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“You are an obsession, you’re my obsession, who do you want me to be to make you sleep with me?”
MICHAEL DES BARRES WROTE “OBSESSION” ABOUT DRUGS
The song “Obsession” was written by Michael Des Barres about his addiction to heroin and recorded it with Holly Knight in 1983.
My friend Rossiter Meets was able to secure Michael’s autograph for me at The Hollywood Show in Burbank on May 29th, 2026. I had some very specific quotes for Michael to sign as you can see from the attached autographed photos. “Michael joked as he was signing the photo that it was increasingly inappropriate the lower he signed” Ya think?
P.S. The “Some Like It Hot” I had him write is because he sang the lead on that hit song by The Power Station. THOSE EYES in that photo!
CHRISTOPHER ATKINS LAP DANCES TO “OBSESSION”
Michael Des Barres and Holly Knight co-wrote and recorded the song with Holly Knight and it was initially released in 1983 on the soundtrack for “A Night in Heaven”. The movie bombed at the box office and the album flopped, missing all charts entirely. Michael & Holly’s version:
When the song “Obsession” is playing in the movie, it is the background music for Christopher Atkins doing a lap dance for Lesley Ann Warren - with the choreography done by Deney Terrio. And guess who met all of them?
Here’s the strip scene and Christopher and Lesley getting passionate … “Obession” starts around the 4:20 mark
CHRISTOPHER ATKINS TTM AUTOGRAPHS
I sent Christopher Atkins the cover of People magazine, one of the pages from inside the mag and index card on September 14, 1980, and he returned everything signed to me on October 1st, 1980. Lightning!
CHRISTOPHER ATKINS IN-PERSON
I met Christopher Atkins at a convention at the LAX Westin in 2014. He was such a friendly and happy guy. He was aging naturally, in good spirits and it was fun interacting with him. With his impish grin, he asked if I wanted to see the “special folder”. It contained nude shots, including frontal, but I went with a butt shot shown here, that I had brought with me. He chatted a little bit about that particular photo shoot for Playgirl, and we talked about “Blue Lagoon”. I had him sign the original brochure/press kit that I had, which promoted staying where “Blue Lagoon” was filmed. He had never seen it before (the inside details about the resort stay) and he signed it beautifully. Christopher Atkins and his crinkly smile are still boyish and sweet. $60 for three pix BTW. Those were the days.
LESLEY ANN WARREN IN-PERSON
Valentine’s Day, 2011 – Lesley Ann Warren appeared in-person at The Castro Theater in San Francisco. I have zero ZERO recollection of meeting her in-person, but I know for sure it was this picture from “Victor, Victoria” that I had her sign. I don’t know whether to blame my memory loss on age, “Vodka, Victoria” or perhaps I had somebody use my ticket and get me an autograph – who knows? The first half of 2011 is a contender for the worst 6-month hellish abyss of my life, and the 2nd half of 2011 was hands-down the most life-changing and freeing 6 months of my existence. Got divorced, retired comfortably, and started my path into a world of fitness. But “Vodka, Victoria” is not off the table as a companion option if I decide to watch “A Night in Heaven”.
Here’s a great 3-minute recap of that at The Castro hosted by the fantastic impresario Marc Huestis (His events were wonderful and provided us San Franciscans access to many in-person encounters with visiting celebrities and fantastic pre-shows and on-stage Q&A sessions – thank you Marc!)
DENEY TERRIO IN-PERSON
From Travolta in “Saturday Night Live” to an Atkins lap dance. HA! Since “A Night in Heaven” was a flop and I never saw the movie (but I do have the LP), I didn’t know that there was a lap dance scene or that Deney Terrio had choreographed it; otherwise, I would have asked him about it when I met him in September 2025 at the Burbank Hollywood Show. Deney still looks like Deney. Great New Yawk accent, friendly and talkative. He liked the picture I had him sign because it was better quality than the same one he had on his table and mine has the Night Moves K-Tel promo and PR info at the bottom. (One of the few times that I didn’t have an extra copy to give the celeb!) “We don’t know. How. To Disco” commercial with Deney:
I commended Deney on his beautiful signature and said, "I hate it when people do dash - line" and Denney told me his OWN autograph quest story "I know! I asked a famous quarterback (Dan Marino?) who I was playing with in a golf tournament for his autograph and he asked me for $100! He's a multi-millionaire! But he signed for me anyway without the money and it was just two dashes"
Perhaps I should have told Deney that I wrote to him on March 1st, 1981 and he never responded … boo hoo.
