If someone wants to coordinate a charity event for the heckler and Gene to wrestle in a chain link fence cage, I will happily pay a dollar to see that!
While the politician and his scripted remarks may have been slightly irritating at the show, I've heard the whole audio, and the fact that any fans are championing this guy, or thinking he's witty, is beyond embarrassing. He was an insufferable a-hole, who only prolonged the delays in music with his showboating antics. I couldn't tell if he was drunk or not (I think he was, but not sure), but if he was straight, it makes it all the more embarrassing as he has no excuse for his boorish behavior. Obviously, Gene doesn't come off looking (sounding) good in this affair, either. But the guy's obnoxious behavior impacted everyone's enjoyment of the show. The politician would have only been up on stage for a few minutes before the show would have resumed. Instead, he took a mildly-irritating diversion from the music, and made it an all-out sideshow. And it appears he got escorted out of the show for his troubles. On the audio you can clearly hear others up in the balcony telling the guy what they think of him as he exits.
I’ve asked before and have never gotten an answer (and it’s maybe because nobody knows), but what the hell is the deal with his hair? Looks almost like it’s sprayed on. It’s very odd looking.
Well, his strategy for getting the band back to the music was incredibly ineffective. His antics achieved the opposite result. Did he really expect the politician and/or Gene to go, "that drunken heckler's right; forget it, and let's get back to the music". I'm sure that I would have been rolling my eyes at the whole charade, as well, but I sure wouldn't have made an ass of myself by yelling at the stage. Maybe you've read more accounts than I have, but I've read almost nothing but praise for the informal nature of these shows. I doubt many in the audience had a problem with a bunch of audience members up on stage at the end. When you're there, it's fun. Prince used to do that for years, and I never saw a single person ever get annoyed by it. (And I was at a minimum of 6-8 shows where he did this). And expecting Gene not to mention the Vault at these shows would be foolish. Part of the reason for this mini tour is for that very reason: to promote the Vault.
You familar with the way moss looks down in my neck of the woods? Same texture and appearance, shaped into a dinner plate, pretty much!
That 15 yo guitarist was great. People talk about Gene's ego but when it's about the actual playing of music there isn't much of an ego there. I doubt Paul would've let that kid come up on stage. It also helps that no one really knows his band members so anyone could really go up there as long as they sound decent.
Man, I must confess I miss this thread and the routine of doing a song every morning. It just became a part of my life. Glad to see it’s still going. I’m talking with a friend of mine who posts here about doing a Pink Floyd: The Singles reviews. We’d alternate doing them. The Van Halen thing will happen, but I cannot imagine the source material for much of their stuff is as interesting or in-depth as KISS. It’s going to be a very different experience.
I got a chance to listen to Over My Head and It's Love. I really dig the musical interplay of It's Love and I have to say that Over My Head is way more poppy than I ever would have expected given my preconceived notions of King's X. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll get to the others eventually. Haven't listened to Gene's "new" song again yet. Was out all night heckling aging rock stars. Takes up more time than you'd think!
You know, somewhere between this video above and Gene wandering out into the audience looking for a potential lawsuit, I can't help but wonder if he's starting to lose it a little bit. Either that or Gene's inner Andy Kaufman is rearing his confused head. Who thinks 40 year old stage worn socks (which, as ridiculous as this sounds, can't be authenticated) is a selling feature? From the first video about this box set to the clip above he's been mentioning how much he'd have liked this stuff when he was growing up. Uh, KISS fans are not just 'growing up', they've long since put that behind them. What a baffling time to be a Gene fan.
King's X's catalog has its share of more "poppy" stuff, but there's also a lot of pretty heavy, almost Sabbath-y, stuff, and some stuff that's definitely more funky. A great, great band, whose catalog warrants exploration.
