KISS / BUCKCHERRY
7:30 p.m., Verizon Arena, $19.50-$127.95.

Glen Hooks, one of the winners of our KISS essay contest, offers a tale of innocence, innocence lost and betrayal. Read the other winner’s essay here.

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My early boyhood in Gravel Ridge was untainted and innocent. Most of my days were spent playing with the neighborhood gang, reading my Highlights magazine or the Family Bible Encyclopedia, and tromping through the woods behind my house. My family was big on camping and nature. Peaceful, happy times. No cares, no worries.

Then my friend Mark introduced me to KISS.

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KISS was at first only a concept, a band he told me about that I couldn’t fathom. They breathed fire? Nuh-uh. Spit blood, wore huge boots and dressed like demonic cats? What? Then he showed me the album cover for “KISS Alive II.” When he spun it on the turntable, the tale became all too real.

“KISS Alive II” fired my 9-year-old imagination like nothing before. As I inspected the gatefold cover of the double-live album, I left Gravel Ridge and became a resident of Detroit Rock City. I was in the crowd. I could feel the pyrotechnic heat. Christine Sixteen was by my side, whispering in my ear and calling me Dr. Love. Before the first side ended, I not only joined the KISS Army, I was the guy volunteering to storm the barricades (with my Love Gun), take that hill and win this war by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. Many, many hours were spent in my room Shouting It Out Loud (into my hairbrush).

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