The Convention 'Eve' -

Once we changed and 'refreshed' ourselves from the 5+ hour car trip, (from Syracuse, NY) we headed down to the hotel bar and lounge. Holy KISS Fans, Batman!!! The bar was packed with the 'ARMY'! It was so bad that the bar had run out of almost all the beer and the poor bartender had beads of sweat running down his face! As the night went on, we saw alot of people that we'd seen at the Toronto Con. as well as alot of new faces. We (of course) ran into Chris Desing (of Fried Alive) whom was so 'bombed' that he 're-introduced' himself to us about 6 times; it was absolutely hilarious! He also introduced us to Drew Harris (of Kissin' Time). Very nice guy! I was finally able to ask him why his site was down; apparently it's the server's fault ;) - isn't it always?! Eventually, two of the people we met in Toronto brought down their 'boom box' and cranked out one of KISS' Alive albums (can't remember which) and people were dancing in the lobby! It was so cool! Later on, we met a guy that was an H&H Global dealer (I was too 'tipsy' to remember his name). Anyway, we all talked for a while and he informed us that H&H IS IN NO WAY, AFFILIATED WITH "PLANET FANZ"! THEY ARE TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT COMPANIES! The only deal that took place as far as H&H goes, is that they switched from being 'Retail dealers' and now they only do 'Wholesale'. Does that answer everybody's questions? Shortly thereafter, the night began to wind down and some 'wedding party' pretty much took over the 'now closed' bar and most of the KISS fans retreated to their rooms to play a round of 'where's the beef'! Oh...uh...well...at least we did! ;] All in all, we had a great night of pre-convention partying!

The Convention -

Well, I wish I could give you all the details of the 9 hours of the convention, but unfortunately, once AGAIN, we totally overslept! We didn't make it downstairs until about 3pm! (Too much partying the night before, huh?) Anyways, we stopped at the bar before going to where the Con. was (in the hotel 'Atrium'). While we were there, we noticed John Corabi hanging out before he went to do autographs. He soon came up to the bar (directly across from us on the opposite side) to order a few drinks; I turned to my hubby and whispered, "Do you think he remembers us from Toronto?". John must have read my lips 'cause he then looked over at us and yelled across the bar (at the top of his lungs, I might add!) "Hey, you guys were in Toronto, weren't you? How's it going?" Of course we answered yes and asked him how he was doing as well and he said great. What an awsome guy, huh? So, a few minutes later we headed down to the convention and....WOW! There was a TON of dealers there! Many, many more than in Toronto the week before! There was a whole shitload of the 'new' merchandise as well as a better 'stock' and quality of the old stuff. This time I went nuts! I bought two of the new 'Merry KISSmas' t-shirts (one for my mother - she absolutely loved it, by the way!), a KISS logoed ashtray (been dyin' for one of those!), the first two editions of the original print "Psyco Circus" (already had #'s 3&4), a "Black Diamond 2" book (haven't even read the original yet), "The Original Wicked Lester Sessions" CD from Chris (great sound, by the way!) and finally, a factory packaged set of the new trading cards! Yes...my KISS 'funds' are now sorely depleted...you may now feel free to start sending your 'sympathy donations' to me at any time...I assure you that I will graciously accept them! :) Seriously though, the prices at some of the tables (if you shopped around a bit) weren't nearly as outrageous as they were in Toronto!

The Autograph Session (with Bruce and John) -

This was a complete joke!!! Wanna know where the 300 or so people were lined up? OUT 'FUCKING' SIDE!!! There was a line of fans half way around the building in the freezing cold!!! We took one look at this and immediately laughed our asses off and promptly LEFT! We figured that we had time to catch some dinner and by the time we got back, the line would be exceptionally shorter. So...we did and unfortunately the service at Friendly's was significantly LESS than fast and it took a hell of alot longer than we had expected. When we got back to the convention and approached Bruce's table, we were horrified! Bruce was just getting up to leave! So I rushed over to him and asked if he could sign just one more autograph (I had my COS cd cover with me). He looked at us and said, "Hi guys! Since yous drove all this way down here, it's the least I could do!" And subsequently, he signed it for me! How 'bout that?! Bruce was practically dead on his feet and all ready to walk out the door and he STILL remembered us and STILL gave me an autograph! I swear...HE IS THE 'KOOLEST'! I was sooo thankful, 'cause that autogaph wasn't for me; I had promised it to my ex-boyfriend (we're still good friends) whom is a BIG Bruce (and Eric) fan! Shall I say, my timing was...'a little too close for comfort'?

