{"id":346,"date":"2015-11-10T05:38:14","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T05:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=346"},"modified":"2015-11-10T06:02:21","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T06:02:21","slug":"ftv-kiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=346","title":{"rendered":"FTV: KISS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It is a great philosophy: \u00a0K.I.S.S. \u00a0\u00a0Engineers use it. \u00a0\u00a0Mechanics use it. \u00a0Mathematicians use it. \u00a0Even coaches use it. \u00a0Keep It Simple, Stupid. \u00a0It is a self admonishment to anyone trying to solve a complex problem or fix a broken widget that (usually) the simplest solution is (usually) the best solution. \u00a0Oh, we got touchy-feely for a while and tried to reimage it without the \u2018stupid\u2019 at the end (we would not want to hurt anybody\u2019s feelings after all, but I am sorry, K.I.S. \u00a0just doesn\u2019t pack the same wallop), but it is never said as a put down. \u00a0Its beauty lies in remembering that the more complex you make your game plan, the greater the odds will favor failure. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the fall of 1973, the Vikings of Cadillac (Michigan) High School completed an undefeated football season. \u00a0Hopes were high the next year, but the team dropped their first two games. \u00a0The coaching staff came to the conclusion that the team was just too tight. \u00a0Their own expectations following an undefeated season were hampering them on the field. \u00a0Quite simply: \u00a0they weren\u2019t having much fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Assistant coach Jim Neff decided it was time to back off and simplify the game plan. \u00a0He told his defense that they were going to start using the \u2018K.I.S.S. defense\u2019. \u00a0To keep it fresh in their minds and lighten the mood, he began playing KISS records in the locker room. \u00a0It seemed to work and the team started to turn things around. \u00a0RockSteady, KISS\u2019s management company, got word about the Vikings playing KISS records as a motivational tool and in very short order, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley put in a call to the coaching staff to find out how things were going. \u00a0They asked the staff to keep them updated as the season wore on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The next spring, the coaching staff took some of the players to see KISS at Cobo Hall in Detroit. \u00a0They got to meet the band backstage and invited them to come to Cadillac, which of course wasn\u2019t going to happen. \u00a0KISS was just starting to break out of the New York area and Cadillac was too small and too far off the beaten path for a band headed for stardom. \u00a0Inviting them was the polite thing to do, but KISS visit Cadillac? \u00a0Seriously?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As summer waned and fall approached, KISS found themselves thinking about the offer to visit Cadillac. \u00a0Their closest midwestern show that fall was to be in Kalamazoo, 120 miles south of Cadillac. \u00a0They called Cadillac High School and made them an offer they couldn\u2019t refuse: \u00a0\u2018We would like to come to Cadillac on October 9 and 10, 1975 for your homecoming and we would like to do a concert while we are there.\u2019 \u00a0\u00a0Cadillac not only embraced the idea, they declared it KISS weekend and the entire homecoming theme ended up revolving around KISS.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The homecoming parade featured KISS. \u00a0The cheerleaders wore KISS make-up. \u00a0The KISS band members rode in the parade and marched with the band. \u00a0Every student in the school district got their faces painted ala KISS. \u00a0KISS attended the homecoming football game and when it came time for the concert, they somehow managed to squeeze their massive stage show into the high school gym. \u00a0Cadillac gave KISS the keys to the city! \u00a0There are quite a few pictures of the whole KISS homecoming event in the book <\/span>Nothing to Lose: \u00a0The making of KISS 1972 – 75 <\/span><\/i>(Ken Sharp, Gene Simmons, and Paul Stanley – IT Books), \u00a0and if one picture tells a thousand words, everybody was having a great time. \u00a0According to football player Bill Barnett, this was the \u201cmost positive thing that ever happened in Cadillac.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I became aware of KISS and Queen at about the same time the events in Cadillac were unfolding because a friend of a friend was a major fan of both bands very early on. \u00a0Anytime we hooked a ride with him he had his 8-track blasting away with either KISS or Queen. \u00a0My first impression of KISS in full make up was, \u201cum, okay, but they don\u2019t actually dress like that on stage, do they?\u201d \u00a0Jon assured me that, \u201cYes they do dress like that\u201d and that \u201cthey were signed to a major label record contract because even though their early records were terrible, the kids bought them anyway because of their outrageous live act.\u201d \u00a0Had anyone told me that KISS was spending a weekend between tour dates at a high school in Cadillac and that the entire town embraced them like conquering heroes, I would have had my hearing checked (and probably should anyway as Jon played his 8-track very loud!).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I picked up <\/span>Nothing to Lose <\/span><\/i>knowing absolutely nothing about the Cadillac incident. \u00a0As a casual KISS fan, I never knew how hard the band worked to climb to the top. \u00a0The whole story about them carving their own niche in the rock world is fascinating from the make-up to the breakup of the original line up. \u00a0Even little details like Paul Stanley\u2019s habit of scratching his head on stage evolved into \u00a0part of the act. \u00a0From time to time, Stanley will take both hands and ruffle his hair in a very diva-ish manner. \u00a0\u00a0This became one his signature stage moves when the band\u2019s manager took a habit that annoyed him (Stanley constantly scratching his head) and turned it into part of the \u2018Star\u2019 of the band\u2019s persona. \u00a0By the time I got done with the chapters about their visit to Cadillac, I had a newfound respect for KISS.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I also found the negative press they generated interesting. \u00a0If KISS was such a disaster, how did they manage to last so long? \u00a0It is a great testament to their fan base (the KISS Army, if you will) that even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame couldn\u2019t ignore them any more. \u00a0It is too bad that their induction became a tug of war between the current touring version of KISS and the RRHOF. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0KISS has rolled with the punches over the ensuing years. \u00a0Stints performing with and without their make up have come and gone. \u00a0These days, a KISS concert may feature a couple of newer band members, but it is still a full on theatrical production including costumes, makeup and tons of pyro. \u00a0Gene Simmons\u2019 various stints on reality TV (<\/span>Gene Simmons\u2019 Family Jewels <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>The Celebrity Apprentice <\/span><\/i>among them) depict him somewhere between Ozzy Osbourne the family guy and Donald Trump the business guy with heavy emphasis on the \u201cI will explore any avenue that will push the KISS product and make money.\u201d \u00a0Sadly, the one side of Simmons that doesn\u2019t get enough press is his work on behalf of service veterans organizations. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If anyone from KISS is listening, we would be more than open to having them pay a return visit to a small town in Michigan – how about one in the Upper Peninsula? \u00a0Hey, you can\u2019t blame me for thinking big. \u00a0Cadillac did. \u00a0\u00a0As KISS departed in their helicopter, they showered the town with KISS LOVES CADILLAC fliers and the people who were there are still talking about it forty years later! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0KISS does Homecoming with the Cadillac HS Vikings: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\"pg2_kiss01_576\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>