a growing trend

is it just me, or are book signings becoming worse and worse...
tonight, me and my girlfriend went to a Randy Couture signing at the
virgin megastore.
the line was embarrassingly short, like less than 30 people anyway,
but we get to the front and there was a person taking the books away
from us to put the right page on, and then telling us that we couldn't
get anything else signed other than the book..
the guy was scheduled for a 2 hour appearance and he didn't even need
to be there for over a half an hour.
me and my girlfriend only had 2 photos each on top of the book. that's
not too much (i know that sometimes it is, but there were less than 30
people there..)
the lady said "the publisher doesn't want him signing anything else,
sorry."
if it wasn't for randy guaranteeing that if i send the stuff to his
gym, i'd have been ****ed...
i'm still of the whole "there was no one there" we were literally last
in line at 30 (and i'm really not sure about that one either, i think
it was less than that).

just like the oscar de la hoya signings where they had a LIST of what
you could and couldn't do..1) no photos of oscar, 2) nothing other
than the book etc...we had to get him in the parking lot after the
signings. and a tito ortiz signing where the ladies were saying no
memorabilia and then tito said it was fine, and they gave tito grief
about signing memorabilia (there was no one in his lines either)..

so what is up with this, with the exception of oscar (who had huge
lines) these people should be happy to sign other stuff...do these
people really need to bow down to the publisher and not sign anything
else? i already ante'd up the money for the books (and in most cases
more than one, i have no problem with the whole "i buy your book, you
sign my stuff," rule.) but now they are taking away that one WITH NO
ONE IN YOUR LINE!!!
i say stop it, if your line is this small with a book signing, it
won't be longer if you try to do shows for pay. you should sign my
stuff (unless i'm way to greedy, but last time i checked, none of
these people's autougraphs are selling on ebay either)...
i don't want your stupid book...in a 2 hour wait, i saw 3 people START
and FINISH the oscar de la hoya book...these books are remedial
reading at best...don't insult my intelligence by expecting me to only
get an unreadable book signed...let me get my stuff signed, it's not
too much to ask...your autograph is not valuable in any way...and i'd
much rather have the signed photo than a book that i would never drop
my smarts level to read.
and publishers should be aware of that...i bought the book
already..you got your money...grow the heck up!!!
mike
p.s. does anyone know where couture's gym is?