Kiss' Gene Simmons Doesn't Care What You Think of Him
You've got a few films in the works for your production company, right?
We have the Simmons/Hamilton film venture. The first one is called Deep Water, and it's got [Madeleine] West, Aaron Eckhart, Sir Ben Kingsley, the director [Renny Harlin]—really well known who's done action films, including Die Hard [2]. There's another one with Mel Gibson and a very fine actress [Priya Jain]—you'll hear about her because most people know about her only through her modeling and all that—called The Canyon, coming out afterwards.
Gene Simmons photographed at his home, Beverly Hills, CA.
Gene Simmons photographed at his home, Beverly Hills, CA.
Robert Gallagher/Contour by Getty
You've done TV shows and films before, but this is a major step for you. This is a big deal.
No, I don't look at it as a big deal. I look at it as something I enjoy doing. I've always been a film fan. Fact: I learned how to speak English through movies and television.
What can people expect at a show for the Gene Simmons Band?
This is decidedly a more fun, more informal gathering than Kiss events, which are spectacles. There's no road manager. It's like rock and roll gypsies out there. I bring my guitar pick and that's it. No trucks, no roadies, no nothing. [We] do your favorite Kiss songs, but also do obscure stuff and even stuff that has never been recorded before, as well as doing covers of some of my favorite songs. The most fun is putting on the house lights and having the back and forth with the fans who show up.
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Lydia Patrick/Lydia Patrick It soon became clear to her that the city's recovery is somewhat surface-level. Curry's series—a five-part documentary—peels back the veneer of post‑Katrina New Orleans to reveal the lingering scars. A Man-Made Disaster Most Americans remember the mayhem when Katrina made landfall off Louisiana on August 29, 2005. Broadcasts aired stampedes of people trapped in the Superdome, overhead footage of submerged streets, and looted grocery stores. Now, the storm is memorialized as a "man‑made" disaster, noting the failure of the emergency response and the maintenance of the aging levee system that was supposed to protect the low‑lying neighborhoods from being utterly deluged. Curry told Newsweek: "So many of the things that happened during Katrina and the story that we tell were not things created by the storm. They were things that were revealed and exacerbated by the storm," noting how it disproportionately impacted poorer Black communities. A mandatory evacuation order was put in place; tens of thousands of the city's 480,000 residents fled, but more than 100,000 remained trapped. Many made their way to the Superdome, which descended into unbridled chaos as survivors were left without means to survive. Stranded New Orleans residents gather underneath the interstate following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Stranded New Orleans residents gather underneath the interstate following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. KTVT - TV/KTVT - TV "When you're talking about class and race and, you know, all these things—so much of the reason that there were so many people left behind is because they could not afford to just because you are working class and don't have money, you are more likely to perish during Katrina," Curry added. A crowd of stranded New Orleans residents are gathered outside of the Superdome following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 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Lucrece Phillips, resident of the 8th Ward at the time of Hurricane Katrina, who shared her harrowing rescue story in the documentary series. Lucrece Phillips, resident of the 8th Ward at the time of Hurricane Katrina, who shared her harrowing rescue story in the documentary series. Disney/National Geographic/Disney/National Geographic "There's a point at which she sees the body of a dead baby in the water. She says, 'Stop the boat, we have to get her.' The man goes, 'We have to focus on the living,'" Curry recalled. Lessons Learned? Fast‑forward 20 years and New Orleans is a city forever etched by disaster. The Lower Ninth Ward was completely decimated by Katrina, and today the area once populated by working‑class Black residents remains largely vacant. "It looks like it just happened," Curry said. "There's footage in the fifth episode we shot last year: block after block of concrete steps leading nowhere—houses that no longer exist. That neighborhood has never recovered." 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Indianapolis Star
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Newsweek
an hour ago
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Christian MAGA Singer Vows To Continue Despite Canada Protests
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