Slow Baja - Steve Poltz Has A (Crazy) Baja Story

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Troubadour Steve Poltz has a legendary Baja tale involving a whale-watching excursion that went comically awry. As he infers, it might not have been as comical as it sounds today in today’s Slow Baja conversation. In the early 90’s, Poltz was a singer-songwriter with a massive cult following in his adopted home of San Diego. He and his girlfriend at the time, a little-known folk singer named Jewel, decided to go on a getaway to write some songs for a few days. Without much of a plan, they headed South and found themselves on a dark and lonely road late at night somewhere south of San Felipe. Finding a few dim lights down a washboard stretch that doubles as an airstrip, the duo broke into a semi-derelict motel room to crash for the night. They awoke to a glorious day on a gorgeous bay; Jewel, taking in the scene, decided they needed to find a boat to go whale watching. The only boat they could find belonged to a group of Federal Police. Poltz surmises that months of boredom AND seeing Jewel in her bikini may have motivated the Federalies to become tour guides. A high-speed nautical chase ensued; Poltz and Jewel were given bullet-proof vests and offered automatic weapons for their protection. They ran the boats hard onto an island beach. A short foot pursuit led to the apprehension of the slowest drug smuggler; after a brief beating, he revealed where they had hidden a massive stash of marijuana. Poltz tells the harrowing and hilarious story and the after-bust-party antics that led to their writing Jewel’s 1996 smash single “You Were Meant For Me,” which reached number 2 in the US. Listen to Jewel tell the story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hBXcpGHPVA And here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHNKgze6ERc Check out Steve Poltz here: https://poltz.com/ For more information about Slow Baja: ⁠https://www.slowbaja.com/⁠ Get your Baja insurance here:  ⁠https://www.bajabound.com/quote/?r=fl9vypdv2t⁠ More information on Slow Baja Adventures: ⁠https://www.slowbaja.com/adventures

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches and hands down my favorite tequila. Well, hello, thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja today. My heaping dose of gratitude goes out to Robin Ruiz. I knew her as Robin Stillman back in the day. Such a fun college pal. Man, I can't tell you all the good times. All the laughs Robin and I had and her sister, Lonnie. Good, good times. Lonnie had great hair. Let's just talk about that for a minute. All right. Well, Robin got me connected to today's guest, singer, songwriter, Trubidor, Steve Polts.

He's got a pretty famous Baja story. Goes back to a little trip with his girlfriend at the time. her name was Jule. It was before everybody knew Jule as Jule. Jewel was not the famous Jewel that she is today. She was just Steve's girlfriend, Jule, who was singing around coffee shops in San Diego. But Steve was the famous one back in those days. Steve had a band called the Rugburns, and they were killing it. They were killing it in San Diego. Steve was a pretty wild man on stage. Anyways, they had a Baja trip. Jule desperately wanted to get out and go whale watching in Gonzaga Bay. And that just cracks me up a little bit. But she was in a bikini, and there were some of some Federales there and they had a boat and they were more than keen to get her out and go whale

watching. And anyway, Steve tells the story. Jules told it on stage many times. You can find it in print. But Steve tells the story today on Slow Baja, and I'm so stoked that he made some time from me. So without further ado, singer-songwriter Trubador, crazy man, Steve Polz, today on Slow Baja. Hey, yeah. Hey, yeah, Steve. All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Steve Pulse. How's it going? In Chicago.

Can't believe it. With a vintage ring around seed company. That's not your nipple seller. That's a vintage seed hat. Where'd that come from? I was just in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I went into a thrift store, and it was sitting there asking for me to buy it. Do you like thrift stores? Yeah, I like, well, I should rephrase that.

Not as much as I used to. I like more high-end ones where they picked through stuff. Exactly. And I have to pay more for it, but. But you're ready. You're ready to get the better stuff. Yeah. I don't have the patience and the wherewithal to dig through a bunch of things.

My wife's good at that. I'm not, I can't even read a whole menu. I'm not even kidding you. I used to be able to. I just don't. I think as I'm always traveling, and there's always a menu. and I've always got to be somewhere. I don't want to think.

Does that make sense? It does. Like, I just don't want to think about, it's just one more hassle having to read a whole menu. So, I can peruse it fast and just go, this hounds all right. Yeah, and you can instantly find this hat

that somebody else found. Yeah. And say, you know what? That hat looks great on me. And the guy was pointing at all these other hats. I said, I was looking for a kind of a cool hat, vintagey. and he kept showing me all these other ones I went

that's the one I want and I knew it looks great on you I make decisions really fast do you know what I mean I think I do know what you mean I'm going to show you a couple of things that I don't like to labor over them that got sent to me today

I hope that I hope we're going to make you laugh you're going to need your readers on buddy so scroll through these whoa Yeah, we're going to... Kelly's Pub. Uh-huh, Kelly's Pub, exactly.

Whoa! I need that one. Uh-huh, just wait. Just wait. I need that one. You're going to get them all. Whoa. Yeah, so my friend Robin, who told me that all I need to do is reach out to you.

Whoa. Social media and drop her name. These are some drawings she did for you back. in the day. I don't know if... What's Robin's last name? Stillman. Oh, yeah. Robin. She has a sister named Lonnie. Nice. Nice memory.

