Letters

Last year I hosted a band from Sweden through the Seattle Swedish club. The director didn't know if they were a punk industrial band or a marching band. I didn't care. I love music. I often host musicians. I love people and I love meeting world travelers and showing them my fantastic city. I didn't even know if they were going to be men or women. Turned out to be 4 guys in their early 30's from Goteburg. I am a single gal, late 40's. They were a clean-cut, acoustic folk band and super groovy guys. We knew we had our Viking heritage in common and we weren't sure what else. Within moments of their arrival, it turned out, we had both recently been to KISS concerts, from our different places across the world. We were different ages, different genders and lived clear across the globe, but we had all been KISS'ed. When we arrived at my house, from their airport pick up, we went straight to the stereo, put on some old vinyl, (on the record player, not our bodies!) and cranked up KISS. Language barriers and age differences made way for the commonality of KISS. From my albums, we headed to youtube and computer photos, and then they showed me KISS shreds. I had never seen a 'shred' before and we laughed with the utmost respectful devotion to our pagan gods of rock! KISS created the connection for strangers through their music. The boys spent four days of their US tour with me and they are forever my buddies and brothers, bonded at the start, by the songs and band that we both love. KISS created that for us, beyond music to the mere humanity of connection and friendship. Thanks KISS, your impact can be more than you imagine. Your affect can be big and brash, loud and bright, or simply subtle and sweet when strangers meet. Sweden KISS'ed Seattle and we all loved our KISS music, concerts and crazy shreds! ThanKs for that Konnection, KISS!