KISS Helps Raise Funds for Texas School Hit Hard by Hurricane Harvey [Photos]
On Tuesday night, September 26, in Sugar Land (Texas) the iconic band Kiss donated their time and efforts to help out Kingwood High School, which was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Harvey.
The band invited about 350 KHS students to attend their concert, and dedicated the show to helping raise money to assist the school in replacing band, orchestra, choir, theater and other fine arts program equipment damaged and destroyed in the flooding.
The students had a fantastic evening, getting to dance during the performance of "Rock and Roll All Night," as well as meet and take photos with the legendary band.
Kingwood High's entire first floor was flooded during the storm, and the school likely will remain closed through the rest of this school year, requiring students to share a campus with another large high school some distance away.
Kiss has been rocking the world hard since 1973, and in 2014 was inducted into the Rock & Roll hall of Fame. Founding band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons are still leading the band, and haven't slowed a bit.
Former Abernathy, Texas student Carrie (Smyers) Whiten's daughter Macie was one of the students invited, and Carrie attended the concert as well. Carrie, having been a long time KISS fan, was both thrilled for her daughter and appreciative of the band:
When the KHS kids flooded the aisles during 'Rock and Roll All Night', the band stopped and spoke of the plight of the fine arts dept, then recognized military and first responders, had a huge flag graphic, and we all said the Pledge of Allegiance. It was AWESOME! I love KISS even more now!
During an interview with Click2Houston.com, Kiss guitarist Paul Stanley said:
Music is such an integral part of growing up, and should be. And when school music programs are in danger, when instruments are in short supply, it's really a call for people like us to come out and say this can't happen...Music is essential.
Donations are of course still being accepted, and those wishing to help may donate online.
Twitter's hashtags with more information and great photos from the concert are #donate2khs and #musicforhouston.
More videos of the stunning damage to the school and city of Kingwood may be seen below.
For the big KISS fans out there, here are more stories with lots of video and photos from the evening:
Listen to The Chad Hasty Show airs weekday mornings live, from 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM on News/Talk 95.1 FM and 790 AM KFYO, online at KFYO.com, and on the free RadioPup app. Follow Chad on Twitter via @ChadHastyRadio & KFYO Radio at @KFYO! Now streaming the show live on Facebook!