On a crisp October evening five decades ago, students at Cadillac High School “rock-and-roll(ed) all nite” with one of the hottest bands in the country at the time.
Kiss, the rock band famous for its face paint and stage antics, including pyrotechnics, performed a live concert in the high school gym, following an unusual series of events that began with the passion of an assistant football coach.
That concert at Cadillac High School became legendary, not only in this small city in northern Michigan, but also in the annals of Kiss history.
“It was awesome,” recalled Dave Schemmel, who, at 16, was among the football team members and students in attendance. “We didn’t realize at the time the magnitude of what was happening. A year later, it finally sank in. People were still talking about it, and 50 years later, they’re still talking about it.”