During an appearance on Never Not Funny, classic KISS guitarist Ace Frehley talked about attending the funeral of Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul who – like his brother Dimebag – was buried in a KISS casket.
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Ace said:
“It was crazy, because I had a speech planned, and it went over perfectly. In the church, I’m at the podium, and I spoke for about 10, 12 minutes. And then we get out to the cemetery, and he’s in a KISS casket.
“Vinnie Paul got buried in a KISS casket, and I see my face on the casket, and it weirded me out. But above and beyond that, his father said to me, ‘Would you say a few words by the casket?’
“And I had nothing prepared. I don’t know where it came from. Somebody beamed it into my head. I came up with the line… Everybody was looking at me. I said, ‘I’m assuming everybody here has seen the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’.’
“And I think nobody knew where I was going with that, but they all nodded. There was maybe a hundred and fifty people there, 200.
“And I said, ‘Well, remember the part at the end when they discovered the wizard was a fake and he was talking to the Tin Man. And he used the line, ‘It’s not how much you loved but how much you were loved by others.’ And I said, ‘Vinnie was that kind of guy. Everybody loved Vinnie.”
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“I go, ‘He’s up in heaven right now – rock and roll heaven – playing with his brother Dimebag.’ I said, ‘Thanks so much for having me here. And God bless you.’ But I don’t know where that came from.”