Bubble wrap

Maybe this is what Rick Springfield should wear at future concerts:

Because this:

A little update… pic.twitter.com/5VOOjanTKx

— Rick Springfield (@rickspringfield) August 29, 2017

And this was about two weeks before, pre-surgery- in front of about 21,000 people on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, with his cracked rib, torn tendon and twisted ankle.

 

I think his wife deserves some kind of award – his fans get the rock star on the road, with the thrill of seeing him perform and (sometimes) meeting him and then he goes home so often ill or injured. Hopefully he’s a good patient.

Wishing him a speedy recovery!

 

Saturday Night Springfield Special 2017

Hours and hours of Rick Springfield music – with no song repeated. How great is that?

Thanks, Rowdy Ron, for another Saturday Night Springfield Special!

The first one I listened to was in December 2014, which was SEVEN hours of RS music, and there were many songs I hadn’t heard before because I was a little behind in my RS musical catalog.

This year, I was familiar with most of the songs, although there were still a handful that were new to me. Fun stuff, Rowdy Ron!

What was different about this year was that my family was more involved, at least in the earlier hours (it started at 6 p.m. in Arizona). We had promised one of our kids a visit to our family’s favorite Indian food restaurant tonight, which meant about a 20-minute drive so we were listening to the show on Bluetooth in the car. They were amazingly familiar with many of the songs this time around. My 9-year-old recognized “Mr. P.C.” and a few others and when “Light this Party Up” came on, he noted that right as RS sang “you better buckle up” we passed a sign over the freeway that said “Buckle up.”

The kids got a little star excitement of their own in the restaurant – during our meal, they kept looking at a table behind us, saying that two of the people look like two YouTubers on a web show they enjoy. At the end of the meal, the kids were getting restless so I went outside with them and we looked up the YouTubers’ pictures online. I didn’t recognize them at all, but the kids kept saying that they thought it was them. I told them it was OK to go up to them and say excuse me and ask them, but they were all too shy to do it. I kind of assumed they wouldn’t be the YouTubers – after all what was the chance of that? – so I went with them and said “Excuse me, my kids were wondering if you are on YouTube?” (which is probably not even the correct terminology) and sure enough, they were.

They were both so sweet to the kids (who were absolutely THRILLED to meet them and talked about it all night and I’m sure tomorrow and a long time to come). So thank you, Gabriella and Tylor Skory! (It occurred to me afterward that maybe we shouldn’t have interrupted their meal, but it was such a casual atmosphere and the kids were so excited to think that it might be them that I overlooked that fact. Both were so gracious and acted so happy to talk to the kids so I guess it was OK.)

OK, I digress, but I guess it’s relevant in a way because RS is always so kind and gracious to his fans so it fits that this would happen on a Springfield Special evening. It’s in the air.

Other highlights – the grand prize tonight for those who donate to the birthday campaign is the Rick Springfield-Jeff Silverman “From the Vault” CD, which I’ve never heard and is very rare so whoever gets that is super lucky. And it was also cool to hear from Jeff Silverman, who spoke about “The Snake King.” Well, he didn’t divulge too much about it, but just raised the anticipation even more. And as of right now, the birthday campaign is reported at $12,341, with more coming in tonight during the show. Funds are going to the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation to help rescued dogs. This year the campaign is in memory of RS’s mother Eileen Springthorpe, which is such a nice tribute.

Anyway, the show is almost five hours so far and Rowdy Ron just announced that it will go for six hours and eight minutes in honor or RS turning 68. Oh yay, “Souls,” one of my favorites, just started. I wanted to request it but wasn’t sure if it was played when we were at the restaurant . Whoo-hoo. OK, off to listen to the rest of the show.

Happy birthday to my favorite rock star

A great RS pic – one of many by Jay Gilbert

Happy birthday to my favorite rock star!

I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for being you and for sharing so much of yourself with your fans. Although there was a long gap in my active RS fan years, you played a huge role in my formative years – aka teen years, when your presence was a daily part of my life through your music and the posters of your face plastered all over my bedroom walls.

