Well – Gregg Allman must have been in good spirts late Friday night. His ex-flame CHER showed up at his UCLA Royce Hall performance. Allman stepped out the back of the auditorium with a huge grin on his face and started racking autographs.
I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. The night was very cold. Security kept pushing the fans back away from the building. In the end, Allman posed for photographs and everyone got something autographed. Allman’s ‘handlers’ kept whispering in his ear: “these guys are going in for seconds - you’ve already signed for them…” – but Gregg just shrugged it off and kept signing away. I believe everyone got about two or three items each. I was able to get right up to Cher too – unfortunately she wouldn’t sign. I have to say: Cher still looks pretty damn hot! She would have looked even better with a black sharpie in her hand.
Gregg Allman Rackfest 2013
You may read some of my earlier autograph collecting reports on Gregg Allman. He’s typically not an easy autograph to secure (this at least appears to be the case on the West Coast.) Gregg will sometimes sign ONE item for you – and that one is typically personalized. It’s not uncommon for him to ignore autograph requests. That’s why it was amazing to see him sign as much as he did last night. My first autographs of 2013!! Let the autograph hunting begin.
SIGNED CD SALE GOING ON NOW
BTW: I’m blowing out a lot of my celebrity autographed CDs in an auction this week. Check out my eBay Store for the full selection. The sale includes music by Tony Bennett, George Benson, Donovan, and the late Pinetop Perkins!
CNN MONEY has an interesting story on President Obama’s presumptive nominee for the new Secretary of the Treasury. It seems his nominee, Jacob J. Lew, has a very odd looking signature. It doesn’t look anything like the actual spelling of his name. It’s just a bunch of crazy swirly shapes.
The FLU BUG has hit Los Angeles, California and I’ve become it’s latest victim unfortunately. I’ve been out a commission slightly.
Nolan is not the easiest autograph to obtain. He’s autographed items for me in the past – but he’s pretty much a ‘oner’ or maybe you can get him to sign two items if you’re lucky. He’s polite enough to fans – but I really don’t think he’s really into signing autographs. It’s not uncommon for him to completely ignore fans standing behind the film premiere barricades. It has been my experience that you have to get right up to the director to get him to sign something. He’s not really the kind of person who does ‘roll-downs’ in his car or walks over to fans. You have to be right next to Nolan – and thus is the problem. It’s not all that easy to get near the direct at an official event. His autograph isn’t impossible to secure – but it’s not overly easy either.
In the current pantheon of collectible living filmmakers, I’d place Nolan in the top five most valuable signatures.
You know, I was just thinking about Nolan’s signature tonight and there’s another little thing that makes his autograph slightly difficult to obtain: almost all of the posters, books, and other memorabilia for his films are dark or black. You will almost always need to use a silver or gold paint pen. This may seem simple enough – but those damn things silver paint pens screw-up and smear much more than you might think. Also – it only takes one dumb-ass newbie collector to hand Nolan a crappy dried-up silver marker or a BLACK sharpie – to screw up YOUR item. Typically, the celebrity will just grab the first pen handed to him and sign everyone’s item. It’s difficult to switch out pens. So, if some dope hands Nolan a black sharpie and he signs your Dark Knight Rises item with it – chances are the autograph is going to look like shit.
I’ve posted a vinyl soundtrack I’ve been working on for the film, “In the Heat of the Night.” The 1967 film starred Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier. The title song was sung by Ray Charles. The Music Composed and Conducted by Quincy Jones. Lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The film won several Academy Awards – including BEST MOTION PICTURE of 1967. It’s considered an all-time classic.
I’ve posted a few SIGNED copies of President George H.W. Bush books. There have been reports of his health deteriorating. Bush Sr. has always been a fairly difficult Presidential signature to obtain. He’s not like Jimmy Carter or Clinton. He hasn’t done many book signing appearances and its relatively hard to get near enough to the man to get an item autographed. I remember when Reagan died the prices of his signed books skyrocketed. Will this be the same situation with George H.W. Bush? He served in the Reagan administration and is still respected somewhat in the Middle East. I have a feeling that his books will shoot up in price when he passes away and people begin to reflect more closely on his legacy.
Check out this signed ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic LP – what a nice guy. I often will post ‘bitch articles’ about difficult signers but I don’t give the good-guys enough credit. Weird Al is pretty cool with autograph collectors. I caught up with him recently outside of a club here in Los Angeles. It was raining and I wasn’t sure if Weird Al would be willing to stand outside and sign my stuff while he was getting wet. He was very cool about it though and autographed everything I had. Nice guy.
