TEN OF MY TEENAGE FAVORITE ROCK STAR QUOTES & A JR. HIGH KISS REVIEW FROM 1976

In the midst of doing of spring cleaning today, I opened up yet another box of Ancient Saved Crap from my mom, which is always a total blast for me and a great distraction from actually cleaning anything. In a box of old books I found "The Book Of Rock Quotes," a 1977 compilation by Jonathon Green, and "The View '76," which was the arts yearbook of my own Oconomowoc (WI.) Junior High School. Today I'd like to pick out some of the quotes from the book that I circled as favorites as a 15-year-old, and from "The View," a review of a KISS concert in Milwaukee written by my classmate, Pete B.

I will add that these books smell old, like the smell I used to think was "old" when I went through my grandparents' old stuff. It happens.

"Let's face it, you can't worship a guy for destroying an instrument in the name of rock." - Pete Townshend

"In the end you become part of everything you hate, basically." - Ray Davies

"All of my friends at school grew up and settled down, they they mortgaged up their lives...they just got married 'cause there's nothing left to do." - Jagger/Richards

"I tell you man, Wisconsin is the ultimate territory. I'm convinced we're a Midwest group." - Frank Zappa

"Listen, we're a garage band and we're proud of it." - Patti Smith

"Twenty years of schoolin' and they put you on the day shift." - Bob Dylan

"They must love us, really." - Ray Davies

"It's very hard to live up to an image." - Elvis Presley

"There can be no free men unless there are free women." - Leonard Cohen

"I went 'aaarrrggghhh' on the drums, broke the bass drum pedal and two skins and got off. I figured that was it." Keith Moon, on his audition for the High Numbers

"The Happiest Time In My Life Was..." by Pete B., 1976

The happiest time in my life was going to see the KISS rock concert. For my birthday last year I got two KISS albums, and for Christmas I was given two more. Ever since then I have wanted to see them, and finally my wish came true.

February 4th I went to see KISS at the Auditorium in Milwaukee. They were great! Here are some things about the group and their concert. There are four guys in the group, Ace Frealey, Peter Criss, Paul Stanley, and Gene Simons. They wore skyscraper shoes, fins on their shoulders, and metal studs all over tight black uniforms. Their faces were painted dead white, and they each had different decorations. There's one guy in the group, Gene Simons, who's a real nut. He's got his hair pulled up into a top knot, triangles painted around his eyes, and constantly sticks his tongue out at the crowd. In one of the songs named "Firehouse," Gene actually shoots flames out of his mouth.

During songs that all pretty much sound alike, but have different names like, "Hotter Than Hell," "Firehouse," and "Black Diamond," they use guitars, smoke bombs, sirens, and a huge bank of Marshall amplifiers.

We saw one guy running around the Auditorium with his face all painted up and was wearing a big black cape just like his four heroes in KISS. As long as there are people like this, bands like KISS can continue to exist.