A Steve Poltz Christmas!

It's the long awaited return of Steve Poltz with Dave! Steve is, well Steve....awesome as usual!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
And now My Heart Media presents theDave Rigards Podcast, the Dave Rigards Podcast,
and right now on the Dave RecordsPodcast, It's a Christmas special with
your favorite guest, San Diego legendSteve Poultse. Today you're going to hear
how no other performer has ever playedhurt like Steve. Does nothing keeps this

(00:26):
man from performing for you, howhookers have influenced some of his biggest career
decisions, and a throwback Christmas childhoodstory for you from Steve so settle in.
This is my holiday present to you, your favorite Steve Poultz. Let's
see here. Who is I knowwhat I'm doing? You know what you're

(00:47):
doing? Should I put in myheadphones? Do you think it's up to
you? I'm getting a total mindkick on this lid you're wearing there.
I can't tell us that like acheetah thing or what's going on up there?
Tiger with camo underneath? How youdoing? I'm doing so good.
I'm drinking a cup of tea.I'm with you. I'm with you right
there. Cheers to you and happyHolidays to you. I hope you had

(01:11):
a good Thanksgiving. Everything good inthe Poltz family. Yes, are you
a tea drinker or a coffee drinker? How about coco with little itty bitty
mini marshmallows for the holiday? Isthat okay? Yeah, you're drinking coco?
Yeah? Why not? It's youknow, it's it's Christmas time.
I want to be in the spirit. You know. That's the coolest thing

(01:34):
ever. Have you been, mydear friend. I miss you. I
miss you. I'm home in Nashville. But behind me on the screen is
the Golden gate Bridge. I don'tknow why I can't get that off.
I really don't know what I'm doingfor somebody who does a lot of stuff.
It got stuck there. Good,it's you know what, It's a

(01:55):
pretty picture, So why not,right? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
but I'm doing good. I justgot back from Canada. I did this
whole tour from Nova Scotia all theway to Ontario, and I did about
thirteen shows without a day off,and I had I got sick. Well,
I was up there, Dave.I was so sick, and I
didn't test if it was COVID oranything. I was just like, I

(02:17):
don't even want to know. I'mwith you on that. If I get
a cold anymore. I just wantto I don't want to know. I
just I want to wait for itto be over and just move on with
my life. You know. Yeah, I just wanted to play the shows,
and you know, you know witheverybody COVID and that's well, I
doubt that happened. But that's avery, very whole thing. Let's think

(02:39):
about this. I wonder if weshould go through the litany of Well,
first of all, can I introduceyou, first of all, Steve Poltz,
my dear friend for I don't knowhow many years, and I'm Steve.
Back in San Diego, where Ihad a radio show for many years,
people came up to me and said, hey, you know, Steve

(02:59):
Pole is available for interview. AndI said, well, who's Steve Poltz.
I didn't I hadn't met you yet. I didn't know the whole Steve
Poltz world. And they said,oh, you got to have this guy
on. He's fantastic. And Iam dubious about that people send me,
but I said, all right,I'll go out here on a wing and

(03:21):
a prayer and I'll have Steve Poltzhunt. And boy, I'll tell you
it was the greatest, greatest recommendationanybody ever made to me for having a
guest on our show, the greatSteve Poltz, And I don't know.
You'd probably made maybe a dozen orso appearances on our radio show over the
years, and everyone somehow got betterthan the last one. Every single one

(03:45):
of them was a fantastic hour atleast of you storytelling and playing your songs
and just catching up with you.And at one point we asked our audience
a ten listener poll. We alwaysask him the working questions like who do
we vote for for president? Andshould I have another baby? And who
is the greatest host we've ever hadin the history of our show? And

(04:10):
ten out of ten people, allof them voted Steve Poltz the greatest guest
in the history of our radio show. That's true, It's true. You
are everywhere you go. It wasa landslide victory. Surely was it?
Surely was? I mean this PresidentBiden is Donald Trump. You could beat

