Saturday, September 13, 2014
NJ Convention and Exposition Center, at the Raritan Center
97 Sunfield Ave, Edison NJ 08837.
Directions and info are at NJkissexpo.com
It’s coming up sooner than you think – The New Jersey KISS Expo returns to Edison NJ for an exciting day of celebrating KISS with all your KISS friends and family! Tickets will go on sale in early August.
Taking reservations for dealer tables now! We sell out every year, so get yours today. Dealer table reservation info is HERE.
Cindy Watts | The Tennessean
Britta Pedersen
Tongue-wagging, fire-spitting Gene Simmons of KISS is 64 years old and every night on the band’s 40th anniversary tour, “I have to wear more makeup and higher heels than you ever wore,” he said.
To be exact, those heels are eight-inch platforms and he does it carrying 50 pounds of gear.
Not that he’s complaining.
“I’m happy every day I get up,” said the over-the-top bass player who will appear with KISS tonight at Bridgestone Arena. Def Leppard will also perform. “You open your eyes, you win.”
Simmons said the stage production has been 40 years in the making and he doesn’t want to divulge a single detail because he wants fans to come see it for themselves. He said the fans are his highlight every night.
“The highlight that happens almost every show is when you look out and you see somebody in their 40s or 50s, that’s great,” he said. “When you look out and you see teenagers, they’re cool and they’re seeing their first KISS concert, that’s great. But the amazing thing is when you look out and you see a father and he’s got KISS make up on. And you see his five-year-old kid on his shoulders and he’s got KISS make up on and they’re both doing my hand gesture, it just chokes me up. It’s amazing.
“When I was growing up rock and roll divided the generations and now it’s finally something the whole family can get behind. It’s a unifier and not a divider. I love that about KISS.”
KISS bassist Gene Simmons recently discussed the still-current matter of Rock Hall, suggesting an interesting idea – to buy it.
Asked by the Tampa Tribune on how he’d change the system, Gene casually replied, “Well, I was thinking of buying the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Prompted to further elaborate, the bassist suggested a string of changes he’d incorporate if becoming the new Rock Hall head honcho. “The first thing I would do is move the bodies buried in the wrong place. I would bury them in the right place,” he explained.
“I would put Run DMC, who I believe are very good, and the rest of hip-hop into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. I would take Madonna and Donna Summer, who was a dear friend, and put them in the Disco or Dance Hall of Fame. I would put Deep Purple in the Hall. The fact that Blondie got in before Humble Pie is crazy,” Simmons added.
During the rest of the chat, the musician touched on quite a few interesting matters, ranging from original KISS reunion to the internet’s impact to Lady Gaga.
The interviewer didn’t even get to finish the Frehley/Criss reunion question as Gene jumped in with “Not a chance. We’ve already danced that dance three different times. No way will we reunite. It wouldn’t be fair to Tommy and Eric. It wouldn’t be right.”
Ken Kelley | Ultimate Classic Rock
Kevin Winter
Kiss co-captain Gene Simmons is not one for mincing words. And his latest statement won’t be music to the ears of those still holding out for a reunion between the original four members of the iconic band.
In a new interview with the Tampa Tribune, Simmons offers a blunt answer when asked whether or not he would reunite with estranged Kiss members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss: ‘Not a chance.”
“We’ve already danced that dance three different times,” he explained. “No way will we reunite. It wouldn’t be fair to [current Kiss members] Tommy [Thayer, guitar] and Eric [Singer, drums]. It wouldn’t be right.”
Yet for all of his perceived brashness, Simmons is ultimately grateful for and gracious about all that Kiss have been able to accomplish over the last four decades. “We have no reason to complain. We’re the luckiest sons of bitches to walk the face of the Earth.”
Cassius Morris
John Katsilometes | Las Vegas Sun
Eric Kabik
Prepare for a case of KISS and tell, rock fans.
“What happens in Vegas will not stay in Vegas, not if we have anything to do with it,” KISS founding member Gene Simmons said, tongue in cheek, in a news release today announcing the band’s November residency at the Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel.
“We intend to blow the roof off the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and one of rock’s most enduring live acts, are celebrating their 40th year as an active band with a set of shows aptly titled “KISS rocks Vegas,” running Nov. 5-23. That’s a total of nine dates.
Show times are 8 p.m. Tickets start at $49.50 and are on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at the Hard Rock Hotel box office, at AXS.com and by calling 1-888-9-AXS-TIX. VIP ticket and room and show packages also are available at the Hard Rock Hotel website.
Following the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in April, for which they refused to perform because of a dispute as to which members would be in the live lineup, KISS released its 40th anniversary CD, “KISS 40,” spanning its entire career.
