October 10, 2025 • 7 mins
50 years ago, iconic rock band Kiss performed at Cadillac High School. We look back at this event and look forward to the weekends events with Lindsey Westdrop, Marketing Manager of the Cadillac Area Visiting Center
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/10/06/kiss-rocked-out-at-a-michigan-high-school-50-years-ago-cadillac-celebrates-this-weekend/86550870007/
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/10/06/kiss-rocked-out-at-a-michigan-high-school-50-years-ago-cadillac-celebrates-this-weekend/86550870007/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And this is West Michigan's morning news. Steve Kelly read
Bikita Schmidti is back with us soon, as the story reads.
On a crisp October evening, five decades ago, students in
Cadillac High School did this rock and rolled all night
with one of the biggest groups in the country at
the time and now iconic band Kiss. They are celebrating
(00:25):
that appearance this weekend, and marketing manager of the Cadillac
Area Visitors Bureau is Lindsay Westrop. Lindsay, thanks for doing
this this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Absolutely happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Maybe you've seen the sign over the years and thought
is that did they really talk to us a little
bit about how this happened in the first place.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
This started about fifty two years ago when an assistant
coach for Cadillac High School MNF. He the team that
was on a sixteen game winning street and there's a
lot of pressure on the nineteen seventy fourteen to perform
at a high level, and they lost their first two games,
and so he needed to do something to get them
(01:08):
loose and playing free, and so he decided to play
rock and roll music in the locker room, and Kiss
was an up and coming band. They were nowhere near,
you know, top of the charts yet, and so he
played the music in the locker room. The team responded
all they won out the rest of their games, and
(01:28):
part way through that season, he wrote to the band
to just let them know, and they loved the story
and they asked that he keep them up to date
on how the team did throughout the season. And then
into the following seventy five season, the team continued to
win and the band was picking up steam and they
were touring in Michigan, and they decided to it timed
(01:52):
well with the team's homecoming, and so they brought the
entire show, seven semi trucks up. They led the homecoming
parade down downtown, They received a key to the city
from the mayor, They took over the town over a
three day span, performed the concert in high school gym
(02:13):
for the students, and they just completely bonded with the
town and the whole the whole town had their faces painted,
They renamed Mitchell Street main Street to Kiss Boulevard, and
so it was just a really lasting impact. But the
images from that and the press from that visit really
(02:34):
timed up at the same time that their Kiss Alive
album debut just exploded. So like one month later, you know,
after the visit, they were top of the charts. They
were on the cover of every music magazine with these
images from Cadillac and the cheerleaders and the football players
and the band and the whole town that they had
(02:56):
taken over. So it was really impeccable timings and Cadillac
did play a goal in the period where they did
break out.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Lindsay, kudos to you guys at the Cadillac Area of
Visitors Bureau resonating with this and kind of building it.
The Wexford historicals Assigning Museum, by the way, boast to
Kiss fifty exhibits. So for the fans that love Kiss
or just want to hear more about the story or
see all the stuff that Lindsay's talking about, it's archived
right there. And that's been a part of really a
year long celebration. I mentioned on the air yesterday. I
(03:31):
drive up We've got a cottage and Oat Lake, and
I couldn't help but notice the banners on the light poles.
Driving through downtown. I'm like, what in the heck's going on?
And I had forgotten about this, and then when you
started to read about it, you see the banners that
kind of have the pictures and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Really cool.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
But you guys have been doing this and now it
culminates this weekend. Tell us about some of the stuff,
including a Cadillac High school football game and a drone
show that's going to happen tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yes, tonight, we've got a football game, a Cadillac plays
host Greenville, and we have of a pregame tailgate hosted
by w KLT Radio, and we have special halftime show
with the band with a marching band and other kind
of just ceremonial things to honor alumni, coaches and coach
(04:16):
Nef and then the drone show to follow. It's a
kiss teamed drone show. It's incredible. I saw people have
come from all over the country and even outside. We've
had some people from Ontario in our office yesterday. Everybody
is going to really be impressed by this. Your own
(04:37):
show specifically, but excuse me. The uniforms that the team
has tonight are inspired by the Destroyer album. It's really
really cool and so but that's just the one. You know,
it's a big night tonight, But tomorrow we debut. We
made a rockumentary. We interviewed alumni. It's narrated by Jim Neff.
