The Origins of the Spaceman 2 - Tommy T. & Kiss Are People Too!

You have been reading an article that was originally written live on the air.

It was probably the equivalent of watching paint dry, or listening to one of the

newer, cheap sounding, paint by numbers-Kiss albums, with no outside producer.

Those records would have been good times to use the ghost musician! 

                                                                                              KI77 Staff

The guy has been in Kiss since 2002.

His story is amazing, and sometimes he even gets pulled over by the police

(who really aren't big Kiss fans) because they think Ace Frehley's driving.

To his credit though, Tommy can't even get arrested.

Nicknames are often the beginning of abuse but if the

guy is supposed to be KISS, he needs a John Wayne nickname!

The gavel is struck. "SHUT UP!  It's decided."  

From this point on, he is Tommy 'Deuce' Thayer."

Newbies who don't know will be confused.

What?  That's a good nickname. 

It's all in good fun Tommy, but kidding aside, I want your job, since I've finally faced the music about the reunion never happening,,. and it being a WORTHLE$$ idea. 

What was I even thinking???!!! 

Gene and Paul are selfish, ask Peter, everyone knows that they want Kiss all to themselves, it's not even in dispute... and that MY joining Kiss makes "perfect sense" to us (KI77 staff).  If Ace can't make it, my second choice would have to be myself, which would be the next best possible thing to a full reunion for me and my family, for Kiss, and most importantly, for the fans.  

There are so many of you out there, I can't say I am that interested in all of you.   

Although Gene and Paul don't realize any of this yet (because they don't read my shit),

and it doesn't even matter because they've assured us that they'll be leaving soon, but

I have decided to take over running the band on a voluntary basis.

And the first order of the day is to draft a back up lead guitar player, to be trained

where all of the pyro sky rockets on the stage are located, before taking Kiss where it

has never gone before. And did I already mention I make a great cup of coffee!!!

Only I'll be the Wizard, instead!!! (AUDIENCE ROARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

And all without Kissing any ___, Gene.

Actually, I've been an Ace/Paul fan my whole life, but as an adult, I love Gene, when he isn't being the demon.  And it hurts that he's never contacted me once in

all these years, so I abandoned Kiss ultimately, in a way.

Not really, but wanting to meet them? That's over.

That's like wanting to meet Darth Vader.

Look, I met this guy more than once as a kid when almost

nobody even knew what he looked like. Paul too, but I didn't approach him.

That was a party at Cher's in '78, but that's an upcoming story.

I'm almost tired of telling it, actually.

Other tremendous lifelong fans have had similar experiences, and its not Gene's fault.

He doesn't really know me at all. He's got to keep a certain distance from the public.

But what made Kiss so special was people like me, and a few of you. You KNOW it.  

If we hadn't been going to shows back in the '80s, then there wouldn't be a Kiss today. 

I wasn't just at Alive II.  That's me pointing during the very end, front row at the "Rise to It" video shoot in November, 1989, Hollywood, California.  I grew up in the

San Fernando Valley.

 We drove out to Costa Mesa in '88 because they couldn't sell enough tickets to play the Forum that year for Crazy Nights. I was missing the originals so I never heard about the Olympic Auditorium appearance. But after taking a friend to see Ace Frehley that summer, he got me back with a ticket to the Costa Mesa showshow, plus I drove.  Crazy Crazy Nights!.  More about this show in the future.

It was a small crowd of course, but what I remember most was making a U-Turn and neither of us noticing a center divider and getting the shock of our lives when we went over the curb, but the car was fine. We got to the show. It was farther than we expected from the Valley. Good times.

It was the fruits of our loyalty during those lean years that allowed KISS to even continue, plus I had a little better attitude in those days... 

And you're all going to be there with me as I recollect the memories, good and bad.

What actually happened.  And what I thought was going on at that time.

But I don't regret one minute of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Those were great times!

And although I'm still a Kiss guy, I don't go to their shows anymore,

and that's really sad.  

AGAIN, I say to the Kiss fans, don't listen to the experts.

Listen to me  

(Hey Deuce. How 'bout letting one of your former bandmates from Cold Gin replace Gene next?  Actually, Double Virgo would be a great replacement.)

A KISS Paul Stanley solo band? Now that would be worth seeing,

even if they weren't paying me.  Even if I had to buy a ticket, Gene!

"Paul's a real hack on the acoustic" another articulate fan, once wrote.

It wasn't me, but I did just write it myself anyway.

