You never know what you are going to see when you go traveling and decide to pay attention to that which is around you. That being said I offer up this brief narrative and the suggestion to always have some kind of camera onhand.

I had spent the previous day and night in Atlantic City to get away from the hustle and bustle of Metal Media Madness in NYC and when I realized that I was near the Hard Rock Cafe over there I went in and joked with the staff to “point me to the KISS stuff” and the unexpected answer was “just walk down this corridor since its all right there”. Indeed it was as these couple of photos clearly demonstrate demonstrate.

This display case holds a really old Ace Frehley “Space Ace” costume and leotard as well as some of Peter’s drums. There is a great photo of a “Destroyer” era Gene Simmons playing the bass and I believe that the guitar was Paul Stanley’s. I was pressed for time and didn’t make note of what the actual stuff was and I guess hindsight being 20/20, I should have taken a photo of that as well. Next time I will be more aware. The next batch of stuff was nice, but nothing that would really knock my socks off in terms of KISS “essentials”.

This wall display was just a couple of cool photos as well as some sort of comic book that I never saw before and a solo career Ace Frehley tour posted from when he had Dee Snider’s band Widowmaker opening up for him. Nice stuff at the end of the day, but nothing super over the top that makes ones jaw drop at the sight of it. I might make it some extra curricular adventure going forward and seeing what KISS stuff is in the Hard Rock Cafe’s that I come across. Keep watching the musings blog to see if I get around to that little possibility and for now enjoy the above and below images which are a little bit closer visuals to what the patrons of the popular themed chain has waiting for you in their Atlantic City location.

The marquee that you see gives some explanation to the stuff that is on display a little better. I had no idea that Peter’s drums were from “Dynasty” but I admit that I was not that close to them when I saw that show so many, many years ago in NYC. The guitar from Paul is of course cool to see even if it is not as flashy as he became known to be using during the shows. Either way, he owned and used this one at some point in his career and the Hard Rock Cafe owns it now and lets us check it out whenever we want to.

A better view of an original Ace Frehley “Space Ace” costume circa 1975 which means used during the tours that eventually gave us the album “Alive”. I was surprised to find this being green as opposed to the traditional black.

Closing out our thoughts on the Hard Rock Cafe visit is a better view of the cool Gene Simmon’s poster that is hanging in the display as well. We see The Demon sporting his “Destroyer” era threads here and looking rather menacing.

KISS would appear on the Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night and perform “Modern Day Delilah” for the crowd and it sounded great. I admit that it was rather refreshing to see them doing this new rocking tune instead of “Rock and Roll All Nite” for a change. Love the rock anthem as much as I do, I prefer the difference when it comes to the bands televised appearances every now and then. I also admit that it was interesting to see KISS performing in such a tightly confined space as opposed to a gigantic stage but that is what most television studios are when it comes down to it. Smaller spaces that look just a little larger on the broadcast when we sit down on the couch to enjoy them.

In addition to a comprehensive review of the new KISS “Sonic Boom” album, PiercingMetal.com has offered up reviews of a wide number of KISS releases and shows over the years and all of them can be enjoyed by clicking HERE

KISS History began in this building which is 10 East 23rd Street, New York City. Back in the day’s of their earliest creativity, KISS had a loft on the fourth floor of this building and would flesh out the ideas that they were coming up with and rehearse them again and again until they felt that they were ready to be unleashed on the public. We all know what happened when that came to pass. I always find that passing by this building and knowing what took place there so long ago for my favorite of all bands gives me a lot of positive energy and the realization that we can do anything that we put our mind to. For me, this is Rock and Roll Holy Ground.

Official Websites:
KISS: http://www.kissonline.com
Hard Rock Cafe: http://www.hardrock.com