‘4 Billion Heartbeats’

No words, just this:

❤️❤️❤️❤️

More songs on the way?

So happy to read this in an interview tonight:

Springfield, 67, is touring behind his latest album, “Rocket Science,” which dropped last February, and he continues to co-star in the fantasy-horror series “Supernatural” on The CW. And he’s already writing songs for a follow-up album.

(This was a story from newsobserver.com in advance of this weekend’s concert in Durham, North Carolina.)

The soft-spoken bard knows his ’80s hits draw the crowds, but he’s looking forward to showcasing fresh material. “Most people want to hear the hits, but I love to play the new stuff, which is why I keep writing,” he says. “Whether people listen to it is immaterial.” …

Right now, Springfield says he’s focusing on his role in “Supernatural” – he plays Lucifer – and on songwriting. “I’m in a great space right now,” he says. “I’m on a creative high.”

I’m guessing the interview was done weeks ago since his role in “Supernatural” is over (or at least it seemed to be), but it was the “writing songs for a follow-up album” part that caught my attention. Plus if the story had to mention “Jessie’s Girl,” at least the headline said, “More than Jessie’s Girl.”

I thought the part about writing songs even if nobody listens to them was interesting, especially since everything he writes gets listened to repeatedly and then is analyzed and digested by his fans. (Or is that just me? No, I don’t think so.)

There is a joy of creating something from nothing and the whole process of it is magical, whether it is music or art or anything creative. One of my songs on Soundcloud has over 300 “plays” – but that’s because it happens to have the same name as some wrestling theme song, I discovered after a brief investigation (mine is a very un-wrestling song). So although nobody is listening to my songs (although sometimes my kids sing them), it’s OK, because just the process of writing them is enjoyable (when it’s not frustrating because it feels like something’s not working).

I just had an idea! RS has his own studio and he’s writing songs so he can record them whenever he wants to and because he doesn’t care if anybody listens to them though thousands of people do, he can record them and release them on YouTube so we can listen to them! That sounds like a great idea, right?

Miles of hugs

RS is back on the road again, in a Stripped Down tour with Richard Marx, and last night was his first performance after the death of his mom on Dec. 21, exactly a month before.

He sang a beautiful song he wrote about her and you can tell from the videos that fans were kind enough to share that his pain is still so raw. It must have been difficult to perform it so soon, but hopefully he will find solace in his music once again as he says he has in the past. 

As he was singing it, photos of his mother were shown on the screen behind him, including what I’m guessing is a tree that represents the one his father planted in their backyard and was what she was looking at when she died. And the last photo was the last photo he took of her last time he saw her, standing in her yard bidding him farewell in the early morning darkness. So heartbreaking and I’m sure that if all of his fans who want to give him a big hug after seeing the video could do so, the line would be miles long.

Here are his lyrics:

4 Billion Heartbeats

I’m a little kid lost
Alone and confused
My mummy died
My mummy died
I woke in the night to the terrible news
Mummy you died
I’m broken inside
Thought I was made of stronger stuff
Believed I could weather a storm this rough
4 billion heartbeats still weren’t enough
Mummy you died
Mummy you died
I know that you’re free, you’re all light
You walk hand in hand with my father again tonight.

Here’s a video posted by Maryanne TJ on YouTube:

Captain Rick

As America inaugurated its new president yesterday, we also learned that the ’80s cruise will soon have a new musical captain. It was announced yesterday that Rick Springfield will host next year’s The 80s cruise, March 17-24, 2018.

The event will include a number of performers from the 1980s, as well as ’80s-themed parties and stops in the Bahamas and the U.S. Virgin Islands. RS will host the cruise, and even a few of the original MTV VJs will be there.

As someone who was in junior high and high school in the ’80s, this sounds totally rad and it’s definitely on my “If I win the lottery…” list.

The first ’80s Cruise was in 2016 and if RS would have been the musical captain on that ship, this image from his “Human Touch” video would have had a whole new level of prophecy:

But he wasn’t.

However, there was an ’80s tribute band  from New York on the 2016 cruise called Jessie’s Girl, so he was there in spirit.

