store steamer. Peel back the collectible black-on-white wrapper featuring the made-up faces of each band member and you’ll find a gray flattened spheroid branded with a small KISS logo.

The bun’s not moldy; its rock-like look is purely intentional and is achieved through the use of Bamboo Charcoal in the pastry mix. It’s not near as black as Burger King Japan’s Premium KURO Burger so it’s got that going for it, which is nice. It gets better… lurking in the center of the bun is a fiery red tomato-meat mixture which, combined with the stone-simulating bun, evokes scenes of molten lava oozing down the slopes of Vesuvius, Kilauea, or Japan’s own Sakurajima.

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Something Else!

Gene Simmons is already writing new stuff, just a year after 2012′s Monster, Kiss’ 20th studio effort. The band had previously gone three years between albums, dating back to 2009′s Sonic Boom.

Simmons is comparing “Your Wish is My Command,” a new song, to one of Kiss’ iconic concert favorites: “It could,” he tells Dorothy Lucey in this clip, “be the next ‘Rock and Roll All Nite.’”

But whatever excitement he has about these fresh sounds is tempered by huge plans out on the concert trail.

“We are going to go back in the studio at some point,” Simmons tells Dorothy Lucey. “But there’s a 40th anniversary world tour that’s going to happen, including Kiss with symphony orchestras. We already did that at Melbourne Stadium (on 2003′s Kiss Symphony: Alive IV), where the entire symphony orchestra was playing Stradivariuses — you don’t know what that is, but look it up — and we’re all wearing Kiss makeup, the entire 70-piece orchestra. You will have landed on Planet Kiss. We’re going to duplicate that around the world.”

Local orchestras will be used, Simmons says. “We’re going to have us a good old time,” he adds, “and of course blow stuff up.”

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KISSmuseum.com

Need a costume for the KISS Kruise or Halloween? We ship all orders out within one business day! We will get it to you as soon as possible, guaranteed! Overnight air and 2-Day air shipping options available. Every costume and accessory is in-stock and ready to ship!

Visit the KISS Halloween Costume store HERE.

Visit the KISS Halloween Costume store HERE.

Ed Masley | AZ Central

The four current members of Kiss — Gene Simmons Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer — will join Rob Zombie and Vince Neil of Motley Crue at Alice Cooper’s 13th Christmas Pudding.

Former “Seinfeld” and “Family Feud” star John O’Hurley will serve as a guest host for the festivities.

More special guests will be announced as we get closer to the date.

All proceeds benefit Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center.

“Although I have played more than 100 shows this year, Pudding is the one I look forward to most,” Cooper says. “We love bringing people together for Christmas, for the sake of music and dance and the mission of Solid Rock.”

Tickets are $38 to $253, with all proceeds benefiting Alice’s Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center, which reaches out to teens through free music, dance, and voice lessons and more.

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 18, through Ticketmaster, the Comerica Theatre box office or by phone at 602-379-2888.

Lance Pugmire | LA Times 

Rock ‘n’ roll legends Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the band KISS have cut back their concert schedule to about 70 shows a year now.

Matthew Wilkening | Ultimate Classic Rock

On Oct. 11, 1983, Kiss performed the first-ever show without their trademark facepaint. The change helped revitalize the band’s sagging commercial fortunes, but also marked the beginning of an extended “troubling time” for founding member Gene Simmons.

This inaugural live unmasked appearance — in the unlikely and remote setting of Lisbon, Portugal — came just three weeks after Kiss, long famous for hiding their identities in public and onstage behind elaborate costumes and makeup, first revealed their real faces on national television during a special MTV appearance.

Of course, by this point, only two of the group’s original members were around for the unveiling, with founding drummer Peter Criss having departed in 1980 and guitarist Ace Frehley following him out the door in 1982. The former “hottest band in the land” had also fallen far from the height of their massive ’70s commercial fortunes. This was partially because of the lineup changes and most certainly also because they spent the early ’80s dabbling indisco-influenced rock or making a much-derided concept album.

Even when they did get their act together — and how! — with 1982′s thunderous return to form ‘Creatures of the Night,’ the public barely took notice. Despite new guitarist Vinnie Vincent’s insistence that it was “time to grow and change” by unmasking, the move was most likely borne at least partially to try and garner a higher level of attention for their highly deserving new album, ‘Lick It Up.’

The change (and the often-underrated music they made during this time) helped Kiss regain some, but certainly not all, of the popularity they had lost during their last few years. However, it also signified yet another shift in the already fractured band’s power dynamic, with Simmons finding himself uncomfortable in his new non-Demon persona.

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Roman Fernandez

Tickets and info HERE at WillCallMiami.com

Neil Gido

I became a fan of the band early on, and I was inspired to purchase a guitar for myself out of the Sears catalog and taught myself how to play.  In short order I was attempting to write my own songs and play with friends in the neighborhood with similar interests.

My dad had a 2 track reel to reel player/recorder & we recorded some music onto it.  At the same time I made KISS compilations on it from my KISS records.  I didn’t understand how the 2 separate tracks worked yet, and one time we ended up recording one of our original songs over a KISS recording.  When I played it back one channel was us and one was KISS.  I asked my dad about this and he said at first he thought we wanted to be playing along with KISS.  This sparked the tribute band idea and “KISS II” was born.  At first we made guitars out of cardboard and plywood and air jammed but did sing along, until we upgraded our own equipment as we got better at playing real instruments.  We made flyers and held our own concerts in my parents’ living room.  Later on we played at parties and then we rented community centers and sold tickets.

So at 1^st KISS II was done where I recorded compilations of the KISS songs we wanted to perform on the reel to reel.  Of course many songs were from Alive & Alive II, however when we wanted to play newer songs as they came out or different songs in the set, I would record extended cheering onto the beginning and ending of the songs fading them in and out to sound as if they are live.  So really the full stereo song only kicked in after the cheering was faded out on one channel.  We sang through microphones through our guitar amps & such and I wrote and timed the song intros and did that myself over the audience track.  So there were no Paul raps only my versions of the Paul raps.  This allowed us to do things from side 4 of Alive II, solo album songs, plus Dynasty & Unmasked as they came out.

Along the way, we imitated the real band by making & selling our own magazines and comic books, plus tickets, flyers, posters, and merchandise.  We even did our own “studio recordings” where the respective band members sang over the KISS songs and tried to sell those tapes, naming them things like, “Golden Platinum.”  Our action figures were comprised of Star Trek and super hero dolls which we painted & dressed ourselves.  We made our own T-shirts also by hand.  Needless to say it was all a lot of fun!

See the entire photo gallery on Facebook HERE

Fort Mills Times

Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock

It’s hard to conceive of a time when Kiss frontman Paul Stanley was not intimately acquainted with the inner workings of the opposite sex. But like the rest of us, he was once a virgin — and during a recent appearance on KLOS FM’s ‘The Heidi and Frank Show,’ he recounted the day it all changed for him.

“I was actually working as a busboy in a camp upstate that was very much like ‘Dirty Dancing’ — you know, that kind of environment,” Stanley explained. “The staff was on one side of the road and the hotel was on the other side. One of the waiters’ girlfriends was in his room, and he was off at work, and I just decided ‘Today’s the day.’”

Asked about the age difference between them, Stanley replied, “I’d say about five years older than me.” But that doesn’t necessarily mean she showed young Paul the ropes that day. “Quite honestly, I didn’t know what it was supposed to be like,” he admitted, adding that he wondered, “‘Is this it?’”

And how does he look back on the experience now? “It’s kind of like the gun that goes off at the start of the race that you ultimately won,” Stanley mused. “The race has been more fun, maybe, than the start.”

Ultimate Guitar

How much would you pay for a piece of memorabilia once used by one of your musical idols? What if that piece of memorabilia was a used stick of gum? Turns out that some people would be willing to pay quite a bit. A stick of gum once chewed by Kiss bassist Gene Simmons has recently been sold on eBay for a whopping $247,710.28

The gum was chewed by Simmons when he appeared on the UK Sports programme Soccer AM and was sold by the channel to raise money for Street League, a charity which is dedicated to tackling youth unemployment in the UK. The winner of the auction also received the gum’s original packaging and a copy of Simmons’ script for the show.

You can watch a video of Simmons chewing the gum here. While the winner of the auction certainly shelled out for their prize, at least they weren’t fleeced on shipping costs. Postage and packaging for the gum was free.

What is the strangest piece of rock memorabilia that you have ever seen? Do you own any weird and wonderful rock star paraphernalia? Let us know in the comments.

