Anybody going to see Alice Cooper at the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville on Sunday?

Drake, it is close and cheap.

He's a nice guy...used to come into a store where I worked in the 80s...

I saw him at Chastain last year and his band of young guns put on a great high energy show. Very stripped down, hard rockin set. Sounds better than the early 70s. If you like the Stones and Who you should not miss one of his shows.

Saw Alice late last year, definitely recommend seeing him. Tickets probably aren't that expensive either.
I would assume his band is still the same. Lead guitarist Ryan Roxie has been with Alice for quite a while now and drummer Eric Singer also plays with KISS.

Saw the band 4 times in 14 months. Great act. Alice is better than ever. It's definitely a kick-ass rock and roll show I han HIGHLY recommend!

Unfortunately Ryan Roxie left the band a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if Eric Singer will play on sunday cause he is leaving for Japan to play four shows with Kiss from tuesday til sunday (July 18-23). But maybe he's still behind the drums on sunday. Eric will be replaced by Brent Fitz for the shows in the week Eric Singer is in Japan.

Keri Kelli has been playing with them for a couple months now. Any reports on how he fits in?

They are on a 4 day run ending on the 16th, then skip 2 days. I sure hope Eric plays on Sunday!

These guys work a lot more days of the week than the Stones, averaging 5 a week.

Dunno how Keri Kelli fits in. He's a totally pro so I'm sure he fits perfectly though I think Ryan was fantastic for Alice. The bass player, Chuck Garric, is great too. The entire band plays tight as hell. Yeah, 5-6 times a week. It's a hard working rock and roll band.

Get the Montreux DVD from last year if you don't have it. Sweet!!! Ryan was still with them and it's a good representation of the DD tour, even though the crowd is lame.

The Montreaux DVD is on my list. I think I'm going to buy it this week. It got excellent reviews. Yes, I heard the crowd is a bit lame but well - it was the Montreaux Jazz Festival ;-)

The Montreaux DVD is on my list. I think I'm going to buy it this week. It got excellent reviews. Yes, I've heard the crowd is a bit lame but well - it was the Montreaux Jazz Festival ;-)

Whatever happened to Kiss's regular drummer Criss?

Jackass Wrote:
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> Whatever happened to Kiss's regular drummer Criss?

He retired

Knoxville? You mean Johnny Knoxville?

Yes, Johnny really comes from Knoxville. I believe he was born just before the Stones played there in 72. 3 hours north of Atlanta and next to the Great Smoky Mountains.

Wow. An off the cuff remark withstanding a Stones link. But what a crazy dude.

Bockwuchsd Wrote:
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> Jackass Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > Whatever happened to Kiss's regular drummer
> Criss?

> He retired

Is Ace Frehly out also, and if so who is taking his place? Are they still wearing the makeup?

I remember a big deal was made maybe ten or so years ago when they got all the original members back and went back to wearing the makeup. I've never been that into them myself although I have thought of seeing them because they've been through my area seemingly a million times since their comeback.

No Ace Frehley either. He left after the 2000 "Farewell" tour and is replaced by Tommy Thayer, former tour manager who still wears Ace's make up.

Singer must be getting paid big bucks to run to Japan for 4 shows. Why else would he do this?

Dan Wrote:
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> No Ace Frehley either. He left after the 2000
> "Farewell" tour and is replaced by Tommy Thayer,
> former tour manager who still wears Ace's make up.

It seems weird that he still wears the first guy's costume and makeup. I suppose most of the audience doesn't know or care, tho. Seems like Ace Frehley would sue, but I guess he signed over the rights.

So is Eric Singer in Peter Criss costume/makeup, no makeup, or something different?

ok tommy thayer is from 80's hair band black n blue. gene simmons produced some of their albums. if have a lot of kiss albums between '86 and '96 tommy thayer wrote some songs with them.

ace frehley said after the farewell tour it was dumb to continue or something like that.

peter criss was downright fired. kiss said they weren't picking up his contract extension because he got sloppy. hell he's one of the greatest drummers ever. kiss sounding like a sports team and not a band.

After Ace Frehley quit he was no longer an equal partner. Even with the reunion, Ace and Peter were hired as salaried employees of KISS Incorporated (i.e. Gene and Paul). The shows I saw in 1996/2000/2003 were all kinda lame other than the pyro.

Ace and Peter were never equal partners. Maybe they were for the first 2 years. After ALIVE! came out in 1975 and the big money came in it was the Paul & Gene show and that never changed til this very day. And putting two scabs into Ace and Peters costumes and make up is just pathetic. I have lost all my respect for that band cause they sell out their legacy. They could have become a legendary rock band but they've lost that chance. Sad.

I thought Thayer was Ace's guitar tech? With the makeup on, he looks just like Ace and he can pretty much copy his licks, note for note. Still, not the same as having Ace in the band.
I like Peter Criss, but from what I've read, his drumming leaves much to be desired. He had to have a guy give him lessons to get him to remember how to play the old material. I believe they even used session drummers on the Psycho Circus album in 96. Eric Singer is an awesome drummer so he can fill in easily.

eric singer is ana wesome drummer but listen on alive to peter's drumming. anyways paul and gene wanna throw cracks at peter but who wrote and sang the biggest hit kiss had, oh wait it was peter criss and his song beth. shows what gene and paul know. peter criss is an awesome drummer saw him a few years ago play. thats like when greg allman says dickey betts plays like crap now so they fired him. seen betts 3 times since then and he never dissapoints.

