Nobody knew 71 years ago today what would become of that baby born in Sydney, Australia, but he sure made an impact on millions of people worldwide!
When you think of how many people he has touched with his songs, his music and acting, his writing, his philanthropic work – and the countless people he inspired and encouraged along the way, his impact is immense (and he still looks great doing all of this).
Happy birthday to Richard Lewis Springthorpe (aka the legendary Rick Springfield)!
My cousin mentioned on Facebook today that NASA has images captured by the Hubble Telescope and if you enter your birth date, you can see an image they captured on that day (not necessarily the year, but the date). Since I saw her post today, I thought I’d share the image NASA posted for Aug. 23. This photo was captured on Aug. 23, 2013:
Galaxy Cluster Abell 2744
Located 3.5 billion light-years away, Abell 2744 (also known as Pandora’s Cluster) contains several hundred galaxies and might be a pile-up of at least four smaller galaxy clusters. Abell 2744’s strong gravitational field acts as a lens, brightening and magnifying the light of nearly 3,000 distant background galaxies.
Just like Abell 2744, RS has a strong gravitational field that brightens and magnifies the light of the distant galaxies (or the cities around the world where his fans live).
Too corny? Oh well, that’s just the way I feel today.
Happy birthday to my favorite rock star, Rick Springfield, who turns 71 tomorrow!
The team behind the fan-led Rick Springfield Birthday Charity Campaign has announced that they decided to bring back the birthday campaign again this year to help the dogs at the Linda Blair Worldheart Foundation, a beneficiary of past birthday campaigns.
This year’s theme is “Light This (Birthday) Party Up!” and features a cute sketch of RS’s dog Bindi wearing a mask and holding a balloon with the number “71” on it. (Who would have imagined this time last year that a dog wearing a mask would not seem strange?!)
The campaign began on Aug. 20 and runs through Sept. 27. For more details, visit the campaign Facebook page (where you can watch a welcome video by the birthday boy himself) or website, happybirthdayrick.com. Since the campaign first started in 2007, it has raised $156,730.52 for charity.
Tonight, Saturday, Aug. 22 at 8 p.m. EST (5 p.m. PST), DJ Rowdy Ron is back with his Rick Springfield Saturday Night Springfield Special, where he plays Rick Springfield music all night in celebration of RS’s birthday – without repeating any songs. It’s truly incredible how much music RS has released through the years and tonight is a way to celebrate that. Find out more at Rowdy Ron’s website, rowdyron.net/. Rowdy Ron does a great job putting these specials together and it’s greatly appreciated. If you are not very familiar with RS’s music since “Jessie’s Girl” and other ’80s songs, it’s a great way to catch up.
In countless interviews, Rick Springfield has been asked about the fate of “Jessie’s Girl.” Now we know.
Well, maybe not “know” exactly, but we have a fun scenario to consider.
Claudio Sanchez of the progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria recently approached RS about writing a sequel to “Jessie’s Girl” (see their Instagram chat here) and the new song, “Jessie’s Girl 2,” and video was released today.
In the video, RS is a bartender at Springfield’s Bar (with product placement of the Beach Bar Rum he owns with Sammy Hagar) and we learn that “Jessie’s Girl” is a bit of a psychopath as we watch her steal keys and light a pool table on fire. (Not a recommended way to light a party up.)
Apparently it’s a good thing that RS didn’t end up with her, because the fictional bartender version of RS who spills the rum instead of profiting from it, is stuck with his previous obsession and living a life of regret, as explained in the bridge.
“Jessie played sincere, He sure seemed cool What I hadn’t known was I was his fool We’re married now: house, job, three kids Dreaming of what life could have been Stranded on the if’s and maybe’s Had I left that monster in the 80’s”
Speaking of the ’80s, there’s also a reference to Tommy Tutone’s 1981 hit “867-5309/Jenny.” (Sidenote: For those who aren’t aware, RS toured with Tommy Tutone recently so RS fans actually got to hear Tommy Tutone sing the song at RS concerts.) Is the added animation a reference to the ’80s video of the song “Take on Me” by A-Ha?
Other random thoughts after watching (and re-watching) the video and the original video.
The original video starts with “Jessie”spray painting “Jessie’s Girl” on a brick wall, this video has JG writing Jessie’s Girl on a mirror with lipstick and there’s a brick wall behind bartender RS.
