Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley Disrespect KISS Fans One Last Time

On Eddie Trunk's radio show last night, original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley disclosed that Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons are preventing the original four members of the band from reuniting onstage at the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to take place in New York in April.

While the Hall of Fame has been clear that they are inducting the original four members of the band, Simmons and Stanley contend that they should have the new version of KISS, which has Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer posturing as Frehley and original drummer Peter Criss.

If there is to be a live performance I think this is a slap in the face to the original lineup of KISS and especially to the legion of lifelong fans who campaigned long and hard to get the band into the Hall of Fame in the first place.

Gene and Paul have always said that the fans were number one and that the fans were "the boss" but clearly that is not the case. This is nothing but a self-serving slap in the face designed to continue to promote the new version of KISS as the only version of KISS and to disregard the legacy started by the original four members.

Reading a post by Trunk who has insight into the Hall of Fame process, this is mostly a Paul Stanley call. Paul made it very clear that he doesn't care about the Hall of Fame and he does not feel honored to be involved.

Granted the Hall of Fame took 15 years to induct KISS, but the fact of the matter is that without Peter and Ace coming back into the band for the reunion tour Paul and Gene would still be would be playing small theaters wouldn't be living in their giant mansions.

I first got into KISS in 1978 when I was 10 years old and they literally changed my world. I became a lifelong guitar player primarily because of Ace. I stuck with the band to the disco era and while I lost touch with them in the 80s, I happily reengaged with the band for the reunion tour farewell tours.

Even though I was not comfortable having Eric Singer or and Tommy Thayer take on the personas of Peter and Ace, I stuck with the band because I really wanted my children to be able to see what I saw when I was a kid and to experience whatever magic and bombast was still left in the group.

But after this move, if it's true, I am done with these guys. They will get no more of my money.

Book Review - Ace Frehley No Regrets

I ripped through Ace Frehley’s book No Regrets in about three days. I am a life-long KISS fan and thought I had read it all, but let me tell you – I learned more about Ace and KISS than I had in years. The book fills in all sorts of holes in KISStory and gives the first really comprehensive picture of the man behind the Spaceman persona.

Usually I want to skip over the ‘childhood’ portion of biographies but Ace’s is really interesting and goes a long way to explain his laid back live-and-let-live demeanor. His entry into music is really interesting too, with some great, great stories, like how he used to sneak backstage at concerts and one time got dragged onstage to set up Mitch Mitchell’s drums at a Hendrix concert!

I was pleasantly surprised that Ace didn’t spend a lot of time on stories that have been told a thousand times by Gene and Paul, such as the fact that the band set up hollow speaker cabinets in their first club gigs to make the backline look bigger. He wisely skipped all of that and instead told new stories – plenty of stuff I had never heard before. I feel like Ace could fill a whole book with stories about drunken escapades and escapes from near death, and… oh wait that is exactly what he does here!

Ace does not shy away from being a life-long addict and how it impaired his decisions and his career. He is brutally frank about how during the recording of the Destroyer album he switched from being mainly a drinker to doing lots of cocaine. This begins a vicious decades-long struggle with dependency (Ace has been clean for five years), and many crazy stories.

He is very understanding as to why Paul and Gene didn’t want to work with him after a certain point (neither are drinkers or drug-users). And despite the No Regrets title of his book, Ace does express some regrets that he could have handled certain situations with more poise in his drugging days. He also credits Paul and Gene for being understanding about his desire to leave the band, and says they both made earnest pleas for him to stay in, which I don’t know I had heard Ace admit in the past.

Despite the fact that the media portrayed the book as slinging loads of dirt at Gene Simmons, it’s pretty tame in that department. Ace does say that Gene is a sex addict, and that he never really understood music (was more focused on business, marketing etc etc) but he has way more good things to say about Gene overall. Not a bad word in the book about Paul Stanley either. And while he says Peter Criss was his best friend in the band (because he partied too) Ace concedes that Peter became an unpredictable and unpleasant person towards the end of his (Peter’s) stint with the band – yes, due to drug and alcohol use.

