Gene Simmons

And I used to go to the library every day after yeshiva. I was studying to be a rabbi, but then I discovered girls. So I was in school, yeshiva, which means the sitting, the whole day. And afterwards I'd go to the library, which was only a few blocks down. And I'm the only guy I've ever met or talked to who's actually read the Encyclopedia Britannica, cover to cover.

I am the corniest, most boring guy at a party.

I am the corniest, most boring guy at a party.

Even during college, I went to the State University upstate New York, took out my own bank loan, paid for it myself and all that. So afternoons, I'd be the lifeguard at the Pines Hotel up in the Catskill Mountains, otherwise called the Jewish Mountains, literally. Because every weekend you'd have Jerry Lewis there and like all these guys, Milton Berle.

Even during college, I went to the State University upstate New York, took out my own bank loan, paid for it myself and all that. So afternoons, I'd be the lifeguard at the Pines Hotel up in the Catskill Mountains, otherwise called the Jewish Mountains, literally. Because every weekend you'd have Jerry Lewis there and like all these guys, Milton Berle.

And so I worked right after I'd finished classes and I'd go make some more money. And on the weekends, the Wicked, not Wicked Lester, but what was it called? Bullfrog beer. That was the college band, and we played covers and some of my original songs, which by then I learned how to write my own songs. Not very good. Two of them or so wound up being Kiss songs.

And so I worked right after I'd finished classes and I'd go make some more money. And on the weekends, the Wicked, not Wicked Lester, but what was it called? Bullfrog beer. That was the college band, and we played covers and some of my original songs, which by then I learned how to write my own songs. Not very good. Two of them or so wound up being Kiss songs.

And during one weekend, I'd make more money with the band having fun with the chicks and the attention and all that than I would the whole week working. It started to make more financial sense Yes, I had more fun. And then I graduated in 1972 from the City University at Richmond College and started teaching sixth grade in Spanish Harlem.

And during one weekend, I'd make more money with the band having fun with the chicks and the attention and all that than I would the whole week working. It started to make more financial sense Yes, I had more fun. And then I graduated in 1972 from the City University at Richmond College and started teaching sixth grade in Spanish Harlem.

Segway to being the assistant to the editor of Vogue magazine, assistant to the director of the Puerto Rican Interagency Council, a government-funded research and demonstration project, where I saved $23,000 by the time I was 23 years of age. I lived at home. Makes more sense. You want to meet in Chicago? Go to the Holiday Inn. Otherwise... Save your money. Yeah. Save your money.

Segway to being the assistant to the editor of Vogue magazine, assistant to the director of the Puerto Rican Interagency Council, a government-funded research and demonstration project, where I saved $23,000 by the time I was 23 years of age. I lived at home. Makes more sense. You want to meet in Chicago? Go to the Holiday Inn. Otherwise... Save your money. Yeah. Save your money.

lived at home when I didn't need to spend money. But of course I contributed a little bit. And we, I met another guy too. who shared the love of English music, which is really American music, anglicized. We were anglophiles, the Beatles and the Stones and Zeppelin and all that, and made our own pastiche, our own thing, like they did their own thing of American music. And by 1973,

lived at home when I didn't need to spend money. But of course I contributed a little bit. And we, I met another guy too. who shared the love of English music, which is really American music, anglicized. We were anglophiles, the Beatles and the Stones and Zeppelin and all that, and made our own pastiche, our own thing, like they did their own thing of American music. And by 1973,

We got signed to Casablanca Records, a new record label.

We got signed to Casablanca Records, a new record label.

23.

23.

22.

22.

Yes, it was.