Yeah, Lonnie and Robin and... Is there one other sister? You know, Robin and Lonnie were the only two that I knew. Yeah. Didn't they live in Point Loma? They did. They lived at San Diego State. Well, anyways, Lonnie lived at San Diego State when I was there, and Robin came onto the scene after I'd moved to San Francisco. Robin's so cool. And Robin, if you're listening, had you been in San Diego back in the

day. You were so much fun. So she was so funny. Where does she live? She's I think still in San Diego La Mesa. And Lonnie's in Arizona I think. You got it. You got to dial on all your old girlfriends. She shows up everyone's on my shows. She's so nice. There you go. Great. She had great hair back in the day. They're both really cool. They are. But you know, Steve, we're here to talk about you and Baja, and you have a Baja story. And I thought we should start. this thing and just you've told it before Jules told it before but I think we ought to just get this thing going with it's hard for me to tell it anymore really because I've told it too many times and if I'm not in the mood for it it's like I find I can't really sell it does that make

sense like I've always gone to Baja and I've always been in love with Baja and what I love is I like when I cross over and the security guards are just kind of just slowly waving you through and they just it's like they can't even be bothered and they have those opaque palish brown uniforms on and it's like once you cross over madness ensues there's people with one leg selling you chicklets there's families there's three-legged dogs walking all around there's different smells different eye candy to see. And some people are looking at you with a suspicious eye while others are welcoming to others.

You're just a white gringo who represents money to them. To others, they're very happy to have this sort of repartee with you and to get to know you. And my favorite thing was going down and just driving. And I used to go there alone a lot. I just always had this sense of wanderlust. And my favorite thing was to go into the bars, like around, I would get to around Rosarito area or K-38 or something. And I would find a bar that wasn't a gringo bar

where the Mexican caballeros would hang out, the cowboy dudes. And it'd be a little scary. And if it scared me, it meant I had to go in because I love going into scary bars. And I would go in and just like, order a tecate and sit up there and practice my Spanish. And I wouldn't flaunt money. I wouldn't go in and be like, I'm buying everybody around.

I would just sit there and respectfully have a dialogue with somebody and try to practice my Spanish. And it was always so neat. And then I would go down there and get drunk sometimes. And I remember one time I drove down and I had this company station wagon. I was working for a company in El Cajon called AMS Plath. and I was selling pipe nipples and I drove down and I went to a bar but first I went to a pharmacy and got a bunch of valium and then I was popping valiums and drinking and I just passed out outside of my car on a field and when I woke up they had set a circus up around me you know how they do that and they couldn't wake me and I woke up underneath an elephant I've never forgotten that. I was like, open my eyes and I was like, what?

And they were going, Signore, we tried to wake you. You wouldn't wake up. So we just let you sleep, but we set up the circus. And it was a circus. And you can't make that up. No, I mean, it was crazy. And I loved going down there and I would bet on High Lie. And then I used to go down and bet on Padre games, get some tacos. And I'd go to the place where they made the original Caesar salad. Caesars. Yeah, Caesar's Hotel. And I used to get a hotel room down there and just spend the night down there. Still pretty cheap. Wander around.

And so I started taking Jewel down to Mexico because she had moved there from Alaska. But she'd come over. She had gone to Interlock and in Michigan, this art school. And so she got a job at Java Joe's, which was originally in Poway. and it was in this strip mall and you know how like poway is just like the terracotta roofs and everything looks the same it's like a big shit was taken and it was all

it all looks the same back then at least you know sure did and so java joes was in one of those strip malls that's probably now they look cool which is the same way i feel about strip malls in phoenix i feel like now they're really cool looking it's strange how things become a period piece And I'm not even being facetious, like the type of architecture. I fall in love with it again. When I see these strip malls, there's something really neat about them

because they really were just a speck in time. You know, they're not ornate, but there's something about their plaintiff quality. That's beautiful to me now. Yeah, it's function over form. Yeah, and I love that style. Come get your donuts and your massage and your haircut and whatever. And now they sell vape pens. or something.

Vap pens, exactly. Everyone does have a vape shop. Yeah. So we would cross the border and I would surf with Jewel. And it was amazing. And so that was how that whole story happened was we were just driving. And I think I had an Azuzu trooper. Sometimes when I tell about us, I say we're in a Volkswagen van, but I think we were not in her van.

I think we took my trooper. Remember any Azuzu trooper? Sure. Yeah. Inexpensive and built to stay that way. And every Azuzu trooper that's still running or not is actually in Baja. Like if you want to get that trooper again, it's in Baja. That's where they all ended up.

I believe it. Yeah. Mine was that burgundy color one. You know what I'm talking about? It sounds very early 80s. Yes, I know. I thought it was so cool. It was.

Was it the squared off one, the really boxy one? Yeah, I bought it in 87. Oh. And I had this job and I was selling nipples. And then I took Jewel down there and I was in the rug burns. And it might have been in the 90s, early 90s. Yeah, because my trooper was messed up. I used to go a lot down to San Felipe.

Okay. And it got stuck in the sand and the tide was coming up. I had to get it towed out. But I went down with Jewel. Oh, I'm laughing. I know. And I've made multiple trips down Baja. Like I'm not kidding you when I say I'm in love with Baja.

There's something about it. The further down you go as you know. Yeah. You know, like you get around Mulejahe and you keep going down and there's so much to look at. And so I was driving with Juel and I just would ask people things because we didn't have Google back then. Right. And we didn't have GPS. And I'd just talk to truck.

I'd go and get some tortillas or something. I'd say, don't there's down a play bonita. And he'd say, no, holas, but. because it's on the Baja Gulf of California side. The Gulf side, yeah, east side. Yeah, and there's no waves there, but he said there's a beautiful beach. And so he said, take a left when you see a sign. And back then there was like this thing saying keep out because they were flying in drugs.

And you're talking about Gonzaga Bay. Yeah, so you've got that long air strip right there. Yeah. There are two air strips right there. I don't know if the new one was there. the old one down by the beach. Yeah. Right.

