The first story I ever wrote for Autograph Magazine was called “David Crosby Flipped me the Byrd.” I was proud of it. I simply asked for his autograph, he was rude, and I had some choice words for him. He had a choice finger for me. It was the middle one. As he walked away, I told him he should be more worried about his drug use, as he got a kidney transplant for that…

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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Well, Joe Cocker is up where he belongs – at that big rock stage in the sky. I have to admit, I’m only lukewarm on him as a performer, but as a rock star he was always a class act with the fans.

When I was in my early 20’s working at my first radio station, I brought some contest winners backstage to meet him. It was my first time being backstage at a concert, and…

With Stephen Colbert doing his last “Colbert Report” (what a funny show), everyone is making a big deal about the cameo appearances by everyone as he sang his goodbye song (with Randy Newman on piano, who by the way…is great with autograph requests).

For those that don’t know, he’s replacing David Letterman, and dropping the fake Republican character he played on this…

The Who is a band I’ve always loved. As a kid, I first heard them on the classic rock radio stations. All the hits everybody knows. When I’d save my allowance to buy an album, I was always pleasantly surprised by the other tracks on the record. Always the sign of a good band, when you can like the “b sides” (a term that the young folks won’t understand).

I was about 11 when The Who was releasing the “Face Dances” album. It would be the first without drummer Keith Moon,…

I love classic rock bands. The one thing that doesn’t work for me is when I’m not a fan of the vocalist. I might lose a lot of cred when I say I’m not a Bob Dylan fan, but I just can’t take his voice. Sure, he has a few songs I like and his “Blood on the Tracks” is one of the greatest albums ever (I bought an autographed copy at auction years ago).

So when I was in…

Since we all hate dealing with the Black Friday shopping, I thought I’d start this blog off with a Black Friday deal you might be interested in. I heard about this a few weeks ago, and thought it would be lame. When I discovered it was kind of cool, I thought I’d give you the heads up. I had read that Barnes & Nobles bookstores would bring out autographed copies of various books, as one of many incentives to get people into their stores this weekend. The picture in the paper showed a…

When I was a little kid, I loved collecting autographs. It could be the local newscaster or anybody like that. As I got older, I had to be a fan of the person before approaching them with pen in hand.

With the San Diego Chargers Blood Drive coming up, I remembered the first time I realized my autograph collecting was in check. My friend and I went to donate blood (I’ve…

My favorite ‘60s band is The Doors. They’re closely followed by The Beatles. Yet one thing I’ve found when I became a movie critic 25 years ago was…there’s nothing interesting about asking somebody their favorite movie or favorite band. You always hear the same answers. I like to ask people the movie they love that everyone hates. When it comes to music, I like…

I’ve talked with filmmakers and other movie critics about how sometimes crowd-funding campaigns have changed a lot. It used to be a filmmaker that didn’t have money, could go on Kickstarter or some site like that, and people would donate to help them finance their film. Somewhere along the line, big name actors that have money, used the site. That upset a lot of people. It…

Jack Bruce was the first autograph I got. Sort of. I mean, it was the first autograph I ever got that I asked another person to get for me. I had just started working in radio, and was 20-years-old. An afternoon DJ was going to be interviewing him, and one of my all-time favorite albums was the Cream record “Disraeli Gears.” I didn’t think it would be professional for me to just “show up” at a time I wasn’t working, and bother the talent for a signature; but the DJ was a nice guy and I knew…

As a movie critic, if a film has scenes with autographs in them, I like to let you guys know. The latest is the movie “Birdman.” It stars Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts. I’m sure most of you have seen the scene in which Keaton is walking around New York in his underwear. This happened because he’s backstage smoking, in a robe, waiting for his last…

I wrote about the latest San Diego Film Festival for Fox 5 San Diego (feel free to go there and check out my movie reviews). I thought for autograph collectors, I’d shorten it significantly and talk about the autograph aspects of it.

Film festivals are a great place to score autographs, but as I’ve told the collectors before, these actors think a lot of…