Rick Springfield took time out of his busy touring schedule to speak with Soap Opera Digest about his new CD, Christmas With You.

General Hospital fans can pick it up on December 18.

Soap Opera Digest: So, let's talk Christmas.
Rick Springfield: This whole thing came about as a way to do something for our troops. There's only one original song on the Christmas CD. It's the title track called "Christmas With You." Derek Hilland wrote it about the perspective of the troops being away from home at Christmas and the music video for it features photos and names of fallen soldiers. The song isn't long enough to put all of them in, but it does feature a lot of our fallen soldiers, men and women.

Digest: Where did the inspiration come from for that?
Springfield: We wanted to do something rather than complain. If I see one more "War isn't the answer" bumper sticker I'm going to drive my car right into the other car. It's not a political statement. It's just in support of the troops, the men and women who gave their lives in service to their country. My dad was a lifer in the army. I grew up on army bases. Derek's dad was in the Air Force and he fought in Vietnam.

I played for the troops in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, so it's something we felt honest and truthful about. I've been to Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center in Maryland] and talked to some of the guys who just came back from Iraq with serious head wounds. People ought to get out and actually do something other than just f---ing talking. I don't mean to get on my high horse.

This is a little tiny thing that we thought we could do and the proceeds go to the gold star mothers, who are parents who've lost children over in Iraq.

Digest: How would you describe the rest of the tone of the CD?
Springfield: I wanted the stuff to be traditional sounding, but I never liked rock Christmas albums. I like stuff you can put on, light a fire and put up the Christmas tree by. They're all songs that I grew up with and loved.

When people used to write songs back then, they wrote them for the church and for God — and that's basically what these are. These are some of the best pop songs of the day. Some of the music is staggering when you get into it, when you look at the chord structures and the melodies.

It's never too early to make plans for the summer of 2008, is it? Especially when it means you can meet one of your favorite One Life to Live actors.

Here are details of the Trevor St. John Fan Club event...

When: August 15, 2008 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Where: The Fountain Room at The New York Marriott East Side at 525 Lexington Avenue in New York City, NY
Appearances By: Trevor St. John (Todd Manning)
Ticket Information: Visit St. John's official website to reserve your seat today.

Following a performance of "Die Mommie Die!" last week, Van Hansis was asked about Luke Snyder being part of Soap Opera Digest's Best Love Triangle of 2007.

The response of the As the World Turns star?

"That's great. I thought it was a really interesting way to tell a classic story. It's a story that happens in real life, so why not tell it on a soap opera, you know? And it uses the conventions of the soap opera, the triangle, and it's applicable to real life and it gives it a new twist."

John McCook recently talked with fans of The Bold and the Beautiful via an online chat.

Regarding his character's relationship with Stephanie (Susan Flannery), McCook said: "Eric will never stop being connected to Stephanie but he does not like who he is when he is with her anymore. He's happier with someone who is not committing felonious acts and manipulating relationships all the time.

Eric thinks Donna is wonderful. He loves her. He is surprised by that and happy to be spending this time with her."

Thanks to Soapdom.com for this tidbit:

Tune into As The World Turns on Friday, December 21 for a special Christmas episode that brings a turn-of-the-20th-century dollhouse to life, while depicting the residents of Oakdale in situations that may or may not be reminiscent of their own.

ESPN Radio's morning hosts Mike Greenburg and Mike Golic of "Mike & Mike in the Morning" will be making an appearance on Guiding Light in February.

The two have discussed the show on air in the past because former NFL star Mark Schlereth occasionally guest stars on the series as Roc Hoover.

Here are excerpts from yesterday's discussion of the show between Mike and Mike. They sort of give away some Guiding Light spoilers...

Greeny: We are going down there Friday to tape our episode of Guiding Light. I’m told it will air on February 20th, so we’ll remind you if you want to see Mike and Mike on Guiding Light. But, here are the characters they wrote for us. We’re not playing ourselves. I assumed we’d play ourselves.
Golic: No we’re not. One thing I’m excited about: I immediately searched “wardrobe” for what I was going to have to put on, and I get to wear what I wear on the show here. So, it works out pretty well.
Greeny: So we’re shooting this thing Friday right after the show, and here’s the characters they’ve given us. We play brothers, Greg and Elliott. I’m Greg, you’re Elliott.
Golic: I’m Elliott!
Greeny: In our scene, the brothers, Greg and Elliott, have a run-in with the town minister, Josh Lewis, and his ex-wife Reva. It seems that one of the minister’s sermons inspired both Greg and Elliott’s wives to leave them for each other.
Golic: Yes! We’re both married, but our wives leave us…
Greeny: …for each other…
Golic: …and hook up.
Greeny: Now, let’s make it very clear. We have nothing to do with this. They wrote this for us. They have us playing brothers…
Golic: Brothers. Let me tell you what: talk about brothers from a different mother! Are you kidding me?
Mark: You know it’s sad when the two of you are such bad husbands that you drive your wives to each other.
Golic: And, we get in a fight! We get in a fight with a minister and his ex-wife over this.
Greeny: In stereotypical Mike and Mike fashion, it says, “Elliott (Golic) reacts with broodish anger, while Greg (Greeny) is depressed.” This is what they wrote for us!

