Just when we thought KISS took off their makeup and said goodbye to their fans on their farewell tour, KISS and Make-Up, the autobiography of KISS bassist Gene Simmons, will hit stores on Dec. 11.
“It’s the weirdest thing in the world,” Simmons told Rolling Stone of the anthology process. “Because when you’re moving ahead in life and you take snapshots of where you’ve been and then someone turns around and says, ‘Take the last thirty years and pick six hours of highlights,’ the hardest thing is how to figure out what to put in and not what to leave out.”
The book begins with Simmons‘ birth in Israel and details his emigration to America with his mother, as well as his former relationships with Cher, Diana Ross, and current wife, Shannon Tweed. The book will also talk about the formation of KISS and give details of the band’s 30-year career.
KISS plans to plug their upcoming release KISS: The Box Set with an in-store appearance at Tower Records from 7 to 9 p.m on Nov. 20 in Hollywood, where guitarist Paul Stanley and Simmons will greet and give autographs to fans. Simmons will also host the Court TV documentary The Secret of Rock ‘n’ Roll on Dec. 4.
Fleetwood Mac: in the studio without McVie
Fleetwood Mac is back in the studio recording its first album since their tremendous 1997 comeback The Dance. But it wouldn’t be Fleetwood Mac without some kind of catch–they’ll be without singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, who has retired from the group, Reuters reports. She currently lives in an English castle and prefers to indulge in her passion for cooking. “We’re happily a four-piece and are creatively, artistically, handling a new chapter of Fleetwood Mac without Christine, and it’s going extremely well,” co-founder and drummer Mick Fleetwood told Reuters. The band hopes to tour the U.S. next summer.
New York street corner may be renamed ‘Joey Ramone Way’
Six months after punk rocker Joey Ramone died from lymphatic cancer, Manhattan’s Lower East Side residents are anxiously waiting for the city’s Community Board 3 to approve a proposal to change one of their street names after the former Ramones‘ front man. Residents have asked to change the corner of East Second Street and Bowery in Manhattan to Joey Ramone Way, Rolling Stone magazine reports. The board will
review the proposal at their next meeting on Nov. 15. “I think he’s very important as an example of people who come from the East Village, but he’s a New Yorker — lived there, prospered and developed,” CBGB’s club owner, Hilly Kristal, told the magazine. “I think he would have been kind of embarrassingly pleased.”
Guns N’ Roses cancels European tour again
European fans will be upset to know that Guns ‘N Roses have canceled their European tour for the second time this year. According to SonicNet.com, a press release by their manager, Doug Goldstein, reported that the group’s 14-city tour in June has been put off until December because guitarist Buckethead has internal hemorrhaging in the stomach. The band also claims to want to finish recording their new album, Chinese Democracy. “Following the euphoria of Rock in Rio, I jumped the gun and arranged an European tour as our plan was to have the new album out this year,” Goldstein said on a statement. “I am sorry to disappoint fans, but I can assure them that this is not what Axl [Rose] wanted. I made a plan, and unfortunately it did not work out.” Goldstein also added that Rose has spent “every waking minute of every day during the last five years writing, recording and producing the record.” If the new album ever comes out, it will be G N’ R’s first original material since 1991.
Ozzy breaks a leg, cancels shows
For years he’s called himself a “madman” and acted the part onstage, but age might be starting to catch up with hard-living heavy metal pioneer Ozzy Osbourne. The rocker broke his leg last week when he slipped in the shower before a show in Tucson, Ariz. According to his official Web site, www.ozzy.com, he still performed despite the broken leg for a few dates until his doctor ordered him to rest at home. As a result, 10 dates of his Merry Mayhem tour, with opening act Rob Zombie, have been canceled. The tour will resume on Nov. 29 in Grand Fork, N.D., and end Dec. 29 in San Diego. There is no word yet when the missed dates might be rescheduled.
Jagger to play small party in Los Angeles
Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger performed Nov. 15 at a small party at Los Angeles’s El Rey Theatre to celebrate the release of his new solo album Goddess in the Doorway. Jagger performed his upcoming single, “God Gave Me Everything,” which he co-wrote with rocker Lenny Kravitz. The performance was taped for ABC’s Nov. 22 broadcast, Being Mick, a one-hour documentary directed by Kevin Macdonald. Jagger‘s latest solo album will hit stores on Nov. 20.
Cure’s Robert Smith to release first solo album
Although Robert Smith has been busy promoting the Cure’s Greatest Hits album, which went on sale Nov. 13, he hopes to begin recording his first solo album in January or February. “I was just at the point of coordinating it all earlier this year when the Greatest Hits project was suggested, and I went along with it,” Smith told SonicNet.com. “And so that took the Cure back into the studio to do all the new songs and the acoustic stuff. And that’s followed by promotion, so I had to shelve my album again for another few months.” In addition, Smith said that he started coming up for ideas after finishing the Cure’s last studio album, Bloodflowers, in 2000. The Cure will also release a Greatest Hits home video on Nov. 27.
Third Eye Blind to headline Los Angeles’ free clinic show
Third Eye Blind will headline the third of three benefit concerts for the Silver Lining Silver Lake project benefiting a Los Angeles free health clinic, Launch.com reports. The show, to be held on Nov. 15 at the Hollywood Palladium, will also include Jaguares, Becky, and appearances by Benicio Del Toro and Lucy Liu. The other two concerts will take place on Nov. 13 and 14 at the same venue, and will include performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John and Sting. Among the hosts present at the event will be Robert Downey Jr., Christina Ricci, Tony Hawk, and Adam Carolla.
Tickets for the first two nights are currently on sale for $250, $500 and $1000 through Ticketmaster. Tickets for the Nov. 15 show will go on sale on Nov. 17 for $100 a piece. All proceeds will benefit the Hollywood-Sunset Free Clinic, which has offered health care for Los Angeles residents since 1968 and has recently lost its civic funding.
