Calgary Herald

CALGARY – The legendary Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp is coming to Calgary and will feature rock legend Gene Simmons of KISS fame, the Herald has learned.

The camp, which has been making dreams come true in the United States for the past 18 years, will hold its first foray into Canada January 8-11, 2015 in Calgary.

Simmons, a singer-songwriter, businessman, arena football co-owner of the LA KISS and media icon, headlines the launch of the business venture north of the border.

“Mentoring adult and young rockers at the fantasy camp has always been an amazingly rewarding experience for me,” said Simmons in a statement. “I enjoy teaching and handing over lessons I’ve learned from the business to musicians and upcoming talent.”

Over four days, attendees will get to fulfill their dreams by jamming with their idols who will help them perfect their instrument skills, vocals and stage presence. The campers, with guidance from the counsellors, will write, record and rehearse an original song at Heritage Hall at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and perform before a live audience at the downtown Calgary Fairmont Palliser Hotel.

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KARE

Talking Metal

On episode 494 of the Talking Metal podcast Mark Strigl interviews Eddie Trunk.  Topics discussed include Eddie’s radio shows, VH1 Classic, That Metal Show, the strange Paul Stanley “That Metal Show” tweet,  Vinnie Vincent, Wendy Dio, Jimmy Page, Riche Scarlet and Ace Frehley.

Check out Eddie Trunk’s website and on Twiiter.

Support Talking Metal!!!!  Buy a TM t-shirt in the Merch section, use the Paypal tab to make a donation, OR use this link to make a purchase on Amazon.Listen to a non-music version of the episode on Spreaker below.  The interview with Mike Lepond starts at 14 mins into the no music Spreaker version of the episode:

Chris Shaffer | CBS

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Kiss’s Gene Simmons and his daughter, Sophie Tweed-Simmons, are big supporters of a local nonprofit that provides restorative aid to those in need.
Matter is an organization based in St. Louis Park, and they’re throwing a sold-out fundraising gala Friday night.
Even if you can’t go, Matter is accepting donations online. Most of that money will go to help kids who are going hungry here in Minnesota. Click here to learn more.
And you may not know this about our Chief Meteorologist Chris Shaffer, but he’s a huge KISS fan.
So even though he had the day off, Chris jumped at the chance to interview Gene.
Watch the video above to see Chris get a little music lesson from a rock legend!

Diana Falzone | Fox News

As the drummer and a founding member of the band Kiss, Criss, 68, has is a place in music history, and was inducted with his bandmates into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

What you may not know about Criss, however, is that he is a breast cancer survivor. He joined us in the FOX411 studio to talk about his work as artist ambassador for Hard Rock’s Pinktober Campaign for breast cancer awareness.

FOX411: You had breast cancer. What was it like getting the diagnosis?

Peter Criss: As a man, I thought I must have pulled a muscle, and being in spandex and lipstick and high heels most of my life, I’m pretty used to my body. I just felt like something was wrong and I told her (Criss’ wife) so she mentioned it to the doctor. The doctor said if you were my husband I would send you over to New York Presbyterian to see Dr. Switzel.

But that’s a cancer hospital for women. She goes, “Yeah but I think you should go there.” It blew my mind walking into a huge room like this nothing but women, no men, except for their husbands with them. It felt really uncomfortable for me, and it actually scared the pants off of me.

FOX411: Was your induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bittersweet?

Criss: No. As in any band, it’s like a marriage, you know. There’s good and there’s bad. There’s the great times and the bad times. I wrote a book about it and it still says everything I still stand by. Everyone loves great endings and too bad, it wasn’t a great fairy tale ending. I think money, power, fame changes people a lot. When I was a younger guy, you would have hated me. My head was bigger than my body. I thought I was the greatest thing on the planet.

FOX411: What’s the difference between being a rock star versus a musician?

