I’ll talk about Robert Plant tomorrow. Naturally, he did NOT play ‘Down to the Sea,’ but it was excellent. But today is Starchild’s birthday.  Paul Stanley turns 59 today, holy crap. About 6 different times in my life I thought Kiss was the coolest thing on earth – 70s of course, also 1982 ‘Creatures of the Night,’ 1992 ‘Revenge,’ and the ’96 reunion.  It looked like they were gonna get bloated and ride it out for the cash after that, cause a show I saw a few years later was really lifeless. But to their credit, they ditched Peter (always sucked) and Ace (he’s lost it, I wish it wasn’t true) grabbed two new guys and started doing great shows again.

Big credit for that has got to go to Paul, who never left the band, never wandered into movies and TV like his partner Gene, and is way overlooked when the “best frontman in rock” conversation comes up.  Plus, he seems to have gained a bit of a sense of humor and understanding about his place in the world. Back around ’84 I listened to a radio interview where he savaged the film ‘Spinal Tap,’ as if it was an attack on his very soul.  When the DJ tried to wind up the topic, asking if Paul would advise people to take the film with a grain of salt, Stanley angrily spat “I think they should bring a lorry full of salt!”  (Credit to him, it was an English radio show.)

Contrast that with the self-deprication he demonstrates at the start of this ‘Nightline’ clip, crediting the wonders modern science can do with formaldehyde for his good looks, or the Led Zeppelin ‘Whole Lotta Love’ party he’s having here at a recent London show:

Just a wink and a nod, makes it all cool again. Now if only we can get an official release of ‘Let Me Get This Off My Chest,’ the hysterical collection of between-song raps some genius collected a few years back..