Martin Nolan from Hodson Bay pictured on the Ireland AM TV show some years ago with presenter Alan Hughes.

Martin and music icons in Beverly Hills

A local man who is front and centre at 'The Auction House to The Stars' in Beverly Hills expects a guitar once played by Phil Lynott and owned and played by Glenn Hughes from Black Sabbath to fetch between $30,000 to $50,000 at their 'Music Icons' auction event this week.

Martin J Nolan from Hodson Bay, who is Executive Director of Julien's Auctions, is looking forward to their three-day auction starting from June 10 which will see items like a drum kit played by Alex Van Halen, handwritten lyrics by Bob Dylan, and a self-portrait caricature by Kurt Cobain go under the hammer among 1,000 eye-catching lots.

“All of the great rock stars are included giving me flashbacks to my youth with items from Wham and Live Aid and Elton John and Blondie and Prince and Michael Jackson and Madonna and Whitney Houston and many, many, more.

“I’m especially happy to be selling so many great iconic items from Irish stars such as Thin Lizzy Phil Lynott’s Bass Guitar and Rory Gallagher owned Custom Fender Telecaster (bringing back memories of seeing him perform live at a festival in Ballisadore, Co Sligo early 1980s). We also have great items from U2 and about nine lots of handwritten lyrics and chord annotations from Noel Gallagher, Oasis,” explained Martin, who has been involved in the company since 2005.

“One of my personal favorites is the Kurt Cobain signed self-portrait drawing with handwritten Inscriptions he signed in Singapore in 1992. Kurt Cobain is highly collectible keeping in mind during this event last year, in the middle of the pandemic, we sold Kurt Cobain’s guitar from his MTV Unplugged performance in 1993 for a world record US $6,010,000.

While Covid-19 has proved a major challenge for some businesses, for Martin it has been the opposite as their “business soared” partly due to lack of live sporting or music events, and the success of their online memorabilia auctions which made people feel nostalgic for happier times.

Prior to Covid-19, Martin was home almost monthly because of work that took him to London, and his involvement with the Museum Of Style Icons in Newbridge Silverware. Now, he's just looking forward to the day he can return home again.

“I love going home and spending time with my Mum and family and doing normal stuff away from the glamour of Beverly Hills. I love going for a walk to the Hodson Bay or seeing my nieces and nephews play football or taking a trip into town,” Martin replied when asked what he misses most about Athlone. And of course, new potatoes and Wexford strawberries which he added are the “nicest in the world”.

In the meantime his message for friends and family is one of great hope: “Congratulations, you survived a once in a lifetime pandemic so get ready to bring back the roaring 20s. We have so many great things to look forward to and I can't wait to get together and start celebrating.

"I'm so excited to go home and hug my Mum and my sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews and my aunties. I can't wait to go to Sean’s Bar and hear live music and shout six rows deep for the best pint of Guinness and then I’ll be 100% sure we survived this pandemic and we are living life again,” ended Martin.