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 saw him make that incredible catch.”

Instead, she sees that they’re personalized (every autograph collector cringes at that). So when the kid says he’s name is Tony, she replies “Your name is Jeff. I see it on the autographed baseballs. Stop getting sloppy, or you’ll end up getting caught.”

She also lectures him about how he’s wasting his talent on illegal activity.

I was a little disappointed with that scene because, you couldn’t read the players signatures. It’s always fun when they use real autographs, or at least get ones that look authentic for us collectors.

In one of our local papers here in San Diego, there was a story about a legendary record store closing.  Folk Art Rare Records has been around since the early ‘70s. One of the customers was Tom Waits, who would eventually find fame as a singer (and has been in many movies).

The story about it closing was heartbreaking enough, but even more so when I read about a few thefts. Now, it’s always a blast when you go into any record store and look at the memorabilia on the walls. It’s frustrating when those items aren’t for sale! Well, the owner came into the store one day and noticed a framed guitar pick of Bo Diddley was missing. The previous owner (Lou Curtiss) had gotten it after a show in 1959. Apparently, some rare posters had been taken as well. Those include Jimmy Reed, BB King/Joe Turner, and a poster/photo of Billie Holiday. There were some autographed items stolen, too. Photos of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Clarence Gatemouth Brown were signed, and taken.

Now, the biggest autographed story happening right now is the one involving basketball great Michael Jordan. An autographed pair of shoes he wore in his rookie season went for $71,553. That’s the second highest ever paid for a pair of his kicks ($104,000 was the most).

When the story first broke about a former Lakers ball boy (Khalid Ali) putting this up for auction, I wondered what Jordan would think about that.

Perhaps Jordan won’t mind, when he realizes the guy is going to donate some of the money to various youth ministries. Ali, a project coordinator for Los Angeles economic and workforce development, said the shoes were just sitting in a closet and he didn’t really care about them.

Ali did say he wasn’t a fan when Jordan’s Tar Heels beat his favorite team – the Georgetown Hoyas, in the NCAA finals. He also said meeting Jordan was a bigger thrill than owning a pair of his shoes.

I took a lot of flak for saying this before, but I’ll say it again. If I had the opportunity to meet John Lennon and talk to him for a few minutes…versus not meeting him but having him autograph my “Imagine” album…I’d take the signed album every time.