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Ace Frehley, a founding member of Kiss, is dead at 74

(NYT) — Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist of the band Kiss, who often performed in white-and-silver face makeup and sold millions of records during his two tenures with the band — from 1973 to 1982, and then from 1996 to 2002 — died Thursday in Morristown, New Jersey. He was 74.

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A statement from his family said the cause was a recent fall at his home.

A consummate showman, like all the members of Kiss, Frehley was known for playing guitars rigged with pyrotechnic effects and for his distinctive stage persona: He was known as “the Spaceman” or “Space Ace” because of the silver stars on his face. He also designed the band’s logo (with assistance from guitarist Paul Stanley).

Kiss was initially dismissed by many rock fans as gimmicky charlatans — the band members weren’t photographed without their stage makeup until 1983 — but its energetic live shows built a following of devoted teenagers, known as the Kiss Army. The band placed eight singles in the Top 40 during Frehley’s tenure; he played on seven of them, including “Love Gun,” “Christine Sixteen” and “I Was Made for Loving You.”

With the passage of time and the enduring popularity of its party anthem “Rock and Roll All Nite,” the band’s critical reputation gradually improved. Kiss was inducted into the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Paul Daniel Frehley was born in the New York City’s Bronx borough on April 27, 1951, and began playing guitar at age 13. He was given the nickname Ace when he was 16 by the drummer in one of his early bands in gratitude for setting him up with attractive dates. In the early days of Kiss, Frehley started using the nickname full time to avoid confusion with Stanley.

He is survived by his wife, Jeanette; his daughter, Monique; his brother, Charles; and his sister, Nancy Salvner.

JB Pritzker won $1.4 million playing blackjack in Las Vegas

(NYT) — How does a billionaire governor win $1.4 million playing blackjack in Las Vegas?

“I was incredibly lucky,” Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said on Thursday, responding to questions from reporters about his 2024 tax returns, in which he reported that massive sum in gambling earnings. Pritzker said it all came from a single trip to Las Vegas last year with his wife, MK Pritzker, and some friends.

The governor, an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, did not say if he was playing at a special table for high rollers, how much he had wagered per hand, or if he won the money in a single run or over the course of several days. But he said he had “fun doing it.”

“Anybody who’s played cards in a casino knows that you often play for too long, and lose whatever it is that you won,” Pritzker said. “I was fortunate enough to have to leave before that happened.”

A campaign spokesperson, Alex Gough, said that Pritzker, a Democrat, would donate the money to charity.

Pritzker noted that he liked to play cards and helped to start a charitable poker tournament that raised money for the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. And Pritzker, who has supported legislation to expand gambling in Illinois, urged people to come and place their bets in his state. Illinois is home to 17 casinos, according to the state’s Gaming Board.

“We have some really lovely places to go,” Pritzker said Thursday.