Okay. And it was really foreboding because it was, and I don't mean forboating. I mean, it was foreboding. Yeah, with the deep. And the moon was out and, you know, the fog kind of rolls in. And I got to go back there again because... Were all those houses abandoned back then? Yeah.

Yeah. Seemed to be abandoned now. There wasn't much happening. There was an old motel. Yeah, it seemed dried up. Right. Yeah, really cool old motel. It's been redone.

It's lovely now. It is? Yeah, it's 300 a night with 20. $25 margaritas, but they're wonderful. What? Oh, my God. We slept for free. So there was nobody even at the front desk, so we just kicked open one of the doors

and fell asleep in the king-sized bed. And then I didn't even know where we were. And it was like one of those things where you wake up in the morning, and I opened the curtains, and it was gorgeous. And then the owner just sort of came sauntering down the way and was like, Ola. Not even mad that we broke into one of the rooms. Oh, you got in late last night.

Good. This is what it cost. You know, it was like 20 bucks or something. And then we would just sit out there and it was so beautiful. And you know, you could see the whales off in the distance. And Jewel really wanted to go whale watching bad. She loved whales. And so everything just happened for us on that trip

where these Mexican Federales came up and said, Would you guys like to go whale watching? And we went out on a boat, and we got to go whale watching. And then they got a call that they had to catch these guys because it was back when drugs pot was much more illegal than it is today. Like you couldn't just go buy it at a store where it's all laid out and it tells you what type of weed you're getting. Next door to City Winery, actually.

I don't know if you saw. There's a post. It's very nice one. Yeah, for those are you listening right now, we are sitting in an upstairs private dining room at City Winery in Chicago pre-game before my show. And in Chicago, it's really cool. I love this city, by the way. And so, anyways, these cops took us out, and they caught these drug smugglers. Now, were these guys dressed as cops, or were they undercover or what?

Like, you guys were dressed as cops? dressed as cops. And you wanted to go whale watching. Yeah, and they came down the beach and asked us, would you guys like to go whale watching? So Mexico. They were just bored. I think part of the reason they did is because Jewel was wearing a bikini and looked really good.

I mean, yeah. Yeah. And they weren't doing it because I was there. No. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I get it.

They were hoping. And then all I remember is going out on the boat and going, oh, my God, these guys could kill me. And I remember looking at their guns. looking at the way the water, the color of the water in Baja, if you've never been there, when the wind is blowing across it and there's ripples in the water. And it's so beautiful and there's this smell, this saltwater smell that goes up your nostrils. And here I am on a boat with like four Mexican Federales who have full-on guns, rifles.

And then they have this two-way radio, short-wave radio or whatever. And it's going, they're speaking Spanish. so fast where when you think you can speak Spanish, you can't when you get there. It's so fast. And then they say, we've got to go catch these guys and we can't take you to shore. And there might be a shootout. Put on these vests. And we had to put on these bulletproof vests. Maybe a little more than you bargained for that day. Yeah. So we put on the vests. And I remember it was like, Miami Vice.

Yeah. And it was in the Miami Vice era. Yeah. But it wasn't very glamorous, I don't think, out in Gonzaga Bay. No. With you and Jewel, and you're thinking you're going to get killed anyways because they're not interested in you. They're just, it's obvious that Jewel is the prize.

I was really regretting it. Yeah. I was regretting being out there. Like, you know that feeling when you make a decision and then you think I shouldn't be doing this? Yeah, what could go wrong with this? Mm-hmm. All right.

Well, pick it up, Steve. So then we, the boat was going so fast. I'll never forget seeing the drug smugglers running, and they could see the boat, and the boat just came flying in. And he expertly just made it go right up on the sand. Yeah. Got running out and caught them, caught the slowest one.

And then he confessed. And then I had to go get all the weed with one of the cops, and the other two were sitting with... No, wait a second. Wait a second. So there's a stash of weed. So these guys, you've had a high-speed boat chase now? Yeah, and we're on an island.

Okay, and there's a stash of weed on the island. Yeah, in a shipwrecked boat. And I'm assuming the cops that you're with have been somewhat brutal to this guy because they're not nice folks. No, they were very brutal. Yeah, I bet. I bet they were brutal because, yeah, that's the way it works. And they got all their weed.

So he got the answer he was looking for. Yeah. And how much weed was there? Did you have to, like, move it? Dude. There was so much weed. It was, I've never seen that much weed in my life. Huge amounts.

And I was carrying it on my shoulders and loading it onto the boat. And it smelled really good, you know, like really good weed. And I just kept loading kilos and kilos onto the boat. And then they had these guys handcuffed with those ties that they put around them. Like the zip ties, yeah. Zip ties, yeah. and those guys were looking at me because I was carrying all the weed

and they were looking at me like, we're going to kill you when we get away from these cops. We're going to kill the cops. And my heart was beating so fast. I didn't know what to do, and I was just thinking, I mean, I'm not kidding you,

I was really scared, and I was just being very obedient. And then we got back to shore, and I said, can we go now? And then the cop looked at me, and he goes, this is the largest drug bust

we have had in years. I go, What are you going to do? And he goes, we're going to have a party. And that was wild because then I realized these cops were probably going to keep the weed. I wasn't sure. And so the cops said to me. Some of it for sure.

Yeah, the cop was like here. There's going to be some shrinkage. Yeah, he goes, take a kilo with you. Like he just gave me a full kilo of weed. 2.2 pounds for you at home not being able to do that conversion. That's a lot of weed. Dude. And I was walking on the beach with it.

carrying it. Was it a setup? Did you think it was a setup? Yeah. And they took a picture of us with the cops and all the weed shoved into this black, like suburban type car. And I think we were holding guns and beers and weed and holding some weed. So Mexico.

