Kissin' Time

Over the past week I have been enjoying my evenings reading a book that I've looked forward to for years - Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley's autobiography, No Regrets. Not exactly the most original title, I know, but it is a fascinating read - and very well written (Ace undoubtedly had help from professional writers). Still, the story is his and I am eating it up.

Anyone who knows me (if you are reading this, I assume you know me) knows I am a huge Kiss fan. In fact, next to the Beatles, I would have to say that Kiss is my all-time favorite band.

I became obsessed with them at a young age and I remember drawing pictures of the band all over my tablet in fourth grade. I clearly remember my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Greenwaldt, tell me "Okay, enough of this Kizz business." I quickly corrected her, "It's KISS, Mrs. Greenwaldt."

I don't think I was sent to the principle's office for that one, but it didn't keep me from drawing pictures of my heroes. In fact, I bet I have still some of those doodlings to this day, probably in storage somewhere.

Kiss was (and is) a band like no other before or since. You either hated them or loved them. They were like something out of a comic book: four superheroes with magical powers playing mind-blowing, hard rock-n-roll. Of course, I knew they didn't really have magical powers, but it was all part of the act and I loved it. Most of all, I loved the music.

My mother, however, was not as enthusiastic.

She never allowed me to send in my $5.00 to become a card-carrying member of the Kiss Army (Kiss's worldwide fan club). I remember begging her to let me join, but unfortunately for me this was right around the time of the Jonestown Massacre and I remember Phyllis telling me, "I'm not going to let you join a g**damn cult!" (I bet anyone who remembers my mom can just hear her saying that, too!). Hey, I understand now; she was just looking out for her kid. But at the time it seemed devastating.

There were a lot of rumors about the band at the time - that they were Nazis (the "SS" in the name was supposed to have been in direct reference to Hitler's SS), or some kind of Satanic-based organization. KISS was supposed to stand for Knights In Satan's Service.

In his autobiography, Frehley said he always thought KISS stood for Keep It Simple, Stupid... a reference to Kiss's knack for infectious, three-chord melodic hooks.

If Mom only knew that this band from New York comprised of a Lutheran (Ace), a Catholic (Peter Criss), and two Jews (Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons), I think she would have felt a little less threatened by those "long haired pukes," as she called them. In fact, Gene's mother is a Holocaust survivor and he and his mother moved from Israel to America after the war.

So much for the Nazi theory.

The truth is, as all the band members have maintained from the very beginning, Kiss is nothing but entertainment. But there is no such thing as bad publicity, either.

Ultimately I suppose Mom felt kind of bad about not letting me join Kiss's fan club. She knew I was more than a little bummed out - and besides, I was her baby (and I was a mama's boy).

A few days later when I came home from school, I walked into the house she told me in a very serious tone that I had better go upstairs and look in my room. Now, I was a good kid so I knew I wasn't busted for anything, so I couldn't imagine what I had done wrong.

And there on my bedroom wall I saw this:

My original poster is long gone, but with one minute of research on Google, I found this EXACT replica of the poster Mom gave me in 1978

I remember jumping up and down with excitement and staring at that HUGE poster for hours and hours on end. That's still one of my favorite memories of my childhood.

As I grew into adulthood, my passion for the band never diminished. In fact, I'll take you on a little tour of my home: