Denver Venue updated & Confirmed

The wait is over!
As posted on the Rick Springfield official message board, the Denver Tour date finally has a venue!
09.28.07
Paramount Theater
Denver, CO
with special guests Eddie Money & Scandal.

http://www.paramountdenver.com/

ACCESS-RS presale 6/23
Public onsale 6/30

Storyline for Noah?

Here's a teaser from Soap Opera Digest:
Coming: Finola Hughes (Anna Devane) will be back for a summer story involving an unlikely romance. Teases Head Writer Bob Guza, "If Anna and Noah were to find, shall we say, common ground, how will their kids, Robin and Patrick, feel about their parents?" Soap Opera Digest further comments that Noah will be making "his biggest run" since his return.

How exciting this would be!

TV Time for Rick

If you still haven't caught Jessie's girl on VH1 you have another chance.

The 100 Greatest songs of the 80's 20-1
Thu 05.24 8:00 PM ET VH1

Dying to Dance

Directed by Mark Haber. Starring Kimberly McCullough, Mary-Margaret Humes, Rick Springfield, Natalija Nogulich, Les Porter, Mimi Kuzyk.

Anorexia afflicts an ambitious teenage ballerina who's overwhelmed by competitive stress and parental pressure. Romantic discord adds a further complication. 111 minutes- NR, USA, 2001, (CC), Stereo

Mon May 28 04:18P on Lifetime Movie Network

Tue May 29 05:45A on Lifetime Movie Network

Hard to Hold

Directed by Larry Peerce. Starring Rick Springfield, Janet Eilber, Patti Hansen, Albert Salmi, Gregory Itzin, Peter Van Norden, Bill Mumy, Garry Goodrow, Tracy Brooks Swope.

A rock star becomes involved with a child psychologist. 95 minutes- PG, USA, 1984, Monique Gabrielle, Stereo, SAP, Sexual Situations

Wed May 23 05:35A on Encore Love Stories

Thu May 31 09:20A on Encore Love Stories

Superstar '80s Rocker Rick Springfield is finally coming home

YOU know I wish that I had Gary's girl ... Doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it?

But if Rick Springfield hadn't airbrushed the facts, the name Jessie wouldn't be part of the lexicon of pop.

"My friend's name was Gary, but I needed a cooler name," Springfield says.

And thus Jessie's Girl was born.

Released in 1981, the song hit No.1 in the US -- vindicating the Sydney-born, British-raised Springfield's decision to base himself in California from 1972.

Springfield had gone solo after Australian band Zoot (featuring Little River Band's Beeb Birtles and Darryl Cotton) split in 1971. His first solo single, Speak to the Sky, went to No.1 in Australia the next year.

After dabbling with record deals and TV shows throughout the '70s, Springfield made an album inspired by the back-to-basics rock of Elvis Costello.

The album, 1981's Working Class Dog, contained Jessie's Girl. But his record company sat on the album for months.

"My album had been recorded and they didn't know what to do with it," Springfield says.

"Barry Manilow was still on the radio; it was basically all ballads and disco."

In the meantime, an increasingly destitute Springfield was offered a job as Dr Noah Drake on US soap General Hospital.

"My (album) producer was telling me not to do it but I was broke so I took it basically for the money, thinking the only people who watched a soap opera were 60-year-old blue-rinse ladies."

The summer of '81 saw Working Class Dog released, Jessie's Girl breaking the drought of guitar songs on the radio and General Hospital becoming the soap du jour.

Rick Springfield had done a Kylie Minogue -- six years before Kylie started the TV-exposure-translating-to-pop-stars trend.

"College kids admitted they watched it. They were structuring classes around the show airing and it became this phenomenon," Springfield says.

"The two fed off each other. But it was a double-edged sword."

Some radio stations dropped Jessie's Girl because Springfield was a soap star.

"I'm a musician first. People to this day still ask me if I'm an actor. F---! It is frustrating.

"Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby were my role models. They used to say do everything you can. That stuck in my head. I've always been interested in acting, my brother was in Homicide in Australia. So when the opportunity came up I took it. It definitely helped me.

"But I couldn't wait to get off General Hospital because I knew it was hurting me, image-wise."

SPRINGFIELD fired off a string of hits in the early '80s -- Don't Talk to Strangers, Human Touch, Love Somebody and a cover of Mondo Rock's State of the Heart.

He starred in the 1984 movie Hard to Hold and sang at Live Aid in 1985.

However Springfield slipped off the radar in 1985 when his wife, Barbara, who he married the previous year, gave birth to their son Liam.

"I left the music business in '85 when my son was born; I wanted to stay home. I was pretty messed up in my head at that time," he says.

"I was in therapy, a lot had gone on. My dad had died at the beginning of it all and I hadn't dealt with that. I just became a house husband and truly became a recluse.

"I remember going to an acting class four years after that and my hands were shaking as I put them on the wheel. I know it's more than people want to know, but it isn't all tits and champagne.

"I'm not the depression poster child. I've certainly had my share of good times, but I had a very lonely childhood. My dad was in the army, we moved around a lot.