Yeah. I mean, the pictures are online. And then so the cop was like, take some. And I was like, and Jewel was pinching me saying, don't take it. Don't take it. And my heart was meeting so fast. Like it was like a Cohen brothers film like Blood Simple or something. And I was like, if I take it, now are they going to implicate me in it and then put me in jail with these guys and go.

And that leads to Jewel down. You know what I mean? That leads to Jewel being single because you're in jail. And who knows what they would have done to her? Like seriously, it was scary. So I took the weed and then I was walking down the beach. And then Jewel's like, you have to give this away. so I gave it away to an old woman who was making spaghetti sauce.

And for a Mormon youth group that was coming up for spaghetti feed. And you know how they have those chalkboard set up? And it said, welcome Mormon youth group like Church of Latter-day Saints from Salt Lake City for spaghetti feed. And she emptied the whole thing of weed in it and was cooking it. Like it was herbs. And then all those young missionary kids were eating. the weed. Weed spaghetti, and they didn't know.

And people were so stoned. And we went back to the hotel, and we were like, we should stay here another night. And then Jewell crawled into bed, and I went back out. She was asleep. And I crawled out of bed and went out to look at the mayhem. And, dude, it was nuts. Everybody was like playing Frisbee. They were playing Frisbee.

Some of them were naked. and they're just like, it was nuts. They had like tiki torches, and they were just all laughing. And so I crawled back in bed next to Jule, and I was like, you're not going to believe what's happening. And I made her go out and look. And then when we woke up in the morning, I remember I went back out and one of the Mormons was asleep next to a goat,

like, because the goat had eaten some spaghetti weed, too. and everybody was just like asleep randomly placed. And so that was where we wrote the song You Were Me because I came back to the room. And Jule was, I think she was still in bed. And I grabbed the guitar and she goes, and we always wrote songs together back then. Like we were together all the time,

joined at the hip, and we would just make up songs. And she was right, she was so prolific back then. She was writing like crazy. and then it was after that that I had driven her around San Diego and we discovered this place called the Interchange and so I said let's see if they can have you play here because my thing that I always believed in

like you said you used to come see me at Kelly's Pub I liked finding a bar or a coffee house and making it my own where nobody else is playing I've always had this thing where I love creating something out of nothing Yeah, my take on Kelly's Pub. Now, again, I wasn't drinking there underage. I was drinking other places underage, but I wasn't drinking Kelly's underage in those days.

So I wasn't drinking there until 87. But I had the sense prior to you guys, it was an old man bar. It was an old, it was an old man day drinking bar. It wasn't like a kids bar. You nailed it. Yeah, it wasn't a kid's bar, but it became a kid's bar. And it went off. It was an old man's drinking bar.

Yeah. See, I used to, my favorite thing. like, as I alluded to earlier, was drive. I love driving around alone in cities, and I like looking at everything, the architecture, everything. And I was obsessed in San Diego with weird bars. Like, there was like a bar downtown called the Chi Chi-C-C-C-E-C-H-E. And it was like an old gay, old man gay bar, like vagabond.

I think it was like a little bit east of Horton Plaza when they put that in. Almost like homelessness. Yeah. Like really raunchy. Yeah. And I used to go in there just because I liked the thrill of going. I've always liked the thrill of going into places where I'm not supposed to be. Yeah.

And I thought the waterfront was cool in the 80s. Right. This was like, this was a different. I drove by it, but I never went in. Playing pool with this old black dude that didn't have any teeth in the front of his mouth. And I never forgotten this. he had a steak knife in his belt, like for protection, but it was just a steak knife, not like a really nice knife.

And so I used to go there, and then there was another one called, oh man, it was where Persian gay men went, and it was in, like, near Balboa Park. It was, you would drive, but the Caliph, the Caliph. And I went in there, and you would see. see like old Persian men that were like really rich like and they would have like some younger white dude with them or something they'd be like making out sitting in there and it would just be like I really loved the weirder the bar the better remember uh that one it was just letters it was a big warehouse in san diego west coast production company WCPC it was like a gay bar and it was like

tranny bar like i don't know we'd call it now because tranny isn't really a word people use but it was like so it was like transvestite bar maybe cross-dressing bar like now you would say maybe trans bar so strike that from the record the tranny but i'm like i'm 64 you know got to cut me a break i don't mean any harm by it i just liked going like i loved bars were just weird shit was happening. Well, you were the weird shit happening in a lot of bars. Yeah. And so I guess my point is this.

I would drive around San Diego. And remember the Pink Panther? Well, I discovered that. Skid roper hanging out. Skid roper when you were spinning records in there. Yeah. And I used to go there right as it started happening. But then I was like, I don't want to play at the Casbah. I don't want to play at Drowsy Maggies. I mean, I do want to play

it. Don't get me wrong. Mandolin wind was in Hillcrest. Remember that place? It became Hamburger Mary's. Uh-huh. But what I did want to do was find a dive bar. And I wanted to find an old man bar, like a

sort of like where Bukowski people would hang out or just down, you know, people that were grumpy. And I remember I walked into this Irish pub in Old Town I went. And the moment I walked in, there was a little stage and I remember going, this is it. I found it. I'm going to put this place not on the

map. I don't, because that sounds egotistical, but what I mean is I'm going to put it on the map of my life. Yeah. I never wanted to act like, oh, I created a whole scene or something like that, but I wanted to put it, I wanted it to be a mile marker in my life that really meant something to me. And so I went in there and there was this Irish guy working there named Nick, who was the owner. And I said, hey, I want to play here. Well, what do you do? Oh, I'm in a band called the Rugburns. We're a duo because back then we were a duo. me and Doc Driscoll because we met at University of San Diego, USDA. And the way we met was we would play classical guitar duets in the hallway and we were in the folk mass because it was a Catholic university, USD.

