Rick Springfield signs autographs at Cape music store ahead of benefit concert

Rick Springfield arrived at PMac Music right on schedule to the whoops and applause of fans. A line of autograph seekers curled around the Cape Girardeau store's aisles and reached the door.

Springfield, a Grammy-winning musician and one of the stars of the TV soap "General Hospital," came to Cape Girardeau for a benefit concert between tour dates to promote his new album, "Venus in Overdrive," which includes three songs written about Sahara Aldridge, who died Nov. 5, 2007.

He'd performed to raise money as she battled cancer, including a packed 2006 Show Me Center concert, which helped her parents, Shannon and Amy Aldridge, pay their daughter's medical bills.

The Aldridges organized a solo concert, which quickly sold out, at Buckner Brewing Co. tonight to provide scholarship money to Mississippi Valley Therapeutic Horsemanship. The Oak Ridge facility provides horse-assisted therapy to children and adults with disabilities. Sahara Aldridge participated in the program, thrilled to trade her wheelchair for a horse, according to her mother.

Sisters Tracey Brakefield, 32, and Lisa Brotherton, 42, of Farmington, Mo., were first in line this afternoon for Springfield's PMac autograph session. Brakefield held the compact disc, "We are the 80s" and Brotherton had the DVD "Live in Rockford."

The women came to Cape Girardeau to decompress after burying their mother, Helen Brotherton, who died Sept. 12 after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

It was supposed to be a "do-nothing weekend," Brakefield said, a time to loaf around the Drury Lodge and read books. The sisters had attended Springfield's Show Me Center concert but didn't know he was in town today until Brakefield, browsing the Internet for a Sahara Aldridge update, read about it online. She called the number listed and was disappointed to learn the concert was sold out. But Brotherton called back and learned through Shannon Aldridge that two fans had returned their $200 tickets after being unable to attend. The sisters bought them and said today they felt the turn of events was a gift from their mother.

"We were here to celebrate Mom," Brotherton said. "This makes it all a special weekend."

Rick Braswell, 45, of Cape Girardeau, arrived at the store and donated autographed baseball cards for the auction before buying a Springfield recording and lining up with other autograph seekers.

"Helping children with cancer is a good cause," he said, adding that his friend Robert Floyd, had told him about the event.

Springfield arrived on time, looking relaxed and tanned, wearing dark sunglasses and sat at a table, autographing his CDs or other memorabilia while chatting with fans. The sound system alternated tracks from his "Lives in the 80s" and new "Venus in Overdrive" collections. Springfield didn't stay seated long, moving around the table in order to pose for photos with fans.

Timexx Nasty, front man for the Cape Girardeau band Drivin' Rain, was among the autograph seekers, as was Allycen Farnsworth, of Layton, Utah, who came specifically for the benefit. She met the Aldridge family in 2001 in Las Vegas.

"It's like a big family," she said.

Amy Aldridge stood to one side, watching the action. Th Aldridges had spent the morning with the singer and others at Mississippi Valley Therapeutic Horsemanship. Aldridge said she was excited to see nearly 100 people busy in and around the barn.

Matty Spindel, a Grammy-winning sound engineer who tours with Springfield and knew Sahara, was with the visiting group. He said it was "really pretty great to see all the kids coming alive as soon as they got on the horses."

The hardest part for him was seeing her photo displayed in the barn. Springfield saw the trip a little differently.

"I loved Sahara deeply and still do. Her spirit's still around. I come here to give her a hug," he said.

Seeing the horse therapy in action "was overwhelming," he said.

Springfield said watching the riders interact with the horses "just goes to show you there's more going on than we know."

The singer finished the autograph session and headed out to prepare for tonight's concert at Buckner Brewing Co., where owner Phil Brinson said he was "donating just about everything" in order to maximize the effects of the benefit. He praised Amy Aldridge for "trying to keep her family going and work her full-time job and do this great big event. She has a lot of help, but she's driving this bus."

Brinson said Springfield was "an amazing person" for supporting the Aldridges.

On Friday, Springfield played the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., with John Waite; on Oct. 11, he'll perform in Port of Spain, Trinidad, with REO Speedwagon.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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