Thanks, Ebay

Film and television composer Earle H. Hagen died at the age of 88 on Monday.

I caught the blurb on http://www.cnn.com/ and was fascinated to find that Hagen was the composer (and "whistler") of the beloved theme music for The Andy Griffith show.

Hagen performed with all sorts of swing bands, scored a lot of hit TV shows and was even nominated for an Oscar for his work in a Marilyn Monroe film.

I found the entire story so interesting. I wasn't aware of Hagen, but was intrigued at the idea of a man being so successful, so honored within his own field, and yet virtually unknown to the world at large.

The end of the article referenced Hagen's literary accomplishments - two or three books on film scoring and a memoir.

Hagen's memoir sounded like a great read, so I flew over to http://www.half.com/. The site is owned by Ebay. It's not an auction site, though. Folks post what they're selling...you find the price and the conditions you want and you buy. (Lots of folks use it to get rid of college textbooks, I think.) And what did half.com, this amazing online bargain center, ask for Hagen's book?

$110.

$110.

Can you believe that? I thought there must be some mistake. I mean, sure, a hardcover is great and all, but...

$110?

Since I don't have a hundred bucks laying around for film composer memoirs, I went where we all go in the end. Amazon.

$32.99.

A better deal, but still too high. And then I realized what this means...

When I die, copies of All The Freed are going to sell for $95 each.

Anybody want to go ahead give me their hundred now?