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Smooth Jazz 1059

Founding KISS drummer Peter Criss is best known for his years keeping the beat for the recently inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band, but he’s also making a name for himself as a spokesman for breast cancer awareness.  While the disease affects far fewer men than women, the 68-year-old rock legend was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008.  Thankfully, he’s been cancer-free going on seven years.

Criss now has been chosen as one of Hard Rock International’s Artist Ambassadors for the 2014 edition of its Pinktober campaign held in conjunction with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  Peter is helping to spread the word that men also can be stricken with the disease.

At a recent New York City launch party for the initiative, the drummer told ABC News Radio that he appreciates the chance to team with the Hard Rock organization to help get the message out there.

“I’m really proud that the Hard Rock is getting involved with this with me, because for a while there, you kind of feel like you’re alone,” he explained.  “You know, you’re out there and you’re trying to get the word spread that ‘guys can get it, guys can get it.’  I feel like I’m with the big guys now.”

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Justin Tedaldi | Examiner

Jody Havenot

Michael Sedon | Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — KISS’s Peter Criss is a rock ‘n’ roll legend — a man’s man teens idolize and men want to be.

But for a year, he kept a secret because he didn’t know how fans would view him.

Criss is a breast cancer survivor.

“It was embarrassing to talk about, because it’s not a man thing,” Criss told more than 100 students and faculty members gathered in St. John’s University’s Kelleher Center on Thursday for an event to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

After discovering a painful lump while working out six years ago, he visited his doctor, who initially told him it was nothing to worry about before diagnosing him.

“I was freaked out,” Criss said. “Immediately, I went ‘What? Men don’t get breast cancer.'”

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TMZ

Ken Mills | PodKISSt

We discuss ASYLUM Side 2, beyond the lipstick and the make up, there is some pretty good music there. 1985-KISS release their 13th studio album Asylum. It was the first with the lineup of Gene, Paul, Eric Carr & Bruce Kulick

Mitch Lafon | One on One

Anthony De Lucia, Jr | Alive75.com

Hey there KISS Fans, listen up – This is not just another KISS tribute band…

Alive! ’75 is a live concert concept performance that brings the KISS Alive! album to life within a period-specific 1975 atmosphere. So much more than just guys dressed as KISS playing KISS songs, the overall experience is completely immersive and is designed to take you back to 1975, to see, hear and FEEL what a 1975-era KISS performance was really like.

Think about it – back in 1975, and following almost two years of non-stop touring across the US and Canada, KISS was determined to hit it big. They criss-crossed the country incessantly, playing anywhere and everywhere they were welcome.  And with virtually no radio support to speak of, KISS was finally about to “make it”.  Their double live album Alive!, released on September 10, 1975, proved to be their break-out album.  And now with Alive! ’75 – A Tribute to KISS, you can experience the magic and excitement of this period in rock ‘n roll KISS-tory…

It all starts with the “pre-show” experience.  As you enter the Alive! ’75 theater, you are completely surrounded by elements of 1975.  Blockbuster movie posters and other large-print advertisements and photographs catch your eye.  Classic TV sitcoms, movie trailers and iconic commercials tickle your senses.  The audio-visual displays, wall art, and an overhead soundtrack of “Time Warp – 1975 with Bill St. James” combine to provide a rich sensory sampling of this by-gone era.  And as if that wasn’t enough, character actors provide an additional element of surprise and entertainment to complete the 1975 experience.

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Michael Gallucci | Ultimate Classic Rock

Now that Ace Frehley‘s first album in five years, ‘Space Invader,’ is out and getting tons of buzz, it’s time for the Spaceman to hit the road.

Frehley and band will embark on the first leg of their tour in support of the album with a two-week trip through the eastern part of the U.S. The shows start on Nov. 13 in New Jersey and wind down two weeks later, on Nov. 26, in Pennsylvania. You can see the complete itinerary below.

The former Kiss guitarist’s backing band includes Richie Scarlet, who played rhythm guitar on Frehley’s 1989 album ‘Trouble Walking’ and toured with Frehley during the period, Cult bassist Chris Wyse and drummer Scott Coogan, who’s played with Nikki Sixx’s Brides of Destruction.

