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KISS Expo Tokyo 2016: How the Band’s First Official Exhibition Came About Read More: Kiss Expo Tokyo 2016: How the Band’s First Official Exhibition Came About
Annie Zaleski | Ultimate Classic Rock
From Oct. 13-31, the first-ever band-sanctioned Kiss Expo took over the top floor of Laforet, a boutique-filled shopping mall in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo.
The Expo was arranged like a museum exhibit, with memorabilia, artifacts and interactive elements, as well as a gift shop stuffed with exclusive merch — from a toilet paper holder featuring Gene Simmons‘ visage (the unfurling roll mimics his tongue) to T-shirts and prints reflecting a Kiss collaboration with the beloved cartoon character Astro Boy.
During the expo’s opening weekend, Ultimate Classic Rock received a guided tour of the exhibit from Hanako Tabata, an executive producer in the strategic marketing division of Sony Music Entertainment Japan. After walking by a gigantic Kiss logo — and mannequins dressed in familiar Kiss outfits — visitors were greeted with a trio of gems from band lore: Kiss’ 1976 formation contract, the legal documents which served as trademark registration for the band member’s distinctive faces and Simmons’ concert-used fire sword.
Lucky for fans, however, the members of Kiss were meticulous about keeping everything that might be of interest in the future. The Expo’s offerings included early show posters hand-drawn by Simmons and Paul Stanley; Kiss fan-club flyers; scrapbooks and photos; call sheets for TV appearances; and an impressive, colorful array of backstage passes from across the years. One glass case even contained a bunch of cassette demos and recordings — including one featuring Simmons’ collaboration with Bob Dylan.
Elsewhere, the Expo highlighted the costumes, clothing and tour ephemera that made Kiss so one-of-a-kind — from a Peter Criss satin jacket (compete with vintage dirt and a rip) and Simmons’ Spector “Love Gun” bass to an entire wall highlighting Kiss’ history of broken guitars, from 1976 through 2015. And, of course, there were no shortage of awards: a gold 8-track, Simmons’ gold discs and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction trophy and a wheel of platinum discs signifying 30 million albums sold.
Three Sides of the Coin, episode 202 – We boldly go where no KISS podcast has gone before
Michael Brandvold
Podcast Rock City, episode 127 – Happy Halloween!
Podcast Rock City
Gene Simmons Discusses 1986 Halloween Movie “Trick Or Treat”
Podcast Rock City KISS Kruise Special
Podcast Rock City
**CANT MAKE THIS YEARS KISS KRUISE?**
Good news!! PODCAST ROCK CITY KISS KRUISE SPECIAL on KGFROCKS.com
Starting on November 3rd at 8:30 pm est! 4 days of KISS KRUISE UPDATES and tons of ROCK AND ROLL from the HOTTEST BAND IN THE WORLD–KISS!! Bookmark the website and check out PODCAST ROCK CITY AND KGFROCKS FACEBOOK PAGE FOR TONS OF UPDATES!! Everything GETS STARTED Thursday night live from The Gathering in Miami! Getting excited in 3-2-1 PEACE!!
http://player.streamlicensing.com/2532?l&stream_id=4302
Gene Simmons Talks ‘Serving Heroes’ on Veteran’s Day
Sam Ruben | KTLA 5
KISS My Wax: Episode 21 – Dynasty
KISS My Wax
KISS frontman donates $100,000 to Langley-based children’s foundation
Dan Ferguson | Langley Times
Rick Cahpman
Gene Simmons of KISS gave a $100,000 boost to the Gala of Hope fundraiser for The Centre for Child Development and Sophie’s Place Child and Youth Advocacy Centre held at the Newlands Golf and Country Club in Langley on Saturday night.
In addition to the donation, Simmons also auctioned off a ‘blade’ guitar.
A total of $280,000 was raised by the gala, the centre said.
Simmons was there with his wife, Canadian model and actress Shannon Tweed, to show support for their daughter, Sophie Tweed-Simmons, who lent her name to the Surrey facility.
Since 2012, Sophie’s Place has assisted abused children up to the age of 18 by providing a safe space where they can talk about their experience of physical, mental or sexual abuse with trained staff and law enforcement professionals.