(04:31):
them all if you would run forpresident today. Pale And I know there's
a lot of people who who lovethe idea of that, But you know,
you talked about you played ill theother day and it made me think
about how many times you have beenon stage with a little something or a
catastrophic something. You play hurt allthe time. Oh man. We used

(04:55):
to play in San Diego, andwhen I say we, I mean the
Rugburns back when we were a duoand it was the eighties, and I
was on a softball team, aseverybody was doing back in those days,
and we were playing somewhere in ElCahoone and this guy I was playing second
base, and this guy thought itwas the seventh game of the World Series

(05:18):
and he came right into me,slid into me at second base, elbow
first, and knocked me out,and my nose was pushed to the side
of my face and I was knockedout, blood everywhere, and I remember
I had to go to the hospitaland they said, we can't even straighten
your nose out yet and operate becauseit's so swollen. You got to go

(05:42):
home for a few days to letthe swelling go down. And I had
two big black eyes. But Ihad a gig that night at Kelly's Pub
in Old Town. I go,well, I can't miss the gig.
So I showed up with a concussionand my nose pushed over to the side
of my face. And this isback before we all had iPhones. Everybody
just looked at me like, WHOA, this guy is crazy. And I

(06:03):
played the gig and got through itand then got my nose operated on,
and yeah. Then another time Iwas in Hollywood, California, playing at
a bar and we did an encoreand I came running out and there was
a low ceiling and I was wearinga wedding dress because for our encore we

(06:26):
would do a shore from Rocky HorrorPicture show called Sweet Transvestite. Do you
remember that song? Of course?Yeah. So I'd go backstage and my
manager would throw a dress on mewherever we found it, and then I
put lipstick on my base and Iran out and bashed my head into the
ceiling and got knocked out, andthe band thought I was kidding till they

(06:47):
saw there was bladber. At firstthey went, that's a good one.
And then we were playing the nextnight again in Los Angeles and we were
opening for the punk rock band Xat the House of Blues and the doctor
said, you can't play for acouple of weeks. You have a concussion.
And I said, I'm going toplay. Not only that, we
got T shirts made really fast thathad the picture of all the fifty six

(07:10):
stitches up my skull. We soldall the T shirts and he said,
Mommy, I'm sorry. I cameout on stage. My forehead was so
swollen. I looked like a vulcan. And I played the shown. I
was like, damn fouts. Isaw one time you played with a broken
hand on the club. You're aguitar player. For those who have not

(07:36):
yet discovered the miracle of Steep Boltz, he's a guitar player, he's a
storyteller. He's got a broken hand. No, I can't miss my gig.
So he goes right out. AndI guess you did like a storytelling
session that was only going to lastfor a few minutes, and you ended
up doing like an hour and ahalf on stage with a broken hand.
Yeah, all spoken word and Istrum the guitar and opened tunings and play

(07:58):
it with a glass to try toget a slide sound for a couple open
chords. It was horrible sounding,but I could still sing. But it
was hard playing guitar. So Ijust talked a lot, and the guy
said, just talk for twenty minutesso that people don't ask for their money
back because I'm seriously broke and mywife's going to divorce me. And I
fell off of a hill because Iwent skiing with the bartender who was just

(08:20):
insane, Like the guy picked meup at six in the morning and was
doing bong load rips and drinking peppermintschnapps, had a gap between his teeth
and bloodshot eyes. And the guywho inn the club said, whatever you
do, do not go skiing withIan. He's insane, And so I
did. He said not to y, Yeah, I better go skiing with
him. So you go out onstage, you got something like duck taped

(08:43):
to your hand or you're playing.Yeah, I had a cast. I
had to get surgery. Oh mygod, it was a mess. Does
anything ever top the stroke? Youhad us shock on stage? And what
did you do? I kept performingthrough a stroke, Yes I did.

