Halloween Moments In Kisstory! - by Scott Carr

 

 

Probably no other band is better suited for Halloween than Kiss, well maybe Alice Cooper but Kiss has had a lot of cool Halloween related moments over the years and I thought I would take a moment to compile some of my favorites.

 

1. The Tom Snyder Interview

On Halloween Eve of 1979 the four members of Kiss went to NBC Studios in New York City to do a full length interview with Tom Snyder. Tom had a late night talk show called Tomorrow that aired right after The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Tomorrow would eventually be replaced by Late Night With David Letterman in 1982.

Hands down this is one of the best moments in Kisstory. If you are a Kiss fan and haven't seen it, you are in for a treat. The band were on tour supporting their album Dynasty that had been released earlier in the year and was the group's return after releasing their solo albums the previous year.

Guitarist Ace Frehley is in rare form during the entire interview and absolutely steals the show. I'm not sure that was his intent going into the show but once he gets rolling there's no turning back. Group leaders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons play the straight men throughout the interview and seem a bit put off by Ace's activity but Tom Snyder seems very intrigued by Ace and continues to give Ace free reign. 

So, check it out. It will make you day much brighter......

KISS appeared on "The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder on October 31st, 1979. Called "The Halloween Special". It would be the most loved and also the last interview of all 4 original members of KISS on TV. The chemistry between the members of KISS is "strained" to say the least.

 

 

2. Paul Lynde Halloween Special

 

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special was a Halloween themed variety show that feature campy skits from comedian Paul Lynde and various other celebrities such as Betty White, Florence Henderson, Marie Osmond and others. Kiss was the musical guest.

The special aired on October 29, 1976.

Kiss Lip-synched three songs during the show, all from their current album Destroyer. Although not a live performance, this remains as an iconic moment in Kisstory and many Kiss fans can tell you what they were doing and where they were at the night this show aired.

I was attending a wedding for a family friend. I drove my parents crazy and was protesting the whole event because I knew Kiss was gonna be on TV that evening! My protests did me no good and I got pulled by my ear to the wedding. Luckily my brooding face throughout the ceremony prompted my family to leave the reception early and we got home just in time to see the show. Life was good......

Also from this show there is also a song by Beth, but YouTube blocked it

3. Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park

October 28, 1978 the first and only Kiss movie aired on the NBC Saturday Night Movie.

Kiss Meets The Phantom Of The Park was released a little over a month after Kiss had released the Kiss Solo Albums. Kissteria was in high gear and it seemed the band could do no wrong. 

Over the years the movie has become somewhat of a cult classic but I remember watching it as a kid and thinking "man, this movie is kinda lame". My biggest frustration with the film at that young age was, it seemed like it took forever for the band to make an appearance.

The coolest parts for me now are the opening credits scene and the concert footage towards the end. The "Real" Kiss battling the "evil" Kiss is pretty cool too.

Check out the clip below that features all the films dialogue from the band members, it clocks in under 4 minutes......

Uploaded by Trash Film Orgy on 2015-09-14.

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978) with everything cut out but KISS's dialogue

COMMERCIAL - NBC bumper for Kiss Meets the Phantom - 1978

4.. Kiss MTV Unplugged Debuts

In August 1995 Kiss recorded a performance for MTV's highly successful MTV Unplugged series. This show would debut on Halloween night October 31st, 1995.

In 1995 Kiss launched the official Kiss Konvention Tour and had been traveling the country hosting day long events in different cities. The event included vendors selling everything Kiss, a traveling museum of Kiss artifacts and other Kiss related festivities. Each event featured a Q&A session with the band and a special unplugged performance. 

When it was announced that Kiss would be taping MTV Unplugged, rumors were floating around the original members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss would be joining the band. This would mark the first time the four original members had played together since 1979. To the surprise of Kiss fans around the world, the rumor became reality. Near the end of the set Ace and Peter were brought out to perform with the band. This performance would plant the seed for a full blown Kiss reunion in 1996.

