Last weekend myself & a friend traveled all the way to Jersey to finally attend a NJ KISS Convention (unofficial of course). With some help from our friends who rented a car we made it to the Rothman Center around 2pm Sunday.

There was a good crowd of people there-I'd estimate around 1,000. There were tons of merchandise stands/tables selling everything from KISS airbrushed t-shirts, to KISS beers, beer taps (homemade), several posters, photos, autographed albums, 70's promos, pinball machines, classic memorabilia (although there was a shortage of rare toys for anything less than outrageous prices.)

Upon arriving we found our friend (Ace impersonator) Bill Baker. Bill let me sell some issues at his stand for a while. Directly behind us was Richie Scarlet, John Regan & Dennis Woloch who all had tables set up selling their merchandise. Richie had his new CD (awesome), a video, posters & some of the NYB CD's he produced. John Regan sold the 12 Picks CD, Frehleys Comet picks, promo items, etc.. & Dennis Woloch sold the Dynasty poster of him with KISS. Upon seeing these guys I immediately went up to introduce myself & ask for autographs and photos to which they all obliged to.

Eric Singer's Q&A session started around 4PM & didn't last very long & they basically asked him the same questions we've all heard before. After this they formed a huge line for autographs & photos with Eric. I went through & talked breifly but security always jumped in-the worst part of the Expo was dealing with security-they can all fuck off as far as I'm concerned.

After this I went & talked to Richie & John some more. Since Bill was about to play I moved my issues to another friends table & to the H&H table-where Barry Levine was signing his new book-they had a special "Advance Copy" on sale. Fractured Mirror hit the stage around 7 & really kicked ass-this is an ACE FREHLEY solo tribute band that has the greatest Ace impersonator in the world-Bill Baker-I mean if he can look like Ace-WITHOUT make-up that tells you something right there. He also sang & played Ace perfectly. Their set consisted of "Hard Times", NY Groove", Speeding Back", "Ozone/Wiped Out", "Cold Gin" , "Put It On "(original) & "Rocket Ride" where Bill did his solo & the guitar wouldn't smoke-the 1st time it's happened to him he later told me.

After their set everyone noticed Eric Singer still hanging around towards the back where he had a table set up selling his stuff & still signing & posing for photos-so it was more than easy to get as many autographs as anyone wanted from Eric.

Next Eric Singer, Richie Scarlet, Karl Cochran & John Regan took the stage for a jam session of cover songs including "Goin' Down", "Cold Gin", "Highway Star", "Rock Candy" and "Snortin' Whisky"-Richie stole the show & Eric looked like he was having a blast. Eric did a few small drum solos & these songs were not planned-really great to see these guys jamming together since they normally wouldn't.

After the jam-I took some photos off stage-Richie told me to get a shot of him with his wife & asked me to print it with the issue (you got it Richie). Many of the dealers had shut their tables down by now-but I went around & found some cool things like a Love Gun Army kit, a Destroyer songbook, an Eric Carr box set, a KISS beer, KISS photos, photos, sticks & shirt from Eric-which he owed me-he signed the shirt twice so I'll never be wearing that one! Also bought the Black Diamond book from Dale Sherman & the KISS Years photo book from Barry Levine, also found some cool new live bootleg CD's & much more cool stuff.

As Hotter Than Hell was about to hit the stage around 8-9PM I went back to their dressing room to get a few shots. They looked great-their Ace (Scott) had a new costume & they had all kinds of new pyro tonight-including the rockets from the guitar on Ace's solo, the silver amps, & the KISS logo. When they were starting I was talking to Eric & the concussion bomb went off & he jumped about 10 feet! The last shot I asked him for was with an issue & he lifted up his shirt & put the issue down his pants-very funny Eric! Everyone around us started cracking up-funny photo but almost didn't want the issue back! Eric left & held up a peace sign for everyone on the way out. HOTTER THAN HELL had the crowd going crazy with songs like "Nightime World", Dr. Love" Hotter Than Hell", "All American Man", "Take Me" & "Do Ya Love Me"-this obviously isn't only my favorite tribute band judging from the reactions in Jersey.

Me & my friends left after a long & tiresome convention-then we got to go hang out with Bill Baker (from Fractured Mirror) at his apartment where he where we salivated over his amazing collection of Ace costumes, guitars, etc.. we all 4 hung out with Bill & ordered pizza, talked & took photos 'till about 2 in the morning-had a really good time. To: Bill Bjornholm, Rob Gurganian, Frank, Phil, Nick, Chris, Peter, Eric Singer, Richie Scarlet, John Regan, Karl Cochran, Anthony & family, Gary&Rob, Bill & Fractured Mirror, Hotter Than Hell, Dale & Barry (among others) it was great to see you all again & hang out for a day with the greatest fans in the world-hope to see you next year. Joe D.