Tommy Thayer was the one who taught Ace all the old licks before the reunion in 1996. Tommy was also Gene Simmons' personal assistant, Tour manager, video editor...whatever, you name it. Peter Criss' say that Tommy was his coffee and spaghetti boy. After Ace's departure Tommy got the Ace gig. No, he doesn't look like Ace at all in the make up and costumes. He looks like a very bad joke. Of course the younger fans don't realize that so Gene and Paul don't give a flying @#$%&.

It's a well known fact meanwhile that Ace and Peter didn't play very much on the Psycho Circus album. The first album with the original line up after more than 18 years. What a shame. Peter played on only 2 songs the rest is played by Kevin Valentine. Ace is playing on 3-4 songs.

Bockwuchsd Wrote:
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> Tommy Thayer was the one who taught Ace all the
> old licks before the reunion in 1996. Tommy was
> also Gene Simmons' personal assistant, Tour
> manager, video editor...whatever, you name it.
> Peter Criss' say that Tommy was his coffee and
> spaghetti boy. After Ace's departure Tommy got the
> Ace gig. No, he doesn't look like Ace at all in
> the make up and costumes. He looks like a very bad
> joke. Of course the younger fans don't realize
> that so Gene and Paul don't give a flying @#$%&.
>
> It's a well known fact meanwhile that Ace and
> Peter didn't play very much on the Psycho Circus
> album. The first album with the original line up
> after more than 18 years. What a shame. Peter
> played on only 2 songs the rest is played by Kevin
> Valentine. Ace is playing on 3-4 songs.
you're right about the psycho circus thing but tommy thayer was originally just a guitar player from a band called black n blue. i saw ace and peter in 1995 on the bad boys of kiss tour playing all kiss songs so what did they need to be taught again? they played like 16-20 songs and at least 14 were kiss songs, i think 2 or 3 ace freheley solo songs and 1 peter criss solo song.

I know Black 'n Blue. I bought their album Nasty Nasty in 1987 when it came out.

This is from a Tommy Thayer interview from last month:

JH: Your playing is great and what a lot of our younger readers may not know is that you are the one who actually taught Ace his parts again when the reunion happened back in ’95, ’96.

TT: Over the years with his solo bands, he seemed to have slowly got off the path of the original classic signature KISS parts, which is fine, but when it came time to do the Reunion tour Paul and Gene wanted the band to sound and be faithful to the original parts that were recorded and played originally, because that’s what everybody knows and loves. So they asked me to come in and help Ace and Peter on separate occasions with some of the things that they were doing and help them get back on track with those signature parts.

Bockwuchsd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I know Black 'n Blue. I bought their album Nasty
> Nasty in 1987 when it came out.
>
> This is from a Tommy Thayer interview from last
> month:
>
> JH: Your playing is great and what a lot of our
> younger readers may not know is that you are the
> one who actually taught Ace his parts again when
> the reunion happened back in ’95, ’96.
>
> TT: Over the years with his solo bands, he seemed
> to have slowly got off the path of the original
> classic signature KISS parts, which is fine, but
> when it came time to do the Reunion tour Paul and
> Gene wanted the band to sound and be faithful to
> the original parts that were recorded and played
> originally, because that’s what everybody knows
> and loves. So they asked me to come in and help
> Ace and Peter on separate occasions with some of
> the things that they were doing and help them get
> back on track with those signature parts.


oh ok i believe that. i thought you meant they didn't know how to play the songs like at all.

keefriffhard4life Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bockwuchsd Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I know Black 'n Blue. I bought their album
> Nasty
> > Nasty in 1987 when it came out.
> >
> > This is from a Tommy Thayer interview from last
> > month:
> >
> > JH: Your playing is great and what a lot of our
> > younger readers may not know is that you are
> the
> > one who actually taught Ace his parts again
> when
> > the reunion happened back in ’95, ’96.
> >
> > TT: Over the years with his solo bands, he
> seemed
> > to have slowly got off the path of the original
> > classic signature KISS parts, which is fine,
> but
> > when it came time to do the Reunion tour Paul
> and
> > Gene wanted the band to sound and be faithful
> to
> > the original parts that were recorded and
> played
> > originally, because that’s what everybody knows
> > and loves. So they asked me to come in and help
> > Ace and Peter on separate occasions with some
> of
> > the things that they were doing and help them
> get
> > back on track with those signature parts.
>
>
> oh ok i believe that. i thought you meant they
> didn't know how to play the songs like at all.


It's interesting that you saw Ace and Peter on the Bad Boys Tour right before the reunion happened. I have heard they were both in very bad shape and it was a bad tour concerning the attendance. Was it really that bad and how did they play?

as a drummer i can say peter was lackin a bit. he was an enjoyable show though. not a big crowd either. i just think peter and ace get too much flack about being bad musicians and stuff and i think they are both underrated or at least when they were in their prime. alive and alive 2 they really shine.