Dogs and Watching Football

 

NYC Vaca 2023 - You Wanted The Best, You Got The Best, KISS!!!

Well, well, well... It's finally time to write the post that I've been most looking forward too!

I'll just assume that everyone is as big of a KISS fan as I am and we'll work from there!  ;-)

I wasn't excited to go to NYC with the exception of knowing that all four original members of KISS were from there and there is a LOT of history over the last 50 years of them being a band.  I didn't start early enough to research it all, but still got a few good places to visit, and we did, but we also missed a few.

Let's see what we accomplished, shall we??
 

This is my one sheet map of places with historical merit in the world of KISS.  This was in my pocket every day which is why it looks like it does!  The places with yellow highlighter and red numbers on them correspond tot he upper left where I documented what was at that locale.  Primitive?  Yes.  Effective? Also yes. 

The Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit found themselves in Chinatown after taking the subway South into Brooklyn and hiking my fat arse over the Brooklyn Bridge on a hot-assed day with me wearing a black t-shirt.  There were several times where I had to pause the fams as I thought I was going to die!  Back to the pic!  Holy Lord!  What is that doorway with the little cement thingys that probably have a proper name and I am dumb as to what that would be?  

Well, it's the doorway to the second story loft where the pre-KISS band Wicked Lester practiced.  This pic is of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley visiting the loft back in 1994.  Fun fact, they had all of the gear, with the exception of a single cymbal stand, stolen out of this loft at one point.

My sweaty arse (notice the sweat mark on my black t-shirt!!) standing at the same doorway;  197 Canal St.  The door was wide open so...

Caleb and I marched on in not sure of what we would find.

I have no idea what door they had rented and we peeked in a few before just leaving.  I will say that it smelled weird in here... not sure why.  And I'm guessing that flooring might well have been the same that Gene and Paul walked on in 1972.

This one is kind of hard to see (okay, it's impossible to see!!!) and I wish that I would have taken an extra minute to walk down the one block to get a better pic. You can easily see the black pole leaning to the left (just like the people!  woooo!  bad joke!) and at the very left of those parking instructions is the famous sign to Radio City Music Hall.  KISS played RCMH twice on the Lick It Up tour, March 9th & 10th 1984. At the March 9th show, Paul and Vinnie Vincent got in an altercation just off stage but within view of some of the audience.  This was near the end of the tour shortly before Vinnie was fired because he's a world class jackass. Then and now.

The Beacon Theatre where KISS played two shows on March 21st, 1975  (my daddy's birthday). Their setlist was as follows:
Deuce
Strutter
Got To Choose
Hotter Than Hell
Firehouse
She
Ace Guitar Solo
Nothin' To Lose
Parasite
Gene Bass Solo
100,000 Years
Peter Drum Solo
Black Diamond
C'mon And Love Me
Let Me Go, R n' R

I pointed out this building in the first (maybe second) NYC vaca post from the top of the Empire State building.  Once Gene and Paul disbanded Wicked Lester,  they fielded a call from Peter George John Crisscoula from their ad asking for a drummer who was "willing to do anything to make it.".  This is the entry way for the rehearsal loft where Gene, Paul, and Peter would practice 8 hours per day and where Bob Kulick (brother of future KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick,  and a dude who played guitar on several KISS records), J.J. French (future Twisted Sister guitarist) & Paul (Ace) Frehley would audition to be the 4th member.  I was hoping that a resident of this now apartment building would come out or want in but it didn't happen.  I was desperately hoping to go up to the landing in the staircase where the first picture of the original four was taken.

There's a cool video shot by nerds like me where the two dudes actually get inside the building and into the stairway where the first ever pic of the original four was taken.

This pic is taken from that video where the dudes identify the same pipes that are in the background of this pic, the first one of the original four.

They used to practice on the top floor, but couldn't afford the rent.  They moved to the second floor where they could pay monthly and move on if they needed too. 

