Ace On Ed's Bike Mid 80's
Today Ace has a couple of Harleys himself !!
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I first met Ace at his birthday party in 1981 or maybe it was 1982, I
don't remember. In fact, I don't know if I remember too much about that party because I
got pretty blasted. Richie, myself, & our girlfriends arrived 6 hours
before the other guests arrived at the Ace's house. Richie was playing with
Ace's new project, "Ace Frehley's Comet," so they wanted to go over some
things before the party started. Well, to make a long story short, it took them
about 20 minutes to do what they had to do in the studio and then we sat down at
the bar and proceeded to get completely drunk. I'm usually a light
drinker, but given the surroundings and a most congenial host who just kept
pouring, I went along for the ride. By about 6:00 PM, I was pretty much three sheets to the wind and
Ace was on fire. I don't remember why but I can remember laughing so hard that I
felt like I was at a Sam Kinnison show. When Ace gets going sometimes it's like
a 3 ring circus. He is one of those guys who really knows how to party.
By the time the regular guests started arriving we were all 20 miles higher than they were. I look back at that party and I realize why Ace had such a bad rep for partying--it was probably because he would just start early in the day. |
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Photo--1984 |
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The next time I saw Ace was a couple of weeks later it in the lobby of the Chicago Hilton. It was about 9:00 PM and we had just spent a grueling day of traveling. We were all pretty beat from traveling, but Ace was in a partying mood. I'll never forget as long as I live, he was laughing and cackling in a high pitched voice in the lobby of this fancy-shmancy hotel. He was very animated to say the least. Ace had an incredible 24 track in-home studio used for band rehearsals.. He probably spent half a million on it. More people play guitar today because of Ace Frehley than all the Beatle, Page, Hendrix, Beck, Van Halen & Clapton influenced guitar players put together. I know that is hard to believe but as a guitar dealer I am 100% sure of it. Otherwise the Les Paul guitar would surely have gone the way of the DoDo... KISS as a band was so huge that they crossed the normal boundaries of music. The seventies belonged to KISS, there were tons of kids who saw those shows and wanted to be just like Ace !!!! That is why I can make the statement that, "Ace Frehley is probably the most influential guitarist in the history of the world." While not having the incredibly high talent level that the aforementioned people had, Ace influenced people with incredible showmanship and incredible promotion like the world had never seen. Ed Roman |
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Photo--18 Years Later 2002 |
Paul "ACE" Frehley
Washburn Ace
Frehley Model
Usually seen in
black & white - this one in black & red is very rare.
Ed Roman Improves on the original design
The Qriginal was a low cost imported bolt on guitar, The Ed Roman model is a handmade neck through body USA guitar !!
The Original used a Washburn Wonder Bar Tremolo, The Ed Roman model uses an original Floyd Rose Tremolo !!
The Ed Roman model uses high quality tone wood, nickel silver frets, Seymour Duncan Pickup
Ace & Lindsey Star Roman
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Ace Frehley is the lead guitarist of the hard rock/heavy metal band Kiss. He joined Kiss in late 1973. Frehley walked into the auditions for the lead guitarist position, wearing one red shoe and one orange shoe. As the band was still talking to Bob Kulick, the previous person to audition, Frehley started playing his guitar to warm up his fingers. Kiss members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons threatened to throw him out, then noticed his mismatched shoes, and decided to give him a chance to audition. When the band played "Deuce" and Frehley whipped out an impressive guitar solo, Stanley and Simmons realized that they had found their guitarist. Thus, the original Kiss lineup was finally completed. When Kiss decided to start wearing makeup on stage, Frehley
became the spaceman because he was fascinated with science fiction and space
travel. Though he wrote many of Kiss' classic hits, including "Cold Frehley did not sing any of his own songs until 1977, when he sang lead vocals on the song "Shock Me", from the album "Love Gun". His solo album in 1978 quickly became the best-selling of the four members' solo albums. Frehley left Kiss in 1982 because of creative differences with Simmons and Stanley. He formed his own band, Frehley's Comet, in the mid 1980s, and signed to Atlantic/Megaforce Records. His first album with his new band was called Frehley's Comet, released in 1987. Frehley's band consisted of Tod Howarth on guitars and vocals, John Regan on bass, and Anton Fig on drums, who had played drums with Frehley on his first solo album. The hit song "Rock Soldiers" was featured on this album. Frehley's Comet released a mini live album titled Live + 1, in early 1988. It featured four live tracks plus one studio track, hence the name of the album. Second Sighting (1988), featured Jamie Oldaker on drums, replacing Fig. Fig would return for the next album. By 1989, conflicts erupted within Frehley's band, and Howarth left. Regan and Fig remained with Frehley, and Frehley released the Trouble Walkin' album under his own name. Former Kiss bandmate Peter Criss appeared on the album playing percussion. After this release, Frehley did some touring with Criss in the "Bad Boys Of Kiss" tour. Frehley joined his old bandmates in 1996 for Kiss' "MTV Unplugged" album. He officially rejoined Kiss a few months later, and went on a huge worldwide reunion tour, which became the most popular tour of that year. In 1998, Kiss released the "Psycho Circus" album. Frehley sang on two songs on the album, "Into The Void", which he wrote, and "In Your Face", which was a song that Gene Simmons wrote for him to sing. "In Your Face" was only featured on the Japanese version of the album. The band went back out on the road to support the album. In 2000, Kiss went on the road for what was to be their last tour, known as "The Farewell Tour". However, all was not well within the band. In January, 2001, Peter Criss left Kiss after a contractual dispute, forcing the band to rehire Eric Singer and put him in the catman makeup for the remainder of the tour. Frehley finished "The Farewell Tour" with Kiss, then assumed that he could go back to his solo career. Then Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley announced that they would not be retiring as planned, and planned more tour dates. Frehley strongly disapproved of this action and refused to tour with Kiss anymore. Gene and Paul welcomed Peter Criss back to the band, and hoped that they could persuade Frehley to come along as well, but Frehley declined to rejoin Kiss, stating that his contract with the band ended after the completion of "The Farewell Tour", and that he didn't want to keep performing the same old songs with Kiss for the rest of his life. Thus, Kiss had no choice but to hire guitarist Tommy Thayer, a longtime supporter of the band, to wear Frehley's spaceman makeup and costume, and continue on. Currently, Frehley is busy in his home studio, recording his first solo album in more than ten years. He seems to hold no bitterness against Kiss, but is happy to be recording his own music at his own pace. While most fans would rather see him perform with Kiss, Frehley is assuring his fans that his new solo album will be well worth the wait. It appears that Frehley has no plans to reunite with Kiss anytime soon, but only time will tell.
(Excerpts and pics were assembled from internet and personal resources.) |
Gin" and "Strange Ways", he was afraid to sing lead vocals, so he let either
Gene Simmons or Peter Criss sing the songs he wrote.