"I went to England when I was nine and discovered music and girls. Then I came to Australia and started bands, but I had to leave my friends every two years. I'd have to say goodbye to kids I loved, it was really hard. That made me adaptable, but it left its scars as well. The rollercoaster goes up as well as down."

Throughout the 1990s and into this decade, Springfield has continued to write and record new music, and plays up to 200 live shows a year.

TWO years ago he returned to General Hospital to raise his profile and get his new music heard.

"These days everybody's doing everything they can; the Stones are putting themselves in TV. I got offered to do Dancing With the Stars, (but) I said not on your f---ing life.

"That's not me. But going back to something I'd done, like General Hospital, if it points people to my new music then I'm absolutely for it. We're going to do the Home Shopping Network, play a few hits on it. It's all about getting into areas that radio used to get you into, because that opportunity doesn't exist any more."

Springfield runs his own record label through his website, but he's also inked a deal with Universal to release a new album this year.

"We've decided to see one more time what they'll do. They're very gung ho. They're aware of the fan base I have here (in America). Jessie's Girl has a certain position in people's minds over here. There's a lot of fans grown up.

"In America there's a major crisis, radio's f---ed itself. The record industry has f---ed itself. I can't imagine starting off being a musician at this point."

Springfield is the first to admit that in the minds of most people, he's the guy who did Jessie's Girl.

And, make no mistake, he wrote it.

"That's one thing that offends me. People say to me, 'Great song, who wrote it?' I consider myself a writer before anything. It's a great song. If it had stupid lyrics or was dorky I might be embarrassed singing it every show, but it's a great song. I know that. I'm not ashamed to say that.

"I know when I write a good song. I've certainly written some s--- ones. It's got a life of its own that song, and I truly have nothing to do with it, it's in the hands of the gods.

"It's definitely something I'm very proud of, but on the other hand I've written a lot of songs. I have other songs that are as good if not better than Jessie's Girl that get overshadowed.

"Songs are like your kids, some get more attention than others."

Though Springfield is playing on the forthcoming Countdown tour, he never actually performed on the TV show and hasn't played live in Australia since 1971.

"I have less hits to choose from in Australia than I do here," Springfield says of his brief Countdown set.

"It's a reintroduction, that's the way I'm looking at it. Hopefully I can then come back with the whole band and play some new songs as well as the hits."

And the reintroduction won't come with an unfamiliar face -- Springfield may be 58 but he hasn't gone down the Botox route.

"Oh no. When Botox first came out I thought 'Hmm, is this something I can use?'

"But then you see these people on TV with that Botox look. That Botox smile drives me crazy. I can't deal with that at all. I work out and I've got whatever good genes I've got and that's it."

Rick Springfield, Countdown Spectacular 2, Rod Laver Arena, Aug 30, on sale Mon from Ticketek.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21700186-2902,00.html

Dangling that Carrot

Saturday, May 12 - Final show of the 5 day extravaganza in Milwaukee (or Freakfest as Rick calls it). Rick attempted to do The American Girl by request (with furnished lyrics) but he really didn't remember it, he did a part of the Christmas song again, and Wild Thing. It's a little odd that he talks about his favorite part of the Milwaukee shows is when fans bring lyrics and he does requests and with the exception of American Girls, he didn't do any of that this year. hmmm. The shows at Potawatomi are still going to be the most varied set list you'll probably ever get, and that seems to be what the fans enjoy so much....that and being able to stay in the same place and enjoy back to back shows. Rick pulled out "Pandora's Box" one more time and was dared to drop his pants (or rip his shirt off). He didn't do either one - I guess two out of three wasn't bad. Jesus Saves, which has disappeared from the set list as of late, was performed four of the five nights. Rick seems to enjoy it and it seems to be a fan favorite out in the audience. We'll have to wait and see if that was a temporary addition. At the end of the show, Rick did say "see you next year", so it looks like Freakfest 2008 might be in the future.

The full set list from the show was:

Who Killed Rock N Roll

Will I?

Affair of the Heart

Alyson

IDEFY

Rock of Life

Living In Oz

Christmas Song

Red House

DTTS

Medley

The American Girl

Love Somebody

Jesus Saves

My Generation

Wild Thing

Human Touch

Jessie's Girl (in the audience)

Love is Alright Tonite

More pictures can be found at the Picture Spotlight.

Friday already?

Friday, May 11 - Three songs were played that hadn't made an appearance so far this week - Beautiful You, I Should Have Known Better and Wild Thing. Rick said that Rodger had taken them to the dog shelter that day. He said it was a great "no kill" shelter. Inside Silvia was performed again and it hasn't been a regular part of the set list in a long time, so it was nice to hear that one again. When he was putting on his mobile gear, he said it was a brokeback mountain moment, and then he said something about someone taking a photo of it and they must like a little man on man action, but the he was patial to girl on girl. Rick snuck a bit of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" in My Generation, which he also did a couple of nights ago and I forgot to mention.