(09:07):
I kept performing. I had astroke and I went blind and I just
couldn't see, and I was repeatingverses of the song and people thought I
was doing it just you know thesame way that you know the guy that
was on taxi, Andy Kaufman,would do when he would do stand up
just to annoy the audience, youknow how he would push things. Sure,
but I didn't know what was goingon, and I completely had a

(09:31):
stroke, went blind and was afterthe show. I was signing records.
I couldn't see, and I wentto the hospital and I was in the
hospital for a week. So youhad a stroke on stage, You finished
yourself, and you did a merchandiseline before you even got medical attention.
Yes, I had to the showmust go on. Well you are,

(09:52):
There's no question. Nobody will everdoubt your showmanship. I remember you telling
me the story of the stroke,and you had a doctor's name in your
phone. You'd met a doctor.I think he was a sports doctor,
wasn't he Yeah, he was thePadres doctor, doctor Kakahashi. But you

(10:13):
didn't look I had him in asbatman. Why why did you do that?
Why did you put him in asbatman? Oh? Because he had
a special bat phone number he gaveme. He had like three cell phones.
He was really a popular doctor,and he goes, this is my
bat phone. Nobody has this number. But he was such a face viewer,
is he he? He gave youthis special number just in case anything

(10:35):
should ever happen. Yeah, hereyou are at the hospital. You've you've
suffered this stroke, you're having difficultiesand what did you start telling the doctors,
I've got to call Batman or somethinglike that. Yeah, going to
my phone and call Batman. Andthey looked at me like what and they
were like, there's nobody on yourphone named Batman. There's bat phone.
And I was like, that's it, and they go doctor Kakahashi. That's

(10:58):
how they called them. I wasthinking about this when we were getting ready
to do our interview here again.I remember that you texted me right after
we retired our radio show, andI was just looking this up. It
was back in January of this year, and it says Steve Poltz here,
howdy David, hope you're enjoying retirement. Just wanted to send you well wishes

(11:20):
me and migo. Isn't that nice? I remember that you do those nice
things. You're a very thoughtful person, So thank you for doing that.
Well. Your show was always thebest. And I've done radio from here
through Canada to Australia, New Zealandand Europe. No show had the call
to action that your show did.It was crazy your listenership. I've never

(11:41):
seen it stronger on anything. Man. When you go on your show,
all of a sudden, my showswould be sold out. It's the craziest
thing I've ever seen. I've doneradio where I've shown up and I go
to anybody see me on TV today? And there's no hand Rais did everybody
hear me on this radio station?Nothing? Your thing? Hundreds of arms

(12:03):
go up, they all crazy.In San Diego, which was one of
your homes for many decades, wewere heartbroken when you left and you moved
to Nashville. But I remember thatyour wife, your beloved wife, thought
that this would be a really goodcareer move for you. And as I
recall the legend, there was anargument about it and Steve Polson, I

(12:28):
can't leave san Diego. I amsan Diego? Is that true? Did
you actually make that claim? Idid, And the way you just did
it was perfect. I did itsimilar to that guy who played Walter White
when he said I am the onewho knocks when in Breaking Bad. That's

(12:50):
how I said it, and yousort of reminded me of him in your
delivery. You just did. Yeah. I did say that there may be
people who are experience as you forthe first time. And for anybody who
was saying, who is the StevePoultz, I don't know his music,
I'll bet you do. If you'veever seen the movie Nodding Hill with the

(13:13):
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, thenyou know Steve Poltz because that movie,
as great as it is, wasmade that much better by Steve Pultz's epic
ballad Everything about You. That justa beautiful, beautiful song. Well that's

(13:41):
cool, And this is always agood time of year because I have a
song that's in that movie Jack Frostwith Michael Keaton, and that always plays
a lot around Christmas time, whichis cool. So you see your BMI
checks go up at this time ofyear, which is always good. You
know you're beloved everywhere you go.I was reading about you last night and

(14:05):
I was looking at the introductory paragraphfor my friend Steve Poultz on Wikipedia,
and here's what it says, andI wonder if you'll agree with it.
It says Steve Poltz is a CanadianAmerican singer, songwriter and guitarist. Founding
member of the indie rock band TheRugburns, collaborated on several songs with singer
Jewel, including the nineteen ninety sixhit single you Were Meant for Me,