You’ve also played a major role in the past three years, after I “rediscovered” you after coming across an interview about “Magnificent Vibration” in 2014. Not only was it fun to return back to that time of my life through listening to your music and watching the videos, but it reawakened the songwriting part of myself that had been dormant for about a decade. In the grand scheme of things, the fact that I’m writing songs again will likely have no great impact on the world, but to me and my family, it’s huge. When I hear one of my kids sitting in the next room singing one of the songs I wrote, I think of you because I know how powerful music can be and I feel like you’ve helped me add this line of communication to my family’s life. Perhaps music would have still been a big part of their life even I had never come across that interview, because my husband and I already had a deep appreciation for music, but making our own has definitely added a whole new dimension to our lives.

By sharing your story in your autobiography and in interviews, you’ve also made an impact in other ways. The reminder that life is full of ups and downs and unexpected turns is such an important lesson. And of course the “never give up, never give up, never give up” examples you’ve demonstrated in your own life is useful in so many ways. Plus you just seem like a really good-hearted guy.

I know my story is just one of many. You’ve impacted so many people in your 68 years and by sharing your struggles and challenges along the way, you’ve helped so many people in their own life. So today we celebrate your 68 years of existence on this planet so far and wish you a very happy birthday!

Rick Springfield birthday season

August is a big birthday month for our family – first mine, then my dad’s then two of my kids and then a nephew’s. But although we have our share of celebrations this month, none comes close to Rick Springfield’s.

Throughout the month of August (and sometimes earlier and after), thousands of people sing “Happy Birthday” to him at his shows. Since 2007, his fans also raise thousands of dollars for charity in honor of his birthday each year. As of 2016, these efforts have raised more than $90,000 for multiple charities. This year’s campaign, which is initiated and run by fans, is in memory of his mother, Eileen Springthorpe, who died on Dec. 21, 2016. As of today, more than $6,000 has been raised. The “Celebrate Life Birthday Campaign” continues through Sept. 15 and this year the proceeds will go to the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation, which helps rescued dogs.

The campaign’s nice-looking website, happybirthdayrick.com has all the details about how to donate, as well as how to purchase T-shirts designed specially for his birthday campaign. Donations of at least $5 include an entry to the prize drawings. This year’s grand prize is a guitar and a Meet & Greet.  Those who donate $68 or more (he’s turning 68 this year) will receive a 4×6 photo of RS and a custom guitar pick, while supplies last. All donors will also receive a Celebrate Life magnet, while supplies last.

Happy birthday month, RS! (And many moooooore…) ❤️🎂🎈🎉🎸🎶

Apparently there will also be another Saturday Night Springfield Special this year – a whole evening of Rick Springfield music presented by DJ Rowdy Ron and The Rick Springfield Birthday Charity Campaign. If you haven’t been following RS all these years, be sure to tune in because you have lots to catch up on – the show features decades of RS music, hours and hours of songs (yes he has enough songs through the years to cover hours and hours of music with no repeats). Read more about this show here and here.

The show is Aug. 26: 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST

Listen at rowdyradio.listen2myshow.com/ and join Carry On Wayward Chat for live radio group chat. Thank you, Rowdy Ron, for doing this again!

Lastly, here are some of concert birthday songs from previous years. (His actual birthday is Aug. 23.)

Last year:

2015:

2014:

2013:

2012:

2010:

2008:

Rick Springfield with the Nashville symphony

This past summer, Rick Springfield toured Europe with the Rock Meets Classic tour – an annual European tour featuring classic rock artists backed up by a symphony orchestra – and I guess he enjoyed it because now tickets are on sale for a June 29, 2018 show with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes totally unrelated parts of your life have mysterious connections that you can’t really explain and it just seems so funny although if you actually tell somebody about it, you feel a little silly? Well, this blog seems like a good place to share this, so here’s an example:

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been binge-watching the television show “Nashville” (I just started Season 4) so the news of RS playing in Nashville fits right into that particular track of my life. AND in the episode that I just started watching, rock star Markus Keen just arrived in Nashville after being signed to Rayna James’ label.

