Latest news with #LickItUp
South China Morning Post
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Why Asia's best restaurant, Gaggan in Bangkok, is about more than flavours
For those who love experiential dining, Gaggan Anand is well known. Advertisement The innovative chef's eponymous restaurant in Bangkok, with its unconventional approach to fine dining, had a year-long waiting list at one point. It recently made the headlines for achieving the top spot in Asia's 50 Best Restaurants for the fifth time since 2015. Anand, born in Kolkata, India, not only put the Thai capital on the progressive dining map, he also pushed the boundaries of Indian cuisine and its perception around the world. The chef was featured in the second season of Netflix's Chef's Table in 2018. Anand's journey began in hotel kitchens in India before he moved to Thailand in 2007, where he was appointed executive chef of Red, an Indian fine-dining restaurant in Bangkok. Gaggan Arnand and his team receive the award for Asia's top restaurant at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants ceremony in Seoul, Korea, in 2025. Photo: handout He did a stint at Ferran Adria 's restaurant El Bulli in Spain. Having learned boundary-breaking techniques from Adria, known as the father of molecular gastronomy , Anand brought them to Bangkok upon his return. Advertisement He launched Gaggan in 2010, and described it as a laboratory for his radical culinary reinventions. In the space of a few years, his 25-course emoji menu – where each course was defined not by a name but by one of the tiny pictograms – featuring dishes such as Lick It Up, which required diners to eat with their tongues, propelled the restaurant to number one on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list and earned it two Michelin stars.
USA Today
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Gene Simmons spills on solo tour, future of KISS: 'The avatars are just a placeholder'
Gene Simmons spills on solo tour, future of KISS: 'The avatars are just a placeholder' Show Caption Hide Caption Is Gene Simmons' hair real? Watch the KISS icon's answer. KISS co-founder Gene Simmons chats with USA TODAY's Melissa Ruggieri about his decades of touring, the stunts he performed on stage and more. Gene Simmons leans toward the camera and holds his hand sideways. 'You see my hand?' he asks. 'It does not shake and I'm 75. Kids, don't do drugs and booze, and stop smoking.' This advice from the God of Thunder, a man who spent five decades encased in face paint, dragon boots and the battle armor of a rock star, might sound contradictory. But Simmons' preaching has a point that proves his longevity. Though KISS wrapped touring for good in December 2023, the band behind foot stompers 'I Love It Loud,' 'Lick It Up,' 'Rock and Roll All Nite' and more than 50 other singles that inspired many an air guitarist, will live on. Because how can it not? The 50th anniversary of KISS' 'Dressed to Kill' album will be celebrated March 22 with a free audio tour on of band-related landmarks in their New York City hometown (those in the city can visit a KISS pop-up store at Generation Records). Simmons, meanwhile, is packing up his bass and returning to the road April 3 with his solo band comprised of Brent Woods on lead guitar, Jason Walker on guitar and Brian Tichy on drums, for more than a month of shows in theaters, clubs and casinos. The trio also shares lead vocals with Simmons, who crafted a set list stocked with KISS hits ('Cold Gin,' 'Deuce,' 'Calling Dr. Love') and the original version of Van Halen's 'House of Pain,' which he produced for the band's demo in 1976. In between his tour planning, overseeing a chain of Rock & Brews restaurants, making movies with his Simmons/Hamilton Productions company and fielding 'a lot of phone calls,' the ever-candid and interminably cheeky Simmons chatted from his Malibu home (one of six he owns) about his solo shows, his family and why "50 years was enough" for KISS. Question: You went back on the road a few months after KISS' last show. Apparently, you don't like to rest. Answer: When I was growing up, I always thought (success) was about money and chicks and fame. (Whispers conspiratorially) And I love it! I have more fun onstage than the pope. The magic of this band is, I just take the guitar and a guitar pick and that's it. I can get up on stage like this (points to his denim shirt). I don't have to walk around in dragon boots and wear more makeup and higher heels than you ever wore. Do you ever miss the outfits, makeup, and theater accompanying KISS shows? You have to have dignity and respect for the fans who made your life possible in the first place. If you're a surfer and you're blessed enough to ride this giant tsunami of a wave successfully, stop. You've reached it. Have a little self-respect and go out when you look good. And let's be honest, 50 years is enough. The Beatles lasted seven – and we ain't The Beatles – but the magic of them or Marilyn Monroe is they will be iconic forever. All respect to the rock god Elvis, but I don't want to be fat and bloated and naked on the bathroom floor. Mötley Crüe postpones Vegas residency: Singer Vince Neil undergoes medical procedure Do you still talk to (KISS mates) Paul (Stanley) and Tommy (Thayer) and Eric (Singer) on a regular basis? Sure, of course. Paul is like the brother I never had. I've known him longer than anyone except my mother. It goes deeper than friendship. He and I don't agree on lots of things, but it's like going to a restaurant and ordering off a menu. We don't have to order the same thing. It's about having a work ethic, responsibility and respecting the person you're with and realizing you don't know it all. Without Paul, I'd be asking the next person in line, "Would you like fries with that?" ‒ and that's an honorable job as well. And Paul says the same thing about me. If you get into the right company of people, one and one equals three. At the end of the last KISS show, the band debuted avatars. What's the status of that project? A caterpillar goes into a cocoon and what looks like the casket of its life. And shortly after the casket opens up, this beautiful butterfly (comes out). That's what's about to happen with KISS. The avatars are just a placeholder. We're working with the amazing company Pophouse and (what we're doing) is closer to virtual reality. We've already been to George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic to do motion capture. We dressed up like X-Men and we had cameras all over. What is the time frame to see the results? Two years. 'See you this summer': Lollapalooza reveals dates for 2025 festival It must be gratifying for you and Paul to see your sons, Nick and Evan, collaborating on music. Nick has his own band, Sym Fera, and Evan spent his life committed to songwriting and learning the craft and has his own band. They were always pals. If you look up their names (online), the first thing they did was strum guitar and sing 'The Sound of Silence.' There was a look, a sound and it's real. Tell me about the dynamic between you and the guys in your solo band and the difference playing with them compared to decades with KISS. With KISS, you have to be well-rehearsed because you have light cues and pyro. Here, there's no Auto-Tune, no one backstage singing harmonies ... If you're in front of me in the audience, you bet your sweet bippy I'm gonna pull you up to sing 'I Was Made for Lovin' You.' And at the end, do I dare bring 20, 30, 50 people onstage to sing 'Rock and Roll All Nite' with me? You betcha.