So I would sing in folk mass. Like there were times when I was toying with the idea of becoming a priest, a Catholic priest, it just didn't stick, but I thought, you know, it might have been kind of neat and my mom would have been proud. and I was always fascinated with like the Latin Mass. I like going to churches. Like I love going to old churches and just especially when no one's in there. And the smell, there's a musty smell.

And I like dipping my finger in the holy water and making the sign of the cross. I like the way that you kneel down on the pews. And when it goes down, you hear it click on the ground. And just the way that it feels there's certain solemn feeling of being whatever the idea of God is. But it's a house of God. and worship and there's something really almost scary and dark about it in the confessional booths how the priest would put that door open you'd be a screen and you'd just see his outline and you'd tell them all your darkest things you'd ever done and you'd be nervous saying it and your voice would

be trembling it was amazing so I go in there and I tell this guy I'm in this band this duo the rug burns and I want to play here and he says I don't know why but I looked at him in the eyes, the way I'm looking you in the eyes, and he saw, I was laying all my cards on the table, and he said, well, I can't pay you. And I said, that's okay. If you like it, then we can talk about money. Okay. And then the first night I play there, I tell everybody, because see, what I like about life is, this is what I love about being alive. When I read a book like Shoe Dog about Phil Knight or the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. I see people that are so driven into their work, it's a state of flow.

And it's not really about the money, but the money will come. What it's about is you're building something. So I'm no different than Steve Jobs or Phil Knight or Sam Walton who started Walmart. It's just I'm doing a different type of work. But a lot of times we measure things by money. And that's where everything goes haywire because it doesn't really, we equate that with being better. But it's not. What it is is you find something you love and you're in the flow.

And it becomes this almost addiction, something you have to do. And so I was like, I'm going to build this into a happening scene. I think we would, it escapes me. We'd either play there every Saturday or every Friday. I don't know what day it was. I'm going to say Fridays. So we started playing there. And because I knew I had this gig, I told everybody, it's called Kelly's Pub.

It's really cool. And I remember how hated we were by the old man drinkers. Like we were met with looks of disdain because we were coming in and soil. You're changing their whole lives. Yeah, we were soiling their special place. Right. They would be drinking there all day. And then at about five o'clock, we'd get their six, set up a PA because we'd have to bring in a PA.

and we'd set it up, we'd sound check, and they'd give us dirty looks, and then Nick started paying us $300 a night because he was doing crazy bar business. I bet. And then he raised it to $400 a night. And he was selling $2 beers or something in those days. It weren't expensive. And he would let us drink free and we would get hammered. Yes.

And I'd have pictures of Guinness and I'd throw it at the audience, everybody'd be drenched. everybody would be smoking. Girls would be in their bras. You remember that? I was going to ask you, what's the deal with the front row and the girls in their bras? How did that trend start?

That was all organic. The way it happened, it was crazy. So what happened was, you know how hot it gets in San Diego. Yeah, yeah. In the summer months. Right.

And Kellys didn't have air conditioning. They had these fans above it, but air conditioning was always broken. It was a rundown bar. And so it would be hot and smoky. And these, one girl one night, just took off her top.

She was the one who started. I never forget. We went, whoa. And she was sitting there in her bra, almost like a neelist, like something out of the Bauhaus movement, smoking a cigarette, like looking at people like, yeah, so what? I'm sitting in my bra. So then another girl would do it. Another girl next thing you knew.

It was a thing. And that didn't hurt business. No. People liked that. So then what happened was. People would line up for that. People started lining up to get in. You couldn't get in.

It was such a scene. You could not get in. So then I remember I said to Nick, can I charge a dollar and we get to keep the door? And he goes, sure. Now, I used to do so much damage to that place. I would rip the curtains down. I would wear them on my head. I'd pour Guinness all over the curtains.

I would vomit. Bring the mic. I had the mic on a long cord like this. And I'd bring it outside so people could hear me vomit in the planter right outside the backyard. They'd watch me through the window. I'd vomit. come back in they'd hand me another Guinness i'd chug it down i'd ask people for drugs somebody was

always carrying cocaine i'd go i'll be right back i gotta go freshen up in the powder room like blatantly just mocking the rules of whatever it was i would smoke a join on stage i did not give a shit and then country dick from the beep farmer started coming in hubba hubba hubba hubba hubba yeah hubba hubba hubba and he would sit there and put his arm around me after they close the bar and i've never forgot this and he would look at me and he would look at me and he he'd go, it's a big stage scumbag, use it all. Wow. And so around that time was when I went down to Baja and I had written,

you were meant for me with Jewel, which, by the way, I could have never written alone. A lot of times people are like, did you write that whole thing? No, it was a true co-write. And Jewel has just great sensibilities. And to this very day, I love her with all my heart. We're still very good friends. We're not dating, obviously, anymore, but we're great friends. Here at's Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border.

And when we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at BajaBound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994. She's single, I heard. I actually looked her up because we were going to get together to say, what's going on with Jewel these days? I heard she might have gone out with California.

Kevin Costner on Richard Branson's Island. She's living in a whole other world. Yeah. Elon Musk invites her to watch one of his rockets take off. Like she's, she knows Mark Benny off of Salesforce. Sure. She's in a whole other world,

but she's still, I have nothing but good things to say about Jewel. I love her with all my heart. Like, she's a great friend. And so it was about that time where she was playing her gigs at the interchange, and she took my advice.

