Gary Dell’ Abate AKA Baba Booey

This is another autographing I did a while ago. It really goes into the category of always be prepared.

Gary Dell’ Abate, you probably know him as Baba Booey on the Howard Stern show, was in town to sign his book, They Call Me Baba Booey.

I got there just as the signing was going to start.  I didn’t expect a large turnout as this was for the release of the trade version of his book.  He did get a nice turnout though and his fans are very loyal and hardcore. To me Howard Stern and his people are more of a curiosity and I was there more because Gary was a ‘name’.

So as the line is winding through the store I’m doing my normal people watching. I saw a few of my fellow collectors near the front of the line. They were gone before I was close to the table and they never saw me. Fans of Baba Booey and Howard Stern come in all types so the crowd was eclectic which makes the people watching more entertaining.

When I’m about 30 people back in line an older tall man walks in and causes a minor stir.  Most people don’t recognize him and even though he walks over to Baba Booey and they start chatting he’s not being obnoxious so no one seemed to mind he ‘cut the line’ to get his book signed.

I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit I know who Dennis Hof is.  I’m even embarrassed to admit I know that a friend dislikes him greatly.  This falsely implies my friend and I activity talk about Dennis or his business on a regular basis. Believe me we don’t. Dennis was just in one of those random twisty turvy meaninglessly silly conversations people have that jump from one topic to another without any rhyme or reason and often are surprisingly entertaining. Go figure.

After I got my book signed I went back to my car to get a 3x5 card. I was hoping to get Dennis’ signature also.

But by the time I got to my car and back he was gone.  I wasn’t as prepared as I could have been. I left my backpack with all of my signing ‘stuff’ in the as I figured this would be just another uneventful book signing, which just reinforces the old Boy Scout motto.

AH