KISSing in Nashville

When I was a kid I LOVED the band KISS. By the time I was 7 I had probably seen them live 4 or 5 times. My dad was a rock n’ roll photographer and back in the day he would sometimes take me with him to shows that he shot. I don’t think I actually liked the music but was more impressed and in awe of the theatrics. Gene Simmons with his big platform boots, that oozing blood that would come out of his mouth and the big axe bass guitar. I remember I would get scared when he would do the big fire blowing trick. At one show I actually covered my eyes because I thought it would be “hotter than hell”, the title of their album at the time. I missed a cool stunt.

I’m in Nashville tonight and after testing our cameras for the presidential debate we headed to Jack’s BBQ for dinner. When we arrived at Jack’s, there was a big group of people outside the front window taking pictures with their point-and-shoot cameras. We peered over a few people to see none other than Gene Simmons sitting by himself in a booth eating a plate of BBQ. While we waited in line to get our food, we watched as people lined up to meet the 70’s rock star. He never cracked a smile, just sat there as people mugged for pictures. Why was he sitting in the booth next to the window? Attention whore.

The food line was long, when we finally got to the counter to order our food the man behind the counter announced that he was out of everything except pork shoulder and ham. Ugh. We had come to this place for some serious BBQ. Now we would miss out on the ribs, brisket and chicken. Oh well.
After we ate I asked my assignment editor Pierce if he would snap a frame of me and Gene Simmons. We headed back to where he was sitting and by chance ran into him in the hallway. I asked if he would be willing to take a picture with me and he quickly said “sure thing.” Pierce pulled out his camera and started to turn it on and Gene seemed to get impatient and said “why don’t I go take a piss while this guy figures out how to use his camera.” Ouch. Pierce got it together and snapped 2 frames. Gene went to go relieve himself and we went back to our table. I should have asked him to do that tongue thing that he does. That would have been funny.