LibGuides: Rock & Roll Hall of Famers with Ties to Long Island: K

K

The Daisy -- as located at 124 Broadway in Amityville, New York -- was the site of multiple early performances by future Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band KISS. The band's June 16, 1973 performance at The Daisy can be heard here. Video filmed of the interior of the later-rebuilt spot can be seen here. Reportedly, the original site of The Daisy is now a parking lot for doctor's offices located at 120 Broadway, and the building housing The Daisy was torn down in the early 2000s.

Flyer for KISS performing at The Daisy:

r/KISS - Throwback Thursday: (04/14/73) The Daisy, Amityville, Long Island, NY - Details in comments

Photo of KISS performing live at The Daisy in 1973:

Kiss- The Daisy, Amityville, NY 6/16/73

Photo of the members of KISS with Sid, believed owner of The Daisy:

Throwback Thursday: (04/14/73) The Daisy, Amityville, Long Island, NY - Details in comments : r/KISS

Ad for a then-upcoming KISS performance at The Daisy from 1973:

KISS Concert History Online - Decades on Tour Detailed: In The Clubs, 03/09/1973

Business card ad then-upcoming KISS performances at The Daisy from 1973:

KISS Concert History Online - Decades on Tour Detailed: In The Clubs, 08/18/1973

Art for bootleg CD showcasing a 1973 live performance of KISS at The Daisy:

KISS - Acrobat - Live at the Daisy - Amityville NY - June 16, 1973 #kiss #kissarmy

Another early spot of note for KISS, Calderone Music Hall was a theater located at 145 North Franklin Street in Hempstead, New York. Salvatore Calderone and son Dr. Frank Calderone were visionary theatre operators in Nassau County, New York, and their Calderone theatre circuit was initially known for showcasing films and live stage shows. The Calderone Theatre opened on June 21, 1949, and in January 1974, Concerts East (an Island Park promotion firm headed by local legend Phil Basile) announced that it would manage the Calderone as a music venue. Reportedly due to a contractual obligation, the Calderone had to keep showing The Godfather Part II while staging concerts only on weekends after midnight. Capacity of the venue was believed to be for around 2,200 patrons.

KISS aside, among the notable artists who performed at Calderone Music Hall over the next decade into the mid-1980s were Aerosmith, Journey, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Joel (Hicksville native), Electric Light Orchestra, Peter Frampton (who recorded some of his best-selling Frampton Comes Alive album in Commack), ZZ Top, The J. Geils Band, Santana, Barry Manilow, The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, The Ramones (whose guitarist Johnny Ramone had ties to Westbury), Meat Loaf (whose primary songwriter Jim Steinman was a native of Hewlett), Hall & Oates, Van Halen, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Dire Straits, Elvis Costello, Judas Priest, Devo, Def Leppard, The Stray Cats (natives of Massapequa), The Talking Heads, Motorhead, Santana, The Pretenders, Cheap Trick, The B-52s, Twisted Sister (which includes multiple Long Island natives), and Blondie. More on Calderone Music Hall and other defunct Long Island concert venues can be found here.

Another venue of significance for KISS is the Nassau Coliseum, which KISS played on many occasions. The Coliseum is where KISS had "their blood extracted for their first Marvel comic book" in 1977. Per a contract located online: “This is to certify that Kiss members, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss, have each donated blood which is being collectively mixed with the red ink to be used for the first issue of the Marvel/Kiss comics. The blood was extracted on February 21st, 1977 at Nassau Coliseum and has been under guarded refrigeration until this day when it was delivered to the Borden Ink plant in Depew, New York.” That issue was released on June 21, 1977. (Thanks to Grog Zeichner for this information.)

Another tie that KISS has to Long Island is its collaboration with Freeport native Lou Reed on its 1981 album The Elder. Reed is credited as a co-writer on three of the album's songs, including "Dark Light," "A World Without Heroes" and "Mr. Blackwell." "A World Without Heroes" was a commercial released single, as later also recorded by Cher with backing vocalist Richard Marx. Video of the band performing "A World Without Heroes" on the Fridays TV show can be seen here.

Also Long Island-related with related to KISS is that Ace Frehley released his Anomaly album on vinyl via the Island-based record label Brookvale Records. This tied in with at least one in-store appearance that Frehley did at the Brookvale-affiliated Looney Tunes Records. KISS also had documented in-store appearances at Tower Records stores on Long Island.

Both Frehley and Simmons performed at The Paramount in Huntington in recent years.

KISS performing live at Calderone Hall in 1975:

KISS rocks the Calderone on Aug. 23, 1975.