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Posted By: The Rick Springfield Experience |
Date: 10/25/09 |
Somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45pm: I was at home unwinding, debating whether or not I should brave the weather and go down to the stadium with fingers crossed that Rick would be there. I was curled up with a bowl of ice cream, getting ready to watch Everybody Loves Raymond, when the phone rang. It was Andy who handed me over to Tom Osbourne (one of the promoters, Vaughn Rowsell is the other promotor). He explained that Juice was due on stage at 8 and Rick to follow however the inclement weather diverted his plane to Gander. He was en route in a taxi but wouldn't get in town until around 10 or 1030. They needed to fill the time in between (quick thinking on the part of the organizers) and wanted to know if Blue Eyed Blonde was available. In my reindeer PJs, bowl of ice cream in one hand, cell phone with Tom waiting for my reply on the other end, I did some sort of tippy-toe dance around the living room and told Tom to give me 20 minutes. I hung up and that's when the stuff starting flying through my head... "do I have clean clothes", "do I have time to shower", "Is Jim (drummer) playing tonight?" "Why am I looking through this box".... I was frantic...that's when I called Fred (guitar). In a calm voice, I asked him if he wanted to open for Rick Springfield.... silence.... I asked again... "when" he said.... I looked at the clock...."In alittle under 2 hours..." again, silence.... "Yep, let's do it!" He called Jim (drums) and Mark(bass), I called Jamie (keys) and after about 20 calls and text messages, I called Tom back with a "Yes - we're good to go!". To add to the drama, Jim was home with his 5 month old and wouldn't be able to leave Mt. Pearl until 8:30 at the earliest...
Through the jigs and reels, the whole band was at Mile One rearing to go shortly after 8:30. We hung out backstage listening to Juice, going over the setlist and all of us like kids, with goofy smiles on our faces, in disbelief... We were opening up for Rick Springfield in less then 30 minutes.... The big joke was "let's open up with Jesse's Girl" - one of the crowd favorites when we play our regular gig at Club One. Of course, we never went near that... We settled on Does Your Mother Know - ABBA, Don't Go Breakin' my Heart - Elton John and Kiki Dee, Blondie's One Way or Another, Queen's, "Break Free", George Michael's Faith and finished up with Fleetwood Mac's "Go your own way"... we had several others to do but we got the "one song" cue from the monitor guy, Adam.
After the show, Jim (drums) had to take off and play a show at Greensleeves, the rest of us stuck around for the show. Jamie and Mark had to slip out early but Fred and I hung out for the rest of the show. We went back to the meet and greet and got our pic taken with Rick... It all happened fairly quickly as Rick was tired after the day he'd punched, but he was still so gentle, giving all the star-struck ladies a hug, signing their albums. He was wonderful. I have a new found respect for him after the show he put off... Out of this world!
Overall, what a sense of pride we woke up with this morning (Thursday). Not only did BEB pull it off, we played one of the best shows in our 7 year history. Yes, it was a rush but it doesn't surprise me one bit that we pulled it off. We're a tight family. And speaking of family, if we didn't have such supportive partners, this wouldn't have been possible. The 4 guys have families, collectively 7 children and one on the way and I want to say a huge thank you to Dana, Sharon, Charlene and Donette and my Fiance Matt for their constant support and understanding. Matt was out of town and he still can't believe he missed seeing the band do their biggest show yet!! The audience was so receptive and encouraging...Singing along and cheering... What a feeling... One of the things that i'll never forget was this little girl in the front row... I spoke to her during our set and told her when i was her age I had dreamed of being on a big stage like this someday. I used to play with my Jem and the Hollograms dolls and pretend I was a singer... I told her someday if she really wanted to, she too could be up on a stage singing.... and low and behold, if Rick didn't get her up on the stage that night to help him with "Don't Talk to Strangers".... I filled up. So touching... That little girl will never forget that...That's the kind of guy Rick is... He's real... not too many performers would punch the day he punched (flights diverted, 3 hr taxi ride in a snowstorm, no proper meals,etc) and still put off a high energy, heart felt show... He truly is a superstar.
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