Kiss MTV Unplugged stands as one of my favorite Kiss moments ever, who knew Kiss songs could sound so good stripped down. 

Created In - Sony Music Studios, NYC, August 8 Aired In - October 31, 1995

 

 

5. Psycho Circus Tour Kick Off At Dodgers Stadium

After reuniting the four original members in 1996 and touring the world for almost two years, Kiss returned with a new studio Psycho Circus on September 22, 1998.

The Psycho Circus World Tour kicked off at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles on Halloween Night October 31st, 1998.

The Smashing Pumkins opened the show dressed as the Beatles. The concert was streamed on the internet and a radio broadcast. Two songs were broadcast live on Fox Television.

Original KISS well into the "Reunion" perform on Halloween eve @ Dodger Stadium . Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Gene Simmons .

 

Original KISS well into the "Reunion" perform on Halloween eve @ Dodger Stadium . Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss, Gene Simmons .

6. Halloween Dance Party At The Agora - Columbus, Ohio

Halloween Eve October 30, 1974 Kiss performed at The Agora in Columbus, Ohio.

Just one week earlier Kiss had released their second album Hotter Than Hell.

I did not attend this show but I have lived in Columbus since the early 90's and have attended many shows at this venue which has been called The Newport Music Hall for decades. When I first started going to shows at The Newport (Agora), it was hard to wrap my mind around Kiss playing such a small venue. If only I could time travel.

The show was sold out with 2,000 in attendance. It is rumored that during the perfomance there was a power failure and the lights went out. The band reportedly passed out candles from their on stage candleabra's until the lights came back up. I can not confirm this but how cool is that!

Check out the poster below. $3 bucks gets you in the door......

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

The Agora - October 30, 1974

My costume needs a little work but I had the mask! Happy Halloween!

My costume needs a little work but I had the mask! Happy Halloween!

Scott Carr is a guitarist who plays in the Columbus, OH  bands Radio Tramps andReturning April.  Scott is also an avid collector of vinyl records and works at Lost Weekend Records. So...if you are looking for Scott....you'll either find him in a dimly lit bar playing his guitar or in a record store digging for the holy grail.

The First Time I Saw The Replacements by Ricki C.

The first time I saw The Replacements was autumn 1983 at Stache & Little Brothers – a 170-capacity hole-in-the-wall club in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio – that everybody here called Stache’s.  (I also later saw Richard Thompson, Joe Ely, Lucinda Williams, Soul Asylum, Dave Alvin and a fuckload of other acts there, but today we’re talkin’ Replacements.)

I know Hootenanny was already out, but I don’t know if Let It Be was.  I do know that Westerberg & company were being touted as The Next Big Thing in “alternative rock” after REM, so I wanted to check ‘em out.  The Replacements staggered up onto Stache’s “stage” – literally one step up from the floor – and lurched into some kinda unholy din that I think was supposed to resemble a song.  Bob & Tommy Stinson were cutting huge ragged swaths of guitar & bass noise through the Stache’s PA, but nobody was anywhere close to being in tune, nobody was changing chords at the same time (if indeed those WERE chords being played) and Westerberg was so drunk you couldn’t understand a single word he was singing – it was a MAJOR fucking train-wreck of a set.  The only person even close to being on the ball was drummer Chris Mars, who was striving manfully, single-handedly, to hold the songs together, and he was failing, badly.

I was standing at the back of Stache’s by the soundboard with local scenester Ron House that night, surveying the carnage that was The Replacements, and I shouted over the din, “These guys are supposed to be The Next Big Thing?  This is HORRIBLE.”  Ron, yelling back in my ear, concurred and Ron and I seldom agreed on ANYTHING.  Just at that moment – fully a half-hour into the set – the band launched into “Take Me Down To The Hospital” from Hootenanny and it was fucking FANTASTIC!  They were AMAZING.  It was really quite unbelievable.  From “Hospital” they went into the yet-to-be-released “Unsatisfied” and it was even better than “Hospital.”  They went from total indeterminate, out-of-time, out-of-tune noise to one of the greatest rock & roll bands I’d ever seen in the course of three songs.  “Can you believe this?  They must just have been getting warmed up before.” I yelled to Ron, unable to take my eyes off of them.

