Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s

Part 15: You wanted the best

Muscle Shoals Meets the 70s reinvigorated my lifelong love of the hottest band in the world. Don’t get me wrong, the KISS fire is always burning, friends, but that Saturday night in Florence’s historic Shoals Theatre, my blood was boiling because heaven was absolutely on fire. Feeling uptight on a Saturday night – I got to get up!

Nick Franks, plus those world-famous Fiddleworms with The Demon, Scott Campbell, on bass, had me reliving my flaming youth with their rendition of the KISS rock anthem, “Detroit Rock City.” Nick’s voice was so on point, friends. Sheer perfection – tip of the hat to Paul Stanley, who I think is so underrated as a vocalist. Nick completely embodied the iconic frontman energy of The Starchild, too. That’s not an easy feat.

Yes, Nick was living his best KISS life right there on stage and I was, too. Yes, that was me – did you see me? I was the girl in the (almost) front row wearing my black KISS T-shirt screaming for more.

This night two MSM the 70s performance was so freaking rock n’ roll, friends. Gotta lose your mind to Detroit. Mitch Mann and Scott Todd were vibing from the get-go, Micheal Dillon Curington was tearing up those skins, and y’all, Steve Vickery was giving us backing vocals. Yeah he was.

I just have one question: Does Scott (Campbell) give lessons on how to become one with a wind machine? Mercy, y’all. Scott has me convinced I could use a little wind to accompany me while I’m tooling around town. Yes, wind would complement my walk-up music for sure. Golly, y’all. Seriously. Scott, Nick, those Fiddleworms … born ROCKSTARS!

Thanks to a cool older cousin and an ad in the back of a rock magazine, I've been a member of the KISS Army since elementary school. Yep, me and KISS are lifelong ride or dies. The Spaceman was my first true love, too. (Ace Frehley … that’s a conversation for another day.) Sure, growing up in the South, I’ve heeded the call to “See Rock City” many times but "Destroyer" taught me about the elusive magical rock city called Detroit. That was the rock city calling my name as kid. No lie, one of the first places I visited as a young adult was Detroit.

Here's a fun aside: How great were rock magazines, friends? As a music-loving kid in the 1970s and a music-obsessed teen in the 1980s, I couldn't get enough of "Cream" and "Rolling Stone." It's not surprising that the history of me includes both a stint as a magazine editor and an entertainment feature writer. It's a crying shame I never learned to play guitar, though. Rockstar should be on my CV, too.

My goodness!

Stay tuned … more to come.

Dig Worms.

Photo credit: Devona Hawkins