Steve
70s Kiss Podcast | Bill Baker, Talks about his first experience being a 70s Kiss fan, Ace Frehley’s Guitar tech, friend as well as owning memorabilia.http://www.theacefrehleyarchive.com/
KISS and Def Leppard to Make “Major Announcement” on March 17
KISS and Def Leppard are calling a press conference for March 17 in Los Angeles to make a “major announcement.” Though there’s no official word, a source close to one of the bands tells ABC News Radio that KISS and Def Leppard are planning a summer co-headlining tour, set to kick off in late June and go through the very end of August.
Though it’s being billed as a co-headlining tour, the source tells ABC News Radio that KISS will be the closing band on all dates. There is speculation that the tour could extend internationally, but as of now only U.S. dates are set.
The press conference will stream live next Monday on Live Nation’s website.
KISS and Def Leppard have combined album sales of more than 200 million.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio
Sneak Peek – Rocker Gene Simmons Guests on Next CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
On the next episode of CBS‘s CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled ‘Long Road Home,’ the CSIs investigate the murder of a rock and roll groupie and the disappearance of a prostitute that both have ties to a mysterious band.
The episode airs Wednesday, March 12 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. KISS lead singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Gene Simmons guest stars as himself. Get a sneak peek below!
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is a fast-paced drama about a team of forensic investigators trained to solve crimes by examining the evidence. They are on the case 24/7, scouring the scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that will solve the mystery. D.B. Russell, the CSI supervisor for the grave shift, is a family man and scientist, but not a nerd. Son of hippie parents, he’s a left-coast Sherlock Holmes who devours crime novels and looks at every crime scene as if it were a story waiting to be told.
The team’s other members include CSI Julie Finlay, a blood spatter expert who always speaks her mind, regardless of the consequences; Nick Stokes, the conscience of the team, often driven by his emotional connection to the victim to always get the job done; Sara Sidle, aka “Mrs. Grissom,” relentless in her pursuit of criminals and the moral compass of the team; Greg Sanders, once an off-beat tech analyst and now an experienced and intuitive crime solver; and Morgan Brody, an exile from the Los Angeles Crime Lab and the daughter of Undersheriff Ecklie. She’s a natural-born investigator who still has a lot to learn about politics and family.
AFL’s LA KISS unveils helmets that are football’s version of the reverse mullet (photos)
The LA KISS of the AFL has unveiled their helmets and they are unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Call them football headgear’s version of the reverse mullet: Party in the front (full-frontal flames, visors and facemasks included) and business in the back (sleek chrome).
Hydro Graphics Inc. of Newberg, a company that’s made a niche for itself with the Oregon Ducks’ liquid metal helmets and branched out from there, did the work.
The KISS play in the same league as the Portland Thunder, and they meet in Los Angeles on April 5 and June 14. They play in Portland on July 12.
What do you think of the KISS’ look? Let us know in the comments.
Any bets on whether this song by KISS — the team is owned by band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons — figures prominently in the team’s game day productions?
Three Sides of the Coin episode 66 – Mitch Lafon leaves the show
Michael Brandvold
Paul Stanley Q&A: Kiss Frontman On ‘Destructive’ Childhood, New Book and Why the Rock Hall Is Like a ‘Distorted Bar Mitzvah’
Gary Graff | Billboard
In April, Stanley embarks on a book tour for his memoir “Face the Music: A Life Exposed”… The rocker talks why he finally put his life on paper, the inaccuracies of Gene Simmons’ own book, and what actually went down with the Rock Hall of Fame
Few bands know how to celebrate better than Kiss; it coined the concept “rock and roll all night and party every day,” after all. And this is a time of celebration for the group, with this year marking the 40th anniversary of its first two albums, the launch of the Arena Football League’s L.A. Kiss and its upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (though not without drama; read on) on April 10 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Best of all for frontman Paul Stanley is the April 8 publication of his autobiography “Face the Music: A Life Exposed,” a revealing memoir in which he writes frankly about the travails of his youth and the triumphs and tribulations of both Kiss and his personal life.
Stanley lights out on a six-city book tour that begins April 7 at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble in New York with subsequent stops at the Barnes & Noble in Staten Island (April 8); Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J. (April 9); Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles (April 16); Warwick’s in La Jolla, Calif. (April 17); and the San Francisco Jewish Community Center on April 25.
With all that going on, it’s not surprising our conversation with the Starman was wide-ranging and characteristically forthright.
You’re the last of the original Kiss members with a book of your own. Just a slacker?