The Full Set List was:

Who Killed Rock N Roll
itsalwaysomething
Affair of the Heart
Alyson
IDEFY
Beautiful You
Living In Oz
I Should Have Known Better
Inside Silvia
Red House

Don't Talk to Strangers

The Medley

Love Somebody

Jesus Saves

Crossroad Blues

My Generation (Not Fade Away)

Wild Thing

Human Touch

Jessie's Girl

Wasted

Love Is Alright Tonite

Rick Is Sirius

Rick to appear on Celebrity Shuffle!Celebrity Shuffle: Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield is an actor, a musician and a bona fide 80s icon. Rick recently guest hosted Random Access on Big ʽ80s, and now he's coming back to SIRIUS to play some of his favorite tunes from his personal collection, which definitely has its share of surprises. Trust us, you definitely don't want miss Rick Springfield's edition of Celebrity Shuffle!

Rebroadcasts:

Sat., May 12th @ 12 am, 10 am & 5 pm ET;

Sun., May 13th @ 3 am, 2 pm & 11 pm ET.

Soulful Thursday

Thursday, May 10 - I'm running behind, so this is going to be quick. There wasn't much talking between the songs. A couple of things, Rick had a headache and asked for some Advil. Someone threw him some Motrin and he was confused and apparently thought it was Midol and made the comment that he didn't take that because he thought it might change his sex. It was Derek's birthday so everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and Ronnie brought out a cake. There were a couple of older ladies in the audience that Rick talked to quite a bit during the show and had them sing Don't Talk to Strangers and then tried to sing them a song, but they were talking to each other while he wa singing. It was very cute.

Full Set List:

Who Killed Rock n Roll
Will I?

Affair of the Heart

Alyson

IDEFY

Souls (great performance!)

Kristina

Take a Hand

Crossroads Blues

Red House

DTTS

The Medley

Love Somebody

Jesus Saves

My Generation

Human Touch

Jessie's Girl

Wasted

Love is Alright Tonite

More pictures in the picture spotlight section

Mixed Up in Milwaukee

Wednesday, May 09, 2007. Day two. It was a very mixed set list from the night before. Starting off with Who Killed Rock and Roll, then going into itsalwaysomething. A harmonica was brought out for Love Me Do. "Pandora's Box" was opened again and the question that was pulled was "who was the biggest a-hole on the GH set?". He thought a little bit and then he said "I think it might be me". He said that they were all pretty nice and all pretty respectful and that he had the rock star thing going on, so that helps. He said he didn't think he had any run ins with anybody. Someone shouted out "Tony Geary" and he said that Tony was a doll, he said he's known Tony since 1981 and that he was sweet. He said they could all be cantankerous because it's kind of tough being a soap star, you get all the adulation and all the fame like someone on nighttime tv, but then you have to do your own grocery shopping. They don't pay as much as they pay (night time stars)...."believe me I'm not doing that show for the money." You sometimes get some egos out of whack, but everybody's pretty cool. So there isn't a single ass hole on the GH set. Some can get a little moody at times, but I've been known to be a little moody too. Honestly if there was a jerk, I'd out him or her. Then he went into a breath taking performance of Inside Silvia.

The full set list was:

Who Killed Rock and Roll

itsalwaysomething

Affair of the Heart

Living in Oz

IDEFY

I'll Make You Happy

Love Me Do

Gloria

Inside Silvia

Don't Talk to Strangers

Red House

Love Somebody

Jesus Saves

My Generation

Jessie's Girl (In the Audience)

Encore:

Wasted

Love is Alright Tonite

(note: no Human Touch)

More pictures can be seen in the spotlight section.

Christmas in Milwaukee

Tuesday, May 8, 2007 in Milwaukee. Starts off like most any other show. After Rock of Life, Rick plays a piece of Greensleeves (What Child is this) and mentions that he has a Christmas "album" coming out. Then he says that it's very scary to look out (in the audience) and recognize about 90% of the faces. He said he felt like he was being stalked, and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Then he brought out a "nun chunk" (?) that he was given in sound check and played with it for a while and talked about going to Catholic school and then went on to play with the toy and make comments as he shot off each nun. He asked who was going to all 5 shows, and then said they were a bunch of sick puppies (this seems to be an annual observation for him). He said he was going to be here all 5 nights too, so he must be sick, too. Then he opened up a "Pandora's Box" that someone had brought with some questions and dares, and the one he picked said "we dare you to play something from your new cd "meaning the one that will have Who Killed Rock N Roll on it. He asked for a different guitar. He then said that the songs on the Christmas cd were going to be all traditional stuff and that he and Derek had written a song. He said he hated rock n roll Christmas albums, that he liked the traditional songs, so there wouldn't be any rock n roll on his (but there would be on the next record). So, he sang a verse of that. I'm not sure what the name of it was, but maybe "Christmas with You". It was a nice, slow song about being away and wanting to be with someone for Christmas (that's what I got out of it, anyway). I very rarely like a song the very first time I hear it, but honestly, I really liked this one.
When he did Don't Talk to Strangers, he found someone from England and someone from Scotland and said he'd do two accents, then decided to do 3, so he did the Australian one.
He promised that they'd do a bunch of different songs tomorrow night. Then did a bit of "Beat it" while Rick was getting hooked up with his mobile gear. After Love Somebody, Rick asked for a beer. People were offering him theirs, and he said "I'll kiss you on the lips, but I ain't drinking out of your beer". He said he wasn't drinking red wine anymore so if you were thinking about bringing him wine as presents to save your money. Someone brought some sharks, the band played some "jaws" music and Rick acted like the shark was eating him, then did a hiccup. He said he was going white shark cage diving in September, and said that if we had autographs or memorabilia to hang on to them because they might be worth a lot more after the end of September. Then Rick came close to doing "naked" night by doing a shirtless encore. He did say something about being naked by the end of the night, but didn't quite make it.