And then, after “Unsatisfied” they went right back to sucking.  Right.  Directly.  Back to sucking.  Ron and I just stared at the stage and then at each other as the band veered off-course back into The Rock & Roll Wasteland.  They did that at least two more times in the course of an hour & ten minute set.  They would be world-beaters for a song or two, and then go completely off-the-rails for four or five more.  It was the weirdest, most off-kilter set of rock & roll I have ever witnessed.          

I’ve said ad infinitum for years that all of my standards of rock & roll professionalism are based on the 1969 Who – nature’s most perfect rock & roll organism – and in all the times I saw The Replacements (four or five more shows, at least) they never even managed a competent live show, let alone the lofty heights of Townshend & Moon and company in 1969.  (Plus, it’s not like I don’t understand loose, sloppy & fun in rock & roll.  I saw Rod Stewart & the Faces a number of times and they were great.  The Replacements weren’t loose, sloppy & fun, they were just drunk & shambolic.)

The last Replacements show I saw – in 1991, with Slim Dunlap on lead guitar, at the Riverbend outdoor venue in Cincinnati, opening for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – the band was a defeated, downcast, worn-out, ghostly echo of its former self.    That show was just tough to watch.  Until his first solo tour, promoting 14 Songs in 1993 at Peabody’s Down Under in Cleveland, I never saw a Paul Westerberg song played competently.  (That first solo tour backing band, by the way, included David Minehan – drafted in from Boston’s superlative pop-punk assemblage The Neighborhoods – on lead guitar and Josh Freese on drums, who now reprise their roles as Bob Stinson & Chris Mars’ substitutes in the new Replacements.)  (Notice how I avoided an obvious bad pun, there?) 

The long and the short of it is; I should not have had to wait a full TEN YEARS – from 1983 to 1993 – to see justice done to the songs of The Replacements.  I should have seen it the first time I saw The Replacements.  I wish I could go along to see it this Saturday. - Ricki C. / September 7th, 2014.  

 

Next time: In 1985, Ricki C. turns down a job as a roadie for The Replacements. 

They're Tearing Down Vet's Memorial, part one - by Ricki C.

Awhile back, Brian Phillips sent me a link to a Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium website that lists every show that took place at the venue from the time it opened in 1955 onward, and it gave me the idea for this series.

They’re tearing down Vet’s Memorial.

You have no idea how much typing that sentence makes my heart hurt.

Vet’s Memorial was Ground Zero for rock & roll shows in Columbus, starting – for me, at least – in 1965 and stretching well into the 80’s, when it was supplanted by the Ohio Center over at the Convention Center.  (The Ohio Center, by the way, was a toilet with absolutely ABYSMAL acoustics compared to Vet’s.)

Vet’s Memorial was my High Holy Temple of the Catholic Church of the Rock & Roll.

I saw Bob Dylan’s first electric tour there.  I saw the Jimi Hendrix Experience, I saw The Doors, Janis Joplin, Cream, etc.  I saw some less popular, less fondly remembered 1960’s acts – Vanilla Fudge, Iron Butterfly, Donovan – there.  I saw The Turtles and they were fucking AMAZING.  I saw Judy Collins, I saw James Taylor with Carole King opening.  I saw Elton John in 1971 when he was still a rocker, before all the crazy outfits & sunglasses and his weekly singles off his monthly albums.  I saw the two greatest rock & roll shows I have ever witnessed – The Who in 1969 and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band in 1978 – at Vet’s Memorial.

