KISS Army Nation TV

Lydia Criss, KISS photographer Len Delessio, the voice of KISS Alive! JR Smalling and more join Matt Porter for this incredible KISS radio broadcast! 

njkissexpo.com

Anthony De Lucia, Jr | www.alive75.com

The “Ultimate Classic KISS Tribute” reaches new heights, as Alive! ’75 announces their BIGGEST event thus far, with a return to the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg, PA, on Saturday, December 5th, 2015.

In their boldest effort to date, this event will deliver a complete package of classic KISS entertainment and merchandising, including:

• Full KISS-Mart merchandising event, on-site the day of show, courtesy of KISSMuseum.com.
• The Alive! ’75 “Time Warp” 1975 pre-show experience
• Complete Alive! ’75 concert performances, including live fire-breathing and other new surprises!
• Opportunity for fans to meet, greet and hear directly from the following people WHO WERE THERE in 1975:
  • JR Smalling – the VOICE of the Alive! Album!
  • Lydia Criss – wife of Peter Criss (1970 – ’78), and author of “Sealed with a KISS”
  • Len DeLessio – photographer working with KISS in 1974 & 1975
• With special guest Emcee Matt Porter of The KISS Room, and special guest opener – Afterimage: A Tribute to Rush

Fans get an exciting, period-specific tribute-concert experience in Alive! ’75, plus a whole host of classic KISS fun and excitement throughout the day – before, during and after the main event.

With so many KISS-tribute bands in the marketplace,  Alive! ’75 – A Tribute to KISS continues to be different by providing a complete package, including the period-specific 1975 experience.  For die-hard classic KISS fans (those who appreciate their early works), as well as general fans of rock ‘n roll nostalgia, this is definitely an experience not to be missed!

Tickets are on sale now.  Complete details on this one-of-a-kind experience may be found at www.alive75.com   Contact ‘info@alive75.com‘ for more information.

Bob Ruggiero | Houston Press

It was late 1975, and the career trajectory of KISS lay at a crucial crossroads. Despite the band’s wildly outlandish makeup and costumes, an increasingly bombastic stage show, and a small-but-dedicated fan base, their three studio albums to date had failed to garner much attraction and attention.

Then, the release of the single “Rock and Roll All Nite” fromAlive!  — though how little “live” the double LP truly was has always been an open secret — got them some much-needed attention. But it was clear that the next studio album would be a make-or-break move for the group.

In the end, 1976’s Destroyer would catapult the band into the music and pop-culture stratosphere, alienate older fans while grabbing millions of new (and younger) ones, provide them a Top 10 hit and — largely through Ken Kelly’s astounding cover painting — cement the members as rock and roll comic-book superheroes. Interestingly, Kelly got the call for duty when the band’s original choice, well-known fantasy and comic-book artist Frank Frazetta, balked at giving up all rights to his work. And in a weird twist, Frazetta was Kelly’s uncle!

Campion is obviously a superfan, and his writing does come off sometimes as gushy. The glut of recording-studio technical information might make some readers’ eyes glaze over, and he has a habit of referring and re-referring to his previously sourced material too much. But these are minor concerns when overall, Campion’s recounting of the Destroyer days (as well as to a lesser extent, KISStory both before and after) is rich and multi-voiced.

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Michael Brandvold

Anaonymous

What happened when two long-haired KISS fans met in Miami during KISS Kruise I.  Living In Sin, that’s what  Andy Moyen and I, (Jeff Hopkins) met at the Port of Miami just before the maiden voyage of The KISS Kruise.  Even though we lived 3000 miles apart, we became good friends.  What started out as a few of us hanging out at the pool at the Holiday Inn wearing Gene Simmons sunglasses, turned into something we never imagined. The Living in Sin Pre-Party at the Holiday Inn has been as awesome venue for KISS Kruisers to meet up, visit, listen to KISS tunes, win KISS items, and raise some money for charity. The response was overwhelming. The thank-you’s, and the stories people shared with us made us feel proud to be able to be part of something that people really cared about.