The full set list:

Who Killed Rock N Roll
Will I?
Affair of the Heart
Alyson
IDEFY
Rock of Life
Christmas Song
Red House
DTTS
Medley
(Beat it)
Love Somebody
My Generation
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Love is Alright Tonite

More pictures from the show can be found in the spotlight section.

TDAY

The Milwaukee Madness kicks of today. Rick did sound check, and practiced a medley of songs he will be performing while in Australia. Possible songs that might be performed this week, judging by some of the practice are Souls, itsalwaysomething, and maybe Inside Silvia. Also heard pieces of Red Hot and Blue Love. He also announced that his mom was "here". Whether he meant here in Milwaukee, or here in the U.S. was not exactly clear.

pro-busch

Rick Springfield played Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL on Sunday. It was a bit of a race to beat the bad weather, so a bit of a twist in the set list, and a cover song surprise was included.

The full set list was:
Who Killed Rock and Roll

Will I?

Affair of the Heart

Alyson

IDEFY

Rock of Life

Crossroad Blues

Red House

Don't Talk to Strangers

Medley

Love Somebody

My Generation

Jessie's Girl (out in the audience)

Love is Alright Tonite

Encore:

Human Touch

(photo by Jennifer Schiffbauer)

One More Day

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow.....I'm not sure if I'm more excited by the fact that the shows start tomorrow, or that I'm done with this countdown (haha).

We have finally made it to the last show from last year - Saturday, May 13, 2006.

Here are the highlights from Laura's review:

The night before we were told that the Squirts would open and play for about ½ hour. Here is there set list:
In Your Arms
On That Day
Earth To Vanessa
First Time
The Way I See You
Concentrate On Me
The casino entertainment manager came out with a pen in his hand, saying that he was about to sign Rick’s contract for 2007. He asked what we thought about 7 shows in 2007 and everyone screamed. He was also hinting that we needed to send him gifts to make the show happen next year.

Souls – He began the song asking if there were “any Midwest girls in the audience” which of course got a big reaction. He also said we should thank George for the song since he had to stay up all night to learn it. I did hear Souls in 2004 (dedicated to Rick’s wife Barbie who was in the audience) in Beloit , but it was just Rick on the guitar. It was very cool to hear this live with the whole band.

Don’t Talk To Strangers – Rick started throwing pics at people that were crossing back and forth in front of the stage. He said it was distracting for him and “anyone that needs to pee…go now”. He threw all his pics out so he had to request George (tech) to bring him some more.

Gloria – He did the bathtub extended version. Talked about being at the Pfister Hotel where they had really lovely baths with Jacuzzi jets. He was very animated during this one. When he said he was in the bath “soaking”, he pretended to scrub under his arms, etc. There were some comments about Gloria coming into the bathroom and “things were starting to get cold and things were starting to get small….and it was bad for my image and luckily there were some blue pills on the counter”.

Jesus Saves - While Rick was out in the crowd on a table, he picked up a French fry off someone’s plate and ate it and said it was really cold and nasty.

You Really Got Me – First Rick played slide guitar with a camera and then said he didn’t want to ruin it so he grabbed someone’s phone. He tried to call “mom” using voice activation but it wouldn’t work so he called Chrissy & Dan. I think Chrissy answered that phone but hung up after she asked who it was and Rick yelled “RICK SPRINGFIELD” twice.

Jessie’s Girl – He broke a guitar after this song and then when he came out for the encore, he had a bandaid on his hand. I’m not sure if he injured it during the guitar break or what happened.

At the end of the show, Rick commented that he had an awesome time this year. He also said that they recorded all five shows, but they weren’t sure what they were going to do with them yet. I’m not sure if that was just audio or video, but maybe a new live CD with SDAA songs would be in order. I think it would be cool to have video of the shows too. As he left the stage, he said….”See you next year” and did the hug.

Full Set List:

I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Affair of the Heart
I've Done Everything For You
Rock of Life
Souls
Alyson
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
Speak to the Sky
Life in a Northern Town
Gloria
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves You Really Got Me
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Perfect
Wasted
Love is Alright Tonite

For more photos from the show and Laura's full review, visit the concert section.

(photo by Lynn Miracola)

2 Days

Two more days until Milwaukee 2007 (and just a couple of hours away from the show tonight - I love that daytime concert lighting). We are now up to Friday, May 12, 2006. Here are a few highlights from Laura's review:

Living In Oz – Rick forgot the lyrics right from the start and asked people in the audience for help. He didn’t really get back on track until the chorus but killed the rest of the song. It sounded great live.

Swingtown (Steve Miller Band Cover – Only Band Intro) – The band just started playing the song and Rick just looked at them saying “I have no idea what this is”. The crowd started singing the opening “Ohhh Ohhhhhs”, but he still didn’t get it. Matt said they had worked on it before the show and Rick said “thanks for letting me know”.
Rock N’ Me (Steve Miller Band Cover – Only first verse and chorus) – Rick said he knew this one by the Steve Miller Band.

