Thinking of travel in the near future? We were and while researching tips online we stumbled upon none other than Paul Stanley giving out advice for travelers on luggage, hotels and favorite city destinations from his wealth of vast knowledge and experience.
From Adele to Kiss’ Paul Stanley: Why Are So Many Award-Winning Singers Undergoing Vocal Cord Surgery?
Chris Connelly and Aude Soichet | ABC News
Even superstar music legends like Paul Stanley of KISS believe it’s never too late to look after your voice. With thousands of performances and over four decades of touring, Stanley said those years of hitting screeching notes and high-octane stage raps can take their toll.
“As soon as you hit the stage, you are a complete idiot,” he said. “People are cheering for you, so you do the impossible and when you don’t have enough time to recuperate afterwards, it just catches up with you. Literally speaking my voice was cracking. It was cracking quite a bit on stage.”
Those years of strain are why the Kiss vocalist had surgery on his vocal cords this year by the noted Dr. Steven Zietels, an otolaryngologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center, who also operated on Adele.
KISS, tribute band to rescue
Steven Foskett Jr | Telegram & Gazette
A local KISS tribute band decided to turn a shipping mix-up into a continuing effort to raise money for the fund set up for the children of Worcester Firefighter Jon D. Davies, who died Dec. 8 in a fire on Arlington Street.
Hundreds of items of memorabilia related to KISS, the longtime arena rockers, litter the pages of eBay, but amid the posters, plaques, and even a 34-year-old combination guitar pick/bloody towel thrown by lead singer Gene Simmons (“USED BLOODY TOWEL from DECEMBER 16TH at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN KISS ALIVE II TOUR,” the description reads), is a brand-new Washburn Iceman guitar, signed by all four members of KISS: Mr. Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer. Bidding had reached $5,400 as of last night.
Gene Simmons on Tim Tebow
Gene Simmons – Gene Simmons: Sex Is Key To Happy Marriage
Gene Simmons says having a wife who is a ”Madonna in the kitchen and a w***e in the bedroom” is the key to a happy marriage.
Gene Simmons believes the key to a happy marriage is a healthy sex life.
The KISS bass player tied the knot with his girlfriend of 28 years, Shannon Tweed, in October despite previously claiming he would never marry and Gene admitted it is the couple’s wild antics in the bedroom that have kept them together for so long.
He told Hollyscoop.com: “Romance is interesting, but somebody much more prolific than I am put it better; she should be a Madonna in the kitchen and a w***e in the bedroom. That’s pretty accurate.”
Shannon’s advice is “Keep having sex in different ways. Try to think of something new.”
Gene also revealed the couple’s two children Nick, 22, and Sophie, 19, are not phased by their parents’ prolific lovemaking and just leave the house when they hear the “noise from upstairs”.
Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed Prefer Sex Over Romance
People | Dahvi Shira
Newlyweds Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed, who dated for 28 years before tying the knot in October, aren’t as interested in romance as they are in sex.
The key to keeping their marriage active is to “put out,” the KISS rocker, 62, told Hollyscoop on Thursday. “Romance is interesting, but somebody much more prolific than I am put it better – she should be a Madonna in the kitchen and a wh–– in the bedroom.”
Tweed, 54, took no issue with her husband’s comments and even joked that she liked him insinuating she’s a “wh––.”
“[You have to] keep having sex in different ways,” Tweed, 54, explains of spicing up her love life. “Try to think of something new.”
Even the couple’s kids know not to question their parents’ antics in the bedroom.
“Thank god the children are grown up,” Tweed says. “As soon as they hear noise from upstairs, they leave the house. That’s good.”
Van Halen debuts unreleased song from ’76 Gene Simmons demos
All the way back in 1976, a young Gene Simmons caught a show of the even younger band Van Halen. So impressed was Simmons, he offered and did produce the band’s first demo tape. And just last night one of these long forgotten songs came to light at a live Van Halen club performance in NYC. The song, She’s the Woman, is also slated to appear on their soon to be released studio album. You can see the entire list of the ’76 Simmons demo tracks at KISSfaq.com
Antimusic.com
Van Halen returned to live action Thursday night with a rare, media-only club show at New York’s Café Wha?
