Letters

Hello my love Kiss came to tell you how much I love this band ... you guys are awesome, I am a vice my nickname is Lady KISS (laughs). I came to talk even with that I love you especially Paul Stanley ... He was the first member of the band that I hit the eye and said I love this guy (laughs) The first few days had a lot of fear now Gene has got used to him, he is also a Cat 4 in the band are pretty I'm not ashamed to speak I rock you ... I began to enjoy the KISS song "lick it up" was out there i was asking people in my family other songs of you already know all today ... A kiss and a hug Tight love you .. .

The easiest time to get pictures of Gene during the "blood spitting" sequence is when the red stage lights come on. Especially when he crosses his arms. He will hold the pose long enough for you to get a good picture. He will turn and look the other way and hold the pose again. If you can get him looking into your camera it is a bonus. You also get a bonus if you can catch his tongue fully extended (it flickers a lot). Just have your camera at the ready. Don't be caught off guard and miss the opportunity. Many people were fumbling around trying to get their cameras positioned to get pictures in the red light. Have yours positioned ahead of time. This picture is from the Boston show on August 7, 2010.

The sequence where Gene spits blood appears to be very surface oriented to many people. However, as with many things KISS, it has a lot of substance behind it. Gene is not just a crazy KISS guy spitting blood for press attention and to have a generation of youth running around playing with KISS action figures. Nor, is he some Devil worshiping cult leader Hell bent on twisting the minds of our youth. What Gene does during this sequence is genuinely play a bit of theater. A mini show within the KISS show. If you pay attention closely you will see the story is akin to that of classic vampire movies. At times, Gene even reminds you of Bela Lugosi as he plays out the scene. The Story: Gene, The Demon is happy living in the darkness. Hiding. Creeping around. Scoping out his next victim. Until a light from above shines down to expose him. He is blinded by it and covers his eyes, but to no avail. There is no escape. And, the light (the truth) hurts him. Causing him to convulse and regurgitate (spit up) blood. He is wounded. He thrashes about in agony. Until he finds safety in the opaqueness of the red light. Photographing this sequence: I noticed a natural tendency for people to whip out their cameras to get a shot of Gene as he started this sequence. The tendency is to take a couple of pictures and be done with it. Resist this tendency. There are many things working against you. The strobe lights flashing on and off, the fog, the green lighting and Gene moving around constantly. Wait it out. It will all settle down eventually. So, have your camera at the ready. This picture was taken at the Philadelphia show on August 6, 2010. I used the zoom on my camera which worked out well. Better than any of the other pictures I got not using the zoom. By doing this I was able to avoid having the blinding strobe lights (based on the stage in front of Gene) wreak havoc with the images. I'm a novice photographer who used a basic $80.00 camera. I went to a few shows and learned a few tips and tricks to share with other KISS fans. You can look through the Letters area for other advice I've submitted. Going to a KISS concert is special. Most of us are lucky to be able to go to one. There are many common mistakes made as novices to photography. I made a bunch of them the first two shows. I learned from my mistakes. I hope I can help give you the edge. For younger/newer KISS fans: This is what the real KISS Army is all about. A Brotherhood. We work together and help each other.

I just saw your show last night in Raleigh, NC and it was amazing. It was my first KISS show ever, and i don't know why I waited so long. I just wanted to say that what you guys did for the Wounded Warrior Project was awesome, and it is definetly going to a great cause. Any help that we can give to our fellow service members is awesome, and to see KISS doing it like that was classy. Semper Fi Nate

My son, Izak, is the biggest "little" KISS fan I know of. Izak is two years old. It started off with Daddy and now I know it has to be in the GENES because Izak LOVES KISS! Izak can't get enough of them and wants to watch them everyday! We are going to take him to his first KISS show this Thursday. He is so excited! I just wanted to share with everyone because it makes me smile and thought it would put a smile on your face too.