It’s Always Something – Awesome to hear live. I haven’t heard it since the Karma tour.

Don’t Talk To Strangers – He had a couple people up front sing and then he went to another lady he called “Momma”. He had called her that earlier in the show too. I was in the balcony, so I didn’t really see what was going on, but I heard she was a high roller that was basically just sitting in the front row not really too enthusiastic about the show. All speculation of course. So Rick walks out on her table and kneels down by her for DTTS and she says she will only sing her own song. He says that’s fine and she can sing whatever she wants. I think she told him that she wanted to do a rap so Rick start beat boxing into his mic and then stops and lets her sing. She lets out a hilarious rendition of “Rapper’s Delight”. It was so funny and Rick totally busted up laughing. She did better than I ever could have though, so props to her. Next, he moved on off stage into the audience and some girls were yelling that their friend could sing really well. He scrambles over to her and lets her sing. Rick was having problems with the hand held mic again and kept shutting it off accidentally. When she finally sings, he says “I came all the way over here for that?” He helped her up on the ledge between two of the rows and let her sing again (since the mic went out). She was a little toasted and almost pulled him over and then he said that he thought he might be scaring the casino by letting the fans up on the ledge. On the way back to the stage, he grabbed a security guard and made him sing. He did it right away and Rick gave him a huge hug.

Jesus Saves - Someone gave Rick a pair of red or pink fuzzy hand cuffs and he put them on one wrist during part of the song.

Wild Thing – A couple of nights before he had done this one on stage, but I have to say that it was so much ….ummm…. hotter out in the audience. He rocked out hard to it, strolling along the ledges in between the booths….even losing his balance once and then hopping on one foot about 5 times to regain it. Toward the end of the song, he was getting very suggestive with guitar…sliding his hand up and down the neck and finally holding it above his head. At the end of the line “C’mon hold me tight”, he had the guitar above his head and did this pelvic thrust thing that had the ladies swooning.

You Really Got Me – He did the cell phone slide guitar and then decided to call “Dad”. He actually asked for dad but then asked for Jake once he found out his real name. Jake must have asked who it was and Rick screams “RICK SPRINGFIELD” and the crowd goes wild. Then Rick says that he is calling to tell him that he “digs” him. Dad asks to speak to his daughter and Rick says…”hold on a second” but then says in a fake female voice, “Dad?”…and Jake then says “Where are you”…then Rick, again in the female voice “I’m at a concert”. It was funny because Rick kept putting the phone up to his mic so we could hear both sides of the conversation. He finally gave the phone back and I’m sure the daughter spent a little time explaining to dad what the heck was going on.

Human Touch – Rick starts up to the balcony on Derek’s side of the stage (the opposite side he usually goes up). We are in front row balcony on that side and thought for sure he would walk right in front of us. He started out in climbing across the second row seats and when he got to where we were sitting, he started climbing over to the front row (woo hoo). I grabbed his hand to steady him while he stood on our seats. Then I held onto his leg (so he wouldn’t fall of course). While he had his arms up in the air over his head, clapping, the neck of his guitar kept hitting me in the head so I sort of put up my other hand as a barricade so he wouldn’t take out an eye. He then jumped down and stood leaning over the railing in front of us. A couple people held on to him a little and then security took over. Then he made his way across the rest of the balcony, again giving hugs along the way and running back downstairs.

Jessie’s Girl – He did at least half the song out in the audience. During the break between verses, he was standing on a ledge bending over when he noticed some people standing up behind him. He asked them how they liked the view from back there and commented that he had a pretty nice a** for a 56 year old. After JG, he gave a hug and kiss before leaving the stage.

It was great to hear three songs during the encore. Rick put so much energy into “Perfect”. Lost of spinning around and jumping up and down during the non-singing parts. This had to be one of the best shows of the series.

Full Set List:

I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Living in Oz
Affair of the Heart
I've Done Everything For You
Rock of Life
Swingtown**
Keep on Rocking me Baby**
itsalwaysomething
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
Life in a Northern Town
The Medley
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
Wild Thing
You Really Got Me
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Perfect
Wasted
Love is Alright Tonite
**not all songs were played in their entirety

More concert photos and Laura's full review can be found in the concert section.
(photo by Mike Gerken)

More TV time for Rick!

A little more Rick on TV coming up! Enjoy!


Dying to Dance

Mon May 28 04:18P on Lifetime Movie Network
Tue May 29 05:45A on Lifetime Movie Network

Directed by Mark Haber. Starring Kimberly McCullough, Mary-Margaret Humes, Rick Springfield, Natalija Nogulich, Les Porter, Mimi Kuzyk.

Anorexia afflicts an ambitious teenage ballerina who's overwhelmed by competitive stress and parental pressure. Romantic discord adds a further complication. 111 minutes- 2001


General Hosptial
We are still waiting for Noah's storyline that Rick has hinted at so keep those VCR's/Tivo's going!