Speaking of the 70’s, I saw Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult there probably just about every year in the mid-to-late 70’s.  (Plus perennial opening bands like Styx, Foghat and REO Speedwagon WAY too many times on their long, slow slog to the top of the classic-rock junkheap.) 

Anyway, the idea of this series is that I will pick one show from each month and write about them throughout 2015.  The shows will span the era from 1965 to somewhere around 1985. 


SWEET / STYX / ERIC CARMEN – JANUARY 28TH, 1976

I chose this show partly to illustrate the diversity of triple bills you would get in the 1970’s, but mostly - oddly - because it was the only show I saw in the month of January on the entire Vet's calendar.  It  was also the only show I ever witnessed in which the bottom-billed act was clearly the best of the night.  (The first time I saw Aerosmith, by the way, was at Mershon Auditorium on campus in 1973, bottom-billed to Robin Trower and Mott The Hoople.  Aerosmith handily blew Trower off the stage that night, but really stood no chance against the rock & roll juggernaut that was Mott back in the day.) 

Eric Carmen – formerly of Cleveland’s favorite sons, Raspberries – had just released his first solo album and was right back where he had started in 1972, bottom-billed and hungry.  He had assembled a crack touring band from the best players Cleveland had to offer (a formidable pool of rockers in those mid-70’s days).  They played a short, tight, hard set that was an improbable cross of power-pop and prog-rock.  (Kinda like Yes when they still used to cover The Beatles’ “Every Little Thing.”)  And man, did they ever NAIL Raspberries' two best songs: “Overnight Sensation” and “Tonight.”    

Audience reaction to Eric Carmen?  Nil.  Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.  The Columbus crowd couldn't have cared less.  I was crushed. 

Then Styx came out and did their patented Big Rock Show set of Broadway show tunes masquerading as rock & roll.  (For those of you scoring at home, I consider Styx the Second Worst “Rock” Band of All Time, with only Kansas coming in below them.)  Styx trotted out every Corporate Rock cliché of the day: fake operatic tenor vocals ala Queen from Dennis DeYoung; obligatory “lofty” sci-fi lyrics ala Led Zeppelin (in the truly abysmal “Come Sail Away,” the worst rip-off of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" EVER); and generous helpings of truly ponderous, hopelessly overwrought synthesizer-laden heaviosity (to paraphrase Woody Allen).

Audience reaction to Styx?  Of course, the crowd unabashedly loved them: hook, line and Arena Rock sinker.  (Really, I should have seen classic-rock radio coming down the pike right at that exact moment.)   

I had been looking forward to seeing Sweet live since back in 1974 when the Desolation Boulevard album ruled my turntable.  I loved the Second Coming of The Who power-pop stylings of “Ballroom Blitz,” "The 6-Teens" and - especially - "Fox On The Run."  Fuck Styx, THIS was how you rocked high-pitched operatic vocals: with lyrics about girls, girls and more girls and tearing up the local rock venue. 

So of course Sweet came out blaring & blasting, trying to overpower & out-bombast Styx & their ilk, and succeeded only in completely burying their power-pop proclivities beneath a slab of Heavy-Metal Rawk Guitar Histrionics.  Compounding that problem, they were hopelessly weak on vocals and couldn’t come anywhere close to reproducing the harmonies that had been crucial on their records.  (You can say what you want about Chinn & Chapman as bubblegum schlockmeister producers, but man, did they know how to layer vocals for maximum effect.)

Audience reaction to Sweet?  The Styx-worshipping masses started leaving about five or six songs into Sweet's set, and I really couldn’t blame 'em.

I remember very clearly walking out of Vet’s Memorial that cold January night and saying to my buddy Jeff, “Man, this Styx, Rush and Kansas crap has GOT to stop.  There has to be something new and better out there somewhere.”

Punk-rock was amping-up just at that moment, but I had no way of knowing that then.  God bless the future, and God bless The Ramones. – Ricki C. / January 25th, 2015.


 

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