KKII Living in Sin I we raised 6026.82 for The Wounded Warrior Project.   Over the last four years we have had significant people from the KISS world attend our parties. They have donated, taken pictures with fans, done questions and answers sessions, and had a great time talking with the fans.   For KKIII LIS II we switched our charity to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. We had our DJ spinning KISS tunes, and KISS fans from all over the world were there. What an awesome experience the last 4 years have been.   KKIII LIS II we raised 7,165.98 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  KKIV LIS III we raised 6,850.70 and our LAST and FINAL LIS Party before KKV, we raised 8,277.23   We never had a clue how this was going to turn out.  The total money raised for the 4 LIS parties is 28,320.23   THANK YOU to each and every one that donated, bought raffle tickets, and came to our party. Without you this awesome event would have never happened.   Special thanks from Andy and I to The Holiday Inn at the Port of Miami,  Denise Hopkins, Tina Malloy, Julie Frazier, Andrew DJNOIZ Rodriguez, Jim Madden and of course Lydia Criss

Terry X

Lifestyle LA

KISSnation.com

Stripped down. Unplugged and Unmasked for The Holidays.

KISSNATION The KISS Tribute Show, goes acoustic and performs an intimate unmasked show performing a night of KISS classics and rarities, along with some requests!!! Don’t miss out on an incredible evening with the band and incredible KISS fans. Come join us as we celebrate the happiest time of year – KISSmas Time!! We will be listening to KISS music all night and may even have some surprise guests and LIVE Music.

+ KISS Gift Exchange
+ KISS Kringle
+ Drinks
+ Friends
+ More Friends and many magical memories

Saturday Dec. 12, 2015

Madison Square Tavern
150 W 30th St
New York, New York 10001

Party starts at 7pm – No Cover.

Jon Wiederhorn | Loudwire

The commercial breakthrough for megastars KISS was 1976’s Destroyer, a slick polished hard rock album that contained the ballad “Beth,” the band’s most successful single. After its release the band faced a critical fork in the road. Either they could continue down path of mainstream success and seek to continue to appeal to their ever-growing fanbase or they could shake up the formula and return to some of the grit and urgency of their first three studio albums and the groundbreaking concert record Alive. After carefully weighing their options KISS returned to their roots and wrote Rock and Roll Over, which was released on Nov. 11, 1976, less than eight months after Destroyer hit the shelves.

From the blues sleaze rock of the opening track “I Want You” to the gruff, melodic pop of “Hard Luck Woman” — with vocals by drummer Peter Criss — Rock and Roll Over is an everyman’s journey through the band’s two most valued elements: girls and kicking ass. To give the album the spirit and echo of a live show, producer Eddie Kramer recorded Criss’ drums in a bathroom, with the artist connected to his band mates via a video conference link. The rest of the group tracked from the stage of the Star Theatre in Nanuet, New York.

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Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock

Even Gene Simmons has to follow local noise ordinances.

According to Page Six, the Kiss co-founder’s efforts to help raise money for a children’s charity at a Los Angeles gala resulted in police being called to the event, which was being held at the home of entrepreneur Rohan Oza, and shutting it down.

“The sound from Gene’s performance traveled all over Beverly Hills,” said an unnamed source. “The cops showed up because of the noise.”

The benefit, dubbed the First Annual ‘The Children Matter’ Event, was held as a collaborative fundraiser between Simmons, Matter and the Starkey Hearing Foundation. The event’s website describes its efforts as being “centered around the simple belief that the lives of children matter” and adds, “From expanding access to health and food, to giving the gift of hearing, the mission is to improve lives of thousands of at-risk children around the world.”

Simmons, who was reportedly performing with current Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer, played for a celebrity-studded crowd that included actors Patrick Warburton and Bai Ling as well as Randy Jackson, television personality Maria Menounos, Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz and his girlfriend, model Meagan Camper.

Coverage of the event didn’t mention how much money was raised, but Page Six’s report makes it clear that the fundraising continued even after the police stopped by. “Gene put down the guitar,” added their source, “but the party continued with a DJ.”

Peter Arquette | KISSasylum.com

Peter Arquette

Lots of crazy rumors have been going around about this photo above, and apparently I am also guilty of spreading inaccurate speculation about the night Bruce played Gene’s bass on stage. The facts surrounding it were rather quite simple – There was some dead-space during the show, for whatever reason, and in Bruce’s words in a past Tweet:

“I was left on stage during my solo, then I freaked out and grabbed Gene’s bass. Crazy story!”

Nothing too dramatic as I, and many fans have imagined. Regardless, this is an awesome, out-of-character image of Bruce and hopefully this simple explanation can put to rest all the fan-boy conspiracy theories that have been going around.

Below are some more photos I took that night:

Joe Polo

Blabbermouth

More video from this performance at Blabbermouth.net

Peter Arquette | KISSasylum.com

The entire KISS Asylum staff just got back from the incredible KISS Kruise V! So glad to meet so many of our readers on the ship – wish it would have never stopped…