The Benny Doro Collection

The package · 1989

Unchained

Tim · Jeff · Benny · Nigel

Vancouver → Los Angeles 1989

A callA packageA ticketA dream in motion
From The KISS Company to four kids from Vancouver.Scroll to open the package ↓

01 — 02 / The arrival

The impossible
package.

A black envelope. A letter dated May 25, 1989. Four airline tickets.

Black Journeycraft envelope addressed to The KISS Company in New York.
01 / 05 · The envelopeOpen original scan ↗
May 25, 1989 letter on Paul Stanley Entertainment letterhead addressed to Benny Doro.
02 / 05 · The letterOpen original scan ↗

From the letter“Have fun!”

03 — 04 / The trip

Vancouver
to Los Angeles.

May 30 – June 5, 1989. Park Sunset. Mates rehearsals. The Fortress studio.

Passenger itinerary showing Delta flights from Vancouver to Los Angeles on May 30 and back on June 5.
03 / 05 · The flightOpen original scan ↗
Original Unchained itinerary with flights, Park Sunset hotel, Mates rehearsals, and The Fortress studio lockout.
04 / 05 · The planOpen original scan ↗

05 / 05 · The memory

In Benny's
own words.

Benny remembers receiving the package.

Original recording · unaltered · 1:46

Transcript

Punctuation added for reading. The recording is authoritative.

Well, imagine being in your early 20s and staring at this. KISS letterhead with your band name, Unchained itinerary, your flight information, your hotel information. And that hotel, the Park Sunset, is where many famous KISS photos were taken in the ’70s.

The rehearsal and our studio, The Fortress, where they recorded Hot in the Shade.

When we got these in the mail, it was actually a FedEx, I believe, with the airline tickets for each of us and a note from Paul's assistant saying, “Here you are, guys. Here's your itinerary. Have fun.” I feel the world of “have fun” and the bigness of it all. And we had no idea what we were about to get ourselves into, but it was going to be the trip of a lifetime.

But as I look back and I stare at this itinerary, I can remember what it felt like to get it, because what a rarefied moment for someone who had a band who loved KISS and loved playing rock and roll and had a dream about making it and a dream about having somebody from KISS that you cared about—Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, Peter Criss—be involved. And you got the guy who's ahead of it all saying, “I believe in you guys, and here's the proof. Come on down.”

I still get chills.