Karen 'Gilly' Laney is a freelance writer, photographer and archivist. She co-authored 'Mick Ronson The Spider With The Platinum Hair' in 2003 and fully revised and updated the biography for its second publication in 2009. As former co-president of the David Bowie fan club 'Sons Of The Silent Age' she's spent most of her life working at music and book stores, promoting, collecting and writing about rock 'n' roll. She's in love with just about everything; including Jesus, The Beatles, Andy Warhol and her husband of eleven years. She digs cats, the smell of vinyl and men who wear make-up and she'll tell you more about that at: http://www.weirdandgilly.com
When an original Beatles photograph is sans autograph and fetches $999.00 on eBay it’s certain to have a story behind it. This photo was taken at Palais Ballroom in Adlershot, a military town in northeast Hampshire in December 1961. The clincher; there were only 18 people in the audience and Mersey Beat photographer Dick Matthews captured the void quite vividly.
Freddie Mercury was the one who suggested that the artwork for Queen’s tenth album ‘Hot Space’ feature a graphic image of each band member in its own colored square. Bold, vibrant colors were chosen for the cover and as a result dingy record store walls across the land were suddenly beaming with a majestic hue. Recently, the complete workings of that original artwork appeared on eBay and sold for $1,750.00.
If you're reading our list of the Top 10 Winter Blizzard Songs, odds are your hometown is currently buried in snow and ice at this very moment. Look at the bright side -- at least you've got some form of electricity, right, how else could you be on the internet? So stay warm, admire the beautiful view from your window (or laugh at your neighbor's feeble attempts to stay ahead of the snowfall) and enjoy our list of the top 10 songs about Winter Blizzards:
Let's face it, any proper list of the top Super Bowl halftime performances is going to be dominated by classic rock acts. If any good came from Janet Jackson’s infamous wardrobe malfunction during the 2004 halftime show, it’s that for the next half dozen years the NFL chose to give classic rockers such as Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney the home field advantage in terms of booking.
The black obelisk-shaped object that Led Zeppelin featured on the cover and inside sleeve of their seventh album, ‘Presence,’ was intended to represent the force and presence of the group. In 1976 their label Swan Song produced 1,000 replicas of ‘The Object’ to be used as 12” numbered promotional statues. Recently on eBay, #834 went up for auction and sold for $2,000.00.
Very few tubes of Alice Cooper’s ‘Whiplash’ mascara are known to exist, so to find a prototype of this 1973 vintage eye makeup for sale is a nightmare come true. It’s a superb discovery until one realizes that the bidding was serious enough to scare $1,825.00 out of a buyer on eBay. An eye-enhancing shade like ‘Billion Dollar Black’ may be tempting but how frightening is it to lay down that kind of cash for 40-year old makeup?
In 1966 a Bob Dylan ticket with the face value of $3.50 could gain one entry into the Ottawa YMCA Auditorium to see the 24-year old perform in concert. Recently, someone bid $1,134.99 to win the torn stub of one of these rare ’66 tickets while it was up for auction on eBay. In other words, the winner paid 324 times more for it than the original ticket buyer did.
A Grateful Dead belt buckle designed with the iconic ‘Steal Your Face’ emblem sold for big money on eBay recently. Formed in the style of an Owsley ‘Bear’ Stanley belt buckle, this custom made piece managed to steal more than face; it stole someone’s money, $2,000.00 to be exact.
A draft of a letter John Lennon wrote to Eric Clapton on Sept. 29, 1971 asking him to collaborate on a musical project recently sold for $35,000 at an auction.
The top Christmas songs help make the holidays one of the most wonderful times of year to be a fan of classic rock. We're sure you're all aware that radio stations and retail outlets start overplaying the traditional songs of the season weeks before Thanksgiving. Thankful