Hi dear Gene. Paul, Eric and Tommy... My country wait you to arrive make a concert... your fans wait... specially me... thanks... KISS ARMY ECUADOR...

hey kiss army-fans-and kiss crazyies,im looking into the kissonline web here and came across the kiss lookalike bands,wanting to know is there any in the state of va??mainly in raonoke va,but willing to go the xx mile,??i do areal good paul,matter of fact i was told by the news crew back when i lived in n.c back in early 2000 when some pals of mine did a show at a night club for holloween it was the freak nite at the bar,it was a blast,i can play kiss music,have the moves and the voice of paul stanley and i can sahey im very ggoood at it,so if anyopens in va lookin a kiss looka like band needs a paul who comes very close or some band out there who is willin to have that slot filled and if any one wants to take it the xxx mole well here is my emails 1 [email protected] 2- [email protected], now im olny lookin pepole who really wanna play as the best who is only the best the hottis band ever in the world kiss we all were born to be kissized ,,p,s, im really lookin to hear from ua to all kiss army and fans keep on rockin long live kiss

In ordinary times it is often difficult to make plans. With all of the deployments since 2003 it has been VERY difficult for military families to make plans and do things together. When the soldier is not deployed they are often getting ready to deploy. Or, often times, may move (PCS) in between deployments. This Summer I was excited about this tour. I knew my wife would be coming home (from her 4th deployment) from Iraq in time for us to go to some KISS concerts. All of us as a family. We could make up for some of the other times, other tours, we could not go. The problem was I knew she would be home sometime in July or August. And, then she would go on leave sometime after she came home. Hmmmph. How do you buy Pre-sale Flip Video Packages or Pre-sale Meet and Greets or anything else offering good seats without knowing exactly WHEN you will be able to go? I had a dilemma. I kept waiting and waiting for some definite dates of leave. By the time I knew for sure it was too late to buy any of those package deals for the tour dates within our window of opportunity. But, I wanted REALLY good seats. My wife deserved the best. Our family deserved the best. We had missed out on so many things for so many years. Part of the sacrifices we all make in military families. I did what we must do often times. I adapted and overcame. I learned how to get good KISS tickets when the packages are no longer available. My tips are: 1. Find reputable ticket brokers, as many as you can, and compare tickets and prices. Take the time to research these brokers. Some of them have been around a very long time. 2. Try Ebay, but use common sense. Make sure the seller has a lot of feedback before you even think about buying tickets from them. Also, different states have different laws to protect the buyer of tickets. Familiarize yourself with that info by looking it up within Ebay to see what kind of protection you may or may not have. 3. Stubhub is a great place to look and they have some protections available to you as a buyer. 4. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. 5. Look on Ticketmaster or LiveNation in the week leading up to the show you want to see. Keep checking every few hours every day. The promoter and the band will often add more tickets in the last few days. These may be seats originally designated as "comp" tickets. Or, tickets not sold as packages. 6. Look for tickets in pairs. Even if you need 4 tickets. Get the best pair you can and then shop for the next best pair you can get. I even kept shopping for upgrades after getting good tickets. In Philadelphia our family of 4 ended up in 2nd row all together. I ended up reselling a pair of 5th row tickets (to scalpers). And, for fun, I GAVE AWAY a pair of 6th row and a pair of 11th row tickets to deserving KISS fans in the lawn area. We all had great times. I wish my wife could have met KISS, or at least had one of them just say, "Hi", to her. It would have been a big thrill for her. It just could not work out. It's the kind of thing we miss out on as a military family. Others will relate to this. While we may have to miss out on some things we can still get great seats.

My band entered th GC contest to open for KISS at Mohegan sun and we WON! It was the most unbelievable feeling and It was the greatest day of our lives. You all made us feel so at home and totally in disbelief with sing a longs during your sound check (Lola, who songs and what not) to flicking picks at us with unbelievable accuracy. Though there wasn't time to formally meet and greet Paul still stop in the hall and talked to our bass player and totally blew his mind with your sincerity and down to earth talk. Being huge fans since we were young and dreamed to one day open for our Rock Heroes it lived up to every second of it! From Patrick & Roman to The crew to the awesome sound and lights everyone was so helpful and awesome. We thank you from the bottom to the tops of our hearts. Always believe and fight because dreams do come true and you can feel like king of the world! Thanx, TESTER

Check out This KISS DR PEPPER display @ Stop & Shop in Union NJ