“Unplugged” as many of you music fans might already have known is the highly popular MTV series that features major recording artists in an acoustic format. That’s right, no electric    instruments. The band members perform in an intimate setting with a small but very enthusiastic audience cheering their heroes on. One of the early participants  of “Unplugged” was none other then KISS — and it was their one and only unplugged and close up ever. That was a real thrill for me because I got to see a Kiss without the loud amps and flaming guitars and also without their trademark makeup and costumes.  I was such a    Kiss fan and member of the “Kiss army”  that I wore out my copy of “Destroyer” to the point that have the record had scratches and the songs skipped like crazy!

Now years removed from my high school KISS phase their was a buzz on famous west 48th street that KISS would be rehearsing their ‘Unplugged’ segment at SIR sound studios just a few blocks away! Hot news like that sure travels fast around midtown Manhattan. At that time, KISS had only two members of their original line up still in tact: Paul Stanely on guitar and vocals and Gene Simmons on bass guitar and vocals. Rounding out that current line up was Eric Singer on drums and Bruce Kulick also on guitar. When I first heard of the rehearsal I thought for a moment about the former  lead guitarist and  a founding member of the band Ace Frehley.  With all due respect to the current line up, I believe Kiss   was at its best in the glory days with Ace on lead guitar! Despite the thrill of the upcoming Kiss unplugged segment, it was hard to imagine the band without its   fast fingered , heavy metal legend.

But something strange happened later that morning: Ace Frehley called the store. He explained to me he needed some guitar accessories and asked me to pack up some strings, a tuner and a few extra long guitar cables and to have it all ready for him when he pulled his car around to the front of the store. “Good plan,” I thought to myself. As Ace has said many times, “I always get  my car ticketed when I visit 48th street.” So I assured him I’d have it all in place for him and hung up the phone.

And then it hit me right between the eyes. This was no coincidence. When Ace pulled up in his Lincoln town car later in the afternoon, I couldn’t resist asking in a matter-of-fact tone : “Heading over to SIR studios?” “Yep,” he replied. Ace is not a man of many words apparently. “Well good luck at rehearsal,” I said as I gave him the thumbs up sign.

The rest, as they say, is rock ‘n roll history: “KISS Unplugged” received tremendous ratings on MTV. The one moment during the performance when all the members of the KISS family (former & present band members) performed together served as the springboard for the KISS Reunion Tour featuring all the original members back in their full KISS make up.

This past summer, a bunch of sales-guys on music row had our own “unplugged,” acoustic jam session showcase in the middle of the street. It happened the night of Aug.14th, the night of the New York’s third major blackout in 50 years, that effected most of the northeastern USA . I was on my home, already settled in to my seat on the Long Island Railroad, and had my lap-top flipped open to review some photos of some new cool custom shop guitars I took earlier that day with my digital camera. The train took off right on time and headed into the dark tunnel. But at about 10 minutes into the trip, the train came to a halt and the lights went dim. No one new what was going on, not even the conductors and train personal on board. Within ten minutes anxious tension filled the train car. I imagine most of our minds had wondered  back to the September 11th terrorist attacks. I know mine certainly did. I finally remembered I had my small pocket radio which I more typically used to catch the afternoon Yankee games on the radio on the commute home.

Thankfully the radio worked it the darkened tunnel. I soon discovered that most of the northeast was without power and that I had become one of the most popular people on the train. I was transformed into the “information man”.  Finally after about two and a half very hot and very dark hours in the tunnel, the railroad personal hooked a diesel locomotive to the train and pushed us back into Penn Station. When we arrived at the platform we found it completely evacuated. My fellow passengers and I were ushered to the steps that led out of the station. As we emerged from Penn Station there was a bunch of news media trucks and reporters to greet us. Stranded so far from home, I left thousands of confused people behind me and headed right back to famous west 48th street and the familiar sight of music row.

Lesson Learned – be prepared for any emergency and have a plan