Ace’s description of what it’s like to be an addict is very intense. He basically says when he first did coke, it was incredible but then he was always seeking that same first high, which was unobtainable because his body had developed a tolerance. He also said that alcohol as a depressant and cocaine as a stimulant was the perfect cocktail mix for partying for days on end. But then you’d get too strung out and have to take sleeping pills to rest. Then you wake up hung over and start taking prescription medication for that. Pretty soon you become a walking pharmacy and your only concern is where you are going to get your drugs in the next town because you can’t bring enough with you. He makes it sound like a real hassle and a nightmare, and it is. Keith Richards told similar tales in his book of trying to think steps ahead to get his fix in the next town.

Aside from the rise of KISS from a no-name bar act to the biggest band in the world in just two years, Ace provides a great in-depth look at the making of his solo album in 1978 and how he came into his own as a singer and songwriter. He has kind words for manager Bill Aucion and band ‘coach’ Sean Delaney, who helped with a lot of the early stage look and even coordinated the band’s stage moves. Lots of credit given to those two for the band’s success.

Ace concedes that once he left KISS his career and life went south due to the drugs but he does touch on his solo career and the recording of the albums he put out post-KISS. He does not provide as much insight into what happened on the KISS reunion tours – maybe those memories are too fresh. But the story ends on a high note, with Ace celebrating five years of sobriety and the release of his recent solo album, Anomaly. I pulled Anomaly off the shelf after I finished the book and still really enjoy it. Sure there is some crap on it but there are many gems. Sounds like classic Ace and that’s a good place to be.

Ace seems happy and healthy. That’s the impression I got from the book at least. He is at a place where he can look back and marvel on his accomplishments and share a laugh or two with the world about the crazy road he has taken. If you dig KISS, get the book.

Guitar Lessons, Guitar World Interview with Ace Frehley

In yet another in a string of "why I love the sober Ace Frehley" events, Ace has made several instructional Web videos on how to play classic KISS tunes.

At behindtheplayer.com, Ace shows how to play Cold Gin and Shock Me, two songs that absolutely made me want to play guitar when I was 10. So to see Ace show how to play the songs, the killer riff/jam sections, and to hear some of the back story behind the writing of each is a real treat to a lifelong Ace fan like me.

Ace has been sober for more than three years and has entered one of the most productive and fruitful eras of his life. He talks more about this and other topics in a current Guitar World interview. A few interesting quotes:

Because of the drugs, I had created situations and problems that prevented me from doing anything. So things weren’t going right with business and things weren’t going right with family. That hinders your creativity big time. If you keep throwing a monkey wrench into the machine again and again, eventually the machine doesn’t work right no matter what you do. Everything becomes problematic.

I still don’t think I’m a great player. There are guys that play circles around me. But it’s a combination of my songwriting, my voice, my attitude, my persona... It’s the package. I know great guitar players that don’t have any image or personality. And you need it all.

I think I’m being driven by the fact that for a while I was pushed down, and so I feel like I have to prove to everybody that I’m back. After I left Kiss in 2001, they told everyone I couldn’t tour anymore, that I was fucked up. I felt like that wasn’t going to be my epitaph. So I decided to get strong and get sober and show everybody what I really can do and what I could have done if I had been more together. It’s weird that my time is coming this late in life. But better late than never.

Keep it rocking, Ace!

Meanwhile, KISS posted a video of the band working at WalMart. On paper, lame. On YouTube? Funny!

CD Review - KISS - Sonic Boom

KISS’s new Sonic Boom album, released two days ago, made me angry. Why? A few reasons:

1) I had to go to WalMart to buy it. Which started the whole thing off on the wrong foot. I felt dirty going in there and sure enough I wasn’t in the door more than 30 seconds when a lady driving a motorized shopping cart road raged someone who ‘cut her off.’ F bombs were dropped. She scooted off. I immediately wanted to bolt back out the door.

