#creaturesfest

[sluttery-withoutshame]

I’m 100% sure the Singer Simp hive mind has posted all of Bruce’s photos of Eric, but I’m gonna post them too coz

I might be able to add some personal commentary.

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I did buy one of these catman vests and got it signed by Eric (you’ll see that when I have time to go through my epic amount of photos). This isn’t mine, but I’m sure I know who it is.

There was a young guy who obviously bought one in the expo because he and I were the only two people wandering around wearing them. I’d run into him and joked about wearing them and I showed him Eric’s autograph in mine and his face lit up.

At Eric’s second signing session, who do you think I saw in the line a few people up ahead? I was pleased he got another chance to get an autograph in it and I’m guessing this was the moment it happened.

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I’m behind them somewhere but I’m pretty sure I was blocked by musos.

I did get a great view of Eric’s arse though, so there’s that.

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Dude on the left is Neil, the guy who invented the fine event that is Creaturesfest/Kiss Cancer Goodbye. I can’t speak highly enough of him and everyone who helped put this all together.

Dude on the right should need no introduction.

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Every moment Eric was onstage was solid gold.

But I take issue with the person who put these drums together, and why the chose to cock block me and my love.

But I jest because I watched this from front row and did I mention Neil is a legend? A story for another time. It’s a good one.

Gratuitous shots of Eric giving me an orgasm. I love whoever it was that took these.

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Finally….

This man is amazing and I can’t wait to show you my own photos of me and him at that very table and more.

Peace.

[sluttery-withoutshame]

I have the whole Eric v Bruce family feud recorded so I need to upload that I think.

From my position, for this particular bit, I had a fine view of Eric’s arse. He looked so short and delicious and he was right there in front of me.

Family feud KCG III

[ohblackdiamond]

Number 7 for the KISS asks, please?

absolutely! thank you!

7. What you dislike about each member?

woo, boy...

paul --paul is actually a buzzard. paul is defensive, needy, incredibly self-conscious, incredibly self-pitying, and an absolute master at driving people away. he has retained a level of bitterness against people he hasn't worked with in two or more decades that is nothing short of spectacular. paul will rework himself to whatever he thinks john q. public wants, because he doesn't like who he actually is offstage.

gene --gene's arrogance is not entirely a put-on. gene will say anything and do anything to get attention. gene's constant cheating on girlfriends and his attitude towards women in general is reprehensible. gene is unsympathetic to others and views or has viewed addiction and mental problems as character failings while excusing his own serious issues with infidelity/using women as a "what do you expect" rockstar schtick. additionally, i would not go into business with gene for all the tea in china.

peter --peter has created or exacerbated a whole lot of his own unhappiness. peter is hotheaded and probably a gigantic pain to deal with/work with, even now. peter is very unforgiving. peter makes or has made very poor financial and career moves and really spent those fifteen years post his first kiss firing talking about stuff he was doing rather than actually doing too much of anything (tiny handful of albums that went nowhere, that he didn't even try to promote, tiny handful of bands that for the most part, other than criss, never even played!), while continuing for a number of years to receive a cut from a band he was no longer in, per contractual obligations (i'm not saying he should've noped out of it, but it's very easy to see where paul's resentment of him comes from).

ace --ace has wasted so, so much potential that it's unfathomable. he has never been willing to strike while the iron is hot, to his eternal detriment. he has set fire to decades of his life via rampant addiction-- yes, he's clean now, and i'm proud of him for it, but the damage he did to himself and his relationships with family and friends is not necessarily repairable. ace also overrates himself and has proven willing to do slimy things for the almighty dollar (selling out peter and the empty threats re: gene and paul).

eric carr --as someone who has my own issues with insecurity, i could see where eric's issues there could get old to deal with very, very fast. i get his frustrations with the band/gene and paul, but i don't think he went about things in the right way. i think he played off of gene and paul too much-- i think had he been more accepting of his hired gun role, things might have played out a little differently. i think he could've gotten hired/more creative control in a different band in the mid-eighties and been happier.

vinnie --CREATURESFEST. i was there.