3 Days

Before we get to Today's Countdown for Milwaukee, I didn't want to ignore the fact that there is a show tomorrow night in Tampa. Not Milwaukee, but close enough to probably be caught up in the madness a little, and we'll probably see a preview of one of the outfits that Rick will wear in Milwaukee (won't we, now). If things go well, we'll post a little bit about the show by Monday evening.

Back to the business at hand. Thursday, May 11, 2006. Here are some highlights from the show taken from Laura's review (with a few additional details added)

Don’t Talk To Strangers - Rick came to someone in the audience that didn't seem to want to sing. He asked her if she spoke English and she said yes, so he said "that's not an excuse then".
He asked her what her name was, and then said "what country are you from Linda? Scotland? Oh my God, we're being overrun by Scottish people!" He said there was another one here and he asked them to put their hand up. He asked where they were from in Scotland and Rick responded "Glasgow! No Way!" Then he did a Scottish accent and said "Alright lassie, we're going to have you sing, is that ok?" Apparently she said she couldn't sing, and he said "That's ok, I can't sing either". So she kind of talked it and he made the comment that she did it with an American accent and then said that he did that when he lived in Australia, and then he talked with an Australian accent and then said he'd loose it when he sang. He also made Lisa and Dennis sing. They sat right across from each other in the first row. He accidentally turned off the mic when Lisa sang, but promised she did an excellent job. After Dennis sang he said…”Now why didn’t the mic shut off for him?”
After the song was over, he said "last time I was in Glasgow, I was 10 years old (and then in a Scottish accent he says) and it's never been the same since." The he says "I didn't touch any of those girls. They wouldn't have me back then when I was 10 years old. (big awes from the audience). "Truly, it was a very scary thing, all your friends are getting laid and you're the only one that's not. I was the virgin in the band for like 5 years." Then he yells "But I made up for it".
Speak To The Sky - One of the strings broke on Rick’s acoustic guitar and he said he didn’t have a spare and it probably broke because he, Matt and Matty were recording in his hotel room that afternoon. He then said there were probably only about 3 people in the audience who know who Lonnie Donegan is, then he sang a line from a song "don't let your chewing gum loose it's flavor on the bedpost over night" . Rick said he was a big star when he was a kid in England and that Lonnie Donegan had just recorded this song and that "It's the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.....apart from finally getting laid, of course".

Love Somebody – Rick starts out by saying "So I wrote this song, and the only thing I have to say for Rodgee to understand what song we're doing are the words "My Naked Butt". While out in the crowd, someone handed him a small black whip and he started whipping his butt with it.

You Really Got Me - No cell phone call this show. Rick took a bouquet of roses and took out a single rose before smashing the rest. Then he “tried” to toss the one rose up to someone in the balcony, but it hit the lights so it never made it. I thought it was a cute gesture. There were a lot of technical problems. At one point, the beginning of Bop ‘til You Drop played and then I think the sound on the guitar went out. George (guitar tech) brought out a hand held mic for Rick and he finished the rest of the audience portion with that and no guitar.

Human Touch – Rick made it up to the balcony, again posing for pictures and stopping for hugs along the way.

This show seemed much shorter than the night before. I know that Rick mentioned on the night before that they had “gone over their allotted time”.

So after the show, we went to the CD signing. Being the “shy girls” that we are, we hung out in the back of the line. I went up to Rick and had him sign a picture instead of the CD. Even though I specifically had a silver sharpie in my hand (because the picture was darker and I didn’t think a regular one would show up), I forgot to hand it to him and he started signing in blue. He just drew a heart and I said “Wait…you need to use this one.” He called me bossy or demanding and then smiled. He re-did the heart in silver and signed it. He ended up keeping the sharpie. I hear he is a bit of a sharpie stealer. I said “great show” and he said “thanks sweetie”, rubbed my back and that was about it. We started getting a little sad after this show because there were “only” two more nights left. Boy, were we getting spoiled at this point with all the Rickness.


Full set list:

I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Affair of the Heart
I've Done Everything For You
Rock of Life
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
Speak to the Sky
Life in a Northern Town
No Matter What
The Medley
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
You Really Got Me
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Love is Alright Tonite

For more pictures and Laura's full review, visit the concert section.

(Photo by Jennifer Schiffbauer)

New Tour Dates

From Rick's official website:

08.10.07

Rochester, MI

Meadowbrook Music Festival

09.15.07
Clearwater, FL
Ruth Eckerd Hall
with special guests
Eddie Money & Scandal

(photo: Kelly Pivoney
Ruth Eckerd Hall 9/23/06)

4 Days

Four days - seems like plenty of time to do everything you need to do to get ready for a week long vacation, but it'll be here before you know it, so anyone going to Milwaukee for the whole week - start packing!

We are now up to the show from May 10, 2006. This show, I think, represents what a typical show at Potawatomi should be like with Rick pulling out lots of songs that he wouldn't normally play. And I need to make a correction from earlier in the week. I mentioned Rick playing "Eight Days a Week" and made the comment he had never played it, but he did play it (on this night), I just didn't get to hear it.

