Posted on 08/26/2006 3:45:06 PM PDT by mcg2000
JERUSALEM - The flamboyant, Israeli-born rocker Gene Simmons has sent a televised message of support to an Israeli soldier seriously wounded in fighting in Lebanon, calling him his 'hero.'
Simmons, 57, founded the heavy metal band Kiss in the 1970s and became famous for wearing white and black face makeup, spitting fire and sticking his tongue out at sold-out elaborate performances.
Simmons, the band's bass player, was born Chaim Witz in the northern Israeli city of Haifa before emigrating to New York as a child.
Simmons sent a video message this week to Ron Weinreich, an Israeli soldier and die-hard Kiss fan, who was seriously wounded in Israel's 34-day fight with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Weinreich remains hospitalized and is paralyzed from the chest down. Above his hospital bed, a Kiss poster is spread across the wall.
Weinreich's brother had his wedding relocated this week to the hospital, so his brother could attend. At the wedding, the surprise recording was played.
"Hi Ron, this is Gene Simmons. I'm talking to you from my home. I can't tell you how proud I am of you, and how much the world and Israel owes you a debt of gratitude," he said. "From the bottom of my heart, you are a real hero, you are everybody's hero, you are my hero and I wish I could be there with you."
Suddenly switching to confident Hebrew, Simmons added: "My name is Chaim, I was born in Haifa."
He concluded by saying in English: "I wish you my best, a happy life and I hope the wedding comes off and everybody should honor you because you are a real hero."
I heard the blood he had on his tongue came from muslim babies.
Refreshing to see a man harrassed by his children to marry their mother after twenty-odd years of non-marriage. The kids are allright.
He said he was 56 on his show.
Their kids aren't the spoiled nasty little trust fundies that we have seen in Paris Hilton or the Osborne kids, or any other celeb-reality show. I like him and I like his attitude. Never liked KISS (not even in 4th grade), but I do like him.
Cool. Shame he's such an exception.
I agree with your comments on the show. They have a really nice family, and he is a funny guy. What a refreshing change from those out of control Osbournes.
On the outside, he's a womanizing, rather nasty capitalist pig, but it seems that he's got a good heart.
Mark
I tried watching an episode of that show all the way through, but it was just too painful for me to watch. At first, it seemed like self depricating humor, but then it seemed that the show was more about making Gene look like a loser. I used to think that Shannon's sister, Tracy was the "hotter one," (yes, I looked at the pictures in Playboy), but in the episode I saw, she seemed mean.
Mark
I like this guy!
I have always thought that with Gene Simmons what you see is what you get.
I think you're right in pointing out my poor choice of words... Gene isn't a "loser," and I never meant to infer that he was. For the most part, I respect the guy, although he's got a major personality defect, AFAIC, regarding his womanizing... Personally, I've never been able to trust someone who doesn't honor his commitments. The key here is that he's committed to Shannon on a certain level, but he's also been honest about his actions, and she's decided that she can live with it, so it's not that he's acting like a certain former president.
I guess what I meant was that in the episode that I watched, he was made to look like a fool, over and over again. And it got painful for me to watch.
Mark
Which episode are you referring to, Mark?
I think that I saw about 15 minutes of the first, and about 3 minutes of the second.
Mark
He was born August 25, 1949. His mother was a Hungarian holocaust survivor who emigrated to Israel. Not sure about his dad.
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