(14:30):
which reached number two in the US. As a solo artist, he performs
acoustic only and they called it quotegood old fashioned sing along shows. And
I'm like, yeah, that soundslike Steve Poultz to me. Do you
agree with that man? Anything anybodysays I agree with If it's nice like
that, that's nice. I don'tknow who writes those things, but it's

(14:54):
I don't either. That's cool.I'm going to really put the spotlight on
you for a second here, andI don't know if you'd like this or
not, but can you give methree words that you think best describe you?
Creative? Mm hm, stubborn,and weird, parapthetic, weirdo yeah

(15:24):
wait wait wait wait, well isthat one para? Is it parapthetic?
What does that even mean? Ithink it means someone who's always in motion,
travelingpathetic, Those all those all describeyou, that's for sure. Let's
pack up again for a second heretoo, you were Meant for Me.
I'm reading about this and I youknow, I go down the rabbit hole

(15:46):
on these research situations. And I'mlooking at this song reach number two in
the US, and I started thinking, what flipping song? Who was it?
Who was it that kept Steve Poltzand Jewel out of first place in
the US. Do you even knowwhat song it was? I don't,
Yeah, I do, but Iwant to know. I want to know.

(16:07):
Nobody Hold Me Down by Puff Daddywas the number one song. Can
anyone? I dare anyone to quotea lyric from Can't Nobody Hold Me Down?
Anybody? No, of course not. Can anybody, quote Steve Poltz,
dreams last for so long, evenafter you're gone. This is come

(16:30):
on, this is This is magnificentpoetry that you and Jewell put together.
And isn't it true, Steve,that there was a point where you decided
just take the songs, Jewell,go do your thing with it. I
don't want anything to do with itanymore, well as Legend would have it.
Yeah, Legend back after after writingit, and we were in San

(16:53):
Diego, we went to the postto taco shop at like one in the
morning. We crossed back over theborder from Mexico, but we'd been way
down in Bahia. They San LuisGonzaga and We were in a dirty dusty
I think it was an AZUSU trooperlate at night. Not a safe area
to be in at that time ofnight. There's a lot of prostitutes and

(17:15):
drug dealers. Back in the daythere was. It may have now changed,
but I loved going there because youcould always get six year old tacos
with guacamole. And the best thingabout six year old tacos with guacamole is
you get it with a bean andcheese burrito, because then you dip the
roll tacos in the bean and cheeseburrito, and the bean and cheese brito

(17:36):
once you bite the tabab, it'slike this holder for the dip, and
then you get the guacamole and thebeans and the cheese and the crispiness of
the world taco that has the shreddedbeef in the middle. So we went
there to get that, me andJewel, and we had written you were
meant for Me. So if youthink of time on a time space continuum,
a piece of strength. Everybody knowsthat song you were meant for me

(17:57):
now, but back before that,nobody knew it. And there were four
prostitutes sitting there and They said,what are you guys hippies? And I
go, yeah, I guess weare. And we had a guitar.
We were just sitting there. It'slate at night, and they go,
what do you do? And Isaid, we make up songs and they
said sing us a song. Igo, here's one we just wrote.

(18:17):
Now if you picture this, thisis before anybody knew the song. It
had just been written. It's calledyou Were Met from Me, a song
that was you know, went tonumber two, only to be defeated by
puff Daddy. Ain't nobody going tohold me down, if you recall.
So we're there and we sing thissong to the four prostitutes. First I

(18:37):
sang it and they clapped, andthen Jewel sang it and they clapped.
They said tell us, who shouldsing it? And they said, we're
going to go deliberate, and sothe lead prostitute was like the foreman of
the jury, and I said,have you reached a verdict? And it
was a quick verdict, which isnever good news for one of the parties.
And they said, yes, we'vereached a verdict, your honor,
And I said tell us. Andthen the lead prostitute up and looked at

(19:00):
Jule and said, honey, yousing that song that white boy can't sing.
And that's how she ended up doingit, and that's how we ended
up living at Neil Young's ranch andrecording that, and Neil Young's band produced
it, and I played guitar onit and she sang it, and that's
how it became a hit and it'sa masterpiece, it really is. God
bless you both for doing that.I'm glad you brought up Neil Young.

