With a lot of awards being announced for movies, but still a month away from the Oscar nominations, I heard this story about the Profiles in History auction that had two Oscars. The best picture award for “A Gentleman’s Agreement,” the 1947 movie with Gregory Peck, went for almost half a million. The best picture statuette for “Mutiny on the Bounty” got about that half that. Now, there’s a rule that states you’re not allowed to sell the Oscar you win (and…

I’ve been on a quest to get my wife some Bruce Springsteen autographs. I make that plural, meaning...from the Boss himself, or any of the musicians in his band. Now, she’s not even into autographs. In fact, the only time I ever saw her excited about meeting somebody famous, is when she attended an event with me and got to take a picture with Rami Malek (pre-Freddie Mercury), because she liked the show “Mr. Robot”. But she’s from New Jersey, and it’s required…

One of my autograph buddies always makes the two-plus hour drive to L.A. for autographs. Sometimes I hit him up to get me a signature, if it’s a book signing or something like that. I remember once he called me at a book signing and said, “For $50, they have this book that shows every Playboy centerfold, starting with the first issue.”

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was signing them, and I said “Nah. I’m not that into…

Having been born and raised in San Diego, and a huge music lover, I was always a fan of Steve Poltz. His first band The Rugburns had great live performances, and clever songs. The band was filled with other talented San Diego music legends. Poltz ended up being named “San Diego’s Most Influential Artist of the Decade.” He had songs that were rock, folk, punk, satire...hell, he did an album of tunes that were all answering machine messages (appropriately named…

Sometimes the prices of things baffle me. Last year, a telephone owned by Hitler, used to issue commands during World War II, sold at auction for $243,000. That’s insane. And when I saw a story that showed an auction house had an autographed photo of Hitler with his arms…

Ever since I was a young boy/I’ve collected signed baseballs

From San Diego to Los Angeles/Celebs, I’ve gotten them all

But I ain’t ever got Stan Lee/He created Marvel

At Comic Con I was a dumb kid/And he signed everything for all !…

When I was a teenager, Morrissey and The Smiths were huge. I was more of a Morrison and The Doors fan, but I liked a few of The Smith songs.

About 29 years ago, I was having dinner with a couple of women I’m friends with in downtown San Diego, and we walked out of a restaurant and nearby was a concert hall. There was a tour bus with about 50 fans surrounding it, screaming as if The Beatles were inside. We walked…

Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” is in jail, and potential jurors at his federal trial in New York are being called in. One that was dismissed was a Michael Jackson impersonator. That would be odd enough, but hey...we’re autograph collectors. Here’s the weird one we can appreciate. Sort of. A juror was dismissed after he asked Joaquin Guzman (his real name) for his autograph. I first heard that on The Daily Show.…

Some interesting John F. Kennedy items in the RR Auction that ends tomorrow. There’s a Harvard sweater, which would warm you nicely this time of year. I’d rather have the Commander-in-Chief bomber jacket, but that will probably be costly. Oh, and there are a lot of assassination-related items. That would include a handwritten letter from Lee Harvey Oswald, and an original window sash from the Texas School Book Depository.…

We’ve talked before about things for sale that are in bad taste. I’m not sure if this would in that category but...Christie’s has 22 items from late genius Stephen Hawking, including his wheelchair! Now, I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on his doctoral thesis on the origins of the universe; mostly because my thesis on the subject has a few flaws and I’d like to compare notes.

Anyway, there is a book, scripts…

I was reading the New York Times yesterday, and there was a funny autograph story. It was an interview with two songwriters I love -- Elvis Costello and Carole King, who just collaborated on a new album. At one point, Carole King talked about being forced to tour before her album “Tapestry” was ever released (when it was released, it became the biggest selling album by a…

I always find it interesting when historic things end up being for sale. The price is always outrageous, but it’s just interesting to think that people saved these items. The two latest ones are strange. The French Quarter antique gallery is asking $795,000 for the binoculars that….Dudley Moore used to spy on Bo Derek in the movie “10.” Okay, okay, I’m joshing. It’s for the binoculars that Abraham Lincoln was using at Ford’s Theatre on the night he was…

I'm sure everyone knows the movie "A Star is Born." This is the 4th remake of it, and it's starring and directed by Bradley Cooper, with Lady Gaga as the female lead.

I just saw a movie screening, and I'll be writing my review for it soon, but...since Cooper plays a famous, alcoholic singer -- you get lots of scenes of him jumping into a limo with screaming fans…

I’ve told all my Gene Simmons stories on this site. I think. I had some good ones. Well, time to tackle another KISS member -- guitarist Ace Frehley.

I went to get his signature on my KISS items signed that were signed by Gene. And since KISS was my friends favorite band, I brought him with me to the soundcheck before a concert at House of Blues in San Diego. Well, after waiting an hour, I went to go put change in…

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Ronnie James Dio. I’m not much into heavy metal music and in high school, I hated the stoner kids that all wore Iron Maiden or Dio shirts. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine once posted a story about how Iron Maiden at one time, had sold more T-shirts than record albums.…

Last night I saw a commercial for a car. Well, I think it was for a car. I don't pay much attention to commercials. Chuck Norris was standing there (or maybe kicking and punching, again...I don't pay much attention to commercials). Then the person buying the white Ford Bronco or whatever vehicle it was, asked Norris to autograph it. So he took the black Sharpie and signed the hood of it.

Now this morning, I'm watching The View. It's an awful, awful show, but I'm working on the…

I was saddened to hear of the death of Burt Reynolds today on the radio, but it wasn't unexpected. The last movie I had seen him in, late last year, was called "The Last Movie Star" and he looked like he was in bad shape doing it. It was a great role for him, done by talented director Adam Rifkin (my review here: …

I would’ve never expected my fantasy football draft to yield some autograph surprises. It was much needed, because I wasn’t thrilled with the 5th pick in the draft (meaning I wasn’t going to get one of those top four running backs). I could talk fantasy football for days straight, but this is an autograph site. So, let’s get to it.

The guy that has the draft at his huge house overlooking the ocean, well...he’s…

On Facebook, it seemed most of my friends posted write-ups on the death of John McCain. I immediately thought I should do a write-up. Not on McCain, but someone I’m a much bigger fan of that died on the same day -- playwright/screenwriter Neil Simon.

It’s much the same way that Farrah Fawcett’s…

One of the reasons I spent 15 years volunteering for the Make-a-Wish Foundation (before being “fired” for trying to get them to stop selling forged autographs), is because I love what the charity does. Helping kids with terminal illness, and reading the stories about them meeting their celebrity idols, always warmed my heart.

There have been three stories recently that were wonderful. The most recent was singer…