Dear KISS,

I wanted to let you know how our relay went. We raised over $10,000 to support the American Cancer Society in the Relay for Life held in Palm Harbor. We almost got rained out but all the teams moved to an indoor facility and kept the relay alive. I wanted to thank you again for all your support of charities and using your awesomeness to give back!

Big Fan,
Erika Lance Captain of Team KISS (Cancer Goodbye)

LETTERS

KISS Solos #3 (of 4): The Celestial

Chris Ryall (w) • Alan Robinson (a) • Angel Medina (c)

“Fractured Mirror”—the penultimate KISS SOLO issue turns the spotlight on the Celestial. This tale of galaxy-spanning high adventure sees the most spaced-out of the Four-Who-Are-One caught up in a battle against twisted alien pirates and… himself…? The odds are long and the stakes high in this standalone, spare-faring story!

WE ARE WITH YOU!

To all our loyal fans, friends and their families devastated by the recent tornado activity in the U.S., we stand side by side with you in support, and you will remain in our prayers through this time of tragedy.

Donate to the Red Cross' disaster relief fund HERE.

Photo: AOL.com

Here are some of the many great fan-created designs already submitted to the first ever BandJob Brawl.

Rock Gods KISS have teamed up with the quality-at-all-costs design community, www.BandJob.com, for a no-holds-barred Design Brawl to create the next iconic KISS t-shirts. The THREE designers left standing at the end of this Brawl will each receive $1,000 cash, two tickets to see KISS live in concert, a chance to meet the band, and a print of their winning design signed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley!

Professionals and amateurs alike are welcomed to submit their best work. Head over to www.BandJob.com to find out more and submit your design!

Don't design? You can still have a hand in choosing your next favorite KISS shirt. Sign up for an account at www.BandJob.com and vote for the entries you want to wear!

Band Job is an online community created by and for professional designers working in the music industry. It's a place to showcase your work, talk shop, and learn from the best in the business.

Not a designer? Band Job is a great place for all enthusiasts and supporters of visual arts in music. Learn more about the art behind your favorite bands. Check out great merch designs, awesome album covers, and other amazing art from the best designers in the music industry.

www.BandJob.com

Yesterday was the first day of rehearsals for KISS' upcoming European MONSTER Tour. The band will continue to rehearse through mid-next week, before heading to Stockholm, Sweden for the Tour opener on June 1st.

EUROPEAN TOUR DATES:

June 1 - Stockholm, Sweden
June 3 - Helsinki, Finland
June 6 - Solvesborg, Sweden
June 8 - Stavanger, Norway
June 11 - Copenhagen, Denmark
June 12 - Berlin, Germany
June 14 - Prague, Czech Republic
June 15 - Vienna, Austria
June 17 - Udine, Italy
June 18 - Milan, Italy
June 20 - Zurich, Switzerland
June 22 - Clisson, France

CLICK HERE to visit the KISS Tour page for venue information with links to tickets and Meet & Greet packages.

Photo by Paul Bassett for KISSONLINE.

May 20, 1980, KISS released Unmasked, their eighth studio album. The artwork featured Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, although Criss actually had no involvement with the recording of the album. Anton Fig (uncredited) played all drums on the album.

The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 30, 1980.

UNMASKED Track Listing:

Is That You? / Shandi / Talk To Me / Naked City / What Makes The World Go Round / Tomorrow / Two Sides Of The Coin / She's So European/ Easy As It Seems /Torpedo Girl / You're All That I Want

Here's the music video for "Shandi."

KISS ROCKED AMERICAN IDOL FINALE

On this day in KISSTORY - May 20, 2009, KISS rocked over 25 million Americans with Detroit Rock City and Rock and Roll All Night as the band was front-and-center on the American Idol finale show performing with runner-up Adam Lambert.

- KISS was just about the best thing on Idol ALL SEASON LONG. - Rolling Stone

- a jaw-dropping, fist-pumping, pyro-enhanced performance with legendary rockers KISS. - MTV

- KISS Blow Up American Idol. Now that's the way to rock the house! - Associated Content

- It was a night to remember for all those members (including me) of the KISS Army. - WBAL Radio

- Carlos Santana had the unenviable task of following the act. He strummed out some of his famous licks, which felt very slow-paced after the unbelievable energy KISS brought to the theatre. I was actually screaming to see more KISS by this point. - TV Envy

By Mike Hogan

When this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony airs on HBO Saturday night, Rush, Heart, Public Enemy, Donna Summer and Randy Newman, among others, will be seen joining those already enshrined in the Cleveland museum. But one group that won't be represented, yet again, is the self-proclaimed "hottest band in the world," KISS.

