I have been BEYOND blessed with serendipitous occasions and exceptions to the rule when it comes to autograph collecting.  Going to a garage sale and finding out that it’s disco-singer’s Sylvester’s house, being the ONLY person to be granted an autograph from a celebrity when there are others standing nearby, running to the “other” exit and being the only person to catch Frankie Valli while others are at the stage door … the stories go on and on.  My story about Anita O’Day falls into the serendipitous category, for sure! 

While looking for a good documentary recently, I came across “Anita O’Day – Life of a Jazz Singer” and I was utterly fascinated by this ultra-talented, forthright, and no-nonsense amazing singer.  I especially loved the clip where an aggressive Bryant Gumbel ticked off her bad life choices and painful happenstances and she quickly snapped back “Well that’s how it went down, Bryant!” – subject closed.  Her impeccable appearance and flawless performance of “Sweet Georgia Brown” at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival is a YouTube moment that you MUST see.  And keep in mind that she subsequently admitted to having had heroin that day.  Just amaze-balls. 

After the documentary I searched my wall with the meticulously alphabetized tens of thousands of LP’s and was shocked there was no “O’Day” between Sinead O’Connor and Odyssey.  WTF?  I need to buy some of her stuff, stat! So, I searched ebay and saw that Anita O’Day LP’s were not exactly bargain basement; apparently a lot of people like her.  But I was able to get a couple of her CD’s for $10. 

So yesterday, I went to my favorite Thrift Store thinking maybe I’ll find an Anita O’Day album.  Now this is crazy: at EXACTLY the moment that I got to the vinyl section, the worker was putting out 2 huge handfuls of Boswell Sisters and ANITA O’DAY albums.  I told him “Wow, I came here looking specifically for Anita O’Day”.  He proceeded to tell me that they recently had a huge donation of vocals and that there was a lot more Anita O’Day and he would bring them out for me.   

One hour later, I had almost 30 Anita O’Day albums from the 50’s-80’s, some of them imports from Japan, all for $2 each and SIX OF THEM were autographed!!!  It was such a find of exactly what I wanted and more that I’m sure there is a God running this universe. 

P.S.  During the same trip also got the ultra-rare Christine Jorgensen album, which is also timely, since she was the first publicly known trans person and I just saw Elliot Page in person a few nights before going to the thrift store.  Was all this coincidence or a universal wink?  See my Trans Stars page if you like ...

https://www.bobbyatgloss.com/celebrity-list/trans-stars?ref=Trans+Stars