'Welcome to my ACE ARCHIVES! Let
me tell you a little about myself...
I
discovered KISS about the time Destroyer had come
out. My friends played me their records and I became
a big fan, fast forward to 1990 I met Ace Frehley.
Yes, it was very cool to meet the man himself! We
hit it right off and it was then that I began to collect
and hunt down any rare or unique items on Ace that
I could find. As our friendship grew, he gave me many
one of a kind items for my collection. I am a guitar
tech for a living, and it wasn't long until I was
repairing and modifying Ace's guitars and amps because
he wanted to see what I could do. Many times I would
trade my luthiery (fancy term for guitar tech) services
in exchange for some of his privately owned memorabilia.
Yes, I was smart in knowing that these were pieces
of history – and that someone should archive
them!
During that time my collection grew at an amazing
rate and I would display some of my favorite
pieces at the New York KISS Expos. 1993 was the first
time I unveiled the "Archives" display and
Ace, himself an attendee, was proud to see it. I just
wish someone had a camera handy at that moment! I
also fronted an Ace tribute band called 'Fractured
Mirror' and we played at those conventions as
well as clubs in the tri-state area and made it into
a film called "Kiss Loves You". However,
in 1995 when Ace rejoined Kiss, I was just out of
the loop for the “Unplugged” show. I went
on to fall out of touch with Ace entirely. But the
fan who met Ace in ’90 is still a (albeit less
rabid) fan today and keeper of the Archives.
Most of my memorabilia is no longer in my collection
as I now collect other artists, but I still have some
sentimental items. Ace's star earring that he wore
on the cover of the first KISS album and at many early
KISS gigs, the all aluminum "Veleno" guitar
he played on stage during the "Alive" era,
as well as some stage clothing from his solo years
that he gave to me. While I am still a Kiss fan and
still love the original band, I have moved on to collecting
and enjoying the music of other artists like Elvis,
(who we have a whole room dedicated to), Johnny Cash
(I have one of his suits), Blue Cheer, (who are good
friends of mine), and the Finnish band HIM (who I've
met and photographed, and are awesome in concert),
among others.
Mixed in with my guitar work schedule and other projects,
I finally finished working on a 128 page color photo
book showing off my collection of images and memorabilia
titled: "Ace Frehley
The Ultimate Fan Scrapbook". It has been
a project "In the works" for many years
and I can't believe it is finally finished! I know
there are a lot of fans of his out there that know
Ace is a part of rock history, and want to see a positive
book about him. Well I've self published this book,
out of the belief that there are a lot of fans out
there that want to see great concert photos, documents,
memorabilia, song lyrics, and unique items that only
I had access to. A chronological passage of time in
Ace's life from the early KISS days up until the KISS
"reunion", and a tribute to the man in pictures.
What really made it worth the work was seeing Ace
in Oct. 2008 and giving him a copy and having him
say "Thank You".
This website is all for you, the fans. Check out 'The
Archive' and watch the videos, read the stories, hang
out and have fun. Just think, I had to store all of
it!'
