STARMARKS Memorabilia Blog

That’s right, for just about a week now, British Mail has released a special set of 10 stamps featuring Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and other historical British bands and rockers.  The process of choosing and producing these stamps was much more lengthy and complicated than one might think. Only about 12 stamp sets are released each year, and the albums had to be reproduced in pint size form to make tiny works of art.  Many albums were rejected because they were indecipherable when shrunk; were too dark and therefore unable to be identifiable; or couldn’t be scanned in the British Mail systems .  Additionally, the selection of  artists and artwork to use on the stamps was a rigorous process.  It required sifting through statistics, and speaking to many music journalists to pick the perfect set of artists and album covers.

Once the stamps were selected, they had to get the approval of the Queen, who, surprisingly enough, didn’t reject any of them!  She probably knew all of the bands and possibly enjoyed some of their music.  The uniqueness of these stamps go beyond their beauty and rebellious nature, they’re also the only stamps that have been released depicting live individuals who aren’t part of the royal family.  I’d be very interested in getting my hands on some of these as collectors items, and obviously, not using them for the purpose of mailing!

Here’s the list of collectors rock and roll stamps released (and links to
Starmarks memorabilia):
-Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head
-David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
-Blur’s Parklife
-Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells
-Led Zeppelin’s IV
-New Order’s Power, Corruption and Lies
-Primal Scream’s Screamadelica
-Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell
-The Clash’s London Calling
-The Rolling Stones’ Let it Bleed

By Greg Katkin

Enough is enough already!

Every news station, sports network, newspaper, blog, and website has been spewing seemingly endless information on Tiger Wood’s affairs, drama, and the new instability of his career.  It all started with a very strange car crash outside his residence very early in the morning.  I remember seeing this on the evening news thinking “he must have been hugely inebriated to damage his car that badly trying to exit his driveway, and in the process colliding with a fire hydrant and tree”!  Later we found out that the quick getaway and crash might have been caused by his wife chasing him out of the house with a 9-iron, and in an attempt to avoid a powerful shot to the face he hopped in his Cadillac and with ‘non-Batman’ like abilities, hit every obstacle he should have avoided!

I haven’t tried to follow this story, —–it has followed me like an unpaid bill or a credit card debt!  Evening news has turned from economic, political, and weather news, to economic, political, weather and Tiger Woods news.  It’s arrived at the point where the number of mistresses Tiger had/has does not fit on a double handed ten-finger count!  This is way beyond any celebrity affair I remember.

I feel bad for all parties involved….. except for the mistresses.  Tiger has seen many of his endorsement contracts vanish into thin air within the past week, and has proclaimed that he will be on’ hiatus from golf ‘(lets hope it’s not too long)!

As for his wife, it’s uncertain how she’s feeling.  If she decides to stay with him to keep their family intact, it will be one hell of a ride.  I don’t know how anyone could have an ounce of forgiveness in a situation like this.  Tiger’s innocent children have also been thrown into this mess and are now falling victim to paparazzi photos and a possibly ugly custody battle.

Tiger’s motives are still unclear, as he has remained completely silent about the whole situation.  Sex expert Dr. Drew commented on the situation, attributing the behavior to sex addition, and spoke on the CBS Morning Show saying “You gotta wonder about addiction. That’s the process that has people doing things that don’t make sense”.  He also commented “I won’t be surprised if we find out there’s a chemical addition as well, because sometimes these sexual compulsions emerge as part of an overall addictive process to a chemical.   I suggest that Tiger come clean; tell us what happened.”

Tiger needs to tell all and allow this media frenzy to blow over.  If that means taking a break from golf, clearing his head, and getting better, so be it.   His youth and talent should not suffer because of his insatiable appetite for women.  If he knew it was that bad, he should not have married in the first place.   Then he would be just another celebrity who’s a hit with the women!

by Greg Katkin

Tiger Woods memorabilia

HBO is running a wonderful program this week that is a special edited version of the  The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame  25th Anniversary concert series held on October 29th and 30th, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York. The celebration included performances by U2, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Simon & Garfunkel, Metallica, Lou Reed, Ray Davies, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Crosby, Stills and Nash. The first night ran almost 6 hours with Bruce Springsteen closing the concert with special guests John Fogerty, Darlene Love, Tom Morello, Sam Moore, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf, and Billy Joel.  I have seen a lot of these kinds of programs and never really been satisfied by any of them……until now!

I sat mesmerized by the steady procession of the rock and roll giants of the last 50 years as their faces, their music and their stories rolled across my television screen.  This is a 4 hour compilation, so it is no small task to sit through the entire show.  I chose to watch for about an hour and a half and then record the rest of it to see later.  This is a well edited and compelling program.