(19:22):
Isn't Neil Young responsible, Steve foryou keeping a little iconic, kicky little
lick in the song. Yeah.So first of all, we lived at
his ranch and the person that producedit was this guy named Ben Keith who
was in the Straygators. He wasso cool and he would played He played

(19:45):
pedal steel on Patsy kleinb singing thesong crazy that old recording, that's him
on pedal steel. So he's anold dude and we're Neil Young's ranch.
So when we recorded you remember me, there's a lick in there of these
harmonics that do do doo, andharmonics are a high sounding natural thing that
happens when you hit a certain threatand don't push it down, but your

(20:07):
finger touches against the threat lightly,not against the threat, but against the
string, and you hit it andso you can hear it on the song.
And I remember they all said,no, that's the coolest part.
We're leaving that in there, whichended up getting used in an episode of
the Office with Steve Carrill and hesings boot kicked out and he can hear

(20:27):
it outside, and I remember Istood up and screamed, I just influenced
a television show. So at somepoint when you and Juel were putting that
song to I mean, was ita complete collaboration between both the lyrics and
the music. Did one do theother? Howd that work out? Yeah,
we just collaborate really well together,and we'll just start singing and come

(20:48):
up with ideas, and she's sogood and just so talented, and so
we just throw ideas back and forth. It's almost like two people playing ping
pong and as you hit the ingpong ball that has a phrase and maybe
a melodic line, and they hitit back with their idea what it should
be, and somehow it becomes thismixture in the middle of the ping pong

(21:10):
table and boom, a song appears, which is really cool. That's how
I love about creativity. And whatdo you suppose happened? Steve? There
was a was there just like amagical year or two going back and forth
between San Diego and Tijuana, crossingthe border to Mexico where that collaboration was

(21:30):
alive and thriving. You know howthey say that word, It captures the
zeitgeist of the moment. Yes,that phrase. I've always loved that word.
And what it was was all ofa sudden. There was all these
women that were having all these songsall of a sudden because we came out
of grunge and grunge was Nirvana andPearl Jem and then you started getting different

(21:52):
bands that were doing grunge and grunge, the light and grunge this, and
then everybody was tired of that andit became like Sheryl Crow, Jewel,
Lisa Lowe, Paula Cole, andthen they had Lilith Fair and so it
was a matter of the zeitgeist andthe timing and her voice, like it
would have never been a hit ifI did it, and her look everything,

(22:15):
I mean, she's beautiful and hervoice is beautiful, and the audience
was ready for this type of acousticsinger songwriter, and I was just a
lucky recipient to be alive at thattime and carve a small little piece of
pie out of it. And sowe're still great friends. But those times
I feel like are gone. Whereyou get those big, really big hits,

(22:37):
nothing last forever. In fact,I think I think those are paraphrasing
some of the words, and youwere meant for me, But don't you
just feel super grateful that you atleast had it for a short time.
Oh man. The crazy thing isit was such a whirlwind. And you
know how like when somebody's president ofthe United States, how the four years
for them goes by in the blink. I feel like for those four years,

(23:00):
I know what that was like.Where we were on private jets,
we were on shows with Barbara Walters. I remember sitting backstage with Barbara Walters.
I remember doing David Letterman, JayLeno every show, hanging out with
all these different stars, you know, like the guy that played James Bond
just once and he he Pierce Brosnan, you know, hanging with him and

(23:23):
all these different people. It's alla blurb, but yeah, I'm really
grateful for it. But you knowwhat's weird, it still is just as
good. It's really life in thefast laying fun stuff, isn't it.
Oh, it's so cool that.I mean, like, I'm going to
be playing the Belly Up in SanDiego. It's a Saturday, February seventeenth,
and that'll be packed. I getto tell stories. No two shows

(23:45):
are alike because I'm not really surewhat's going to happen, but i know
I'm going to just go out thereand magic's going to happen. So for
me, it's just as exciting asit is for the audience because I don't
do some rope show where it's likea set list. I go out and
allow room for creativity and magic andimprovisation. One of the great great skills