2) The WalMart KISS Korner is a joke. Aside from the CD, there were $6 bags of M&Ms with KISS faces on them, and throw blankets. That was it. Snoooore. In a completely other section, they had all the KISS remasters for $5 a pop, which further angered me as I bought many of them for much more than that when they first came out. Maybe they hadn’t fully stocked the KISS Korner yet, but even the paltry merch that was there just stank of another way for Gene and Paul to get richer.

3) The CD was $12, for the new 11-song disc, a second disc of old KISS songs re-recorded by the new lineup, and a DVD. This was the exact same format for the Journey Revelation WalMart-only release from last year. This didn’t make me angry. I thought the price was great for the package, which is very nicely put together. The artwork is pop-arty and fairly cool and there is a book with all the lyrics in case you couldn’t decipher Gene singing about pussy or Paul signing about living life to the fullest because you are the boss and KISS rocks for you…

4) Popped the CD on in the car. Modern Day Delilah comes on. Still sounds great. This is an absolute KISS classic. Next song – Russian Roulette. Gene tune. Sounds pretty good but yeah he is singing about ‘loaded guns,’ ‘pulling triggers,’ etc and I am not nearly as OK with Gene singing about humping chicks at age 60 than on the 1970s albums when he was actually supposed to be getting lots of tail. Then it was the 1970s and he was about 30 – good man. Now it’s just kinda gross.

5) I wanted every song to be as good as Modern Day Delilah and it wasn’t happening. The songs are catchy, rocking and very well-performed. The new lineup is much tighter than the original band, but this CD is breaking no new ground. Every Tommy Thayer solo sounds like Ace from Alive! He has this down so well that he sounds more like Ace than Ace does. I get angry again and then feel bad for Tommy Thayer because he is just doing his job.

6) Then song 7 comes on and it’s Eric Singer singing, and he sounds gravelly – yeah just like Peter Criss. I get very angry. It made me realize that I am annoyed more than I thought that Paul and Gene replaced Ace and Peter with guys who dress, perform and act just like them. It’s bogus. I do not want to hear Eric Singer sing a song like Peter Criss, even if it is very anthemic and catchy, which it is.

7) Then just as I am calming down song 10 comes on and Tommy Thayer is signing. Thankfully he doesn’t sound like Ace but then I think – this now doesn’t even sound like KISS. What the hell is this crap?

8) The CD winds up with a song called “Say Yeah,” which is another Paul Stanley arena-pleaser. The sum total of the experience is that I want to turn off Sonic Boom and listen to Ace’s album again. Ace broke new ground on his album. He sang about his struggles. He kicked out some killer instrumentals. He took some chances and sang some stuff that was way outside of what you’d expect. Sonic Boom, while for sure is a return to form for KISS, breaks zero new ground. It’s just 11 more catchy KISS songs done by half the original band about the same old crap.

9) OK I know this is harsh – read between the lines here. The songs are good KISS tunes. There is loads of KISS-level passion, meaning Paul Stanley signs the shit out of everything he touches and the band for sure believes in itself on this CD. But it just made me pine for the original band. Shit, I even tolerated Psycho Circus because I could at least pretend that Ace was playing the leads, although it probably was Tommy Thayer!

10) The next day (yesterday), I ran into a guy I talk with at the music store and he too got Sonic Boom, but he loved it. He said I should keep listening and give it another chance. Now that the smoke has cleared from my day one rant, I am indeed liking Sonic Boom better and am appreciating it for what it is, as opposed to what I want it to be. In fact the Paul Stanley song "Never Enough" is growing on me in a big way - excellent chorus in particular...But I thought it would be far more interesting to share my first impressions, which were certainly tainted by my ‘shopping experience.’ Anyway, any thoughts from the peanut gallery? Those who have heard both Sonic Boom and Ace’s Anomaly CDs, which do you like better?

New KISS Album In Stores Today

...well, in one store. Wal-Mart. Ugh. I will probably make a run to get it though. I will try and snap photos of the obnoxious KISS Korner display. And of course I will be posting a review this week.