Update on Jan. 25: Here’s a little more information about RS’s role in the cruise here, courtesy of gibson.com:

Springfield will head-up parties on the cruise, as well as perform three headlining concerts, jam with other musicians during their sets and be part of a Q&A and autograph session. The cruise will also feature ‘80s movies and videos playing in the cabins and a nostalgic video game arcade. Co-hosts on the cruise include MTV VJs Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood and Alan Hunter.

It sounds so fun – I guess I should start playing the lottery now.

Bye, 2016

Because the year ended on such a sad note, I wasn’t going to do a 2016 recap, but since RS ended the year with a live performance (at a private party at a Hard Rock in Florida), and because it really was a productive RS year, I thought I’d go ahead and do one anyway.

So here’s a recap on the year of the “Human Touch“:

Touring: RS continued to have a busy touring schedule for both live shows and Stripped Down acoustic shows and, at the end of the year, introduced a Stripped Down show with Richard Marx, where they each played their own set and then shared a few songs as well.

Live-stream concerts: Streamed a live Yahoo video of a concert in Nashville and there were lots of live streams and videos on his Facebook page and from many fans on Periscope, Facebook and YouTube throughout the year.

New music: Released “Rocket Science,” his 18th studio album, on Feb. 19. Some of the versions had bonus songs. The CD got really great reviews and made it on a few different Billboard charts.

New videos: Released two videos of songs from “Rocket Science.” The first one, “Light This Party Up,” used existing footage and some animation, while “Down” was filmed using a drone at Sunset Cliffs near San Diego.

International exposure: Performed at the iHeart80s concert in Los Angeles along with other ’80s icons: Culture Club, Tears for Fears, Billy Idol and Loverboy. The show was shown/heard live online. One of the songs off of “Rocket Science,” “Light This Party Up,” was used in a TV show promo. Another song, “Down,” becomes a theme song for a home shopping network show. In addition to all the interviews he does to promote “Rocket Science” and concerts, an  in-depth interview he did in Australia is shown. He also performs on a new TV show, “Greatest Hits,” and appears as Lucifer on the TV show “Supernatural.”

Losses: Besides the loss of his mom in December, the RS community lost its guitar tech in 2016, Ruben Velasco. During the summer 2016 tour, the band held a “Rick Springfield Honorary Guitar Tech For A Day” fundraiser, with proceeds of $35,576 “being dispersed to the Fur & Feather Animal Sanctuary in accordance with Ruben’s love for his animals. According to rickspringfield.com: “The funds have been applied to assist the Los Angeles-based animal sanctuary (which resides in a Level-4 fire zone) in the purchase a renovated 27 ft. mobile RV to empower the staff in their care for the animals. The “RV-RV” will be used for the sanctuary’s adoption, emergency evacuation and education programs as well as a spay/neuter program in Ruben’s name. The “RV-RV” will be custom wrapped with the artwork created by Britney Farina and will include images of Ruben’s beloved cats (Goo, Boo & Mew) and will include the messaging “In Celebration Of The Real Cat Guy: Ruben Velasco” on the back of the vehicle.”

My RS year: On a personal note, I got to see him live twice, before one show I saw him in the hotel lobby and after the other show I got to get a selfie with him. I also found my scrapbook and posters from my high school days, which were fun to look through. I also had the opportunity to visit his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As far as this blog, here’s a recap of that, as well. As of Dec. 31, 2016, there were 17,418 views on the blog since its inception in August 2014 and this is the 238th post. In 2016, there were 5,472 visitors and 10,361 views. Hopefully that number will increase even more in 2017 so many more people will learn that there’s so much more to RS than “Jessie’s Girl”/”General Hospital.”

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m never sure how much longer I’ll write this blog, but there does seem to be quite a few things on the schedule for 2017, so you never know. What’s next in 2017?

Not sure when the movie “Traces” is supposed to be released. It was supposed to be 2016, but there hasn’t been any trace of it yet (ha ha, sorry, couldn’t resist) so that could be out in 2017. Then there’s that Rock Meets Classic tour in Germany in the spring (Hey, future interviewers and Stripped Down Q&A askers – that would be a good topic to ask RS about), as well as numerous live and Stripped Down concerts (including some with Richard Marx). And maybe it’s also the year for the sequel for “Magnificent Vibration.” Plus he probably has some other surprises that we have yet to learn about.

Meanwhile, I wanted to wish RS and family, crew and fans a happy, healthy and meaningful New Year.