The producers have given the viewer the best of all of the acts with no commercials, obviously, but peppered with breaks between the acts that are fabulous black and white video clips and pictures of all the artists who have passed from the scene,  that have been inducted over the years and contributed their talent and personalities to the rich tapestry that is our rock and roll history.

And some of the best moments come when you least expect them!  There is a wonderful reunion of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel performing three of their most famous pieces: Sounds of Silence, The Boxer, and Bridge Over Troubled Waters.  They never sounded better, and if you are my age, all you have to do is close your eyes and drift back in time when those songs were integral to all our lives!  When you open them, you see two men who are clearly older than you remember them, but the sound is the same!

Then there is a wonderful moment when Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy and Sting are all on stage together riffing with their guitars and you get lost in the emotional content and style that makes each of them so different and unique, and yet somehow they all fit together in the most wonderful way.

One of my favorite moments is when Stevie Wonder and  BB King are on the stage at the same time with John Legend at the piano.  “The Thrill is Gone” does not disappoint, and for me it wasn’t gone at all!   And what about Springsteen jamming with Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and John Fogerty?  Their tribute to Roy Orbison is thrilling!

The Concert was a success because the producers were smart enough to bring all these artists together to compliment each other and perform each other’s music.  Their jamming and sharing of all the songs that we all remember make this program one that I will save for a long time and watch over and over when I want to be uplifted by the great talents that have given us such inspiring music over the last 50 years.

Don’t miss this one!!!  It is truly special!

By Larry Lancit

Mick Jagger

Simon and Garfunkel

Bono

Bruce Springsteen

Find any artist at Starmarks!

Well the news isn’t verified, but it has been rumored!

Sportsillustrated.com stated this past week that it is a definite possibility that the legendary successful English rock group of the 60’s and 70’s, The Who, will be performing at the half time show at Super Bowl XLIV on February 7th in Miami. This would be their first performance in North America since 2008.

During Roger Daltrey’s recent “Use It or Lose It” solo tour, Daltry announced to Billboard.com that he and Pete Townshend were working on new material as follow up to their 2006 album “Endless Wire“, so if they perform we can definitely expect to hear some fresh new material.  An NFL spokesperson commented, “When we have something to announce, we’ll announce it”.   So until further notice, no one can be certain. But many die hard Who fans will be pleasantly surprised, and I know we at Starmarks will certainly appreciate this performance.

I’m no fanatic sports fan myself, but the Super Bowl is as much of a holiday to me as it seems to be to many others.  No matter what my situation when the day arrives, I can bet I’ll be with somebody who inevitably blasts the game on the television with copious amounts of greasy and delicious food front and center. Before I know it, I am sucked in by all the excitement, all the food, and all the hilarious and witty commercials.

And because of this, I must admit that whoever is ultimately making decisions on these Superbowl halftime shows is thankfully bringing back classic and highly revered rock and roll artists in a noticeable pattern since 2005.  Over the last five years we’ve been treated to Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, and now The Who. There really couldn’t be a better way to appeal to the masses and have a legendary performance than to present The Who in concert!

By Greg Katkin

The Who Memorabilia

Super Bowl Memorabilia

Last night we had some friends over for dinner and started discussing music.  Fern and Marty are our age (early 60s) and had some great stories to tell about their adventures when they were in their mid 20s.  Apparently they had discovered a small ticket boutique in midtown Manhattan where they could go to get tickets to all the major concerts at the Felt Forum and find themselves sitting in the 12th row right in front of the artists!  This little boutique had some sort or main line into the ticket universe and no one really knew about it except a select few.  Consequently they spent those years in their mid 20s just going to concert after concert and literally were ‘spit upon’ by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and the Doors, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, The Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones,  Springsteen and others.

During dinner they started talking about a piece of music that has arrived on the contemporary music scene called “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z and Alicia Keys.  I had never heard it before and they were both incredulous!  (I think that’s because we are living in Naples, Florida and they are native New Yorkers.)

Marty jumped out of his chair and went running to the computer and pulled up the You Tube recording of the song and for the next 4 minutes we were all mesmerized by the video and most importantly the music’s infectious beat and incredible ‘hook’.

Fern started telling us the story behind the piece while it was playing.

Apparently Jay Z felt that our contemporary times demand a new and updated anthem for the City!   Fern explained that Sinatra’s well-worn anthem “New York, New York” has been the unofficial song of the city since it first appeared in the 1977 Scorsese film New York, New York.  After 30 odd years, times have changed, and so has the mood of the city.  Jay Z sees himself as the new Frank Sinatra of our time and Empire State of Mind is his New York, New York.