KISS will also be making appearances this week on late night TV:

--Tuesday, October 6: Late Show with David Letterman on CBS 11:35 PM ET
--Wednesday, October 7: Jimmy Kimmel Show on ABC 12:05 AM ET

But here is what I want to see again: Ace cranking the amps to 11 at a recent Giants/Chiefs game! He botches a note near the end and seems a little surprised when the bombs start to go off but overall I think this is cool. Go Ace!

CD Review - Ace Frehley - Anomaly

Seems weird to write a review of the new Ace Frehley CD, Anomaly, on the heels of the Porcupine Tree reviews. The Porcupine Tree and Ace CDs came out on the same day, but all synergy ends right there. Porcupine Tree is intellectual, artist-driven prog rock, and Ace’s music is base-level ass rock. Shit, the dude co-founded KISS. Need I say more? But know what? I love it as much as Porcupine Tree so sue me.

Anyhoo, Ace took 20 years to put out this album. I derided the idea of a new Ace solo album in this very blog many times. I think I in fact said that this album had as much chance of coming out as did Chinese Democracy from Guns and Poses. Well, guess what? Both albums are out and I am a dumb-ass.

The last couple of years, there was an increasing level of buzz about Ace’s album. He kept saying it was taking so long because he was a perfectionist and wanted everything to be just so. He said he was modeling it after his 1978 solo album, which was arguably the best of the four KISS solo albums and sold the best, and had the highest charting single (New York Groove). I thought this was typical stalling, and I also questioned if Ace could follow up his 1978 work so many years later. It’s always a slippery slope to try and re-create a past success, because many times those successes are accidental and really can’t be replicated.

But Ace wasn’t blowing smoking guitar smoke out his ass. This is by far the closest thing to his 1978 solo album that he has ever put out. It obviously sounds more modern but the songs are just as hooky, and some of the same cool effects are used (backwards guitar, looping delay, etc) to great effect. Ace’s vocals are surprisingly strong, thanks to three years of sobriety (congrats, Ace!). He wisely did not try to rehash the 1978 solo album’s song structures, but he did capture its spirit and it holds up very well as a follow up, which is what he said he wanted to do.

Highlights are the mostly instrumental Genghis Khan that begins with a very Jimmy Page White Summer-esque intro, that goes into a pretty rocking, catchy groove with some nice vocal effects. Other highlights are the opening track Foxy and Free, the re-make of Sweet’s Fox On The Run, Too Many Faces and another instrumental, Space Bear, which pulls the riff from John Entwistle solo tune My Size. Yes I am the only person who has ever heard that song so who cares?

Ace’s vocals are a true highlight here. I was always pissed that Ace sang sort of sparingly on his post-1978 solo albums, but he admitted it was because he was too wasted to make it happen. On Anomaly, his vocals are perhaps even stronger than on the 1978 solo outing. Good for Ace for having his act together enough to pull it off.

There are a few weak tracks. Three of the last four are not real keepers, but they do find Ace stretching into areas new to him as far as I know. While kind of schmaltzy, A Little Below The Angels covers Ace’s drinking regrets and is a nod to The Beatles, melody and feel-wise. Change the World is also Beatle-esque and a bit better song than Angels. The CD ends with Fractured Quantam, the third instrumental on the CD and a throwback to Fractured Mirror from the 1978 album. It’s a nice take and a good closer.

Now, Ace is signing better than ever, but don’t expect to be bowled over by the lyrical content on this album. This is the same guy who wrote Rocket Ride and Shock Me. But who buys an Ace Frehley solo album for the lyrics? You buy a solo album by Ace to pay homage to the coolest dude who was ever in KISS. The guy who was always a little bit kooky, and who contributed some of the most rocking tunes in the latter half of the makeup era and seemed to be the one guy who kept the KISS rock and roll torch burning while Gene Simmons dated movie stars and Paul Stanley wrote KISSco songs and ballads.

