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KISS (Was: Local 506 Saturday 9/28)



On 1 Oct 1996, Chris Calloway wrote, in regards to the concert experience 
of my young life, KISS:

> man, if you posers could just fly through the air while spittin blood and
> yr gtrs on fire, you might just be worth as much as a melvins ticket.

well, chris, i wouldn't call it "spittin".  the blood, more accurately, 
dripped and oozed down gene's chin, his stupendously agile tongue wagging 
away.  slime-green light swirling with white smoke wrapped around his 
body.  black leather wings, and the evilest eyes i've ever seen.

WOOSH!  up through the air, to the rafters!!  posturing and gesturing 
even more wildly from 4 stories up.  playing a bloody guitar while ace 
and paul posture only slightly less hugely from their pneumatic pedastals 
the extreme right and left of the stage.

one band, occupying at least 18 square miles of noise.

i swear.

awesome.

and when ace, the one with long(est) hair an no personality, performed 
the obligatory guitar solo, he embellished it quite nicely with exploding 
fireworks, fired from the body of his axe.  BOOM! toward the audience on 
the left!  BOOM! toward the audience on the right!!

guitars on fire!

> video has now become the arena experience.

true.

it's hard to remember to watch what's going on on stage when the action 
is re-broadcast to monitors over the audience that make everything look 5 
times larger-than-life.  almost like paying $45 to watch MTV.

but it made the BLOOD REALLY REALLY BIG!

> there was a dispute concerning just how much was choreographed.

ok, fess us, y'all... how many of you were there, too?  we need your vote!

1) chris and i agree that most of paul stanley's monologues were 
well-rehearsed (in order to create a sincere feel of spontinatey)...
things like, "OK GREENSBORO!  i say this in ALL SINCERITY... you guys 
have made us feel REALLY REALLY GREAT up here, and i want to tell you 
that if ANY OTHER BAND EVER COMES TO TOWN, and you don't think their 
worth THE HARD-EARNED MONEY you paid to see them, JUST CALL US UP, AND 
WE'LL COME BACK!!"

        check one:      choreographed___        not choreographed___

2) chris and i disagree that the audience shots on the big monitors were 
choreographed.  lots of crazy crowd shots, lots of people with 
KISS-painted faces, white on black, star over the eye and whatnot.  there 
was a darling little girl in the front row, being held by her parents, 
who had a paul stanley face painted on.  darling, in a metal kind of way.
anyway, after the close of KISS' second encore (a "beth/i wanna rock and 
roll all night" medley thing") ["detroit rock city" being the first 
encore], after this second encore, paul stanley smashes all to hell his 
guitar (though not the one that lit up or the one that caught on fire or 
the sparkly one), he smashed it all to hell, and handed it to the little 
girl in the first row, with a rose that had been tossed up on stage 
earlier in the evening.

        check one:      choreographed___        not choreographed___

not that it matters, really.

they put on a fucking good show that blew my mind in two.  never been a 
KISS fan, and probably never will be, but that was one of the best 
concert experiences i'll ever see.

and the brief appearace of pee-paw and grampa bampa dressed up like KISS 
certainly added to my enjoyment, too.

rawk,
c

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== christa wessel < > rist@acpub.duke.edu < > http://www.duke.edu/~rist ==
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