andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Band Hero let's you be Taylor Swift without being interrupted by Kanye West!

After last week’s amazing DLC 3 pack of Gwar, Marilyn Manson, and The Misfits is there any better way to follow it up than offering a new game featuring Taylor Swift and Adam Levine?  Heck no!

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A man was arrested at Kiss’ TD Garden show in Boston on Oct. 5 for urinating on a concertgoer standing in front of him, according to RollingStone.com.

A woman was watching the rock band perform when she suddenly experienced a “warm feeling on the back of her leg.” The woman turned around to see where the warmth was coming from, only to find that the man behind her was urinating.

Security was called over and the man was escorted away and detained until police arrived on the scene.

Chris Morris of Boston was charged with open and gross lewdness and disorderly conduct. Morris was reportedly also highly intoxicated, slurring his speech while an alcoholic musk emanated from him.

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KISS could be seeing a lot of Canada come September.

The rock icons announced a contest in April asking North Americans to decide its concert tour route this fall by voting online for which cities should be on the schedule.

So far, Winnipeg is topping the list, and that’s not all – seven other cities in the top 10 are in Canada: Kingston, Ont., Oshawa, Ont., Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton and Saskatoon.

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Kiss front man Gene Simmons is coming to Canada for Canadian Music Week and is looking for the next big Canadian super band. Simmons is looking for a group that has something better than raw talent, good looks and songwriting capabilities; he is looking for star power.

“I don’t want someone who sings well, I want someone who is charismatic beyond charisma,” said Simmons, the keynote speaker at Canadian Music Week. “A star is going to be bigger than the songs they sing.”

The entrepreneur and superstar started up his own record company last year called Simmons Records. Cbc.ca reports that Simmons is exclusively interested in tapping into the Canadian music market, as Canada harbors many undiscovered musical talents.

“There is as much musical talent here as in the States, don’t kid yourself,” he said. “And unless you provide them with the industry and the pop culture, they will move across the border. It’s not far.”

Gene Simmons and co. are bound for Canada’s east coast.

KISS will headline the Halifax Rocks 2009 show in the Nova Scotia capital on July 18, the band’s first time performing in the Maritimes since the mid-’70s.

“There’s a lot that’s been written and said about the types of music that Halifax wants to see, and what we keep hearing is it wants good ol’ rock ’n’ roll,” concert promoter Harold MacKay said at a media conference Tuesday.

The event at the Commons park will also welcome four additional performers; they will be announced at a later date.

Tickets go on sale Friday at 9 a.m. via the Ticket Atlantic Box Office, select Atlantic Superstores, the Ticket Atlantic website or by phone.

KISS haven’t released a new studio album since 1998’s “Psycho Circus,” but guitarist Paul Stanley recently told Classic Rock magazine that the band may record a new album and tour European and North America in the near future.

Simmons was also in Toronto late last year scouting talent for his relaunched ’80s label, Simmons Records.

Canadian heartthrob Hayden Christensen still has a few Jedi skills. In fact, he’s a 10 out of 10, says his “Jumper” co-star Rachel Bilson.

“I’m sure all the ladies will be happy to know Hayden is a 10 when it comes to kissing,” she told Bang Showbiz.

In return, Christensen commented that, “Rachel is top notch too, we kiss well.”

Bilson and Christensen, both 26, have been spending quite a lot of time together since meeting on the “Jumper” set, but have never confirmed a relationship.

Though Bilson said she still finds sex scenes uncomfortable to film, she was glad to have Christensen as her partner. “I was lucky enough to have someone as handsome as Hayden, but it’s always a bit awkward,” she said.

“Jumper” opens Thursday.

Rocker GENE SIMMONS has ruled out ever hitting the road with the original KISS line-up again because he can no longer put up with ACE FREHLEY and PETER CRISS’ substance abuse issues.

The bass player admits he still loves his old bandmates dearly but he can no longer spend time with them on tour.

He says, “I love (Ace) dearly, he’s a sweetheart, but he’s his own worst enemy. He’s great with lots of people around but when he’s alone he doesn’t like himself. And he numbs himself. He’s been numbing himself for 34 years.

“I personally don’t want to (tour with them). I love Ace and Peter, always have, and because of my tough love thing I’ve never been shy about saying they’ve been drug addicts and alcoholics, and they’ve destroyed themselves.”

But Simmons insists he can’t completely rule out a reunion tour – especially if the price is right: “I reserve the right to change my mind about Ace and Peter any time I choose. Never say never… People say you can’t be bought… (but) even God passes the hat around at the end of the sermon.”

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Paul Stanley, singer and guitarist for Kiss, has found a record label to release his first solo album in nearly 30 years. “Live to Win” will hit stores on October 24 through Universal subsidiary New Door records.

Billboard reports that the 10-track album was recorded along with drummer Victor Indrizzo, guitarist Corky James, ex-Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, ex-Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, and keyboardist Harry Sommerdahl. String arrangements were put together by David Campbell.

“It’s not 1978 anymore,” Stanley said last fall, referring to the year his last solo album came out. “It’s certainly the same mentality, and certainly I’m a better singer today. My perspective and where I’m at in my life at this point, and what I’ve experienced and seen, brings something else to the table that wasn’t there then.”

A club tour is expected to be announced for this fall in support of the disc.

Here’s the complete track list for “Live to Win”:

“Live To Win”
“Lift”
“Wake Up Screaming”
“Every Time I See You Around”
“Bulletproof”
“All About You”
“Second to None”
“It’s Not Me”
“Loving You Without You Now”
“Where Angels Dare”

They may like to rock and roll all night, but they won’t be doing it at the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony this year.

The Associated Press reports that Kiss fans held a protest outside of the museum in Cleveland on Saturday to protest the fact that the 70s rockers have not been inducted into the hall of fame, despite the fact that they have been eligible since the 1990s.

A band is eligible for induction into the hall of fame 25 years after their first record was released. The protest saw 200 Kiss fans outside the hall of fame, some even in trademark Kiss make up.

A spokesperson for the hall of fame told the Associated Press this is the first time that fans have protest an artist not getting into the hall of fame.

Kiss has made it a little easier for fans to be able to rock ‘n’ roll all night and party every day.

The 70s band Kiss, you know the guys in the makeup with lead singer Gene Simmons, who claims he has one of the biggest tongues in the world, will be giving their name to a coffee shop in South Carolina, Billboard magazine reports.

The deal was brokered through Signature Networks, the band’s exclusive merchandising company.

The Kiss Caf? is set to open June 27 in Myrtle Beach, with Kiss band mates Paul Stanley and Simmons on hand for the ribbon cutting ceremony.