Sadly, once Ace left KISS, his albums were fairly spotty and he was a bit of a loose cannon. I would always buy Ace’s solo work hoping, hoping, hoping for songs like Ozone, Talk to Me, Save Your Love and Rip It Out. I was always let down until this week. It took Ace 20 years but he got it right. Now we’ll see next month if KISS can live up to its “we are returning to the 70s era KISS sound” hype, ‘cause ole Ace sure as hell did!

PS – The packaging is cool. You unfold four cardboard flaps to access the CD, which is slid into a couple of grooves and is suspended about an eighth of an inch above the bottom of the package. Remove the CD and Ace is giving you a thumbs up in a pretty classic photo. Those four flaps can be bent inwards to make a four sided prism (does that exist?) with different images on each side. It’s neat, and I am glad I didn’t iTunes the album for this reason.

New Ace Frehley, Porcupine Tree CDs Hit The Stores Today

Very excited to get the new Ace Frehley and Porcupine Tree CDs after work today. Porcupine Tree kicks their tour off tonight in Seattle, and I will be catching them tomorrow night in Portland, so I will probably listen to that one first. Ace has been doing lots of shows but nothing near me. Anyway, I will try and get reviews posted ASAP.

Taylor Swift Dresses Like Ace Frehley and Sings About Kissing Girls

...not that there is anything WRONG with that. In fact it's mildly arousing.

New Ace Frehley Track - Outer Space

Ace Frehley has made one of his new tracks available as a streaming file (steaming pile?). The song is classic old-school Ace, just as it has been billed. Heavy guitars, Anton Fig on drums, and pretty humorous lyrics. Basically, it's about Ace being in your face because he's from outer space.

Frankly, I dig the sound of this and it makes me kind of stoked to hear the whole album Sept. 15.

Rumor has it that KISS' new 'old school' album will drop in early October from Wal-Mart. Might be called Sonic Boom, and would be a 3-disc set: the new CD, the CD of re-hashed KISS songs recorded by the new version of KISS (and released in Japan already) and a DVD.

Sound familiar? That is exactly what Journey did with their Wal-Mart release.

Dig Ace's Outer Space here or below:

What's In Ace Frehley's Bag?

Ace Frehley recently supported the struggling Indie record industry by appearing at Amoeba Music in California, signing autographs (for free I presume) and appearing in the below video. It's great that Ace still seems to be on the wagon and doing great.

I love how Ace kind of hits on the pink haired interview girl who is probably younger than his daughter!

Ace Frehley Video Blog debut

Ace Frehley put up his very first blog video yesterday. It's rambling and self-promotional (but hey, aren't all video blog posts? Ha ha ha). But the couple of clips he plays from his upcoming CD sound pretty rocking. If KISS and Ace were to both put out 'old school' sounding albums this year, I might think I am 10 all over again!

Enjoy:

Ace Records Old School, other KISS Tidbits

I love this. Ace Frehley has posted a brief video on his Web site of him recording the guitar solo on a new tune at his home studio.

I took great interest in this, as I have been recording a fair amount lately as well (at a very modest home studio!), using everything from a Line 6 amp simulator plugged right into the computer to mic'ing my Fender Blues Deluxe in the closet, for isolation.

But here is Ace in all of his glory, blasting through a full Marshall stack, studio monitors blazing away!

He still has that Ace swagger (stagger?) and looks like he might fall over. But I gotta say, the lead he rips is pretty fine and until the singing comes back in, the song he's working on also sounds like classic Ace.

And speaking of KISS records, ClassicRockMagazine posted a pretty good opinion piece on the notion of a new KISS album, which is reportedly being recorded as we speak.

And on a side note, Gene Simmons posted a response to a letter on his site that he is close to releasing a multi-disc solo box set. I am setting aside my pennies already (not).

Back to the Ace video. Enjoy:

Send Space Ace Into Space

Sounds like a line from a KISS song, doesn't it?

If you are flush with cash in this down economy and instead of wasting your money on charitable causes or safe investments (like storing it in your mattresses), I have a great cause for you.

