Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Kissed Alive drummer well after heart attack

Tribute band to return to Campland stage September 15

Though he cut out his drum solo, Peter Criss impersonator Jason Lee (2nd from left) finished the early August show during which he had his third heart attack.
Though he cut out his drum solo, Peter Criss impersonator Jason Lee (2nd from left) finished the early August show during which he had his third heart attack.

For the past seven years, veteran local drummer Jason Lee has played in the Kiss tribute band Kissed Alive.

“My first heart attack happened when I was in Target six years ago. I started having chest pains in the dressing room,” says Lee. “I was in my underwear. I forced myself to get dressed because I did not want to be hauled out on a gurney through Target in my underwear. I was not going to be someone else’s Youtube moment. I was doubled over in pain. But because I had long hair and a denim vest, no one would help me. They thought I was a drugged-out hippie.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"I went to the emergency room at a North County hospital, which I won’t name, where they misdiagnosed me and sent me home. I actually walked home with a heart attack.”

Place

Campland on the Bay

2211 Pacific Beach Drive, San Diego

On August 4, Kissed Alive was playing for about 300 people at Campland on the Bay on Mission Bay. “It was my 47th birthday. Twenty or 30 minutes in I started feeling shortness of breath. At first I thought I was exhausted.”

But then came chest pains.

“It took me about 15 minutes to realize I was in the middle of my third heart attack. Looking at my set list, I knew I had a ways to go. I was determined to at least try and finish the show. I should have exited but I was not thinking straight. I played very conservatively. I cut out my drum solo.

“There were all these people waving glowsticks and riding on bikes with neon all over them and I was in this intense pain. All this fun and beautiful circus-like energy, and I’m getting ready to check out then and there. It felt like I was in a Disney-meets-Fellini movie.”

As soon as the house music came up Lee made it to the dressing-room floor.

“My sister was helping me. I told her to get some cleansing wipes and get the makeup off of my face.... There must have been a doctor-in-the-house announcement because someone came up with a nitro pill that helped things considerably until paramedics arrived. When I left the dressing room someone yelled, ‘He’s walking, everybody!,’ and people started cheering.”

Lee says a fourth stent was installed in one bad artery, “...while another is all closed up again and they can’t do anything about it. But the doctors gave me a green light to return to the stage at Campland September 15. I’m going to go back and finish this show.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise
Though he cut out his drum solo, Peter Criss impersonator Jason Lee (2nd from left) finished the early August show during which he had his third heart attack.
Though he cut out his drum solo, Peter Criss impersonator Jason Lee (2nd from left) finished the early August show during which he had his third heart attack.

For the past seven years, veteran local drummer Jason Lee has played in the Kiss tribute band Kissed Alive.

“My first heart attack happened when I was in Target six years ago. I started having chest pains in the dressing room,” says Lee. “I was in my underwear. I forced myself to get dressed because I did not want to be hauled out on a gurney through Target in my underwear. I was not going to be someone else’s Youtube moment. I was doubled over in pain. But because I had long hair and a denim vest, no one would help me. They thought I was a drugged-out hippie.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"I went to the emergency room at a North County hospital, which I won’t name, where they misdiagnosed me and sent me home. I actually walked home with a heart attack.”

Place

Campland on the Bay

2211 Pacific Beach Drive, San Diego

On August 4, Kissed Alive was playing for about 300 people at Campland on the Bay on Mission Bay. “It was my 47th birthday. Twenty or 30 minutes in I started feeling shortness of breath. At first I thought I was exhausted.”

But then came chest pains.

“It took me about 15 minutes to realize I was in the middle of my third heart attack. Looking at my set list, I knew I had a ways to go. I was determined to at least try and finish the show. I should have exited but I was not thinking straight. I played very conservatively. I cut out my drum solo.

“There were all these people waving glowsticks and riding on bikes with neon all over them and I was in this intense pain. All this fun and beautiful circus-like energy, and I’m getting ready to check out then and there. It felt like I was in a Disney-meets-Fellini movie.”

As soon as the house music came up Lee made it to the dressing-room floor.

“My sister was helping me. I told her to get some cleansing wipes and get the makeup off of my face.... There must have been a doctor-in-the-house announcement because someone came up with a nitro pill that helped things considerably until paramedics arrived. When I left the dressing room someone yelled, ‘He’s walking, everybody!,’ and people started cheering.”

Lee says a fourth stent was installed in one bad artery, “...while another is all closed up again and they can’t do anything about it. But the doctors gave me a green light to return to the stage at Campland September 15. I’m going to go back and finish this show.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach
Next Article

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader