The new War Machine is now Dressed To Kill. For a KISS fan, KISS: ROCK THE NATION – LIVE! is the same great product we’ve come to expect from the Hottest Band In The World, their 11th video/DVD release; for a new fan or a non-fan who would like to sample KISS before diving in, this DVD is as good … Read More
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART II: THE METAL YEARS
The Rise of Aquanetted Civilization: The Ladyboy Years. Rebellion, ambition, rock and roll, passion, lust… hair. Director Penelope Spheeris turns up the volume in her chronicle of the hedonistic 1980’s Southern Californian rock scene in THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION PART II: THE METAL YEARS. (We need to be precise about this rockumentary’s focus because it does only represent a … Read More
DETROIT ROCK CITY
God of Blunder. “If you’re down in the dumps – and you need sumpin that’ll bring ya uuuuup… sumpin that’ll bring ya uuuuup?… There’s only one thing that’s gonna do it faw ya…” No, not this movie – go dig out your record player and spin Rock And Roll Over. Named after a classic KISS song (the marauding opener from … Read More
WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE
Dead on Arrival. Does it irk Gene Simmons that two of his first “serious” motion pictures (RUNAWAY and WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE) are names of Bon Jovi songs? Simmons has a small key role in the Gary Sherman-directed “actioner” WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. He plays the Arab villain, Malak Al Rahim, intent on causing terrorist chaos in Los Angeles seemingly … Read More
KISS EXPOSED
The KISStory Starts Here. Created three years after Kiss dropped their characteristic makeup, KISS EXPOSED is anything but an exposé on Kiss. Matter of fact, like the makeup days, it only enhances the mystery of what the band members are really like “in real life.” Part history (sorry, KISStory), part mockumentary; part music videos (current and vintage), part comedy, part … Read More
EXTRACT
Factory Space. Mike Judge (OFFICE SPACE, 1999) writes and directs this amusing little tale of Joel (Jason Bateman), owner of an extract factory, who is so dissatisfied with his non-existent wife-sex, he conspires to force her into an affair so that he himself can have a guilt-free affair with one of his hot new interns. To his chagrin, his plan … Read More
THE NEW GUY
Once a Dork… So I’m totally writers-blocked one night while trying to finish my script, SHIFTER. And I’m channel-surfing cable, my mind a blank, settling in to a long night of unproductivity, wondering fearfully – like everyone who experiences the steel wall of Writer’s Block – how I’ll ever be able to string words together again, when suddenly – THE … Read More
GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS
Gene Simmons: Family Jew. How the mighty have fallen. There are two ways to look at GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS – in one respect, this series shows us (in painful candor) Gene Simmons removed from the feathered hair and the fashionably-street jeans and leather jackets and the too-cool-for-school shades and everything that the sham wankerism of rock stands for. On … Read More
KISS | Carnival Of Souls
Carnival of Soul-Searching. omething happened to KISS before they re-donned the makeup in 1996 – they grew up. Their 17th studio album, Carnival Of Souls, displays a ferocious maturity, unmatched by any KISS album to date. A sweeping statement to be sure, especially pertaining to a band whose career has lasted longer than fully half their fan-base’s lifetimes. But I … Read More
KISS SYMPHONY
Elevator Muzak pumped with testicular dynamite. It’s KISS Meets The Phantom Of The… Opera. Like the great Godzilla matchups of old, it’s KISS versus the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. And all Strauss breaks loose. The machine started rolling on the band’s fourth live album in 2000, but politics (and Ace Frehley’s launch off KISS planet) shelved that endeavor. Three years later, … Read More
KISS | GREAT WESTERN FORUM, Aug 1996
Kiss Alive! Again! ust it all be said again for the next generation? This time round, leaving out all the goofy, irrelevant stuff like Paul’s favorite color and Ace’s favorite dessert… From being called devil-worshippers to transvestites; from being nondescript street kids to unbridled lodestars for two generations; from being dubbed aliens to mongoloids, the worst band on earth to … Read More