The band has amassed 28 gold albums and sold 40 million albums in the U.S. and 100 million worldwide. The band’s current lineup are founding members Simmons and Paul Stanley, guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer.
The series is a partnership between the hotel and concert promoter and producer AEG Live. According to today’s release, the production will be “one of the loudest, most over-the-top, nonstop parties at the Joint.”
As in such residencies by Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Guns N’ Roses, expect flashy sets, a sufficiently high volume of rock and wild pyrotechnics. The setlist promises to be jammed with KISS classics to appease veterans of the KISS Army.
AEG Live Vice President of Booking Bobby Reynolds said, “For 40 years, KISS has been putting on some of the most exciting shows in music, and we finally got them where they should be — Las Vegas at the Joint. We couldn’t be more excited to see what they’re gearing up for!”
Joe Polo
I’m back from vacation with a new show!! What about this Vegas stuff and who posted that article about KISS having a tv show to replace the band?
Rock n’ Stroll is the only walk in Toronto focused on the critically important care of high-risk births – an area where Mount Sinai is one of North America’s renowned leaders.
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Your support helps us fund the resources, facilities and equipment to deliver this specialized care to moms and babies. Thank you.
Chris
Mitch Lafon
In episode 28 of One On One with Mitch Lafon. Mitch is joined by co-hosts Russ Dwarf (KILLER DWARFS) and Mark Strigl (Talking Metal). In this episode Mitch sits down with Peter ‘Moose’ Oreckinto and JR Smalling two of KISS’ original crew guys. The three discuss working with the band in the early days, the importance of Sean Delaney & Bill Aucoin, the impressions of the original members (Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Gene Simmons & Paul Stanley), what it was like working for the band ‘back in the day’, the origins of the ‘You Wanted The Best’ tag line, their new book ‘Out On The streets’ and much more.
Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock
With just a few short weeks to go before Ace Frehley releases his new solo album, ‘Space Invader,’ he’s revealed the complete track listings for the record’s various configurations.
The album, due in the U.S. on Aug. 19, will be available digitally, as a standard CD, in a deluxe CD digipak, and as a double-LP gatefold with colored vinyl — with various bonus tracks scattered between the formats.
“I know that everyone is hoping that this album is heavier than the last one,” Frehley told Guitar World, “and it is.”
The setting for these sessions played a key role, he added.
“I did most of the recording at my friend’s studio in Turlock, California, called the Creation Lab,” Frehley says. “Turlock is in the middle of nowhere — it’s like a farming community — and that’s why I loved it. I have Attention Deficit Disorder, and there are absolutely no distractions when working at this place. You record for eight or 10 or 12 hours, then you go back to the hotel and go to sleep. You wake up and go back to the studio. There’s nothing else to do there, which means it’s the perfect place for me to record.”
As we previously reported, the first single from ‘Space Invader,’ ‘Gimme a Feelin’,’ is out now; you can check it out here.
Ace Frehley ‘Space Invader’ Track Listings:
Limited Edition Digipak CD
‘Space Invader’
‘Gimme a Feelin” (radio edit)
‘I Wanna Hold You’
‘Change’
‘Toys’
‘Immortal Pleasures’
‘Inside the Vortex’
‘What Every Girl Wants’
‘Past the Milky Way’
‘Reckless’
‘The Joker’
‘Starship’
‘The Joker’ (extended version)
‘Reckless’ (different remix version)
Strange Ways Podcast
Besides discussing and celebrating the gods of thunder, your KISS Army bros also record KISS covers purely for the fun of it…They are all free to download or stream, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do making them!
Michael Brandvold
Marc Loren
Hey guys, thought I’d share this clip from last night. It’s the last two songs complete with confetti storm, fireworks and some great audience reaction shots. Hope you enjoy! The band was fantastic last night.
Stephen James channels an opulent rocker for this latest NOX magazine cover story that tributes famous band KISS. The tattooed top model is captured by photographer Juanjo Molina’s lens while posing in an industrial, mechanic’s garage.
Art direction and styling for this image series is courtesy of Abraham Gutiérrez who hand-picks Stephen’s wardrobe of colored suits, transparent rain gear and pattern-clashing separates.
The model sports the latest from Givenchy, Jimmy Choo and Balenciaga for this KISS-themed editorial that also recreates the famous band’s makeup looks. Antonio Estrada for REDKEN and MAC is in charge of grooming for the photo series and gives Stephen a clean-cut hair look that offsets cosmetics worthy of KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
Jeff Giles | Ultimate Classic Rock
Whatever else happens on Def Leppard‘s summer tour with Kiss, we can at least be sure that Lep guitarist Phil Collen is having fun.