In a statement issued by the centre, Tweed-Simmons said the team at Sophie’s Place conducted more than 200 interviews with abused children over the past year.
Three Sides of the Coin, episode 201 – We are joined by THE GODZ, not us, the band
Michael Brandvold
Podcast Rock City, episide 126 – KISS grab bag!
Jody Havenot
Five things we learned at the KISS 2016 Expo in Tokyo
Elanor Goodman | Team Rock
An unassuming poster marks the door to the Kiss Expo, which leads into a shopping mall in Harajuku. We take the lift to the fifth floor, walk past some boutiques selling women’s knitwear and frilly blouses, and enter a hidden world of Kiss memorabilia. Tellingly, the first item on display is the band’s formation contract from 1976, promising each band member 25% of the band’s revenue. Then there are gold discs aplenty, a selection of historic and smashed guitars, the infamous Kiss Kasket, a video showing Gene Simmonswith X Japan mainman Yoshiki, and studded costumes from throughout the years – though sadly, the mannequins are not anatomically correct. “Kiss are sexy – we need to go to the sausage shop!” jokes Mark Stroman, one of the brains behind the event.
Aside from Gene Simons and Paul Stanley, Japanese music critics Masa Ito and Yuichi Masuda advised on the collection, which has been three years in the making and mainly consists of items donated by fans. The organisers now hope to grow the event and take it to the US and Europe. “There are two sides to this exhibition – one is the history and memorabilia for the diehard fans, and the other is fun experiences for new fans, like virtual reality headsets,” says curator Hana. “We’re exploring more ideas, and hoping to have the whole band appear next time!”
Here’s what we learned from a walk around…
He isn’t shy about showing off his home, and the staff give out virtual reality headsets so we can tour his and Paul Stanley’s cribs. He points out his branded pinball machine, toilet paper, baby bottles, condoms and other items, while our eyes try to adjust to the floor-to-ceiling Kiss Kaos. Ow.
Gene has made a friend
He has a gold 8-track
It’s all very well having gold discs, but what about the under-appreciated tape? Gene has one to commemorate shifting more than 500,000 units of 1975 concert album Alive in the now-obsolete format. It’s probably worth more than anything we will ever own. Ever.
And the Fire Sword!
Fresh from being used on their American tour, it’s the first time the Fire Sword has been displayed. Never mind stage shows, if you were going to fight dragons, zombies or White Walkers, you’d want this flaming weapon by your side.
Kiss should be more careful with their guitars
The Kiss Marvel comic is too cool
One display shows the Marvel Kiss Special original comic book from 1977, which was made with the band’s own blood. Above, there’s a big colour picture of them pouring the blood into a big vat of red ink, while dressed in full costume. We really want the comic. Does Santa come on Halloween?
We’ll take the one with sequins, please
The Demon’s baby pictures are lolz
There’s a scrapbook containing family photos of Gene. Photos include one of his mum looking weirdly serious while tickling him, and hilarious ones of him driving a miniature car and dressed up western-style like the Milkybar Kid. Proof that he’s long been a showman.
Gene Simmons believes live music has been a proven therapy for thousands of years
Stef Lach | Team Rock
Gene Simmons says it’s the job of musicians to create “magic time” on stage to help fans forget about the mundanity of everyday life.
The Kiss bassist describes the live arena as an “electric church” and says he believes live music can make a real difference to the lives of those in the audience.
Speaking after appearing with X Japan on stage in Tokyo at the weekend, Simmons tells Metal Hammer: “At the end of the day, all that matters is what happens on that stage – that’s electric church. That’s glory hallelujah, all hail rock’n’roll, where people who spend lots of after-tax money come to the show and their girlfriends have been torturing them about where did you go and traffic jams and all that.
“And it’s our job – anyone who gets up on that stage – to create magic time. To make you forget about all that stuff and take you away, so just for those few hours…and then you get back to gravity, and all the chaos that’s out there.”