Longtime fans can't believe the group that taught America how to rock and roll all night and party every day still hasn't made the cut. The Huffington Post asked lead singer Paul Stanley if there's hope of a reprieve.

"Well, it depends on who lives longer, us or Jann Wenner," Stanley said, referring to the Rolling Stone editor-in-chief who co-founded the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame back in the mid-1980s.

Fans have a tendency to blame Wenner for the KISS snub. (One brave loyalist even confronted Wenner on the street to demand answers.) But the real obstacle may be journalist Dave Marsh, who plays a key role in the selection process and once told MTV, "Kiss is not a great band, Kiss was never a great band, Kiss never will be a great band, and I have done my share to keep them off the ballot."

KISS PERFORMED AT MAGIC MOUNTAIN

On this day in KISSTORY - May 19th, 1978, KISS performed a free concert at Magic Mountain Amusement Park in Valencia, California to film the concert scenes for the "KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park." The concert took place in the parking lot of Magic Mountain. Tickets were distributed through a California radio station and approximately 10,000 fans attended the show. KISS performed a full regular set list and then lip-synched "Love Gun" and "Shock Me" for the movie. Between the concert and filming the extra scenes, the shoot lasted several hours and the band members interacted with the crowd through out the event.

Paul on the concert and film shoot:

"I remember it all like it was yesterday. Doing a film and a concert in a band where some were barely speaking to each other and others not speaking at all was even weirder than the script! I still can't figure out the end of the film."

by Matthew Wilkening

The non-makeup version of KISS got their one and only shot at strutting their stuff on a live album with the release of 1993′s ‘Alive III.’

Of course, you can’t hear greasepaint on an audio recording. So the most important changes found on the long-awaited follow up to the band’s two iconic ’70s live albums were the replacement of founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss by guitarist Bruce Kulick and drummer Eric Singer.

Although the majority of ‘Alive III”s 17 tracks were chosen from albums released after 1977′s ‘Alive II,’ it did mark the first time KISS re-used songs that had been on other live albums. This gave listeners an opportunity to compare the changes all those years and lineup changes had brought to tracks like ‘Detroit Rock City’ and ‘Watchin’ You.’

Bassist Gene Simmons explained the differences well in the book ‘KISS: Behind the Mask‘ when he said, “It’s clear to me there’s better musicianship, we’re singing better and the songs have a better feel. But there’s no denying that rock n’ roll is this kind of primitive music that often is loved more for its primitiveness, not for how well the songs are played.”

Indeed, little touches like the use of double-kick drums, and a greater emphasis on technical ability tend to pull things a hair too far from rock and towards metal on ‘Alive III.’ As Singer, who’s been in the makeup-wearing version of the group nearly non-stop since 2001, explains in ‘Behind the Mask,’ “I tend to approach the songs differently now. I tend to play them now much more simplistic and more straightforward.”

Still, the record’s got good energy and spirit. Simmons and fellow founding frontman Paul Stanley are as charismatic as ever. Singer and Kulick are clearly more fluid and accomplished players than their predecessors. In particular, Kulick shines throughout — much as he did on the band’s 1992 studio album ‘Revenge‘ — maintaining a healthy respect for the original material while still putting his own distinct stamp on things, particularly on an absolutely smoking run through ‘Deuce.’

Unexpectedly, ‘Alive III’ turned out to be the last major harrah for this lineup of KISS. A few years later, Simmons and Stanley reunited with Criss and Frehley for a massively successful reunion tour. Kulick launched a solo career, and since 2000 has also been a member of Grand Funk Railroad. The original foursome split in half into their traditional camps again a few years later, with Singer returning to the fold and Tommy Thayer taking over for Frehley.

