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.

UPDATE: Since I was neither happy with the quality of the autographs, nor happy with the quality of our Polaroid photo op, I decided to give Peter Criss another try. His appearance at the Days of the Dead event in Chicago was touted as being his last appearance ever. Who knows if this was true, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

I was planning on attending the event anyway, but his appearance certainly sweetened the pot. I had a bad feeling going to the event that it was going to be both brutal and costly. Pre-sale tickets for the “Peter Criss Experience” had gone on sale beforehand for $250, which included a meet-and-greet, two autographs, and a photo with Peter. They made it a point to stress that it was only this option that would guarantee that you’d get to see him.

I knew I’d probably have better luck by going to the show on Sunday, November 19, 2012, instead of Saturday – so that’s the day I decided to dedicate to my Chicago visit. I got to the Marriott about a half-hour early, picked up my ticket at will call, and then immediately lined up for Peter Criss. There were about ten fans, all with VIP badges already in line. This made me the very first non-VIP in the second line. Soon Peter worked his way downstairs and entered the room, groggy from a rough night’s sleep. About a dozen fans lined up behind me.

It took about 20 minutes to get through the VIPs, and before I knew it, I was entering Peter’s room. The cost was $50 per signature ($10 up from the last time I met him), and a mere $10 for the photo op – which could at last be with my own camera! All in all, these prices pleased me.

I had just gotten the Destroyer photo originally purchased from Ken Kelly signed by Ace Frehley three weeks earlier, so this was the first item I chose to get signed. The second was a great color headshot of Peter that I had found on eBay. Finally I’d have a quality item signed by Peter Criss! The first handler I met threatened to confiscate it for being ‘too cool’. At first I thought he was serious.

The other cool thing was that Peter was selling his new biography From Makeup to Breakup at the suggested retail price and signing it for free. So I plunked down the $28 for that as well.

Some fans had said that Peter was unfriendly and others had told me that you couldn’t even talk to him, that his handler would take him the items, have them signed, and then return them to you. Neither statement could be further from the truth.

I had picked out a great metallic green pen for him to use and when I handed it to him, he tossed aside the one in his hand as if irritated, but warmed up within a split second. As before, his topics of discussion were random: moving from his rough night in the hotel, the fact that he was a three-year survivor of male breast cancer and how he advocated that all men get themselves tested, how the original members of KISS were the only ‘real KISS’ (prompted by the shirt I was wearing), how his book had outsold both Gene and Ace’s, and he ended our conversation with a hug and a “God bless you.” The whole experience couldn’t have been more cool.

So what did I say during all this? I agreed with his comments about the original KISS, saying that they had become sort of silly by adding two impersonators in make-up (he said, “yeah, they’re like a tribute band”), and I also told him that I was very excited to read his book and that I knew he had been working on it for a long time. He said it had been three years, but I recall that at least a dozen years ago, there was talk of a book called The Face of Kiss in the works.

Peter’s wife Gigi was with him and she too was as sweet as could be as well. She snapped the photo of Peter and me, making sure that she took enough photos (three total) so that we’d get a good shot. My hair notwithstanding, I think she succeeded. She even had me switch sides with him so that his face on my KISS shirt would show up.

After about three minutes of conversation with Peter, which went on while he was signing and then posing for the photo, I suddenly felt like I had known Peter Criss for years and that we were old friends. It’s quite a testament to a rock star that has lived the excesses of rock and roll for some 40 years that he could make one of long-time fans feel this way.

I knew that no matter how rest of the show went that day, spending time with Peter Criss had made the trip completely worthwhile.

Celebs of the Fall 2009 Chiller Theatre Show will continue….

Celebs of the 2012 Chicago Days of the Dead 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.