^^That’s a quote from Dr. Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati. I remember seeing that episode when I was a little kid thinking “Really? Peter’s gonna be on the show?” Sadly for me he wasn’t.
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As of today, some 37 years after becoming a lifelong KISS nerd, I can cross “meet all 4 original KISS guys” off of my bucket list. I met Gene and Paul in 1994 (back when they still had a few shreds of dignity left) and Ace about a half dozen times since moving to NY in 2009. I was supposed to meet Peter at a book signing in 2012 but the store ran out of books and that’s all he was signing…. game over. 🙁 I was kind of bummed because he never does appearances, and dude is getting up there in age (70 this December) so figured I was S.O.L. in the Peter department. Fast-forward to this past Thursday when I received some Guitar Center email spam saying he was part of an upcoming DW clinic in their Union Square/NYC store. SCORE. I guess there’s a reason to be on those lists after all.
I almost didn’t go out of sheer laziness, plus Peter’s book was my least favorite autobio of the four. In it he came off as a bitter, egotistical, narcissistic, whiny little beeyotch. I wasn’t sure I wanted to dedicate a Saturday afternoon – in a Guitar Center no less – to someone like that. I was a little bummed about the sour taste that book left in my mouth because he’s my next favorite KISS guy after Ace. I wouldn’t dare recommend his 1978 solo album to anyone who isn’t already familiar with it, but I love every last cheesy song and sharp note he sings on it and listen to it at least once a month on my walks to work.
John Good and Peter Criss
Aside from having to spend an hour and a half in Guitar Center waiting, which is Hell on earth for me, and having to inform them that the KISS they were playing in the store was post-Peter Criss era (how very Guitar Center of them), I’m so glad I went. Much to my surprise he was by far the friendliest of the 4 KISS dudes. He strolled in with a smile on his face dressed in all black wearing a pair of Chuck Taylors (that’s my boy), occasionally taking swigs from a bottle of purple Vitamin Water. He stood next to DW drum geek John Wood, a fella who isn’t only Peter’s drum tech but instantly earned my respect the second he said he was Zappa’s drum tech. They yapped about drums for quite a while before Peter sat behind a table to sign stuff.
There were about 10 people ahead of me and I couldn’t help but be surprised at how nice he was to everyone. Finally it was my turn. Okay, here we go!
“I’ll be right back. I’m not leaving, just taking a quick break,” and off he went. Aw MAN.
Not 30 seconds later, this happened immediately to my left:
The guy on the right ran in and sat down behind the kit. I recognized him right away – that’s Shawn Pelton, the drummer for the SNL band. Those guys have my dream job. He said it was nice to get out of the studio because Hilary Clinton is doing a cameo on the season premier tonight and security is crazy. Just another day on the job. The guy on the left is Billy Ward who I’m not very familiar with but he’s quite the player – it was so fun to watch those two play. Billy just kind of held things down and laughed gleefully as Mr. Pelton was peltin’ (see what I did there?) our ears with his amazing playing. I had the perfect spot in line – right in front of the guy! That bright green thing next to his kick drum is my open backpack and poster tube.
After a good 10 minutes of ass-kickery from those two Peter finally came back, sat down, and asked “What can I do for you?!” I threw the aforementioned 78 solo album and its accompanying full-sized poster in front of him and as he was signing I told him that his drum solo in “100,000 Years” on ALIVE! made me want to play drums in the elementary school band, however when I went to sign up the teacher asked to see my teeth and said “You’re a tuba player.” Waaaah-waaaaaah. He had a good chuckle at that and said “Thank you so much. That’s crazy, we were just talking about solos in the other room!” and proceeded to tell me all about his formula behind that solo. In a nutshell he said he kept a steady kick beat going throughout so that the audience could follow along and groove to it which wouldn’t have happened had he just mindlessly clobbered away at his drums for 10 minutes, and how that was something he learned from his hero Gene Krupa (or “Krooper” as he says in his NY accent). He must have assumed that I was a drummer because he got all drum tech on my arse for a few minutes and hey, that’s fine with me. If Peter Criss wants to sit and talk shop with me I’m down. I’m sure he’s always slightly relieved to be around a bunch of drum geeks and yap about that stuff instead of have to answer questions about KISS.
I left with my signed poster and LP, and could not believe how thoroughly impressed I was with the guy. I love it when people who have had the level of success that he did aren’t assholes.
Here’s a picture of my now even-more-collectible-collectibles. I hope to some day have a matching Ace Frehley LP and poster to match the Peters. He’s releasing an album in the spring so that’s going to be my goal when he does meet-n-greets:
