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Halloween of 1976 didn't generate
much excitement among those who saw the group at Patterson
Elementary School or while they were out trick-or-treating.
Even so, it did stir up some excitement in Troy. His friend,
Steve Acquistapace, let him borrow KISS' Destroyer album so
Troy could become more familiar with the band and their music.
By Troy's own admission, "The music didn't grab me right
away. It took about three times listening to that album before
I really started to take any interest. I wanted to like it,
but the first listen wasn't a magical moment by any means."
By late April 1977, Troy had become a huge KISS fan and was
ready to make plans for a second Halloween dressing up as
KISS. Wanting to get a head start on making better costumes,
Troy approached the other three members from the previous
year and asked if they wanted to do it again. Everyone agreed
until Troy told them it would cost approximately $25 each
to make their costumes. At that point, Dean and Paul realized
they couldn't come up with that kind of money and dropped
out of the group.
With plenty of time left before Halloween, Troy put together
another group consisting of Joey Capelli as Ace Frehley, Kevin
Greene as Gene Simmons, his brother Chris as Paul Stanley,
and Troy as Peter Criss. All four spent the next few months
doing odd jobs, such as mowing lawns and washing windows,
to earn the money needed for their costumes.
In mid-July, Troy gave Kevin enough money to purchase three
wigs at the San Jose Flea Market. Unfortunately, Kevin returned
with three Afro wigs instead of the two longer, curly wigs
needed for Gene and Paul and the straight wig needed for Ace.
Troy felt there was no way to earn enough additional money
to purchase new wigs, buy the remaining costume materials,
and get everything made in time for Halloween. Frustrated
by the setback, he called the whole thing off.
Not one to sit idle for too long, by late August, Troy was
dying to dress up again. He went back to Dean and Paul and
told them that if they wanted to participate, it wouldn't
cost the $25 originally planned since he had given up on the
idea of making more elaborate costumes. Dean and Paul were
back in the group.
Since the previous Halloween, Troy had really gotten into
KISS and decided to switch from Peter Criss to Gene Simmons
because he liked Gene's persona and stage antics. That decision
started a domino effect. Chris switched from Paul to Peter,
Dean switched from Ace to Paul, and Paul switched from Gene
to Ace.
With everyone changing characters, Troy decided to try the
makeup on each member in early October to see how they would
look. Everyone looked pretty good except Dean, who just didn't
look the part of Paul Stanley. Once the others realized this,
they decided they needed to find a new Paul.
Jack Standish, who happened to be there when they tried Dean's
makeup, asked Troy if he could get back into the group. Not
knowing how to tell Dean he was being replaced, Troy, Paul,
and Jack came up with a plan. They would tell Dean that Jack
wanted to rejoin and suggest drawing straws to determine who
would get the spot. They initially rigged the drawing so Dean
would lose, but Dean caught on, and they agreed to draw straws
fairly. As fate would have it, Dean lost the fair drawing
anyway. He was understandably upset because he could see that
the group was becoming more than just something to do on Halloween.
Work on the costumes started right away. While they were far
from what Troy had originally hoped for, they turned out okay.
Halloween arrived, and the guys once again headed to Patterson
Elementary School's Halloween Carnival. This year, they entered
the costume contest feeling pretty good about their chances.
There were three contest categories, with the group entered
in the final one. Unfortunately, they lost once again, but
it wasn't because their costumes didn't look good.
The second category had been won by Troy's sister, who was
dressed as a Jawa from Star Wars, complete with light-up eyes.
Ironically, Troy had created the light-up eye setup for her
costume. Unfortunately, her victory would end up costing the
group their chance at winning the next contest.
The contestant who won wore a white sheet around his body
and had his face painted white with black circles around his
eyes, a far cry from the group's costumes and makeup. After
the contest, the judge who knew Troy and his sister had already
walked away. The other three judges told the group they should
have won, but explained that the fourth judge had persuaded
them not to vote for the group because Troy's sister had already
won the previous category.
The 1977 lineup consisted of Paul Alberts as Ace Frehley,
Chris Correia as Peter Criss, Troy Correia as Gene Simmons,
and Jack Standish as Paul Stanley
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