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Isn’t it funny how much 24 hours REALLY matters? Sure, it matters, but you never really think about it until it hops up and slaps you in the face, like it is doing to me right now. Yesterday, there I was, sitting at my computer, signing onto the Internet to check my e-mail with no plans except to make some progress in the latest computer game I’m playing. Today I am sitting here on a plane, getting ready to taxi out to the runway. 24 hours ago if you had told me where I would be right now, I would have laughed at you. OK, so anyway, there I was signing on to the Internet and checking my mail. When I signed on to America Online, there it was: a link to "Win a trip to meet KISS!" Since that is a something I would like to do in my lifetime, I clicked it and entered the contest.
For the first time in my life, I won something! Shelly, my best friend is meeting me in Chicago at O’Hare and we are flying from there to Las Vegas. The last time KISS came to my town it was 1979. They came in 1977 when I was 7 years old. I wanted to go to that concert so much. I cried and cried. My dad took me by the place where KISS was performing and promised me he would take me to see them when they came back, but I was too young to go then. I understand that now, but I didn’t then. The next time they came and performed here he was dead.
I guess that is one reason I have "hung on" to KISS so much, because of my father, Jerry. He was a guitarist and he wanted his little girl to enjoy music like he did, so when Beth came along I liked it and he jumped all over it. He bought an electric guitar that I asked him to because it was like one that KISS had. The first song I learned to sing by myself was Beth. I sang it all the time. I sang that while my peers were singing things like Itsy, Bitsy Spider and Bingo. It was one thing that he and I shared. And now, it is all I have from him. When I get sad and miss him, all I have to do is get out that cd and listen to that song and he is "here" with me. What is so ironic is that Beth could have been by him since the song is about a musician who is never home and has to leave his family home alone. He was a popular musician and played all over the state.
The one person in KISS I hope I will meet is Peter Criss. He was my first "rock star crush" and Beth is his song. I just want to tell him how grateful I am that he wrote that song and how much it means to me. The contest only guarantees that one member of the group will be there. Well, that is a one-in-four chance. And maybe my luck has turned. I know exactly what I’ll do. I will pass out from starstruck awe! My father got the man who played Oscar in the Bionic Woman to call me. Jerry got me on the phone, told me who he was with and put "Oscar" on the phone. I dropped the phone, ran down the hall, and hid under the bed for two hours. I just knew that somehow Oscar would come out of the phone or something. I was way into the Bionic Woman back when I was six! Plus I have always been "afraid" of the telephone. Thank goodness there is email now!
The plane is circling to land now, so I have to turn my laptop off now for a few minutes.
*****
Shelly looks great. She is so excited. I’m just glad that I am getting to see her. She lives so far away and I only get to see her about once a year. We met eleven years ago, when we were in college and have been best friends ever since. We have been through so much together. And now, here is something else we’ll do together. We are going to have so much to talk about one day in the nursing home.
O’Hare was busy and huge. It was a little confusing to me. I’m not a novice traveler either. I have been to Europe several times and got along just fine there. Atlanta’s Heartsfield Airport is not easy either, but finally we are on the airplane and on our way to Las Vegas. Shelly has been there before, but I have not. At first, I considered bringing my boyfriend with me. He wants to see the other side of the Rocky Mountains. I thought the temptation of the 24-hour wedding chapels might be too great. Plus, Shelly is so much fun. At least she likes KISS. So I left him at home. Maybe he’ll go to the beach to fish.
Shelly and I have been talking our mouths off for quite a while now. We are preparing to land. Las Vegas is so pretty at night with the all the lights, all the flashing lights and the colors. I think I heard somewhere, that if you looked at the earth from space, Las Vegas is the brightest spot on the earth. I’m turning off the laptop now.
*****
We were met at the airport by a limousine. I had never been in one of those before. Hell, I had never even seen the inside of one except in a movie or on TV. Ours had a bar and a TV in it. Shelly and I drank a bunch of Amaretto Sours, our favorite. We were pretty tipsy by the time we got to the hotel. The limo driver took us by some famous landmarks. That was very weird. We saw all those places you usually see on TV, but in person, they are enormous. I guess when you look at a small TV you start to believe that things on TV are really the size they appear on TV. We will have to get up really early in the morning. Really early for us would be before noon, though, so I guess that is not the average opinion of early. The limo stopped in front of our hotel, the New York, New York. The hotel is in a really great place, in the middle of things on the corner of Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard, across the street is the MGM Grand.
We checked in and grabbed some brochures from the front desk and carried them to our room. We haven’t made plans for tomorrow afternoon yet and the concert is tomorrow night, so after the required things, we’ll have some free time to explore. Maybe we can go shopping and sight seeing! There are several places in our hotel to eat, I think we will have to try Gallagher's Steakhouse tomorrow night for supper. There is a roller coaster to ride; it claims to reach speeds up to 67 miles an hour. That is definitely for me!
We soon realized as we were pouring over all the pamphlets we picked up, there is no way we are going to be able to see even one-quarter of the things in this city.
