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It is possible she would have stopped for any man posing for a photographer along this busy stretch of beach front highway. Especially if the man's idea of sartorial splendor included plaid pants and a Bee Gees belt buckle. But in this case, the jogger's detour had a definite purpose.
"Are you Steve?" she asked.
The man nodded.
"I like your new song," she said. Then she ran on, leaving Steve Poltz with a comliment he wasn't expecting and the kind of suprise he doesn't plan on taking for granted.
"I'm cautiously optimistic right now," the local singer-songwriter said,staring past the camera at the El Nino-tossed Pacific. "I think it's best to fly gracefully under radar. That way you don't expect too much. It makes me happy to be doing what I really want to do, but it feels like it took 15 yrs to get to this spot."
Not this spot, which is two minutes from the one-bedroom apartment he shares with a jumble of books, CD's and Replacements posters. The spot he means is higher in altitude, chillier in temperature and scarier by nature. It is best known as On the Verge, and with his solo debut, "One Left Shoe," being released Tuesday on Mercury Records, it is the place Poltz is learning to call home.
"There is a lot of pressure," said Poltz, who performs on Tuesday night at SDSU's Montezuma Hall. "I just have to realize that I have a bunch of new besty friends right now, but if the Album doesn't sell,, I'm yesterday's news. I realize that, and that's why I'm cautiously optimistic. I just don't want to be let down.
THE STAR-MAKING MACHINERY
Until last year, San Diegans knew Poltz as the leader of the Rugburns, the 14-year-old band beloved for such classy tunes as "Hitchhiker Joe" and "Pile on the Hangover." Except for pockets of loyal fans in Detroit and Cleavland, the rest of the nation didn't know him at all.
Then came a series of events that raised Poltz's profile considerably. First came "You Were Meant For Me," a little ditty he wrote with his pal Jewel during a Mexico surfing trip. The song stayed on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Singles charts for a record breaking 64 weeks, and in addition to playing her leading man in the video, Poltz joined Jewel for high profile duets on the "Tonight" show and VH1's "Hard Rock Live."
In the midst of all this hoopla, he signed with Mercury Records, home of Hanson, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and the kind of big-lable activities that take some getting used to.
"It's embarrassing. I've never had 'people' before," Poltz, 38, said of the record-company staffers now in charge of his life."They laugh at me at Mercury, because I still want to do everything myself. I'm picking up my faxes at Kinko's, and they're saying, 'Steve, you're a big boy now.You've got to get a fax machine.' Inside, I've got this Little Princess part of me who really wants a fax macine. But it's still fun to go to Kinko's. I know people there."
In the past few months, Poltz has done his best to earn his keep. He has pressed music-industry flesh. He has smiled for radio programmers. He has performed hi sensitive new songs in the middle of noisy resteraunts. He has done all this because the record company told him to, and because Jewel agreed.
It's been like a game of leapfrog with us," Poltz said. "When she first came to San Diego, it seemed like I had a huge following, and she asked, 'How can I get a huge following like that?' Now I can call her and ask, 'Did you ever do 10 interveiws in one day, and then do three shows in a warehouse for rcord company people?' And she said, 'Yes. And you should do it all.'
So I am.
THE POLYESTER PAST
If you have ever watched him lead the Rugburns in an evening of beer-quaffing, cross dressing, guitar-string busting debauchery, you know that going from the gusto is not a problem for Sreve Poltz. For that, you can blame Uncle Louie.
"My Uncle Louie was a music teacher, and when he put on one of his recitals, he had me sing some songs from (the musical) 'Oliver,'" said Poltz, who was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and raised in Palm Springs. "I loved the way it felt to entertain. I remember thinking, 'Huh, this is fun. You don't have to work, and people give you things.' And here I am, still doing it."
By the time he turned 17, the thrill of show tunes and catholic hyms had faded. "Bored, Alienated and sick to death of Palm Springs, Poltz took the next logical step toward artistic freedom. He joined up with people.
"I was too dumb not to know they were geeky. And in 1977, they were actually kind of cool," Poltz said, settling in his saggy couch. "I remember watching them and thinking, 'I just have to get out of ths town.' So when the show was over, I went up to the band and said, 'I play guitar, can I leave with you guys?'"
Anyone seeking evidance of Poltz's Up With People past can find it in his wardrobe, which is heavy in flared slacks and man-made fibers. It is also there in his ability to look wholesome and friendly, even while wearing a pro dress and combat boots.
But the most gratifying result of Poltz's polyester pop experiance can be seen in his live shows, where the jaunty "Silver Lining" (which Poltz co-wrote with Jewel) can lead natutrally to a reverant cover version of TLC's "Waterfalls." He sincerely loves all music, no matter how corney or commercial. He makes no apologies for this, but he does have a reasonable explanation.
"I'm probably the only guy in rock 'n' roll who toured Mexico singing Up With People songs in Spanish." Poltz said. "I think that's why I can appreciate Barry Manilow and the Replacements. Without sounding new age-y, almost any kind of music can make me happy."
THE REALITY CHEC
Inside Poltz's La Jolla apartment, the clutter speaks Volumes. On the stairs--a homade valentine from a neighbor and piles of audition tapes from potential music-video directors. On the coffee table--a work order from Southwestern Cable ("I've got legal cable now!" Poltz exlaimed with glee); $200 in Hard Rock Casino chips he forgot to cash in; and an invitation to a black-tie Grammy Party.
His schedule for the day is scribbled on the back of a manilla envelope. His tour itinary is trapped beneath a can of Manderin Orange Slice. And in the middle of this contradictory evidance sits Steve Poltz, who is celabrating his big-time record deal by releasing an album that's about as hip as a macarame plant holder.
Subtly produced by Steven Soles and lovingly played by a studio full of high-profile session musicians, "One Left Shoe" trades the Rugburns' manic wackiness for James Taylor-esque romanticism. From the moony "Everything About You" to the Lovsick "Leavin' Again," Poltz's album is the kind of sentimental album people either clutch to their chests or toss out the window. Poltz knows reactions to his soft-hearted debut are likely to be violent, and he doesn't mind at all.
"I know this is probably a big risk. I'm sure a lot of Rugburns fans will pick it up and go, 'What is he doing?' But the funny thing is, I don't care what people think, because I made the record I wanted to make," Poltz said, sounding suprised be his own nonchalance. "Usually I care a lot more. But this time, I know that makng any oyher kind o record would be a lie, and I don't ever want to be anything less than honest."
Then again, there is the matter of the jogger.
Like the programmers at Local stations 91X and 92.5, Poltz's athletic fan was clearly taken with "Silver Lining," the infernally catchy first single off "One Left Shoe." Take the single's breezy charm, throw in Poltz's winning stage personality and Jewel's enthusiastic support, and you have a formula for suprise success. What you don't have is a guy willing to get carried away by it.
Even though 'You Were Meant For Me' did really well, I still drive the same truck I've had since 1989. I still live in the same place I've lived for eight years. I don't really need anything else."
"It seems like everything is lined up for me, but just as easily, nothing could happen," Poltz continued with a grin. " And if nothing does happen, I'll have a great album to show my kids. If I get dropped from this lable or any lable, I can still do what I'm doing. If 20 people show up to a club, and omebody let's me sleep on their floor, I'm fine."
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