Today is a very sad day. It’s time for my KISS ARMY shirt to go to that big box of guitar polishing rags in the sky (“the sky” being my gig bag). I purchased it nearly 20 years ago at the July 1996 KISS reunion tour show in St. Paul, MN. It’s hard to let go, but the poor thing is deteriorating at an alarming rate, not to mention the pits are so caked with years of antiperspirant residue that when you pinch them they retain the pinched shape.
Shirt, you and I have been through a lot. Today I celebrate your life. We’ve lived in Burnsville. St. Paul. Minneapolis. Cottage Grove. Minneapolis again. South Minneapolis. St. Louis Park. Cottage Grove. Minneapolis yet again. And last but not least the city that has become your resting place: Brooklyn, New York. Shirts like you only come along once in a lifetime. Remember that one time back when I smoked and we walked to SA to get a pack of cigarettes, and we ran into what’s-his-face? And then I bought 2 hot dogs? Good times. And then there was that one time when my car broke down and I had to walk 8 blocks home while wearing you. And let’s not forget about the time I was painting my apartment and took you off so I wouldn’t get orange paint on you.
You did a great job at covering my upper body, KISS ARMY shirt. In your later years you made a great pajama top. I hope you understand that it’s time to let go. There are other KISS ARMY shirts that might not be as comfortable as you but they deserve a chance, too.
Goodbye, KISS ARMY shirt.
RIP (pun intended… I’m about to rip it into guitar rags) KISS ARMY shirt
1996-2016
Turned into guitar polishing rags but not forgotten.
