The live touring of Kiss will be replaced by digital avatars.
George Pitts
Scars
my father rung poetry up on his typewriter
typing me to what he wanted to be abstract
even fancied me as “son” when me and my girl screwed
while “husband” to the freshly laid seed;
roles would lose shape in love,
our maiden names, son, daughter, not so shapely out in the world
you’d long for a nickname, friend, lover, and hope it stuck; while
there’d always be home, to accommodate and name you
when your appellation stuck like bricks and clung around you like place
one was grateful for little assurances like “ie” and “ly,”
to make you more at ease with yourself: when
“little georgie” or “billy” came to you you’d just weep …
sagas accompanied anyone with pains
a name, merely your kind of wound; surely it hurt
to be spinach, carrot, or so many greens …
father satisfies something devilish inside when he plumbs me Edward, and mother
admittedly I get some equilibrium out of it, but the appetite is no less great
I look up the name and kick it around still
hoping that that nut might crack and let some light …
amiri baraka must have known this being leroi jones so long:
that the bat of your name won’t break; and search,
only to head-off some distance, the ground
identically foreign … words knock at your household of mind
threatening to down your roots, a good location
seems more than a lair of books
Kiss Announces ‘New Era’ as Virtual Band.
Kiss made a stunning revelation at the close of their final concert: The human version of the band is done, but a virtual Kiss will continue on.
The face-painted legends – made up of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer – gave a rousing performance at Madison Square Garden to close their End of the Road tour. “This is the end of the road,” Stanley declared early in the set. “It seems sad, but tonight’s a night for joy. Tonight’s a night to celebrate what we did together.”
Over two hours, Kiss did just that, delivering hits from throughout their incredible career. Still, it’s the way things ended that will have fans talking.
After Kiss played “Rock and Roll All Nite,” their final (human) song of night, Stanley told the crowd, “The end of this road is the beginning of another road.” Moments later, the group exited that stage amid a flurry of fire. Then, as their tune “God Gave Rock n’ Roll to You” began to play, avatars of the Demon, Starchild, Catman and Spaceman characters appeared. Fast Company notes that the effects were created using “a combination of LED screen projection, lasers, and heavy metal smoke and pyrotechnics” helping the images appear “three dimensional and much larger than life.” Meanwhile, video screens displayed the message: “A new era begins.”
George Lucas’ visual-effects company Industrial Light & Magic was tasked with creating the new virtual Kiss. Swedish company Pophouse Entertainment, which was behind the popular ABBA Voyage hologram show, will handle how, where and when the avatar version of Kiss will roll out.
“Is it a Kiss concert in the future? Is it a rock opera? Is it a musical? A story, an adventure?” Pophouse executive Per Sundin pondered. “These four individuals already have superpowers. We want to be as open as possible.”
Well, two of the guys have the superpower of keeping the brand name going long — very long — after the band’s freshness date had expired. The other two were left wondering who was dressing up as them under the costumes and makeup: Gene Simmons Says Both Ace Frehley and Peter Criss Turned Down Invitations To Perform At Kiss’s Final Concerts
Why Cass Sunstein is a liberal