On this day in KISSTORY - May 18th, 1993, KISS featuring Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Bruce Kulick were inducted into Hollywood's famed RockWalk. At the ceremony in front of fans, friends and family, Paul, Gene and Bruce spoke to the crowd and then left impressions of their hand prints in a block of cement. After adding plates of the KISS logo and their signatures, the stone plaque was later added to RockWalk located at the site of the famed Oriental Theatre now Guitar Center Hollywood. Eric Carr was posthumously inducted into the Rock Walk in 1995 and added to the KISS plaque.

Visit RockWalk's website at http://www.rockwalk.com/ and look up KISS under inductees for some more photos of the induction as well as photos of some of RockWalk's KISS memorabilia including an Ace Frehley Les Paul guitar, Peter Criss' boots and Paul Stanley's Iceman guitar and boots.

Dedicated to honoring those individuals and groups who have made significant contributions to the music industry, Hollywood's RockWalk became a reality on November 13, 1985. At last, the Rock 'n Roll world could claim for itself an institution every bit as compelling as Mann's Chinese Theatre, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hollywood's RockWalk has honored such creatively diverse and equally as accomplished individuals and groups such as KISS, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Johnny Cash, Dick Clark, Willie Dixon, The Doobie Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Les Paul, John Lee Hooker, The Moody Blues, Phil Ramone and Smokey Robinson.

Just wanted to share this painting I recently completed of Paul. It has a bit of a graphic feel to it, something a bit new I am trying out and just wanted to pass along to the rest of the KISS Army. I hope you enjoy this take on The Starchild!

Jamie Sapp

LETTERS

Professional Bull Riders' KISS Kam announcement on the Times Square board in New York.

Professional Bull Riders and KISS have teamed up to create the 8-Second KISS Kam, an innovative twist on the long-standing tradition in many sports venues where couples in the audience are highlighted on the large, in-venue video screens and encouraged to engage in a public display of affection. In typical PBR and KISS fashion, the innovative KISS Kam has a twist. Just like a successful bull ride, our participants are timed with a digital clock and must kiss for 8 seconds or face the ridicule of tens of thousands of PBR fans.

Band members Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer, Eric Singer and Gene Simmons cheer fans on and provide constructive criticism via video during the promotion. Videos from the 8-second kissing couples will be recorded and posted online at www.pbr.com/KISS where visitors can vote for the best (or worst) kiss and register to win valuable PBR and KISS prizes.

KISS Meet & Greet packages are now on sale for the following KISS European Tour dates:

June 1, 2013 Friends Arena - Stockholm, Sweden
June 3, 2013 Hartwall Arena - Helsinki, Finland
June 11, 2013 Forum - Copenhagen, Denmark
June 12, 2013 Waldbuhne - Berlin, Germany
June 14, 2013 O2 Arena - Prague. Czech Republic
June 17, 2013 Villa Manin - Udine, Italy
June 18, 2013 Mediolanum Forum - Milan, Italy
June 20, 2013 Hallenstadion - Zurich, Switzerland

Meet & Greet Packages include:

- Exclusive Meet & Greet with KISS
- Exclusive access to KISS's intimate acoustic set
- Autograph session with KISS
- Personal photograph with KISS in full makeup and costume
- Specially designed KISS t-shirt
- Specially designed KISS tote bag
- Set of official KISS guitar picks
- Official Ultimate Meet & Greet laminate
- Commemorative VIP ticket

CLICK HERE to vist the KISSONLINE Tour Page for Ticket and Meet & Greet links.

On this day in KISSTORY - April 16th, 1975, KISS headlined Detroit's Cobo Hall for the first time. The show before a sellout crowd of 12,000 plus, was part of the seventy-two date Dressed To Kill tour. It was also the first of five shows that KISS recorded for their classic album, KISS ALIVE! The famous photo on the back cover of ALIVE!, featuring KISS fans Bruce Redoute and Lee Neaves holding their hand drawn KISS sign, was taken at this concert.

Paul Stanley comments on the Cobo show and Detroit:

"This concert and the release of "Alive!" marked a pivotal giant step towards achieving domination in the 70's. "Detroit Rock City" was written as a salute to the people who championed us as a headliner when others still saw us as an opening act. We can never forget them. We decided, that was the only place we would start the Reunion Tour."

Check out the frame-flip video of KISS at their historic Cobo Hall concert on May 16, 1975, which was recorded for KISS Alive! The audio in the video is from Parasite from this exact show.