Kiss, not KISS. My favorite Prince song, not the band with the same name.
January 31, 2026, my friend Jennifer had asked me and others to attend a Prince tribute show. Prior to the show we went out for dinner, which included a mysterious figure, shrouded in secrecy, an enigma much like Prince himself was: one Sherry Greer! My BFF. The queen of excited emojis as I endured the barrage of planning texts. Just tell me when and where to be and I’ll see you there… But as usual, I digress.
Brutal cold required me to riff off a few different planned outfits and go with a purple themed outfit (as would be appropriate for his Purpleness). I still get chills watching his rendition of When My Guitar Gently Weeps at the 2004 Rock Hall Induction Ceremonies, to this day, the single greatest live performance of anything, ever. And I do not say that as a Prince fan. I respect him but am not a huge fan.
Side note: “Pop Life”, beside Kiss, is a phenomenal song. You know all the hits: 1999, Raspberry Beret, Purple Rain, Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, Delirious and on and on. But Kiss and Pop Life, take those to the bank! You’re welcome.
And yes, no photos taken while out… I have been very fortunate to be able to spend quite a bit of time with Sherry recently. I tease her here, well because I can. For the entirety of my life, I have lived by one basic tenant, if I don’t tease you or joke with you, then I could not care less about you. I am the literal version of “we kid because we love”. Joking is my love language. 😘 She is loved.
I had a wonderful evening with wonderful friends. The show was great fun, and I even danced a bit! Two interactions were of note. During the intermission, I went to the bar for a drink (surprise!) and met a wonderful couple, Mitch and Kimberly. They quickly struck up a conversation with me, and I won my usual suckers bet (the loser telling me they are older than I am and me, the fossil that I am, winning a drink actually being older). And I damn well collected on my bet! I bid my new friends farewell and hit the dancefloor. Low and behold, I turn around and there is Kimberly, wanting to cut a rug with me!! All I can say, I was blown away and we had one great dance…
Later, a woman dancing near me afterward came over and asked me if I modeled for Darlafoxx (I have and I do and will do so a few times very soon). She remembered me from a show at least three years ago! You never know when and how you are noticed and remembered. I have said this many times, and I do not say it arrogantly, when I am in a room, when I am anywhere, I am always noticed. Always. And I am positively noticed most of the time.
Let me leave you all with something I know to be gospel and something I struggle with each and every time I dress. Look at the joy in my face. It is okay to be happy. It is okay to be yourself. It is okay to seek joy. It is okay and if anyone listens to this, I hope it is ME! The struggle is not just yours; we all fight ourselves, often being literally our own worst enemies. I struggle every minute of every day wrapping my head around all that is me, even now 12 years in plus those 50 years of self-loathing and despair.
4 Responses
Love you too 😘😘😘☺️☺️☺️😍😍😍🤣🤣🤣
Oh boy….
Just when I thought I might have a day off from heavy typing. Know what I’m liking best about you so far KR?
That you epitomize the old saying: “There’s more to you than meets the eye.” Or, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
You have a nice talent for weaving together seemingly unrelated “moments” and finding connections between them. Making them interesting. Soon as I saw your first sentence, “Kiss, not KISS. My favorite Prince song…” my first thought was , well, I liked KISS better. And Prince? Yeah, he was okay, had a couple of hits and appreciated the beautiful babes. But like you, can’t say I was a big fan of him. Still, I read on. You mention your bestie, Sherrie, who’s a private girl, something I totally get. Alright then, two enigmas, Sherry and Prince…yup, I’m following….then you snip it as you are digressing. Something I do a lot. I’ve decided that the “cool kids” tend to digress…😉
Then second paragraph, BAM! The link from you of what you have the audacity to call: “The single greatest live performance of anything, ever.” Well. I got’s ta know! (line from a movie, free pair of panties to anyone who knows it.) However, I’m digressing here…..
I did not know the video. 139 million views this has and I had never seen it til this am. Man that pisses me off! How is it none of my friends has turned me on to this great video from two thousand freaking four??? I can answer that : Because they only listen to the “ senior citizens top 20 “ of the same 20 songs played over and over no matter where you go or what you do, or what station you listen to. That’s why. But damn, there I go digressing again!
That was a GREAT video. It goes in my jukebox of cool videos to play when guests are over. Starts out like just another “super group” tributing one of the greats when Prince, who’s looking cooler than usual up there IMHO, just steps up from over on the side and steals the song away from those stoners! Half the video plays before you even notice him…then, oh yeah, that’s him in the red hat. Just kicking it, riffing, doing some Jimi, a little Eddie VH…then the “mic drop” at the end…holy shit! Definitely one for the ages. Again, how have I not seen that til today? Then you read the first comment below it about how Rolling Stone had just done their “100 best guitarists of all time” list and Prince wasn’t even on it. No doubt about the added frosting of this was Prince not only doing the great guitar riffs but giving the big middle finger to Rolling Stone at the same time. Fan-freaking-tastic. I’ll give it to you KR, it makes my “Top 10 best videos when guests are over status” immediately. “Single greatest live performance of anything, ever”??? Not. To me, the one you have to dethrone is Eric Johnson live in Austin, TX doing “Cliffs of Dover”. Another one I only recently found out about, 5 years or so ago. It’s spine tingling every time I watch it. I remember thinking: “Eric Johnson?” Never heard of him! Who is he? Well, this is the link for that one if you don’t already know who he is:
https://youtu.be/5Nd7EZ3k39s?si=hCgsYbn-yy1cOY_L
In topics like these I always feel like we just had coffee together and you’ve just told me what you did last night. (oh, that made me think of a line from a favorite song: “Two friends having coffee together, when something flies by their window…(Fleetwood Mac, Hypnotized) – – – You wrap it up well Kandi with your admonition to not live in our pasts. The past is gone And yes, it did go by “like dusk to dawn”…(OMG…she’s out of control!😝)….We can’t go back and change it. We only have today. And today is always a good day to put on some girls clothes. Such a little thing that can bring so much joy. Hopefully it makes us smile, like you, it does me too. Every time. Self loathing and despair? No thanks! Not today or ever.👩🦳
You do know I have no attention span…
That video plays at the Rock Hall, in a perfectly built for acoustics-theater and I watch it every single time I go, and I get chills each and every time.
Plus, I get to see some performances I watch, literally, just off stage. Good to be me (only for that)!
Kandi,
Once on the dance floor , I usually dance until I drop or my feet start complaining !
I will never forget my social group’s Xmas party , it was the first time I’d attended a mixed party where two other groups were non trans . I spent most of the night dancing with the girls from those groups while most of the husbands propped up the bar , one lovely blond girl’s husband decided at the end of the evening to hang a sprig of mistletoe over as many girls as possible to give them a kiss . Much to his wife’s amusement he’d forgotten we were a transgender group , he had a beard so when he planted one on my cheek it felt more like a drunken hedgehog !!