The Kollector

The industry friend we stayed with in Greenbelt is fan huge fan of the 70's megasensation rock band that is known as KISS®™©™. I've known about this for years, but never broached the subject with him until this past time around while staying with him and his family.

You see, when I was really young, I too was a major KISS®™©™ fan and was completely obsessed fascinated by them. [And this is not something I am very proud of today]. I listened to their music, read a lot about them and even to this day have a small Klassic KISS®™©™ Kollection. Turns out our friend is a Kollector too.

He seemed surprised and excited once he found out I used to be such a fan and The Kollector immediately began showing off his collection. In fact, the next FOUR days all The Kollector wanted to do was eat, breathe and sleep KISS®™©™.

[Okay. This is why I never mentioned the subject to him in previous years].

The Kollector ended up giving me this:



A display for photographer Barry Levine®™©™'s book on KISS®™©™.

TK: "Dya'ever see the KISS®™©™ pencils they came out with in the 70's, Lioux?"

L: "No."

TK: "Well now you OWN one."



[?]

Next he showed me his complete set of Mego®™©™ KISS®™©™ dolls. Which didn't impress me all that much, seeing as I already have a set myself. I even have two more that are still in their original packaging.



During our stay, SK®™©™ wanted to take The Kollector's family out to dinner on our free night to thank them for their hospitality. TK has two daughters, one who is Nine [And chose the restaurant we should go to] and the other Thirteen.

The restaurant Nine chose was a theme restaurant back in VA. About 40 minutes away.

*sigh*

It's her favorite.

Anyway we all got ready to go out to dinner and began converging in the living room when The Kollector came out of his bedroom wearing this:



[The pattern is repeated on the front].

Thirteen: [obviously embarrassed] "You are NOT wearing that are you, dad?"

TK: "Sure am."

And did.

Being there was eight of us all together, we divided up into two vehicles. TK's wife Mimi took the girls, Marconi and Alienwhere in her car while Elle and I rode with TK in his Mini Cooper®™©™.

Elle climbed in back and I sat shotgun. Since it was going to be a a bit of a ride to the restaurant, TK thought it would be fun to see if I could stump him with KISS®™©™ trivia and vice versa.

L: "Ummm. I can't think of anything off the top of my head."

TK : "Okay. I'll start..."

He then proceeded to ask a bunch of questions only a true KISS®™©™ fan would know. Poor Elle. Occasionally she'd chime in with a fun fact, like how one of her BFF's once dated drummer Eric Carr®™©™'s cousin for a year in hopes of changing the subject.

Nope, didn't happen.

TK kept bringing the conversation back to KISS®™©™ trivia.

*sigh*

We FINALLY arrive at the mall the restaurant is located in and regroup with the others. We work our way through the mall and to the food court. TK and the family stop in their tracks, look around and at each other in confusion. And that's when Alienwhere and I look at each other with the realization we just drove over 40 minutes [I didn't even mention the traffic we got caught up in] to eat at a restaurant THAT. WAS. NO. LONGER. THERE.

[I Know].

So Mimi throws out another suggestion, to which we go and check the mall map to see where THIS restaurant is located. And Guess what? Yep. That one's gone too. At this point I'm getting really hungry, and when I get hungry, I get cranky, and when I get cranky...I need a drink. We finally decided on TGIF®™©™'S as there was a tangible location standing right before us. Not really a place I like to eat, but they do serve booze and I think Alienwhere was getting to the point he needed a drink too.

Dinner was relatively KISS®™©™ Konversation free which was nice seeing as the night before Elle, Marconi, The Kollector and I had gone to a diner after the SK®™©™ show and that's ALL we talked about. TK owns a copy of KISS®™©™ Meets The Phantom Of The Park®™©™ and I was joking around with him about how bad the acting was and throwing out some of the more ridiculous quotes here and there. When we had gotten back from the diner TK even wanted me to stay up and watch KMTPOTP®™©™ with him.

As annoying as all the recurring KISS®™©™ themes kept going, I must admit The Kollector actually has something in his Kollection I was entertaining myself with throughout our stay. TK's pièce de résistance:



YES!!! An original KISS®™©™ pinball machine from the late 70's in perfect working order! TK brought it out of storage when he finished off the basement. Most of my downtime spent at the house was playing this machine, whether I was playing against multiple SK®™©™ band mates, The Kollector or just alone. [TOTALLY mopped the floor with Marconi's face]. I was annoying everyone by playing it so much. You could hear all the machine's bells and whistles throughout the house. I couldn't stop. I was obsessed with pinball.

"Lioux's at it again..."



Alienwhere even started calling me "Tommy" <--[You know. The Pinball Wizard].



[I had have a problem].

There was one final surprise The Kollector had for me. The last morning Sister Kisser®™©™ was staying with them, TK's wife Mimi made breakfast burritos for the band.

TK: "Hey Lioux, would you like some hot sauce for that?"



L: [?]

TK: "It's Gene's®™©™ Hotter Than Hell®™©™ sauce."

L: "Ummm. No, Thanks. I'm good."

[Wait. I certainly hope THAT'S not from the seventies. Ewww].