Jeff Hopkins

The KISS Kruise III Living In Sin 2 Pre-party ROCKED the Holiday Inn at the Port of Miami!!  The Breast Cancer Research Foundation was our choice of charity this year.  The LIS party was held 2 days before the Kruise started, and it was casual and fun for everyone.   It was for friends (old and new) from around the world to get together and have a good time.  We had a DJ spinning KISS tunes all party long.

Andy and I worked to gather donations all year long for our raffles, which was a great success.  This year the grand prize was a Cort Gene Simmons GS Punisher 2 Bass Guitar with case !  Our raffle tickets were $1.00 each for the general raffle and $5.00 each for the bass. We had our resident “Gene Simmons” pulling the winning raffle tickets.

This year we were honored to have Lydia Criss join us.  She brought a stock pile of her book “Sealed with a Kiss”, and sold every one of them, and graciously donated a portion of her sales to our charity.  Lydia also held a Q&A with the fans, which was a big hit, and quite entertaining 😉  Maria Contessa ( Original Costume Designer for KISS 1973-1982) dropped by the party for a couple of hours.  She had her picture taken with fans and signed autographs. Alan G. Parker ( director of the forthcoming official Kiss movie You Wanted The Best… You Got The Best) also mixed and mingled with the crowd. We gave away lots of KISS merchandise and goodies.

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Something Else!

No matter how big Kiss has gotten, no many how many years have gone by, one pre-show ritual remains: The putting on of the makeup.

“The truth is, it’s the same ritual that we started with almost 40 years ago: We physically and literally have put on the makeup every single time,” Simmons tells CNN. “There have never been makeup people on the side. The process takes about two hours.”

Simmons founded Kiss with Paul Stanley in 1973, along with the departed Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. The band wore make up through its ’83 album Lick It Up, though by then Simmons and Stanley had been joined by Bruce Kulick and the late Eric Carr.

Kiss donned their famous makeup again in 1996, when Frehley and Criss returned for a reunion. Since, both have left again, replaced by Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer. The new players assumed the personas of their predecessors — Spaceman (Frehley’s character) and Catman (which is Criss’).

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Gerry Krochak | Calgary Sun

Jim Wells

These cats came back … and thanks for that!

After completing the Monster tour in Japan last week, logistically, reasonably, realistically and cost effectively, it made no sense to schedule a one-off show 8,007 kilometers away.

But, then again … this is no ordinary band.

For you Calgary, the masters of classic shock weren’t about to blow this one off. No damn way.

During the third rescheduled Calgary Stampede arena show in the past eight days, KISS proved once and for all that the best kind of fun is big, dumb fun.

And you can bet your Originals lunchbox on it.

The lights, the smoke, the bombs, the sparks, the blood, the fire, the fans, the spectacle and, uh, some tasty classic rock nuggets, which have stood the test of time rather well, makes the entire experience a memorable one ­— no matter how old or young you are.

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Krazy Knights

Laura Schreffler | Haute Living

Designer John Varvatos was joined by a slew of celebrity pals at Neiman Marcus this week to celebrate his new book: John Varvatos: Rock in Fashion. 

Pals such as rock photographer Mick Rock, Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley of KISS, Joe Manganiello, Dean McDermott, George Kotsiopoulos and Avan Jogia were on hand to celebrate Varvatos’ success at the invite-only event.

The coffee-table style book documents the elements of rock style that have embodied the music community for decades.

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Shayam Dodge | Mail Online

He may be a hardcore rocker but Gene Simmons has a heart made of solid gold.

The 64-year-old was honoured for his work with U.S. troops abroad and veterans at home in America during an event in Hollywood, on Thursday.

The KISS bassist is reported to have been brought to tears while giving an emotional speech as his wife Shannon Tweed and his daughter Sophie supported him from the audience.

Wearing his signature dark sunglasses, the dark haired entrepreneur donned a grey sports coat and blue jeans for his appearance at the Salute to Veterans event at Paramount Studios where he was presented with the Durning Patriotism Award.

Sporting steel toed cowboy boots the 6ft2 former reality star towered above his high heeled ladies.

Sophie, 21, wore a strapless red dress with matching strappy open toed stiletto pumps as she smiled throughout the evening, clearly proud of her famous father.

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Morgan Greenwald | Daily Trojan

On Thursday, USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative hosted Gene Simmons at the University Club as a guest speaker for 60 students currently in the program.

Path to success · Former KISS star Gene Simmons speaks to Neighborhood Academic Initiative participants at the University Club on Thursday evening about his own experiences facing adversity as an immigrant. – Austin Vogel | Daily Trojan

Others in attendance included Pavel Krapivin, vice president of Warner Bros. and former student of the USC Math, Science and Technology High School, and Kim Thomas-Barrio, executive director of NAI.

NAI is a college access and success program with neighborhood students in grades six through 12 in conjunction with the university.

“[This program] allows the academic rigor students need and the support families need for first generation college-goers from underrepresented minority groups,” Thomas-Barrios said.

Since its first graduating class in 1997, NAI has  graduated more than 700 students. Forty percent of those graduates attended USC with a full four-and-a-half year scholarship package, not including loans.

