Daniel Kreps | Rolling Stone

Kiss‘ performance was among the highlights at this year’s 88th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Sure, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band’s performance of “Rock and Roll All Nite” was clearly lip-synched, but it was an unexpected surprise to see the Destroyer crew in full makeup aboard a float cruising alongside giant balloons of Pikachu and Spongebob Squarepants. However, guitarist Paul Stanley wasn’t too happy following Kiss’ Thanksgiving appearance.

“Bluntly, We were screwed over & misled by the exec in charge of #MacysThanksgivingDayParade. We ALL deserved better,” the guitarist tweeted the day after Thanksgiving. Stanley never elaborated why he was upset about the performance but Ultimate Classic Rock offers a few theories. First, NBC didn’t begin showing Kiss on television until almost the first chorus, and cameras were focused on Simmons during Tommy Thayer’s guitar solo.

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KISSmuseum.com

Just in – A second manufacturer has stepped up to fill the void since long-time KISS T-Shirt producer Live Nation gave up it’s KISS license. We have new all-over prints, some with up to 3X sizing along with some new MLB KISS Team Baseball shirts! Plus, we are re-stocked and have all the sizes available from the last wave of shirts that hit us recently.

New KISS T-Shirts at KISSmuseum.com

Cassius Morris

Scott Mervis | The Blade

This was the year that Kiss’ long-awaited entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame became a case of “be careful what you wish for.”

The honor that the band and its Kiss Army lobbied for years to achieve turned into a mess when the Rock Hall limited the induction to the original members and also insisted that any performance would have to involve Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

In the end, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley refused to play, a spotlight was fixed on Kiss’ dysfunctions, and everyone came away a little bitter.

Stanley said in an NPR interview recently that a performance by the original four would have been a “disservice” to the band: “That lineup has not been together for 14 years and, physically, perhaps, wouldn’t have looked that great, and musically, undoubtedly, probably, would have sounded a bit suspect.”

Later in a phone interview, Frehley scoffed at that notion.

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “I had just jammed with Peter a few months earlier at [Eddie] Trunk’s 30th Anniversary Party at the Hard Rock in New York. Peter played great. I’m playing better than ever. I don’t think they wanted to open up the whole can of worms that surrounds the fact that they got two other guys dressed up like us. I mean, the last time they performed with us, at ‘Unplugged,’ they had to scrap their album and do a reunion tour. Since they had a tour planned with the current lineup this year, I think they wanted to leave well enough alone and not confuse the fans.”

It wasn’t the only disappointment at the ceremony. Frehley was supposed to be part of a final all-star jam session, but it was scrapped due to the E Street Band speeches going on so long.

There were also some comments thrown around that he didn’t like.

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Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock

Kiss fans waiting impatiently for a follow-up to 2012′s ‘Monster‘ LP will get a little something to tide them over in January, although it may not sound anything like the band they’ve come to know and love.

According to the official Kiss website, the group has teamed up with Momoiro Clover Z, a hugely popular Japanese “idol” pop group, to record a new single. The song’s title has yet to be revealed, but the two acts have already filmed a video, with plans to release the track to stores on Jan. 28.

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Chris Cameron | The Mercury

Jayme Thornton

Ace Frehley, founding member of the rock band KISS, has had a busy year. The rock/metal guitarist sometimes known as “Space Ace” for his out-of-this-world performances and his sci-fi stage persona, recently released his first album in five years titled, “Space Invader,” he got engaged, and he was inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame with his old bandmates from KISS.

The long-time New York native moved to the West Coast to live with his fiancé, Rachel Gordon, who shares some of the songwriting credits on his new album. Moving to San Diego has helped fuel his creativity.

“It’s a less stressful place and moving here allowed me to focus on the songwriting,” Frehley said.

The guitarist has Attention Deficit Disorder and sought out a quiet studio in California to write and record the new album.

“I don’t have a formula for writing,” he said. “Sometimes it starts on an electric or acoustic guitar just as a melody. It might come to me in the morning or if I’m driving and I’ve noticed that if I buy a new guitar, playing it always inspires me to write new songs.”

Frehley notes that he has about 60 guitars in his current collection, but that collection exceeded more than 150 instruments at one time. Within that collection are the guitarist’s signature Les Paul models manufactured by Gibson and Epiphone.

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Music News

KISS will bring Download 2015 to a close when they headline the main stage on Sunday, June 14.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have carved themselves emphatically into the pantheon of Rock mythology with their huge choruses, unmistakable visuals and extraordinary, pyrotechnical live performances. KISS return to Donington having graced Monsters of Rock in 1988 and 1996 and headlined Download, Europe’s biggest rock and metal festival, in 2008.

Meanwhile, bassist Gene Simmons said: To all our fans – our intention is to get on that stage, blow the heavens to smithereens and take no prisoners.

