Hoarding Rick Springfield

It was a red-letter day (not to mention my favorite actress Sharon Wyatt's birthday) when I got to see Rick Springfield on "Anderson Live" and with the Sound City Players on the same day.

I went to Anderson Cooper with my vintage General Hospital/Chiller bud Carol and coerced her into doing the "Tweet Seats," in which you basically have permission to Tweet throughout the show. Personnel post some of the Tweets on a videoboard as the show is going on and I racked up a bunch of Tweets during this time.

On this day, they were taping a segment on Katherine Heigl, then starting a show with co-host Marilu Henner, a very touching segment on hoarding and how tragedy and even genetics can really factor into someone falling into such habits. And then finally a segment with the secret "special guest," who wasn't actually much of a secret to most of the assembled women there.

The special guest was hidden behind a sign, and we had a pretty good vantage point of watching him while Anderson had five questions to figure out who he was. The second question about Rick's history with Linda Blair elicited laughs, even from Rick, when Anderson asked if he was Satan, and Rick gestured that some people have wondered that very thing.

It took the full five, but Anderson finally delivered the right answer and Rick came out for another segment. Anderson interviewed various Rick diehard fans, none of whom would actually ask him a question when they had the opportunity because they were too nervous. I don't know, if I had a crack at my first love after three decades of fanaticism, I don't think I would beg off so easily, but that's just me. All the non-questions were edited out when the show aired.

After the show, Carol and I had a nice lunch where we toasted Miz Sharon and shared stories over pasta and strong drinky-drinks. We never did make a drunken "Happy Birthday" video of dancing under tables or on top of cabs, though. Maybe that's a good thing.

The next part of the evening for me was the Sound City concert. Mark came in for the show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and as it was general admission, we stood for about two hours before the show even started. With every guest coming out to play four to six songs with Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins and the rest of the Sound City regulars, they warned us it was gonna be a long night.

And it started out that way, with some of the more eclectic punk and alternate guests -- like Lee Ving (best known in my circles as Mr. Boddy in "Clue") -- providing energy and sound, but I think both Mark and I wondered if we would make it through to the likes of Stevie Nicks and John Fogerty.

Prior to each set, some of their clips from the Sound City Studios documentary were shown on a big screen to whet everyone's appetite. So Mark was psyched when Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick was shown. And truth be told, he provided quite a boost to the night. He was joined by Krist Novoselic (hey, I've seen two-thirds of Nirvana live!) Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins stepped out from behind the drums to do his best Robin Zander impression. He was having the time of his life. And it was stupendous to have Dave Grohl show off his formidable talents at the kit in the process.

The good news: It was so LOUD in there that there was no opportunity for people to have their own conversations and rain on the parade. The musicians were jonesing as much as we were too, for they sported some top-of-the-line hardware for the shows. Nielsen was rocking his famous '59 Les Paul and Fogerty trotted out his '56 Gibson gold-top Les Paul AND '57 black Les Paul custom. And Mark was amused by Grohl's pelham blue Gibson Trini Lopez model.

Now I always think of Rick as a musician who really loves his craft, but of course, to most of the world, he's considered a former teen idol. But when he was backed by musicians of the caliber of Dave Grohl and company, it really showed off the former to much advantage. First they did the song they wrote together for the Sound City album, "The Man That Never Was." Then a couple of songs from Rick's days at the legendary Sound City studios -- "I've Done Everything for You" and "Love Is Alright Tonite."

The latter number really got me going, and I was pogoing like I haven't since a Pearl Jam concert, all of the exhaustion disappearing during that time. I think I was amusing the people in my immediate vicinity too, which is a good thing, since you're about as close as you can be at a general admission show. They didn't even mind the occasional bump or flailing arm.

Rick really thrived in the environment, just getting to be part of the band rather than an "idol." Lots of great conversation between Rick and Dave during the set, their banter really showed off the mutual admiration society. They swung into "Love Somebody" and then a prolonged conversation about the most famous three notes in rock and roll before jumping into "Jessie's Girl."

We got John Fogerty after that, and although he didn't actually do tracks from his time at Sound City, it's hard to not be swayed to movement by "Centerfield" and "Bad Moon Rising."

And then the big finish ... Ms. Stevie Nicks, who apparently was battling pneumonia that day. She and Dave started off with a throaty "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" and she touched everyone's heart with the poignant story behind "You Can't Fix This," which she wrote after the tragic death of a young relative. Just as affecting was the most beautiful version of "Landslide" that I think I've ever heard and a striking take on "Gold Dust Woman" that I can't imagine being topped by Fleetwood Mac on their upcoming tour.

Then it was time to "pick up the pieces and go home." And that's when all the activity of the day just wiped us completely out. For at heart, it was easy to get into the spirit of the entire day. But physically, "even children get older ... I'm getting older too."