He didn’t serenade me with an acoustic version of Jessie’s Girl (“You have to pay for that”), but I’ll forgive my childhood crush Rick Springfield because he was so candid, so interesting and so game during our time together yesterday. And we did spend a good bit of time: First he came to the myTalk 107.1 studios to appear on Shop Girls. “Is this live?” he asked as his music began to roll. It was – and my co-host Alexis Walsko and I really got him talking, and even laughing – clearly not his comfort zone. Eat your heart out, Barbara Walters, Rick talked to the Shop Girls about his wife’s reaction to his book which details his many, many illicit trysts (she doesn’t want to read it and is on a spa retreat to escape the media glare), his future writing plans (novels, healthy living guide – sky’s the limit), his work out regimen at a “ladies gym” in Malibu – alongside Matthew McConaughey and Pierce Brosnan, and what he has in common with Paris Hilton. We also hit on the serious side of the memoir – Rick’s lifelong battle with depression.  Hear the full interview.
Then it was on to Mall of America where Rick signed copies of his new memoir “Late Late at Night.” I asked him what it’s like to have groupies show up in t-shirts emblazoned with his face. “I don’t think of them as groupies,” he said. “Groupies are girls who come backstage and want to have sex. They’re fans. And it’s nice.” Ok, then!
After two hours of autographs, Rick and I went shopping. For all the celebs that are “muchtoobusy” to give me 20 minutes, Rick was quite willing to spend more than that: he wanted to go “shop” for vintage cars (his fleet includes a ’63 Corvette) or hit an animal shelter (no kidding- I spent three weeks back and forth with his publicity team trying to arrange this around his schedule, mine and the limited hours of far away car places). But he also wanted to get back to writing and get to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for dinner, so we settled for book browsing at Barnes & Noble and talked about everything from Star Wars to sinking ships to Sci-Fi. A parent to two boys, just like me, he promised I would one day again have the time to read. You can read all about my shopping escapades with Rick Springfield in the Pioneer Press on Sunday, Oct. 24.