My Name is Kris and I Blah-g

A year ago, my sister took me to see a Rick Springfield concert. Tickets for the concert went on sale shortly after Mike’s funeral and in an attempt to lift my spirits and give me something to look forward to, she got us admittance to the concert in Wendover, NV. The venue there, although removed from the casinos, in a separate stand-alone building, still does not offer admittance to anyone under the age of 21. Michaela was quite disappointed that she wasn’t going to go. That night was pretty exciting. It was the first time we had seen him in about 8 years. At the last concert, we had 2nd row and he managed to find Debbie and give her a face full of somethin’ somethin’, much to her dismay. It was almost a scandal and a memory that we won’t soon forget. At the Wendover concert, Rick did is signature move into the audience and again found Debbie’s chair and in a split second I managed to capture her wrapping her arms around his waist. It was amazing and I couldn’t believe her luck! TWO TIMES! What would the concert this year hold for us? The odds were good, especially since we had the Rick Magnet (my sister) going with us. 

This time, Michaela could go. For months we have been listening to his live CD in the car going to and from school. Michaela knew his songs pretty well and would often ask me about his concerts. Will he sing Jessie’s Girl? Of course. How about Kristina? Maybe. It’s not a song he sings at every concert. Think I could sing with him? You never know! And so it went like this nearly every day for 4 months. We about reached critical mass this past weekend as the show drew closer and finally we could hit the road and head to St. George. 

We reached St. George by 2 in the afternoon. The concert didn’t start for 6 hours so we had lots of time to kill. So, we headed up to Tuacahn to see where it was and get the lay of the land. Mom is mostly wheelchair bound so we needed to know what we were up against. For what it’s worth, we…I mean, I was up against a hike – a steep one  - to wheel her up into the amphitheater. By dinner time, I was getting that funny butterfly feeling I used to get as a teenager when I would go see these concerts. I was feeling pretty silly about it. I was actually excited! I was excited for Michaela to see her first rock concert. I was excited to see Rick in a really cool place and I was nervous about getting a camera into venue. In fact, when the time came to go to the concert, we came up with a plan to wheel mom in and then I would take her wheelchair back to the car and retrieve my camera, my jacket and blanket. Despite having called the venue and being told that cameras were ok, I was paranoid. This wasn’t some little point and shoot camera. This is a professional grade camera with a zoom lense. I stood at the van for awhile debating how I’d sneak the camera in…wrap it in a blanket? Put it in my camera backpack? I rehearsed each scenario and finally settled on wrapping it in the blanket and stuffing the blanket into my backpack. Then I trudged back to the amphitheater, hoping that I wouldn’t have to open my bag. And I didn’t have to. They do things a little different there and seemed pretty lax in any rules. I made it to my seat with out anyone questioning my bag but for safe measure I kept the camera hidden for a while longer. It seemed like NOBODY had a camera as big as mine. I love Rick but I think I love my camera more…or was it the $1400 I spent on it? That’s probably it. I just didn’t want it taken away! Soon I spotted a couple people with big cameras and figured it was safe to introduce mine. Wow. That zoom lense really zooms!

So, the concert started about 15 minutes late. No biggie. We had 5th row center which were REALLY awesome…until the groupies sat in front of us. And then in front of them was a person that I affectionately called the Boobie Woman. Her breasts were not human. Nor were they God-made. But the dude she forced into taking her to a Rick Springfield concert didn’t seem to mind. His hand stayed firmly on her bottom all night. I am sure he was staking claim or at least reminding her that she must have promised him a little something post-show. I wonder what the promise was if he danced and actually sang along? I’ve never seen a guy sing along at one of these concerts but this guy did. Anyway, these people gave us an eye full in many ways but mostly because we were subjected to their wiggling butts and concrete breasts for the duration of the concert. I don’t think they sat down once. In fact for the first 10 minutes of the show, I don’t think I saw Rick’s face for more than 2 seconds because between them and the groupies in front of us, we couldn’t see a thing. My poor mom couldn’t stand up because of her leg and the people behind us were seething mad more than we were. And I was pretty mad!! Finally a lady a couple seats down invited Michaela and I to sit near her. What luck to have empty seats there and we ended up having a good view for the rest of the show.