It's called Ace To Space and it's a Web site devoted to raising money to get Ace Frehley sent into space. While he is still alive, I presume.

The brilliantly designed Ace To Space site posted this statement yesterday:

To put the biggest question to rest, YES this is a real venture and we are going to do everything we can to be sure Ace is given the opportunity to take a journey into outer space.

During the last 10 months since we started this venture, our priority has been to establish our mission and do the due diligence to make sure it was even possible. Now that we know it is, our next objective is to make sure Ace is given the opportunity.

We have chosen VH1 to document this mission from the ground up and yesterday, Jeff Olde, VH1 Executive Vice President, Original Programming and Production, was given the latest top secret details regarding this mission.

No word on whether VH1 gives a crap. Me, I personally chose CNN to cover my entry into the race for Portland head Dogcatcher but they never got back to me.

This gem was posted some time ago but is the basis of the effort:

We have confirmed that it IS possible for Ace Frehley to be launched into orbit and it IS possible for him to broadcast a short musical performance. There are many technical challenges involved with this but we have been told that they can all be overcome.

My check is in the mail.

Oh and by the way, Ace just announced the name of his upcoming solo album: Anomaly. Catchy! Here is the artwork, according to his site. I hope it rocks. As much as I sling crap, I love Ace!

Ace Frehley Launches Web Site - Awk!

If you can believe it, there has never been an official Ace Frehley Web site. Fan sites have done their best to pay tribute to ole Ace, but he has not had his own vehicle for communication with his fan base - until today.

Buzz was high in KISS-land that the site was coming and it was being designed by Ace himself - the same graphic arts whiz that designed the KISS logo and the very cool solo album morphing faces animation that ran on the back screen prior to the encore on the reunion tour.

But oh my, Ace must have been looking at circa 1995 sites for inspiration. His site breaks about every design rule imaginable. Too many flashing, power sucking animated doo-dahs, unclear navigation design, and man is it slooooooow.

I expected some Flash-based awesome space trip rocket ride but what I got is a page right out of Web Pages That Suck.

Check it out for yourself here. Shock Me!

Random KISS Update

Whether you want it or not, it's time for a roundup of what the original members of KISS have been up to:

Paul Stanley is reportedly having a penthouse suite built atop Palms Place in Vegas, fueling rumors that he is in talks with Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, the Vegas version of Phantom of the Opera. Stanley had a great run playing the Phantom in the Toronto production in 1999. Him posting the rumor on his own Web site is not doing anything to squash the buzz.

Ace Frehley, as we know, is on tour. But now his forthcoming CD has a name - "Pain in the Neck." Seems that the CD has a guest lead from Slash. And Ace is trying to cop the success of his original solo release from 1978 (all four KISS solo albums were issued on my 10th birthday in 1978 - how cool is that?). Ace says, "I've been listening to my first solo album with KISS, because everybody says that's their favorite record. I was trying to figure out what made it so special, so I'm trying to incorporate a lot of what that record had for this new CD. It has a lot of different aspects and shows different musical sides of me and it's something I'm trying to recapture. I don't know if I can do it but I'm gonna take a shot at it." Good luck, Ace. That first album rules.

Gene Simmons is still a scumbag. While the furor over his sex tape is dying down, he made the following comment on his site: "You should know for the record, the garbage was recorded without my knowledge and is a page from my past. It happened and there's nothing I can do to repair that. The black-and-white footage may have been decades old. The entity behind the garbage has repeatedly tried to make money off of this and we have always refused. This is not the first time the entity has tried to blackmail and extort us. We have always refused and we will continue to refuse." First of all, look at Gene in the tape. It is not 'decades old.' Secondly, I feel really bad for him (not). It's not like he didn't hump this chick in the first place. Really hard to feel any pity for old Gene here.

And Peter Criss? Well, he pretty much still sucks ass.

