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."
Gene Simmons is alright!!:-)
I am sure the soldiers would have rather had him send over some of his female groupies than his well wishes
No, it was a classy thing to do by a very good guy. Simmons has a good heart and is a longtime, staunch supporter of Israel. As a Christian, I take issue with some of the things he has said in the past, but I know that he's a good guy, a supporter of the war on terror, what we would call a 'conservative', and yes.........he and his band ROCK.
That 'family/reality' show of his is somewhat better - actually a helluva lot better - than that stupid "Growing Up Gotti".
You keep on saying you'll be mine for a while
You're lookin' fancy and I like your style
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You show us everything you've got
Baby, baby that's quite a lot
And you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin'
I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day
Some hot groupies would probably be the last thing I'd want if I had just been paralyzed from the chest down.
The way her punk kids acted,they should have called it,"Growing Up Snotti."
FDA has shown the best form of rehab when paralyzed from the waist down is is to have good looking women give you leg massages.
bump for one of my first and still favorite front men...
Grew up with Kiss, and still proud of Gene.
this would have him born in the late 40's; anyone know if his parents were immigrants from Europe in the 30's or 40's or was his family long-established in british palestine?
LOL!
At least a few in the Rock/Hollywood world get it!!!!
"I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day"
Wish that the Israelis would just rock & roll and wipe out the muzzie/hezzie/terrorists once and for all....
Gene Simmons is a great guy... he's sorta like the Ted Nugent of glam rock. He's a fiscal conservative (maybe even Libertarian) and a hard core capitalist.
I was never a huge Kiss fan (but I did see them in concert), but Gene puts a much needed healthy face on rock and roll.
God Bless you Gene (and family) and Thanks for what you did for Ron.
For what it is worth, this counter culture hero is an admirer of Pres. Bush. He seems to have a couple of friendly conversations with Sean Hannity and Neal Cavuto.
That should scare the allah out of 'em.
thx, i figured he was ashkenazi (sp) from his last name, which appears old high german-derived (yiddish), but better to ask.
yeah, i agree. short of full quadraplegia, that soldier is pretty much living one of the worst nightmares possible.
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