The Tribute Band..."Mr. Speed" -

What can I say? WOW!!! We were impressed! You won't believe some of the 'obscure' songs they played! I'm sure I'm gonna forget some of them, but here's a list of some of the songs (these may not be very 'obscure' to some of you diehards, but for us, it was the first time we had heard some of them 'live'!) - Mr. Speed (of course!), Snowblind, Getaway, Love her all I Can, 2000 man (our favorite!), Rocket Ride, Shock Me, I want You, Got to Choose, Rock Bottom, Anything For My Baby and Sure Know Something! COOL! And then there was the drum solo! Talk about sheer POWER! HE was as good, if not 'better' than the real Peter! And THEN there was the guitar solo...HOLY SHIT! This guy was AWESOME! Not only did he play the standard Ace solo, but it sounded as if he threw in some of his own stuff as well! He practically blew the roof off the place! Not to mention...the infamous smoking guitar! (I found out later on that it was set up exactly like ACE's!) Oh... before I forget, when we first went up to the stage, the Paul guy spotted me and sort of 'greeted' me with this funny little grin from ear to ear; I had to laugh! And then, (I can't for the life of me remember what song it was) they had John Regan of Frehley's Comet get up on stage with them and play bass! He can definately still ROCK with the best of 'em!!! Anyway, during the show, both the Paul guy and the Gene guy, tried their damnedest to throw me their picks; one of them flew over my head and disappeared and the other once again, flew directly over my head and landed somewhere in the back of the room. Apparently, this guy spotted it and went over to pick it up; I noticed that he was then walking right towards me and I remember starting to think how nice it was of him to give it to me (since it was so obvious that it was thrown to ME) OR SO I THOUGHT! The S.O.B. just walked right passed me and didn't even acknowledge me! What a petty fuckin' asshole! I might have understood that if it had been the real KISS, but GEEZ! Oh well, it was well made up for later on that night! Anyways, the show KICKED MAJOR ASS!

The After(shocks) OF The Convention -

After Mr. Speed ended their set, we headed immediately for the bar/ lounge; at that point, my feet were KILLING me! About 5 minutes later, "Dave" (The 1 Man KISS Band, whom we didn't get to see this time around) came over to us and introduced himself and we all then chit-chatted for a bit. Even though I don't care for his 'computerized' KISS music, I must say that he was a very nice guy to talk to! His make-up this time, was much better than at the Toronto Con. (where it was just the Paul make-up). This time, he had on a combination of all KISS' make-up! I thought that was really neat! Then, after about an hour or so of resting our weary and tired bodies on the lounge loveseat, the band came back down in their normal attire and clean faces. I recognized them all except for the Peter guy and the Gene guy; I just assumed that they were still in their rooms. Then all of the sudden, this cute, blonde haired, blue eyed guy comes up to me and wants to shake my hand. I'm thinking "who the hell is this guy?" and then it dawned on me! It was the Gene guy! He shook my hand and said, "I noticed you guys were really getting into our show and I just wanna thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart, for having such a good time! It really meant alot to me!" I swear I almost cried! That was the sweetest thing that has ever been said to me! What a guy, huh?! So I told him what a great show I thought it was and that we would go and see them again in a heartbeat! He then reached in his pocket and said, "I tried sooo hard to get one of these to you during the show!" and he handed me 2 Mr. Speed guitar picks, one black with white letters and one white with black! I swear I could almost see the 'halo' around this guy's head! That was just so COOL! So after that, he joined the rest of the group in their own little corner of the bar and they all celebrated with champagne. I could tell that they were all as 'tight' as 'blood brothers'; it was a very nice (and rare) thing to see!