That’s it. Nothing too monumental and I’m not expecting Luke Wheeler to be a special guest at next year’s show or anything, but I just thought that was kind of funny.

(And I think it’s cool that RS is doing this. Rock, country, blues, symphony orchestra, fiction, nonfiction, movies, Broadway, TV shows, the list of his accomplishments keeps getting longer…)

Update on Aug. 12, the day after I wrote this post: Guess who was on the episode of “Nashville” I watched tonight?

Jack White, Rick Springfield’s drummer in the 1980s! Ha, life is so funny sometimes.

It looks like there might be some live videos for tonight’s show in Vegas so I’m off to see.  Thanks, Rick and the NEWSflash!

Get Rick Fit prizes

When I returned home from Los Angeles, I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me!

The #getrickfit Facebook group had a team competition, matching up teams of two to compete against each other to see who could get the most steps in two weeks. I was lucky to get Jenni on my team and she is a super stepper and I didn’t want to let her down so I walked way more than I would have if it wasn’t for this competition. Usually in triple-digit temperatures, you try to find nearby parking spots, but I went for spots on the other end of the parking lot so I could get more steps in. And on some nights I’d run up and down the stairs before bed just to get some more steps in before midnight. Fortunately, part of this competition occurred during vacation and museum visits can can help with this, too, especially if you take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Anyway, I came home to this wonderful package sent by Tracey Stein, who started the Get Rick Fit group. (Check out the #getrickfit Facebook page here.)

Here’s what was inside:

A Get Rick Fit T-shirt, sticker and postcards

A certificate of achievement

A great RS photo

An award signed by RS (Tracey said that she brought a pack of awards to a meet & greet to let him know about the competition and ask him to sign a few. He offered to sign them all. Awww…)

And, the coolest part of all: A signed “Speak to the Sky” 45 record from Tracey’s personal RS collection. Thank you, Tracey!!

 

And thanks, RS, for inspiring so many people in so many ways!

California dreamin’

I’ve spent the last few days in Los Angeles about an hour or so away from RS. But despite what some of my post-concert blog posts may have indicated, I am not a stalker at heart and I haven’t spent any time in Malibu or Beverly Hills on the lookout for him (those tend to be the places he shows up in photos on social media when he’s not touring). But I’ll probably be keeping an eye out for him at LAX, just in case.

My kids and I are visiting relatives and as it has often happened in the nearly three years that I started this blog, RS seems to make an appearance in my mind during the ins and outs of daily life. For instance, when we were on the beach in Santa Monica, my mother-in-law pointed out the mountain in the distance to my kids and told them that behind that mountain is a place called Malibu. Of course I blurted out, “That’s where Rick Springfield lives,” then she gave me that look she gives me when I mention him. Another time she was telling the kids about low tide and high tide and  I wanted to say that RS was in a show called “High Tide,” but I kept my mouth shut that time.

I have a memory of visiting my cousins in Culver City back in the 1980s, when I tried to talk one of my cousins into driving me to Glendale because I had heard that’s where RS lived. She refused, telling me it was too far. I got really annoyed with her and threatened to walk there. (I had no idea where it was. It would have been a long walk.)

RS mentioned (in  a recent concert video posted on FB) that he’s finishing up the recording of his next CD, “The Snake King,” with plans to have it out later this year. Since he’s had a lull in his touring this week (which is why I’m assuming that he’s home nearly an hour away), that likely means that I’m about an hour (or so, it depends on traffic) away from where he’s recording the new CD. I thought that was pretty exciting. And – with my overactive imagination – I half-expected him to announce an impromptu appearance at a local blues bar where he’d be playing his new stuff. I’ve been on the lookout for it, but haven’t seen anything about it. But it would be cool though, right? Do you think if he just showed up at a blues bar jam night that he could play and be unrecognizable because nobody would be expecting him to be there playing the blues? If he  stayed away from singing “Jessie’s Girl,” maybe that would work.

OK, it’s after midnight so these are just late-night ramblings. Maybe I’ve had too much of the California sun – we had a beach day today. BUT – one other cool RS thing that happened this week – FINALLY news that he’s coming to Phoenix this year – and I got tickets!