Steve's Autographs #2: Paul Westerberg

"None of us had a watch," Paul Westerberg told me upon signing my CD booklet above, "so we had to hire a model." Smoking a cigar, Westerberg confirmed that that's his own hand sticking out of the scruffy sleeve on the right, shaking the model's professional-looking hand on the left. Then Westerberg shook my hand.

This happened on April 22, 2002, at an autograph session following the former Replacement's in-store acoustic set at the Queen Anne Easy Street Records. Promoting his new Stereo album, the performance was supposedly his first in six years -- more details here.

The killer cover art of '87 album is based on that of Elvis' GI Blues. Now, 20 years since its release, Pleased to Meet Me remains my favorite album ever of all-time ever.