Racing to get Indy Car Legend Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti is one of the legends of auto racing.  Andretti is known for a remarkable career in auto racing and competing in the Indianapolis 500 in four different decades (1960's-1970's-1980's-1990's).  He found the winner's circle by winning the Indy 500 in 1969 and the Daytona 500 in 1967.  Mario's last turn in the Indianapolis 500 was in 1994.  Mario is the patriarch of the infamous Andretti racing family, as Mario's son, Michael, and his grandson, Marco, followed in his footsteps and have raced in various Indy 500's over the years.

When we found out that Andretti would be in Los Angeles for the day, we knew we had to meet him.  We printed some very nice photographs of Mario Andretti and headed out with the goal of meeting Mario Andretti.  Upon arriving at our destination and waiting a short time, we spotted Mr. Andretti.  We approached him and asked if he would sign some autographs.  Andretti was nice, signing two photos for me and two for my partner.  We had some great photos, including one from the movie "Cars 2" in which Andretti voiced an animated 1967 Ford Fairlane.  He even personalized the photos, when asked to, adding the phrase, "All the best".  He also took a photograph with each of us.  A great experience with one of the all-time greats of racing, Andretti is known for speeding around the racetrack...glad to see that he slows down and took some time with the two of us, his fans!  :)

Meeting Eva Marie Saint of "North By Northwest"

When it comes to director Alfred Hitchcock's films, in addition to being masterpieces of suspense, they are also marked by the appearance of blonde actresses in the starring roles. "Psycho" featured Janet Leigh, "The Birds" starred Tippi Hedren, Grace Kelly was superb in "Rear Window" and Kim Novak starred in "Vertigo". My favorite film by Hitchcock is "North by Northwest", which stars another of the infamous "Hitchcock Blondes", the lovely and talented Eva Marie Saint. I met Janet Leigh years ago at a film festival of her films back in the 1990's.  My partner and I met Kim Novak in early 2012  when the reclusive actress made a rare appearance in Los Angeles.  So of course we jumped at the chance when there was an opportunity to meet Eva Marie Saint.

In-person encounters with Eva Marie Saint are few and far in between, as I have never even heard of another collector having met her.  This made it even more exciting but also added to the uncertainty of what to expect from Saint.  Would she sign autographs?  Would she sign multiples?  We really had no previous experience to base any expectations.

We arrived and began waiting to meet Eva Marie Saint.  Several decades have passed since Saint's turn in "North By Northwest" so we were dependent upon finding more recent photos of the actress on the Internet so we could spot her when (and if) we saw her.  After a few minutes, my partner said, "Here she comes".  Eva Marie seemed surprised when we approached her and asked for her autograph.  She immediately said that she would do "one each".  She then proceeded to ask each person their name and then personalized each photo with each of our respective names.  Besides us, there was only one other collector present and as soon as Eva Marie was finished signing, she hopped on an awaiting elevator.  My partner asked if she would take a photo with me but Ms. Saint replied, "No".  We were not sure whether she was adverse to taking a photograph at all or simply because the elevator and her husband were waiting on her.

It was great to meet the legendary Eva Marie Saint and add her to our collection.  We just met Martin Landau a few months ago who also is in "North By Northwest".  Hopefully, we will be able to meet Saint again in the future and have another shot at obtaining more autographs and possibly even a photo with her!

1.22.13

Today was a successful day, with us scoring ink from baseball legend Don Mattingly and Cheech Marin. We got a tip on former NBA basketball player Kurt Rambis but we never did see him so we decided to call it a day. On the way driving home, I mentioned to my partner that the punk band Bad Religion was on a radio show this evening here in LA and that we could try to meet them since the show was ending in about 15 minutes. She agreed, so we raced over to the radio station, literally pulling up just as the show was winding down. We hopped out of our automobile, each grabbing a pickguard and waited for the band members to exit the studio. From listening to the final minutes of the radio show on the way over, we learned that only three of the members of Bad Religion showed up for the radio show. After waiting just a few minutes, all three emerged from the outer studio door together. I called over to them and asked if they would mind signing an autograph. They came right over and started signing for us. I told them that they were great on the radio and one of them asked, "Did you listen from the car?" I replied, "Yes, we we driving around and listening to you. You guys were great!" One of the other guys jokingly asked my partner how much a signed pickguard would sell for on eBay but then said that he didn't really care if people sold his autograph or not. Afterwards, we each were able to get a photograph with the members of Bad Religion.

