There was a moment in today’s therapy session that felt like one of those legitimate revelations. Like the ones you see in the movies. A thought that passes over your lips before you realize what you’re saying that has so much truth in it, you are pretty sure it had to have come out of someone else’s face.
While I’ll spare you the long wind-up to how we got there, the basic idea was that I can pretty precisely identify the first time I ever created a part of an identity of my own. And, if you’ve been following me on the web for any amount of time, you’ll be unsurprised to know that definition involves Kiss.
As I was detailing a theory about my own parenting, I was reminded of this moment. And the fact that I wrote about it back in 1996. Kiss was returning to the touring circuit in makeup, with the original lineup, for the first time in what seemed like eons. And I was not going to miss it. The local music magazine I was freelancing for at the time, Tallahassee’s Break Magazine, asked me to put together an article about the upcoming date in Jacksonville, the closest stop on the tour to our Capitol City. I scratched out a few hundred words, went back and forth with my editor for a bit, and landed a two-page spread in that week’s issue.
One of the oft-repeated ideas in the World of Content™ is “write once, publish everywhere.” Well, I definitely put that idea to the test with that piece. Not only did it appear in Break, but I also used it as a commentary for Florida Public Radio, and then as a portfolio piece when I applied to be a producer on “This American Life” in 1998 (I did not get the gig). Rather than paste it here for y’all, too, I’ll let you hear the commentary versions, which I dug up some years ago and uploaded to SoundCloud.
Obviously, the Kiss lens is still part of how I navigate the world. Thanks for letting me take another walk down memory lane tonight. And I appreciate you letting me define and redefine myself in these posts night after night.
Kyle Petty, Son of Richard
19 January 2023
Kisstory.
There was a moment in today’s therapy session that felt like one of those legitimate revelations. Like the ones you see in the movies. A thought that passes over your lips before you realize what you’re saying that has so much truth in it, you are pretty sure it had to have come out of someone else’s face.
While I’ll spare you the long wind-up to how we got there, the basic idea was that I can pretty precisely identify the first time I ever created a part of an identity of my own. And, if you’ve been following me on the web for any amount of time, you’ll be unsurprised to know that definition involves Kiss.
As I was detailing a theory about my own parenting, I was reminded of this moment. And the fact that I wrote about it back in 1996. Kiss was returning to the touring circuit in makeup, with the original lineup, for the first time in what seemed like eons. And I was not going to miss it. The local music magazine I was freelancing for at the time, Tallahassee’s Break Magazine, asked me to put together an article about the upcoming date in Jacksonville, the closest stop on the tour to our Capitol City. I scratched out a few hundred words, went back and forth with my editor for a bit, and landed a two-page spread in that week’s issue.
One of the oft-repeated ideas in the World of Content™ is “write once, publish everywhere.” Well, I definitely put that idea to the test with that piece. Not only did it appear in Break, but I also used it as a commentary for Florida Public Radio, and then as a portfolio piece when I applied to be a producer on “This American Life” in 1998 (I did not get the gig). Rather than paste it here for y’all, too, I’ll let you hear the commentary versions, which I dug up some years ago and uploaded to SoundCloud.
Obviously, the Kiss lens is still part of how I navigate the world. Thanks for letting me take another walk down memory lane tonight. And I appreciate you letting me define and redefine myself in these posts night after night.
See you tomorrow?