(04:58):
It's an hour long and that'll be shown at the
school on Saturday and on our Downtown Movie Theater on
Sunday morning. But also with that, we had as we're
promoting this, we had people reach out to us from
all over with their stories, with their images, with their
accounts of the event. And we have an Emmy winning
(05:19):
video journalist, Dale Myers, who was here fifty years ago
as a nineteen year old DJ, and he has a
twenty five minute long his own film that we're going
to show before hours with footage from the concert in
the gym fifty years ago, and he interviewed the band
on the radio. And this is never before heard, well
(05:41):
hasn't been heard in fifty years, but the footage has
never been seen. And this is like a holy grail
for Kiss fans and that's going to be a really
neat thing. There's so many other I'll say, go to
Kiss Cadillac dot com for the full schedule. It's all
on there. But we have a Kiss Classic Golf, outing
have a Kiss five K, we have Kiss Bingo, so
(06:05):
there's yes, there's so there's the events to it. But
then also all of our downtown businesses and I don't
know when the last time you drove through town, but yes,
we put the banners up months ago, but all the
downtown windows are fully backed out. And Kiss, Uh, the
cross street next to my office on Main Street is
being renamed Kiss Boulevard right now. They're putting the sign
(06:29):
up right now. And there's like rock and Roll online session,
lights and a party everyday. I p a on tap
draft beers at clam Lake Beer Company. We have Kiss
caramel apples at the Sweet Shopmomerus, Kiss Rock City ice
cream only sold in Cadillac's. There's just like we're all
(06:53):
in the so but but like I said, people have
been just yesterday, people from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, Ohio,
and then of course through out Michigan. But it's been
that they have an army of fans and so they're
definitely turning out. But our local alumni and people that
(07:19):
that experienced that, they're all it's like a second homecoming
here here.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Listen, there is a ton going on. We'll put that
link in the podcast section with Radio dot Com Marketing Manager,
Cadillac Area of Visitors Bureau, Lindsey West DOORF Thanks so
much for your time today, have a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Thank you very much.
And this is West Michigan's morning news. Steve Kelly read
Bikita Schmidti is back with us soon, as the story reads.
On a crisp October evening, five decades ago, students in
Cadillac High School did this rock and rolled all night
with one of the biggest groups in the country at
the time and now iconic band Kiss. They are celebrating
(00:25):
that appearance this weekend, and marketing manager of the Cadillac
Area Visitors Bureau is Lindsay Westrop. Lindsay, thanks for doing
this this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Absolutely happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Maybe you've seen the sign over the years and thought
is that did they really talk to us a little
bit about how this happened in the first place.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
This started about fifty two years ago when an assistant
coach for Cadillac High School MNF. He the team that
was on a sixteen game winning street and there's a
lot of pressure on the nineteen seventy fourteen to perform
at a high level, and they lost their first two games,
and so he needed to do something to get them
(01:08):
loose and playing free, and so he decided to play
rock and roll music in the locker room, and Kiss
was an up and coming band. They were nowhere near,
you know, top of the charts yet, and so he
played the music in the locker room. The team responded
all they won out the rest of their games, and
(01:28):
part way through that season, he wrote to the band
to just let them know, and they loved the story
and they asked that he keep them up to date
on how the team did throughout the season. And then
into the following seventy five season, the team continued to
win and the band was picking up steam and they
were touring in Michigan, and they decided to it timed
(01:52):
well with the team's homecoming, and so they brought the
entire show, seven semi trucks up. They led the homecoming
parade down downtown, They received a key to the city
from the mayor, They took over the town over a
three day span, performed the concert in high school gym
(02:13):
for the students, and they just completely bonded with the
town and the whole the whole town had their faces painted,
They renamed Mitchell Street main Street to Kiss Boulevard, and
so it was just a really lasting impact. But the
images from that and the press from that visit really
(02:34):
timed up at the same time that their Kiss Alive
album debut just exploded. So like one month later, you know,
after the visit, they were top of the charts. They
were on the cover of every music magazine with these
images from Cadillac and the cheerleaders and the football players
and the band and the whole town that they had
(02:56):
taken over. So it was really impeccable timings and Cadillac
did play a goal in the period where they did
break out.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Lindsay, kudos to you guys at the Cadillac Area of
Visitors Bureau resonating with this and kind of building it.
