By the end of last week, I felt depleted. I won’t go into details, but I was wiped out. I’m guessing most people around my age can relate – concern about older relatives, worries about children, a busy week of work, inflation and parent-teacher conferences. On Friday evening, I found myself just lying on the couch staring at the ceiling with no will to do anything else.
Then I mindlessly started scrolling through Facebook looking for some inspiration and noticed some random posts about Rick Springfield. Asthma? A pilot? What did I miss?!
After a brief investigation, I realized that I’d missed the Talk Shop Live chat promoting the “Working Class Dog Deluxe Box Set – with Autograph.” Since I already bought the 40th anniversary CD/DVD and the tour book, and because it was such a busy week, the chat wasn’t on my radar.
Luckily the replay was available because watching it totally turned my evening around. Not even one minute in, I was already laughing. And then he mentioned that there are 20 SONGS that he’s been working on for his new album (though he’s not sure if they’ll all make it onto the album.) He didn’t say much about the songs, only that they’re “very different.” Hmmm… I wonder what that could mean? He estimated that it would come out in March or April 2023 and also shared that they are planning the final fan trip! (The previous last fan trip was cancelled due to COVID.)
He also answered lots of fan questions and shared his memories about recording “Working Class Dog,” talked about his jukebox and his Grammy (which he stores inside his jukebox), shared some life philosophy as it relates to owning objects, his earliest childhood memory, Las Vegas, his collections (including the “Star Wars” collection he no longer has), the symphony shows, and the songs that didn’t make it on the WCD album. He also sang “Happy birthday” to someone on the chat because that always seems to happen during a RS Q&A of any sort.
He also paid tribute to Matty Spindel a few times (he mentioned that he wrote one of the songs on the new album about him – and that Matty did most of the engineering on this album before he died). In passing, he mentioned that he’s in a movie called “Gonzo Girl” and a pilot of something. (It was a very brief mention, no details.)
Lest we forget the reason for the live chat, here’s what’s in this box set: Colored Vinyl LP, the CD/DVD of he and his band performing the WCD songs (in order) in his living room , a rarity CD (which includes the demos and songs that didn’t make the album), guitar pics, replicate laminate, a tour book and a signed postcard. Learn more and watch the chat here.
There was lots of great stuff during this chat – including an attempt at playing his song “Motel Eyes.” After watching the live chat, which was about an hour, I felt so much better.
It being Thanksgiving week and all, I just wanted to express my gratitude to RS for raising my spirits and for sharing himself like this with his fans. Not only has he continually put out great music all these years and performs incredible concerts, he provides that connection to the past and reignites a sense of exuberance that doesn’t often appear in day-to-day life.
I’m also grateful that in exploring my fascination with him through this blog, I also reconnected to my love of songwriting and that’s led me in a whole different direction than when I started this blog eight years ago. (In the chat, RS knocks Spotify, which I totally understand because it really sucks for musicians who make a living from their craft, but for someone like me whose songs generally go unheard by others, I was really excited to release two songs on Spotify this year. Since 100,000 songs are uploaded every day to Spotify and other digital service providers, it’s still likely that they will go unheard, but at least they’re out in the world now so someone may hear them.)
As of today, the replay of the chat is still available (as is the “Working Class Dog Deluxe Box Set”) so if you could use a dose of RS in your day today, you may want to check it out.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
My Rick Springfield crush 