In a deeper guitar player's analysis, Joe Perry once said that Ace Frehley wasn't Jimmy Page, but then again, neither was he. Thanks for clarifying that, Joe.  It's getting confusing with all these Ace wannabes moon lighting in Zeppelin cover bands at night, then getting up the next morning and dressing up like Kiss for work (not that you're one of them).

With makeup on, we might have mistaken you for

Vinnie Vincent on a bad wig day. Didn't you used to play with Kiss in 2003?

They were your backup band.  Good for you.  

Who cares what anyone says? 

Some guy at a bus stop on Van Nuys Boulevard says he's buying a car soon.

None of these guys, myself in particular, are Andrés Segovia,

Joe, please dress up as Ace for Halloween, just as an experiment.

PLEASE?!!!!!!!!!!

So lets follow Gene and Paul's logic.  They're announcing their

retirement show instead of the reunion album and shows or tour... + 2.0. 

Math gives me a headache, but if

I then joined the band with Tommy's old mates and Eric called it quits,

Deuce would be the last authentic Kiss member left!

MORE TRIBUTE BAND FOOTAGE!

We'll find it so you don't have to.  This isn't a Kiss news service, it's a lifestyle.

  KISS news is fake news, and unless you've heard it from the fans, it doesn't count.

Oh NO! Not those guys again?!! Just one of them.

COLD GIN featuring Tommy Thayer, 1993

Is this 1/4 KISS?

"Maybe it is, and maybe it ain't!!!"

 Tommy Thayer (the one wearing Ace Frehley makeup)
makes a SHOCKING appearance on our page this year, in a moving tribute to

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (from this other group that was still calling itself
Kiss, at that time, and that took some balls). And getting drunk, of course.
Just make Gene has a ride home. Paul got so drunk once in 1974 that he was placed
in a car and couldn't figure out how to get out for an hour or something.  That's a crock of shit. Total embellishment Kiss folklore.  

Now that I've posted this clip, nobody can say that I am a Kool Aid drinker.  But I am.
Blue Kool Aid, vintage December 1976. 

Words and Music by Ace Frehley.  Yeah, that did happen.  
Kiss can't take that away from him. Just for fun!
"Hey Peter! Can we use 'Beth'?  Thanks!"  

To surprise everyone, AND because Kiss is so predictable nowadays, 
we've posted a clip of Tommy Thayer in his old band Cold Gin,
In a rip roaring KISS influenced tribute to alcohol!!!!!!!!!!
Just to freshen up the set a little, it's gotten quite stale.  Remember when Paul told us the makeup had become dated?  Can that happen twice during their career?
No PSA from Paul Stanley before this song here, and even if there was,
would he ever have stooped to the level of playing with Kiss tribute band members?
Anyway, it would have to be edited out regardless due to his hypocrisy. 
In more ways than one.  He was drinking water while encouraging the crowd to
drink hard Kiss Lemon Aid, and he was getting paid, while we were paying him.
And I don't regret any of it, but I still question their motives at that time.
The public service announcements came over ten years later.
Actually, I think he was as responsible as possible once he realized what he was doing wrong.  Well, no.  He wrote zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz He wrote "Detroit Rock City"
(or did Ezrin come up with the lyrics?)
so scratch that whole 'younger' excuse. 
Gene and Paul knew better, they knew exactly what they were doing.
Everything they do is aimed at selling,
and their PSAs are as full of baloney as their
excitement about the newest Kiss records.
EVERYONE GETS IT HERE
Slowly...
Actually, the point here is that these tribute bands are all the same. 
They're all great.  And they're all tribute bands.

And not necessarily that much different from Kiss replacement members.
Like the robot Armageddon band in Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. 
If Kiss is replaceable, then what's the point?
EVERYONE IS KISS
Up With People.
Who prefers late 80s hair metal speed guitar solos with two hands to
Edward Van Halen?
F You do that's cool, but leave immediately.
Still, the debate in itself is always interesting and keeps Kiss Alive!

For me, it's just not the same. 

          Here's a strange fact about me as a fan. Ack! in my Southern California, I  saw not only Eric Singer play with
Paul Stanley at two solo shows in 1989, but also saw Tommy Thayer with Black and Blue, way back in 1984 opening up for Aerosmith's weak reunion tour. 
However, I have NEVER seen either one of them playing live with Kiss.
 My first show was in 1977, and my last show was in 2000.
I did see Ace this year, and a few years ago.
But what do I know?  I'm a C3PO guy.