I am going to give you the best Beatles autograph story ever, and one of the worst. First, I’ll start with the best. Years ago, I met a guy at a party at a fancy mansion in L.A. He was one of those old dudes, that had all white hair, in a long ponytail. You know the type. But he was really interesting, and a great storyteller. And he was the kind of storyteller where you believed what he was saying, because the stories weren’t over-the-top. We talked for a…

We’ve all gotten cool stuff in our mail box. But four weeks ago, auctioneer Andy Stowe saw something sticking out of his mailbox at his office in Bristol, England. It was a large envelope with a pair of Mahatma Gandhi’s famous, gold-rimmed, round glasses. There was a note saying they were Gandhi’s, and a gift from the guy’s…

"Sweet songs never last long on a broken radio."

For me, Prine was in the category I have Bob Dylan in. Both are amazing songwriters, which voices that weren't my favorite. Yet they both have such strong lyrics, you can overlook the raspy vocals.

I was saddened to hear that Prine, at 73, passed away from complications due to the…

You know what bothered me about the show “American Pickers”? As entertaining as it is, watching them discover all these hidden gems among a trash heap someone has in their barn, they always end up over-paying for items. I suspected this for years, and finally a magazine did an article stating the same thing. It said they would make no money paying the prices they pay for the items they have, since they’re basically buying many of them for what they’re worth.…

All of us that have gotten in-person autographs complain about how much harder it’s gotten over the years. With all the eBay people, and folks wanting selfies, it’s really a mess. In the old days, you could bring a few of your albums, get them signed, and sometimes have a great conversation with the musicians. Now they see a stack of albums, and figure you’re going to sell them. And having albums doesn’t show you’re a fan. Anybody can go to an old record store or antique…

Collecting autographs has made me crazy. For example, I can’t look at a photo of somebody famous without a signature on it, and appreciate it. The picture just looks...so naked without a dark black Sharpie signature across the top!

Speaking of naked...there was a music website where a guy was bragging about a photo of Jim Morrison he purchased for thousands of dollars. It had never been published before, and the person with the negative was only…

We knew when Prince died, there’d be lots of items popping up for sale. Of course, on eBay, that meant a lot of forged Prince signatures. The higher end Prince items have gone to the bigger auction houses.

In March, Prince’s ex, Mayte Garcia, auctioned off a lot of…

It seems like only yesterday I did a story about the shooting of a singer on The Voice at a meet-and-greet, autograph signing after the show. Now, a few other crimes to report.

In Boynton Beach, Florida, police raided a burglar’s house. One of…

As a kid, I’ll never forget the first time I saw the photo of Mark David Chapman, the guy who killed John Lennon. It was a photo that showed him getting Lennon’s autograph on the “Double Fantasy” album.

I thought about that when I heard about this crazy story. Singer…

Since I recently wrote about the automobiles of Keith Richards, Ringo Starr, and John Lennon…thought we’d delve into the opposite end of the spectrum. Instead of the guys that gave birth to classic rock…the vehicle of the man who killed many. Literally.

Remember suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian? Well, he had a 1968 Volkswagen van that was sold for $150 in the mid-90s. It…

I’ve never understood the fascination with famous folks cars that go for sale. Sure, the John Lennon, psychedelic 1965 Rolls Royce was sweet. I would buy it if I had the means (I said that in my best Ferris Bueller voice).

Another 1965 car, a blue Bentley, was once owned by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. He mentions the “acid-fueled journeys” in it in his…

Here in my hometown, there’s been a neat little discovery. For a music lover like me, it would be the equivalent of another discovering that nice painting your great grandmother always had hanging in her living room, was actually a Monet.

A music studio in in San Diego, Marc Intravaia’s Sanctuary Art and Music Studio, had a 1962 Gibson J160e guitar. They played it…

I thought about doing a blog with a bunch of jokes that came to mind. Since the announcement was made about Tom Brady being suspended for four games for deflating footballs against the Colts, I immediately thought about Pete Rose and autographs. There was the time an entrepreneur got Rose to sign a number of baseballs with the inscription “Sorry I bet on baseball.”

The…

I always like pointing out autograph scenes in movies. The latest is in “The Age of Adaline” (you can read my review here: http://fox5sandiego.com/2015/04/24/the-age-of-adaline/  )

There’s a scene early in the movie where Adaline needs some fake IDs. She goes to a kid that’s living with his parents. He’s got a few autographed baseballs that she glances at. At first I thought she was going to say, “Oh, Willie Mays. I…

There were a few autograph stories the last few weeks. One of them involved Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She was on David Letterman, and showed a picture of a guy that held up a sign asking for an autograph. It said, “Will Work for Julia Louise autograph.”

She thought it was cute and of course, signed the autograph for him (she’s always been a good signer). She did mention how he spelled her name wrong on the sign, which got Letterman and the crowd laughing.…

The week started off with a very funny “Bizarro” cartoon by the very talented Dan Piraro, who was nice enough to sign a draw a photo in a book I got at Comic Con one year. I was lucky enough to attend a party with him the following day, too. Class guy. But I digest (just ate dinner).

The comic strip showed a fly in a suit, and somebody has their arm extended with…

I remember as a kid reading a Sports Illustrated story on Reggie Jackson. The baseball Hall of Famer had an impressive collection of 28 cars (years later I read that his garage burned down and they were destroyed).

We all drool over Jay Leno’s car collection, but for autograph and memorabilia collectors, we sometimes like cars for other reasons. They joked on Seinfeld once when Kramer bought a car that was supposedly owned by Jon Voight.

I remember driving into…

The first time I heard The Everly Brothers was as a kid watching Happy Days on TV in the ‘70s. I loved their harmonies and ballads. As a teenager, I was looking for a song called “Poor Jenny” from a German opera, and found a song of theirs with the same title. I had forgotten how much I liked them, and got a CD compilation of all their hits.

At the NAMM event in…

If I’m doing a story about Doodles and autographs, I’d prefer it to be about the unknown comedian named Doodles Weaver (related to actress Sigourney). He was a brilliant comedic mind, and ended up killing himself when medical issues popped up. I know somebody that currently has a signed Doodles Weaver picture (pictured here). It’s the first autograph of his I’ve ever…