| When 1980 arrived there had been
more small talk about another concert but nothing ever materialized
from it. In June Troy graduated from high school. He had been
living with his Aunt in Fremont for the past eight months. His
family had moved to Vacavillle in October of 1979 and Troy stayed
to finish out his Senior year. Now it was time for him to move
back home. This would have seemed to be the nail in the coffin
for the KISS Impersonators since Troy was now living over an
hour away.
Summer came and costumes were packed away,
but by July Troy was dying to get back up in front of people
and reclaim the success the group had in 1978. If this were
to happen then this would have to be big so the group could
go out with a bang. Everyone was getting older and moving
on, so a Halloween appearance would have to be well planned
and orchestrated in order to make it special.
|
| Troy first contacted Joey, then
Jack and received a "Yes" response from both. The
fourth member of the group was not sought out immediately because
earlier in the year Peter Criss had left KISS and the band had
yet to publicly announce his replacement. In August, KISS appeared
on the cover of People Magazine with their newest member, Eric
Carr. Eric's stage persona was the Fox. Now that the group knew
what position needed to be filled they began looking for their
final member. Joey asked Greg about coming back to the group,
but Greg wasn't sure if he wanted to continue on. Troy then
went back to Paul Alberts who had to decline because he was
too busy with other things to commit. Just three days after
Troy asked Paul, they got their Eric Carr, his name was Bin
Avery. Bin was the younger brother of one of Jack's Aunts.
From the time Troy, Joey, and Jack had reunited
they worked on costumes for a few weeks before things came
to sort of a stand still. Troy and Joey had the same costumes
so they were basically ready. Troy's costume needed some repair
and modifications which he took care of right away. It wasn't
until October that things picked back up work began on Jack
and Bin's costumes.
|
Bin Avery as Eric Carr |
| As part of their plan in making this Halloween
their best, Troy sent out letters on October 10th to four local
television stations, the TV show Real People, and a few local
newspapers to see if they would be interested in doing a story
on the group. On October 14th, Joey received a call from the
local Fremont news paper, The Argus, confirming they would do
a story on the group. No other responses came in before Halloween,
but Troy would eventually receive a response from Real People
and Channel 5's Evening Magazine declining to do a story on
the group but thanking them for their submission.
Work continued on costumes up until Halloween.
Troy was making trips down every weekend to meet with the
members and take care of anything that needed to be attended
to in Fremont. Costumes for Jack and Bin were going through
fittings and adjustments. Troy was also meeting with Jack's
grandmother in order to get any costume pieces put together
or altered. Even with Troy living so far away, things continued
to progress at a very good pace. The final costumes pieces
were picked up from Jack's grandmother the day before Halloween.
This year the group was basically finished with their costumes
a day early.
Troy arrived in Fremont the day before Halloween in order
to get Joey's garage ready for the big day. After picking
up the final costume pieces from Jack's Grandmother, Troy
stopped by Jack's only to receive some bad news. Jack decided
to quit the group at the last minute. His costume was complete
and he told Troy they could use it. Troy headed over to Joey's
to let him in on the news. The two immediately headed out
in search of a replacement. They tried Paul Alberts but he
was not interested. From there they went to ask their friend
named Steve Borden, who Troy felt would really look like Paul.
Troy and Joey did their best to try and talk Steve in to being
their Paul, but Steve declined. It seemed the guys were going
to be one member short. They were scheduled to be interviewed
by The Argus the following day and did not have much time
left to find their Paul Stanley.
|
Tim Branson as Paul Stanley
|
While they had been searching,
Joey had mentioned that he had a friend named Tim that was interested
in what they were doing and would probably do it. Troy wanted
to find someone he knew that would look the part since they
were going to be in the newspaper. Finally at about 7:30 p.m.,
Joey called Tim and he came over to Joey's. When Tim walked
in Troy didn't think Tim would even resemble Paul, but since
they had no other options, they decided to try the make-up on
Tim to see how he looked.
