I’m going to dispense with the Buttkickin’ Halloween etc. crap for a moment.

Because my heart is entirely broken.

Ace Frehley died today.

Paul Daniel Frehley (1951 – 2025) and Kiss was my entry drug into the world of hard rock and heavy metal. When I was 7 I received both Kiss Alive II and the 1978 Ace Frehley solo album for the holidays.

And I wore the hell out of both albums. I loved rock. I love comic book superheroes. And Kiss was the emblematic apex of both.

But The Spaceman was my absolute favorite. I even had the action figure.

I used to jam Rip It Out, Shock Me, New York Groove, In Need Of Love, Fractured Mirror endlessly. Air-guitaring at first, until I finally picked up an electric guitar at age 12 and learned how to play the freakin’ thing.

Ace was a lot of things in life. But he was my rock and roll hero. My first rock and roll hero.

I managed to see Ace with Kiss on the 1996 reunion tour, which remains one of the Top 5 concerts of my life. I saw him a few times as a solo artist. But if I could relive one show, it would be the 2008 House of Blues Orlando show.

Click the link. Check out that setlist. Unreal. I bonded with so many fellow Kiss nerds that night, it was utterly disturbing.

I’m including Shock Me tonight because (1) it’s an outstanding tune, (2) it was his vocal debut with Kiss, (3) he wrote the song about his real-life experience of getting electrocuted before a show, and (4) we can tie it back in to Halloween because of the real-life near-death experience and also (5) that’s how you bring Frankensteins to life.

So there.

My heart is broken. But my life was made so much fucking better by Kiss. And the Spaceman.

By Ace Frehley. Lead guitarist of Kiss. A rock-n-roll freakin’ icon.

Shock me
Make me feel better…