Yeah, I will circle all the way back to that. This is the one thing I will take credit for. You drove around and said, find a bar with nothing going on or a coffee shop. Yeah, I just got off track, but I always get back to the point. It's all right. And DIY it and make it happen.

DIY is what it's about. The reason I like DIY is because it's home cooking. No, but you're not going in where a scene exists. And what happens is if you have something to offer, people are going to feel the vibrations. And I don't mean vibrations in a woo-woo way. There's something going on that we don't. know about what it is is you come into an area like when I walked into Kelly's pub or when we

walked into the interchange and you go this is it we can make a scene out of this and all you do is you do a show and you go every week it's a residency do it for a year if you're good and you have something to offer you will create your own scene and then you're not at the behest of somebody going I can give you a Thursday night here I have these other bands but I'm not going to pay this No, you've created your own scene, and Jewel started making bank. Next thing you know, Neil Young was showing up. Danny Goldberg, who owned Atlantic Records, Tommy Motola, who owns Sony. This is back when everything was happening in San Diego.

Right. Rocket from the crypt, rust, a miniature, Inch, the Rugburns, Creadle. And then you had Jewel and she. I've never forgotten this. So she finds this place. She makes it starts happening. Neil Young starts coming down to record her with a whole bus where he had recording thing

and they wanted to record her and then invites her to come live at his ranch to record her record. And I got to, I was with her. Yeah, you were with her. You got to play guitar. Playing with the stray gaiters. And this is all because of Baja.

I mean, this wouldn't, no, I'm not kidding. This would not have happened. Had we not been on that drug bust, everything happens there's a cause and an effect and there's one time when you can catch that song we couldn't have written you were meant for me the next day it would not have been the same there was something about us being on that drug bust us being in mexico and for those of you listening out there that are baha fans and i know there's a lot of people that are fans of baha you know what i mean about the magic that happens when you go down to my favorite place is baha there's something to have to have to happens when you're in that desert air, it's late at night, and you hear voices in the distance, laughter, you see a clash of two cultures, gringoes coming down and locals, and hopefully the gringoes are being respectful and treating that country, you know, in the best way possible, because that's the true love of Mexico, and that's where that song was written, and it

couldn't have been written anywhere else but Bahia de San Luis Gonzaga. Then Jules starts getting this crowd. Atlantic Records finally she signs a deal with them. Neil Young lets us live at his ranch. We record that record and they say you were meant for me's this hit song and it becomes a it became a number two sign. Never reached number one. If we had just tried a little harder, but it made it to number two. But it was there for a long freaking time. It set a record. Yeah, it was there forever. I know. You know who beat the record? I have no idea. Jason Maraz with I'm yours. Wow. Yeah. Was he? he on the office though? Did he get it? Did he get an episode of the office where it gets played at a...

He's a San Diego guy too who looked there. Yeah. But yeah. So at the time though, the Rugburns were killing it. We end up getting a record deal with bizarre planet records, which was the early Zappa label through Herb Cohen who had signed. He used to manage Lenny Bruce, Linda Ronstadt, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fisher. He was always into left of center stuff weird stuff herb going and and for those folks who don't know the rug burns you guys had a lot of fun i mean you wrote fun songs crazy songs and a full kind of range of like crazy kitsch stuff punk rock i mean it was those days 80s and early 90s in san diega stuff was going on it was you know there was there was a scene and you know what made the rugburns cool for me we weren't on a label

we put out four or five cassettes back when people put out cassette release parties and there was nobody and then you just dubbed them and sold them right dude nobody was telling us what we had to do right we were the label do your own thing we were mailing them out we were mailing them out and I'm telling you those are the moments I'm talking about where I was like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk or Phil Knight or Sam Walton because I was in the flow, and it's the true height of capitalism.

And capitalism is one of the craziest things. Because capitalism, at the true golden age of capitalism, is about competition. So if somebody's a cobbler and makes shoes, then somebody else goes, I can make a better shoe. They set up next to them. Then somebody else does. Next thing you know, you have a shoe district,

and the shoes are better. because people are competing. But it's inherently flawed system too because there's winners and losers in capitalism. But I would rather be in a capitalistic society than a communist society because I feel that if people have that idea and that urge to get better,

they can do it if it's based on merit. Not aristocracy, but not aristocracy, but merit. Yeah. But the problem is, is capitalism meets itself and eventually you end up with one big behemoth

like Amazon or Walmart and then the bricks and mortars get shut down. However, I will say this, as a caveat, what it does is it creates a whole new underground and I travel so much,

I don't hate any city. I'll go to Dayton, Ohio, and I'll find a cool little scene and I'll go in there and they'll be a neat little coffee house. So I stay. I still have faith in it all, but the problem is capitalism ends up eating itself until there's net. The competition kills off people.

But it does at one point make for the best products. You know what I mean? But you need some sort of safety net too. Yeah. Steve, I don't know how we got onto that jag because I just have this vision of you. I'm walking down gas lamp as that was coming around in those days. Horton Plaza had just been built. But there wasn't all that much going on down there, Golden Lion, maybe crotching.

Gas lamp still hadn't really gone off in places like Chi-Chi's weren't that many blocks away, you know, the dark side. Did you know we started in the gas lamp? Yeah, well, this is what I'm going to get to. This is what I'm going to get to. I peeked into a place and you were in a dress, man. Yeah. What was that all about? So we used to play a place called Smetley's baseball.

And nobody went down to the gas lamp back there. No, sailors. Everybody went down there. Their cars got broken. No, I mean, sailors went down there. And they couldn't help it because that's where they were based. They had to. People that came to see us, their cars got broken into.

And back then, you couldn't call an Uber. No. Calling a cab was a hassle. And it was expensive. Yeah, it was expensive. Yeah. So there was this old black dude named cowboy. And he had dressed like a cowboy.