It really had nothing to do with the band as far as being first, last, middle. It wasn’t with any of that in mind. The truth of the matter is I had sworn for, literally, decades not to write an autobiography. I always go back to George Orwell, who said the autobiography is the most outrageous form of fiction. And I would say 90-plus, 95 percent of the autobiographies by any of my contemporaries would be better suited on a roll of soft paper, so at least you could use it for something, ’cause they’re nothing more than self-serving fantasies or delusions or love letters to themselves. They serve no purpose. What I finally came to grips with was the idea that my life could be inspiring to other people… and almost more importantly I wanted something that my children could read when they got older to understand what it took for me to succeed and a better understanding of who I am and perhaps what they need in their lives to move forward. So there was a real purpose to this as opposed to just some sort of bragging rights.
Podcast Rock City – Crossover; is it possible to be a fan of Tommy and Ace?
Joe Polo
Producer Richie Wise talks Dust & KISS (March 7 2014)
Mitch Lafon
KISS co-founders sign Kansas company as Rock & Brews franchisee
Joyce Smith | Kansas City Business
KISS co-founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have signed their first Rock & Brews restaurant franchisee, a Kansas native who plans to open five locations in Kansas and Oklahoma.
Kirk Williams, president of Legacy Restaurant Group LLC in Topeka, currently owns 21 Wendy’s restaurants in Kansas and Missouri, including 11 of the 55 Wendy’s restaurants in the Kansas City area.
Williams has formed Kanbrews LLC to develop, open and operate five Rock & Brews in Kansas and Oklahoma over the next five years. He also has an option to open an additional five units in Missouri and Nebraska. A corporate owned restaurant was planned for Overland Park but it will now be owned by Kanbrews and at least one more Rock & Brews could open in the Kansas City area.
Williams said the concept is “very family and neighborhood friendly.”
“The thing that sold me I think was the variety of craft beers, that was one piece. And I was real excited about the quality of the food,” Williams said. “It was really beyond my initial expectations. You want people to come back for the food.”
KISS rockers’ restaurant opens on Maui
Erika Engle | Star Advertiser
Rock & Brews Paia opened for business at 11 a.m. Wednesday, but famous KISS rockers Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were not present for the first lunch service.
The restaurant’s famous co-founders were present for the blessing about a month and a half-ago, according to the hostess on duty Wednesday afternoon.
“We like to call them our mascots,” she said.
The Star-Advertiser reported on the planned restaurant two years ago, which raised community hackles in the historically low-key town.
The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Rock & Brews also has locations in Southern California and Los Cabos, Mexico.
Gene Simmons snubbed by ‘Game of Thrones’ star
Bryan Alexander | USA Today
Lena Headey is clearly not a big Kiss fan. At Tuesday night’s premiere for 300: Rise of an Empire, rocker Gene Simmons found that out the hard way after Headey snubbed his aggressive social advances.
It was a scene that would have fit in perfectly on the rocker’s canceled reality show.
Simmons tried in vain to pull Headey, one of the 300stars, away from an ongoing black carpet interview . He wanted to introduce her to his son Nick Simmons, 25, who was waiting with a pained expression a few feet away.
At first Headey smiled politely as Simmons assured her that she would much rather meet his son than continue an interview.
Then Simmons joked lamely about the AP microphone in front of him. (“I have an app on my phone,” he said.) No one laughed.
Then he found out that Headey was not going to move despite being guided by his left hand on her back. Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones and Spartan Queen Gorgo in 300: Rise of an Empire, stood her ground and continued her interview.
KISS’s Paul Stanley Says Ace Frehley ‘Threw Away Incredible Potential’
Kory Grow | Rolling Stone
Kevin Mazur
The bitterness between the current and former members who founded Kiss will not be quelled anytime soon. It’s been a little over a week since the group announced that it would not perform “in any lineup” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, following Ace Frehley’s comment that he would not perform with current guitarist Tommy Thayer wearing Frehley’s sometime makeup. Now, in a new interview with Guitar World, vocalist-guitarist Paul Stanley has derided Frehley’s talent.
Kiss’ Long Road to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Photos
“What we had at the beginning was magical. . . Ace and I played great together,” Stanley said. “But in my mind it’s a crime what Ace did: He threw away incredible potential and talent. The Ace I played with when the band first started out was a comet – and not [Frehley’s late-Eighties band] ‘Frehley’s Comet!’ But he was burning bright and really had the ability – and this would rub him the wrong way – to be a real contender. But he stopped practicing. He got involved with a whole lot of things that really diluted and diminished his craft. I saw that comet grow dim.”
Stanley also said that after Kiss ousted drummer Peter Criss in 1980, he decided the band needed to reinvent itself, and that’s why they removed their makeup in 1983. It’s a decision he now feels hurt the band. “Rather than saying, ‘We’ve built these iconic figures together and we’re going to continue on with what we built,’ we bought into the idea of, ‘We have to have a new character,'” he said. “That watered it down. Some people may argue with me, but I feel that Batman is Batman whether he’s played by George Clooney, Christian Bale, Val Kilmer and on and on.”
Three Sides of the Coin episode 65 – We discuss YOUR hate for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and KISS
Michael Brandvold
Paul Stanley Book Signing tour update
Paul Stanley’s “Face the Music: A Life Exposed” will be released in ALL formats including eBook and spoken word on April 8th! Paul will be signing copies of his new book at the following locations:
Monday, April 7 – New York – 6:00 pm
Barnes & Noble Tribeca
97 Warren Street
New York, NY 10007
Tuesday, April 8 – New York – 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble
2245 Richmond Avenue
Staten Island, NY
Wednesday, April 9 – New York/New Jersey – 6:00 pm
Bookends
211 E. Ridgewood Avenue
Ridgewood, NJ
Wednesday, April 16 – Los Angeles – 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble
The Grove
189 The Grove Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Thursday, April 17 – San Diego – 7:00 pm
Warwick’s
7812 Girard Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037
Friday, April 25 – San Francisco – 7:00 pm
Jewish Community Center
3200 California Street
San Francisco, CA 94118
Gene Simmons’s Tongue listed as one of the most expensive insured celebrity body parts
Podcast Rock City – PCRC Interviews The Boycott Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Guy!!
Joe Polo
Kiss Rock Hall reunion was never going to happen
Kiss frontman Paul Stanley has insisted he and Gene Simmons were never going to allow Ace Frehley and Peter Criss to take part in their cancelled Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction performance.
And he adds that while they’re still welcome to attend the ceremony in April, there’s no chance they’ll be allowed to wear the make-up that made them famous.
Stanley and Simmons last week stated that no line-up of the band would play, following previous comments which had offered fans some hope the four original members would take the stage together.
The frontman’s latest comments come after the partner of Bill Aucoin, the manager who helped make the band’s name, called for them to stop their “nonsense” and find a compromise.
Stanley tells the LA Times: “Imagine getting on stage and playing with a line-up that does not exist.” He compares the situation to being forced to reunite with a former spouse.
He adds that he’d still be happy for Frehley and Criss to take part in the actual induction – but he’ll accept no argument that current members Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer should not be there too. “The naysayers talk about Tommy or Eric being impostors,” Stanley says. “I think an impostor is a guy up there doing it for a pay cheque.”
Meanwhile, both ex-members have expressed their disappointment. Guitarist Frehley says: “For years, Gene and Paul have been trying to minimise my contributions to the band, even though I designed the famous Kiss logo and the trademarked make-up for the Spaceman character.”
Criss comments: “We should have been able to work it out as grown men. It’s a shame we couldn’t.”
KISS bit on SNL’s Weekend Update
Longtime Ace Frehley friend Larry Russell
Mitch Lafon
KISS is happy with its lineup and OK with the Rock Hall
Steve Appleford | LA Times
Liz O Baylen
The sideshow at Dodger Stadium is about to begin as Paul Stanley emerges from his backstage trailer, shirtless and in full kabuki drag: bright red lips, his face painted harlequin white, a black star over his right eye. The singer-guitarist is here to perform with his band KISS but hears his name and walks over to a crowd gathered at the fence.
“Arriba!” yells one fan, and Stanley reaches over to shake hands, as dozens of cellphones take snapshots. “Let me see your shoes!” shouts another, and Stanley half-climbs the fence to swing a tasseled silver-and-black platform boot over the top. “Thanks, Paul!”
In less than an hour, Stanley and his musical partner of four decades, Gene Simmons, will lead KISS through two short sets of hooks and hard rock riffs as halftime entertainment for an ice hockey game between the Kings and the Ducks. It’s another strange gig in the ongoing saga of KISS, which long ago evolved from band to lucrative brand, ready for high-profile special events, reality TV and cradle-to-grave business ventures in the form of KISS Hello Kitty Dolls, KISS comics, books, T-shirts, action figures and restaurants as well as KISS caskets and KISS urns.
PHOTOS: 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
Designer John Varvatos recruited KISS for his Spring 2014 advertising campaign, putting the band in sharp suits to echo the 1975 album cover for “Dressed to Kill.” And next month is the unlikely debut of an arena football team called the L.A. KISS, co-owned by Simmons and Stanley (with band manager Doc McGhee and sports exec Brett Bouchy). This is not standard rock ‘n’ roll behavior.
“This is what I do for a living,” jokes Stanley, 62, greeting a friend backstage. “Got to put the kids through school.”