An accomplished 70 years

Happy birthday to my favorite rock star! I hope he can feel all the love being expressed in Cyberspace today by those who are so grateful for all he’s accomplished in his 70 years.

Here’s my little message through Cyberspace for him:

Thank you, Rick Springfield, for providing so much inspiration to so many people, in addition to all the great music you’ve put into the world. By sharing so much of yourself, you’ve brought healing to so many people. Simply put, the world would be a VERY different place without all your contributions throughout your seven decades here on Earth and my life would have been very different as well. Both my teenage self and my 50-year-old self wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

In celebration of his birthday, his fans are raising money for the dogs from the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation (to honor his love for dogs) and this year’s campaign has raised over $14,000 so far. (The campaign runs through Sept. 27 and donations can qualify you for different prizes, such as original drawings by RS and a chance to have dinner with him.) Visit happybirthdayrick.com to learn more.

This weekend DJ Rowdy Ron will present his Saturday Night Springfield Special to celebrate the big birthday – an all-night show featuring Rick Springfield songs through the decades, including lots of limited-edition versions. This Saturday night, Aug. 24, beginning at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. EST. Check out the Rowdy Ron Radio group on Facebook
for details and for a live chat during the show.

Since RS isn’t performing in concert tonight, here are some “Happy Birthday” videos from recent shows:

 

Rick Springfield Day

Happy Rick Springfield Day!

What do you mean, you may ask. Isn’t every day Rick Springfield Day?

True, but on Aug. 13, 1982, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley officially proclaimed the day as Rick Springfield Day. Since the former mayor has a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport named after him, you know he had some clout.

So if you need an excuse to play Rick Springfield music all day long, today can be the day.

Here’s a news report on the proclamation, courtesy of rsandus:

On a related note, one of the photos I wrote about finding in a past post, Random photos in an envelope, captured the moment in the photo by Jeffrey Mayer/Rainbow Photography that is on the top of this post.

So much can happen in five years!

Five years ago today, I posted the first post on this blog. I had just “rediscovered” Rick Springfield after more than a decade of not following his career and after catching up on some of his music and reading his autobiography, I was so excited about all that I learned. However, nobody around me seemed that interested and I felt like I was becoming annoying with all my RS excitement.

So instead I decided to start a blog to have a place to express all my thoughts about it and maybe someone else might be interested. And even if nobody actually read it, at least I could get everything out of my head, much like I did in my journals when I was younger.

I never thought I’d still be writing the blog five years later, but RS has been amazingly busy over the past few years and provided so much content to write about.

For instance, when I wrote that first post, none of this existed yet:

• “Ricki and the Flash“
• The year of “Human Touch” (2016)
• The country-inspired Rocket Science album
• Videos for “Light this Party Up,” “Down,” “Land of the Blind” and “The Voodoo House“
• The blues-inspired Snake King album
• Orchestrating My Life album
• Symphony performances in Germany as part of the Rock Meets Classic tour
• U.S. performances of RS’s hits with a full symphony orchestra
• Stripped Down shows with Richard Marx (though his Stripped Down shows have existed for a few years)
• A number of live-streamed concerts
• The iHeart80s concert
• My sons singing with Rick Springfield
• Periscope videos
• Instagram stories (his drummer Jorge Palacios often posts soundcheck and concert footage from his vantage point behind the drums)
• The ’80s cruise featuring RS as “the captain” (aka the cruise host)
• Appearances on “True Detective,” “Supernatural,” “American Horror Story: Cult,” “Sideswiped,” ” The Goldbergs.”
• Lots and lots of interviews for all the above
• Hundreds of concerts that generated hundreds of photographs and videos
• Knowledge of Rick Springfield’s extensive “Star Wars” collection (recent reports indicate that he’s sold most of it.)
• The knowledge that RS was still struggling with serious bouts of depression and all the people RS has helped by speaking about his struggles.

I’m sure I’m missing several other things as well, but you get the idea.

According to the blog stats, up until today, there have been 394 posts and 45,211 views by nearly 26,992 visitors.

So to everyone who has read the RS Crush blog, thank you! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it!