Paul Stanley, from ‘chunky’ kid to fit KISS rocker

By James S. Fell

The “Starchild” outfit Paul Stanley wears as frontman forKISS is a revealing one. That’s why I chose it for Halloween a couple of years back. I wanted to showcase the efforts of my diet and exercise regimen. I got the hair wrong.

And at 61 years of age, Stanley can’t let himself go and still rock out to arenas full of screaming fans. As one of the hardest working bands in rock ‘n’ roll, he has a reputation to maintain — one he won’t let age tarnish. I’ve seen how lively KISS performances are up close and understand his dedication to fitness to keep the fans on their feet for the band’s Monster world tour.

Were you always such a fit guy?

The only exercise I got as a kid was fork to mouth. Food was equated with love in my household. I thought you left the table when the zipper was down and you’d explode if you took another bite. I’d eat my plate and then everyone else’s leftovers.

I was a chubby boy. My pants used to wear out in the middle, and it was because my legs used to rub together. I wasn’t obese, just chunky.

That doesn’t sound at all like the Paul Stanley we’ve seen on stage. What changed?

Even when the band started, I was chunkier, and the wide belt I used to wear on stage was a bit of a corset. Over the years that became unnecessary. I couldn’t do what I started doing onstage without “leaning out” because the physicality of it was akin to an aerobic workout. This was coupled with a mystery virus in the early ’70s that laid me up for a month and I barely ate. When that was over, I looked in the mirror and was pretty lean, and it had been a life dream of mine. And I decided to hang on to it.

Read the rest of the interview at LA Times

KISS Singer And Guitarist Paul Stanley Stays Fit

By Ben Radding

Photography by Glenn La Ferman

If you take away the black and white face paint, flashy stage outfits, and smoking guitars, KISS frontman Paul Stanley is an average guy—or at least he’s got average-guy priorities: staying fit, having fun, and enjoying his family. We recently caught up with the 61-year-old rocker, who told us why he stopped eating like a kid, how he balances his family with his tour dates, and his secret to avoiding drugs and alcohol when a rock-and-roll lifestyle practically spoon feeds you opportunities to indulge.

How would you say your diet and fitness routine today differs from your lifestyle in the 70s and 80s?

My routine then was: Eat whatever’s in front of you. Youth is incredible because you really do feel invincible. I had no real routine as far as diet; I ate what I wanted to. Back then I tended to eat a lot of sugars. I ate a lot of cookies, a lot of ice cream; I didn’t eat a lot of proper food. I started working out, doing a formal workout right around 1980. That’s when I really decided I needed to get in shape and it may have been because you just start to see a decrease—a change in your body. The workout I was doing then would kill me today.

What is your routine? Do you do it with a trainer?

It really depends. There’s certainly a time before a tour where you start to count days until you’re leaving and that’s crunch time—no pun intended. My workout is always with a trainer because, quite honestly, I don’t think most people are motivated enough to do what they need to on their own. You either need a spotter or you need a trainer. You need somebody there to push you to get that extra five.

Your performances often seem like workouts in themselves.

You can’t do that unless you train for it. You can’t enter the Olympics unless you do your routine to get in shape for it. The idea of going out on stage on a tour without having prepped for it would be suicide, literally.

How did you avoid alcohol and drugs in a culture that is surrounded by it—and it’s almost expected of you?

Common sense. You just have to look around you, and you have two choices. You either go “Gee, I want to be just like him!” or not. In the music business, I always go back to, if all those vices and excesses were so great, you’d probably be doing this interview with Jim Morrison or Jimi Hendrix or……

 

Read the rest of the interview here.

 

SXSW: Adly contest for start-ups gives winner a celebrity tweet

BY ANDREA CHANG

AUSTIN, Texas — Want a major celebrity to endorse your start-up company on Twitter?

Westwood-based Adly, a marketing platform that connects brands with celebrities on social media, is holding a contest during South by Southwest for start-ups that want a little boost from a big name.

Entrants just need to submit a pitch of 140 characters or fewer to Adly’s Twitter handle with the format: “Hey @Adly ____________________ #SXSW #pitchadly.”

At a “Sunday Funday” event featuring L.A. tech companies, Adly Chief Executive Walter Delph said that as SXSW’s Interactive festival grows each year, start-ups can struggle to get noticed.

“Now you have multi-billion companies like Samsung who are here, so it’s harder for smaller companies to bubble to the top,” Delph said from Austin’s Frank restaurant, where a capacity crowd snacked on currywurst and downed cocktails adorned with bacon strips. “We want to help in an authentic way.”

Read the rest of the artice at LA Times

Celebrity Go Kart Tournament – Tickets now available

News about the Celebrity Go Kart Tournament

WHAT: Celebrity Go Kart Tournament
WHEN: May 28, 2011
TIME: 2pm – 7pm
WHERE: K1 Speed [19038 South Vermont Avenue, Gardena, CA 90248]

…Celebrities appearing at the events…

UFC Champion Tito Ortiz

 Kyla Pratt (Hotel For Dogs, Dr. Dolittle)

 Darren and Jamie Sharper (Seattle Seahawks)

 Rockmond Dunbar (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Prison Break)

Buy tickets here