ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030076
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
There are Kiss fans and then there are Kiss fans.
Gary Garbett falls into the second category.
An artist and graphic designer in Richmond, Garbett puts out Kissin' Time, one of two Virginia Kiss fanzines mentioned in the rock group's official tour guide. (A fanzine is a do-it-yourself magazine, often put together by the most ardent fans of a certain fad, rock group, television show, etc. - thus, ``fanzine.'')
Until recently, Jesse Capps of Ewing, in the southwest tip of the state, put out Kiss Spit, the other one. He now publishes the Free Music Press, which highlights groups ranging from the Georgia Satellites to Tupac Shakur. "But somehow," he said, "Kiss seems to get into every single issue."
The last issue, for instance, included an interview with Gene Simmons. The upcoming issue is the Kiss Special.
"I've been a fan since 1975, just diehard, following them through their ups and downs," said Kissin' Time's Garbett. "Last year, I decided to take my training and background and professional life and combine it with my hobby. That's how it started."
He now has people subscribing from around the world. People who want to find out tidbits of information such as: The photo on the cover of the Alive II album is spliced and if you study it carefully, you can see the neck of (drum roll) A FOURTH GUITAR.
"I've been a fan for 20 years and I'd never noticed it before," said Garbett, who is 37 and a father of three. "It's something a little weird. Something a little different."
The most recent issue includes classified advertisements offering autographed albums and Japanese imports; a review of a 1974 concert; and notes about the band members from Kiss' midlife.
Garbett has his own Kiss archives - autographs, comic books, a lunch box.
His most prized possession is a genuine neck of Paul Stanley's guitar, a casualty of a concert in 1979.
Capps, 19, started Kiss Spit when he was a junior in high school. That was the year Lee County offered to subsidize projects for students in the gifted and talented program.
"I thought it'd be cool to have to school board pay to have a Kiss magazine published," Capps said. So that became his project. "But I would have done it on my own, anyway."
After the first issue came out, printing costs came from his own pocket.
Capps, who works at Disc Jockey, also has subscribers from all over the world. Kiss Spit is on every continent, he said, and Gene Simmons himself owns a copy.
"That made it all worth it."
Past issues of the fanzine have featured such items as an announcement of the birth of Evan Shane Eisen (Paul Stanley's son) and guitar tablature handwritten by former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick.
"If it has to do with guitar, I'll talk about it," said Capps, a guitar player himself. His instrument of choice? A PS 10 Classic. (The PS stands for Paul Stanley.)
There are more than two dozen fanzines out there devoted to Kiss, according to Metal Edge, which devoted a special collectors issue to the rock group. And that doesn't include Internet sites.
To subscribe to Kissin' Time, which comes out quarterly, write to Garbett at P.O. Box 8372, Richmond, Va. 23226. Subscriptions are $8 a year.
To order Capps' Kiss Special, send $2 to P.O. Box 401-A, Ewing, Va. 24248.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC:by CNB