All images courtesy of Getty Images/Wiki Commons


By Dylan Peggin
recordspinner97@gmail.com

The tale of Sam Loomis and the leaked KISS footage has been a complex web of wrongful content claiming, channel takedowns, and still an anonymous figure.

Given the ebb and flow of speculation and excitement, it seems to have died down into lore of what truly was an exciting time to be a KISS fan witnessing this footage for the first time. Now, the gloves are off. 

Andrew Sgambati is a relatively well-known name in the KISS fan circles. He is among one of the most prominent KISS collectors in the know, and he has a real knack for the visual arts, most notably for directing phenomenal fan-made films such as One Last Time and KISS at Midnight. He has also appeared on podcasts such as KISS My Wax and KISSFAQ.

Recently, Sgambati commemorated the upcoming anniversary of Alive! with a special edit of “Rock and Roll All Nite” with restored angles and footage filmed at Michigan Palace and Cobo Hall from May 1975. This footage formed the basis of the promo films that were done simultaneously for both “C’mon and Love Me” and “Rock and Roll All Nite,” which can be found on the KISSOLOGY Vol. 1 DVD

Footage courtesy of Andrew Sgambati

In my recent works covering this story, I have steered clear from stating any names involved due to both possible liability and sake of privacy to some individuals’ names that have been thrown around. This time, the gloves are off, and the names reported here are directly from Sgambati himself; refer to the post featured at the end of the article. 

It appears that Curt Gooch, the catalyst of this entire saga, tried to go after Sgambati’s The Greatest Show on Earth film – which he directed himself with full acknowledgment that it wasn’t an official work authorized by KISS/Universal – and the unreleased music video for the song “I” from Music From “The Elder,” which KISS owns.

In various Facebook groups, there has been talk of a 3TB hard drive sold that contained footage Gooch had uncovered or claimed he owned. The hard drive also included master files from the KISS archives, which Gooch had allegedly stolen when the A&E KISStory documentary was being put together. Sgambati claims that Gooch used this hard drive as a vice for monetary gain and ended up in Sgambati’s hands in June of 2022.

Speaking of well-versed individuals in the world of video, let me introduce Dave Streicher.

Streicher’s rise to fame in the KISS fan circles dates back to the days of KISS conventions from the early ’90s when he had put together an hour-long documentary called KISSVISION, which told the story of the band’s ’70s heyday using T.V. appearances, concert footage and narration by the band taken from interviews.

The piece evokes a specific bit of emotion that only a diehard KISS fan could wrap their head and heart around and is worth watching. Many fans speculated KISSVISION was official, but once Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were given copies to sign for fans, legalities of a certain degree ensued (the full story can be heard on one of Three Sides of the Coin’s best episodes where Streicher was a guest).

Anyway, let’s focus on the big story. Some of the footage that has been circulating consists during the summer of 2022 of silent 8mm footage synched with bootleg audio taken from the same show or material around the same time frame. It takes a very educated eye to sync up such materials, and as per Sgambati, it is all thanks to Streicher, who had worked on this material for Curt Gooch.

Even with all the meticulous work Streicher has put in – it is unknown if this handy work was carried out for a price – according to Sgambati, Gooch still went ahead and sold it, and yet Streicher is still doing work for Gooch. Why would Streicher waste his time working with this mooch? According to Sgambati, it’s because there is the bait of having a chance to work on a proposed Van Halen documentary that is supposedly getting off the ground.

Total nonsense. From the outside looking in, it appeared that Gooch has got Streicher by the balls. 

Footage courtesy of Andrew Sgambati

Among the earliest pieces of unseen footage that were starting to circulate on YouTube was the Largo ’75 show. That particular piece was openly handed out at Creatures Fest, held in Nashville in May of 2022.

After Creatures Fest, shows such as Detroit ’75 and Tokyo ’77 started to appear from the phenomenon that was the Sam Loomis YouTube channel. This was only the start of what was an amazing wave of footage, consisting of pro shots, 8mm excerpts from shows dating back to 1974, in-store appearances, promo film outtakes, and much more.

As per reports, all of this is due to Curt Gooch selling this footage to multitudes of people, allegedly claiming to those he sold it to that no one had it or had seen it. The uploads that made it to YouTube were an attempt to cut off any monetary value surrounding the footage since Gooch allegedly didn’t hold up his end of the bargain to any particular buyer of the hard drives.

Sam Loomis wanted revenge, and he indeed got it, and it has created a frenzy. 

Lately, Curt Gooch has been on a massive ego trip, taking down any channels that have uploaded KISS footage and wrongfully claiming it to be footage that was supposedly stolen from his cloud. One has to wonder if Curt Gooch feels he is the all-seeing authority of anything KISS video related.

Furthermore, one must ponder if Gooch is trying to wipe YouTube of anything visually related to KISS. As ridiculous as it sounds, Gooch might as well try Vimeo next or claim various Google drives that have been trading various bits of footage, as well as soundboard tapes from the Creatures tour, but that’s a whole other story for another time. Or maybe he will try claiming footage from KISS’ appearance on Land of Hype and Glory from 1977; I’m sure NBC would be pleased to find that out.

There is a lot we don’t know yet, and we can only report what we’ve seen, heard, and read. And in truth, Andrew Sgambati’s statement only adds more depth to the mystery surrounding this backstory. Maybe now, Curt Gooch will come out of his video fortress, take a break from claiming channels and come forward with his side of the story.

Regardless of any statement made on his end, I doubt you’ll see his name listed as a “catalog consultant” on any future KISSOLOGY project, that is if we are getting any in the future.

For those only just entering the loop now, below is Sgambati’s statement via Facebook from September 4th, 2022.

Dylan Peggin (@Record_Spinner) is a columnist for www.vwmusicrocks.com and may be reached at recordspinner97@gmail.com

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