KISS 'deeply honoured' to receive Kennedy Center Honor
The veteran rockers are among the recipients of the prestigious award - which "recognises and celebrates individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped our world" - this year and couldn't be happier to be recognised alongside the likes of stage star Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, country musician George Strait and actor Sylvester Stallone.
Paul Stanley told TMZ: "From our earliest days, Kiss has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off.
"The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of Kiss and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band."
Gene Simmons added: "Kiss is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honoured to receive the Kennedy Center Honor."
Ace Frehley said: "[It is] a dream come true that I never thought would materialise."
Peter Criss simply said: "I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honour of our career."
Despite various members of KISS being critical of President Donald Trump in the past, their remarks don't seem to have had an impact on their selection because the US leader said he was "very involved" in choosing the recipients and turned down some suggestions he didn't personally approve of.
Announcing the recipients this week, he said: 'I would say I was about 98 percent involved. They all went through me.
'... I had a couple of wokesters. Now, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be, very different.'
In a major change to the ceremony - which will take place on 7 December and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at a later date - the president himself will serve as host.
When he made the announcement at the Kennedy Center's Hall of Nations, where he unveiled five portraits draped in velvet, Trump admitted he himself had long wanted one of the prestigious accolades.
He said: 'I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'The hell with it, I'll become chairman and I'll give myself an honour ... Next year, we'll honour Trump, okay?'
Tom Cruise is believed to have turned down the honour due to scheduling conflicts.
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The Advertiser
5 hours ago
- The Advertiser
KISS 'deeply honoured' to receive Kennedy Center gong
KISS feel "deeply honoured" to be receiving a Kennedy Center honour. The veteran rockers are among the recipients of the prestigious award - which "recognises and celebrates individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped our world". They couldn't be happier to be recognised alongside the likes of stage star Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, country musician George Strait and actor Sylvester Stallone. "From our earliest days, Kiss has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off," frontman Paul Stanley told TMZ. "The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of Kiss and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band." Gene Simmons added: "Kiss is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honoured to receive the Kennedy Center Honor." Ace Frehley said: "(It is) a dream come true that I never thought would materialise." Peter Criss simply said: "I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honour of our career." Despite various members of KISS being critical of President Donald Trump in the past, their remarks don't seem to have had an impact on their selection because the US leader said he was "very involved" in choosing the recipients and turned down some suggestions he didn't personally approve of. "I would say I was about 98 per cent involved. They all went through me," he said while announcing the recipients this week," he said. "I had a couple of wokesters. Now, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be, very different." In a major change to the ceremony - which will take place on December 7 and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at a later date - the president himself will serve as host. When he made the announcement at the Kennedy Center's Hall of Nations, where he unveiled five portraits draped in velvet, Trump admitted he himself had long wanted one of the prestigious accolades. "I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'The hell with it, I'll become chairman and I'll give myself an honour ... Next year, we'll honour Trump, okay?" he said. Tom Cruise is believed to have turned down the honour due to scheduling conflicts. KISS feel "deeply honoured" to be receiving a Kennedy Center honour. The veteran rockers are among the recipients of the prestigious award - which "recognises and celebrates individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped our world". They couldn't be happier to be recognised alongside the likes of stage star Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, country musician George Strait and actor Sylvester Stallone. "From our earliest days, Kiss has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off," frontman Paul Stanley told TMZ. "The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of Kiss and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band." Gene Simmons added: "Kiss is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honoured to receive the Kennedy Center Honor." Ace Frehley said: "(It is) a dream come true that I never thought would materialise." Peter Criss simply said: "I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honour of our career." Despite various members of KISS being critical of President Donald Trump in the past, their remarks don't seem to have had an impact on their selection because the US leader said he was "very involved" in choosing the recipients and turned down some suggestions he didn't personally approve of. "I would say I was about 98 per cent involved. They all went through me," he said while announcing the recipients this week," he said. "I had a couple of wokesters. Now, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be, very different." In a major change to the ceremony - which will take place