Bill Aucoin turns 66(6)

I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to the man that contributed to making Gene Simmons a very wealthy man, Mr. Bill Aucoin.   Aucoin managed KISS from 1973-82.... arguably KEY years for making KISS who they are.

Oh, and now he manages Lordi.  I guess he has a thing for ridiculous stage costumes.

Gene Does Good

Back in April Gene Simmons and his family posed for pictures as a part of the NOH8 campaign that went on.

Obviously, this was awesome of them.  BUT, they have taken it even one step more towards awesomeness and Gene has agreed to make a commercial (for no money, which is EPIC for him) for the same campaign.  I am honestly proud of Mr. Simmons and seriously looking forward to seeing this. 

 The only update I can give on this as of now is Gene's latest 'tweet' which said:

"Just filmed a PSA (public service announce) for NoH8... 30,000 suicides every year (!!!) of young people who see no hope...no way out..."

I'm excited to see this commercial and glad Gene is supporting such an important issue.  I'm sure all those years working with Paul Stanley helped.

Gene & Paul Get Affectionate

Rock N Roll Hall of Fame prefers the kiddos

First off, this is seriously the OFFICIAL logo for the RnR HoF: 

Honestly, I am not the world's best designer, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize that this looks like a Jr. High kid's project.... done in Microsoft Word.  Terrible!

To add insult to injury, it seems like they are doing more than just hiring kids for slave labor over there.  They also want to start inducting them into the Hall of Fame.  Currently, an act must have been performing for 25 years to be considered as an inductee.  It seems that there is some serious talk to push this up to 20 years.   Honestly, if that means Green Day get inducted next year and KISS gets snubbed again, then even the main stream fans they have will lose credibility in them.  Bad move.

Dumb KISS shit that you know you want to buy

It's not surprising at all to learn that KISS was not accepted into the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame this morning.  The inductees do include ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies, and The Stooges.  It's crazy that Abba is in the ROCK N ROLL HOF, but honestly it's been randomly inducting since its inception so to be surprised at this point would be silly.  
In other news, it's nearing Christmas and I always love checking out the KISS merchandise this time of year.  KISS merch is always in abundance but it seems like everything imaginable gets a KISS logo on it around the holidays.  Some of my favorites:

KISS Wine - Limited Edition only

Merry KISSmas Blanket 

KISS Wall Mural (12 x 8 feet!!) ...I actually want this.

KISS Army sandals

KISS Bingo Board Game

Mastodon is the new KISS?

Another version of Crack The Skye was just released by the Mastodon men.  This one includes a fancier package and a bigger booklet of pictures than the last 54 cheaper versions.  I am starting to think they are becoming the new KISS.  What's going on with all the merch they are selling?  Sneakers? check. Stake Deck? check. Pint glasses? Wallets? Lighters? check, check, check.   ...I am not sure how necessary this is.  I love the band, but I'm still sticking to my death wish of a KISS Kasket (I am not kidding) instead of a Masto-coffin (you know it will happen).

Tommy Thayer gets older

Happy 49th birthday to a Mr. Ace Frehley Tommy Thayer.  I recently saw KISS at Madison Square Garden and it's really amazing how much Tommy acts and sounds exactly like Ace.  Even on the new KISS album Sonic Boom the guitar parts are so Ace-like that it's freakish.

Kiss' first week album sales revealed

KISS 's first album in 11 years, Sonic Boom has been out for a week and the chart positions have been revealed!
Apparently, the are doing pretty damn well. 
First-week chart positions:

Norway: #2

Sweden: 2

Czech Republic: #3

Germany: #4

Austria: #6

Finland: #7

Switzerland: #12

Holland: #3

Italy: #14

U.K.: #24

France: #31

Spain: #32

Belgium: #57

Despite the fact that Belgium hates KISS, they still managed to sell 108,000 copies in the United States alone in the first week of being released. AND, that's actually the band's highest-charting LP ever.   It's a sign of the times that sales like this can get you ranked second on the charts.  The last KISS album they put out, Pyscho Circus in 1998, sold 110,000 copies in the first week, and barely made the 3rd spot.  Not to mention back in the early 90's the first few spots were saved for bands that could sell 300,000+ in their first weeks.
The crazy part of this is that I went to check out who was number one.  My guess was going to be Barbara Streisand, but NO, its some Canadian lounge guy named Michael Buble who has the coveted 1 spot.  Lounge music?  Really?  Babs is actually 4th, and the 3rd spot is Toby Keith.  I actually love Toby Keith.

KISS and Michael Monroe last night

Saw KISS last night, I will have a review and pictures by the end of this week.  All I can say to sum it up was that Paul Stanley would not shut the fuck up.  No two songs were played in a row without a Stanley soliloquy sandwiched in between.   Annoying, but the show was still a massive spectacle and fun.  I do wanna say though that I saw a bunch of 'celebs'.  First person was MICHAEL MONROE just right prior to the show.  My friends actually noticed him first walking down the street in Times Square on his way to see MSG for the KISS show.  Obviously I ran after him like an 13 year old Asian school girl and freaked out.  Words can not express my excitement.

Then at the actual venue I saw Mark Wiess having some trouble getting in through the media entrance.  He was asking for Doc McGhee (KISS/Bon Jovi/Motley Crue manager), who I was hoping badly to spot.  No luck.   However, I did see Lenny Kravitz and some dude with a fro sneak by.  After the show I WAS BLESSED BY THE BABY JESUS and saw MICHAEL MONROE  again, and approached him this time like one of those middle aged uber-superfan men that approach guys in bands they met once like they're Best Friends FOREVER, and asked if he liked the KISS show.  Of course he said yes and was polite and angelic and perfect.  He was also with Sami Yaffa who was in Hanoi Rock with Michael for a bit, and also in newer versions of the NY Dolls.    Last but not least I caught a glimpse of the 7 foot tall Jesse Camp.  I hope everyone remembers him.  He was an MTv VJ for two months before getting the boot for being a crack head (or just acting as such), and was in the completely useless band, Jesse Camp and The 8th Street Kidz.  He is great, and did I mention tallllll?

KISS are money whores and I love it

You know you want this:

Damn it... I am such a consumer whore and I can not seem to stop!  As we all know by know KISS are teaming up with Walmart (barf) for the release of their newest album, Sonic Boom.  Well, it turns out Walmart is also planning to have a KISS Korner in each store to help promote the album.  This will include the above potato heads (a must have if you are pathetic me), tee shirts, the album (of course), mugs, candy, blankets, wigs and makeup (right in time for Halloween, how handy!) and a bunch of other fucking awesome useless shit.

Show Me The Money

KISS are touring again..... We got two original members left, so I would say this is much better than the proposed future tours that will have no one left. Anyway, I am giving you the heads up about this because there are two NY area shows. One on Friday October 9th at Nassau Coliseum on LI, and the other Saturday October 10th at Madison Square Garden.
ALSO, there is an internet presale that goes from Friday 8/28 from 10am-10pm only. THIS IS TOMOROW. Use the password STARCHILD and you're good to go.

New KISS is decent

The first preview for new KISS  material has been released.   The 'single' (we'll see how well this does) is Modern Day Delilah.  Thankfully it's a Paul song and not a Gene song.  It actually ain't bad, but the Ace single is better!

New Ace Frehley song released!

And it sounds like the kind of shit old-school KISS fans would eat up!

LISTEN HERE.

Ace is back with the appropriately titled first single off of Anomaly- "Outer Space".  

...And its due out on September 15th.  This is awkward because the first new KISS (well, Gene & Paul) album in a long ass time is due out early October.  Here's to hoping Ace outsells those bitches!