The song was first performed at Jay-Z’s “Answer the Call” benefit concert in Madison Square Garden on September 11, 2009, where it was the opening song. The song was then performed live at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards on September 13, 2009, where it closed the awards.

Empire State of Mind became an anthem for the New York Yankees during their championship run in 2009. Yankee shortstop and captain, Derek Jeter, used the song as his entrance music before every at-bat. It was performed live by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys in Yankee Stadium before Game 2 of the 2009 World Series; he also performed the song with Bridget Kelly at the Yankees’ World Series victory ceremonies at NYC’s City Hall on November 6, 2009.

All you have to do is hear it one time and you can see why Slant Magazine’s William McBee described it as a “glittering paean to the Big Apple with Alicia Keys soaring skyscraper-level on the hook and Jay putting on for his city”

I am still humming the hook!

By Larry Lancit

Jay Z Microphone

Alicia Keys Gold Record/Microphone

I have been a Florida Gator since I enrolled at the University of Florida back in 1965.  Once you become a student, you become a lifelong member of the ‘Gator Nation’—- and proud of it, I might add!

Well, the last 12 years have been a real ‘high’ for this Gator, since the Gator Football team has won three national championships (1996, 2006, 2008) and is set to do it again this year!  I never would have believed it possible, but screaming during today’s televised games instantly brings back those Saturday afternoons in Gainesville, when it was sweltering in the stands, but we didn’t care because we were screaming for our ‘boys’ led by then star quarterback Steve Spurrier (now Head Coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks).

Florida achieved its first consistent success in the 1960s, when Ray Graves coached the team to three nine-win seasons and a total of seventy victories, a Florida record that stood for twenty-seven years.  Graves led his Gators to a series of “firsts,” including the Gators’ first 9-win season in 1960, and their first Sugar Bowl appearance on New Year’s Day 1966.  Graves fielded one of his best teams in 1966 (my sophomore year!), led by the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Spurrier.   That 1966 team finished 9–2 and defeated Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl, the team’s first major bowl win, and were named the de-facto #1 College Football Team of the year.  It was thrilling!

Somehow it is even more exciting today.  Maybe that’s because my daughter is a freshman there this year and she has caught the ‘bug’.  I hear the excitement in her voice, and I get downright torqued when she calls me on her celphone from the stadium and I can hear everyone screaming over the phone!

I think that’s the beauty and thrill of college football.  We all seem somehow more emotional and engaged than we do for NFL teams.  The excitement and potential for game-changing plays seems ever present, and when they unfold, our reactions are hyperbolic!

Our Saturdays have become something of a ritual: we gather at my sister and brother-in-law’s house (their daughter is a Gator too), break out the chicken wings and beer and scream our heads off all during the game.  My wife, who was never a Gator, seems more excited than me at times!  I know that after Florida wins ( and they have done it now 18 times in a row without losing!) I feel like my weekend is complete, and I can relax and enjoy my Sunday!

So hurrah for Gator College Football, and those excruciating moments when all seems lost—which turn into moments of pure bliss and joy when a spectacular catch is made by Riley Cooper at the hands of Tim Tebow, or when Tebow plows his way over the goal line for his umpteenth time!

Go Gators!!!                       Gator Memorabilia Tebow Jersey

Texas stuff (Longhorneys)

USC stuff (leaky Trojans)

UCLA stuff (nice try Bruins)

Oklahoma stuff (what is a Sooner anyway?)

Other not as good team’s memorabilia!

By Larry Lancit

Trent Reznor’s groundbreaking album “Pretty Hate Machine” celebrated its 20th Anniversary this past week–a truly innovative and influential album that was released on October 20th, 1989.  Wow, has it really been that long?

Trent spoke about the album’s anniversary on his twitter page, an unexpected move because of Trent’s official withdrawal from Twitter months back.   In his own words, ““I believe I’ve done all I care to do here at this point. Flesh and reality and silence are calling.”

“Pretty Hate Machine” introduced the world to some of Trent Reznor’s most famous songs such as “Head like a Hole“, “Terrible Lie“, and “Down in it“.  It was highly touted at it’s release; Rolling Stone, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and many other reviewers gave it four + stars out of five upon its release. It was an album with such momentum and power that it launched Trent’s successful career, and he continues to make music twenty years later, selling out  jam-packed and energized concerts.

