Whose autographs do you have?

Cafe Society
61

You jogged my memory:

Tom Savini - he was plugging a vampire movie he had just made (and done the make-up for) and did a signing at a popular local video/music store. Signed my VHS of “Creepshow,” VHS of “Dawn of the Dead,” and the jacket of my LP of the “Creepshow” soundtrack. A nicer human being you will not find on this planet.

Brinke Stevens - on the tour with Savini. Never seen any of her movies; had no idea who she was. I was going to just slide on by after finishing with TS when she called me over and autographed a headshot ;). A real sweetie, she was. Cute, too! I still feel sorta bad I didn’t know her, especially when she was so nice about it.

62

Only two and I didn’t really want either in particular. I have a copy of Gideon’s Trumpet signed by either the judge or lawyer in the case when he came to speak to our high school history class, and he signed everyone’s copy. I can’t find mine now because I never could get past the first 10 or so pages of that book.

Second is John Lefler, sometime guitarist for Chris Carrabba, whose solo CD I bought from him personally at his merch booth and he was really insistent that he sign it for me. I’m not really a signature person but he really enjoyed it. I’m so much not a signature person that when I bought one of the Amory Wars comic books there were copies that had been signed by the writer, Claudio Sanchez, and I just took an unsigned one so people that it was important to could have it instead. Of course thinking back on it I might have been able to eBay it but it’s not worth it to me for the extra $5-$20 or so it may or may not bring.

63

When People’s Temple was still in CA, my wife was working with a project to find jobs for people on the outs. People’s Temple attracted a lot of folks who were out of work and out of options. Jones sent her a letter thanking her for helping some of them find jobs. Pretty mundane, really.

64

I got lots, but my favorites are Billy Gibbons, Graham Chapman and Terry Gilliam. And most of the Drive-By Truckers.

65

Gary Gygax. He autographed my *Monster Manual * and my PlatteCon (gaming convention in Platteville, WI) Alpha T-shirt. He came back for PlatteCon Beta and I had that T-shirt autographed also. I had Tom Wham autograph my MM near the Beholder picture.

I won a Gene Roddenberry autographed “captain’s log” (basically a metal clipboard with a cover) in a contest.

Brian

66

Please, tell me you are whooshing me, or that you are to young to have paid attention to election debates.

Adm. Stockdale was the vice presidential running mate of H. Ross Perot, in the 1992 elections. They were “third Party” So the other two debaters during the VP debate were Dan Quayle and Al Gore. I admired the way Stockdale could give short and to the point answers to debate questions issued by the moderator. The other two guys would give long-winded and weasel worded answers. When the abortion rights question got asked Stockdale’s response was “I believe that what a woman does with her own body is her own business, period.” When the moderator looked at him as if to say “that’s it?” he repeated “Period!”

67

It was late 1988. Guinness and Hermann were costarring in A Walk in the Woods, a drama about U.S.-Soviet arms control negotiations, and Brett was in a stage play about Sherlock Holmes. They all did quite well.

68

You done got whooshed.

69

The two I have came from chance meetings:
Bob Hope
Arnold

70

I have an inscribed, signed copy of Anthony Bourdain’s* A Cook’s Tour*. I had a signed copy of Kitchen Confidential but gave it away.

71

I’ve got a good collection of pro wrestling autographs, mostly from going to indy shows over the last year and buying 8x10s from the wrestlers and getting them to sign them.

  • Mick Foley
  • Samoa Joe
  • Finn Balor
  • Cody Rhodes
  • Asuka
  • Bayley
  • Alexa Bliss
  • Austin Aries
  • Davey Richards
  • Angelina Love
  • Kyle O’Reilly
  • Bobby Fish
  • Nia Jax
  • John Morrison
  • Taya
  • Davey Boy Smith Jr.
  • Joey Ryan
  • Jason Jordan
  • Chad Gable
  • Scott Dawson
  • Dash Wilder
  • Mojo Rawley
  • Tucker Knight
  • Tino Sabbatelli
  • No Way Jose
  • Jim Cornette
72

Adam West was fairly nice and easy-going. It was the mid-90’s when I got his autograph, and he posed for pictures with people who bought autographs. He let the pretty girls hug him. He didn’t do the hover-hand thing, but wasn’t lecherous either. That’s just what I saw in the 5 minutes or so I was close enough to see what was happening.

Dave Prowse talked with my girlfriend and I at length, as nobody was lining up. He had just set up, and it wasn’t terribly clear who he was. I asked a con worker where he was, and she pointed at him. I said, “That can’t be him. Dave Prowse is like 4 inches taller than me, and that guy’s my size.” She then told me about his arthritis issues.

I have some sympathy for him. He took the role as Vader not knowing his voice wouldn’t be used. Imagine being a little-known actor who has a huge role in a blockbuster film, and no one ever sees your face, and then they edit out your voice as well. He probably felt minimized, and cheated out of the opportunity to parlay that into better things. That, and his failing health, probably caused him great bouts of depression.

Prowse told me he was very appreciative of Kubrick giving him his break in A Clockwork Orange. I was able to talk to him about that, and his small role in the BBC TV version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and of course, Star Wars. After a few minutes, and having been entirely unprepared to have that kind of access, I ran out of things to talk about. My GF and I said our goodbyes, leaving him to sit with his convention handler.

(signed cast picture of Night of the Living Dead) I guess it’s too late to ask for it back, huh? :slight_smile:

In some ways, I think it’s a little crass and intrusive, but in other ways, you get a moment to meet someone who’s brought joy to your life and let them know it, and you have a memento of that meeting. In retrospect, I have almost entirely pleasant memories from it.

