I had to really struggle with the idea of going to the Ace Frehley Birthday Bash. It wasn't an issue of getting to New Jersey. I really wanted to go to New York to see some sites. I met Ace back in 1989 at a record signing and had a very good experience meeting him. After so many years of meeting band members and hearing fan stories, I just didn't want to ruin my perception of my favorite guitarist. Since I already have a negative perception of the people in the music industry anyway from past experience. I know most fans are saying, "you are crazy its a chance to hang out with the Space Man himself." Well kinda, there are over 500 other fans at the event how close do you think you're going to get?

Anyway, I was asked by Keith Leroux to design the logo for the event a couple months ago. Keith helped plan out the event. You probably have been to a KISS Expo he has put together. So I put something together, actually if you got any of the cups, picks, pencils or staff shirts it had my logo on it. Very cool since I do a lot of graphic design projects anyway, I was happy to help. They were also considering doing a poster for the event. So I designed what I thought to be a very cool design. Everyone liked it but Ace. He wanted to design it himself. So thats ok, its his birthday anyway. Here is the image I created. Look below at the Ace poster to see what Ace designed. I like mine better but I am biased. :)

I took a flight from Indy to Newark to be at the event. Jim Breeding a KISS fan I had met at the Louisville Expo back in November was also with me. We had a pretty good time hanging out over the weekend. Bumpy ride in the plane both ways. Not the greatest feeling. Once getting into New York, I wanted to go exploring. But it just didn't happen. To busy to get out to the sites. Disappointing, but I have a feeling I will make it back to NY soon.

Lets talk about the event. The fans outside waiting to get in were very patient. It took a very long time to get the fans in due to all of the things that were being done at the door. The fans had to check in by name and receive their gift bag of Ace Bash items which included, an autographed picture, event guitar pick, event pencil, postcard and balloon. A lot of fans were outside for a very long time. But they handled it well.

Ace made his appearance around 2pm. Arriving in a couple limos. One I think was empty. Seems Ace is a little paranoid these days. Accompanied by a lot of security at the event. He kind of stumbled to the autograph table. Not sure if it was just Ace or if he had a little to much of something legal or illegal. I don't know him well enough to make that judgement.

Ace did seem a little weird throughout the day. No one could touch him as security stood by to ensure this. He wouldn't sign guitars, the reason which is believed to be that he is tired of people selling them after he signs them. One situation I saw was pretty over the top though. A foreign father had brought his son in wearing an Ace shirt and acting very much like Ace with the guitar. The kid was very cute as he acted like a rock star. The father wanted to get his son's small guitar autographed by Ace. Ace refused. It was basically a toy guitar. Not sure what the big deal of that would be. But the no guitar rule held up.

After a couple hours of Ace signing. The Police show up. They had received a bomb threat. So the fans inside (around 300 or so) were asked to leave the building for a short time. The short time turned into over an hour. Once the crowd was out the Police brought a dog to check the location for a bomb. It turned out to be a sick prank. Sad that someone would do something like that. Anyway the fans that hadn't gotten in yet had to wait even longer due to this idiot.

During Ace's Q/A he touched on a lot of things. He seemed very pissed at the thought of KISS in any way. Stating he had been lied too and had money stolen from him. Most of the fans seemed as if they believed everything he said. Not sure if I would go that far after some things I saw on this day. I have always been a big fan of Ace, but not so much so after this day. He stated he was not in the band and they could just tour with Tommy Thayer. He stated Paul and Gene never helped with the lyrics to Into the Void. He said Gene was supposed to show up, but Ace told his lawyers to tell Gene's lawyers that if Gene came Ace would kick his ass. Ok Ace what do you weigh? Enough said. He also stated he was going to release an album later this year and go on a solo tour. I seem to remember this from the late eighties and early nineties. I love Ace's solo records and seeing him solo during that time. But lets be honest, it didn't work then and it won't work now. Totally different climate in music right now and a fifty year old former member of KISS will not get radio airplay or video airplay on MTV, so do you think he will be successful with this? I think not. The fans at this point were cheering wildly everytime Ace said something against KISS.

On the lighter notes from the Q/A, Ace brought up his daughter Monique on stage. She is very pretty. They hugged and he acted as a proud father. A guitar was also given away in a raffle. Ace presented the guitar to the guy himself. Great moment.

I didn't really get to see much of SSG's performance, but from the times I have seen them in the past they are very good. They are kind of a KISS cover band. They don't do the make up, but they have a good sound. And the guys in the band are very nice guys. Good work once again by them.

During the performance from SSG, Keith comes and gets me and says get your cameras. So I proceed to follow. I kind of knew what was going on. Gene was going to come in and present Ace with his birthday cake. Some of the same fans that were cheering loudly as Ace discussed his problems with KISS rushed Gene like the Beatles had entered the room. This has to be one of the wildest things I have witnessed related to KISS. Fans were pushing and shoving security and Eric Singer to get to Gene. Gene walks the cake over to Ace says a few things, they shake hands, poses for a picture, then Gene leaves with the same surrounding mayhem. Ace then goes to the stage and says something to the effect of "I hope you know what you've just seen was about nothing but money." Ok Ace how about kicking Gene's ass? What happened to that? Ace's daughter Monique made some hand gestures to Gene as Gene was giving Ace his cake. She is a very pretty girl, but that was totally immature. Again I have always been a big fan of Ace. Don't say it if you're not gonna do it.

I have to say I have seen and heard a lot about Gene over the years being greedy and such. I have often disagreed with things he has done. But who the heck am I. He is rich, famous and the long tongued one. Gotta respect that right? Maybe. Even if this was about money, Gene sure did make an effort to be there to see Ace. He flew in for this. Where was Peter? Where was Paul? Eric Singer was also there. Why would Gene bother with it if it was completely about money? Maybe thats just me being naive, but I thought it was a nice effort whatever the reason. It was a hostile environment, Gene knew it before he came in and still came in. You have to respect that.

I didn't get to see a lot of Eric and his bandmates while they were playing. I took a few photos though. I just got to busy helping with other things. I did hear quite a bit of and it sounded great. Cool to see him at the event for Ace.

Here are some other things of interest from the days events. I saw some people complaining about the meal that was offered. I know from reading the ad for the event that it wasn't meant to be your complete meal for the day. I thought it was a good idea by the promoters to bring in the hot dog cart. Its New York. There were restaurants very close to the location. Like some of them couldn't have skipped a meal anyway. I know I could've. Most of the fans were great. Some fans were very funny, cheering for Ace, then Gene, then when Gene leaves its Ace again. How funny. Bill Aucoin also showed up. Didn't stay very long but there was a small crowd him the whole time which he was graceously answering all of their questions.

Overall I think the event was good. There were a lot of things going on behind the scenes with Ace that if everyone knew they would be shocked and probably pissed, but I won't go into that. Considering the events of the day, I think the promoters did a fantastic job with a not so great situation. I have seen fans either estatic about the event or pissed. I can see both sides since I was in a unique position. Sometimes its not the coolest thing to meet your idol or idols. Sometimes you can just know to much and it starts not to be fun anymore.

Check out the Ultimate Ace Birthday Bash Pack including PHOTOS up for auction on EBAY!