RBI (194) Tom Morello...

I had the opportunity to see guitarist Tom Morello play in his folk music band "The Nightwatchman" during a short tour in 2007. Morello's acclaim is from being the guitarist for famous rock groups Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, but the side projects he involves himself with always showcase his stellar guitar playing skills.

The club I saw him perform in the Paradise rock club was small and it was a very great intimate show. After the show if you purchased the debut album you could meet Tom and have him sign the album cover. I of course opted to stay and meet the man. It was a quick perfunctory hello and smile while he signed but considering he sat to sign minutes after playing a lengthy folk set I couldn't blame him and was happy for the opportunity to add him to my collection. It's not often I get to collect celebrity or rock star autographs, but it's nice when I'm able to so this Tom Morello autograph is a nice piece.

RBI (193) Sugarcult

One more benefit to living in Southern California is the local entertainment and music industry. As I posted before I had the opportunity to see rock band Alien Ant Farm perform locally and got their autograph, and I was also able to meet the band Sugarcult.

Sugarcult is best known for the songs "She's the Blade""Pretty Girl" and most notably "Bouncing Off the Walls" and they have a pretty high energy set as a result of their hits. I got to the front of the performance which was fun and then after the set their bass guitarist threw a pick into the crowd. I was lucky enough to catch the custom pick he had just played with.

After their set part of the band hung out with the crowd and signed autographs. I was able to get bassist Airin Older and guitarist Marko Desantis to sign a sticker and Airin Older autographed the pick he through into the crowd. Marko obviously had a little bit of fun with it since he doodled a heart and the break here inscription on the seem of the sticker backing.

RBI (192) Story of the Year

In the late fall of 2006 I went to the Boston venue the Avalon to see St. Louis rock group Story of the Year perform. For a small fee with my ticket I was able to get access to a meet and greet after the show. It was a great show because they're really a high energy live band and always a group I see in person if given the opportunity.

Some of the fans were just there to say hi and take photos but I opted to get Story of the Year's autograph. All the guys were nice and I had the whole band autograph the ticket I had printed out for the show. It was a quick meet but I enjoyed it and am glad I took advantage of the chance.

RBI (191) Paramore

Continuing to upload some autographs from my collection that I had gotten years prior to becoming an actual hardcore grapher here is one of my favorites that has been framed for years before I really knew what I was doing. In the summer of 2006 I went to Warped Tour San Diego to see the band Paramore perform I was happy to enjoy the show and have seen them several times since then. I was even happier to get Paramore's autograph on my ticket at an appearance at a booth sponsored by someone I can't remember.

In pink is Hayley Williams' autograph, in teal Hunter Lamb, black is Zac Farro, red Josh Farro, and in blue is Jeremy Davis. Back when I got the autograph they were just becoming popular with the success of All We Know Is Falling and their tour, but I'm not sure anyone in San Diego that day knew they were seeing a 3-time Grammy nominee with a Platinum record. Either way it's fun to have another band's autograph in my collection, especially one that did one of my favorite records. Now I'm sure it's almost impossible to knock out a piece like this signed by Paramore easily since they're such a popular group with hardcore fans.

RBI (115) Meeting Alien Ant Farm...

Regular readers know I have a huge soft spot for adding the hometown successes to my autograph collection. Keeping up with my offseason off topic autographs I decided to post more of the local guys who made it big.

Rock band Alien Ant Farm is pretty well known as the band that did basically the best rock cover ever of a song, turning Michel Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" into a rock anthem for the past decade. They've also however released quite a few albums and have always stayed true to their roots. For their fourth album "Up In The Attic" they released the record with a celebratory concert and autograph signing in Riverside, CA in the parking lot of the local hangout spot by UCR.

I had seen AAF live before because they kept close ties with the local rock radio station and the summer before had preformed as the headliner for a local music concert festival. I had attended events and local concerts covered by the radio station really often so through mutual friends I met the station photographer. Long story short at the record release he saw me and took me backstage to meet the band before the show. It was awesome. I'll admit I was pretty nervous as a barely graduated teenager hanging out with rockstars and their girl friends talking about how I enjoyed their music and getting tips from their guitar player on how to play on something more expensive than my life.

After I got to meet them I went back to the front to watch the show and it was great. They're actually really good live performers and can make every track really enjoyable. After they preformed there was an autograph signing inside the record store if you bought the CD. I had band members Dryden Mitchell, Joe Hill, Tye Zamora, and Mike Cosgrove sign a flyer for the CD release and the back of the CD jacket. They also signed a large poster for me but I gave that to a friend who also really likes the band but couldn't make it to the show. I figured 2 Alien Ant Farm autographs and getting to meet the band was more than enough for me and he could have the nice poster.