England? (Or at least Phil Collins) Obsession with the Alamo

Old Texas Town, Berlin, Germany, 2007. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

The Alamo fires imagination and inspires passions, in the Texas, the USA, and around the world.

The latest to succumb apparently is the British pop/rock singer Phil Collins, who seems to have taken his obsession to remarkable heights.

According an article in a San Antonio newspaper/web site, it's what he lives for.

"Singer Phil Collins said his life now revolves around the Alamo," writes Scott Huddleston in the Express-News.

Collins is in town, set to appear at local events commemorating the anniversary of the siege and battle of the Alamo. Though he's mulling the idea of recording a tribute cover album of 1960s songs, he said he's making the Alamo “my main thing” as a collector, history buff and possible author.

“Basically, now I've stopped being Phil Collins the singer. This has become what I do,” he said Monday, standing beside a 13-foot-by-15-foot model of the 1836 Alamo compound that will open to the public this week.

Collins, who is British, said he has “hundreds” of cannonballs, documents and other artifacts from the Alamo, possibly the largest private collection anywhere, in the basement of his home in Switzerland. He said he's collaborating with artist Gary Zaboly on a book about his collection.

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What would Davy Crockett say?

Ah well, it reminds me of my visits to Old Texas Town, the elaborate little wild west town that is the headquarters of a cowboy club in Berlin, Germany.

Exaltation of Texas is central to everything, and the site includes many tributes to the Alamo and its dead, including a specially built memorial.

Alamo monument, Old Texas Town, 2007. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber