Gene Simmons helps put charity in the black

Malcolm Parry | Vancouver Sun

ANGELS AND DEVIL: With Kiss singer Gene Simmons there, the 22nd annual Face The World gala might have been a crazy, crazy night. Moneywise, it was. Temporarily relocated from founder Jacqui Cohen’s renovating Point Grey spread to her University District childhood home, it reportedly raised the usual seven figures.

Seafood-specializing C restaurateur Harry Kambolis served sablefish-and-shimeji-mushroom custard and crab-stuffed veal loin on a tented tennis court. U.S. Consul-General Anne Callaghan and wine merchant Darryl Weinbren kept Château Ste. Michelle’s much-lauded Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardon-nay flowing. And Simmons’s and (now-wife) Shannon Tweed’s children, Sophie and Nick Simmons, entertained, albeit without dad’s Devil-face makeup. Cohen’s “angels,” including her own clan, contributed at least $170,000.