As Days of Our Lives fans know, Nadia Bjorlin made her return as Chloe Lane last week.

Her presence, of course, provided for an unfortunate surprise for Belle (Martha Madison). Here's what went down, in case you missed it:

Upon her return to Salem, Chloe accidentally bumped into Belle in an airport hotel; she immediately assumes that Belle is on her honeymoon with new husband, Shawn Brady (Brandon Beemer). But she discovers her mistake when Philip (Jay Kenneth Johnson) - Chloe's former flame - steps out of the room.

The shocking encounter was enough to get the wheels in Chloe's head turning, as she immediately places Philip in the hot seat.

"Philip spends the next few episodes trying to convince Chloe that nothing's going on," Bjorlin told the New York Daily News. "He says, 'We're just talking about Claire, but we keep it from Shawn to keep Shawn from feeling jealous.' Chloe doesn't buy it for a second. She's a smarter cookie than that."

As you can imagine, there's a lot trouble ahead for Philip and Belle, while Chloe herself is going through changes, considering the end of her fairytale marriage to Brady (Kyle Lowder).

"She's not the same naive, sweet Chloe,” Bjorlin said. “Even though Chloe has always had a bit of cynicism and sarcasm to her, it's been amplified since she went to live abroad, got married and is now divorced."

The Days of our Lives star added: “It would be easy to say, 'I'm back in town. I'm divorced. Now, I want Philip.' But we're not quite sure what Chloe's intentions are. She does instigate a little something with Philip, but then she realizes Philip wants nothing to do with her. He only has eyes for Belle."

Welcome back to The Soap Dispenser. As another week of daytime TV drama is in full swing, here are our soap opera episode recaps for Tuesday, December 4...

• All My Children
• The Bold and the Beautiful
• The Young and the Restless
• General Hospital
• Guiding Light
• As the World Turns
• Days of Our Lives
• One Life to Live

Thanks for visiting The Soap Dispenser for your soap opera spoilers and news from The Young and the Restless to One Life to Live, Days of Our Lives and all the rest. Thank you for making The Soap Dispenser the #1 soap opera site online!

Joshua Morrow actually tried out for The Bold and the Beautiful before landing his current gig on The Young and the Restless at age 19.

Did you know that? Here are a few other interesting tidbits about the actor:

• As a child, Morrow dreamed of being a professional baseball player.

• In 1997, Morrow guest-starred on The Nanny, starring Nicholle Tom, younger sister of Heather Tom (The Bold and the Beautiful), who at the time played Morrow's on-screen sister, Victoria.

• He was a member of the pop group 3Deep with Eddie Cibrian (ex-Cole; Sunset Beach; ex-Matt, The Young and the Restless) and CJ Huyer.

Soap Opera Digest recently tried to interview Michael Park.

But the As the World Turns actor insisted that good friend Ricky Paull Goldin be involved. A fun time for all ensured. Here's a snippet of what went down:

Digest: Michael, what made you think of inviting Ricky?
Goldin: Maybe it was because I booked the place first.
Park: We blame it all on Martha Byrne [Lily, As the World Turns], right?
Goldin: Possible, yes.
Park: We'd see each other and hang out at the St. Jude's benefit, which is missed.
Goldin: Yes, yes. I always knew Michael. We kind of knew each other on the peripheral. Years ago, I walked into the benefit and he was holding court. He had a lovely suit on, he was completely covered in wine — somebody had spilled it on him — and he was performing. Remember this?
Park: Yeah, a fan dumped wine all over me.

Goldin: But he's so good onstage. Very charming. Even though everybody was talking and wasn't listening [everyone laughs]. I'm only kidding — he still kept going, like a trouper. That's what I love about him.
Park: And so that sparked it all.
Goldin: He's Michael, he was on Broadway doing Smokey Joe's Café.
Park: At the same time that you were doing Grease.
Goldin: That's right.

Park: But we work in a medium that is perfect to do a cabaret and raise a little money. My friend Ron had passed away, so I wanted to raise money for his family. It was a perfect idea at the time. But the more we talked about it, the more people Ricky invited to do the cabaret. So everyone from Guiding Light was there, and me.
Goldin: Well, they wanted to get up there.
Park: He invites people with him onstage.
Goldin: That's fun!
Park: You're a little nervous. You like to be with people and ham it up.

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