Trent Reznor has had an absolutely amazing music career, and a huge following. Since his birth in 1965, his passion for music has provided him with ups and downs; failures and amazing successes.  Since 2007 he was, and still is one of the only ’stand-alone’ musicians who doesn’t rely on record labels and executives.  He has close ties with Marilyn Manson, Saul Williams, David Bowie, Adrian Belew, and many other big name artists.  Reznor made Time magazine’s list of the Year’s Most Influential Musicians; Spin magazine wrote about Trent saying he was “the most vital artist in music”, and he’s still just as powerful (if not more so!) in 2009 going into 2010.

And as I do many nights while sitting at the computer, I’m listening to him right now…..

By Greg Katkin

Starmarks website

I know.   You have been looking at that guitar on our website for weeks, but it is just too expensive in these tight times to plunk down $900 right now for something that you want but don’t need.  But, damn!  It would look so great in the den sitting on the buffet next to the framed album and signed Phillies baseball in the Lucite case!

Well, maybe there is a solution to this dilemma.  First of all, Starmarks is re-evaluating its price structure so that our memorabilia will perhaps be more within the range of folks who are having more difficulty making all the ends meet.  After all, without your interest and loyalty, we can’t continue to offer you some of the best and most reliable memorabilia on the market.

Here is something else that might help….. Did you know that Starmarks has a layaway plan?  We have been assisting our collectors with this plan for as long as I have been running the business, but we don’t tout it too much.  However, maybe now is the time for us to re-introduce our clients to a method that can make acquisition of that perfect piece a reality.

Under the Layaway Plan, you can purchase any item you see on our website for 25% of the list price as a down payment.  Then you can take up to 120 days (4 months) to pay off the balance.   Starmarks will hold the item for you and as soon as you make the last payment, we will deliver it to you.

So take another look at that guitar, and check out our new pricing structure—maybe that beautiful framed album IS within reach!  Give us a call and let us know if you are interested.

By Larry Lancit

Starmarks website

Kanye West has made it onto our blog yet again…just when everyone thought (and certainly hoped) that we wouldn’t hear about Kanye West for a while, he has made news headlines.  It has been rumored that he is traveling to India to gain some spiritual strength and focus.  He cancelled his upcoming tour “Fame Kills” with Lady Gaga to travel to Hindu guru Sri Aurobindo’s ashram in Pondicherry, India.

I think everything that has happened pre and post MTV movie awards has pushed him over the edge, especially with all the ridicule he has received and his being the target of so many jokes. President Obama responded to his MTV video music award interruption by calling him a “jackass”;  he has been made fun of on Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s SouthPark (ok, it was very funny seeing Kanye west portrayed as a gay fish); and online chats and forums have been lit up with the theme of how crazy and ridiculous Kanye is.  Well I can’t completely disagree with all of this, but lets hope he can come back from India changed and responsible, and just be a musician  enjoying his fame, instead of ruining it with asinine behavior.

By Greg Katkin

Steve Cyrkin , the publisher of Autograph Magazine, has compromised his own credibility by targeting others with insults and innuendo.   Cyrkin’s own words have exposed him for what he really is…..a biggot and an anti-Semite.

Have a look at ‘breaking news’ in Autographalert.com and you will find an email exchange between Cyrkin and Mike Frost, a well known autograph dealer.  Cyrkin, a founder of PSA/DNA, describes Jerry Gladstone, the respected President of American Royal Arts, with a term so racially offensive, I can’t bring myself to print it here.  His poison pen has also targeted credentialed and respected forensic handwriting scientists and favored self proclaimed “experts” with no academic training.

As I have written previously, Cyrkin is part of a small group of authenticity “outliers” who eschew true forensic technique in the analysis of a signature’s veracity.  It is more important to destroy the competition and bilk the consumer than it is to ‘get it right’ when opining on authenticity.

Suffice it to say that Cyrkin’s recent anti-semitic slur is a window into the deeper personality of the man.

One is led to question both the professionalism and character of a person who denigrates others based on their religious preference.  If he judges human beings on superficial grounds, it is no wonder that he does the same when evaluating autographs.

Cyrkin has shown his true colors in this reprehensible exchange.
His racial slur has exposed the “authenticity” of his true character.  When you are dealing with something as ephemeral as an autograph, all you can have is an inner sense of integrity and the intention to “get it right” for the customer.  Cyrkin has done more damage to himself than he has to others, despite his intentions. I hope his advertisers and supporters will re-think their opinion about HIS ‘authenticity’.

Stay tuned—- Autograph Alert promises more revelations about several “self promoting well recognized names in autograph collecting and autograph authenticating”.  My guess is that we will see more of Cyrkin’s friends and associates, both past and present, revealed for what they really are.