During the entire time Troy was putting the
make-up on Tim he felt Tim did not look even a little like
Paul Stanley. Inside Troy was feeling like their big plans
for Halloween were going to crash and burn. When Troy finished
Tims make-up he figured they struck out, but then something
happened. Tim put the wig on and stood at the opposite end
of the garage and both Troy and Joey were amazed at how good
Tim looked. They could not believe it. Even when things went
wrong, they were right. The group had their Paul Stanley,
now it was time to focus on getting Joey's garage ready for
the big day. Troy and Joey worked until after midnight getting
everything set up and ready for next day.
|
Halloween arrived and Troy was
at Joey's first thing that morning. Bin arrived around 10:00
a.m. At 12:30 p.m. a reported from The Argus arrived at Joey's.
He talked with the guys and then began interviewing them as
they were getting things ready. Around 1:30 p.m., a photographer
arrived but the guys had not started their make-up. At about
2:15 p.m., Tim arrived at Joeys and the photographer got some
shots of the guys without make-up. He asked when they would
be ready for photos in make-up. Troy told him they would be
finished around 4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. The photographer let the
guys know he would be back in a couple hours.
At about 2:30 the guys began
putting on their make-up. The reporter finished up his interview
shortly after the make-up process began. After watching them
for a bit, he was on his way. They enjoyed having the reporter
follow them around asking them questions while they were getting
ready. It made them feel a bit like celebrities. While the
guys were finishing up their make-up, Jeff Correia showed
up to take pictures for them. A few shots were taken while
the make-up was being finished up. At about 4:30 p.m., they
finished their make-up. The photographer from the Argus had
returned shortly before. He had the guys pose for some close
up shots before they got their costumes on. After the shots
were taken for the newspaper, they got dressed and continued
to pose for pictures for the next hour and a half. There were
some great photos that came from the session. The best being
the shot in which the group took the same pose that KISS did
for the cover of People Magazine back in August.
Around 6:00 p.m. it was time for the group to head out to
conquer Fremont. This year Bin's sister, Lisa, drove the guys
around in her van. They headed out to friends and families
first. Their next stop was to see their hairdresser Gino who
had styled the wigs for them this year. While they were at
the salon where Gino worked they took a few pictures then
took a walk over to Fry's grocery store where they strolled
through just looking for a reaction from people. Next it was
off to see Mr. Lewis at Chadbourne Elementary. When they arrived
at Chadbourne they walked toward the auditorium and along
the way, Tim walked up and over the picnic tables in the courtyard
along the way. The guys were blown away since this was Tim's
first time in seven inch platforms. After visiting with Mr.
Lewis they headed to where Jack was working, a 76 Gas Station
on the corner of Fremont Blvd. and Thornton Ave.
|
|
Back in the late 70's and early 80's Fremont
had one of the best cruising strips in California. Since it
was a Friday night the guys decided to stand out on the street
for everyone cruising to see. Soon cars were stopping, taking
pictures, and even pulling over to get a shot with the group.
Eventually a pick-up truck with a few girls pulled up and
asked them to go to a party with them. The guys jumped in
the back of the truck and off they went. The girls took them
to a party where they stayed about fifteen minutes for everyone
to see then they were returned to the corner where they were
picked up.
It was well after midnight by the time they
returned to Joey's house. Once there, they posed for more
photos. Most of the photos from that session were in partial
costume doing crazy poses. It was a time to wind down and
have a bit more fun while reminiscing about the great night
they just had.
|
Final photos of the night |
| The group had a great time. This
was their best year and as far as the group was concerned, it
was their last. The one down side to the night was that for
some reason, Patterson Elementary did not have a carnival this
year. It would have been nice for the group to make their final
appearance at the place they made their first appearance four
years earlier. |
This year the members were Bin Avery as Eric Carr, Tim Branson
as Paul Stanley,
Joey Capelli as Ace Frehley, and Troy Correia as Gene Simmons. |
|
On November 1st, the group did
something totally unexpected, they made the front page of
The Argus. They knew there would be a story about them in
the paper, but they never expected it to be front page news.
This gave the group an extra day of glory. If they were calling
it quits, this was the best way to go out. Troy commented
"It had to be a slow news day for us to make the front
page." Slow news day or not, the group had regained the
popularity they loved so much in 1978. To read the article,
click on the paper.
|
The Argus - November 1, 1980 |
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