He was really skinny. And we would tip him to watch the cars. And we would tip him good. It was like protection. We were paying for protection. And we would play at Smedley's. And the guy that owned it was this guy, Bob Smedley. He had alopecia, had no hair at all.

And he would give me lines of cocaine back in his office and then tell me, you've got to walk across the bar like you do and kick over people's glasses. And so I had full compliance from Smedley. And I would walk across that bar in a dress. You were a showman. You were a showman. Yeah, I loved Rocky Horror Picture.

and I liked, I loved pushing the boundaries. And so we would have a cassette release party and we could write whatever kind of song we wanted. It was complete creative freedom. It was mayhem. It was an experimental time on my life. And I love that I got to do that. I love that I've gotten to play guitar on streets as a street musician all through Europe.

Even in Balboa Park, one of our first gigs as a rug burns was at Oh Hungries that had yard long beers. And we broke the yard long beers. owed them money. It was like the Blues Brothers. Rather than they get paid, we owed them money. And hearkening back to what I said about Kelly's pub. I think Lonnie might have been a waitress at Oh Hungry's. Really? Benigans for sure. But like I think oh hungry. We drank those yard longs a bit there. Yeah. Sorry. Hello Lonnie. Oh man. Yeah, I used to bust open all kinds of stuff. It was just such a wild time. It feels good to reminisce about it all. And,

I know this is a Baja podcast, but... You've delivered the Baja goods already, Steve. You can talk about anything. Going down there did change my life. And now, like, just thinking about all those times in San Diego and all the various venues we played. Because we would say yes to everything. Do you remember a restaurant called Perrette's?

It was a gourmet restaurant. This guy, George Perret owned it. He opened another one called Cains, and it was in the Ralph's Shopping Center in Hillcrest. he would come into Kelly's sometimes so he offered us a gig pre-Cellies so we would play three hours on these steps outside

overlooking the restaurant and do Mello songs and then we'd go and do a four-hour gig at Kellys and I would damage the bar so much I would go in to get paid on Saturdays and Nick would be there and he goes well Steve you're supposed to get $400 but you did $302 worth of damage

so here's $98 bucks if you wouldn't damage the bar you'd get paid and I'd always be really sheepish and I go, I'm so sorry, but I get drunk and just start wrecking shit because I love the sound of breaking glass when I drank and I would sometimes just leave and end up

I would leave and end up in Mexico after the shows because bars would be open and I would leave with some random girl that would be in the audience and I go, let's go to Mexico and I'd leave my Azuzu trooper parked outside and I'd leave with some girl and we'd go down to Baja and drink all night

and get a hotel room in Tijuana or Rosarita? Who knows? I mean, so many crazy stories. It is amazing that you're still alive. And you have a lot of stories, and I've done a bit of a deep dive on you in preparation to have this. And I do want to say thanks for making some time to talk Baja.

You've had a crazy kind of a life. You're a kid in Palm Springs. Was it your neighbor who? ran the airport. You used to tell you what celebrities were flying in. Yeah. And you were just a kid riding your bicycle out onto the tarmac to meet Elvis? Yeah, I got to meet Frank Sinatra, and we would trick-or-treat at Liberace's house. And then Bob Hope came to our church where I was an altar boy, St. Teresa's. Hang on for a second. So in San Francisco, a lot of families, you know, we lived in North Beach, Russian Hill. A lot of families would go over to Broadway. And I

I always thought the highlight of Broadway for being a little kid was going to the Getty Mansion because they served king-size $100,000 bars in a big silver bowl or big silver tray. And so Gordon Getty would be kind of in the background and his wife would be up there. And the maid would have the big silver tray in her light blue maid dress. For Halloween? For Halloween. And all these little kids would run up and get their massive $100,000 bars, you know, like the big, the king-sized ones. What did Liberace serve?

Huge Snickers bars. You remember. Yeah. Because I remember because he had that boyfriend at the time, the chauffeur. Yeah, his secret boyfriend chauffeur. And he would, and Liberace would have a boa around his neck, you know, like a furry boa, and he would have a ring on every finger. And he would, when he would do it, he was so glamorous.

And his steps leading up to his house on Palm Springs were piano keys. And they were winding like Lewis and Carri's. Alice in Wonderland and you'd walk up the steps. They'd be black and white piano keys. You'd ring the doorbell and when you did, it would go, dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun and then he'd open the door and he'd go,

Hello, have a Snickers bar kids. And then I'd go and change out of my Casper, the friendly ghost outfit into a vampire and come back again because he had the best candy. He also had baby Ruth bars and but they weren't the little little tiny ones. He would have full-sized ones. And it was amazing. So, yeah, and then Bob Hope came to our church and Uncle Charlie, William Demarest. I got to, and I was in the boys club and I got to do the Bob Hope Desert Classic and I get to hang out with Uncle Charlie. And then, of course, Elvis Presley,

he flew in and we got to meet him and he put me up on his shoulders and just hung out with us. Now, was there a whole bunch of neighborhood kids out there? It was just me and my sister. The guy told only us. Wow. And he let us run and meet him. It was the coolest thing. It was a private meeting with Elvis Presley, and it was 1969.

So he was sort of on the comeback then. He was big Elvis with the super glamorous outfits, the crazy outfits. Comeback special Elvis. Yeah. It was so cool. And just being able to hang with him was a great thing. I love, because Elvis Presley, I'm 64, so, like, I loved Elvis. Like, I saw all his movies, you know.