The KISS Room – October 14, 2016
KISS ARMY – it’s a Halloween party, it’s a Kruise pre-party, it’s whatever you want it to be as we salute all of the thing things that go bump in the night in THE KISS ROOM!
Matt Porter is joined by Bobby Dreher, Dotti Jones, Joe Polo from Podcast Rock City, Ken Mills, and more, PLUS we have THE KISS ROOM HOUSE BAND, Steve Campagna, Steve Foerst, and Fran Galanti, playing live in the studio!
All of the tricks, treats, tunes and KISS talk that you expect every month in THE KISS ROOM!
Originally broadcast on Friday, October 14, 2016 via Montco Radio, where Music and Minds meet.
Podcast Rock City, episode 125 – PRC at the movies II
Podcast Rock City
Three Sides of the Coin, episode 200 – Live at the NJ KISS Expo 2016
Michael Brandvold
This week we celebrate 200 episodes! Join us live at the 2016 NJ KISS Expo! We share all the events… dinner and party the night before. Fans stopping by to congratulate us on 200 episodes. Special guests such as Robert Conte, Mark Montague, Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick, Roman Fernandez, Danny Stanton, Wicked, Tim Sullivan stopping by to congratulate us and update us on what they are doing! We had a blast! We were overwhelmed and so thankful for everyone that stopped by to say hi and congratulate us! Three Sides of the Coin is a show about being a KISS fan, a show about KISS fans and what better way to celebrate 200 episodes then to have the fans be part of the show! THANK YOU!!
Arena Football League’s L.A. KISS apparently have folded, leaving players and fans in the dark
Ryan Kartje | OC Register
LA KissÕ Thyron Lewis catches a pass as a fan reaches out in case he missed during an arena football game against the Las Vegas Outlaws at the Honda Center.
STEVEN GEORGES, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
///ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
LA Kiss vs. Las Vegas Outlaws arena football at the Honda Center.
7/25/15 Slug: LAKiss.0412
The Arena Football League’s L.A. KISS, faced with dwindling attendance and concerns about the league’s viability, has ceased operations.
“As I understand, (the KISS) won’t be involved in any football moving forward,” AFL Player’s Union Executive Director Ivan Soto wrote in an email on Monday.
The KISS, named after the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band led by co-owners Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, became the third AFL team to fold and the fifth to leave the league over the past week. In that span, the Orlando Predators and Portland Steel also folded, and the Jacksonville and Arizona franchises announced intentions to join the rival Indoor Football League. That leaves just four teams in the AFL, half the number that started the 2015 season.
KISS players and season ticket-holders remain completely in the dark. No official announcement about the team’s status has been made by the team or the league. Calls made to KISS officials over several days were not returned. When pressed about the future of the KISS, a spokesperson for the league referred only to a recent release that said the AFL was “focused on solidifying its foundation for the long term.”
That future apparently won’t include the KISS. The team’s players, along with those from the other two folding franchises, were put in a player pool for a dispersal draft held Friday for the league’s remaining teams. All undrafted players become free agents, according to an AFL spokesperson.
Eric Singer’s ‘awkward’ Steven Adler moment
Martin Kielty | Team Rock
Kiss drummer Eric Singer has recalled the “awkward moment” when he came third in a drumming contest – while future Guns N’ Roses sticksman Steven Adler didn’t reach the final.
And he’s used the memory to demonstrate how life can be unpredictable.
Neither of them were established musicians when they entered the Los Angeles competition in 1984, hosted by veteran drummer Carmine Appice.
Singer tells MusicRadar: “It was a radio station. You sent in a tape and from that they picked 50 people, 15 girls and 35 guys.
“They had you play in a parking lot – out of that they picked the finalists. Steven Adler didn’t get picked for the finals. I remember he was upset.
“His mother went up to Carmine Appice, ‘How come my son Steven didn’t get picked?’ I was standing right on the sidewalk next to him, while his mother was asking Carmine. It had to be an awkward moment.”
He continues: “The funny thing was, three years later he’s in the biggest band in the world – so you never know how things are going to turn out.
KISS Expo 2016 Photo Gallery
Check out what you missed at last Sunday’s 2016 NJ KISS Expo! Click HERE for full gallery.
