Dreamt a little dream

Apparently my subconscious mind is now saturated by all the Rick Springfield interviews I’ve been watching/reading lately, as he was in my dream last night. In it we just met and were walking to a studio to record a song (a dream within a dream!). I was very excited, a little nervous and he was very nice.

Then the next part I remember, I was in an airport terminal and was worried because I didn’t remember bringing my luggage from the hotel to the airport. But somebody assured me that I had taken care of it. There were rows of record albums lined up between the rows of chairs of travelers waiting for their flight – like in a record store –  so I found the “S” section and was looking for the new RS album so I could ask him to sign it. But I only found a few copies of “Working Class Dog” but it wasn’t the actual WCD cover, instead there was a different dog on the cover – there was a brown background and the close-up of a distinguished-looking dog’s face. I think it may have been Gomer. I wanted to ask someone working there if they had the new album yet but it wasn’t clear who was working there. I do remember seeing one of the first albums I had though, Shaun Cassidy’s solo album, the one that had the song “Da Doo Ron Ron.”

More diary entries from 1982

Here are more diary entries from 1982:

Aug. 21: “Rick Springfield’s last name is really Richard Lewis Springthorpe. … Rick Springfield was on ‘Entertainment Tonite.’ He’s not gonna act on ‘General Hospital’ anymore after his contract goes out.”

Aug. 22: “Rick Springfield was on MTV ‘Music Television.’ He used to and basically still is a shy person. Like me!”

Aug. 23: “Happy birthday, Rick Springfield! 33 years old. We’d be perfect for each other! Only 20 years older!!”

Aug. 24: “Day after Rick Springfield’s birthday. I missed ‘General Hospital’ but I got some shoes for bat [mitzvah]. I was mad tho, if it was she who liked GH so much, she would’ve hurried home. Got 9 posters of Rick now. Got 1 mag.”

Aug. 25: “Two days after Rick’s birthday. Met violinist for bat. So nice.”

The Aug. 27 entry included a synopsis of “General Hospital” and noted that Dr. Noah Drake was “on vacation,” but Rick Springfield was really on tour. The entry ends with “Rick Springfield thought he was ugly when he was in high school.”

Once school’s back in session, there are lots of entries about the different boys at my junior high school and Hebrew school, which girls were mean to which other ones, books I read and movies I saw and a recap of my bat mitzvah. It also started my eighth grade crush on a boy named Brad, who I rarely talked to but sometimes he waved. And according to the Oct. 2 entry, “I have 11 R.S. posters, 4 John Stamos. Also got Chris Atkins, Matt Dillion and one of some guy called Mark.” And later that month Sandy in my guitar class gives me more Rick Springfield posters and I see the “I’ve Done Everything For You” video on MTV. Yes, seeing the video was an actual diary entry. We never had cable at home so apparently it made quite an impression. On Oct. 18, it was official: “Me and Sandy E. made a deal. I give her my Van Halen stuff, she gives me Rick!”

My new obsession with Brad continues, to the point that I convince my best friend to walk the long way to school so I can walk past his cul-de-sac and maybe see him on the way to school. According to my diary, sometimes he even walked – and talked – with us. [No wonder I never dated in junior high…]

And then there’s this entry, on Nov. 7: “In a magazine, I read that Rick Springfield’s dog is Jewish and celebrates Chanukkah. That would be neato!”

Huh?

Several entries also mention RS concerts that I watched on cable at friends’ houses. By Nov. 28, I had 21 RS posters… On Dec. 27, I was in Los Angeles visiting my cousins and bought “Wait Until Night” and “Beginnings” and the entry noted that I also had “Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet” and “Working Class Dog.” “Only need ‘Comic Book Heroes,’ ” I wrote. Two days later: “Got ‘Comic Book Heroes’ in Century City. Now I have all the Rick Springfield albums! On the plane I sat next to and met this really nice lady named Darby from Paradise Valley. She’s a stewardess for TWA. If she gets Rick Springfield on a airplane, she’ll send me his autograph.”

At the end of the diary, there’s an entry from March 1985, when I’m in 10th grade: I gave updates about the different topics in the diary. In ninth grade, Brad and I had a class together and were friendly in the class.  I listed friends in the diary that I was still friends with and gave updates on the little girl I used to babysit a lot (by 1985, she had a little brother and her crazy basset hound recently had to be put to sleep).

“I still love Rick Springfield,” I wrote in the 1985 update. “Saw him in concert twice so far and have all 8 of his albums and am planning to get his new one pretty soon.”
“It was strange reading this 3 years later – sure brought back memories! (Am I getting old?) Well, bye!”

And now here I am, writing this blog post about 29 years later (and apparently, the infatuation remains.)

Diary entries from 1982

I found my diary from 1982, and according to a note on the first page, dated 12-1-81, it was a gift from my Aunt Janie. I was 12.

The first entry I could find with Rick Springfield’s name is May 15, which had a note saying that I bought three magazines and listed the posters that came with it. Each one was rated one star for OK, two stars for super and three stars for wow.

Here they are in order and rating:

Rick Springfield: 3 stars

Scott Baio: 3 stars

John Schneider – 1 star

John Stamos – 3 stars

Chris Atkins – 1 star

Tony Geary – 1 star

Darryl Hall & John Oates – 1 star

The rest of the entry included a note that I gave my younger sister some posters and a pack of grape bubble gum. And that I babysat with my sister for a little girl named Brooke, who slept the whole time – we watched parts of “My Bodyguard” and “Caveman” and the whole “Oh G-d, Book II.”

Most of my entries were about the cute boys in school, which girls were mean and different places I went with my friends.

Other entries that mention Rick Springfield:

June 3: “Saw General Hospital. Rick Springfield was on a lot!”

June 12: “I got a Rick Springfield poster. 3 bucks but worth it (got it at Spencers).”

June 14: “There is a lump on my finger. My first thought was cancer. I hope not. I would be so scared, radiation and hair falling out. … I wish to meet Rick Springfield. Talk to ya tomorrow.”

Several pages have little notes scribbled on top: “Rick Springfield” (with a heart), “Rick Springfield is a babe.”

The July 4 entry lists things that I’m going to miss when I go to summer camp: I listed my sister; my parents; my dog; my cat; my goldfish; “Rick Springfield posters, radio, TV and certain friends.”

July 31: Laurie spent the night. “We made a Rick Springfield album and wrote to him.”

Aug. 1: ” Laurie left her Rick Springfield albums here so I could listen to them. ALL DAY I DID! I wish I could meet him! Last night was the 3rd dream I had of meeting him. If only dreams would come true!”

Aug. 6: “Happy birthday to me! Got Rick Springfield’s “Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet” album from my parents, a mag with Rick and stationery from Brook’s mom and Brooke.”

Aug. 9: “Stayed home all day, danced all day, too, to Rick. Made dinner. Watch Little House. Not a very exciting day.”

Starting about now, I give little updates on each day’s episode of General Hospital and what Dr. Noah Drake did on the show that day. And the little scribbles of his name with hearts appear frequently. [Interjected note: It looks like the obsession is in full force about now.]