(24:07):
that you have, Steve, andvery few performers have this where you can
go out on stage and you justlook around and you start talking to people,
and you have this interaction and itcan become that interaction with the audience
can become more than fifty percent ofthe whole theme of the show. It's
fantastic to watch performers who have thatgift of interacting personally with people. I've

(24:33):
seen you do it lots of times. Oh yeah, well, because every
day is different. So like ifI was going to be playing a show
tonight, all I would be talkingabout as I started the show was how
last night I was kicking it withpopcorn in bed and we have this upper
downer bed, you know that goesup and down sure screen TV, And

(24:56):
how we were watching this movie.And I would first start saying, by
the way, if you get oneof those upper downer beds, One time
our power went out after a bigstorm and we were stuck in the bed
like a taco and we couldn't getit to go back down, so we
had to sleep in the downstairs bed. So I would start the show talking
about that. But I'd say,but I'm not here to talk to you

(25:17):
about tacos. I'm here to talkto you about the movie I saw last
night. I ordered it on Amazonand it just came out. And people
saying they don't make good character developmentfilms anywhere, I'm telling you Alexander Payne's
new movie, The Holdovers is agreat Christmas film. Okay, Oh,
it had all the feels and Ilove Paul Giamatti in it. It's so

(25:37):
goa and I love Alexander Payne's direction. If you're not familiar with him.
He also did the movie Sideways,which was a fantastic film, and he's
just done so many good films.He did Nebraska, he did About Schmidt.
But this new film, The Holdoversis like a boys school in nineteen
seventy one and it's Christmas time andall the kids go home, but a

(25:57):
few are the holdovers to stay behind. And Paul Giamatti is this really mean,
you know, persnickety teacher and hegets asked to be the one to
stay behind and watch the kids.And it's just really a great Christmas film
for those who haven't seen Steve Poltz'sshow, and I hope you will.
If you go to poltz dot comyou'll see his entire schedule. And Sandy

(26:19):
eggans he is going to be athis boy I don't know if you would
call the Belly Up your second home, but it could be. He's going
to be at the Wood Yeah,in February. And Steve is kind of
guy who would go out for awalk and he'd come back. And he's
almost written an entire folk opera abouthis experience for the day. He is

(26:41):
just the most brilliant creative mind andit's it's it's a thrill to watch.
I tell you. I want totell you about an experience I had with
you, and I don't even thinkyou know about this. Many years ago,
you had come into my radio showand you were performing that night at
a theater that was very close towhere I live, and you said,
Dave, how about you come outand introduced me on stage? And I'm

(27:03):
like, oh, man, oh, you know, it is the show
at two o'clock in the afternoon,because that's when I want to be done
with the day. And like,no, the show is at nine o'clock.
I'm on, You're going to party. And my wife heard about that,
and she's like, we are goingbecause she loves Steve Poltz. She
used to buy you socks, doyou remember? She would buy you Bombas
socks and she wears your T shirtstill to this day. She loves you,

(27:25):
big fan of yours. So shesays, we're going. We're going
to this show. So I waslike, all right, I don't know
what I'm going to do. I'mgoing to walk out on this stage and
say here's the guy you came tosee and get off. But I got
there a little early and they tookme backstage to where all the dressing rooms
are, and I was waiting outsidethe door, and whoever it was that

(27:48):
had walked me down knocked on thedoor and opened up, and you had
been inside there for a while withseveral of your friends. And someone said
to you, Dave Rickards this yearand I heard you. You didn't see
me. I was behind the door, but I heard you say I love
that guy. And that touched meso deeply that I'll never forget that moment.

(28:15):
You didn't even see me, Youdidn't know that it happened, but
it meant the world to me.So I want to thank you for that.
Man, And you introduced me sogood. Tell what did I do
here? He is bye, I'llget off stage. I mean no,
you were a natural. You're sonatural behind the mic, it was perfect.
How did you guys even get thatfollowing? I'm telling you I still
will stand on Howard Stern's coffee tablein my cowboy boots and say this.

