The Terrible Catsafterme

I had already pretty much resigned myself to flying to New York to attend the April 18, 2009, Chiller Theatre show based on the celebrity guestlist – but if I had need a kicker to put me over the edge, it came late in the game when it was announced that KISS’ original drummer Peter Criss would be attending. Obviously anyone who knows me realized that I have been a huge KISS fan since the first grade (see my soapbox on my Big 7 bands), at which time I began collecting, idolizing, and listening to KISS records on a daily basis. So this was to be a thrill indeed.

I had seen Peter Criss perform live twice as a solo performer (in addition to the two KISS reunion tour shows I attended) and both times came rather close to getting the opportunity to meet him and perhaps get an autograph – which you can read about here. But suffice it to say that I was ecstatic that I was going to have my chance once again – this time with no real chance of failure.

After I had gathered a few autographs early in the show from other celebs, Bill, Peter, and I worked our way toward the small room in which Peter Criss was greeting his fans. Unlike the other celebs, Peter – who was most certainly  the star attraction at the show – had his own room, which was set up differently than any other signing opportunity that I had ever witnessed.

A long line of people waited outside the room and they only let in about ten people at any given time. We waited in a small line inside the room, passing up memorabilia (mostly newer junk) that could be purchased if you had nothing else for him to sign. The deal was $40 per signature on either the item that you brought or that you purchased for an additional cost. Pretty high, but at least consistent. A photo with Peter was a very reasonable $10, but the kicker was that it could only be taken with their Polaroid camera – no digital cameras even if they operated it.

I brought along four items, and opted to only have two signed. I of course already had a photo signed by the entire band which I had purchased in the past. I had him sign my KISS View-Master Slides that I had previously had Ace Frehley sign and my copy of KISS MTV Unplugged which I had had Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer sign. My hope was to one day acquire all four signatures on the first one, and all six on the latter.

When I asked Peter if he had often seen these View-Master Slides, he mentioned the recording studio in his house. He obviously didn’t understand me. Drummer’s ear, you know.

Peter noted that this reunion at the KISS MTV Unplugged had triggered the KISS reunion tour in make-up when, he quoted to me, “everybody saw the dollar signs”

In all honesty, I just wasn’t happy with the quality of Peter’s signature on either item, particularly the ultra-rare View Master Slides – which almost looked like a scribble. Fortunately I had requested a silver marker on these or he would have used a black one and the signature would have been completely lost. The other signature didn’t come out too bad.

But what made me happiest about the encounter was to see how friendly Peter was. I had long had the impression that he wasn’t all that friendly with fans and based on my first encounter with him, where he seemed rather subdued and distant, I was expecting him to sit there silently signing what was put in front of him without getting much interaction.

What I found was that he was standing up, very animated, extraordinarily friendly, and quite talkative. I asked him if he would be performing at the Chiller concert later that night and he said that he might get up and do a few numbers with local TV host Zacherly. Naturally he was getting paid big bucks from his fans to be there, but made up for it by acting genuinely interested in fulfilling any request and basically chatting for as long as you could think of what to say to him. For me, it wasn’t all that long before I ran out words and just stood there stupefied at his presence.

I can’t fathom why we couldn’t use the digital camera unless it was to stop people from displaying the images on the internet, which I am proudly doing here regardless

So two original KISS members  down, two to go.

Celebs of the Chiller Theatre Show will continue….

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 at 6:55 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Autographs, Big 7 Bands, Celebrity Encounters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.