on December 7 and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at a later date - the president himself will serve as host. When he made the announcement at the Kennedy Center's Hall of Nations, where he unveiled five portraits draped in velvet, Trump admitted he himself had long wanted one of the prestigious accolades. "I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'The hell with it, I'll become chairman and I'll give myself an honour ... Next year, we'll honour Trump, okay?" he said. Tom Cruise is believed to have turned down the honour due to scheduling conflicts. KISS feel "deeply honoured" to be receiving a Kennedy Center honour. The veteran rockers are among the recipients of the prestigious award - which "recognises and celebrates individuals whose unique artistic contributions have shaped our world". They couldn't be happier to be recognised alongside the likes of stage star Michael Crawford, disco legend Gloria Gaynor, country musician George Strait and actor Sylvester Stallone. "From our earliest days, Kiss has embodied the American ideal that all things are possible and that hard work pays off," frontman Paul Stanley told TMZ. "The prestige of the Kennedy Center Honors cannot be overstated and I accept this on behalf of the long legacy of Kiss and all of the band members who helped create our iconic band." Gene Simmons added: "Kiss is the embodiment of the American dream. We are deeply honoured to receive the Kennedy Center Honor." Ace Frehley said: "(It is) a dream come true that I never thought would materialise." Peter Criss simply said: "I feel so blessed. This is the greatest honour of our career." Despite various members of KISS being critical of President Donald Trump in the past, their remarks don't seem to have had an impact on their selection because the US leader said he was "very involved" in choosing the recipients and turned down some suggestions he didn't personally approve of. "I would say I was about 98 per cent involved. They all went through me," he said while announcing the recipients this week," he said. "I had a couple of wokesters. Now, we have great people. This is very different than it used to be, very different." In a major change to the ceremony - which will take place on December 7 and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ at a later date - the president himself will serve as host. When he made the announcement at the Kennedy Center's Hall of Nations, where he unveiled five portraits draped in velvet, Trump admitted he himself had long wanted one of the prestigious accolades. "I waited and waited and waited, and I said, 'The hell with it, I'll become chairman and I'll give myself an honour ... Next year, we'll honour Trump, okay?" he said. Tom Cruise is believed to have turned down the honour due to scheduling conflicts.
7NEWS
7 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Tributes flow for bodybuilder Hayley McNeff after ‘unexpected' death, aged 37
The bodybuilding industry continues to be rocked by the premature deaths of its stars. Pro-bodybuilder Craig Licker (from Massachusetts in the US) died earlier this week at the age of 57, and it was also confirmed just days ago that former US bodybuilding champion Hayley McNeff has died at the age of 37. McNeff reportedly died at her home on August 8, with her obituary saying the young American's death was 'unexpected but peaceful'. 'Hayley was known for her quick wit and constant sense of humour, she had a gift for making those around her laugh and feel welcomed,' the obituary said. 'Her energy and determination was a constant in her life and she always accomplished what she set out to achieve.' 'She treasured her friendships and nurtured strong, lasting relationships with those who knew her best. Hayley will be deeply missed by her parents, siblings, extended family, and friends.' In a statement, her father told 'Hayley was like a beam of light in this world.' He said she had 'boundless energy' and was always determined to achieve whatever she set out to do. 'She set her sights on bodybuilding and fitness and achieved the highest success that sector offered. She loved us and we love Hayley very much, we miss her madly,' he said In 2005 McNeff featured in the 'warts and all' documentary Raising the Bar, a raw, low-budget bodybuilding film that became something of a cult classic within the industry. 'The quest for getting huge will never end,' McNeff said in the documentary. 'There's no limit. I hope there's a day that I'll be able to look in the mirror 100 per cent of the time and be like, 'yeah man, I'm huge'.' Tributes flowed after news of her death was made public. Bodybuilding coach Dave Palumbo said: 'I'm sad to hear of the passing of former woman bodybuilder Hayley McNeff … she left us way too soon. 'She was a good soul, super intelligent and had tremendous potential as a bodybuilder. 'She appeared in David Pulcinella RAISING THE BAR videos back in the day and I was proud to be able to call her a friend. 'Prayers to her family and friends. R.I.P.' Another, Shane Nickerson, was shattered. 'Life will be so hard without you, but all the better because you were here,' he said on social media. 'I had the pleasure of living with Hayley for 7 years across 3 cities. She made such a huge part of who I am today. There was nobody like her. I miss her laugh already. Until we see each other again goofball ❤️' The HeavyMetalLifter Jeff Hennigan said: 'Man that hurts waking up to that. Heart sunk deep. All the late night phone calls joking and drinking talking s*** to each other. The MySpace days too. We always kept up with each other and checked on our depression and overall health since mid 2000s. Great personality and big heart. 21/22 was the last time we talked regularly. Thanks for the memories you beautiful soul. Sleep well.' McNeff retired from bodybuilding and graduated in psychology. McNeff's family are asking people who go to her funeral to donate to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 1300224636 or talk to your GP, local health professional or someone you trust.
