What’s In Your Music Memorabilia Collection?

A writing prompt for music lovers, collectors, and anyone else who wants to participate

Hey all! Do you like music?

If so, do you own any music-related items that mean a lot to you?

Do you enjoy writing?

Will you be happy when I finally stop asking you questions?

If you answered “yes” to most of those questions, you may be interested in this fun Writing Challenge from writer and music lover Anthony Overs, in which Anthony asks:

What’s in your music memorabilia collection?

Check out this article from him to learn more and to read about some of the very, very cool things Anthony has in his own collection:

Even though I’ve been a music-loving nerd for most of my life, I’ve never been much of a collector. However, there have been a few things I’ve owned over the years that have meant a lot to me.

One thing that I used to own and love, but no longer have, was a concert shirt of the band A Flock of Seagulls.

My friends and I had seen them perform in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1982 when I was 16 years old. After the show, we wanted to meet the band, so we tried to find out where they were. We somehow discovered what hotel they were staying in (wow, in retrospect, we sound sort of creepy) and we saw their Tour Bus in the parking lot of the hotel. One of my friends knocked on the door of the bus and asked the driver if we could see Frank. Frank Maudsley was the bass player for the band.

To our surprise, Frank came out of the bus. He stood and talked with me and my friends for several minutes. He was incredibly cool!

Frank saw that I was wearing a Flock of Seagulls concert shirt I had bought at the show and he asked me if I wanted him to sign it. Not only did he sign his name on the back of my shirt, but he also drew pictures on it of a dozen or so flying seagulls!

I loved it! I owned the shirt for at least 20 years. However, unfortunately, I only wore it a few more times after the night I got it and it mostly just hung in my closet. I very rarely wore it for two main reasons:

1. I was afraid of the ink running, smudging, fading off, etc.
2. I was 16 years old when I bought the shirt and I weighed only 125 pounds at the time. It was a very SMALL shirt — and I didn’t stay only 125 pounds for very much longer! By the time I was in my early 20s, I could no longer wear the shirt comfortably.

Still, I regret getting rid of it and wish I had kept it. By the way, here is my favorite song from A Flock of Seagulls. My old pal Frank Maudsley is super-cool in this one:

One of my favorite music-related items that I still own, and will never get rid of, is the book I’m holding in the photo at the top of this article: They Made a Monkee Out of Me, which was the first autobiography of Davy Jones of The Monkees.

I’ve written a lot in the past about how The Monkees are my favorite music group ever. I first fell in love with their music and their TV show in the mid-1970s, when I was a small child. I idolized them then — and I’d be lying if I said I still don’t idolize them.

I saw them perform live several times over the years. One of the shows I attended was in 1987. Prior to The Monkees taking the stage that night, Davy Jones was standing behind a large table on the side of the stage. The table was loaded with stacks of his recently released book, They Made a Monkee Out of Me, which Davy was selling and signing copies of.

I bought a copy and then…I MET DAVY JONES!!!

We chatted for a minute or so as he signed my copy of his book. Davy was very nice and incredibly cool. I’m very glad I got a chance to meet him and I’ll always treasure my autographed copy of his book.

Many years later, I also met two other members of The Monkees: Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork.

I met Micky Dolenz at an exhibit of some of his artwork in the mid-1990s. We chatted quite a bit and he was awesome. I bought a painting of his that he autographed, but it accidentally got destroyed years later during a move. It was great meeting Micky, though, and I’m happy I was able to have this photo taken with him.

I met Peter Tork at a Tower Records store in the mid-1990s. He was there promoting his solo album Stranger Things Have Happened, which had just been released. Peter was much less talkative than Davy and Micky were, but he was still kind and courteous. I’m glad I met him and was able to get an autographed copy of his album on compact disc.

So, how about you?

Do you collect music-related items?

Great!

Tell us about what you have in your collection. Share your story here in Plethora of Pop, or wherever else you might want to share it. I just ask that you tag me and Anthony, so we can read your cool stories.

How about you, my fellow music lovers/music nerds? Do you own any groovy music-related things? Tell me your stories, Paul Combs, Kevin Alexander, Alex Markham, Christine Schoenwald, L Burton, Steven Hale, Jessie Waddell, Bonnie Barton, Rui Alves 🇺🇦, Laura Lind, Amy Von Blickhahn, Arpad Nagy, Joel Selby, Billy Hartong, Terry Barr, Hayden Moore, David Acaster, Chris Zappa, Sarah Paris, and David Perlmutter.

If you’re interested in doing this prompt and sharing it here in Plethora of Pop, but you’re not already a writer with us, simply leave a comment below and ask to be added as a writer.

It’s that easy!

Rock on,

Pierce

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