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| Ace Frehley Halloween Bash Coverage by C.C. Banana, 11/2/07 |
ACE FREHLEY HALLOWEEN BASH COVERAGE BY C.C. BANANA! |
 A spaced-out C.C. Banana raises his fist (and yells) as Ace Frehley takes the stage! |
| Happy Halloween from Metal Sludge!
Well, it looks like our honorary badwill ambassador C.C. Banana has struck again. As you may recall, the Banana spent last Halloween stalking Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley up and down the streets of New York City. This year the freak has kept the Kiss theme going by attending the annual Eddie Trunk Halloween Bash, featuring a performance by original Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley! This was Ace's first concert in nearly six years, making the event quite the Halloween hotspot. As usual, C.C. Banana found a way of making his mark on the occasion... mainly by doing something he wasn't supposed to do. We'll let the Banana explain... |
| Ghoulish greetings, Metal Spooks!
On October 31, I attended the sold-out Eddie Trunk Halloween Bash at New York's famous Hard Rock Cafe. Though I'd been present for all of Ed's previous pumpkin parties, this year's event was by far the best thanks to the inclusion of the one and only Ace Frehley! This was a leaner, cleaner Space Ace than fans had seen recently and his performance was (appropriately) out of this world. In addition to the Ace concert, Eddie's eerie extravaganza also featured an outrageous Halloween costume contest! Since Ed had cautioned attendees against entering the competition dressed as obvious choice Ace Frehley, I instead offered up my own slippery slant on the silver spaceman! So with a little help from an old Halloween costume my mother had made for me in the 8th grade (which had not seen the light of day since the early 1980s) yours truly was transformed into... Ace Peeley, the Psycho Citrus! |
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| Apparently my fruity Frehley fatigues made something of an impression on the Ace man himself that night, prompting him to actually call me out during his live performance! Regrettably, at that most crucial of moments I was out in the lobby catching a much-needed breath of fresh air. By the time my friend raced out to pull me back inside, Ace had already launched into his next song. So much for my moment in the Ozone.
No matter, something very cool did end up happening that night, as you will soon see. For now, I leave you with my customary Kiss rallying cry... BANANIMALIZE! C.C. Banana |
| Thanks for the report, Banana. For those of you who may have missed it, Ace Peeley made his debut a few years ago when C.C. snagged us our very first full-band capture of Kiss (even though Ace Frehley himself was by then no longer in the band). Details of that original Ace Peeley adventure can be found HERE. For even more fun Ace-related reading, you might want to check out C.C. Banana's entertaining 20 Questions with current Kiss drummer Eric Singer, in which Eric tells a few unbelievable Ace Frehley tales of his own (including stories about Ace snorting Viagra and putting hexes on the other members of Kiss). |
| Right now, Metal Sludge is proud to present our exclusive coverage of the return of Ace Frehley... not to mention the return of Ace Peeley! |
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| Host Eddie Trunk kicks off the proceedings by presenting the 10 lucky contestants in this year's Halloween Bash costume contest! The stiff competition includes an Angus Young, a Dee Snider, a Jack Sparrow, some guy from G.W.A.R. and even a giant runny nose with a box of Kleenex! Eagle-eyed Sludgeaholics may recognize the box of Kleenex as Sludgette Holly Diver from our World Famous Gossip Board! |
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Contestant Ace Peeley is given consideration by celebrity judges Jim Norton, Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. These comedians are mainly here to rip on the contestants, since the winner will ultimately be determined by audience response. Also seen here is the Cafe's own Johnny "Hard Rock" Pasquale, who appears to be dressed as a banana himself! |
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| Ace Peeley (seemingly channeling the spirit of Gene Simmons) rallies the crowd to cheer loudly for him! |
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Well, the Banana must be doing something right because Ace Peeley makes it past the first two rounds of audience elimination! Now one of only three remaining finalists, he shares the stage with the Dee Snider guy and the G.W.A.R. guy. At least we think it's a G.W.A.R. guy. It's possible he's supposed to be one of those bad-ass alien Predator dudes. Or maybe he's dressed up as Blackie Lawless' demonic mic stand! Either way, it doesn't really matter because he's the next one voted out. |
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| "Folks, before you cast your final vote, just remember one thing: One of us keeps you rocked, but one of us keeps you regular. Something to think about." |
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And the winner is... by a thunderous response from the audience... ACE PEELEY, THE PSYCHO CITRUS! It looks like the Banana's warped interpretation of the contest rules actually paid off for him in the end (although we're not so sure about bananas being part of the citrus family). Still, that Dee Snider guy must be pissed at losing the costume contest to a man dressed as fruit. |
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Ace Peeley raises a victory salute and thanks the fans for screaming their lungs out for him. As the audience favorite, the Banana is awarded the grand prize of a guitar signed by the members of Prong and a genuine Eddie Trunk "Box of Junk" (containing about 35 lbs. of assorted CDs). Congratulations, you yellow bastard! With the costume contest now at an end, the stage is cleared in preparation for the main event... |