73

Here’s an autograph that might have been: Honus Wagner.

My stepfather used to drink in the same bar as Honus, in Carnegie, Pa. Whenever that name would come up, he’d always be upset for not getting him to sign a baseball. If he had, I’m sure I would have inherited it. He had a little house literally down the street, maybe 10 houses down, from where I grew up. Honus had passed away long before then, but I thought it was pretty cool to walk past his old house as I would go to the library.

74

I’m old enough to remember her immediate predecessor at Channel 10: Cosmosina. Same outfit and makeup.

Which reminds me of one I forgot: Regis Philbin. He was local on-air talent at Channel 10 at the time (early 60’s), did a little call-in live TV talk show on Saturday nights. There were bleachers for a small audience, and since I liked the show I talked my Dad into taking me to see it.
After the broadcast, Dad and I were lingering in the station lobby looking at I don’t remember what, and who should walk by Regis. We were the only three people in the room, and it was no bother for him to chat with Dad for a minute, and sign a program (or something) for me.
Shortly afterward, Regis moved up to Los Angeles, on his way to the Big Time, but I knew him when.

75

Kemba walker: Signed Jersey 2013
Robert Parish: Signed card
Eddie Murphy: Signed shoes (Found him at my favorite Chinese restaurant over in china town, nice guy)
Kloe Kardashian: Signed book, not my favorite thing to own but hey it was a gift.
Eric Gordan: Signed poster (2016)

Ya I mean I don’t collect that much memorabilia but hey I have a few.

76

*Originally Posted by TreacherousCretin
Brian Wilson: glossy 8x10 with note thanking me for tuning/prepping his piano for a performance.
*

Not quite. Missed it by that much.

NAMM Convention, Anaheim, about 15 years ago. Kawai Piano had their exhibits in a separate facility several blocks from the rest of the convention. The day before the convention opened I was employed helping them get set up, tuning and otherwise adjusting the new pianos for display.

That evening the convention’s pre-opening festivities included a solo performance by Brian Wilson. Since he was a Kawai artist at the time, he used one of our pianos, and I eagerly reserved that tuning/prep to myself. I was (and remain) a HUGE fan of his work throughout the 1960’s, and apart from selected classical pianists there was no artist I would rather have worked for, whether or not I actually had any direct contact with him. As it turned out, I didn’t.
By the time I finished his piano, I had been tuning pianos under difficult conditions of extreme ambient noise, rushing non-stop for close to 12 hours, and by the time Brian took the stage I was in my hotel room passed out from exhaustion.
My work was finished, and the next morning I didn’t feel like any more convention noises, so I drove home to San Diego. And forgot to turn on my cellphone.
That evening I got a phone call from Kawai’s Technical Services Director (Don), telling me he’d desperately tried to call me that morning because shortly before the doors had opened for the convention, Brian Wilson himself (and two associates) had walked into Kawai’s display suite for a courtesy visit. There were only a handful of people in the room, and I’d missed a lifetime opportunity for personal time with Brian.
Well, Don happens to be one of my oldest and closest friends (our sharing a profession was no coincidence), and was well aware of my regard for the man; having failed to reach me by phone, he took it upon himself to tell Brian that the technician who’d tuned his piano the previous evening was an extreme admirer who would love to have met him. Brian asked one of his guys for a glossy 8x10, and in a barely legible scrawl thanked me by name and signed it. I have just now looked over at it and grinned.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

77

The core members of the Alan Parsons Live Project band (Alan, Ian Bairnson, and Stuart Elliot, plus Neil Lockwood), on a drumhead, obtained in person while hanging out backstage with them during a fan club event.

Alice Cooper, on a plastic severed arm, during a meet and greet post-concert

Chuck Palahniuk, on the same severed arm, during a book tour

Author Richard Kadrey, in a copy of “The Everything Box,” obtained at Emerald City Comic Con

Mark Lenard (Sarek) on a photo I got when I joined his fan club when I was a kid

Jacqueline Lichtenberg (sci-fi author and one of the organizers of the first Star Trek convention) in a copy of one of her books (not obtained in person, but I have subsequently met her at a different con.

Authors Michael A. Stackpole and Timothy Zahn, obtained in person, in an anthology where we all had stories (Origins Game Fair anthology)

The spouse, who cosplays Captain America, has Chris Evans’ autograph (not obtained in person) on a framed photo montage, and Stan Lee (obtained in person) on his backup Cap shield.

78

I’ve gone to the Cardinal’s Winter Warmup every year since 2006 and have autographs from just about every player since then. All of them are 8x10s and are my personal collection. I will never sell them.

I also have autographs from Baseball Hall of Famers Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Bruce Sutter and Tony La Russa.

79

Got several Christopher Moore autographs, from two readings of his works that I’ve been to.

Years and years ago, my father ran into Paul Warfield in a garage in Cleveland, and got his autograph; that’s when he was playing for the Browns.

My uncle gave me a collection of Southern folklore collected in the 30’s by noted folklorist B.A. Botkin, that is signed by the author.

But my two prizes are: a copy of Dinosaur In The Haystack, signed by Stephen Jay Gould, a fantastic birthday gift from a friend. She stood in line for an hour to get it. The other one came from my second cousin, who was a manager for the North Carolina Tarheel basketball team in the late eighties, and thus was able to get for my dad a personalized autograph from Number 23 himself, Michael Jordan.

80

I bought a copy of Pure Baseball by Keith Hernandez on eBay a few years ago and was surprised to see he (supposedly) autographed it. I am no expert, but I have just happily confirmed via online examples of his signature that mine is almost certainly authentic.