(28:41):
Your following was the strongest following ofanybody in all of that area. It
would sell out a show. Iwould go go into your show and to
sell out the belly up would belike six hundred and fifty tickets, and
I go, oh, man,I'm going into Dave show and I'm at
four hundred and fifty tickets. SoI wonder if I'll sold a couple of
tickets because of this, And Iwould sell two hundred tickets in an hour.

(29:03):
It was crazy. My management everyonewas like, that's the greatest show.
You got to always be on thatshow. It was like anything for
DSc. Your followers are insane.They are, and they were. They
are the greatest radio audience I've everexperienced of any city I've ever worked in.
They are absolutely the best, andI'll always be grateful to them.

(29:25):
Do you miss it? Oh?Absolutely. Kind of like what you're talking
about, you have your your highsand then your mediums and whatnot. Like
when you were talking about being inMexico and all that kind of thing,
we have the same thing in radio. We had a lot of fun,
and you know that because you werethere for some of the most fun moments
ever on our radio show. Youguys were a well oiled machine. I
remember one time because I used totell a story about David Cassidy, and

(29:51):
unbeknownst to me, you had himwaiting on the line to corroborate my story,
the late great David Cassidy, abouthow I went to his show and
came backstage and kissed him on thelips after I was told don't even get
don't even look at him. You'reDavid Cassidy. Las Vegas story is the
stuff of legend, and you touchedon it just a little bit. But

(30:15):
this is what Steve Poltz would do. He would be singing, he would
sing his version of you were meantfor Me. It would tear me in
half to say, who does abetter version of you were meant for me?
Steve or Jewel, Because Jewel doesit in a sense that brings a
tear to your eye, and Stevedoes it in a sense that makes you
laugh until you cry. I mean, it's just it's fantastic. And you

(30:37):
told the David Cassidy story. Itwas the coolest radio moment ever. Yeah,
it was amazing, I mean encapsulating. I think I think what had
happened was David Cassidy's handling. Peoplesaid, don't talk to him, don't
look at him, don't breathe thesame air as him, and somehow you

(30:57):
did everything you weren't supposed to do, and you kissed him on the mouth,
which I'm pretty sure you were notsupposed to do. All of that
is true, and I was reallydrunk. Wow, that's the funnest thing
ever. Yeah, it was crazy. Liquid courage will make you do things
like that. And the Belly UpShow is going to be my fifteenth annual
fiftieth birthday match, which means I'llbe sixty four because the first annuals when

(31:22):
I was fifty. That's why themath is weird. That's right, I
forgot. Every visit at the BellyUp is a happy birthday show for you,
So we should all bring presents andgifts and cake for you that day.
I wonder if at Christmas time herenow, do you have a standout
memory from when you were a littlekid about a favorite Christmas time of yours.

(31:48):
Well, we were living in PalmSprings, California, and I was
in fourth grade and then fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, and
so I was a altar boy duringa lot of that time, and so
I would serve Mass at midnight Mass, and it would be so exciting because

(32:09):
number one, you're staying up tillmidnight and masses at midnight, so you're
taken out of your normal comfort zone. And as the midnight Mass went on
and on over the years. ThenI was in folk Mass when I was
in like seventh and eighth grade,and my mom, God Rest her Soul,
was the choir director, and Iplayed guitar and there was a girl

(32:32):
who played guitar named Tammy Birt,and we both played these nylon string guitars
and my mom would let us getreally edgy and out there for the mass.
So I remember we would be inthis beautiful church. If you know
Palm Springs, there's the most gorgeouschurch called Saint Teresa's. It's now a

(32:53):
period piece. It's like mid centurymodern looking, and we got all these
candles lined up and we would dosongs from Godspell, from the play Godspell,
and it became such a big thingand there'd be candles and every walk
down and we'd be singing these songsfrom Godspell. And then I remember there

(33:15):
was a movie out and it wascalled Planet of the Apes. It had
come out, and my dad tookme, you know, the on Boxing
day, I think it was tosee it maybe, And I went with
Tammy Burt and took her on adate and I really liked her, and
then I gave her a kiss,and I've never forgotten that. Well,

