Kiss News

07/09/2018

KISS fan's trip in mobile stroke unit began with Gene Simmons Order

By Julie Washington / Cleveland Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nothing - not even a stroke - was going to stop Darren Smith from meeting Gene Simmons of KISS.

Smith, 47, clung to his resolve even though he felt strange as he stood in line to see his lifelong idol at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in April.

He kept dropping the bag he held in his left hand. His left arm hung like dead weight. During a trip to the bathroom, he looked in the bathroom mirror and saw his mouth drooping on one side. He struggled to buckle his belt.

Smith's best friend, Bob Nash, who had driven with him from their homes near Detroit, asked Rock Hall staffers to call 911. The Cleveland Clinic's mobile stroke treatment unit, a special ambulance that delivers fast care to stroke patients, arrived quickly.

But Smith, a Kiss collector who has met Simmons multiple times, refused to leave the Gene Simmons Vault Experience. He had paid $2,000 for the Vault, which included one-on-one time with Simmons, a 10-CD collection, a Simmons action figure, a coffee table photo book and a hand-selected personal gift from the musician's archive.

If Smith left, he'd get nada.

When Simmons learned about the medical emergency, he found Smith and ordered him to get in the mobile stroke unit right away. "I couldn't say no to him," Smith recalled.

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07/05/2018

KISS Ready to Rock Spain & Portugal!

KISS Tour Dates:

July 7 - Barcelona Rock Fest - Barcelona, Spain
July 8 - Wizink Center - Madrid, Spain
July 10 - Estadio Municipal de Oeiras - Lisbon, Portugal
July 12 - Plaza de Toros - Cordoba, Spain
July 14 Resurrection Festival - Viverio, Spain

www.KISSONLINE.com/Tour

07/05/2018

KISS guitarist reflects on education, days in Cannon Beach

Rock ‘n’ roll 101 with Thayer

By R.J. Marx / The Daily Astorian’s South County

Tommy Thayer of the rock band KISS, a Pacific University trustee, recently earned an honorary doctorate of humane letters for his philanthropic leadership efforts. He grew up in Beaverton and frequented Cannon Beach in his youth. He worked for KISS as a producer, songwriter and business manager before becoming the band’s lead guitarist in 2003.

Q: Honored to be speaking with you, Tommy. How did you get involved with Pacific University?

Thayer: Dad (Brigadier Gen. James B. Thayer) made the board suggestion and they ran with that. They thought that would be great — Tommy Thayer, a local boy, with the profile of being in KISS — an interesting combination of background and experience.

Q: Are you a college graduate?

Thayer: No, I did not go to college. I was straight out of high school and into “rock ’n’ roll 101.” I’d had a few bands, but ended up forming a band called Black ’n Blue in 1981. It was five guys from the Portland area.

We played clubs for a certain amount of time, but then decided if we ever wanted a chance of really making it, we needed to get out of Portland and head to Los Angeles, where there were record labels and management companies.

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