Poor Rick was sick. He apologized for being “froggy” but explained that he hated to cancel shows. I was thankful for more reasons than one, namely because we had driven the 4 hours to see him and I was glad I wouldn’t have to explain to a disappointed 6 year old that she wouldn’t get to see him after all. Disaster averted! Rick’s cold made for a couple difficult moments with his singing but for the most part he really pulled it together and gave a highly energetic show. It’s very difficult to take pictures of the man because he moves constantly. But I snapped away feverishly hoping that maybe I might get at least one good one. My camera is tricky. I am still very much a novice and trying to figure it out. The automatic setting would allow for seeing the setting of the venue which was spectacular but he was out of focus most of the time. So I kept it on manual and fiddled with the settings some more until I found one that would work. I got lucky. By the end of the evening when I peered down at the camera to see the final total, I noticed I had taken 278 pictures. Whoa!

So, the big news of the night came when the intro to Don’t Talk to Strangers started. I quickly whispered in Michaela’s ear to remind her that this song was usually a sing-along. And sure enough, Rick was already off the stage at this point and entering the seats of the first couple of rows. Debbie motioned for Michaela to come closer as Rick climbed over seats and through the outreached arms of overaged women trying their best to be teeny boppers and cop a feel. Yeah, ok..so I was one of them and I admit that I tried! But I am not as brazen as some of these hussies women. I respect the guy enough to know that there should be boundries! But I digress… Back to Michaela…he found her standing there with eyes as big as saucers. He stood like a giant over her, standing on the back of the chair in the row in front of us. Meanwhile, I was struggling to capture the moment on camera. #(!&*(#&*! zoom lense!! Otherwise great for distance, at two feet? Not so much. I fell to my knees. No luck getting far enough away to get little Michaela in the shot. I sank to my butt. Close but no cigar. I leaned back…WAY back, pushing the lady next to me away as I struggled for more room to get the perfect shot. This moment was going fast and I was going to miss it!

What is your name? He asked. Michaela. Michaela? I have a niece named Michaela. How old are you? Six. Six years old? Will you sing with me? Michaela nods her head. Yay!! I lined up the shot just as he put the microphone out to Michaela to sing. To cheers of the crowd and to Rick’s delight she didn’t disappoint. She sang out strong to which Rick exclaimed, She’s just too freakin’ cute! 

The rest of the concert was a mass of controlled chaos after that. The crowd went bizerk. Michaela was in awe. By the time he came out for his encore and wrapped up the show with Kristina (yes!!!), I thought she’d reach her emotional boiling point. The first notes of Kristina started to play and I quickly darted a look her way and she glanced back with her jaw dropping to the floor and yelling to me, “This song’s for YOU, Mom!”

I didn’t think I’d have this moment with Michaela for maybe another 8 years or so. But now that I think about it, I guess by the time she’s a teenager and has formed her own taste in music, she probably won’t be interested in seeing my old teenage heartthrob with me any more. So I guess I had better jump at the opportunity while I still can. As we left the venue, Michaela was a jumble of nerves. She exclaimed that she had tons of energy and she could feel it in her tummy. Welcome to the post-concert adrenaline rush, kid. Feels good, huh? So this was an exciting night for all of us. What great fun it was to recreate that moment from 27 years ago when I first got to see Rick Springfield with Debbie and my mom. This time Michaela was there and it was like seeing him for the first time all over again. 

I found that the easiest way to share the photos from the concert would be to put them together in a slide show format. You can view the pix via the link below. The file is a little big (40MB) so give it some time to load. Enjoy…