*****
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We drove up to the ? Center. The concert starts at 8 P.M. The opening act is PowerMan 5000, whoever the Hell they are. There are a lot of people here. Some freaky looking ones, too. I hate crowds. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
We went in and found our seats, just as the lights went out. Powerman was awful and loud…just really noisy. Some people liked them, others booed. A lot more booed than applauded. Finally the torture was over, and the stage was dark again. My heart was beating so fast. I have waited twenty years for this! I hope I am not disappointed. That is a long time to wait for a big disappointment. Suddenly someone announced over a loud speaker, "You wanted the best, you got the best!" Then the lights came on the stage. And there they were. Silly as it was, I could hardly breathe, to think I was in the same room with KISS! They played for two hours. I was in heaven. I knew most of their songs by heart. They did a few from "before my time," and I didn’t know the words to those. Then the stage was dark. They hadn’t performed Beth at all. Oh my God, to wait all this time, to come all this way. They can’t do this to me! I grabbed Shelley, yelled in her ear, telling her how disappointed I was; she knew. The crowd was getting louder and louder. Plus, they hadn’t sung their over-rated Rock And Roll All Night, I really hate that song. I used to like it, when it first came out, but that is all that people think of when they think of KISS. I really hate that song! I figured they would do an encore, I mean, most of the people here had come to hear that one song, they couldn’t let them down. I guess they still might perform Beth, there’s still hope anyway! We sat down. I hadn’t realized we had been standing the whole two hours. One green spotlight began to shine on stage, it shone on a bar stool. "This is it!" I thought. I grabbed Shelley’s arm again, started jumping up and down screaming, "Oh, my God! This is it!" over and over. And then, Peter Criss walked out and sat down on the stool. He had a microphone in one hand, a red rose in the other. He was very sweaty and he had a white towel draped over his shoulders. The piano notes started twinkling and began to rise and fill the air, then he started singing, "Beth, I hear you calling, but I can’t come home right now. Me and the boys are playing and we just can’t find the sound…" For an instant, I felt like I was alone in that great big stadium with him, just me and Peter Criss. And I felt a peace I will never be able to describe. An ending, in a way, a beginning, too, in another way. Finally. I have been to a KISS concert. Even though my father was not there and did not take me, he would have if he could have. Maybe he was standing right beside Shelley and me. I never realized just how short that song is until now. The CD says 2 minutes 45 seconds. That’s not much time. I guess I expected something a little more magical to happen at this point, but it didn’t. I am still glad I came all this way for this.
The band finished the encore with, of course, Rock And Roll All Night. Was there any doubt that THAT song would be played?
Shelley and I walked out of the building talking a million miles an hour. We both thought the coolest part of the show was when Ace Frehley’s guitar caught on fire. We are certain that was NOT supposed to happen! Another cool thing was when Paul Stanley flew up to the top of the stadium. And of course, we both went crazy over Gene Simmons. He wore "bat face" shoes and the red eyes lit up. He also spit out blood and "ate" fire. It was an awesome show, not the best I’ve ever been to, but good none the less. I have been to many concerts in my lifetime. I’ve seen Olivia Newton-John, INXS, the Go-Gos, Prince, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Al B. Sure, Cyndi Lauper, the Bangles, Milli Vanilli, and Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart was the best, most entertaining, I never sat down I was dancing so much. I wish Jesse Helms would retire so that maybe Madonna would come to NC. Well, you can’t have everything, I guess.
We got into the limo to head back to where KISS is staying. The ride was short, but maybe it just felt that way because we were talking so much. We got out in front of the Mirage. We were led through the front doors by one of the contest’s people, and escorted to the elevators. The doors opened and we stepped inside. Our escort pushed the button for floor 16. My stomach felt like I had a million butterflies, my hands were freezing, and my knees were shaking. Shelley was so cool; too cool. She didn’t seem to be fazed by any of this at all. Of course, she grew up with important people around her, so it’s probably no big deal at all to her. The elevator stopped. I could not move, I felt like I had been glued down. I feel so sorry for the little mice and rats that get caught in glue traps. It must be horrible! At this moment, I know how those poor little things feel.
I have to start walking. After all, there is only the chance that he will be here, no guarantee that he will be here. I hope he is. This was a bad idea, why did I enter this contest. When I get back home I am going to make some signs for every room in the house that say "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it." This is the longest hall I have ever seen. It has beautiful green carpet. You know, this color would look great in my den. The pattern on the wallpaper would make Joey claim to be drunk. He claims to get "high" from looking at the wallpaper in my living room. It is a small print and he says it "messes with his eyes." Finally we are outside door number 26. The door opens slowly. Everything is in slow motion. I see him! He IS HERE!
*****
Epilogue
Shelley and I returned to our normal lives. She and I are planning to go see KISS perform in New Orleans on December 31, 1999. I don’t know if we will, but it is a nice thought. I’m not sure that I want to start y2k in a big building full of thousands of people. I mean, suppose the lights went out?
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