KISS, Alice Cooper and Vince Neil to perform at Rock Academy benefit

Billy Dukes | Ultimate Classic Rock

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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 NeilRob 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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Peter Criss of rock band KISS appears on Staten Island to raise awareness for male breast cancer

Michael Sedon | Staten Island Advance

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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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KISS Kruise Bon Voyage party 2013 – benefit for WWP

mediumThis 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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Sophie Tweed Simmons Charity takes form of festival at Will Call Miami

Roman Fernandez

Layout 1Miami venue hosts KISS KRUISE III Pre-Party to benefit Sophie’s Place, Child Advocacy Centre.

Miami, FL – On October 28th, legendary rock band, KISS, will take their show to the high seas for the third year in a row. However, October 27th will see a twelve hour “KISS KRUISE” Pre-Party at Will Call Miami, with all net proceeds from ticket sales to benefit Layout 1Sophie’s Place, Child Advocacy Centre.  Sophie’s Place is a program of The Centre for Child Development in British Columbia named after its patron, Sophie Tweed-Simmons – daughter of infamous KISS frontman, Gene Simmons, and Canadian model turned actress, Shannon Tweed.

Sophie’s Place, Child Advocacy Centre is focused on providing specialized services to physically, mentally or sexually abused children in a child-friendly designed setting.

“It’s really important that kids have a place to go where they can be taken seriously, and where they can express what’s happened to them in a safe environment”, says Sophie Tweed-Simmons.

The full day festival will include KISS-related special guests, Q&A’s, meet and greets, raffles, activities, food, themed drinks, and live music. Amongst the special guests are KISS producer and studio guitarist, Bob Kulick; author of new KISS biography, Ken Sharp; Alan Parker, director of KISS documentary film in production, You Wanted The Best… You Got The Best!; model and TV personality, Megan McCracken; and recording artist, Lyn Christopher, whose debut album in 1973 saw the first appearance of KISS’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley on a major record label release.

The raffle will include an autographed bass guitar by Gene Simmons, a cabin upgrade aboard the Norwegian Pearl on this year’s KISS KRUISE, autographed copies of the new KISS biography, Nothin’ to Lose, and other band related items. Live music will include Mr. Speed, voted best KISS tribute band of 2012 by the very members of KISS, Lyn Christopher, and local rockers: The No. 13’s and The Super Fuzz.

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With LA KISS, football doesn’t have to end with the Super Bowl

Chris Erskine | LA Times

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David Livingston

Visionaries like you and me scoff at such thinking. Of course, visionaries always seem a little nuts.

Appreciate for a moment that a sport born and nurtured in America’s steel towns now has a team called the KISS, sponsored by rock legends famous as much for their makeup as their music.

Dull, backward-thinking traditionalists see the Arena Football League as a tacky offshoot of real football. I see real football as a brutal, bloated, family-hostile sport in need of some healthy competition. Every business needs that, even raging successes like the NFL.

And if you prefer monopolies, look what an outstanding job the NCAA does. Can’t wait till someone proposes an alternative to that, with a real playoff system and trust funds for players.

Till then, I say bring on the Arena Football League. Season seats sell for $99 for a package of 10 games, in the lower bowl of the Honda Center. Which, of course, technically means they are the Los Angeles KISS of Anaheim — sound familiar?

“Our best seats are like putting folding chairs on the hash marks,” brags co-owner Brett Bouchy.

That could hurt, but OK. Note that KISS execs are considering painting the field black.

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KISS Navy invades Miami in KISS Kruise pre-party

KISS Navy

LIS2POSTER_USEKISS Navy Invades Miami Sat Oct 26th , Holiday Inn 340 Biscayne Blvd 6PM-12AM for a great cause, (Breast Cancer Research Foundation) come one all, (free to get in) Raffles All night for KISS goodies.  100 Percent of the $$$ made will go to the charity. If you can’t make it you also can donate by PayPal KK3BCRF@Comcast.net

Thanks for helping Us KISS Cancer Goodbye! – Denise Hopkins, Jeff Hopkins,Andy Moyen,Lydia Criss, Dj Andrew Noiz, John Friedrich

KISS Documentary Drama: Ace Frehley and Peter Criss ‘Won’t Go Anywhere Near It’

Jeff Giles | 103.7 The Loon

Brenda Chase

Brenda Chase

You could fill half a dozen documentaries with behind-the-scenes stories from Kiss‘ career. Unfortunately, now that there’s an official movie in the works, ongoing bitterness will keep two former members from sharing their Kisstory.

Classic Rock Magazine reports that Alan G. Parker, director of the band-sanctioned upcoming film ‘You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best,’ has had his interview requests turned down by guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss.

Founding members of the band whose stormy on-again, off-again tenures have coincided with some of the most successful music in the Kiss catalog, Frehley and Criss are important parts of the group’s story, but their ongoing feuds with Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are keeping them from participating.

“There’s been so much bitchiness down the years, and so much said about and done to Ace and Peter, that they interpreted the request to be in the movie as a favor to Gene and Paul,” explained Parker. “Because of that, they won’t go anywhere near it. The negotiations were interesting, to say the least.”

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The New Jersey KISS Expo thanks you all for Saturday’s incredibly successful event!

NJ KISS Expo

2S2A6887THANK YOU Tommy Thayer for giving us such a memorable experience and staying extra long to sign for everyone. THANK YOU Keith Leroux for organizing and running the autograph event so smoothly. THANK YOU to our long line of guests – Lydia Criss, Lyn Christopher, Ken Kelly, Len DeLessio, Jim Cara, Carol Ross, Eddie Solan, Binky Philips and Ken Sharp. THANK YOU Phil Dieli and your henchmen for maintaining order the whole day. THANK YOU Kristen and the two Jens for your hard work at the front ticket desk. THANK YOU to all the KISS Dealers who you know were really the main attraction and most of all THANK YOU TO ALL THE 1,500 KISS FANS FOR COMING TO OUR EVENT! See you next year – the date has already been set and will return to the same venue:

New Jersey KISS Expo 2014 – Saturday, September 13, 2014
NJ Convention and Exposition Center, at the Raritan Center
97 Sunfield Ave, Edison NJ 08837

See the NJ KISS Expo photo gallery HERE.

Guests, ticket sales, events and all other info will be posted HERE at NJKISSexpo.com later on this year. Mark your calendar now and see you then!