(33:37):
my dad waited, you know,he dropped me and he said you got
to walk her to the door,and I remember he saw me kiss her
and I got back in the carand he gave me a little high five,
and it was just one of thosemoments as we drove away. And
then he showed up at my showrecently and it was so cool. I
was playing Joshua Treaty Music Festival.Yeah, after all those years, Tammy

(34:02):
came to your show, and youknow, she was telling everybody in the
audience, I made out with thatguy when I was in fourth grade.
Yes, So here's the thing.I saw her there and I said,
it's that Tammy bird from the stageand she goes yes, and I said,
oh my god, this is myfirst kiss. And we went and

(34:22):
saw Planet of the Apes and wewere in folk mass together and then I
said, I love you. It'sso good to see you. And this
is like during the show and Isaid, who are you here with?
And she said, oh, thisis my partner Mary, and I went,
okay, kiss was that bad thatturns you gay? And it was

(34:44):
the funniest moment of the show.Everybody was just dying. I couldn't have
planned it any better when I said, just immediately, I went, the
kiss must have been that bad thatI turned you gay? And it was
just one of those It's a momentI'll never forget. It all led back
to Christmas and doing these songs atmidnight Mass and me, I'm going to
crush on this girl, and it'sjust my memories go. So also during

(35:08):
the Christmas season, across the streetfrom us was this woman and she was
a high priced call girl, ourneighbor, and she and her son was
a good friend of mine. Hisname was Steve as well, and so
we would always play football out front, and then at night, these men
would pull up in these cadillacs andhis mom would come out and she looked

(35:29):
like Jajah Gabor. And you gotto remember, this is in like the
late sixties, early seventies, andit was like the reign of Frank Sinatra,
and everybody was hanging out at aplace called Jillie's and sort of mob
influenced, and I remember his momused to drink a lot. And one
night she came over and we werehaving a Christmas party, and she came

(35:51):
over and knocked on the front door, and she had a mink stole around
her neck, and she handed abox of chocolates and I said, oh,
merry Christmas, missus Kirk, andshe said happy Hanukkah Darling. And
I was nine years old and Isaid, oh, are you Jewish?
And she said only by injection,Darling. And I remember I just stood

(36:14):
there and didn't even know what thatmeant. And I invited her in,
and I remember playing my mom's armlike Louc, Mom, what is only
by injection mean? It's just awesome. That's one of my favorite memories for
some reason, because I love howlife is just completely ludicrous and it's like
a movie scene. Seeing that itwould be something out of a Scorsac film

(36:34):
or something. You know, well, the music's playing, yep. So
you got Tammy out there to seePlanet of the Apes. At your first
kiss, you put your arms aroundher, and did she turn to you
and say take your hands off me, you damn dirty ape? Finish the
date that would have been perfect.I wish she would have. Well,
Steve, I'm so pleased to finallycatch up with you again. We've been

(36:59):
talking about doing this for months andyou've been very generous for your time.
Once again. We're excited to haveyou on tour, which you are three
hundred days plus throughout the year.I know that, but I wonder you
would you take just a moment andleave a Christmas Hanukkah message for all your

(37:19):
fans you'll be seeing soon. Whatmessage of the holidays would you like to
say farewell to them with? Here? Hey, this is Steve Polt's wishing
you all the most wonderful holiday youcould ever have, and remember to be
patient and kind to each other.Thank you for giving me that injection of
goodwill, just like your neighbor missusKirk said. And I can't wait.

(37:45):
I can't wait to buy a ticketand come see you when you come to
our town. February seventeenth, Brothers, see them and go to polts dot
com for when Steve Poltz comes toyour town. This is a show you
must not miss. There's nothing likeit. He's the best there is and
he's a dear, dear friend.And I wish you a very very merry
Christmas, Happy Honic, all theholidays to you and the missus. Okay

(38:07):
nays buddy, you too. You'vebeen listening to the Dave Rigords podcast,
Stay tuned for more episodes to come. To reach Dave for comments or suggestions
for future podcast topics, email himat Dave Rickards at iHeartMedia dot com.
That's d A v E R Ic k A R d s at iHeartMedia
dot com. The Dads Podcast