Kiss News

by Mathew Klie-Cribb

"When you're nine years old, they're superheroes. No one ever saw them without their makeup, they were a bit of a mystery." - Dale Kemp

Legendary rock band KISS is coming to Fort McMurray July 2, and while some hope the show will attract widespread attention and improve Fort McMurray's image, one of Fort McMurray's biggest KISS fans said it's a chance for him to pass on his obsession to his children.

Supplied photo Dale Kemp, a KISS fan with a huge memorabilia collection, poses with his children Alex Kemp, left, and Dylan Kemp, right. Dale will take his children to see KISS perform live in Fort McMurray July 2 so they can learn what his collection was all about.

Dale Kemp has been a KISS fan since he was nine years old, and he has collected lunch boxes, radios, guitar picks and other memorabilia since then.

His total collection is valued at $80,000.
by Mathew Klie-Cribb

"When you're nine years old, they're superheroes. No one ever saw them without their makeup, they were a bit of a mystery." - Dale Kemp

Legendary rock band KISS is coming to Fort McMurray July 2, and while some hope the show will attract widespread attention and improve Fort McMurray's image, one of Fort McMurray's biggest KISS fans said it's a chance for him to pass on his obsession to his children.

Supplied photo Dale Kemp, a KISS fan with a huge memorabilia collection, poses with his children Alex Kemp, left, and Dylan Kemp, right. Dale will take his children to see KISS perform live in Fort McMurray July 2 so they can learn what his collection was all about.

Dale Kemp has been a KISS fan since he was nine years old, and he has collected lunch boxes, radios, guitar picks and other memorabilia since then.

His total collection is valued at $80,000.

"I'm going to bring my two boys who are five and nine, who kind of grew up with my KISS collection," said Kemp. " They've never seen them, so it's going to be a pretty special day." Kemp said it's up to the kids to decide whether they like KISS as much as he does, but at least they can say they've been to a concert and seen the spectacle - which includes fire and lights.

Kemp said he was about the same age as his children when he first learned about KISS.

" When you're nine years old, they were superheroes," he said. " No one saw them without their makeup. They were a bit of a mystery."

That's why Kemp is spending the next couple of months trying to build some excitement about the concert for his children and the wider community.

" That's the big thing," he said. " It's kind of getting them excited to go with me and kind of pass the torch."

Kemp built up his collection of KISS memorabilia over more than three decades, and refused to part with it even when he moved to Australia.

" It filled most of a sea can," he said.

Kemp has seen the band perform about 30 times, around the world, and he even met Gene Simmons once when he helped organize to have him headline at the Edmonton Indiy event.

Having such a high-profile concert in Fort McMurray will attract a lot of workers who otherwise wouldn't be able to go to a show in Edmonton.

" If they have good security, and it's a fun night without getting silly, it will definitely put the area up there on the map," said Kemp.

He said Fort McMurray is now on the KISS website, and that helps bring international attention. Kemp also encouraged everyone to see the concert, even if they're not a KISS fan, because it's an elaborate non-stop show with lots of side effects that everyone should experience at least once.

" It's quite a spectacle," he said. " It's not something to be missed."

http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/

By Dr. Manny Alvarez

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to speak with rock legend, Paul Stanley. You may know him as the lead vocalist from the rock band KISS, famous for songs like "Rock and Roll All Night" and "Shout It Out Loud." And I don't think there are many people who wouldn't recognize his iconic black-and-white makeup and leather stage outfits.

But what you may not know about him, that I think makes him even more remarkable, is that his rise to rock and roll fame was done with a hearing impairment that makes him virtually deaf in his right ear.

The condition is called microtia, and it's a deformity of the outer ear. In Stanley's case, he also lacks an ear canal. Without a canal, sound has no way of traveling to his inner ear.

Until about 10 years ago, there was no way of dealing with this condition, other than rebuilding an ear canal. Now, a device exists that is essentially a bone conduction unit, that allows sound waves to bypass the ear canal and be processed by the inner ear.By Dr. Manny Alvarez

On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to speak with rock legend, Paul Stanley. You may know him as the lead vocalist from the rock band KISS, famous for songs like "Rock and Roll All Night" and "Shout It Out Loud." And I don't think there are many people who wouldn't recognize his iconic black-and-white makeup and leather stage outfits.

But what you may not know about him, that I think makes him even more remarkable, is that his rise to rock and roll fame was done with a hearing impairment that makes him virtually deaf in his right ear.

The condition is called microtia, and it's a deformity of the outer ear. In Stanley's case, he also lacks an ear canal. Without a canal, sound has no way of traveling to his inner ear.

Until about 10 years ago, there was no way of dealing with this condition, other than rebuilding an ear canal. Now, a device exists that is essentially a bone conduction unit, that allows sound waves to bypass the ear canal and be processed by the inner ear.

Stanley uses a bone conduction unit on a day-to-day basis, and is able to be turn it on and off at will.


Because he was born with this condition, he says he is extra vigilant when it comes to protecting his hearing in his left ear.

That's why he's recently gotten involved in the crusade to make teens aware of the dangers of hearing loss from exposure to excessive noise. He calls the astronomical rise in hearing problems among teenagers an "epidemic" - which isn't really an exaggeration.

Statistics show that adolescent hearing problems have risen 30 percent in the past 15 years. That's about 1 in every 5 teenagers who are suffering from some kind of hearing loss.

The rise is, in part, due to the popularity of loud activities teenagers take part in - going to concerts or cheering at football games, for example. And then, of course, there's always those ever-present iPod earbuds they're plugged into from morning to night.

Stanley recommends that people protect their hearing, like he did growing up, by putting in ear plugs at concerts or clubs for at least some of the time - even when listening to KISS songs! This cuts out the most harmful sound frequencies and lets the ears recuperate.

He also has a message that I think a lot of teenagers need to hear: Turn down your music. Keep the volume of personal music players down around 60 percent. And headphones, no matter how uncool you think they may look, are much better for you than the newer earbuds that go directly into the ear.

Hearing damage can have a lot of different symptoms. Some people might hear ringing or roaring in their ears. Some may lose the ability to hear certain frequencies, which could render them incapable of understanding speech.

"You can never get back what you lose," Stanley warned. "Especially with hearing."

"It's not uncool to protect your hearing," he added. "It's not uncool to protect your health."

Visit soundrules.org for more information and advice on how to protect your hearing.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/05/04/kiss-vocalist-urges-teens-turn-music/