The Age
14 hours ago
- The Age
‘A risk to society': The next-gen stars tapping into the dark heart of The Talented Mr Ripley
For 70 years, the fictional character of Tom Ripley – a misanthropic, morally ambiguous and shape-shifting antihero – has gripped readers and film-lovers. The creation of American writer Patricia Highsmith, he first appeared in her 1955 novel The Talented Mr Ripley, beginning as a near-destitute IRS stockroom clerk and con-artist living in New York City but evolving into a serial killer who murders and then takes over the identity of Dickie Greenleaf, a wealthy, not-so-talented painter living in the fictional Italian coastal town of Mongibello with a lovely house, a boat and an American admirer called Marge Sherwood. Ripley's evolution is enthralling and mind-boggling. His plan to murder emerges as suddenly as his coveting of Greenleaf's privileged life. Now, Highsmith's most famous character comes to the stage in playwright Joanna Murray-Smith's adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley. Loading Directed by Sarah Goodes (Julia, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), with Will McDonald (Heartbreak High) as Ripley, Raj Labade (The Office) as Dickie Greenleaf and Claude Scott-Mitchell (The Dry, The Last Anniversary) as Sherwood, the play is a pin-sharp study of a complex man and a nail-biting psychological thriller. 'Oh, absolutely, the whole story is about suspense,' Goodes says: 'That gap between something happening and what your response is to it. In rehearsals, we've kept talking about the actual definition of suspense. You're suspended between two things. In a way, the whole story of The Talented Mr Ripley is about that. 'Joanna's written a piece that swings between being a noir film, like The Third Man, to being like a Wes Anderson work, to being a classic Strangers on a Train -style Hitchcock. And there's also direct address. He's got a relationship with the audience. You find out who that is later but really Ripley's telling us the story.' But who is Ripley? A relative nobody, he is sent on an all-expenses paid trip by Dickie's father to convince his son to come home to New York. Dickie's mother has leukemia and his father wants him to take over the family's shipbuilding business. But when Ripley encounters Dickie – magnetically carefree and living a life of luxury and culture on the Italian coast – he cannot follow through with his mission. His ardour for Greenleaf's identity, and desire to escape his own dismal existence, propels him to kill. And then, through extraordinary sleight of hand, he becomes Dickie Greenleaf. 'At the core of Tom is a void,' McDonald says. 'Emptiness. He's this black hole that kind of swallows up Dickie and Marge and Dickie's parents. That, and the deep-seated shame of who he is, really drives the whole piece.' Goodes agrees. 'It's a moral tale in a way,' she says. 'If you don't know who you are, if you don't anchor yourself or have a moral attachment to the world, then you are a risk to society. That's the story of the outsider. 'If you feel like you owe the world nothing, then you can be like Ripley. You have no remorse or regret. You can move through it with this real sense of surgical precision and determination.' Ripley is often labelled a psychopath, and Highsmith, who wrote 22 novels including The Price of Salt (later republished as Carol) and Strangers on a Train, another tale of murder and emotional blackmail, clearly had a thing for psychopaths. She even wondered if she was one herself, writing a diary entry in 1943, 'Am I a psychopath?' She also referred to Ripley as her alter ego, sometimes signing letters 'Love from Tom'. What stands out with Tom Ripley – a person whose exploits would necessitate punishment if exposed – is that he is a character that many fans of the book, film and TV adaptations (Andrew Scott played him in the 2024 Netflix series Ripley) root for. This is despite his identity theft, financial crimes, emotional manipulations and murdering. It's a duality McDonald relishes. 