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Ethan Sacks | Daily News

Gene Simmons set tongues wagging Wednesday when he tweeted that he was offered the chance to make his Broadway debut as Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis.

“Thank you, Michael Cohl for offering me the role of the Green Goblin on the Broadway production of #spiderman,” the KISS bassist posted to his 573,719 followers. 

If the 64-year-old rock icon does indeed swap his white and black demon facepaint for the stage villain’s green body makeup, he’ll be replacing Broadway veteran Robert Cuccioli. A rep for the production could not be reached for comment.

Michael Wayland | M Live

DETROIT, MI- Ford Motor Co. unveiled a custom 1956 Ford F-100 Tuesday at the 2013 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show with help from KISS frontman Gene Simmons and his wife, actress Shannon Tweed.

The Shelby Mustang-inspired pickup truck — named “Snakebit” – features 20-inch rear wheels, a Ford Racing supercharged 5.4-liter V8 estimated at 550 horsepower and custom wheelbase, headlights and sequential taillights.

“That’s what I call hot,” Simmons said as the vehicle was unveiled to KISS’ “Rock And Roll All Nite.”

The interior of the metallic gray pickup features handmade panels and two-tone leather. The knobs on the leather-wrapped dash are custom, as are the armrests. The leather bench seat is contoured to match the look of a Shelby Mustang interior.

Snakebite will be auctioned next year by Barrett-Jackson, with proceeds going to help fund a children’s hospital in Tweed’s hometown in Canada.

Simmons said he wants the vehicle to auction for at least $1 million. The legendary bassist even joked that he’d do everything for the winning bidder –from cooking dinner to signing the vehicle and spitting blood in the backseat.

“I’ll do anything you want,” Simmons said. “I want a million bucks for that.”

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103.7 The Loon

Hulton Archive

Ace Frehley said he’s come to expect blindside insults from Gene Simmons. So he wasn’t totally surprised by the recent spate of comments made by his former Kiss bandmate, who Frehley said “has no friends — he’s not respected by his peers.”

Frehley, talking with Q104.3FM’s Eddie Trunk (via Blabbermouth), chalked up Simmons’ lonely existence to the Demon’s alleged focus on business to the exclusion of personal relationships. “I mean, from the very beginning, his only motivation was money,” Frehley told Trunk. “He’s pissed off thousands of fans.”

Simmons’ latest jab at his old guitarist came during a talk with Radio.com two weeks ago, when he compared working with Frehley and fellow co-founding ex-member Peter Criss to having a “cancer in your system” — something that had to be excised “as fast as you can.”

Simmons and Paul Stanley have continued on as Kiss after the early-’00s departures of Frehley and Criss, releasing the ‘Monster’ album last year with replacements Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer.

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Radio.com

Alejandro Pagni

Last night’s (November 3) episode of The Simpsons was one for the ages. Titled “Four Regrettings And A Funeral,” it featured one of the show’s most epic “couch gags” ever, an understated and sweet goodbye to longtime character Mrs. Krabappel, and a pretty hilarious reference to “The Hottest Band In The World.”

“Four Regrettings” saw four characters — Homer and Marge Simpson, Mr. Burns and news anchor Kent Brockman — look back on their lives and consider the questionable choices they’ve made. Mr. Burns let the love of his life slip away because he couldn’t take her advice to think about others for five minutes a day. Homer sold all of his Apple stock to buy a bowling ball. Kent Brockman didn’t follow his former co-anchor Rachel Maddow (appearing as herself) in trading local news for the big time. And Marge Simpson wonders if perhaps she is responsible for son Bart’s rebellious streak, due to — of all things — an unexplained hankering for the music and imagery of KISS during her pregnancy.

This last one was such a bizarre twist, that Radio.com reached out to Simpsons Executive Producer Al Jean to ask about its origins. While Jean didn’t come up with the idea, he felt compelled to go along with it: “As a corporal in the KISS Army, I could only obey.”

“[Director] Jim Brooks suggested that Marge was hooked on KISS music when she was pregnant, and that she worried it had made Bart what he was,” Jean said.

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La Figa

Shades of Lady Gaga  nearly two and half decades before Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta donned platform shoes and a meat dress. Watch Paul Lynde thanking his

“Little monsters”

at the close of his surreal 1976 Halloween special; it shows a throughline of queer consciousness.

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special is a mash-up of 1976′s culture clashes. Lynde makes jokes about the upcoming election while KISS, Betty White, Donnie and Marie (in an uncredited appearance), Margaret Hamilton, and other surprise guests perform sketches with the Crown Prince of Camp, Paul Lynde.

For many years, Paul Lynde and Liberace [Lee] were the two most visible gay men on television, and Lynde was always cooler than Lee, appealing to a younger generation.  He played sarcastic, practical joking Uncle Arthur on Bewitched  and was also the center square on the game show Hollywood Squares, where his snarky double entendres (and center spot on the game board) made him a favorite. Many jokes on the Hollywood Squares centered around thinly veiled references to Lynde’s sexuality, and I still wonder if my grandmother and her generation got them…

Q: You’re the world’s most popular fruit. What are you?
Lynde: Humble.

Q: What unusual thing do you do, if you have something called ‘the gift of tongues’?
Lynde: I wouldn’t tell the grand jury; why should I tell you?

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