Letters

Hello... our whole family is fans so I just wanted to share a photo of this years Halloween pumpkin. My 6 year old Daughter Abby requested that our Halloween pumpkin be a KISS pumpkin. My husband gave her a CD cover so she could choose who she wanted it to look like and she choose you. Enjoy! Tori Gansen

Gene, I just hope you read this, it really doesn't matter to me if it gets posted on your website. I know you are busy and I will try to make this short. To start in 2006 my wife and I took our son Frank when we met you at Virgin Records in Downtown Disney for the KISS fragrance line. We had him in a KISS bears beanie and matching T-Shirt, it is amazing that he was less than a year old and that was the start of it all for him. Now just over two years later quite the little fan he has become, he became attached to you as the Demon, before any other members. He has two of my posters up in his room(among a plethora of Kiss, & "GENE" items), and KISS does not spell "Kiss" it spells "GENE". My wife got tickets as a present to me for my birthday for the 3 of us to the Tampa show. We painted his face, bought him a shirt, and a program ("GENE BOOK") and to see his excitement when the KISS curtain dropped was one of those moments as a parent you will never forget. The first initial explosion at the start of Deuce scared him, he then turns to me and asks "is that really Gene", I told him "yes it is Gene", he started calling your name out and saying hello, telling others around us to quiet down Gene can't hear him. He started dancing at the start of Strutter, (we were seated at the end of our row) and stood out by the stairs and says, "Bye mama, bye daddy, I am going to go say Hi to Gene." When I stopped him and explained that he couldn't he started to cry his eyes out, he wanted to go on stage and say hi to you, that is all we heard throughout the show from him, until your bass solo. When Paul came out into the audience he was not more than 20ft. away from us, Frank was calling out to Paul, "Hi Paul, its me Frank, Paul, HI". After the show was over, he cried as if someone had just blown up Disney World. So my wife and I have decided that if KISS goes back out on the road we are going to purchase the Platinum Package so our little one can meet you in make-up and costume. In closing, this past NAMM (2009) after your son and his band performed you back by the mixing board under the canopy, my wife tried coming up to you to say thank you, but you got pulled away so soon, after you got done tease flirting with the older lady in the wheel chair. Not only have I been a fan of KISS, and you, but Shannon as well, and she allowed me to take a picture with her. I just wanted to send this email over to you, along with the photos of my son, hopefully you read it, I know it is long and it could've been longer. Thank you Gene, for ....well it all!! Sincerely, Jerry d'Paoli

Here's the photo

These are a few pictures of our dune buggy named Kiss This!! As you can see, you are the hilight of the paint scheme. We take it out to Glamis, CA and it is a big hit with everyone. It has a Ford Mustang Cobra motor with 500 horsepower!!. We have yet to see another one like this. It took two years to be built and worth every penny we paid for it. If you would be interested in seeing it we could bring it to you when you play in Anaheim in Nov. If you would like to see more pictures we will be happy to send them to you. Thank you for your time: Tammy & Mike Huard

Gene: How in the hell do you do it? We are watching behind the scene on Kissonline, where you are hoisted to the platform when you spit blood. How high are you up in the air? You really have to have lots of faith to trust your employee's because your life is really at risk. To think that you put on a hell of a show but you also risk your life during the show is really dedication to your fans. People need to get off of KISS's back and enjoy a fucking good show. Look forward to seeing you in 17 days in Portland, Oregon An excited KISS fan who loves the new Sonic Boom album From the desk of Roland and Ruth VanDenderen

I recently picked up your KISS Fanzine book and was stunned to find in the covers gallery you had placed 3 covers of a fanzine that I published with my cousin between 1989-1991! Cool stuff considering I was 14 and my cousin was 12 when we started and we had no idea what we were doing! At the beginning we used an old typewriter and an even older photocopier in my uncles store that ruined half of what we printed because the ink ran. It didn't matter though, because it was a lot of fun and we were paying homage to our favorite band! Seeing the pics of the covers in your book brought back a lot of great memories including the best one of all: meeting the band backstage on the Hot In The Shade tour in Vancouver. I don't think there is a band anywhere that does as much for it's fans as KISS does, and by including us in your book it feels like we are a part of official KISStory! Thanks again and see you on tour! Chris Medland former co-editor Destroyer Magazine/Report KISS fan for life

Hi Gene, I just wanted to take a minute and share a story with you. My brother, Brad grew up idolizing you and KISS. As a kid, he would dress up my two little sisters as well as himself and they would play KISS for hours. In the fall of 1982, Brad heard that KISS was coming to Sioux City, Iowa. We lived in the small town of Wynot, Nebraska and Sioux City is about an hour away. Well, Brad was 15 years old by now and just beside himself because he wanted to go to that concert in the worst way!! Our parents were divorced, both country music lovers and needless to say, a bit �anti-KISS.� Brad nearly made himself sick because he wanted to go more than he wanted to breathe! It was like reaching for a star�he wanted it so badly, but knew my Mom or Dad would never take him. I was 22 at the time and I told my Mom if she would pay for the tickets for Christmas, I would take him. (The concert was on December 30 and the ticket price was $12.50!) My Mom agreed. I wrapped the two tickets up in a picture frame and put �To Brad and Lori, from Santa Claus� on the package. I told my Mom to be ready with the camera when we opened the package. Oh my goodness! It was priceless! He actually had to leave the room�he got really emotional!! The day of the concert arrived and of course we had a huge snowstorm! Nothing was keeping us from the concert! We left early in the afternoon and drove through one lane traffic to get there. We stood outside the arena for 2 hours holding hands to keep warm! I have to say, it was worth every minute of scary driving and freezing half to death just to watch the face of my brother at that concert!! I don�t think he slept for 3 days after that! Now, nearly 30 years later, he still talks about it and I believe it the fondest childhood memory he holds. Then in about 2000 or 2001, with that memory still vivid in his mind, my brother took my 2 teenage kids to see KISS! They had a great time and now tonight, my son is going to Minneapolis, Minnesota to see KISS again!! I have to admit, I am a country music fan myself, but I just wanted to not only say congratulationsfor being able to keep your music alive all these years, but to say Thank You for providing so many good memories for the people I love most in the world!! Best of luck to all you do in your future endeavors!! Sincerely, Lori Coffman

This is my friend Chris who went to see you guys as many times as he could last month, which wasn't easy since he was preparing for his Oct. 31st wedding to his lovely fiance Ren! At their wedding he had the most awesome groom's cake(s), so I thought I would share a picture of him with it! Take care & it was very cool to meet you by chance before the Atlanta show! Lisa S.

Mr. Simmons, Thank you for taking the extra time to talk to my friends and I during the meet and greet. You were so kind and patient. We all had a great time and are very much appreciative. Check out this cool photo I took of you during the Birmingham show. Your the best Linda

My son and his friend both went into the radio station 101.5 K-fly in Eugene, Oregon They each had to lick an item to win tickets to your show coming to the Portland Rose Quarter on Nov.17th I think it would be such a rush for the guys at K-fly if Kiss had some time to visit the station for a one on one and had Gene lick something just for fun. Can't wait for the show!