By CHUCK FIELDMANIn her final year of a three-year residency at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Amanda Baldwin is concentrating on anatomic pathology. She spends most of her time looking into microscopes and assisting in autopsies.
But on special occasions, Baldwin likes to load on the makeup and step into a skin-tight black costume similar to the one made famous by former Kiss guitar player Ace Frehley.
You see, Baldwin is a mega Kiss fan.
"I get a lot of people who are surprised -- both ways," said the 30-year-old Central Illinois native who now lives in Wheaton.
"People I work with are very surprised when they first find out about me being such a huge fan of Kiss and Ace, and that I put on the makeup.
"And when I meet other big fans, they are quite surprised if they ask me what I do and I tell them I'm a doctor."
Baldwin's not the only doctor who enjoys rock music or seeing her favorite bands perform in concert. She probably even has colleagues who are Kiss fans.
However, it's unlikely that they will take to the road to see a Kiss concert or dress in full Kiss wear for fandom conventions.
"I'm very happy with my life," she said. "I love my job, and I'm having a great time being a fan of Kiss and of Ace."
Baldwin's interest sparked from her older siblings -- brother, Jim, and sister, Lisa.
"When I was very young, they had Kiss posters and (record albums)," Baldwin said. "Both of them were into music when I was growing up. I would look at the posters, and I called them the Kiss monsters."
Baldwin remembers the day when the "Kiss monsters" started becoming very important to her.
"My brother had the 1978 Ace (Frehley) solo album on the floor, and I was mesmerized by the makeup," she said. "I took the record -- I was probably 4 or 5 at the time -- and played it on my little record player while I danced around. I loved it."
Baldwin later got a hold of some Kiss bubblegum cards, and her brother gave her his Ace Frehley solo album.
In 1984, she saw for the first time the 1978 TV movie "Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park."
"I thought it was really cool," she said.
However, for the rest of the 1980s, Baldwin's passion for Kiss was put on the back burner. Her favorite band had taken off the makeup, and Frehley left the band.
"I was still very much into music, but I got into all the 'hair bands,' like Motley Crue and Poison," Baldwin said.
When she entered high school in 1993, Baldwin devoted more time to academics.
"School really was my focus throughout high school," she said. "It pretty much stayed that way until I got into (medical school)."
After graduating in 1997 from Illini Central High School in Mason City, Ill., Baldwin enrolled as a pre-med student at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. She earned a master's degree from Loyola after moving to the Chicago area in 2001 and attended medical school at Midwestern University in Downers Grove. She graduated in 2007, officially earning the right to be called "doctor."
Baldwin's interest in Kiss and Frehley picked up again when she began medical school.
"Music was back for me when I got into medical school," she said. "I thought, 'I'm getting older and have spent so much time studying. I was losing my youth.'"
So, in 2002, Baldwin again began following Kiss and Frehley.
In 2009, she traveled to four Kiss concerts and attend the band's Nov. 6 show at the United Center. She headed to Milwaukee the next day for a performance by Frehley.
She has met all of the band members. And on Sept. 19 she finally met Frehley when he made an appearance at a Detroit store to autograph copies of his new album.
"I was so nervous about meeting him that I couldn't speak," she said. "He's the reason I'm into Kiss."
Baldwin had Frehley sign the 1978 solo album given to her by her brother. She also asked Frehley to autograph her ankle. She had that signature turned into a tattoo the next day.
Baldwin has no plan to give up her devotion to Frehley or Kiss. But she's also focused on her career.
In the home stretch of her residency at Loyola, Baldwin is slated to work a pathology fellowship in 2010.
"It's really fascinating to me," she said. "You learn so much when you do an autopsy, and you can sometimes help to answer the questions that families have after someone dies."
"After (the fellowship), I'd love to work in a medical examiner's office for a while," she said. "Eventually, I'd like to maybe do private work as a medical examiner; testify in court."
And, of course, continue following Kiss and Frehley.
