I'm up early this morning, mainly because I can't sleep. So as any good man would do, I pull up the Axiom Message Board and start skimming through all the new posts. So here I am, Hello!
I thought I'd take some time this morning and share with you a little bit about the man who I've been blessed to know for many years, Gene Simmons.
I won't discus how our relationship began at this point in time, but more so share with you some things you may or may not know about the man.
Aside from being one of the founding members of KISS, Gene also has his own record company (SIMMONS RECORDS), and his own book company (SIMMONS BOOKS), but it doesn't stop there. Gene also owns SIMMONS AUDIO VISUAL, which released his SPEAKING IN TONGUES lecture, and he also published his own magazine GENE SIMMONS TONGUE.
Gene has two reality shows, the first, GENE SIMMONS ROCK SCHOOL, which can been seen on VH1, and his forthcoming GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS, which will be aired on A&E.
He is the creator and exec producer of the smash cartoon MY DAD THE ROCK STAR, seen on Nickelodeon. He created the show MR. ROMANCE on the Oxygen channel, and he co-created the forthcoming series HIT MEN which will be aired on ABC.
And if that wasn't enough, lol, Gene discovered Van Halen and produced their 15 song demo. He's managed the recording career of Liza Minnelli, among others. He produced New Line Pictures’ DETROIT ROCK CITY. He's starred in many motion pictures, AND he has written two New York Times Best Selling Books, KISS AND MAKEUP (Crown) and SEX, MONEY, KISS (Simmons Books/New Millenium). I've often asked him when's he have time to take a you know what, let alone sleep. lol
Now that I've shared with you SOME of his accomplishments, let me share with you a little bit about the Man.
Gene Simmons was born in Haifa, Israel in 1949 and is the only child of his mother, a German Nazi Concentration Camp survivor. He moved here to the states when he was 8 years old.
He grew up in New York, where he graduated State University (NYSU) and City University (CUNY) and got a Bachelor of Education degree. Later, and this still cracks me up, but I swear it's true, he taught sixth grade in Spanish Harlem in New York City.
When he couldn't take any more of that, he then became the Assistant to the Director of the Puerto Rican InterAgency Council, a government funded research and demonstration project. He also worked at Glamour and then at Vogue, as the assistant to the editor, Kate Lloyd.
Something Gene and I also have in common, other then music, is he can speak a few languages. Gene can speak English, Hungarian, Hebrew, German and is getting better at Japanese every day. At present, he is becoming fascinated by Mandarin Chinese and has every intention of becoming fluent in it. And believe me, make no mistake about it, he will. lol
Well guys, that doesn't even begin to touch the tip of the iceberg, but it's all I have time to share right now (my coffee's getting cold).
So, I leave you with these words:
Be true, be real, be honest with oneself. Follow your dreams, lead with your heart, and never give up when the chips are down.
Talk with you soon.
Sutter