'There was an interview that Andrew Scott gave about playing the character where he said Tom's not inherently bloodthirsty, he's not this horrendous, evil person who just loves murdering people,' McDonald says. 'He's doing it to survive. He thinks it's something that he has to do to just stay alive.' He says Scott-Mitchell is sometimes rattled by his character's duality. 'She says there are times she is looking at me and going, 'Oh, I feel sorry for you',' he says. 'And then other times she is going, 'Oh my god, he's horrible. I hate him'. I love that sense of confusion about him.' Whether you love or hate him, Ripley is a stayer. Anyone wondering if he evades capture need only clock the four subsequent Ripley novels Highsmith wrote, with the last, Ripley Under Water, published in 1991. But is he happy when he gets what he wants? In the 1999 film adaptation directed by Anthony Minghella, Matt Damon as Ripley reflects mournfully towards the final scenes: 'I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody'. Scott-Mitchell points to strong connections in style and character between Ripley and The Picture of Dorian Gray. 'When you think about it, Dorian and Tom are both characters who are completely consumed by objects and beauty,' she says. 'And they both end up in a very similar place.' McDonald agrees. 'With Dorian, he's beautiful and he's gorgeous, but he is known throughout London as a scoundrel. He's been corrupted,' he says. 'His soul has been destroyed by what he's done and he's alone forever. A similar thing happens to Tom. 'There's this wonderful moment in the book where he realises that, in the process of becoming Dickie Greenleaf and gaining all his things, by murdering him he can never let anyone be close to him ever again. 'He'll have all these beautiful things and live this beautiful life, but what he really wanted and prayed for – love and closeness – he'll never get it. In that sense, he fails in his objective.' He does, however, hold up a mirror to people's secret thoughts. Loading 'Joanna has written the play in a way that talks to the inner demons in all of us,' Scott-Mitchell says. 'We all have something sinister in our minds, whether we want to admit it, or even that we're conscious of it. You have these moments where you're listening to him and you're like, 'Oh, yeah, I see where he's coming from.' Then you step back and go, 'Well, that feels a bit uncomfortable.'' Most of The Talented Mr Ripley's creative team have connections to work about Highsmith. Murray-Smith wrote the play Switzerland, a fictional look at the last years of Highsmith's life, now being turned into a movie starring Helen Mirren. The co-premiere of the production at STC in 2014 was directed by Goodes and designed by Scott-Mitchell's father, Michael Scott-Mitchell. Goodes says one of the reasons Kip Williams commissioned Murray-Smith to adapt the work when he was STC's artistic director was to continue such connections, primarily by giving new roles to the next generation of Australian actors. 'The thing about this piece is that it's about people who are not fully formed yet,' Goodes says. 'They're in their 20s. This is the first time Ripley commits murder. In the other books, he's an established murderer. So the emphasis was to find a group of young, amazing, next-generation actors to play it – to find the next big names on stage and screen. That was a real starting point. 'Theatre companies are under pressure to sell tickets, so they put known people on stage. But you need to be finding the next people that are going to be those known faces in the future.' In that vein, too, The Talented Mr Ripley explores issues confronting the next generation, particularly with social media, surveillance, AI and identity theft. 'There's this whole mirror world of our identity online,' Scott-Mitchell says. 'We might have a social media profile that's a particular way we present ourselves, but then there's us in the flesh. Stripping that whole concept back to theatre is a really wonderful way of looking at it. Who are we? Which one is us? What makes you, you?'