I think the notion of including a "secret" gift from Gene's stash of memorabilia is pretty cool, but yeah, the socks thing feels like a gag where's he's seeing how outlandish he can get with it. The only thing scarier than one of Gene's old, smelly socks is the notion that there might actually be a few manic fans who would actually want one! Given the bidding wars that have erupted in the past over a hair clipping swept from the floor of a celebrity's hairdresser (I believe folks once went crazy for a lock of Britney Spears' hair, for example), there are probably some unfortunate souls out there for whom this would appeal. Pretty scary to think about. As far as the Vault overall, if this things ends up selling better than many of us think it will, Gene will be seen as a genius, not a madman. If, however, it doesn't move that many units, it will be seen as the over-priced curio that I tend to think it is. We shall see. One thing's for certain. Physical media items of this sort just don't sell much, anymore. Even though I would happily buy one of his box sets at a price of $150, I think it's fairly likely that the number of people who would simply download it for free outnumbers folks like me by, what, 20 to 1? Maybe 50 to 1? Under those circumstances, trying to market something of this nature, and make a profit from it, seems quite difficult. I do think we'll see more marketing of this type in the future (where the artist is, in effect, selling "themselves" by offering one-on-one time with their fans). It will be interesting to see if the asking price of this Vault ends up being regarded as fair, or way too high. I tend to think it will be the latter.
The thing is the only information we're going to get about the actual sales of this box set is going to come from Gene himself and there's no way he's going to tell the truth about it. Like every other Gene venture there's no way he's outlaid much (if any) of his own money so it's just a matter of whether he wants to make a million dollars or 'only' half a million. He deserves every bit of his success but it saddens and disappoints me when someone who's had more good fortune than most does something like this. Going back to the heckling fan, again I think that's low class. But Gene is in such a bubble that it's almost refreshing to see someone shout back at him. A celebrity correctly expecting a press corps that never asks "hey why do Metallica and Bob Dylan have new box sets out that are one tenth the price of yours?" adds to why people like to see celebrities taken down a peg. Eh, I'm just pissy 'cause I need a new pair of socks!
One thing that I hope not to see happen is the VH thread turning into a guitar geek sewing circle, which I figure will happen on some scale, but I hope there will be some good stories in there.
You know, with the bonus mystery gift, I was thinking that he could take original lyric sheets, and separate each of them into 3 pieces, with each buyer getting a piece. Knowing him, though, he'd probably do this and then rubber stamp his businessman figurine image on it!
To be honest, I do think we'll eventually get fairly accurate sales data on this thing. There are KISS fanatics out there who are pretty tenacious about this kind of data. Eventually, someone at Rhino will divulge the numbers to someone fishing for the data, and we will find out. If I'm not mistaken, sales data can be viewed at the Vault website, because a podcast that I heard revealed some early sales figures shortly after it was officially announced. I think when you pre-order it, you have to specify if you want your purchase to not be listed in the running tally. Either way, we'll find out eventually. I personally think it's priced way too high, but the personalized nature of the meet & greet component of this makes it hard (for me, anyway) to nail down what a fair price for this should be. Fans are willing to spend way more than I would have thought for the concert meet & greet packages, which I don't think are anywhere near as cool as this. I suspect it's not going to sell at the rate that Rhino and Gene would want, but I also admit that's just an educated guess. I could be proven wrong, and this thing may prove to be a bigger hit than I'm predicting. I sorta doubt it, but I'm hardly willing to make any bold proclamations to that effect.
I hear ya Godshifter. I've been in and out with this thread, but have really enjoyed the journey and it helped me through a tough patch this summer. It also opened my mind to some overlooked Kiss albums, particularly some of the 80s output. I'm pleased to hear of the VH thread, as EVH is my all time fav guitarist and have learned many of his solos, well pre-baby years when I had time to practice (I was just working on Finish What Ya Started, but it taught me I need to build the chops up). Count me in for participating
King's X is a great band. I first got introduced to them with their first album Out of the Silent Planet which I bought on cassette. I can't say I like everything they've done, but many of their albums are very good (as is their dizzying list of side projects). I'd probably say Gretchen Goes to Nebraska is my favorite album, but the song "Happy" is my favorite song (I believe it's from Tapehead).
Im gonna and catch with you soon, I guess I have only missed Wicked Lester so far. Anyways today has been really busy, after wirk I did some outdoor activities and now feel a bit tired, a bit sick actually but I hope it goes away soon. Im gonna try and listen to WL-stuff at work tomorrow and then share my comments/views with you.. Take care people, have fun and see you soon