Racking Out With Cheech Marin

We've met Cheech Marin, famously known as one half of the comedy team "Cheech and Chong" several times and he never disappoints when it comes to meeting his fans. He is friendly, talkative and does not hesitate when asked to sign multiple items. Today was not any different, with Cheech signing all ten of our items with an autograph that read "Cheech 13". The past few years it has become typical for Marin to sign his first name only and he also usually writes the last two digits of the year after his signature. Thus, he dated all our items with a "13" for "2013". When it comes to the best signers, Cheech will always be at the top in my book.

Going After Don Mattingly aka "Donnie Baseball"

When I was growing up, from about 1984 until the late 1980's, when it came to baseball players none were bigger than Don Mattingly. It did not hurt that he spent his entire career in the bright spotlight as a New York Yankee or that his career emerged at the height of the hobby of baseball card collecting. These factors, along with monstrous numbers from "Donnie Baseball", pushed his rookie cards to the equivalent of hobby gold. Simply put, Mattingly's rookie year baseball cards were THE cards to own. Mattingly eventually came back down to earth, hampered by a bad back, that ended his career early at 14 years in duration. Still a fan favorite to this day, Mattingly is currently the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Something still seems wrong with that as Don Mattingly should never be in any uniform other than classic Yankee pinstripes. Anyways, Mattingly came to LA for a charity event and we went after him in hopes of scoring an autograph and a photo with the baseball legend. Upon approaching Don Mattingly and politely asking if he would sign an autograph, he did not hesitate to take my blue Sharpie. He even took care in making sure to sign the signature in the light area on the photograph so it was more visible. My partner also snagged a beautiful Mattingly autograph on an 11x14 from Mattingly's playing days. He smiled and then happily posed for a photograph with each of us. We thanked him and wished him good luck in the upcoming baseball season. A great experience with one the great players to ever step on the field...it doesn't get much better than that.

No Way Tina Fey

Comedienne, writer and actress Tina Fey was in LA to co-host the Golden Globe Awards with Amy Poehler, so we decided to try and secure an autograph from her. Since Fey is based in New York, we only see her in town a couple of times a year so it means less opportunities to snag her autograph. We saw Tina Fey earlier in 2012 and at first she declined to sign for the three collectors waiting but after having second thoughts she reluctantly signed one autograph each. This time (1/14/2013) it was only four of us waiting for Tina. She looked right past us, ignoring our requests. It would have only taken 10 seconds of her time, at most, so it is a bit ridiculous that Fey didn't sign or even acknowledge us, her fans.

Rockin' with Jason Newsted of Metallica!

Jason Newsted was the bassist for Metallica from 1986-2001, a time when the band experienced it's greatest commercial success. Newsted teamed up with lead singer James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich on the self-titled album "Metallica" (1991), commonly referred to as "The Black Album", which remains the best-selling Metallica album to date. In January 2001, with differences of opinions and wanting to pursue a solo project, Newsted made the decision to leave Metallica. Newsted remains on good terms with his former band mates, even performing with them at their 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony.

Jason Newsted made an appearance on radio show here in Los Angeles on 1/14/2013 to promote his new band called Newsted. Listening to Jason and his insight over the radio, it becomes apparent that he is an intelligent guy and entertaining guest. After his appearance on the radio show, one of Newsted's handlers came out of the studio first and told us that Newsted would be out "in about 5 minutes". True to the word, Newsted came out and we asked him if he would sign. Newsted came straight over to the 5 of us assembled, already with a blue Sharpie in hand. Signing for my sister, Newsted asked her name and personalized each autograph he signed. After signing her fourth and final item, Jason said, "I have something for you." He proceeded to reach in his pocket, producing a round sticker with the Newsted band logo and a bass guitar pick and handing both of them to her. Jason ended up giving each of us autograph seekers a pick and sticker, which was especially nice since none of us asked or expected it. He signed and personalized my four photographs as well and continued to sign autographs for the remaining collectors. Two of the collectors had a few Metallica albums, already in various states of being completed with the signatures of the other members of Metallica. Newsted autographed all of their record albums until coming to a stack of guitar pick guards each collector had stationed on the bottom of their piles. Upon seeing each of them with about 10 pick guards apiece, Newsted said, "I'm only going to sign one of those." This was nice and understandable at the same time as many musicians refuse to even ever sign guitar pick guards - they are often the preferred item to get signed by autograph dealers, as they can be easily affixed to a guitar and thus sold for high dollar value. Jason happily posed for photographs with each of us who asked and after we thanked him for taking the time to sign our autographs, he appologized for making us wait and thanked us for coming out to meet him.