As the night rolled on, another very friendly guy introduced himself to us; his name was John Ostrosky. Apparently, he worked on "The Return Of The Comet" cd and also works for MTV. We sat and talked for quite a while and he told us alot about the cd (which I now plan on buying!) and also a bunch of 'ACE stories' from when he was last in touch with him. He also told us how John Corabi (that very day) had talked to him about the possibility of doing some videos and promotion for their upcoming album on MTV. And just before he left us, (to 'prowl' the halls of the hotel) he gave us his business card and told us to keep in touch! I can assure you, we will. Needless to say, we enjoyed talking to him very much! Shortly after he left, the Gene guy (sorry guys, I still have no clue as to what his real name is! As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure if he remembered to 'formally' introduce himself!) came back over and sat down with us while his comrades headed off to bed. At this point, it was about 1am and then this other guy in an Army jacket (no, not the KISS Army... the real Army) joined in with us. In order to cut this a little shorter, by the time we actually stopped gabbing, it was about 3:30 in the morning! 'Gene' told us that he was the 'new' guy in the band and that this was only his 5th show; (you wouldn't have known the difference either!) we talked about alot of the other tribute bands, we discussed politics and how screwed up our government is, he told us his stories of when he met KISS, he told us how Eric Singer was being somewhat of an asshole (towards Cold Gin) at the Toledo Fest this year and for the big finale, he told us a very INTERESTING story about Bill Aucoin that (if I remember correctly) came straight from Ace's mouth! If you wanna hear about that one, you'll have to E-mail me privately!!! ;] Anyways, 'Gene' (and the other guy who's name totally escapes me at the moment) were extremely nice to talk to and also VERY informative. I also wanna say that 'Gene' is the main reason that I am writing this entire review... as a favor to him since he kindly asked me to! (Hey 'Gene'...if you're reading this, this review is solely dedicated to YOU as a Thank You for your 'hospitality' and friendliness! E-mail me if you can!)

The 'Morning After' The Convention -

Before we headed back for Syracuse, we decided to have one last breakfast at the hotel. While we were there, we again ran into Chris Desing and John Ostrosky, who were with John Regan. They 'formally' introduced us to him (we had already 'sort of' met him earlier in the weekend as we would always exchange waves and smiles when we'd seen him in the bar) and we spoke with him briefly. We found out that his family all lives within 30 miles of us (in Oswego, NY)! Apparently, he had played with Frampton at the "Dinosaur Barbeque", a restaurant/bar here in Syracuse, a few years back! What a small world! Needless to say, John Regan was also very nice and very friendly and pleasant to speak with.....as was everybody else we had the pleasure of meeting that weekend! It was one of the best weekends we've had in a long time! Hope to see you all in Orlando!

As for Bruce's appearance, he was great. Unfortunately, I was going to the Redskins/Giants game that night and had to leave early to get back to DC. From what I saw, though, Bruce was very cool and was really excited about seeing the fans. His "karaoke guitar" thing he did was great. I just wish he knew more of the solos that people requested. I guess it's hard, though, when it's just him up there with no band. I asked him to play "I Walk Alone", but he said his guitar wasn't tuned properly to play it. He tried anyway, though, which was cool.

I had to leave during the Q & A session, but what I heard was very interesting. Bruce was very candid with regards to his disapointment over not being in KISS anymore, but is obviously very excited about Union. He also talked a bit about all the merchandising that is going on. He isn't too thrilledl with it, but he knows Gene and isn't surprised. One VERY interesting thing he said was that he would contact Gene to see if Union might open on the next KISS tour!!!! How cool would that be?!?! He said there were a lot of factors that would determine whether it happened, but Bruce said he would be very willing and happy to go out and support them. Well, that's about where I had to leave. I wish I could tell you more, but I had to get back for the snorefest at The Jack ( a 7-7 tie--ugh!). I did find out from a friend I met up with there that Bruce signed everything that people asked for. In fact, one of the "bouncers" told one person that Bruce would only be signing one thing for each person, to which Bruce replied, "hey, if it has my picture or name on it, I'm signing it!" WTG, Bruce!