Well, he might say "K-L-E-I-N" - I don't know the legalities...

Alan

Or maybe W-I-T-Z...

He changed his name legally to $immons years ago. Gene Klein no longer exists.

Here's something you don't see very often...if at all.

KISS now has the dubious distinction of being praised by Bill O' Reilly...

Chaim Witz cased to exist around 1958 or thereabouts.

Don't tell me, tell Lois Griffin.

I'll pass, thanks.

Great news! First off, the KISS show tonight will be televised live in Germany and that will end up on DVD as a boot right away-maybe even as part of KISSology 4 which is definitely coming out!

From Anti-Music.com:
KISS performance tomorrow (Thursday, June 3rd) at Germany's Rock am Ring (Nürburg/Eifel) will be broadcast live on not just one, but two channels:

MTV: 10 PM - midnight
Eins Plus: 9:25 PM - midnight

Further details can be found at this location.

During their live online chat yesterday, June 1st, KISS revealed that KISSology 4 will be out in the fall, and will include footage from their current tour.

They also revealed that children under 14 will get in for free at the KISS concerts in the US on the upcoming tour (lawn seats), the cheapest tickets will be only about $20. Also, the setlist on the US tour will be different.

I've got my tickets!
Nothing like a KISS show outdoors on a Summer night.

And here's what they played tonight at the huge RockAm Ring show (nice set-not sure if this is the new set list for the US, or it will change again-my guess is this is it).

1.Modern Day Delilah
2.Cold Gin
3.Let Me Go, Rock 'N' Roll
4.Firehouse
5.Say Yeah
6.Deuce
7.Crazy Crazy Nights
8.Calling Dr. Love
9.Shock Me
10.I'm An Animal
11.100,000 Years
12.I Love It Loud
13.Love Gun
14.Black Diamond
15.Detroit Rock City
Encore:
16.Beth
17.Lick It Up
18.Shout It Out Loud
19.I Was Made For Lovin' You
20.God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II
21.Rock And Roll All Nite

Damn good! I hope they play "Firehouse" at Jones Beach.

With the exception of "Beth," this is the same set list they've been playing since the opening night of the tour, May 1st.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1X4JneVn04[/youtube]

One of the morning DJ's here on LI's WBAB was joking about this tour as it hits Jones Beach.

He said when Tommy Thayer does a solo, Paul will say "Tommy Thayer's doing a solo, I'm going fishing!"
Water surrounds the Jones Beach Theater.

I saw somewhere that they promised a new set list for the US leg. I'd guess dropping "Crazy, Crazy Nights" and possibly "God Gave Rock N Roll To You" in favor of a couple others that are more popular here. I'd be hugely surprised if there were more than two or three changes.

From the show I saw last October there are 7 different songs in the setlist from last night, so that certainly qualifies as a new setlist.
I doubt there will be many changes to last night's setlist for the US tour, but we'll see. Either way what they do is fine by me.

The only reason they're doing "Crazy Crazy Nights" is because it was a major UK hit. I'd be surprised if it stays in the show when they return to the US.

Without Bill Aucoin, there wouldn't be a KISS.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... QD9GKH1P00

Aucoin, manager who discovered Kiss, dies at 66
By WAYNE PARRY (AP) – 1 hour ago

Bill Aucoin, who discovered the rock group Kiss and helped build them into a musical and merchandising juggernaut, died Monday in Florida. He was 66.

Aucoin died at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in Aventura of surgical complications from prostate cancer, said Carol Kaye, a family spokeswoman.

A former television cinematographer, Aucoin discovered Kiss in New York City in 1973 and helped launch the makeup-wearing, fire-breathing quartet into a moneymaking machine.

He financed the band's first tour on his personal American Express credit card when money was tight, but he was well rewarded when the band's popularity exploded in 1975 with the hit "Rock And Roll All Nite."

"He was the fifth Kiss," said drummer Peter Criss, who had Aucoin serve as the best man at his second wedding. "If it wasn't for Bill, there would be no Kiss."

Aucoin first saw the band at a showcase gig at New York's Diplomat Hotel, then brought it upstairs to meet with record company executive Neil Bogart, who signed it as the first act on his Casablanca Records label.

Criss said Aucoin had an eye for what was visually striking and recognized the vast merchandising potential of rock bands in a way that few others could. With Aucoin's help, Kiss became as famous for the vast array of products bearing their likeness — including belt buckles, Halloween costumes and makeup kits, action figurines, vitamins and even a Kiss pinball machine — as they were for their music.

By 1978, they were voted the No. 1 band in America in a Gallup poll.

"He was a genius," Criss said. "Anything you could do, he could do bigger."

After parting with Kiss in the early 1980s, Aucoin managed Billy Squier and Billy Idol.

He is survived by his longtime partner, Roman Fernandez, and two sisters, Betty Britton and Janet Bankowski.

Obviously the Indy State Fair doesn't apply here as the tickets are more than double that, and no kids get in free.

Poor Vinnie-so much talent and well, not much else.

Former KISS guitarist Vincent John Cusano, a.k.a. "Vinnie Vincent," lost his 6th Circuit appeal of an order barring him from seeking bankruptcy protection from paying more than $81,000 to his former band mates, whom he unsuccessfully sued for royalties in 1997.

Cusano replaced lead guitarist Ace Frehley in 1982 and played with the band for two years. He departed on bad terms, and later claimed KISS members Gene (Simmons) Klein and Paul Stanley owed him royalties for his work on Kiss' 1983 album "Lick It Up."

However, a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled against him and awarded the KISS defendants about $66,400 in attorney's fees and $15,400 in costs.

Simmons and Stanley asked the court for permission to sell Cusano's copyrights to satisfy the judgment. Cusano launched a series of appeals, filing three petitions for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection.

But when his former band mates sought to convert the petition to a Chapter 7 case, which is harsher on debtors, Cusano voluntarily dismissed his last two Chapter 13 petitions.

The KISS defendants called Cusano a "serial and abusive filer who filed his petition in bad faith and has repeatedly abused the bankruptcy process" by voluntarily dismissing his Chapter 13 petitions three times in less than 18 months.

The bankruptcy court allowed Cusano to dismiss the third petition, but imposed conditions: He could not file for Chapter 13 protection for two years, and any future filing would have no impact on the legal fees awarded to Simmons and Stanley.

The Cincinnati-based appeals court upheld this order.

The conditioned dismissal "would allow the [KISS defendants] to potentially see an end to the California litigation and collect on their judgment lien," Judge Arthur Harris wrote for the bankruptcy appeals panel.

"The Debtor's conduct in prosecuting his bankruptcy cases only when it suits him is indicative of a bad faith attempt to frustrate the [Kiss defendants'] efforts to collect on their judgment lien and constitutes an abuse of the bankruptcy process," the court concluded.

He makes Gene look like a saint.

Speaking of which we got KISS tix yesterday for $10 and no service fees for Aug. 6. The touring industry is in the toilet and I'm so very glad.
KISS is one of the few shows worth paying for, but $10 will do nicely.