Oh … and I totally forgot to ask Mr. Terrio about his sexual harassment lawsuit against Merv Griffin. Or maybe that would have been TOO inappropriate … even for me to ask. Especially since the case was dismissed. Watch Geraldo Rivera grill Deney intensely about his personal life, details behind the sexual harassment claim, drug use, etc. WHOAH!
ANIMOTION MAKES “OBSESSION” AN INTERNATIONAL HIT
So, the movie and soundtrack from a “A Night in Heaven” bombed. But two incredible phoenixes rose from the ashes. In 1984, a new band called Animotion, was presented with a demo of “Obsession” played over the phone to them by a producer. Legend has it that founding member Bill Wadhams, didn’t like it very much, but relented to record the song. Lo and behold, the song was a massive international hit record and the video was in constant rotation on MTV. You know … this one
Michael and Holly’s version of “Obsession” may not have been the hit, but I’m sure they’re appreciative for the royalties from the Animotion version! “Heaven” by Bryan Adams had also been completely overlooked upon its original release on the soundtrack in 1983 but it bounced back on Bryan’s album “Reckless” almost 2 years later to become a massive number one hit. (No, I don’t have Bryan Adams in my autograph collection.)
ANIMOTION (BILL WADHAMS & ASTRID PLANE) 2025 CONCERT
On May 17th, 2025, I went solo to a concert at The Guild Theater in Menlo Park to see Annabella from Bow Wow Wow and her opening act Animotion. I've met Annabella many times and I'll talk about her later, but mostly I was excited to see the original members of Animotion. There were no VIP or meet and greet options, but I knew the layout of the place and I was fully prepared.
Bill Wadhams and Astrid Plane performed a short set of about eight songs, and of course they closed with "Obsession". Bill was entertaining on stage and kept filling us in with little tidbits and backstories between songs. He is still trim with that great jawline. Astrid was lighter on the storytelling, sometimes cutting off or interjecting Bill's stories. Whereas Bill seemed to be excited and grateful to be there and have us enjoy the show, Astrid seemed to be "doing her job". I don't know how much she enjoys singing their only other charted song "Room to Move" since she had been replaced by Cynthia Rhodes (aka Mrs LINK Richard Marx) in the group when that song reached #9 in 1989. Astrid came off as perfunctory, contractually bound to perform and almost like she would prefer to be elsewhere. But money is needed by everyone. She also mentioned something about her sugar daddy being in the house and I was like ummmm....
Here's a link showing what I mean because this is pretty much the same show I saw
ANIMOTION (BILL WADHAMS & ASTRID PLANE) IN-PERSON
On to the autographs. Bill was easy because as I was watching Anabella perform, I saw a tall trim man with an angular face standing just a few feet away from my seat watching the show and sure enough it was Bill. During Annabella's set, he walked right past me to the upper lobby. I politely went up to him and told them how great it was to see them perform and asked him to sign a couple of photos. I told him that I had a vintage tabloid article about him, and Astrid being rumored as lovers and showed him a picture of it on my phone. He said "Oh! I haven't seen that! Can you send it to my Instagram?" and then he spelled out his name. He was really enthusiastic and pleasant and enjoyed my heartfelt reactions to his stories about his son. And he told me "Come with me, we'll get Astrid to sign these as well". Exactly what I wanted to hear.
So, we go down some stairs as Astrid is walking up and it turns out that a photographer wants to take pictures of them on the stairs, so Bill said, "Wait right here we just have to get this out of the way". When the photographer was done, Astrid went down the stairs and I followed her - told her how much I enjoyed the show and that I would really love to add her signature to the pieces signed by Bill. When she signed the first one, I said, "Can you please add your last name?" She seemed to put off by the request, but she did it and then tried to turn away when I said "Oh I also have a tabloid article from the '80s about you and Bill that I want to show you, as I was holding the blue Sharpie and the second picture for her to sign. "I've seen it" she said without bothering to look at my phone, signed the second picture and was giving me "We're done here" vibes. Yes, indeed we were.
