old man economics

years ago, as i was collecting various posters for decorating my various living spaces, i always made the lowest possible investment to get what i wanted. hence, my absolutely awesome first-release original A&M records 24" x 36" promotional poster of joe jackson's "look sharp" from 1978, with the iconic photo of the pointy white shoes, simply got taped to each successive residential wall, and never survived the years. (i used to clean the offices of A&M's local promo branch back in the day, and they were always kind enough to let me pick through the overstock when it was time to rotate in the next bunch of stuff, and i was always more than eager to take them up on their generosity). i even had august darnell's and cory daye's autographs on an insert for the original pressing of doctor buzzard's original savannah band, (yeah, the one with cherchez la femme and its great little lyrical jab at tommy mattola and his pre-mariah dating habits). yeah, yeah, i know, but only the vinyl in the sleeve survived safely among the stacks, and if it was on my wall, it was bound and destined for dog-eared demise.

this weekend i came by yet another assortment of prints for the abode, but instead of cvs for more scotch tape, my first stop today was down to the framers for some serious glass. the difference, of course, is beaucoup bucks, but though i'm still as flinty-cheap as i ever was, there's something about being old enough to know that you're going to want to have something around for awhile that's just enough to override the miserliness. when the guy on the street is hawking signed prints for $5, my head is already thinking about the old man 3-figure reality of that little impulse buy, because tape and such aren't going to cut it for me anymore. if it's worth buying, it's worth keeping.