Friday, July 26, 2013

The Day KISS Came To Town

Back in the summer of '09, I took a "Thelma and Louise" type trip across Canada and the USA with my friend and we ended up in Los Angeles for a couple of nights.  We spent a lot of time walking around, checking out the scene and taking photos.  I got a photo of my self standing over Kiss's Hollywood star. Photo below.



As I fast forward, I'd like to talk about what happened earlier this week.  KISS came to Sudbury on Tuesday July 23rd (the day after a full moon) and rocked our arena with Shinedown.  Earlier that day, I was tending to a friends garden when their cousin and his partner showed up.  They were pretty happy that Kiss made their way here and the wife also told me that she was Gene Simmons wife`s cousin from the east coast. She wished she could afford to go to the show but was unable to attend.

A few hours later, I drove to the arena with my guitar to try to raise some money for the Make Yourself Foundation and also to see all the Kiss fans in costume.  As I was walking through our memorial park after parking my car, I then realized I forgot my coffee . It was a chili night so I was going to need a warmup while I was entertaining the crowds outside the arena.  As I made my way back through the park with my coffee, I noticed a tall blond lady and a younger brunette walking with their cute little doggies and followed by security.  I knew this must have been Shannon Tweed.  Then, all of a sudden, her doggie comes running up to me and loving me up.  She came up to me and told me that her dog never did anything like this and it was like I was her dogs long lost mother, or something.

I kept conversation short with her because I understand how it must be to get bombarded every single day because of who you are, or what you do, or your status. It's amazing how I met her cousin eariler that day and then I end up running into Shannon, all because of my abandoned coffee I had to go get from my car.  Right door, awesome sauces.

I placed myself in front of some buses and played guitar for a few hours while I can hear the concert happening on the inside of the arena.  The lights from all the pyrotechnics were reflecting off the bus and I could only imagine how intense it was on the inside.

I met some interesting characters that evening.  There was this one man that came out of the arena with a vinyl and wanted me to sign his Kiss album; weird request but done.  I met a few roadies that were super cool.  "Fig" and "Shadi/Shati" (not sure of spelling). "Fig" asked me what was in my guitar (he was shaking my guitar) and I told him my "bottom dollar".  * I keep a dollar coin in my guitar sound hole, to remind me of my strength and courage to keep going. The dollar coin is also a reference to an Incubus song called Glass.

I ended up raising over $45 for the Make Yourself Foundation that night, which brings my total up to over $400 raised by playing guitar and singing on the streets.

Yesterday, July 25th, I donated $100 to the Make Yourself Foundation.org through a website called urgencynetwork.com to increase my chances to have the opportunity to surf with Brandon Boyd and also to help some of the causes that are dear to them and also to me.  About an hour after donating for the cause, I had coffee with a friend and noticed he was wearing a pair of shorts with the number 23. If you know Incubus`s music, the 23 would make sense, and if not, time to start listening to this band that`s been around for 20 years....Incredible, in one word.

I would like to thank Kiss for gracing us with their presence on their 40th anniversary tour, as well as the kindness and generosity of all the Kiss fans and the super cool people I met that day.  Shannon, your dog is super cute and lovable and intensely soft and maybe,just maybe,  I am your dogs` long lost mother...Who knows...   :)

Love and Light,
Andrea