A couple weeks before the tour starts, on Oct. 28, a double gatefold 180 gram vinyl version of ‘Space Invader’ will be released. Since the record’s release a month ago, it’s debuted at No. 9 on the album chart, the highest position ever reached by a solo Kiss member. It also marks Frehley’s first Top 10 album since his appearance on Kiss’ 1998 reunion album, ‘Pyscho Circus.’

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Jody Havenot

Join your STRANGE WAYS bros, and special guest DES SHAW from KISSTORY SCIENCE THEATRE for our discussion on The Middle Kids of KISS!! We had a blast taking with Des, and hope you enjoy it, KISS Army!!! This is also the first episode of our new format change..we’re calling STRANGE WAYS WEDNESDAYS!!! We will release a new episode every 2 weeks, on Wednesdays.

So we hope you enjoy this episode, and we’ll see ya in two weeks for our discussion with KEN KELLY!!!

Michael Brandvold

Case Kefer | Las Vegas Sun

Vince Neil finally can exact revenge on behalf of Mötley Crüe.

More than 30 years later, the two rock titans will clash. Neil’s new Arena Football League franchise, the Las Vegas Outlaws, will share a division with the Los Angeles Kiss, owned by Kiss band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.

“That’s the fun thing about this; it’s a natural rivalry, Kiss vs. Crüe,” Neil said. “We’re going to play them three times a year and, of course, we want to beat them every time.”

The bands actually made amends decades ago. They co-headlined a North American tour in 2012, and the Kiss executives, having gone through the same process a year ago, have helped Neil and his partners get ready for their inaugural season.

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Melodic Rock

Universal Music are proud to announce the next stage of KISS’ 40th anniversary celebrations, with the release of a Deluxe Edition of the 1977 U.S. platinum album, Love Gun, on 2CD and digital formats.

The band’s sixth studio recording, Love Gun was the first album to feature lead vocal performances from all four original band members, and the last studio album with the original KISS line-up. Love Gun has since gone on to sell more than four million copies worldwide.

The 2CD / digital edition includes the complete original album re-mastered on the first disc, featuring such classics as the title track ‘Plaster Caster’, the song inspired by Cynthia Plaster Caster, the groupie famous for taking casts of rock star genitalia; ‘Shock Me’, written about Ace Frehley suffering an electric shock during a concert in Lakeland, Florida; ‘Christine Sixteen’, and ‘Then She Kissed Me’, the band’s cheeky, gender-switching cover of the Crystals’ 1963 hit penned by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector.

The second disc is made up of rare, previously unreleased Love Gun demos of ‘Plaster Caster’, ‘Then She Kissed Me’, ‘Tomorrow and Tonight’ and ‘Much Too Soon’. Also, the first four lines of the demo ‘I Know Who You Are’ eventually evolved and became the song ‘Living In Sin’. A glimpse into Paul Stanley’s creative process is demonstrated in ‘Love Gun (Teaching Demo)’ with Stanley talking through the various chords of the song after writing the song with the next version ‘ ‘Love Guun (Demo)’ ‘ being the complete demo performance. ‘Reputation’, the only previously released demo, was originally included on this year’s KISS 40 compilation.

Also included is a 1977 interview with Gene Simmons, as well as three never-before-available live tracks from the KISS show at the Capitol Centre, Landover in Maryland U.S.A. from December 20, 1977 ‘ ‘Love Gun’, ‘Christine Sixteen’ and ‘Shock Me’. The package also includes liner notes written by Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, currently on tour with KISS.

CD ONE – Original Album:
1. I Stole Your Love
2. Christine Sixteen
3. Got Love For Sale
4. Shock Me
5. Tomorrow And Tonight
6. Love Gun
7. Hooligan
8. Almost Human
9. Plaster Caster
10. Then She Kissed Me

CD TWO – Demos, Interview & Live:
1. Much Too Soon (Demo)*
2. Plaster Caster (Demo)*
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