Last night at dinner, Neill Dixon, majordomo of CMW, asked me if I was willing to debate Gene Simmons.  I said SURE!

I awoke to the following e-mail:

"Hey Bob,

Apparently Gene is willing to do this, I have the Ballroom ready to go at 6pm today Friday – are you still good to do this?

Neill"

After answering:

"Yes, I am in.

6 in the Ballroom."

I got the following e-mail from Neill…

"Great! 6pm was too late for
Gene’s schedule, so we are trying for 4pm in Ballroom,
I am trying to juggle things around"

And while I’m taking a shower, I’m wondering…  Is Gene trying to weasel out of this?  Does he only play on his own terms?  Is he a control freak?

I’m not saying we’re gonna disagree on everything.  I respect the fact that KISS made it, it’s an almost impossible feat.  But what’s up with the record company?  And why in Canada?  Could he not get the money in the U.S?  Why put an extra barrier between you and the bucks?  Why start a taco stand in Tierra del Fuego when you can open one in the Lower 48?

And why start a record company at all?  Shouldn’t you be a manager, participating in all streams of revenue on a straight 15% basis?  Did Irving Azoff become the most powerful man in the music business by running a label?

And if you keep remaking your acts, changing their names, their hair, their members and their music do you strip out all originality, the reason people are attracted in the first place?

We’re in an era of revolution.  Is Gene bearing arms and tearing down doors or fortifying the decrepit castle against the upstarts?

It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.  Hell, all those Aussie bands are fantastic because they’ve had to hone their chops live, playing in shitholes around their island country again and again, needing to impress the limited population to the point where they’re such great performers, they kill in the rest of the world.  If you put together a cookie-cutter act, aren’t you doomed to limited success at best?  Can Gene Simmons truly make a star, or does one have to be honed over a decade, too long for the silver-tongued devil to cash in and cash out.

For too long, success in music has been about smoke and mirrors.  With the strings pulled by Oz-like figures who don’t account accurately and end up with all the money.  Now it’s about the acts, not the labels.  As for the money?  You don’t get that from a bank, interest is too high, the institutions are run by thieves.  You get your cash from the public, people who believe in you and will give you their every last dollar on your road to success.  They don’t want to rip you off, they only want to revel in your success, bask in your reflected glory.

Then again, your performances have got to kill.  And your music has got to be great.  Artifice? Isn’t that something you do online with Photoshop?

This just in from Neill Dixon:

"Just waiting on Gene’s final blessing this morning.  He was in last night, just want to re-confirm.

Stay tuned."

We’ll see!