mark --... is there anyone besides peter criss who can corroborate accusation against him? just curious. i'm not sure why this one is believed so wholeheartedly when i've never heard it from anyone else (and when the fandom as a whole is pretty particular on what negative accusations are believed about the band). if it's true, then yeah, that's more than reason enough for him to be scum, but if it's not, then it's hard for me to really find something to dislike about him-- he was in the band for a grand total of one album and about three shows.

bruce --bruce is... staid. you know what you're getting with bruce. but where is the fun with bruce? bruce is not going to do anything unexpected. bruce's hair is nice, bruce's guitar is in tune, and bruce is going to let paul skid/slide under him and play guitar on his back so he can have all the attention during a solo, because bruce is just that guy.

also bruce's serious fetish for stockings is not something i ever needed to know about him and i resent him for publicizing it. thank you, @bangbangyou

eric singer --eric is wasted in kiss like f. scott fitzgerald was wasted in hollywood. it's like watching scott joplin play chopsticks.

tommy --see bruce's section. tommy is just not fun. there are no surprises with tommy. he'll shoot the rockets. he'll do the backbends. but a deer is never going to fall in tommy's pool and drown, causing him to nearly be late for a show. it's consistent. it's also mildly depressing.

[mxliv-oftheendless]

Expo Swag!!

So @cosmicrealmofkissteria and I were at the expo part of CreaturesFest for literally an hour and a half, but I got SO MUCH STUFF!! And for good prices too! So without further ado, behold my haul!

A pin of Paul and a shirt (a nice man at the Starbucks held it up for me so I could take the picture)

Albums galore!! The tapes are Revenge and Alive III, the CDs are the Eagles, Jethro Tull, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the vinyl is KISS’s Rockin’ at the Ritz.

These two awesome posters! The Creatures of the Night album cover with Vinnie on it and a promo poster from the 70s!

And finally, my favorite out of all the stuff I got:

Yes, that is indeed the Playboy issue with Gene on the cover lmao I bought it on a whim and I regret nothing.

The expo is going on for the rest of the day and tomorrow, so you can definitely expect me to come back with more!!

(Also a lot of this stuff came from the vendor for KISS Army Warehouse, so check out their online store!)

[shandidellamorte]

FOUND KISS KONDOMS!!

[livingdeaddrummer]

Creatures Fest in Nashville was a blast. I had a great time and got to meet @vinnievincentofficial, saw @acefrehleyofficial & @bruce.kulick perform with him. Met the ORIGINAL Wednesday Addams, Lisa Loring! Oh yeah, and rocked out with @prettyboyfloydband of course. Plus got to hang with so many great KISS fans who traveled from all over the world to be there! Swipe for photos & Video ➡️➡️➡️ @creaturesfest #PrettyBoyFloyd #AddamsFamily #WednesdayAddams #VinnieVincent #Kiss #KissArmy #CreaturesFest #AceFrehley #PeterCriss #Nashville #LivingDeadDrummer (at Nashville, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CeL-6r4r_ng/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[sluttery-withoutshame]

As promised, the entire final round of Creaturesfest Kiss Cancer Goodbye III Family Feud: Bruce v Eric.

You just know Eric was put on this earth to make us laugh doing shit like this. He was the perfect man to pick to shit stir for the whole entire time. He’s so fucking hilarious.

And in case you’re wondering what happened to that crushed up Red Bull can Eric tried to pass off to one of his team mates at the end, wonder no more.

Yes I am that insane.

[bunchofrandomfandomsandbands]

KISS Merch 6/?

(Little backstory. This is from Lori and Russell’s wedding back in November. Lori printed two of the same picture. One 10x8 and 4x6. Eric signed BOTH of them at the Creaturesfest. Lori told me that Eric started to spell my name wrong, so she yelled at him and made him do the smaller one too!)

[shandidellamorte]

@mxliv-oftheendless AND I WERE THERE!!!

May 28, 2022

Sonesta Nashville Airport Hotel - Nashville, Tennessee

Vinnie Vincent made his first appearance in years at the inaugural Creatures Fest.

Vinnie was shredding as people entered, Standing high above the crowd on top of the incredible tank created for the event with blue and pink lighting. the crowd was told not to film or photograph.

The Holy Trinity performed together for the first time ever.