I took a leak, went to the main floor to watch the end of Annabella's show. Since I was holding "I Want Candy" vinyl, people were letting me just push my way right to the front. And when Annabella was done singing, she bent down, talked with me, and beautifully signed the record.
MERV GRIFFIN AUTOGRAPH
Merv Griffin may have sued by a man for palimony and by Deney Terrio for sexual harassment, but Merv was closeted to his grave. There has been much posthumous discussion, writings and videos about Merv’s sexuality – but so what? He just didn’t want to come out if he was gay. He was loaded, he was powerful, and he was a long-standing member of the Hollywood establishment. I always loved watching his show, because Merv’s questions and interest in his guests were always genuine and he was a true fan, knowing all the right background and setup to dig deep, yet politely and with humor.
In his final years, Eva Gabor was his constant companion, beard, cover, friend, lover or whatever you will believe from the various coverage at the time. Merv’s relationship with Eva goes way back and you’ll see here a great clip of Eva and Eddie Albert promoting “Green Acres” on Merv’s show in 1962.
Merv’s shows were great, but his estate holds a tight reign over which clips will be released. I really wish they’d do a boxed set or a full streaming release because his show spanned decades and had legendary guests.
I never wrote to Merv or got his autograph personally, but I do have the 5x7 shown here that I bought in a collection and which I do believe to be authentic.
KRISTY McNICHOL & CHRISTOPHER ATKINS “THE PIRATE MOVIE” AUTOGRAPHS
Looping back to when I met Christopher Atkins. I also had him sign a pic from “The Pirate Movie” which had been signed by Kristy McNichol when I’d met her the year before. Have you seen singing Christopher and Kristy in “The Pirate Movie”?
More to come on meeting Kristy and Jimmy McNichol in 2013; and Kristy again in 2025.
BROOKE SHIELDS & CHRISTOPHER ATKINS “BLUE LAGOON” AUTOGRAPHS
I’ll share more Brooke Shields autographs and stories later. But while we’re on Christopher and “Blue Lagoon” just a quick story on how I later met Brooke Shields on Broadway after “Grease”. She was going down the line with her pen signing everything until she got to me: “No! No Blue Lagoon!!!” and she refused to sign. But I DID get her to sign it the next day. I waited before the matinee and when she arrived with her dog, I knew the dog’s name (Donut) and greeted the dog first. Brooke and I had a nice one-on-chat, she signed for me and apologized for “No! No Blue Lagoon” – saying “People sell them”. I told her my background as a long-time fan and personal autograph collector and she was just lovely. Here’s my long-ago video about that encounter with Brooke.
IN SUMMATION: "I will have you, yes I will have you. I will find a way and I will have you."
These may be the lyrics to "Obsession" but it's also my autograph motto. Looping around to Michael & Holly writing the song about drug addiction, here is a very gay, campy and “just right for drugs” dance version that is from a CD called Gayfest 2003. Need I say more?
DOH! One last thing I just remembered …
BLUE LAGOON 1948 MOVIE
The Brooke and Christopher version of “Blue Lagoon” was the THIRD filmed version. There was a collection I bought which included a letter from 1948 to a fan “Mr. Jimmie Carroll” on his inquiry into Donald Houston. Mr. Houston’s FIRST movie was “The Blue Lagoon” 1948 version co-starring with Jean Simmons. As you can read for yourself, the reply from the Arthur J. Rank Organization wondered WHY this Mr. Carroll selected Donald Houston for whom he wanted to start a fan club, since this was Donald’s first movie? Wellllllll … ummm … you see … in 1948 … a shirtless male blonde with a nice profile, a loincloth poster and hiked up pants may have caused a certain type of “reaction”. I think Mr. Carroll must have been buried with Donald Houston’s photos and autographs; because they certainly didn’t come my way with the THREE letters from Rank about Donald Houston sending him photos and encouraging an American fan club!
JEAN SIMMONS AUTOGRAPHS
Jean Simmons was a wonderful signer of autographs TTM. I’ve got over a dozen autographs of her (PENNIES!), but I’m showing you three of the best photos in my collection. Jean was a versatile actress in a career that spanned 65 years. She was mostly meh to me, but always a reliable and steady presence. It was fun watching her holy roller character get into a barroom brawl over Marlon Brando in “Guys and Dolls”. But I loved her most as the bad girl in “Angel Face”. Right, Mikey?