Collen’s flair for road shenanigans surfaced recently on the Kiss Facebook page, where the band posted a picture of their tour mate all gussied up in Kiss bassist Gene Simmons‘ trademark costume while also wielding his distinctive axe. The photo was taken during the July 6 stop in Chula Vista, Calif. for the tour, which started June 23 in Salt Lake City, Utah and is scheduled to wrap up Aug. 31 in Texas.
Good as Collen might look as the Demon, don’t expect him to trade his Leppard spots for greasepaint anytime soon — once they wrap up this round of tour dates with Kiss, Def Leppard will get right back to work on their next album, their first since 2008′s ‘Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.’ And although the new record was initially supposed to be an EP, Collen says once the songwriting sessions started, the new material just kept flowing.
“We’re actually blown away, ’cause it normally takes us about five years to write 10 songs, and we’ve got 15 songs already — not finished, but we’re gonna have an album out next year,” he recently enthused. “So for us, that’s our big goal. Next year’s gonna be a really important year. We’ve got this great album. The recording has been really going fast and flowing, so we’re ultra-excited about that.”
Joe Polo
Mitch Lafon | Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
Special Report By Mitch Lafon
In June, Paul Stanley held a special press only conference call to discuss KISS’ upcoming tour with Def Leppard and his New York Times’ best selling book, Face The Music: A Life Exposed. Journalists from across Canada and the US were able to ask one question plus a follow-up. What you will read below are Paul’s answers to the questions that were posed (in proper sequence) by the various media invited to the one-hour event. In part three, Paul talks about the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Shame (Fame), his favorite apps and how backstage has changed over the last forty years.
Please note: none of the questions were asked by this reporter.
In your book, Face The Music: A Life Exposed, you mention the 1974 show at the Paramount Theater (now the Kirby Center) in Wilkes-Barre, PA. Why did you include that specific show in your book?
“I just remember this questionable choice of an opening act. This poor guy was up there was juggling and riding a unicycle when people were clearly there to see these four madmen blow the place up, celebrate rock n’ roll and the cause of celebrating life. It just resonated with me that this poor guy was out there having pennies pitched at him and doing his best to do what he was hired to do. I don’t know why that stood out for me.”
You’ve been performing a lot of these songs for years. Have they taken on a new meaning for you?
“All of these songs are songs of victory. They are all songs of celebrating our winning. That we are here forty years later and singing these songs is a source of incredible pride and accomplishment. Each one of those songs is a celebration of going against all odds and going against the critics, the people who didn’t like us and winning. So, these are the songs of a battle won.”
How does your approach to the show change when you’re performing outdoors compared to an arena?
“We try to be observant of low flying planes when we’re outdoors, but it doesn’t change anything because what we do comes from the heart. It comes from who we are. It’s a different environment though because in an arena there’s a sense of being enclosed, entombed or encapsulated (which has its pluses), but being outside during the summer is a terrific dichotomy / contrast between what we do and being outside in the midst of a great summer night with the stars shining and everything else. We’ve been doing this for forty years and the reason people still buy tickets to see the classic acts is because you know that we will deliver the goods.There are countless acts nowadays who sing on a song that was basically put together in somebody’s living room on a computer and auto-tuned. You know damn well that those people are not going to be able to put on a show. Many bands and many artists who sell nowadays or certainly have downloads in huge numbers are nobody who you want to go see live because they haven’t learned the craft. The ones who have enough money to put on a great show are invariably dependent upon
Fred Zermeno | EGP
With half the number of players and a field half the size of what you see in the NFL, the pace of an LA KISS arena football game is twice as fast, higher scoring, and non-stop action. (EGP Photo by Fred Zermeno)
The LA KISS suffered the biggest defeat of its short history last Saturday, losing 46-64 to the Spokane Shock at the Home Depot Center in Anaheim, delaying a chance to win a spot in the playoffs.
It was a hard fought, action-packed, fast pace game, but at the end of the day the LA KISS offense was no match for the Shock’s defense, which shut down a couple of crucial drives on their road to the win. Adding to the loss were two interceptions thrown by six-foot-one KISS Quarterback Aaron Garcia (Sacramento State) that killed a pair of promising drives.
Episode 25 finds your KISS ARMY bros,Jody Havenot and D-ROCK, joined by our Canadian Co-Anchor, ANDREW KISS!!! We got together for a little discussion about the Alive! legacy. We had a blast, and hope you do too! The conversation went a little long, so it is divided into 2 parts. Both are live and available for your auditory pleasure. And as always, thanks for listening, and keep on rockin’!