May 31, 2008

Arts, Briefly

Kicking Back With Kiss

Compiled by FELICIA R. LEE and MELENA RYZIK

It is unclear whether they discussed makeup, but on Thursday in Stockholm, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had a late-night meeting with the rock group Kiss. Ms. Rice was in Sweden for an international conference concerning Iraq; the band was there to play a sold-out concert and asked to meet her. After a dinner with Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister, Ms. Rice joined Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the executive lounge of the Sheraton Hotel, where they signed autographs and gave T-shirts to her staff. “It was really fun” to meet them, Ms. Rice said, according to The Associated Press, adding that they seemed well informed about politics. Though she said she had never seen the band perform, she named “Rock and Roll All Nite” as her favorite Kiss song.

Her complete top five list:

1. “Rock and Roll All Nite”
2. “Goin’ Blind,” which details a doomed romance with an underage girl; the original title was “Little Lady.”
3. “Rock And Roll Party” — untitled hidden track from Destroyer; it is a loop made up of the choral melody from “Great Expectations” and a concert clip of Paul Stanley telling an audience, “I tell you all, it looks like, it looks like we’re gonna have ourselves…a rock and roll party!”
4. “Cold Gin”
5. “Got Love For Sale”