Comment by Mike Shepherd on June 27, 2019 at 10:53am

Disgusting.  You can see the video in Rich’s discussion.

Comment by Joe W. on June 27, 2019 at 11:49am

Money does strange things to some people. I live in rural Tennessee so I never have the opportunity to get within 100 miles of these stars. It's a shame the a few bad apples spoil the show for everybody.

Comment by Rich on June 27, 2019 at 4:58pm

I tend to try to get autographs at shows I go to, and my (admittedly limited) assessment is that the worst behaved fans when it comes to this are actually older gen x'ers - not the gen z/millenial crowd. I was a bit surpised to see how some people in their 40s and 50s were behaving around Dido a couple weekends ago. Granted, the scene wasn't especially bad (and nowhere near the Holland example), but the distinction in behavior was noticeable. I'm not sure if that generation grew up with rudeness and pushiness at concerts more and that just became the name of the game in their mind or whatever.

That aside, most of these graphers are professional beggars. Some of their activity is borderline criminal. Courtesy typically isn't even in the equation.

Comment by BC on June 27, 2019 at 5:55pm

From my experience, it is mostly the older graphers that are the worst. I'm talking 50+ years old. They simply don't care and are sleazy as hell. They have their big stupid binders and use those to push into you.

On the other side of the coin, you have these people that have no clue what they are getting into when going for an autograph. What I saw in the video wasn't that bad when it comes to graphing.

I use cardboard for my 11x14s. After a couple issues when it was windy, cardboard and blue painters tape is a must. Everyone is holding out their golf flags on cardboard, so my photo on cardboard blends right in.

Comment by Josh Board on June 27, 2019 at 10:41pm

I totally get WHY people use the cardboard, but two things happen with that. First, it's a LARGER item that is now making it harder for everyone. Two, it shows the athlete/celeb, that this is a person that knows what they're doing. That's not always a good thing. For example, I met this guy once and we were the only two waiting for an autograph. We shared stories, and it was a blast. But once the tour bus showed up and sound people were walking around, roadies, etc...I told him to chill on telling more autograph stories. He asked why and I said, "We don't need those guys hearing that we do this. Best thing is...for EVERYONE associated with the band, or security for this venue, to think that we're such big fans of this band, that we want our CDs signed. Not that we do this for every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes into town.

Comment by Josh Board on June 27, 2019 at 10:42pm

Oh, and here's my review for the new Spider-Man, if there are any fanboys out there that are interested (and best part -- it's spoiler free!)

https://fox5sandiego.com/2019/06/27/spider-man-far-from-home/

Comment by BC on June 27, 2019 at 11:23pm

Well, I graph golfers, so most people are getting pin flags signed, which are a little bit bigger than 11x14. So everyone has larger items. If I have cardboard it absolutely makes it look like I know what I'm doing. However, if I pull out a photo then the person has the same impression, so why not use the cardboard anyway? The look I get is even worse if I ask them to switch markers.

This is what a typical golf autograph mob looks like for reference.

Comment by Josh Board on June 28, 2019 at 7:42pm

Yeah, you can't ask to switch markers. Just can't do it. Although...I didn't do it once at a Lou Reed signing at Tower Records in L.A., and so...I got black Sharpie, on a few black background CDs. My buddy, right behind him, had a frigin GUITAR!!!! Asked him to switch pens, and he did. 

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