Something a Little Different...

Baseball baseball baseball

That's all I ever talk about. Well I'm no one trick pony. I mean, I'll continue to be after this, but for a post or two I wanna change things up a bit.

I like stories, they make everything better. That's why I rarely ever just buy an autograph of someone, there's nothing to tell. Nothing to say "Oh this? Well I got this by... and then this happened..." That's what makes something like that cool. Even if you don't connect with that persons' auto, you can at least get a good story from it. And what group of people make for some of the best stories? Why musicians of course! I can attest from first hand experience as I used to play in a band for a couple years. We never did anything huge, mostly local stuff, but we got to play with some national bands and even traveled to a few shows ourselves. I have plenty of stories about my own band, but these are some autos I collected from going to shows and meeting some bands. Hopefully you like it and maybe even get a laugh or two out of it!


OK, so first up we have a few ticket stubs I got signed. The top ticket is Candace the singer from Walls of Jericho. This was actually the first "real" show I ever went to. It was this big all day event with a ton of bands and it was when I was first really getting into the style of music I listen to now, so I was in awe. I was walking around the venue with my friend just to get some air and saw her hanging by the bands trailer. We walked over, told her they played a great show and asked if she could sign my ticket. She gladly did and I noticed that she was left handed. I made a comment that I was as well and we spent the next 10 minutes talking about left handed domination and right handed genocide. We ended our meeting by shaking hands... left handed!

The middle ticket is signed by Jimmy, vocalist of Full Blown Chaos. The cool thing about my local venue is that its small enough that the bands can walk around and hang out in the crowd before and after their set. Well after FBC had finished and the next band started playing, I went to the bar to get a water. I was with a different friend, but he tagged along and he noticed Jimmy by the bar. I again did the "Candace approach" and asked if he could sign my ticket. Again, he gladly did and asked how we were liking everything. My friend said "Good, except this one asshole in the pit. He keeps picking out all the girls by the edge and hitting them as he goes by. We go to school with him and he's a piece of shit, so whatever." Jimmy stopped, looked at us and said "What's he look like?" We described him the best we could and he told us that he'd "Take care of it." Later in the show, we see that guy get carried out of the venue by three very large and unforgiving bouncers.

The bottom ticket is signed by James Hart, the singer of my favorite band Eighteen Visions! The story here doesn't involve him much at all other than the fact he signed my ticket. The story comes from the singer of another band that played, He Is Legend. (the fact that they have all been signers so far is purely coincidental. I was a guitarist myself.) He Is Legend is among my favorite bands, so I was stoked to see them play as well. They played before 18V, who were headlining, so there was time between sets to get a drink and try and find a cute girl. My best friend was also an 18V fan (he has since melowed in musical styles) so he accompanied me to the show and as we go to the bar we see, of course, the singer for He Is Legend. I didn't have anything for him to sign, since James had already inked my ticket, so I figured I would just tell him "Good show" and "Thank you." I did just that. I walked up to him, said "Hey dude, great show. Thanks!" He looked at me then looked at his beer and said "Thanks man. You want this?" as he extends his arm and holds out his 3/4 full beer to me. Keep in mind I'm about 17 when this is taking place but I'm not what you'd call "innocent". Me and my friend look at each other and say sheepishly "Sure". I reach out and get within a fraction of an inch and he suddenly pulls it back and "Nahhh, you can't have that..." and proceeds to walk back stage. I was left standing there, with my arm outstretched, mouth hanging open and a small group of people laughing at my expense.


Up next we have two sigs courtesy of the Born of Osiris guitarists! I met these guys on a pizza delivery. I was the only driver on when we got a call for a delivery to the venue and to bring it around back to the trailer section. I didn't think much of it until I got there and saw all kinds of drums and amps set up and band trailers everywhere. I found the guy who ordered it and asked him what was going on and started telling some of my bands stories. He paid me and I asked him if he happened to be in any of the bands. By this time another guy had come over and he said that they were both in Born of Osiris. I stood there, kindda shocked, paused for a second and said "Hey, not to be 'that guy' but would you mind signing the delivery ticket?" They laughed and said "No problem" and signed away!

Boom! Medium Pepperoni never looked so good!!!


And lastly for today, we have a $1 bill signed by my #2 favorite band, Bleeding Through. This was from Warped Tour and BT was one of the bands that they had a booth were you could meet them and have them sign whatever you got. I waited in line for about an hour before I realized that I didn't have anything for them to sign. I had long lost my ticket and besides, the entire band wouldn't fit on a stub. Alot of people were buying CDs and stuff at the table for them to sign, but I already had all their CDs and honestly, to buy something at that bands merch table right in front of them to sign is pretty lame. At this point I was about 5 ft from their bassiest, so I panicked, reached into my pocket, pulled out my wallet and took out a dollar bill. I got to the table, handed them the dollar and everything seemed to stop. The bassiest, Ryan, held it up to the rest of the band, said something along the lines of "Hey, check this shit out" signed it and passed it around to everyone else. They seemed to get a kick out of it and almost embarrassed I asked their keyboardist, Marta (who is beautiful by the way, only to add onto my embarrassment) if this was among one of the strangest things they've autographed. "Strange, no." She said, "But this is the first dollar bill I've ever signed. So that's very cool." I felt accomplished. I was her first...

So those are some of the musician autos I've gathered over the years. I have a couple CD booklets signed as well, all with their own stories as well I can show off in a part 2 if you guys liked this enough. Hopefully you found this to be at least half as amusing as I did and still do!

(...Joe)