The Wexford historicals Assigning Museum, by the way, boast to
Kiss fifty exhibits. So for the fans that love Kiss
or just want to hear more about the story or
see all the stuff that Lindsay's talking about, it's archived
right there. And that's been a part of really a
year long celebration. I mentioned on the air yesterday. I
(03:31):
drive up We've got a cottage and Oat Lake, and
I couldn't help but notice the banners on the light poles.
Driving through downtown. I'm like, what in the heck's going on?
And I had forgotten about this, and then when you
started to read about it, you see the banners that
kind of have the pictures and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Really cool.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
But you guys have been doing this and now it
culminates this weekend. Tell us about some of the stuff,
including a Cadillac High school football game and a drone
show that's going to happen tonight.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yes, tonight, we've got a football game, a Cadillac plays
host Greenville, and we have of a pregame tailgate hosted
by w KLT Radio, and we have special halftime show
with the band with a marching band and other kind
of just ceremonial things to honor alumni, coaches and coach
(04:16):
Nef and then the drone show to follow. It's a
kiss teamed drone show. It's incredible. I saw people have
come from all over the country and even outside. We've
had some people from Ontario in our office yesterday. Everybody
is going to really be impressed by this. Your own
(04:37):
show specifically, but excuse me. The uniforms that the team
has tonight are inspired by the Destroyer album. It's really
really cool and so but that's just the one. You know,
it's a big night tonight, But tomorrow we debut. We
made a rockumentary. We interviewed alumni. It's narrated by Jim Neff.
(04:58):
It's an hour long and that'll be shown at the
school on Saturday and on our Downtown Movie Theater on
Sunday morning. But also with that, we had as we're
promoting this, we had people reach out to us from
all over with their stories, with their images, with their
accounts of the event. And we have an Emmy winning
(05:19):
video journalist, Dale Myers, who was here fifty years ago
as a nineteen year old DJ, and he has a
twenty five minute long his own film that we're going
to show before hours with footage from the concert in
the gym fifty years ago, and he interviewed the band
on the radio. And this is never before heard, well
(05:41):
hasn't been heard in fifty years, but the footage has
never been seen. And this is like a holy grail
for Kiss fans and that's going to be a really
neat thing. There's so many other I'll say, go to
Kiss Cadillac dot com for the full schedule. It's all
on there. But we have a Kiss Classic Golf, outing
have a Kiss five K, we have Kiss Bingo, so
(06:05):
there's yes, there's so there's the events to it. But
then also all of our downtown businesses and I don't
know when the last time you drove through town, but yes,
we put the banners up months ago, but all the
downtown windows are fully backed out. And Kiss, Uh, the
cross street next to my office on Main Street is
being renamed Kiss Boulevard right now. They're putting the sign
(06:29):
up right now. And there's like rock and Roll online session,
lights and a party everyday. I p a on tap
draft beers at clam Lake Beer Company. We have Kiss
caramel apples at the Sweet Shopmomerus, Kiss Rock City ice
cream only sold in Cadillac's. There's just like we're all
(06:53):
in the so but but like I said, people have
been just yesterday, people from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Colorado, Ohio,
and then of course through out Michigan. But it's been
that they have an army of fans and so they're
definitely turning out. But our local alumni and people that
(07:19):
that experienced that, they're all it's like a second homecoming
here here.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Listen, there is a ton going on. We'll put that
link in the podcast section with Radio dot Com Marketing Manager,
Cadillac Area of Visitors Bureau, Lindsey West DOORF Thanks so
much for your time today, have a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Thank you very much.
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