Here are a few highlights from Laura's review (with a few additional details):

We decide to go to dinner at the casino bar & grill and we were all pumped up because we had front row seats for this show. We were seated by this spunky little hostess that asked if we were going to the show. We said, of course. I asked if she was a fan, and she said that she was but she looked really young. We found out that she was only 21. So I asked how she got into Rick’s music, assuming that maybe her mom was a fan. Then she goes on to tell us this story about how she worked in the Potawatomi Theater last year for all of Rick’s shows. At that time, she knew Jessie’s Girl and Don’t Talk to Strangers, but by the end of the 5 shows, she said she was singing along to every song. She then told us that this year, since she worked in the restaurant, she had to beg her old boss to let her work at least one show. You know the guy is good when you beg to go to work just so you can get a glimpse of the show.

After Beautiful You, he said he would take requests and a few people yelled out “Hooky Jo”. He said that were really sick if they wanted to hear that song.

Don’t Talk To Strangers – He accidentally kicked over a glass of wine that was on the edge of the stage and “who puts wine on the stage”. I actually saw a lot of people do it. He asked for his “only two British fans” to sing and he wanted them to sing together.
Cherry, Cherry (Neil Diamond Cover) – Only sang the first line of the chorus a couple times and said it was the only part of the song he knew. He sang this one acoustically and without the band backing up)
Me & Johnny - Again, only Rick without the band. Some one passed up a Song Lyrics book and he picked that one out saying “he hadn’t played it in a while”. It was great hearing this live. I wish the whole band would practice it and stick it on the set list for some shows.
Eden – Again, only Rick…with the lyrics book. He must not have needed the lyrics for the chorus and when he went back to the second verse, he lost his place on the page and started humming most of it. Then he said he should never take his eyes off the page if he didn’t know the words.

Rick mentioned that when they were recording SDAA that they were testing microphones and they actually had a version of Eden with Ronnie singing on it, and joked they might put that out on a special edition later.

Happy Birthday (To Derek…he was 39)

Love Somebody – Rick said this is the “song he wrote about his naked butt”. While on stage, he started walking onto our table again. The tables are actually two smaller tables pushed together and not that sturdy. I started trying to clear a bit of a path for him so he could walk out further. He noticed that we had some money sitting on the table and he bent over and picked it up and promptly shoved it down the front of his pants. Damn…if we would have been only been a little quicker, we could have saved him the trouble. He played guitar there for a minute and then threw the money back on the table. Then he played some more and was pumping his leg up and down and our two bottles of beer fell off the table. Only one broke, but I guess I learned my lesson if that ever happens again. Pick up the bottles off the table if Rick is jamming on it!

You Really Got Me – Rick played cell slide guitar for a bit and then made a call. There were a couple of really funny cell phone calls during these shows. He called “Cindy” and someone else answered. He asked if she was there and they asked who was calling. He screamed…”It’s RICK SPRINGFIELD” and the whole place goes wild. Then he says all soft…”Is she there”. He has to say who he is again another two times, each time yelling and crowd screaming. Then they must have asked who had him call and he asked the lady with the phone. He tells them that it was “Dawn” and they told him it was after 11:00 there and why was he calling so late. Then Rick says (in his all soft and innocent voice again)…”Are you ready for bed? Do you have your jammies on?”. It was hilarious.

Human Touch - Rick did go up to the balcony tonight. When he started up, the people downstairs started pointing upstairs to let them know and everyone up there started freaking out. Rick went all along the front row of the balcony, stopping for hugs, posing for pictures, and hanging over the railing….all while still singing.

Jessie’s Girl – A box of leis were brought out and Rick said the “the band was going to get laid for Derek’s birthday”. He put one on himself and passed out the rest to the band. He also threw a couple out into the audience. I heard that a fan had brought them over from Hawaii and so they were made of real flowers.

After Wasted, Rick said "Tonight we have exceeded our allotted time. We've had a great time tonight, these are always the best shows in the whole year, we love you guys. We'll do a naked show eventually, if it's not on this thing, it'll be on the cruise. I promise." (so far, a guarantee and a promise)

I have to say that I think this was the best show of the week. Maybe it felt that way because we were so close and had some interaction. I loved hearing Perfect and Wasted as I haven’t heard those in a long while. Rick seemed to have even more energy than the night before and was jamming out on his guitar more than he usually does. Rick and the band really shined this night.

Full Set List:

I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Kristina
Alyson
Affair of the heart
I've Done Everything For You
Rock of Life
Day Tripper*
Beautiful You
Red House
Cherry Cherry*
Me and Johnny*
Eden*
Happy Birthday (Derek)
Roll Over Beethoven*
Hard Days Night*
Eight Days a Week*
Under the Milky Way*
Life in a Northern Town
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
Wild Thing
You Really Got Me
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Perfect
Wasted
*some songs listed were not done in their entirity

For more pictures from the show, and Laura's full review, visit the concert section.

(photo by Laura Hoppe)

5 days

The number of days left before Milwaukee begins can now be counted on one hand.
We are now up to the shows that happened last year, starting with May 9, 2006.
The day began with Rick receiving a key to the city of Milwaukee. Video of Rick going to the sound check can be found here.

Here are a few details from the show, taken mostly from a review written by Laura Hoppe, with a few details inserted from other sources:

The DJs from the radio station came out right around 8:00 and talked to us for a bit. All week the running joke was “How many men are in the audience tonight”. And really, for the most part, there were not many men at all.

