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Welcome to my ACE ARCHIVES! Let me tell
you a little about myself...
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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!'
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