The event was to help promote their forthcoming new album, “A Different Kind Of Truth,” due February 7; the project’s first single, “Tattoo,” is set for release next Tuesday.
The set list featured mostly hits, with a few classics, and one new track, “She’s The Woman.” The new song has a real history with the band: it was one of the tunes recorded for the Gene Simmons-produced demos in 1976, and it was re-recorded a year later as part of the 1977 Warner Brothers demos. The original version of the song includes riffs that were later found in “Mean Street,” from 1981’s “Fair Warning” album. Check out both versions here.
KISS prepare Monster album
KISS think ‘Monster’ is the best album they’ve created in a long time.
Guitarist Paul Stanley says the rockers are “very proud” of their first album in three years, which they are finishing this week and the band are “really excited” about its release.
Paul said: “We are about two days from being finished with this album – It’s almost done and it’s awesome. It is by far the best thing we’ve done in I don’t know how long.
“Have I ever said that before? Yeah. Was I right? Yeah. I’m right this time again. Truly, the album kicks major ass and we’re very, very proud of it.”
Guitarist Tommy Thayer added: “You’re gonna be as excited as we are, ’cause we’re really excited. And we’re not just saying that. This is great stuff. It’s amazing.”
Gene Simmons Interviewed for Consequence of Sound
Dan Caffrey | Consequence of Sound
KISS has had many incarnations. Their faces have graced everything from T-shirts to coffins, even Hello Kitty dolls. One thing they’ve been no stranger to is comics. Besides having their own Marvel series in the ’70s, the band appeared in the ’90s reboot (and accompanying album book) Psycho Circus, published by Todd McFarlane Productions, and, most recently, the wholesome panels of Riverdale in Archie, written by Alex Segura and drawn by Dan Parent. Over the holidays, we caught up with KISS mainstay Gene Simmons for an in-depth conversation on the comic book industry, marriage, and why the band Chicago has a leg up on The Ramones.
You’ve always been a pretty huge comics fan, right?
I actually lived it and breathed it. You know, when I first came to America, I was eight and a half years old, and I remember one of the first books was The Brave And The Bold, and that was introducing the new Flash, the Silver Age Flash. You have to remember names like Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. I just devoured it. And, of course, the Atlas Group, the Kirby era monsters, and the Ditko off-world things. I bought the Harvey books…there are lines of comic books that I collected all the way from A to Z, from Charlton publications all the way to Dell and Gold Key. I mean, I had thousands and thousands.
COTN Pondcast Interview with Eric Singer
Cassius Morris | COTN Podcast
EricSinger.com posted a link to this amazing podcast of a live audio interview given just yesterday. Cassius Morris, a 13 year old from Nova Scotia, does an wonderful, in-depth interview and takes live questions from the net. Very informative, check it out!
Listen to the COTN Podcast with Eric HERE.
Eric reveals many specific details about KISS’ next album, “Monster” set for release sometime this year. He talks about the sound on the record and says that the drums are “much heavier than on Sonic Boom!” Eric also talks about past members of KISS, including Vinnie Vincent.
Gene Simmons dishes out professional insurance advice for the New Year
- Getty-Examiner photos
The best way to begin the new year is to take a step toward a better career. Consider following in the footsteps of Gene Simmons, fire-breathing bass player for the rock group, Kiss. Not as a rocker but as an insurance professional. Insurance is a great field to enter with opportunities in the San Francisco and San Jose regions. Simmons recently said that his latest venture is selling insurance to wealthy individuals. If that’s not career help enough to enter the insurance field, consider the following five reasons to start working toward an insurance career:
1. Job Availability
Although many industries are diminishing or making cuts, there are plenty of different types of insurance jobs available. The tough economy makes people understand the importance of obtaining insurance, so the demand for workers remains high. The need for more agents is expected to rise by 25 percent by the time 2018 arrives.
2. Wide Career Path
Fortunately, there are many avenues to choose from in this business. For example, a student may specialize in life insurance, auto insurance, sales, reinsurance, customer service or several other options.
