THROWING IT ALL AWAY? Noted enthusiast Phil Collins has decided
to donate his multi-million dollar collection of Alamo-related memorabilia to the State of Texas:
That includes hundreds of documents, ranging from a letter Stephen F. Austin wrote from a Mexican prison in January, 1834 and Sam Houston’s original 1835 land grant for property in East Texas, to the signed receipt for thirty beeves that Travis brought into the Alamo on the day the siege began, plus artifacts like uniforms and Brown Bess muskets that belonged to Mexican soldiers, a sword belt believed to have been worn by Travis when he died atop the northern wall, and a shot pouch that Crocket is thought to have given a Mexican soldier just before he was executed.
Do you want to take a look at it now, or do you not care anymore?
Does Phil Collins win the, "I'm known for one thing but I have this one other thing that I'm really into" prize? Or would that be Hedy Lamarr and her inventing career?
ReplyDeleteLinguist Noam Chomsky's side interest in public affairs?
ReplyDeleteAt this point, isn't it pretty much the other way around?
ReplyDeleteDoes he live any part of the time in Texas? At least he'll get the tax benefit, right?
ReplyDelete1. Texas has no income tax. 2. Phil has Swiss citizenship for tax purposes. This is a pure gift. As long as the topic is gift deductibility, FFS, just sell your old clunker car, even if it is for scrap or wholesale at a used car dealer. It's just not worth the trouble to justify the deduction, especially for 15% or 28% taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteSteve Martin's banjo playing.
ReplyDeleteAnd art collecting.
ReplyDeleteI actually edited that out from mine because I figured that it was too general of a rich guy's hobby.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was working on a show about the Alamo, we tried VERY HARD to get through to old Phil to see if he'd participate, or at least let us use some of his collection. He didn't even have the courtesy to say no. BOO. One of the guys we did interview had Phil's scale replica, which was pretty damn thorough and impressive.
ReplyDeleteBill Gates and his bridge playing obsession?
ReplyDeleteHell, there's Omar Sharif and his bridge column.
ReplyDeleteWill Shortz and table tennis?
ReplyDeleteTracy Ullman and knitting?
Jenny McCarthy and ignoring science?
Wayman Tisdale and smooth jazz?
ReplyDeleteTied with Bernie Williams, guitar?
ReplyDeleteGood one. Bernie WIlliams is an interesting case because he doesn't have the generic grunge band but does like flamenco jazz. If you go that road, John McEnroe, Henrik Lundqvist, Alexi Lalas, Keanu Reeves, Jared Leto, Russell Crowe, Bruce Willis . . .
ReplyDeleteTen years ago, I'd have gone with Curt Schilling and his affinity for table top war games, particularly Advance Squad Leader, but everyone in the state of Rhode Island learned about his affinity for games -- and his inability to count -- the hard way.
ReplyDeleteWe sold two cars recently to a Pick-a-Part places. We got far more money in our pocket than we would have with a tax deduction. And as a bonus, the yard put up pictures every week or so of every car in the yard, so you could watch your car get slowly digested and melt away like a time-lapse of a dead baboon in Richard Attenbourough film.
ReplyDeleteI do want to say that this sort of thing -- reassembling great collections -- is one of those things I admire in folks with a lot of money. I don't begrudge folks who build themselves a yacht or whatever -- shipwright's gotta eat, too -- but taking the time to build and curate such a thing is really a great service. Apparently Geddy Lee has a huge collection of Negro League baseball memorabilia.
ReplyDeleteNothing in this world is worse than a slow no.
ReplyDelete