“I was the official photographer on their tour of Japan. It was like KISSmania. The idea of their act has a lot of influence from the Japanese Kabuki in Japanese Theater. I felt like a general in the KISS Army when we were in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan. The first place KISS went to was a giant Buddha, which I didn’t know was a very sacred shine to the dead. I was in the cab and the bus with KISS was following the cab. I was showing the Polaroids to the cab driver and he would start driving and the bus would follow and we would go to that place. As we were coming up the hill to the shrine, I saw Mr. Udo {Tour Promoter} hustling down the hill. I didn’t know that he had tried to tell the monks who ran the place that we were coming. They objected strenuously. And rather than deal with a fight, he just kind of split. I didn’t have any idea what was up so we all just showed up and KISS started piling off the bus. I start telling them to get in front of the statue like it’s a state park or something. There was some kind of discussion going on in the corner with the Japanese talking to the translators. I said to the translators, "Just keep them busy for a few minutes.” I set the band up, we took a bunch of pictures. A bunch of kids ran over and got in the pictures. Then we figured out we were being thrown out and we left. So I showed the cab driver the next picture and everyone got back in the bus and followed the cab to the next shrine. All the people who had been at the shrine were so freaked out that KISS were there that they followed us the next place. So we had these huge crowds following us. By the time we left there and went to the third place, the Golden Pagoda, we had a huge line of thirty or forty cars following the KISS bus. So it was this giant parade through Kyoto. After the third place, it was such a big mob we had to beat it back to the hotel!“ - Bob Gruen
Hi there, me again (sorry 😅)!! This isn’t anything art related unfortunately, but I hope you’ll enjoy the ask nonetheless!
I’ve heard you mention a couple of times that KISS is one of your favorite bands and you grew up listening to them, which has managed to make me beyond happy, as they’re also my favorite band!
With that being said I’d like to know some of your favorite things about them, like which persona you love (Spaceman all the way), favorite song (maybe not expected, but Psycho Circus definitely) or favorite album (Alive for sure), so on and so forth!
Again, this is just a silly little ask because it’s so incredibly amazing and important to me to see someone that I look up to so much share one of my interests and has been so enthusiastic about it!
Sorry for the ramble bamble and thank you for being you Mr. Sava! :)
Thanks. To me, KISS were like Superheroes. They were larger than life. Ace/Spaceman was always the coolest looking. For sure.
But we would dress up as all of them.
I had their toys and all the albums.
When KISS Alive II came out in 1977... I was 9 years old. And... it came with... TATTOOS!
That was the coolest thing ever.
Favorite song may be Shout It Out Loud (mainly because I always loved the guitar solo).
And here's a little painting I did one morning during a live.
Never thought I’d be making one of these but ART THEFT WARNING ⚠️
*Update 3/20/24: THIEF HAS CHANGED HER USER!! BLOCK AND REPORT @/bubblegumstitch56328
BLOCK @/rainbowpopcorn5768 on Instagram as well, she is also stealing art from there!!
Fellow artists of Kissblr please go check @/rockerchick754 ‘s blog and maybe report as well, they have stolen, cropped, and reposted a shit ton of people’s KISS fanart pieces and edits, mine included (these are just a few examples).
I have reached out multiple times via DMs, asking them to take my art out of their posts, and they have made no attempt to respond, despite being labeled as ‘active’, so I don’t think that they intend to ever stop, which is why I’m making this post.
Best thing to do at this point is report the posts with your respective stolen works and then block them from any blog you post your art on, or else it’ll probably end up stolen and reuploaded for use as a reaction image by them by the end of the day 😓
(Sharing is encouraged! Art theft is BAD!)
Damn, baby’s first callout post. I mean I guess this mean’s that my art’s finally good enough that people want to do this to it but at the same time. MISS GIRL. THOSE WERE VERY UNFINISHED SKETCHES. YOU GRABBED SHIT OUT OF THE BIN, YOU DIDN’T EVEN WAIT FOR ME TO POST SOMETHING FINISHED?!