"Vinnie wanted to showcase Ace and I, so he won’t be playing any lead guitar. I never looked at performing with him as a competition more a meeting of guitarists doing their own style on classic KISS songs. But after I saw Vinnie in person while he was leaving his soundcheck, everything I heard was confirmed from him in his own words. He was cordial and friendly about it all, but nothing I could say to him would convince him to take a solo when Ace or I were on stage." - Bruce Kulick. "I purposely wore a headscarf covered in ankhs which I always called the 'Vinnie Vincent headscarf'.”

"So the “Holy Trinity” with all it’s surreal glory was now part of KISSTORY. Although many things were controversial for a concert evening featuring Vinnie Vincent, my take away was still positive. I know how much it meant for the fans to see us all perform together. It was certainly a dream come true for many in attendance. Vinnie did perform, something many were betting against." - Bruce Kulick

[ohblackdiamond]

nostalgia, merchandise, and keeping the faith

the other day, i found out that my favorite manga-ka had just started on a sequel to her most notorious and popular series. i was a little taken aback by my own mixed emotions-- the series wrapped up a little over twenty years ago, and my days of being seriously into the fandom were pretty far behind me. part of me was excited, and part of me was strangely disappointed. the characters and plot i knew so very well, the fandom i’d once poured years of time and effort into, all of that was going to change drastically, if-- if-- i was willing to stay the course and follow along. 

or, you know, i could always sulk mightily about how an aging manga-ka who could no longer draw as well as in her heyday was trying to get blood out of a stone, falling back on yesterday’s laurels for the sake of the almighty dollar. sound familiar?

moving right along. i realized i wasn’t attached so much to the manga itself (the intellectual property, if you will) as i was the memories surrounding it. this volume, i got from my oldest internet friend. this artbook was given to me by a girl i spent most of college rping with. this reminds me of good times. and it makes you think, hey, this is “my” manga, or “my” band, etc. the feelings you’ve attached to it are more important than the thing itself. i think that’s a pretty heavy motivating factor. kiss sells-- absolutely. prolifically. kondoms, koffins, hello kitty kollabs. they are remembered for their brand as much, if not more, than their band. they wrapped up the kiss experience into a consumerist’s paradise-- and they did it before evangelion, pokemon, disney, etc. shifted branding into its own lifestyle. (i’m not saying kiss predates disney. i am saying that  the scope and doggedness of their merchandising efforts was precocious for its time.)

i’m not knocking them for doing it. but to do it successfully, the bedrock had to be there. the memory of something good, something better, had to already be instilled. the buy-in is emotional, as buy-ins tend to be.

thinking back to creaturesfest— like basically everyone there, i dropped irresponsible amounts of cash on sundry normal to silly to cursed kiss items (in my case it was mostly 45s, sheet music, and a couple hello kitty tchotchkes). did it bring back 1994, when i first discovered my mom’s rock and roll over album? 1996, when second grade me first watched kiss (and heard kiss get derided by my mom, haha) on tv in the living room? sophomore year of college, crying along to “hard luck woman” in my dorm room for probably the fifth time that week? twenty-nine, crying the night before my mom’s surgery, playing “beth” over and over on the piano and computer both? (the fact that most of my kiss memories involve crying is in itself pretty worrisome.) no. there’s really no recreating those moments as a fan, any more than the furor and fever of any watershed concert can be recaptured later.

but it made me happy. it reminded me of those times when the band meant so, so much to me. and so did watching ace play with peter (honestly, so did watching peter play at all), and bruce. i dunno. there’s going to be a day, sooner rather than later, that all of this really is hung up for good, leaving “my” band as not much more than a collection of vinyls and goofy merch and memories. i wasn’t lucky enough to see them at their creative apex and physical peak; i wasn’t born in time for that. i’ve not agreed with every decision the band has made over the years. i’ve never really even thought most of the band was comprised of good people. but absolutely none of that changes that they’ve been important to me. i’m grateful to have had them be a small part of my life, and a slightly larger part of my wallet. that’s all.

[sluttery-withoutshame]

Finally…

Uploaded the videos of Eric and Bruce on the Sunday of Creaturesfest.

I can still barely comprehend how close I was to this. Sorry Bruce fans, but I largely ignored him in my filming because

Eric was right fucking there.