April Neale | M&C

Janet Mayer

Halloween is rocking on AXS TV!

AXS TV is teaming up with the legendary and award-winning rock group KISS for Halloween, Thursday, Oct. 31, when the Channel programs six concerts wrapped around fresh interstitial content featuring KISS.

Starting at 3:30 p.m. ET (12:30 p.m. PT), AXS TV kicks off its hard-rock Halloween with Judas Priest as the headliner. From there, the Channel keeps the beat past the witching hour of midnight until 4:45 a.m. ET (12:35 a.m. PT). The concert schedule includes AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Papa Roach and Alice Cooper. However, the cornerstone of the night is the network premiere of KISS’s Zurich, Switzerland concert, featuring their hit songs and music from their KISS MONSTER album. AXS TV CONCERTS recorded that event live last May and it has been edited, but not censored when it debuts at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).

The schedule for AXS TV’s KISS MONSTER MARATHON includes:

Thursday, October 31 (All Times Eastern)

3:30 p.m. JUDAS PRIEST LIVE: BRITISH STEEL 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL – Judas Priest celebrates the 30th anniversary of “British Steel” from the Hard Rock Arena in Hollywood, Florida.

4:45 p.m. PAPA ROACH LIVE FROM CLUB NOKIA – Papa Roach presents one of the best rock shows this year live from Club Nokia in Los Angeles.

5:55 p.m. IRON MAIDEN EN VIVO! – En Vivo! captures the always exciting atmosphere that fans have come to expect from Iron Maiden. Filmed in Chile, the concert features favorites such as “The Trooper,” “The Number of the Beast” and “Fear of the Dark” as well as hits from the No.1 studio album “The Final Frontier.”

7:30 p.m. AT HELL’S DOOR: BEHIND THE SCENES AT HELLFEST – Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach takes over Hellfest in Clisson, France to give viewers an inside look at what goes on backstage, onstage and more at one of Europe’s biggest and craziest rock festivals. (Repeats at 1:00 a.m. ET)

8:00 p.m. KISS MONSTER WORLD TOUR: LIVE FROM EUROPE CONCERT – NETWORK PREMIERE – AXS TV was on hand to tape KISS’ Zurich, Switzerland concert live last May, making this edited version a network premiere. The concert featured new staging, lighting and pyrotechnics that had never been seen before on TV. (Repeats at 1:30 a.m. ET).

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Mariecar Mendoza | Los Angeles Daily News

Enjoy Sunday Funday with rock legend Gene Simmons at his restaurant Rock & Brews off the PCH.

The Kiss frontman and his wife, Shannon Tweed, plan to join diners and football fans at the rock-themed eatery at its Redondo Beach/Torrance adjacent location at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 as part of Rock & Brews’ ongoing NFL Sunday Ticket promotion.

Simmons opened Rock & Brews with fellow Kiss band member Paul Stanley opened the 6300 S. Pacific Coast Highway Rock & Brewsrestaurant in May. It was the third Rock & Brews since the chain opened its first establishment in downtown El Segundo in 2012. A second Rock & Brews opened in March in Los Cabos, Mexico. Another local incarnation opened at the Los Angeles International Airport just last month.

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Ultimate Guitar

After recently expressing his pessimistic stance on the current state of rock music and mildly ripping late Nirvana frontmanKurt Cobain, Kiss bassist Gene Simmonsonce again shared a similar attitude, acknowledging Kanye West‘s comments and putting Foo Fighters and Green Day on his “not superstar-worthy” list of performers.

During a chat with the Metal Hammer Magazine Show, Simmons was initially asked to comment on Kanye’s statement that rap is the new rock ‘n’ roll and that he’s the world’s No. 1 rockstar.

“I know Kanye and he’s playing the game and he’s got you wrapped around his finger because you are talking about him and we’re actually more about guitar and drums,” Gene said. “He’s right of course in the sense that rock has become a pale thing to what it once was.”

After denying that rap can be considered as the new rock, the bassist once again“played the game” of comparing the 1958 – 1983 era to post-1984 period. “Foo Fighters – great band. Green Day – great band. Iconic superstars? No,” he said. During the rest of the interview, Simmons discussed his recent US National Anthem performance, pointing out the importance of sticking to the original melody and paying the country respect it deserves.

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Jo Polo | Podcast Rock City

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