Bill Murray and the Heisman

Did you know that Bill Murray is in a band? Did you know he is touring? Yes, THAT Bill Murray: Caddy Shack, Stripes, Ghostbusters and one of my favs, Razor’s Edge.

When he was listed to appear in Dallas, a buzz was created.  I semi-seriously thought about taking down my Zombieland poster and getting him to sign it. What, I haven’t talked about my Zombieland poster? Really?  Huh. Not sure what happened there.  Well, it was back in 2008…

“What are you doing”, a voice behind asks. It’s The Wife.

“Ummm, just writing about Bill Murray….”, my voice fades as I try to figure out what I did wrong.

“Then why are you talking about Zombieland?

“He was in it,” said with assurance that I was in the right.

“You are burying the lead. Stick to the point. Get back to Bill and the autograph.”

Dejectedly I mumble an ‘okay...’

Bill was in town. He performed. 

Pop quiz: What is wrong with this photo?  Don’t worry. It’s a trick question. Nothing is wrong with the photo; other than no Bill Murray autograph.

Yes, we got the Heisman from Bill. Too obscure of a reference?  The pose on the Heisman trophy is a player using the ‘stiff arm’ to keep opposing players away.   We were rejected in our ‘graphing attempts.

‘Rejected’ might be too harsh of a term but we didn’t get any autographs.

I got to the venue about 2 hours before the concert started. About 5 minutes before the concert was scheduled to start, a SUV rolls up and Bill gets out.  He walked into the building.

It was cold and very windy. The sun was setting and it felt much colder than it was.  After hanging out for 2 hours For Bill’s arrival, a small group of us went to eat.  We came back and waited some more. Did I say it was cold and windy?

We waiting until the concert was over. We waited another 90 minutes. Then Bill came out. He came over to us. He held out his hand. However, it was NOT to accept a Sharpie but to shake our hands.

After eh shook the hands of the 9 of us, with a smile he said we needed to get some gloves because we had a lot of very cold hands.  He got in the vehicle. We waited a few minutes to make sure he wasn’t going to change his mind.  Then we dispersed.

AH

 

Penn and Tell Majestic Theater 2001

I really though I lost this. Over the years, my focus for autographs has shifted. At first, I collected mostly books. Then I started collecting baseballs. Then I morphed into actors with a few books and balls in the mix. In 2001, I was not into celebs and I mostly did baseballs. So something like a signed ticket stub didn’t have a home in my collection. It ended up in a pile of ticket stubs and left for lost.

I finally got off my lazy butt and did some organizing. While I was cleaning up the mess of ticket stubs, badges, and matchbooks I’ve collected over the years, I found this little gem.  After several hour s of looking over what I had collected, my mess of memories became better organized and sorted. I chucked some stuff.  I shared some memories with The Wife.  Most importantly, I created more room for the next 30 years.

Back in 2001, I dragged The Wife to see Penn and Teller. I had recently seen them perform the Bullet Catch trick on a talk show and was amazed. I was excited there were coming to town and I bought tickets. The Wife was not so excited.  She was a good sport and let me drag her to downtown Dallas to see the team perform.

The show was very good. I was excited I had seen them in person. The Bullet Catch is just as impressive in person as on TV. Their show is series of tricks, anecdotes, and explanations.

After the show, I was surprised both Penn and Teller were in the front of the theater greeting fans and chatting.  I saw that they both had sharpies and signed anything. The only thing I had was my ticket stub. So the both signed; one on each side. That was the perfect bonus to a great show. and then sadly, the ticket stub was lost for over 15 years.

Years later, I got them to sign a book at SDCC. Where again, they greeted fans after the show and signed for people.

AH

Joel McHale Addsion Improv 2018

I enjoyed The Soup. I wasn’t a passionate watcher but I would catch it a few times a year.  I thought Joel McHale was funny. Then he popped up in X-Files. Why wouldn’t I want his autograph?

A couple of fellow hounds and I went to the Addison Improv and caught his show. He was pretty funny. After the show, we waited outside with the smokers (people still huddle together, ostracized, in the cold, to chain smoke) for an hour or so before he came out.

He posed for photos, chatted about his new show on Netflix, and signed the various photos the 5 of us had for him.

AH

Madness Games and Comics Plano Jan 2018

There is a neat comic book store I have visited a few times. It is a large store; they do gaming; they have lots of genre merchandise; and they sell comic books. Or as the kids say: books. (Side bar: that irritates the hell out of me.  It ain’t a book.)

 Every now and then, they have some people in the store for autographs.  I must admit, the autographs are the primary reason I visit them. Usually the guests are from the Star Wars universe.  This signing was no exception.

On this trip, I picked up two autographs.  Brian Herring, who created and controlled BB-8 from the recent Star Wars trilogy. He is a pleasant fellow and very open to chatting. He enjoys sharing with the fans anecdotes from the set, this was a good opportunity to get him when his lines wasn’t too long.

The other signature was Paul Kasey. He was also in Star Wars as a costumed character.  However, I choose a photo from Dr Who. He was Ood Sigma.  I find the Ood an interesting race and their story while explored, probably has more than can be said. 

As this signing I met a few fellow hounds. After we got our ‘fixes’, we went out to eat and chatted the night away.

AH

Gal Gadot Ace Con 2017 consignment

There is not much I did for this autograph. No tale to tell. I basically wrote a check.

Gal Gadot was scheduled to be at Ace Con in Long Island in December. I toyed with the idea of going. It would be a nice addition to my collection. I missed getting her at SDCC the last 2 years. I wasn’t close either time – other than being in the same room with her. That room was the massive expo floor of SDCC with 100K other fans.

My SDCC buddy told me ‘his guy’ was doing a consignment for Gal and the other guests at Ace. They would arrange a private signing with the celebs and get stuff signed. As I mentioned, since I have no tale to tell, it’s not very enjoyable for me. Then there is the ‘trust’ factor. The trust was mitigated by the fact my SDCC buddy uses ‘his guy’ all the time. But it’s still a friend of a friend.

I got to choose the photo. There was a nice selection. I chose a blue sharpie but for reasons not under my control, only black was used. So the autograph doesn’t ‘pop’.  But I got it. It’s mine all mine.  ‘His guy’ was good. The process was smooth. He kept me updated. The photo was well packaged and I received it in great shape.

No complaints. Other than not having the opportunity of those beautiful dark eyes look at me.

AH