KISS Really IS a group of super heroes...

[B5Erik]

http://www.kissonline.com/news/index...lstory&id=5883

KISS FULFILLS CANCER PATIENT'S DREAM

By William Croyle - Cincinnati Enquirer

Critter Smith flew on an airplane for the first time June 27.

"It was awesome taking off and looking out the window at how high we were," he said.

But that was nothing compared to what was waiting for him and his mom, Carol, after they landed in Milwaukee.

They were flown there as guests of KISS, one of the world's most famous rock-n-roll bands, for a concert that night.

Critter got to meet the band - Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer - before the show, take pictures during the show and returned home with a stash of memorabilia almost too big to carry.

"When Tommy was on stage, he came down and gave me his pick," Critter said. "And Eric walked right up to me and gave me his drumsticks. It was pretty sweet."

They also gave him a load of KISS merchandise, including notebooks, pencils, trading cards, action figures and...

"Look, they gave me a KISS toothbrush that plays 'Rock and Roll All Nite' when you brush your teeth," Critter said with a big smile.

The 11-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer of the white blood cells, in July 2007. For the next five months he underwent five rounds of chemotherapy and a round of radiation.

On Nov. 9, 2007, he received a bone marrow transplant and spent six weeks in the hospital. He returned to Fourth Street Elementary School, and was in remission for 15 months, until this past January.

He's been receiving chemotherapy all year and is back in remission. He'll continue treatments for three years, then must wait another five years before he can be declared cured.

When a story about Critter that appeared on nky.com in March mentioned his love for KISS, word circulated among KISS fans and eventually reached Keith Leroux, who manages the band's Web site and merchandising. Leroux contacted the band, which was rehearsing in South America for its current tour.

The next day, while in Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Critter received two calls - one from Stanley and one from Singer. They gave him words of encouragement and invited him to a concert.

"I knew they said they'd do something for him, but I never expected this," Carol Smith said about the all-expenses-paid trip. "I don't think I'd ever seen Critter so happy. He was on top of the world.


Critter (whose real name is Christopher) said the band was in full makeup when he met them back stage before the show.

"Paul walked in and was like 'Hey Gene, this is Chris,'" Critter said. "It was so cool that Paul knew who I was."

Critter said Simmons was "a really big guy, and really nice guy."

"He said to me - well, I can't remember what he said to me," Critter said. "I was just so stunned."

Leroux said the band does things like this quite often, but is pretty humble about it.

"They do a lot and donate a lot, but they don't like credit for it," Leroux said. "They're really good guys."

Stan Smith, Critter's dad, said the band's generosity has lifted his son's spirits.

"It's just so nice of them to do all of this for him," he said.

Critter's next chemotherapy treatment will be Tuesday. He said he dreads having to go through it each time, but KISS makes it more bearable.

"They really help me," Critter said. "KISS music really makes me happy."

Click on the link to see the pics along with the story.

Gotta say - KISS shows that they can be a real class act when something important or worthy comes up. And this isn't the first or 21st time they've done something like this. They've done a lot of things like this under the radar, and it's only now with the internet becoming bigger and bigger that it's actually become public knowledge.

[statcat]

I'm glad they're doing positive things because I've been used to hearing about the negatives. Gene and Paul come off as egotistical jerks a lot of the time in my opinion. I'll never forget reading Paul saying how they were going to charge a $1000 for a meet and greet backstage but they weren't even going to guarantee autographs. Here they are mult-millionaires but they want every penny they could suck out of the fans. It was hysterical to me. It's way better hearing positive stuff like this than what I've read before.

[nodeerforamonth]

I'm not surprised. Good for them!

[Jack Straw]

So from the pic, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are wearing Peter Criss' (catman) and Ace Frehley's (spaceman) makeup and outfits? Irrelevant to the good nature of the story, just wonderin'.

[statcat]

Originally Posted by Jack Straw

So from the pic, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are wearing Peter Criss' (catman) and Ace Frehley's (spaceman) makeup and outfits? Irrelevant to the good nature of the story, just wonderin'.

probably, it's really weird and slightly disrespectful to me that they parade them around like that (probably Paul and Gene's idea) Why couldn't they just make new characters or something like they did in the 80s?

[Michael Corvin]

Why is it disrespectful? The StarChild and Catman were personas. The people portraying those roles vacated them so why not recast the 'character?' They were welcome to stay in the band but chose not to.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin

Why is it disrespectful? The StarChild and Catman were personas. The people portraying those roles vacated them so why not recast the 'character?' They were welcome to stay in the band but chose not to.

They're sacred, I tells ya. Sacred!

[statcat]

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin

Why is it disrespectful? The StarChild and Catman were personas. The people portraying those roles vacated them so why not recast the 'character?' They were welcome to stay in the band but chose not to.

because I'm sure some people who aren't up on kiss so much don't realize that they aren't Ace and Peter and just assume they are.

[B5Erik]

Well, Gene and Paul keep referring to Eric and Tommy, so it's not like they're trying to fool anyone (if they were they wouldn't keep referring to them by name as much as they do).

They just wanted to keep a classic look rather than messing with it. And, let's face it, the last time they came up with new make-up designs for the new guys it wasn't exactly a huge commercial success.

[KillerCannibal]

Very cool of the guys to do this. Although, it would have been funny if the kid specified he only wanted to meet the original members, leaving Thayer and Singer alone to weep.

And, FWIW, I think they should have gotten new designs, too.