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.

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.”

Continue reading →

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.

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.

Continue reading →