I went and saw singer/songwriter Juliana Hatfield the other night. I was surprised that there were only 45 people at the show (I counted). It was an amazing set, too. She was in the bands Some Girls, Blake Babies, and The Lemonheads…but her solo work is better. She’s had hits with “My Sister” “Universal Heartbeat,” and “Spin the Bottle.” The album “Become What…

Two Hall of Famers and an 80's pop rocker played in Cleveland over the past weekend and those shows kept me quite busy.  First, Gregg Allman started his new tour on Friday at the Hard Rock.  Since it was the first day of the new tour, I figured Gregg might be in the mood to sign.  My wife decided to go to the casino on Thursday and I heard that Gregg…

I’ve mentioned before how when I was 15-years-old, I read a story about a piece of toast George Harrison had taken a bite out of, selling at an auction for $20. That might seem pricey, until you think of the amount of money that one investor spent to have the bed sheets the Beatles slept in (he lost his shirt on that, thinking he could cut them up into small pieces and sell…

It's hard to believe that fifty-one years ago several bands/musicians from England stormed the shores of the United States and ruled the music charts for the next 2 decades.  Some of these acts decided to celebrate this turning point in music history and bound together to tour the States again.  Peter Asher served as master of ceremonies as he introduced each act and told stories about each performer.  The underlying theme for each act was the Beatles.  Either they worked with, wrote with or…

Fleetwood Mac brought their On With the Show tour to Cleveland on a below 0 degree night.  I have always liked the Mac and my wife and I saw them on their last tour, minus Christine McVie.  I debated on going to this show to see the classic lineup, but decided not to.  A friend of mine and I decided to head up to the hotel before the show to see if we could snag an autograph or two.  There were 3 people total waiting out in the cold.  A little after 4, out walks Mick Fleetwood and we…

It was Valentine’s Day a few weeks ago. All of us men bought are women flowers, chocolate, and wrote really sweet things in the card (or at least the person working for Hallmark did).

Yet I can only recall, of all the people I know, one wife ever stepping up. It was a friend I have known for 30 years, and his wife knows he loves collecting baseball memorabilia. She…

Does anyone know of a decent app for a phone for autographs? I'm looking for something to keep an inventory and a app with autograph exemplars.

I have the pleasure of living close to Cleveland and Canton.  Two major Hall's of Fame are about a one hour drive from each other and both institutions put on special events from time to time.  This February, the Rock and Roll HOF had two Hall of Famers come in and tell their stories to fans as well as answer questions from them.

 On Monday, the…

How many autographs do you think are real and authentic?

http://www.beatlesstorelondon.co.uk/beatles-autographs/beatles-autographs.shtml

Would be very interesting to read a correct result.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about all the autograph collectors that have gotten burned over the years by purchasing something that turned out to be fake. We’ve all been there. It stings.

I thought what this website needed, was a story on the opposite end of the spectrum. So here it is.

About 10 years ago, a man named Bill Bowen saw a scrapbook in a barn near…

Rock N Roll tried to heat up a cold January in Cleveland, and it did!  My first show of the year was Rusted Root.  I didn't plan on going to this show, but my friend is a photographer and he got an extra ticket to the show and asked me if I wanted to go.  Can't pass up a free show!  They were great and the entire crowd was dancing in their seats.  Especially when they played their biggest hit "Send me on my way".  The band still has 3 original members and Liz Berlin and the new drummer met…

The Super Bowl is only days away. There are two stories we’re hearing so much about. There’s “deflate gate.” For those that don’t know, it’s the New England Patriots being caught cheating yet again, by deflating the footballs slightly, so they were easier to throw, catch, and hold on to.

There’s also the story of Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. He’s always…

There are two questions I have been asked more than any other in my 30 years of collecting:

The first is, "what do you plan on doing with your collection" and the second is, "why do you need so many signatures from the same artists"?  I'll explore this second question as to how it relates to my collection with respect to "racking" or "hoarding" or whatever name its given when a collector obtains or builds a mountain of multiple signatures from a…

The best story about “signatures” you will ever see, will conclude this story.

Now, I’ve interviewed many rock stars over the years. Near the end of the interviews, I’d always ask a few autograph questions. One question that could’ve been fun, wasn’t. That’s only because it was always the same answer. I would ask them “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever been asked to autograph?”

About 75% of the musicians told me “breasts.”

Ice Cube got a devious smile, before he…

Often times when people talk about a certain Seinfeld episode, I’m lost. I’ve probably only seen half the episodes of that show. I liked it, just didn’t watch it religiously. Last night I saw one that had comedian Kathy Griffin. This got my mind thinking about a number of autograph stories.

First was the time about 15 years ago (approximately), that I was in Los…

I picked this up the other day at the shop I work in, and I thought it may be of interest to some of our Baseball collectors.

The Ball is marked 1981 Baltimore Orioles, but half the signatures just did not fit. It took a bit of digging and searching but it all made perfect sense when I found a couple of youtube videos about the Exhibition Game the O's held every year pitting the Major League Franchise against its AAA club.…

A few autograph/memorabilia type stories from the last few weeks that I thought would be of interest.

A gold pocket watch Babe Ruth owned sold for $650,108 at an auction. Now, I totally understand when an engraved humidor from comedian Milton Berle to John F. Kennedy went for $500,000. Those are two big names, and it was engraved and owned by a President.

That…

Why I will never again support or pay a penny to see Three Dog Night in concert.

About 4 years ago I had obtained Chuck Negron’s signature on an 8X10 B&W photograph from a celebrity autograph convention he attended. Thee Chuck Negron being the original 3^rd member so many years ago that was at the time, all three of Three Dog Night.…

To go along with my new obsession of meeting Rock Stars, I also continued my football autograph collection.  My year started in out in January when a friend and I traveled down to Columbus to the Midwest Sports Spectacular show.  I added a few Buckeyes to my All-American helmet: John Hicks, Ryan Shazier and Tom Skladney.  Maurice Clarett who almost won the '02 Championship game by himself, was also there so I couldn't pass us an opportunity to get him on a SI and ESPN cover.…

Myself and a couple of friends decided to go down to try to meet Billy Joel who was performing in Orlando last night on New Years eve and all of us had very low expectations that it would ever happen because of who he is and the venue seats 20,000 and is very large but decided to give it a try anyway so we were all going to meet at the venue at 6 and we figured since he didn't go on until 10 we would just wait outside and maybe he would stop and be kind enough to sign a few on his way in.…