In early 1975, probably between early February and mid-March, the band walked down 23rd st from their rehearsal loft to the corner of 23rd and 8th st where they would be photographed for the cover of their upcoming Dressed To Kill record.

Here are some alternative takes of that photo session.

I love the dudes on the right looking at them like wtf, bro?!  lol  Also, note the clock in the photo with 4:51 on it.  Apparently the shot that appeared on the album was taken 4 minutes later.

Comfort the kiddo!!  He's not sure what he's seeing!

And then there's me, defiling a once KISS-holy corner with my sweaty t-shirt...  What's cool to me is that you can see the curved light post and the tan building in the background of the original album cover.  The rotating clock that you can can see on the album cover with 55 being displayed is no longer there.

This is a bit of an odd one, but one of those top floors was the penthouse that Gene Simmons bought for Cher when he was dating her in the mid/late 70's.  It looked out over Central Park and more specifically, the Central Park Zoo.  This was taken on our Central Park tour and I am only about 90% sure that it's the correct building. 

Ahhh...  The Empire State Building shoot where Ace Frehley was liquored up  and the boys had to climb up a service ladder to get to a higher point than the general public was allowed to go.  It looks like they're sitting on the edge of death,  but after visiting it in person, they likely would have gotten hurt if they fell, but certainly not killed.

ESB

Here's me at the lookout from the Empire State Building and what do I spy with my little eye?  The KISS rehearsal loft (within the crude blue circles)!!!  I identified the Flatiron building since that has historical significance. You can also easily identify the world trade center 1 building in the distance and if you're able to squint just right, you'll be able to see a very light, fuzzy Statue of Liberty out there too.

This is from the public deck of the ESB and I suspect that KISS was photographed on one of the 3 levels that you can see here, but I truly have no idea.  I've tried looking for recent drone footage that would help clarify their location but have yet to find any.

NY Groove baby, and only about two blocks from our hotel!  Why is this corner significant? 

Ace Frehley's solo album in 1978 featured the hit song New York Groove.  If you're not a KISS fan, this will assist you in understanding that pic.  Obviously, this pic was taken from the lyric video on the tubes of you.

So this is a pretty famous view of Grand Central Station that has appeared in tv shows, movies and so on.  How is it related to KISS?

Well, after doing lots of research about what direction the first photos of Eric Carr were facing,  I'm fairly sure that this is the lamp post that he was hanging on to for one of his first photo sessions in 1980.

This is up top where you cannot go as a pedestrian in NYC.  The lamppost in question is just barely in the left side of the pic.

The pic in question is this!  I haven't found anymore pictures from this session that might identify which direction we're looking.

As you can see, Rob is inspecting the area and noticing that most of the lampposts have been removed at this point.  From the KISS art director, Dennis Woloch, he couldn't remember the year that most of the lights were removed. 

World Trade Center memorial on the left,  Oculous shopping center is the long oval building across the road from WTC memorial, and St. Pauls Cathedral just across the road from that and I had forgotten about it!  

St Pauls from Google roadside maps.

St Pauls wrought iron fence, which became linked to KISS on the same night as the Grand Central Station lamppost. 

Eric Carr's first photo shoot. The bottom right pic is the one that I saw in a calendar that I could order thru our Catholic school scholastic book sales.  It was on my wall for YEARS!  I was 10 when he joined the band and I just assumed it was a fence at one of their houses as they had made a LOT of money by that point.

Inside of Sarge's at 548 3rd Ave. New York, NY. 10016.  Not a big place at all.  How is it important in KISS lore?  Well, according to Paul Stanley, they had sold out another 3 nights at Madison Square Garden at the end of 1977.  The shows were on Dec 14th & 15th.  When the show was done, the other 3 members left with friends and/or family, Paul, who had no friends,  walked to Sarge's alone and had Matza Ball soup.  That is still on the menu and I was tempted to order it, but frankly, it didn't look all that good to a non-Jew when there was SO many other options on the menu.  Interesting to note, that in attendance at the Dec 14th show, were Bob & Bruce Kulick.