Main support comes in the form of the final ever UK Festival Performance by iconic hell-raising metalheads Mötley Crüe. With the Crüe due to disband for good in early 2016, Download will have the honour and privilege of bringing a truly unique festival career to a blazing conclusion.

Bassist Nikki Sixxx said: “It’s always an over the top day and night at Download Festival and we’re really excited to be coming over to the UK and playing the show.”

Rock legends making the ultimate festival pilgrimage don’t stop there as seminal shredder Slash polishes and shines the trusty top hat to make his second appearance at Download with one of rock’s top vocalists, Myles Kennedy, and The Conspirators.

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Rock and Roll Camp Canada

Cassius Morris

Myfox New York

New York News

NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) – After decades rocking out as the drummer and founding member of Kiss, Peter Criss had thought he’d seen and done it all. But one day eight years ago, something so unusual truly rocked his world.
“I was very ignorant. I was clueless. I thought it was a weight-lifting injury,” said Criss about the breast cancer he discovered.

At the time, Criss’ wife was in the throws of her own cancer battle. She suggested her physician check him out. The doctor recommended Criss visit Dr. Alexander Swistel.

Criss then had a biopsy done in New Jersey that came back negative, but the pain in his nipple area continued.

“I was misdiagnosed. If not for his (Dr. Swistel) going further and going further, through the hands of God, through him I am alive,” said Criss.

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Anthony De Lucia | alive75.com

It was 1975 all over again for KISS fans as “Alive! ’75 – A Tribute to KISS” brought the KISS Alive! album to life in Newton, NJ.

Celleen Michele Jones | Biz Journals

Gene Simmons— the Kiss rock star of makeup, tongue-flashing and platform boot fame – is also a shrewd businessman. A self-made entrepreneur. And a complete marketing genius.

Just ask him.

In his recently published book “Me, Inc: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business,” Israeli-born Simmons, recounts in his uniquely matter-of-fact, say-it-like-it-is manner, how he emigrated to America with his Holocaust-survivor single mother determined to make it big.

Sharing business advice from a guy known as the Demon isn’t the type of fare often produced by the Jacksonville Business Journal – but having a bonafide member of the Kiss Army on our reporting staff meant we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see what Simmons has to say.

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Blabbermouth.net

Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley kicked off his “Space Invader” tour on November 13 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

His setlist was as follows:

01. Lost In Limbo (first time played live since 1992)
02. Gimme A Feelin’ (live debut)
03. Toys (live debut)
04. Parasite (KISS song)
05. Snowblind
06. Love Gun (KISS song) (Scot Coogan on vocals)
07. Breakout (Richie Scarlett on vocals)
08. Space Invader (live debut)
09. King Of The Night Time World (KISS song) (Scot Coogan on vocals)
10. Strutter (KISS song) (Scot Coogan on vocals)
11. Change (started song but aborted)
12. Bass Solo
13. Strange Ways (KISS song) (Chris Wyse on vocals)
14. Rock Soldiers
15. New York Groove (HELLO cover)
16. Shock Me (KISS song)
17. Ace Frehley Guitar Solo
18. Rocket Ride (KISS song)
19. 2 Young 2 Die (Richie Scarlett on vocals)
20. Shot Full Of Rock (first time played live since 2008)

Encore:

21. Cold Gin (KISS song)

Frehley‘s touring lineup includes none other than Richie Scarlet, who rode shotgun performing rhythm guitar and vocal duties on Ace‘s “Trouble Walking” platter in 1989, and is doing so again on stage. Richie toured with Ace in 1984 and 1985 and periodically from 1989 through 1995 and was also known for touring with Sebastian Bach.

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VVN Music

Former KISS member Peter Criss will be this year’s inductee into the Cancer Research and Treatment Fund’s Cancer Survivor Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame “honors an inspirational cancer survivor with an induction into our Cancer Survivors Hall of Fame. These individuals represent the courage of all who struggle daily with the battle against cancer.”

Criss was exercising in 2007 when he noticed a lump in his breast. The lump was diagnosed as breast cancer and, in 2008, Peter had a lumpectomy followed by a mastectomy. Because the disease was found early, he did not have to go through chemotherapy.

Since that time, Criss has been an vocal advocate against the stigma of breast cancer in men. He told reporters in 2009 “It can happen to you, and when it does, if you don’t deal with it right away, with your ‘dude’ and your metal and your tattoos, you’ll go in the box and we’ll see you.”

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Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock

Because just one movie starring Kevin James as a buffoonish security guard wasn’t enough for America, now we have ‘Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2′ on the way … and judging from the trailer, Kiss will somehow work their way into the story.

You can catch a glimpse through the recently released trailer above — two and a half minutes of James clowning his way through the presumed comedic highlights of a plot that sends his character to Vegas, where he somehow ends up leading the charge against a freaky-eyed kingpin hellbent on robbing the city.

Along the way, Blart punches an elderly housekeeper, is assaulted by a bird and manages to find time for a Kiss concert — although as you can see from the screenshot below, that ain’t Kiss up on the stage:

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