- Title: USA: Hard rock band Kiss participate in the annual New York Halloween parade
- Date: 2nd November 2006
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 31, 2006) (REUTERS) THE GRAND MARSHALS OF THE 2006 NEW YORK'S VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE, GENE SIMMONS (WHO SHOWS HIS TONGUE) AND PAUL STANLEY OF THE AMERICAN HARD ROCK BAND KISS, WALKING TOWARDS THEIR FLOAT SIMMONS AND STANLEY ON THEIR FLOAT
- Embargoed: 17th November 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVAAVAMFIUC9QQ9X090VLYC7KAYN
- Story Text: The 33rd annual New York Village Halloween parade kicked off in the Big Apple on the evening of Tuesday (October 31) with a push by the hard rock band that is known best for its trademark face paint and elaborate stage performances.
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of "Kiss", played their role of Halloween parade grand marshals to the hilt -- turning up in their legendary black and white performance finery and heavy face paint, with a lot of energy to expend on wild gestures and tongue display.
At a news conference before the parade began, Stanley spoke about the duo serving as the marshals of the much feted parade.
"Being New Yorkers, I mean this is a tradition that goes back as long as we remember. So, when they asked us to come down in costume, we were going to come down in suits and ties. But we decided to wear our street gear and we are happy to see a whole city full of people who look as freaky as we do," said Stanley.
Stanley and Simmons participated in the parade also in support of the release of their new compilation, "KISSology: Volume One 1974-77", which goes back to the band's earliest live performances in the New York pre-punk glam rock bar scene of the 1970s, before tracing the transformation of KISS into an international phenomenon.
The parade that followed KISS's float was all about New Yorkers as well as visitors to the city living out their wildest fantasies and revelling in their dark and naughty sides. There were people dressed as flirtatious catholic priests, a man who said he was a ballerina on Viagra and displayed a mega size penis and still others who created their own characters, such as one man with drain-pipe like plastic long arms who called himself "Omega Acid".
But while there was a surfeit of over the top floats and costumes, some onlookers said that they had expected a more political element to the parade but didn't really see it.
There were a few people dressed up as American President George W. Bush, but apart from that, there were no big electoral themes, just references to current issues such as homophobia and the misunderstandings that Americans have about people in the Middle East.
Damon Rustin, who dressed up as Bush, was supportive of the American President, saying that he was great and that America as a country could do with more support from its own citizens.
"I feel as though we live in America and there's not enough people that support United States, and it's almost embarrassing. People should be more supportive," said Rustin.
Terry Kearney, a New Yorker who was one of the onlookers of the parade, said that she had expected the parade to be more political in nature because of the Iraq war and the upcoming U.S. midterm elections
"I was expecting the parade this year to be more political because of the war in Iraq and the elections coming next week and the possibility of the Republicans losing one part of Congress, or whatever," said Kearney.
George Fernandes, another parade participant said that even though he is from Cuba, he chose to dress up as a Moroccan in part because he wanted to make a statement about presenting the Middle Eastern point of view. He explained that all too often Americans have misconceptions about people from the Middle East.
"A lot of us that have been, most people that haven't been there, they don't know what the people are like and they all think that they're bad people and they're really not. They are very family oriented people, they are very hospitable people and they're nothing like what the media and the movies portray them to be," said Fernandes.
Jeanne Fleming, the parade's artistic and producing director, also agreed with some onlookers that while it was the midterm election period in America, the parade itself had not adopted a very political note.
"It certainly isn't as much as it was for the presidential election when we saw giant puppets and people doing a tremendous amount of work around political themes. That isn't probably going to be in evidence tonight," said Fleming.
She said that the theme for this year's parade was "The Village Hearth". The parade began in 1973 on a much smaller scale and developed over the years into the large spectacle that it is today. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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