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... the long-awaited return of the original Space Ace! Accompanied by new bandmates Anthony Esposito on bass, Scot Coogan on drums and some guy named Derek on guitar, the sold-out crowd goes absolutely berserk once Ace Frehley himself at last hits the stage. |
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The fans welcome back the Ace man with open arms! This is the first official Ace Frehley concert since his participation in the New York Steel benefit in November 2001 (conveniently, also sponsored by Eddie Trunk) and anticipation for his return has reached a fever pitch. Unless Ace pulls an Axl Rose at this point, things look promising for a successful comeback. |
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| Ace is back and he told you so! And this time, he's bringing his beard! |
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Ace Frehley shares the mic with Karl Cochran... um, we mean John Regan... uh, that is, James Lomenzo... oh Hell, YOU try keeping track of all the bass players this guy has had! |
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"Hey, did everyone see that banana who won the costume contest?" The crowd cheers! "Has anyone seen him around? Is he still here?" Ace shields his eyes from the glare and looks around the audience... as the Banana makes a futile dash back toward the stage. "I guess he had to split!" |
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Ace plays his trademark light-up guitar during the song "New York Groove" (or "Boo York Groove," as printed on Ace's commemorative Halloween T-shirts... no we're not kidding). |
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Ace Frehley and his Rock Soldiers perform for the troops! Uh, can you tell we're running low on clever things to say about these photos? Anyway, you get the idea by now so we'll just wrap things up with a list of the songs Ace performed that night (for all you anal-retentive types who get off on that sort of thing). |
Rip It Out Hard Times Parasite Snowblind Rock Soldiers Breakout Into The Void Strange Ways Shock Me New York Groove Shot Full of Rock Rocket Ride medley (My Generation, How Many More Times, Bring It On Home, Highway To Hell) Love Gun Deuce Cold Gin |
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As the evening draws to a close, Ace Peeley has a close encounter with fellow space cadet John Ostronomy (famed VH1 Metal Expert and co-host of the popular Talking Metal podcast). Don't forget to check out the one-hour special "Talking Metal on Fuse," premiering Friday, November 9th at 12:30 AM! To hear C.C. Banana's most recent appearance on Talking Metal, click HERE. |
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Ace Peeley gets reacquainted with Sludgette Britney, whom he first met exactly one year ago tonight! Britney is glad to see the Banana decked out as the Space Ace again, especially since she herself is "Dressed to Kill" as a certain tongue-wagging Demon. |
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Another surprise reunion sees Ace Peeley bumping into fellow Kiss fanatic, comedian Craig Gass! In addition to hosting one or two of our Metal Sludge Extravaganzas, Craig has opened up for Metallica and was recently out on tour with Alice in Chains! To read Craig's official Metal Sludge 20 Questions interview (featuring video clips of his hilarious Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley impressions), click HERE. |
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| Gass kisses the Banana goodnight, bringing his Ace Frehley Halloween adventure to a close. |
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Home at last, C.C. peels off his banana skin to inspect his enormous haul -- over 175 CDs! Not to mention the autographed Prong guitar and assorted other goodies! Looks like the Banana has his free time mapped out for the next couple of months! Either that or his friends can look forward to some awesome stocking stuffers this holiday season. |
Alright Sludgeaholics, that wraps up another Season of the Witch here at Metal Sludge. C.C. Banana's Kiss adventures are becoming something of an annual tradition around here so we'll need to hope he can pull off something cool again next Halloween. Say Banana, maybe next time you could kick things up a notch by drinking the blood of Peter Criss or reanimating the lifeless corpse of Mark St. John! Anyway, just a suggestion. |
In closing we extend our thanks to Sludgeaholics Gus, Jon, Bruce, Ray, Bob, Mike, Billy, Kristin, Dave, Pete and anyone else who helped C.C. Banana win the costume contest by screaming themselves raw. Thanks also to Eddie Trunk, his intern Andrew, Johnny "Hard Rock" and everyone behind the scenes of this haunted Halloween happening. Finally, very special thanks to Ace Frehley himself for putting on a kick-ass show and for not being drunk or high or falling off the stage. Then again, that might have been fun to watch, too. |
For further coverage of the Eddie Trunk Halloween Bash 2007, visit French fan site Diamont Noir by clicking HERE. To read Eddie's own recap of the festivities, click HERE and to view Eddie's photos from the event, click HERE. If by then you're still in the mood for more Halloween hijinks, we recommend putting on a Quiet Riot mask, grabbing a kitchen knife and skulking around the neighborhood like Jason Voorhees. Yep, that ought to do the trick. |
Happy Halloween, everyone! |
Metal Sludge Sludging to Hell (by Way of Jendell) |
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