I feel 12-years-old, jumping-up-and-down, posters-on-my-bedroom-wall happy.
I was a huge Rick Springfield fan back in the day. The first concert I ever went to was Rick Springfield with opening act Corey Hart ("Sunglasses at Night"). I clapped so much that, the next day, I had bruises on the palms of my hands. I screamed and sang so much that my voice was scratchy.
(Note: This isn't something that only happened decades ago. This also happens every time I see Bret Michaels with my dear friend Laurey Glenn - but that's a happy post for another day.)
The day before Rick Springfield's concert, his "people" came to the rental car agency in Shreveport where my mom worked. They rented a large passenger van. My mom asked if they would please consider asking Rick to leave something in the van for me.
AND HE DID!
When the van was returned, there was an empty Budweiser can (yes, I kept it in my room for years) and a receipt. Rick had a case of laryngitis while he was in town and he'd sought treatment from a local doctor. The receipt was a piece of pink carbon paper with Rick Springfield's signature on it.
I may still have it somewhere in the cardboard box of mementos my mom brought to my house in Birmingham years ago. I think that pink sheet of paper is tucked in amongst the folded notes on loose leaf paper passed to me between classes at Byrd and numerous notebooks full of short stories and ideas for novels.
More than a decade after that first concert, I saw Rick Springfield again at one of the casinos in Bossier. A coworker at The Times gave me tickets and Jennifer Townson and I went to the show. When Rick came out he said, "Hey! You all got your braces off!"
I may or may not have screamed just as much as I did when I was 12. I remember Jennifer and I got a kick out of the newspaper's sports editor at the time who was sitting a few rows ahead of us and who, no kidding, was absolutely losing his mind over the sight of his favorite musician.
But can you really blame him? Just listen to the opening chords of this classic song.
Damn, that makes me happy.
In related happy news, another blogger has joined the movement. I feel like the Oprah of happiness up in here, changing lives one blog at a time. Everybody gets a free caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrot!
Carrot. Here's a photo of Miley Cyrus dressed as a carrot.
I'm an unemployed, single mother. You can't possibly expect me to give you a car.
Related posts:
The Gold Shoe Blog
That's Just My Opinion
Nothing But Time For Me
My Sweet Addiction
Jen Talks A Lot About
Stellar Fashion and Fitness
BeautimousBurger
0 comments:
Post a Comment