Rick’s Girls
Rick Springfield gets by with a little help from his Utah fans-and maybe an Ab Roller.

Rick Springfield wrote indelible pop hits, played a mean guitar, sold millions of albums, toured like a dog—and still, more often than not, he’s written off as “that pretty boy from General Hospital.” Oh, the curse of a soap-opera paycheck.

Already a rock star in ’70s Australia before the hit “Jessie’s Girl” and his role as Dr. Noah Drake on GH converged to make him an American pop icon in 1981, Springfield enjoyed more diehard fan support than critical respect, something that hasn’t changed much 20-plus years later.

He doesn’t sell millions anymore, but he still writes catchy tunes, shreds the fretboard, hits the road steadily and yes, he’s as much a pretty boy as ever (trés Dorian Gray). His latest album, the hard-edged Shock Anger Denial Acceptance (RickSpringfield.com), is even notching some favorable reviews. Not bad for a 55-year-old musician without a label behind him.

These days, he relies on the grassroots efforts of fan-run street teams to get the Word of Rick out, people like Layton’s Allycen Farnsworth, who oversees and coordinates Springfield’s indie promotion in Utah and five other states. She wears the title of Western Regional Manager, but it’s an unpaid gig done strictly out of fandom.

City Weekly: When you’re not working for Rick, what do you do for a day job?
Allycen Farnsworth: I’m a top-notch executive assistant for an elected official of local government.

CW: Do they know you’re a Rick Springfield, uh, “nut”?
AF: They do! They heard when I won a radio contest in 2000 to meet him—the one person I had ever wanted to meet. So they know. Some of them even like his music.

CW: Who else makes up the Utah chapter of the Rick street team?
AF: There are about eight of us signed up in Utah. I’m sure all will be at the concert—we’re small, but loyal.

CW: When did you first become a Rick fan?
AF: When I saw him on General Hospital in 1981. “Jessie’s Girl” was my favorite song, but I had no idea the dashing Dr. Drake and the singer were one in the same until I saw him on American Bandstand. I thought, “What’s my favorite doctor doing singing my favorite song on Bandstand?”

CW: You’ve since met the man, the myth, the legend in person?
AF: Yes, many times. I don’t think I “know” him nor him me, but I do think he kind of recognizes me—and doesn’t run screaming away! Ha!

CW: If you weren’t a grassroots Rick promoter, is there anyone else you would do this for?
AF: Aerosmith, but they don’t need my help.

CW: Rock stars younger than Rick aren’t holding up nearly as well. How do you think he looks so good for being 55?
AF: I hear he has an Ab Roller; that’s gotta help. Plus, his shows are so high energy—that keeps him young, and young at heart. He has good jeans, er ... genes, too!

CW: Would you prefer him to be acting more than rocking, or vice versa?
AF: Oh, rocking. Music is my favorite thing about him. Really, I love his creative lyrics, and I could watch his fingers play the guitar for hours. [Swooning detected]

CW: How do the ’80s albums of former General Hospital co-star Jack Wagner stack up against Rick’s? Or, more fair to Jack, who had the better mullet?
AF: Hey, Jack Wagner is on The Bold & the Beautiful now, and he has a pretty good song on there [“Going Back Again,” which Wagner debuted on the CBS soap]. Rick is really a very talented musician and songwriter; he’s had 17 Top-40 hits—highly underrated, in my humble opinion. Jack’s talented as well, but it’s not quite the same.

CW: Was Rick’s brief period of “going Vegas” (EFX Alive, 2000-02 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand) a scary time for fans, like he was becoming, pardon my French, Celine Dion?
AF: Not really. For me, I loved having him so close [to Utah]. I saw that show numerous times, but mostly it was about spending time with like-minded fans and meeting new ones I had only “met” online before. The show was a blast!

CW: Given the prominence of “Jessie’s Girl” in the soundtrack, shouldn’t 13 Going on 30 have been a less lame movie? And would a 13-year-old girl in the late ’80s—not early ’80s, when the song hit—actually be listening to “Jessie’s Girl”?
AF: You know, I thought that exact same thing. I noticed right off the music wasn’t current with it being 1987, but it still let me escape for 90 minutes.

CW: At least he’s not doing any more movies, himself. Have you ever made it all the way through Rick’s craptacular 1984 rock-stars-in-love flick Hard to Hold? Seriously, the fan line has to be drawn somewhere.
AF: I have to be truthful here: I saw it 13 times in the theater, and many, many times, too many to count, since—it’s a great movie to iron to!