Letters

Dear Paul, Gene, Tommy, Eric.... My name is Alyssa Patterson. I'm 26 years old and originally from Nashville, TN. I have recently moved to the DC area, after my husband was stationed up here at Ft Myer. He's an active duty soldier in the US Army and was over seas in Afghanistan for a year in 2010-2011. I've been a fan of the band since I was 11...I can thank my brother and father for that....and I'm pretty enthralled with Paul and have been since I was a little girl. I have a pretty extensive collection of all things KISS including underware, toothbrushes, mugs, aprons, blood spitting fountains, playing cards, Barbies that I hand painted myself..etc etc.. When I was 12, I dressed up as Paul for my middle school Halloween dance. When I was 13, my dad took me to the Nashville KISS expo, and I was able to meet Eric Singer. That same year I also was able to attend my first KISS and Ted Nugent show with my dad for the 'Farewell' tour. My seat was closer to the back of the ampitheatre, but to my surprise, Paul flew out during Love Gun and was closer to me than I ever expected to be that night. As a 13 year old girl, I stood up on my chair and waved and screamed and luckily I caught his eye. He pointed at me and puckered his lips and I almost fell off my chair. I was so happy. That was all it took to make my life complete back then. When I was 17, I was able to meet Gene at a book signing at Borders Books in Nashville for the release of his 2nd biography. I dressed up as Paul again for Halloween when I was 23. I saw KISS again when I was 18 with Poison, when I was 23 with Buckcherry, and then a few months ago I bought my tickets for my 4th KISS show for Jiffy Lube Live. My husband and I are newlyweds..having married in December of 2011. I was a bartender in a bar and he was my guest. We got to talking about our love for classic rock and then before I knew it, we were engaged and then married. Our wedding was a classic rock wedding with an emphasis on my obsession with KISS. I had a Gene Simmons card board cut out as our 'guestbook' for our guests to sign and a Paul Stanley action figure as my bride cake topper. My love for the band has never dwindled and for most of my life I was always known as 'the weird KISS girl'. The day before the kick off of the 2012 tour, a friend of mine told me that KISS was putting on a special show for veterans, soldiers, and their families that night. I was ecstatic. I immediately went to register for tickets and to my dismay, registration was already full. I was pretty bummed. Out of curiousity, I went on Live Nations website to see if the show on Friday had sold out as well. I was shocked to see that they had opened up some amazing seats on the floor level the day before the show for the public to buy. Those seats were definately not available during the presales or even at the begining of the general public sale. I was floored!! How could I have missed these seats!! At the time, had I had the extra money, I would have purchased those seats even though I already had tickets because I wanted to be as close as possible. So on a whim, I emailed Ticketmaster/Live Nation and told them my story. Expressed my love for the band and my disappointment with the veterans show already being full and asked if there was any way they would be willing to exchange my already purchased tickets for the better ones I found even though the show was in 24 hours. Fingers crossed I sent the email. Soon after, my husband called me. He told me that army post Ft Belvoir had 90 tickets left for the veterans show that night, and if I went RIGHT NOW I might be able to snag 2. I flew out of the house, sped down to the army base, grabbed 2 tickets and danced and screamed all the way home. I couldn't believe it! 2 KISS shows, 2 nights in a row. My husband and I went to the veterans show and I can not even put into words how amazing of an experience it was for me. They let us right up on the barricade. They gave us half priced food and drinks. They let us sit up on others shoulders and stretch out to grab guitar picks that were being thrown. I was closer to you guys than I ever expected to be in my whole life. You made me feel so special. Paul actually personally stretched out to hand me a pick which I grabbed and then squealed with delight. Noone could get rid of the smile on my face that night. I have never been so happy. I had the time of my life. And so did my husband. It was a magical, wonderful, and special experience that will NEVER EVER be matched. It was so intimate and personal. It exceeded my expectations of what KISS was capable of. The soldiers loved it. The veterans loved it. The families loved it. And on top of that, an avid KISS fan and army wife, had an experience she will never ever forget. I just want to thank you guys for putting on such a special show for us. My husband said that was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him in his military career so far. The next night we went to the kick off show and had a blast as well. The show was awesome and kick ass. But in the back of my mind all I could think about was the night before and how thankful I was that I got to be a part of something so fantastic that not very many people got to see. The day after the show I checked my emails, and found out that Live Nation/Ticketmaster had actually responded to me and said YES we will exchange your tickets! We found 11th row seats available for you. I couldn't believe it!! Even though the show had already passed and I had neglected to check my email prior to the show, I was floored that they were actually willing to swap my seats out for some better ones. I have never been treated SO WELL and SO KINDLY by a band, a ticket seller, and a venue. From the bottom of my heart, and my soldiers heart, we thank you so so so much for giving so much back to us. It meant the world to us...and it meant the world to me. You will never know how fully thankful I am...I could never say it enough. Love Always, Alyssa