Sculley’s Odd-yssey

Former Apple Computer Chief Executive John Sculley’s claim last week that he was sandbagged when he joined troubled Spectrum Information Technologies raises questions as to whether Sculley was enough of a skeptic when he joined the fledgling communications company last October.

Sculley last week resigned from Spectrum, contending that he wasn’t fully aware of the company’s questionable financial and regulatory condition.

It might have done Sculley good to have consulted his own 1987 book, “Odyssey,” in which he devotes an entire chapter to what he calls “The Rise of the Skeptical Man.”

In it, Sculley maintains that “it’s the ability to ask questions that deepens our knowledge.”

Sculley adds: “With questions and information at his command, Skeptical Man is free to decide his own direction.”

Wood$tock Nation

The 25th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock music festival is fast approaching, and the capitalists are out in force.

A New Jersey company is selling for $249 a framed display of a Woodstock original ticket, a Woodstock “peace sticker,” a photo from the event and a Woodstock logo.

Then there is a Kansas company that is selling individual framed tickets for $59.

It also offers $189 tickets for Friday through Sunday of the festival. The company says in its ads that it will throw in a letter of authenticity from “the former sales manager from the printing company” that printed the tickets.

Also, an article in the current Autograph Collector magazine notes that among Woodstock musicians and singers, the late Janis Joplin’s memorabilia has emerged as the rarest, commanding top dollar.

The article says Joplin’s signature is worth $900 to $1,000, while signed photos or albums are worth $1,500 and up. A routine Joplin document would fetch a minimum of $2,500, the magazine says.

Unconventional Conventions

Despite earthquake fears, Southern California can still snare its share of conventions, or at least the New Age ones.

Scheduled for three days in April in Anaheim is the 11th annual First Metaphysical Congress. It promises 70 speakers, workshops and lectures.

Then there is April’s Whole Life Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, billed as “The World’s Largest Exposition of Holistic Health, Metaphysical and Personal Growth.”

The schedule includes 1960s drug guru Timothy Leary lecturing on “Creating the 21st Century,” a talk on “Past Life Regression” and another on “Creating With the Angels.”

Briefly . . .

We thought we were in a recovery: A Mexican restaurant in Azusa features a “Recession Special.” . . . A Harley-Davidson silk necktie sells for $32.50. . . . Sportscaster Jim Lampley, in an interview in the Robb Report magazine for the rich and famous, says buying a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe was “the fulfillment of a three-decade ambition.”