Peter was asked to join” det sker igen” in the early 80’s. The gig lasted long enough to release this already in progress record. Peter quit after he learned “det sker igen” roughly translated to “cats wear skirts” and it wasn't just his outfit for the record jacket. The group also had a “no double-kick drum” policy that didn’t set well with Peter.

Shortly after the “cats and skirts” thing settled down, Peter joined “Far jag lov”. Peter decided that “industrial polka” wasn’t his thing and was asked to leave the group after mumbling too loud "are two fucking accordions really necessary?"  It’s hard to tell in the photo, but I think Elvis Costello was playing bass for the group at the time as well.

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley:



Gene and Paul always thought they had what it took to be famous solo artists. Each starting side projects, here’s the results: Gene started dressing like a woman and dancing and was really suprised when he was "booed" of the stage.  "Grupp 6 Hacken" is Swedish for "you're lucky I'm wearing high heels".  As for Paul, well….Paul was very proud of his new wool-lined leather jacket and ladies watch. Pretty scary stuff.


 

Deciding they couldn’t make it on their own, Gene and Paul both joined groups. Gene learned to play sousaphone but was quickly kicked out of the band for refusing to open the spit valve resulting in his instrument sounding like a giant bong when he played. Gene didn’t want to split the royalty checks with 6 people anyway. Paul got involved with “Sailor”, originally a trio that really didn’t have any musical talent to begin with. They never released an album. This photo was taken at a Glamour Shots in a mall, somewhere east of Omaha.  They just liked Paul and really enjoyed wearing the costumes. REALLY REALLY enjoyed wearing the costumes.

Ace Frehley:

Ace is really the man behind the music of KISS. Even thought he was the most talented musician of the four, he had a tough time getting his career started. Ace joined “gastriketakter med” as lead violinist. He enjoyed being in the group but decided the band name sounded too much like a medical term for an inflamed colon. Shortly after being pelted on stage with raw tripe, Ace left the group.

I’m not sure what he was thinking about when he joined “Noas Ark”. However, this is where Ace wrote “Rocket Ride”. He wanted to include it in one of the sets, but the rest of the group didn’t think it was an appropriate children’s song.  Along with that, the group could never agree on costumes and during rehearsals, Ace would always break out in a rash.  He always thought it was from Joan wearing too much perfume but a simple blood test revealed that Ace was allergic to arks. It was pretty clear that Ace needed to leave the group.

More Gene and Paul:

Gene and Paul also tried their hands in non-musical related fields.

Paul was considered for the part as Dr. Frankenfurter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show but insisted on wearing his spiked collar instead of pearls and lost the part. You’re welcome Tim. Gene found a job as a farm-hand.

I found a very rare album of the boys from their grade school years. “Barnens Favoritsanger” could be translated to “Barnen’s Favorite Singer” but I discovered it actually means “Timid Lester”.  They look like three serial killers and a cat.  Huh.

The rest is history.

It wouldn't be Christmas at my mother-in-law's without skeleton gifts!



Over the years she has given me more skeletons than someone with a lot of skeletons.
She is possibly the coolest mother-in-law ever.

4 out of 3 people don't understand fractions.

 "I'll never finish it..... NEVER!"

Every once in a while a band will release an album that is truly amazing from start to finish.  Every song is worthy of being on the album and the sequencing ties it all up in a neat package of musical bliss.  The following are ten albums (and there are more) that I feel the appropriate amount of time should be allocated to listen to the entire album once "play" is pushed or the needle is dropped.  These are in no special order.