During I’ve Done Everything For You – Rick had a problem with the lyrics during the “I’m going out on the town tonight” part and he looked over to George (guitar tech, who was standing off to the side of the stage) and I saw him mouthing the words to Rick to get him back on track.

Wild Thing – After the song, Rick grabbed a glass of wine and toasted with a couple ladies in the front row. He asked how many people were here for all five nights and I swear at least half the place raised their hands and screamed. Then he said we were more f’ed up then he thought.

Don’t Talk To Strangers – He remembered all the words and said that he had to “learn it for the Emmy’s”. After “How’s life in the big city”, he added “where every day is Rick Springfield Day”. He did not make any comments during the French lines like he normally does. I can’t remember exactly how many people he made sing, but I know it was at least one security guard and “the guy from Scotland ”. Rick specifically asked for where he was (I guess he goes to the Potawatomi shows each year) and asked him how long his flight was. Rick didn’t understand what he said so he just made up his own number. After the song, he talked about the cruise and mentioned “Naked Night” again. (he actually guaranteed that there would be a naked show on the cruise). I think he is all talk and no action!

Jesus Saves – Someone had what appeared to be a pink Buddha statue that had some sort of “8 ball” type thing on the bottom. Rick asked it a couple questions – the first being “Am I going to hell for writing Jesus Saves?" Then aswer was "I'd die for this" and Rick said "what kind of an answer is that?" He then said that he had a Buddha money bank at home that was similar to this. He turned if over for a different answer and this time it said "Hallelujah", so he said "I'll take that. Does that mean yes or no, I don't know'. He had that statue most of the other nights too during Jesus Saves.

Jessie’s Girl – At the end he said that he couldn’t break any guitars because he couldn’t afford to bring that many for a five night show.

Love Is Alright Tonight – He ended with “Thank you ladies and gentleman, we’ll be here all week” and clapped and the air kiss.

Overall, it was a very high energy show. I haven’t seen a show since last September and there just seemed to be an extra spring in his step for these shows. Rick’s voice sounded great and the band was awesome as always. I didn’t check the time but I know the show was at least 1 ½ long.

More concert photos and Laura's full review can be found in the concert section.

Full Set list:
I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Affair of the Heart
I've Done Everything For You
Rock of Life
Wild Thing
Last Train to Clarksville
Fire
Come Together
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
Going to the Chapel
Another one Bites the Dust
Speak to the Sky
Gloria
Surf Song
Life in a Northern Town
Under the Milky Way
Alyson
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
You Really Got Me
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Love is Alright Tonite
(photo by Kelly Pivoney)

6 Days

Night 5 of 5, May 14, 2005. This was a fairly "normal" show, nothing really out of the ordinary.
There was an announcement at one of the previous shows that if you had ticket stubs for all 5 nights they were giving away something after the Saturday show, so those of us that brought our ticket stubs were given a t-shirt. The front said, in the left corner - "The Northern Lights Theater at Potawatomi Bing Casino Welcomes Rick Springfield". The Back said, large on the back -

5 Years

5 Shows

1 Rick

May 10-14, 2005

Milwaukee, WI

The Full Set list from the show was:

I'll Make You Happy
Will I?
Affair of the Heart
IDEFY
Rock of Life
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
I Get Excited
Fire
Broken Wings
Beautiful You
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
Wild Thing
Kristina
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Alyson
Living in Oz
Love is Alright Tonite

More pictures from the show can be found in the concert section.

Next up, the shows from 2006 (which I did not attend), so we'll be doing this "with a little help from my friends" :-)

7 Days

One tiny little week until the madness beings. We are up to the show that took place on Friday the 13th of May, 2005.
In the featured picture, Rick is trying to smash a balloon with his guitar.
Fun Fact from this show: we found out that Rick keeps his eyes open when he's having sex.....What?....During Don't Talk to Strangers he made a comment to someone who just sang that she had closed her eyes when she was singing, so that must mean that she closes her eyes when she's having sex, and he said "I keep mine open". While there were no real off the wall requests done on this show, Rick mixed it up some in the middle, and this seemed like a longer set than normal. He did an abbreviated version of Love Me Do, then before going into My Father's Chair, he told the audience that "My American Mom died on Mother's Day". He went on to say that she had saved his life when he came over here as a struggling young lad in acting class and trying to get a music career going and she had fed him and took care of him and said that it was Doug Davidson's mom. He said he wrote this next song about the death of his Dad, but he'd like to do it in honor of her.
Next, he told the audience "My Wife is here", and he said that she didn't come out very often, but when she did, he tried to play this song for her. He said "there's a lot of songs I wrote about her, but this is the one she likes the best". He then played "Ordinary Girl".

Full Set list from the show:

I'll Make you Happy
Will I?
Affair of the Heart
IDEFY
Rock of Life
Waiting for a Girl Like You
Red House
Don't Talk to Strangers
I Get Excited
Fire
Beautiful You
Living in Oz
Love Me Do
My Father's Chair
Ordinary Girl
Eden
Gloria
Love Somebody
Jesus Saves
You Really Got Me
Wild Thing
Human Touch
Jessie's Girl
Alyson
Love is Alright

More pictures from the show can be found in the concert section.