@mindofotherstars @ghostinyourface @ericsingerisababycat @probably2zjeb @0the-bunker0 @eyes-of-rock @alixxthayer @elrohare @silvervinespiderwebs @aces-curly @boundbyeclipse

[sluttery-withoutshame]

I guess I should upload the videos I took at the Creaturesfest. I got some awesome footage of Eric and Bruce.

I was happy to focus on Bruce alone for the Kuarantine gig, but when Eric came on stage it sadly was a case of Bruce who?

[sluttery-withoutshame]

Hello, I’m newish to KISS (at least the fandom), what was your experience meeting Eric like? You gave him a kiss!?

I’m sorry if you already explained this before, if so please link back to that post!

Warning: This is a long arse post!

And because it’s such a looooong story, I’ll break it up into separate posts. It’s too epic for a single post!

Ok, first of all, no need for being sorry coz I’ve explained before, I will never, ever get sick of talking about meeting Eric, and will take every opportunity to do so, so thanks for asking!

I guess I’ll just start from the beginning. He arrived on the second day, and the little group of us walked into the expo hall and there was a big line up. I asked what for and was told Eric was coming to do autographs. That was a bit of a surprise coz he was in the schedule to do that the following day. Of course we immediately lined up. That was the time that @ghostinyourface arrived so she lined up with me and we decided we would film each other meeting him.

I was really wetting my pants about how I would react when I saw him arrive, it was about to happen. Then there he was, he stepped up onto the small stage and oh my he looked good.

I had brought a bunch of stuff for him to sign, which I knew would allow me a bit of time to interact with him. Pretty soon it was our turn. If you wanna know how it feels to be the next in line to meet Eric, it feels like this.

Now I’ve met quite a few people I really admire, and I always feel like I didn’t take it in coz I was too mesmerised, so this time I told myself to really take it all in.

I stepped up and smiled at him and said “I’ve come from Australia just to meet you and I’ve got a crate load of stuff for you to sign”. He looked really buoyant and friendly so I put the stuff down on the table and he began signing stuff. I had albums mainly but also a couple of photos, of which this was one.

I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with it, I really just wanted to get him to sign it to see what his response would be! He had a chuckle and yelled out “Oh look! It’s Russell’s favourite outfit!”

(Russell is his mate who was helping he coordinate everything, like holding peoples bags and stuff)

So it was totally worth having it just for that!

Then I noticed he wasn’t signing it to me, so I asked him to put it “To [name redacted]” and he asked me how to spell my name (coz there’s a few ways to spell it) and I actually struggled to remember how to spell my name, and I felt like an idiot and had to tell him I was struggling coz he was very mesmerising!

One thing I found very sweet was that he wanted to make sure we let the autographs dry so the don’t get smudged, and Russell’s wife Lori was taking each item to the end of the table, and she mentioned that Peter Criss’s team has someone whose specific job was to fan newly autographed items. Eric dryly responded “How special”. I told him that he needs to hire someone to do that and he said “I can’t afford slaves”.

I had a couple of items from his time in Black Sabbath, a promo flyer and a CD cover for Seventh Star, the album he was part of. Glenn Hughes, formally of Deep Purple was the singer for that time and I’d seen him in concert a couple of months before, so I’d had him autograph those two items. When I pulled them out and showed him Glenn’s autograph and told him that I’d just seen him play. He asked me what I thought of that and we had this nice conversation about Glenn and what an amazing voice he has how that gig felt like a religious experience for me. We were in that moment just two Glenn Hughes fans talking about our experiences with him.

As he was going through all the stuff I’d brought with me, I told him that I hoped that perhaps after one of his performances he might be able to gift me with a drumstick. He said he didn’t bring a whole lot of sticks with him and he was going to have to play tomorrow as well. I told him I’d still be here tomorrow, and he pointed at me like he did when he played to the camera during his solos.

Like the very thing he stole my heart to begin with and then just did that while I was right in front of him! I then told the story of the previous night how someone dropped a pick on the catwalk, and no one went after it so I literally crawled up the catwalk to grab it. But that’s getting side tracked…

The day before, I’d bought at a live album from Bruce’s expo stand, that was recorded during the Revenge era in Australia. So I couldn’t leave that behind. Eric autographed it then said “What the hell is this?”

