A book tour to promote The Alamo And Beyond: A Collector’s Journey has brought retired pop star Phil Collins to Texas, a state he dearly loves after a lifelong obsession with Davey Crockett and the Alamo.
Collins grew up near London but credits a 1950s Walt Disney TV show for inspiring his fascination with Crockett and the Texas Revolution.
Talk about six degrees of separation from Cowtown: Collins adored Crockett after seeing a TV show that featured Fess Parker, who is…a Fort Worth native.
Collins went on to rock fame as lead singer of Genesis, but rather than blow all of his money by trashing hotel rooms and shooting smack, the reserved British rocker amassed an astounding collection of Alamo artifacts that include an authentic Bowie knife, a Crockett rifle, a letter written by William Travis to Sam Houston, and many other sought-after items.
The Collins coffee-table book is gorgeous and drips with devotion to Texas history.
Then there’s that other British rocker, Ozzy Osbourne. He pissed on the Alamo. While drunk. And wearing a dress.
That was 30 years ago.
But some of us still remember.
