Legions of faithful still worship Rick
At 55, this ex-teen idol is anything but washed up

By DAVE TIANEN

Has anyone seen Shaun Cassidy lately? How about Leif Garrett? What's Bobby Rydell doing these days?

Few things in the music business are as finished as a former teen idol.
Unless you're Rick Springfield.

At 55, Springfield continues to record, 24 years after his smash hit "Jessie's Girl." He has a new album, "The Day After Yesterday," coming out July 12. RCA Legacy just released a double-disc greatest hits set, "Written in Rock: The Rick Springfield Anthology." And he continues to tour, playing 50 to 70 dates a year.

As teen idols go, he has had a better run than most. But the hits dried up, as they always do. The last one was "Rock of Life" back in 1988.

Springing back to life

Fast forward to Tuesday night at Potawatomi Bingo Casino's Northern Lights Theater. Springfield is opening a five-night stand at the theater, and as in other cities, the audience is peppered with women who have crossed continents and even oceans to be there - for all five nights.

One of them, Monika Koenig, has come to Milwaukee all the way from her home in Germany . Ask her why and she answers simply and directly: "He never plays in Germany ."

Diana Lawrence, a 43-year-old legal secretary from Orange County , Calif. , has seen Springfield more than 100 times, and she's also in town for all five shows. Her work station is so plastered with pictures of her and Springfield from various meet-and-greets that her co-workers keep asking if he's a relative. She schedules her vacations so she can follow the singer around the country.

"People just don't get it," she says. "You feel like a teenager all over again. He truly brings me the best joy."

Teresa Chyzie, 44, of Ontario is another five-nighter. She's carrying a picture of Springfield that her daughter had made into a mouse pad. On Friday, she's getting together with other members of a Springfield fan club so they can raffle off Springfield items to raise money for a little boy fighting cancer.

She says she told her husband: "I don't want anything for Christmas. I don't want anything for my birthday. I want to see Rick."

24-year devotion

Jane Miller, 37, is wearing Rick Springfield earrings. The third-grade teacher from Madison has seen Springfield a little more than 50 times, but she's coming to all five shows. She first saw Springfield in concert when she was 13, and she admits she still goes to garage sales looking for old issues of Tiger Beat or 16 magazines with stories about the singer.

"I'm a Rick junkie, and I need a fix," she says. "If you knew how much I've spent following Rick. . . . Rick's like potato chips. He's better than potato chips."

Before the show, it's obvious this is a kind of communal sisterhood with friendships that span generations and continents.

Bob Rech, entertainment director at Potawatomi, says that whenever a show is announced on the singer's Web site, he starts to get calls from all over the country. Northern Lights plays host to a lot of heartthrobs with a mature following. Tom Jones was just there, and Michael Bolton and Chris Isaak are coming this summer. None of them seems to inspire quite the devotion Rick Springfield commands.

Baby, he's got it

At 55, Springfield could pass for 40. The hair is still full and black. Offstage, the former soap star (Dr. Noah Drake on " General Hospital ") wears dark-rimmed glasses. A runner and swimmer, he doesn't look to have gained five pounds since 1982. The show is high-energy and intense, and by the end, he's soaked in sweat. Afterward, he's open and cordial and gives every fan at the meet-and-greets a hug and a picture.

But even he struggles to explain the fan phenomenon.

"I didn't just keep doing the same thing," he says backstage on Tuesday, "and I've had something to say. When people get a little older, what you're singing about is very important.

"I have a good sense of humor about it, and I try not to take it too seriously. I think that's part of why they're here. It's not that I'm this special thing."