Poster collecting

OK, so I admit that I am a complete Pearl Jam dork. I know it's not cool to like them anymore -- hasn't been for sometime. But all you hipsters can suck a ding dong cos they move me like no other band. I have seen them live probably ten times and I will probably see them at least ten more. Anyway, within the rock world, as some of you know, there is a subculture of poster collecting. Now when you tell most people that you collect rock posters, they think you are stuck in adolescence with pictures of Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sabora up on your wall. Well that's just not the case.

Rock art is a well developed and long-standing tradition that became a big deal starting in the 1960s with all the hippy bands. The great thing about this hobby is that you are in a sense collecting prints that maybe 50 to 1,000 other people will have in the world. And the prints are unique to each concert. These posters can actually become very valuable if the show the poster was made for turns out to be a really memorable night. For example, you would be hard-pressed to find a poster from Pearl Jam's 1998 tour for less than $200 on Ebay, and they will sell for well over $500 in some cases. Keep in mind these prints were sold at the shows for a mere $15 (the shady guy with his coat open below is from the 1998 show at MSG).

The bitch of all this is framing, wall space, and finding a way to blend your collection with the aethestics of the rest of your house. For now, I have most of my prints stored flat with the dream of one day having a basement to showcase "my collection". Anyway, if you are interested in seeing some other cool rock poster art, a good site to visit is www.expressobeans.com.