The most rejected KISS album in their catalog, which is well deserved.  I like the album but even as an 11 year old, these guys were my hero's at the time and I was a little confused, but still accepted it.  A whole lot more people did NOT!!  But let's focus on the door, the knocker and the hand.

This is the back of the album with the same door but with the added medieval hinge on the door.

So, when we were in NYC, when our fams would walk pass these churches with these great old doors, I would take pics, not knowing which church was actually photographed for the inspiration for the cover.

This was the last of my pictures but we saw so many doors while riding the bus, but I could never get a good pic of them.  

These black and white pics are of different church doors that KISS art director, Dennis Woloch, took when looking for the 'right' door.

This was his original concept of the album cover.  'Just A Boy' at the big door where The Elder reside.  KISS didn't like it because it had someone else's face on the cover.

THIS is the church!!!  Park Ave United Methodist Church at 186 E. 86th.

Close up of the door.

The guy that did this cover under Dennis Woloch's supervision, was a guy that did over-sized props for commercials and movies.  There were gigantic crayola crayon, a huge tube of toothpaste and other odd props.  The dude started working on the door itself, it was only half a door, and he hired a friend of his to start working on the knocker.  He did the first version of the door but it looked to new, and the color was too light.  So he sandblasted it to remove some of the height of the lighter grained wood, which would happen over MANY years of weathering, and also struck the door with light weight chain.  He restained it, darker than original, and Dennis loved it.  The first knocker came back.  It had been made from rubber hose and plastic rose from an art store. They declined it and when it came back the second time, it was this one.  The hand is Paul Stanley.

The iron hinge on the back cover of the album is made out of plexi glass, using a Dremel-style tool to scar it and then gluing on the same wooden studs that they used on the door.  Paint it and there you go.  Oddly enough, the 1/2 door went into a storage shed and was thrown away years later when someone was hired to clear it out.

What does a battleship have to do with KISS?

After Tupac Shakur introduced KISS, in full make-up and costume, the reunion tour was starting to take shape.  Try as I might, I could not figure out where the footage from the events of this evening took place.  But, it took place on an aircraft carrier.  This aircraft carrier!

I'm never confident of videos loading correctly in the blogpost and this is no different.  Hopefully you will see a clip of Conan O'Brien.

 MTV Music Awards with KISS closing the show from Fulton Ferry Landing under the Brooklyn Bridge.  The picture from here is the Brooklyn Bridge, obviously, and that square building in the middle is Jane's Carousel.  Just on the other side of that is the Fulton Ferry Landing.

KISS had boats out in the East River loaded with fireworks for the first song of the set, Rock and Roll All Night.  The stage is that little red'ish dot in the lower left.

Ha! Wrong bridge (this is the Manhattan bridge), I had to fix this because the closer I looked at these last two pictures, I believe it is the same street with KISS a half of block closer to the bridge!  I didn't know that the band had done those pics in suits (prior to the KISS Kruise 4, I suspect as the band performed in suits similar to what was worn on the Dressed To Kill album cover), I was happy that we had this one!

The studio that Jimi Hendrix built!  There are SOOOOO many KISS stories that happened inside of this building that would be tough to compile!  But I might try...
The original KISS demo featuring Deuce, Strutter, Watchin' You, Black Diamond & Cold Gin.
The first KISS album.
Dressed To Kill
Destroyer
Alive II (studio side)
Dynasty
Asylum
1/2 of Paul Stanley's solo album.

There's Caleb in the mirrored glass on the left.

And there he is again taking a picture of Sasquatch in front of this historical building.

I've remembered and discovered SOOOOOO many other locations after we got home, but that's probably another reason for Lesley and I to go back, in the Fall when it's not so friggin' hot!  I hated NYC while we were there and I wasn't feeling great either.  There are so many museums and other stuff in the city that would be cool to see.  

But, no matter what happens, this is the end of our trip.  Hopefully somebody, somewhere, enjoyed our little family journey.