KISS Rocks in the New Year 1996 with Dick Clark
KISS Live in Orlando on New Year’s Eve 1993
KISS Soundcheck for New Year’s Eve 1993 show
KISS Plays New York Groove on New Year’s Eve 1996
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s biggest snubs
Chris Griffy | Music Examiner

Jo Hale/Getty Images
The list of 2012 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced. They include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N’ Roses, Donovan, Laura Nyro, The Beastie Boys, and Freddie King. As always, the list has generated much more talk about who was not included than who was. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a host of bands who aren’t inductees who so obviously should be that most people don’t even know they aren’t already in.
Here is a list of who we see as the biggest snubs in Rock Hall history:
Kiss
Kiss is one of the world’s most polarizing bands. People either love them or hate them and there is very little middle ground. Yes, they’re extremely derivative and we were opposed to their inclusion until the two bands they cribbed their gimmick from, Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper, were in. But both now are and it’s time for Kiss to be as well. We consider a proper Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act to be one that combines longevity, sales, and influence. Kiss has them all in spades. They’ve been in continuous existence in some form since 1973. Their worldwide album sales top 100 million. And original or not, there’s hardly a Heavy Metal artist around since the 1980’s who won’t admit to air guitaring to Ace Frehley on Alive as a kid. It’s long past time to make this happen while all four original members are still alive.
What’s new in KISS collecting
KISS Blox Demon Figure
KISSmuseum.com
Just released today! New KISS Demon Blox figure – a Japanese-style caricature of the Demon. 7″ tall vinyl construction and it comes in a great collectible box as well.
$19.95 at KISSmuseum.com
On The Wings Of Pretension Case File #5: Kiss’ Music From “The Elder”
Nathan Raban | A.V. Club
By the late ’70s, the warriors of Kiss had everything. The band didn’t just play cities; it conquered them. It didn’t entertain crowds; it slaughtered them. Kiss was bigger than rock. Kiss had its own army. It was an industry onto itself. There seemed to be no limit to how far these meatheads in ridiculous face paint could go. Kiss’ label, Casablanca Records, was giddy with the kind of superhuman confidence that comes from runaway success—the label had launched both Kiss and The Village People into the stratosphere and had come to dominate disco—and rampant, widespread, more or less company-mandated cocaine abuse.
Yes, Kiss had everything. But Kiss was an American rock ’n’ roll band, so everything was not enough. The group flirted with the idea of touring with a traveling amusement park called Kiss World before ultimately nixing the idea as prohibitively expensive. In a mark of hubris remarkable even for the era, Casablanca shipped 5 million total copies of the four solo albums the members of Kiss released on the same day. The idea was to launch four solo superstars simultaneously; instead the records were returned to Casablanca en masse. The world, it seems, had not been hankering to find out what Ace Frehley was capable of without the three other dudes holding him back.
Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder
Like The Wizard of Oz, How the Grinch Stole Christmas or Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer…. once a year we KISS Fans must all gather ’round to watch the greatest piece of KISS footage of all time, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder – Merry Christmas!
KISS Mini Golf on target for March opening in Vegas

Erik Kabik
The holes are being drilled, the artificial turf laid, and the props — most notably a giant, starred boot and oversized Gene Simmons head with gaping mouth — placed.
KISS by Monster Mini Golf, an indoor putt-putt course themed after the iconic glam-rock band, will open March 15 at The Shoppes at Harmon Square, owners announced this week.
The miniature golf course was supposed to debut at the end of this year and then in January, but the project’s Facebook page said the opening was postponed by a series of unspecified construction hitches. The new grand opening date coincides with the anniversary of the band’s “Destroyer” album, released March 15, 1976.
Monster Mini Golf, which runs 25 mini-golf courses nationally, signed a 10-year, $3 million lease with the strip mall at Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road. The indoor course will feature 18 holes with custom glow-in-the-dark KISS props, a video game arcade, a KISS gallery, the “Hotter Than Hell” Wedding Chapel, a private VIP room, the “Rock ’n’ Roll All Nite” Cafe and what’s billed as the largest KISS gift shop in the world. A live DJ will play KISS music and staff will lead customers in KISS trivia contests with prizes.