Rick Springfield phoned us this week to chat about his upcoming four-episode guest arc on Showtime’s Californication. (The David Duchovny sex romp returns this Sunday at 10 p.m. ET; Springfield makes his grand entrance on Oct. 11, playing a twisted version of himself. We’ll tell you more in the issue of EW on-stands Oct. 2.) At the end of the call, he dropped the news that he’s currently shopping his autobiography. He sent the prologue and opening chapter around town last week. Though (hopefully) not as explosive as Mackenzie Phillips, Springfield assured us he’ll be “brutally honest about anything other than the things that will put me in prison.” Nice start! Asked for a sample anecdote, he gave us a pretty great one:
“Well, I went to Vietnam in 1969, with a band when I was 17 or 18, and we toured Vietnam for three months. I almost killed the band, blew us up with a hand grenade. And we basically lived off the good grace of the hookers there and bought dope off the little kids. I look back on that and I think, I’m lucky I’m not dead from it. The only way girls could make money back then was to be a prostitute. I was a young man, and we were all pretty cute, and they would give us freebies. I went home with this one, and I said, ‘Okay, I got to go back to the barracks now,’ because we stayed with all the soldiers in tents. It was pretty rough, it wasn’t like a USO tour at all. It was just this private guy that brought Australian bands over because we’re the closest occidental country to Vietnam. She threatened me, ‘She said, if you leave tonight I’ll kill you.’ So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll stay.’ [Laughs] You never knew who had an AK-47 under their bed in Vietnam back then….”
And here, we thought we’d just be reminiscing because 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of Springfield’s film debut, 1984’s Hard to Hold. Looking back at that, Springfield admits he learned a valuable lesson. “You can only polish bad writing so much. I thought Eh, the writing’s okay, but I think I can nail this one. It’s got to start with great writing.” He also acknowledges that “playing a rock star might not have been the very best thing because people thought I wasn’t acting. I don’t think people quite understand that when you’re a musician and you play a musician, if you’re doing it right, you’re still playing a character. I mean, you don’t hire a doctor to play a doctor on TV, you hire an actor to play a doctor. The fact that I was also a musician didn’t really enter into it when it came to the scenes because the scenes weren’t something I would say.” (For the record, Rick Springfield will be acting on Californication.)
One other bit of news: The second annual Rick Springfield & Friends Cruise is set to sail on Nov. 12 from Miami. Roughly 1,200 fans came aboard for last year’s jaunt. This year’s trip to Cozumel will feature special guest Richard Marx, who will also play intimate concerts and share the stories behind his songs; the company of Springfield’s 88-year-old mother, Eileen; a free CD of Springfield’s hits re-recorded with reggae beats; and, fingers crossed, plenty of alcohol. “Last year, I had a few too many glasses of wine and wandered into the piano bar at 2 a.m. and started playing songs,” he says. “To see hundreds of people crowding into this little piano bar, it was hilarious.” Drunken adventures with fans, Chapter 2?
Photo credit: Jordin Althaus/Showtime
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Uh oh, I think I’m about to find out way too much about my first love.
Is there anyone here willing to go on this cruise with me?
Lets hope he wasn’t sleeping with Mackenzie Phillip’s father, too.
One thing Springfield is know for is his openness and honesty. You can hear it in his music. I’m sure that same honesty and openness will reflect in the auto-bio as well. I’m looking forward to reading it.
Rick is the best a great person!
Awesome Singer Songwriter Musician and Animal Lover and Humanitarian!
Grammy Winner Dad Husband and Our Friend!!!
Sincerely,
Jane & Enrique,
http://www.myspace.com/janeandenrique
Thank you so much for this interview! I am thrilled to hear he’s finally doing an honest book about his life & quite happy he was willing to share this excerpt with us. Can’t wait to read it!!
To Broadway Baby (and any other Rick fans who are able)…you should GO on the cruise! I went last year with my husband & it was a dream come true sailing the high seas with RS & friends.
You won’t regret it.
The piano bar impromtu was the best experience ever!!!
Rick rocks!!!
Wherever you go, whatever you do, my career is dying just next to you…what a sad group of men dying to still be adored.
Yikes…do you have nothing better to do today than be a moron. If Rick is “adored” it is well deserved adoration…and who are you to judge others if someone chooses to be a fan? Go find something better to do.
i love rick springfield
OOOOO! I can’t wait for the Oct.2 newstand issue to read more! Wow! He’s an amazing guy! AND, doing another cruise? Wow, what an actor, musician, humanitarian.
Ok, enough about this loser. His answer is F****** appalling, and would get him in jail at this point. But he’s probably lying to make himself feel like a “badass”, instead of the loser 80s person he is.
Just sad.
It’s sadder still that you feel the need to come here and make personal attacks against Rick. Says more about you being a loser than it does about him.
1200 Fans went on this cruise last year? Where are they on this blog, defending him? Oh, that’s right, the shuffleboard crowd shuts down early on the Florida Keys…and how many on the cruise knew who the hell he was, and didn’t just fall into the bar that night? Pathetic much?
Whoop! Whoop! Anti-fan alert….anti-fan alert. What’s that sound? 1200 fans letting your rude comments go in one ear and out the other. It takes pathetic to know pathetic and looks like you know ‘em all, sugar!
I’m not sure what is more sad, Rick and the other has-beens, or the sad women paying to get attention from them.
It’s a sad exchange of money.
Hey Taylor, nothing in that article is more sad than a person who has nothing better to do than post THREE nasty comments to one article at EW.com. Get a life, buddy.
Awww…did he ignore you when you asked for an autograph at the tender age of 13? Isn’t it time for you to get over it by now? LOL
I spent 1/2 a day with Rick this summer in Minneapolis during a private concert for my brother’s company. He’s 60 and looks and sings like he’s 30! I must tell you he was incredibly gracious and kind to everyone including the little kids in the crowd… to the 22 year old blonde babes… all the way to the screaming 50 somethings. I can’t say enough nice stuff about him..I work for a popular Rock Station KQRS, and he performed easily as well as the guy he used to be confused for “Bruce”. You’re a good man Springfield!
I would do this cruise in a heartbeat, but why is Richard Marx tagging along? Ugh, he is a deal breaker!
No way! Richard Marx is just as awesome.
Taylor, jealousy has madey you ugly my friend. I think your the one who needs a life because Rick does for charities and organization, what have you done? He did concerts with proceeds going to the family of a sick girl, what have you done?
Rick is a celebrity who is sweet humble man who didnt let it go to his head. And you sit behind a computer screen acting all high and mighty, whose the loser now?