I’d worn a necklace with a pick I’d bought from Graceland about ten years ago. It had TCB on it, and I wanted to show it to him. So I leaned forward and held it towards him but he couldn’t read it. I told him it was TCB and he said “Oh! Taking care of business!” Then he showed me his ring and said “I’ve got this one, you know what it means?” I couldn’t see it without my glasses so he told me “FTW, Fuck The World.” And I cracked up laughing.

I think he was enjoying making me laugh.

He then told me he got it from a Hells Angel in Helsinki, coz this man has all the best stories. It was about then that I told him his bracelets were sexy, but by then we were up to my last item which was the Catman vest I’d just bought. I’d tried it on the day before, thinking it’ll look like shit on me and I could hang it back up and never speak of it again. But the fucking thing looked really good on me, and on the day I thought I know, I’ll buy it and get Eric to sign it for me!

A couple of weeks before this, he’d done a live auction on Facebook and he was telling all these funny stories about touring Australia with Ace Frehley, and I commented that “I’m PMSL at these Ace yarns” and he was totally stumped by that comment. He said “What does that girl mean?” I didn’t realise that Pissing Myself Laughing is a colloquial phrase in Australia, not the US, then he must have clicked on my profile and realised I was Australian and that’s why he didn’t get it. So I wanted him to sign it “To That Girl” and mentioned what happened, and of course he couldn’t remember that. He was having trouble hearing me, so I leaned right in to tell him that I hope he remembers what PMSL means, coz he couldn’t understand Australian. I didn’t think paid much attention to that, but found out a little later he took that in. So because I was so close to his face, I said “I’m going to have to kiss you” and turned his face towards me and let me kiss him. :sigh:

Then he said “You should kiss my friend Russell coz he just got married”, so I did! And then Russell told me I should kiss his wife, who was the one talking my items off Eric so they wouldn’t get smudged. That’s when the penny dropped, that this was @bunchofrandomfandomsandbands friends whose wedding she went to!

The it was @ghostinyourface’s turn in the Eric spotlight and I’ll let her tell her own story if she so wishes and she can tell you I asked her to play stripper music.

But I’ll jump to where she also showed Eric her TCB necklace, and then he started talking about the big one he got Elvis’s jeweller to make for him. It was great to see him get all enthusiastic about telling us all about it. He told us the name of the jeweller and how he made the special mold for it this is him showing us the size of it.

You can also see his Fuck The World ring.

He told us that it’s about $700 and we should ask him to make the same one as Eric Singer from Kiss, and I’m almost tempted to actually order one just so I can say “Eric Singer told us to ask for this specific one”.

Ghost had him sign the CD cover of the live in Japan ESP album and I went back again to the live auction he did to see if they’re going to put it on vinyl, coz I asked that question on Facebook and he and Keith said they’ll do it in 2025, and that Eric wants it on bowling ball marble vinyl.

One thing I was worried I’d forget was to show him my tattoo. And sure enough I did forget, but Ghost reminded me just before we stepped away. I was telling him about it, and that even though it’s the Catman symbol, I’d added a stylised S to it, for Singer. I’m standing there waiting for him to shower me with praise and gratitude for being such a dedicated fan, and what he actually said was

And then he asked everyone there if they think it looked like a tennis ball, including Ghost, but I’ll let her tell what he said to her, coz it was hilarious. That is definitely a much better and funnier story to tell, and I will never unsee the tennis ball.

So right at the end before we left I said thank you for showing Olivia off on that Facebook live auction coz I’d been the one who asked, and it was so good to finally see her, and he just looked at me with a blank face and said “Can someone please translate what she just said to me?”

And once again, I cracked ugly laughing at him like Edna Krabapple.

I’ll write part two tomorrow! (If you’re not sick of the story yet…)

[sluttery-withoutshame]

Like….One moment? Ya gotta be kidding me.

I have an entire LIST.

[sluttery-withoutshame]

Even if Eric didn’t remember the KLA video where he didn’t understand what “That Girl” was saying, I will remember it for the rest of my days, and it had to be immortalised on my best Eric purchase yet, my Catman vest.

Kiss Replica’s Catman vest: $US245.

Autograph to “That Girl”: Priceless!

[sluttery-withoutshame]

I wanted the best, I got the best.

At least half of the Revenge lineup, live.

Can’t believe I got to experience it.

Gene and Eric's alternate version of Domino