Hard Rock Royalty on Tour - Maiden, UFO, Ace Frehley

Between the quiet noodlings of The Swell Season and Mark Knopfler, the Northwest will greet some hard rockers who are doing rare tours this year. Check it:

Iron Maiden
I have seen them seven times. Why not eight? Especially as this tour is called the "Somewhere Back In Time" tour, as the band is dusting off their huge stage set from the 1984-85 Powerslave tour and are only playing songs from the first six albums. This will indeed be a step back 22 years in time for me. I saw them at Ozzfest a couple of years ago and they were still as great as I remembered from the 80s.

They followed Ozzfest with a concept album called A Matter of Life and Death and on that tour, did the whole 75 minute album end-to-end, pissing off many fans that wanted to hear the old hits. Good for Maiden! Oh, and to offset the cost of trucking all that gear around this year, the band had an airplane outfitted to carry band AND gear and guess who is flying it? Lead singer/pilot Bruce Dickinson. The band plays June 2 at the White River Amphitheater, outside of Seattle. It is their only Northwest stop. I will be there.

Ace Frehley
Hot off of his Dunkin Donuts TV campaign, Ace has been working hard at finishing his CD and staying sober. Ah, Ace's CD. I have been hearing about this so long, I am not sure which one has been longer in the making - Ace's album or Chinese Democracy. Ace doesn't even have his own Web site but I have been hearing "it's almost done" for years now.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ace is back on the road, after very successful Halloween and New Years Eve gigs in the New York/Jersey area. This tour is not just a few gigs on the road - it's a full on club tour that kicked off last Wednesday. I have always been a big Ace fan and when he left KISS (I was 12), my interest in that band was over. I have a soft spot for the guy, as he is the reason I took up the guitar way back when. And the set list for this tour is smoking. The closest he gets to Portland, however, is Spokane or Vancouver BC. (Typically weird for Ace. Why Spokane?) Anyway, I may miss this due to the six to seven hour drive I would have to endure each way.

UFO
I don't have a lot to say about this one except that my wife and I saw UFO a few years ago at the Hard Rock in Chicago and they were fantastic. On that tour, they had Jason Bonham on drums and a different bass player, as Pete Way was not able to get into the country. Looks like that is close to getting smoothed out for this tour, and they are again with original drummer Andy Parker. So with the exception of Michael Schenker, they are touring with the classic lineup: Phil Mogg, Vinnie Moore, Paul Raymond, Pete Way, Andy Parker. The show I saw in Chicago was notable because I had no idea how many truly great songs UFO put out. It was one after the other and we had a blast. This show comes May 8 to the Aladdin Theater in Portland, which dramatically increases the odds that I will go.

Ace Frehley and Ted Neeley - Separated at Birth?

One More KISS Post

I know we've been a little "KISS Heavy" what with Ace's very exciting Dunkin' Donuts campaign and all, but I wanted to share this photo from Kissonline. I always thought it was funny that when KISS rehearse, they wear the boots.

I know why - it's so they can rehearse their moves and whatnot b/c walking around in those things is way different than normal shoes. They weigh something like 40 or 50 pounds each, and you have to re-create the actual show conditions to be fully prepared to rock only as KISS can rock.

But I still think they look funny! Click on the photo to the right and you'll be able to see it better.

Ace on Donuts - Here it is

God bless YouTube. Here is the Ace commercial. You be the judge if this is lame or not. I have my own opinion...

Ace Frehley - Coffee and Donuts

On the heels of Ace Frehley's appearance at the one year anniversary of the opening of the first KISS Coffeehouse (he played 'Shock Me' with the tribute band Mr. Speed), Ace has now apparently signed up to appear - in full makeup - in new Dunkin’ Donuts commercials.

What in the HELL?

From Kissonline: The America Runs on Dunkin’ campaign features advertisements directed by screenwriter, director, producer and actor Zach Braff. Two spots within the campaign debuted today, featuring Frehley and supermodel Naomi Campbell in support of Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Tea and Iced Latte summer beverages, respectively.

Come on, Paul and Gene - can you cut Ace a bigger check so he does not have to do this crap? This is my childhood hero we are talking about, for God's sake...