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There first sign that something was wrong was when we noticed there were 4 limos in the parking lot and not a single one had Kiss graphics. The second was when we reached the hallway leading to the convention room and I still couldn’t hear any music. At any respectable Kiss expo I shouldn’t be able to get within 100 feet of the main nerve and not hear Detroit Rock City.

As to what lay within, I’ll quote this e-mail sent to us a few days ago by "Ken," who’s probably a bigger Kiss fan than I am, and therefore more qualified to judge this event. His righteous anger gives me courage.

"While I have no doubt that the kiss fans are the best in the world, I also believe they may be the most gullible The recent kiss expo really??? expo??? It was a one ballroom suite with about 8 folding tables full of kiss stuff. The funny part is you could pay 10.00 extra to get in an hour early. What a joke. The tribute band was good, but 25.00 to see a tribute band and a q and a with bruce kulick. I would call this the further fleecing of america by KISS ventures but not an expo."

All this is true. Shabby merchandise, few attendees, and only one or two even in makeup. Your $25 is gone so to feel like you're getting your money's worth you have to stay and putter around the tables and wonder why the salesman thought he’d throw in a couple of VHS copies of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Then there was Bruce Kulick taking questions from the band, and having to answer the same questions about getting fired after their MTV Unplugged gig so the original lineup could go on tour again. To Kulick’s credit he took it in stride, and I’m sure he’s long since gotten used to it. When he went back to his autograph table, it was the only time I’ve ever seen an expo where every single person in attendance got into a single file line.

So now, a few days later and here’s that video of Kulick and the cover band. Part of me wants to be happy for him – he probably had a great run with the band and a few groupies that thought he was Ace Frehley (because, really, how can you tell without the makeup?), and the crowd is clearly still happy to hear him play. You can tell how much of a professional he is watching the relaxed way he strums next to the faux Ace Frehely who’s clearly frozen in terror under the pressure of being judged by a real Kiss member. Then I think, this is a man who has to make a living by getting onstage with musicians pretending to be the guys who fired him – after answering the 1,000th question about being fired – then acting happy to see them. He stuck with the band when they were a punchline, in the years before they got old enough to be ironically cool in the '90s. And he doesn’t even get to play the Kulick-era tunes.

We were there less than 30 minutes total. At one point, Kulick asked the crowd how they’d heard about the event and someone said, "The Pitch." We drove home in silence.