The clock at the beginning shows the time as 11:10 but in the next scene the time is 11:30 then in the next scene it’s 11:05. Does that signify that we are going back in time?
RS stares into the mirror in both videos.
Wasn’t there another sequel to “Jessie’s Girl”? (Patty’s working, but she’s watching the clock, she’s in the back room counting stock, and down in a warehouse out by the dock, Jessie’s lifting crates and breaking rock,” from “Tonight”on ‘Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet.” (In the 1981 video, “Patty is Jessie’s Girl” is what is painted on the wall. )
Can you believe the original video was filmed in 1981, 39 years ago, and that Rick Springfield is going to turn 71 this weekend? From looking at him, you’d never guess that so much time has passed.
Unfortunately I don’t have any other irrelevant thoughts to share because as I was writing this, the video was blocked – when you try watching it on YouTube, there’s a message that says “This video contains content from WMG (Warner Music Group), who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.”
In case that gets worked out, you can enjoy the video here:
If not, you can at least learn more about the song and merch on the Coheed and Cambria Facebook page or listen to the song here:
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.
This past year has been different than any others since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, halting life as we know it. Touring stopped and all the new concert footage RS fans have been lucky to enjoy on a regular basis over the past few years ceased. His big tour with Chicago that was supposed to happen this summer was cancelled, as well as his tour with Zoot in Australia (which has now been rescheduled to 2021). The fan trip was postponed indefinitely.
Also, RS has held regular happy hours (half-hours) with fans on Zoom, where we’ve learned that he’s almost finished with “World on Fire,” the sequel of “Magnificent Vibration,” and it’s scheduled to come out on Audible in October. He also formed a band, The Locusts, with his former bassist Matt Bissonette and drummer Gregg Bissonette and they recorded an album and will soon be releasing songs. If you watch the happy hour videos (available on his Facebook page), you can learn more RS trivia such as his favorite places in the world (Tahiti and Italy) and that he is scheduled to be a judge on an upcoming mystery singing game show, “I Can See Your Voice.”
He’ll also perform a live invite-only Labor Day weekend performance for those who post a picture of their own paradise that features Beach Bar Rum, a line of spirits with Sammy Hagar. (Haven’t found anywhere local that carries the rum, though it can also be ordered online.)
Returning to the past year, here are some other highlights:
Fans raised $34,170 for the 2019 birthday campaign in honor of RS’s 70th birthday. The funds went to Linda Blair’s Worldheart Foundation, which helps rescue dogs.
RS performed to raise funds for the wildfires in Australia and also sold some guitars and T-shirts to raise funds to help the animals hurt in the fires through Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors.
RS announced his venture with Sammy Hagar for Beach Bar Rum.
The premiere of the documentary “Orchestrating My Life,” about the making of RS’s CD featuring students from the Santa Monica High School Orchestra. (Still no word on when that will be available to view elsewhere.)
After quarantines and lockdowns began once the pandemic struck (his last live in-person concert was March 7, at a Rock the Casa benefit concert), RS started doing fun videos about how to play Jessie’s Girl “Human Touch” and “Love Somebody” parodies (“No Human Touch” and “Glove Somebody) then next came the songwriting series I mentioned above.
After writing that last item, I just realized that the last concert he did this year was on what would have been my mom’s 75th birthday. On her 70th birthday, I met RS briefly after a concert. (RS is now 70.) I know that’s all totally irrelevant to anyone else reading this, but that’s kinda weird, right? That was the day I slipped him a note with this blog address on it in hopes he would look at it. What if instead I wrote “Five years from tonight will be your last concert in 2020 because a few days later, the country will shut down due to a worldwide pandemic.” He probably wouldn’t have believed it. (He probably would have also been surprised to hear that his sequel to “Magnificent Vibration” – which is about a plague – wouldn’t be coming out for five more years and that it would be released during a worldwide pandemic.)
Speaking of birthdays, RS fans would by now have had lots of opportunities to sing him happy birthday in concerts since the celebrations typically begin in June. Since we can’t do that in person this year, here’s a clip from last year.
Hope he’s feeling that birthday love headed his way, as many of his longtime fans have had his birth date etched on their minds for a few decades.
If you got to the bottom of this post, thanks for reading.
My Rick Springfield crush 