And you're mentally, though, you're like, you've lived quite a life. Yeah. You had a fairly well-known relationship with addiction. I think you've said you're an addictive personality. Oh, yeah. And you've, you had your fun. Yeah. And you're still alive, even trying to, like, you know, kill yourself on stage, running into

stuff, you know, stitches and, you had so many concussions. You had a, what, a stroke or something on stage two? Had a stroke. Went blind, decided that you're going to, yeah, learn to love the dead. And that's when I got into the dead, because I was really into, like, I loved musicals. I still do, and I loved punk rock and indie rock, but I really love musicals, like, because I would sing all, you know, Oliver, I would, my uncle would, I had a gay uncle who kind of helped raise me, my mom's brother, Uncle Louis. And he would dress me up like Oliver and have all these gay men come over for brunch, and he would have recitals, and his students would play there.

And I would get so excited, and I would sing songs from Oliver, songs from Fiddler on the Roof, songs from Cabaret. I love all Streisand movies. I love Liza Minoli. And then I got really into Jesus Christ Superstar and also Godspell. Because there was always this running religious theme, too. And then I got really into indie rock. There's kind of a little parallel with you, though,

and like Star is born, honestly. Yeah. I mean, you and Jewel, there's kind of a parallel. You were a dude then, and then she became a superstar. I was way more well-known. The Rugburns were a thing. She told me when she met me, how can I get a follow? following like the rug burn.

Right. In her mind, we had it made. She was living in her car. She was living in her car. And I don't say that in a derogatory manner. She had her issues and she was, came from a tough life. And she was down there grinding. She was grinding it out, man.

She was grinding. Living in her car. And she believed in herself. And then I was more famous back then. And then I never forget the day. I remember we were walking in Pacific Beach and we had both opened for Bob Dylan down at the Embarcadero. And then we were walking like a week later outside of Benegans in P.B. And some photographer, two different photographers, paparazzi came flying out to photograph Jewel and I was holding her hand.

They were like, Jewel, Jill, what's up, fax? When's the record's coming out? I went. I went. everything's just changed. Yeah. And then she became bigger than I was, and I kept drinking, and she didn't drink, you know, and I was drug using. Then we stopped

going out, but I was in that video for you or meant for me, and then she dated Sean Penn for a little while. Yeah, you told a funny story about that. I'm not going to ask you to retell it. Well, go ahead, retell that one. I don't need to retell that. That was crazy. But she went out with Sean Penn and then she went out. Then she fell in love with a... One thing led to another.

A rodeo guy. Exactly. Oh, man. She was married to Ty Murray, who's like... I don't think those guys are afraid of anything. He's a pro-bull rider. Right. He's one of the strongest dudes.

Yeah. And from holding on, his right wrist is thicker than his left. left wrist. And he's like, I think he knows like judo and taekwondo and was a gymnast. And he rides a bull. And he rides bulls. That doesn't want a rider. Yeah. And if he's on it for eight seconds, he's a hero. Those guys are nuts. Hey, Steve, we're going to wrap this up. You've been super generous with your time. And I know you've got a show tonight. Dude, this was a great conversation. What time is it? You're a great conversationalist. I don't know. What time is it? Am I keeping you from the stage right now? No, no, no. All right. Cool, cool, cool.

If we can close it up, are you going to play? I'm like, Willie Nelson's 90 years old, and he's still playing all the time everywhere. Seems to me you found the thing that you love. And whatever a number one hit gets you, and you didn't tell the story about how she got to record the hit and you didn't get to record the hit. You guys wrote it together, but there was a little competition.

Yeah. I understand. Do you remember that one? Yeah, we, so what happened was, got back from Bahia San Luis Gonzaga where we wrote the song. We crossed the border. Now I had written, me or Jewel, I can't remember who had written the words down. Like we didn't have iPhones just plug it into back then.

And so we wrote it on these cocktail napkins. We didn't have good paper even. And it was, you were meant for me. The lyrics were written on there. And we just had to memorize the melody. And so as we were crossed, crossing the border, it flew out of the Azusu trooper, I opened the windows up.

And I remember going, that's cool. We still have food stamp love, which was another song we wrote down there. Little did I know. That was like letting the winning lottery ticket fly out of my car. And she goes, go back and get it. And she's a smart girl. Kind of, in a little argument about it.

I was like, it's cool. We don't know. Go back and get it. I like that song. So I had to get off, go back around, pick it up, found it. and it was in some water, and the words were like, you were meant for me. They were like a little runny.

And then we cross over, obviously. And then it was late at night, and we went to La Posta Taco Shop on, I think, near U.S.D where I'd gone to college, that area back there, La Posta, I think University Avenue. And it was late at night, and there was just prostitutes and drug dealers hanging out.

It was late at night. And I loved to go. in there because I would get six rolled tacos with guacamole and a bean and cheese burrito. Which is 179. Yeah. It's a perfect combo because you dip the rolled taco with guacamole in the bean and cheese burrito and it gets that beans on it. And then it has a crunch and you crunch the rolled taco, which got the little thin shredded

beef in there, spiced up. And you dip it in the hot sauce. Anyways, we're out there and we get out of the Azuzu Trooper and we're dirty. hippies, Sandy, and these prostitutes were sitting there. There was like four of them, I think, maybe five. And they go, what do you guys, hippies? And we go, yeah. And then they go, what are you doing?

I said, we write songs. And then they said, sing us a song. I go, we just wrote this song. Now, this is really cool because nowadays, if I sing this and you're of a certain age, you would know the song. But I'm singing the song before it was known, before it was in the ether. before it was in our consciousness. That's why time isn't really real when you think about it.

It's just like this weird circle. So I sing them the song, You Were Meant for me, and I go, tell us who should sing it. And so I sang it. They clapped, and then Jules sang it. And then they go, we're going to go over here and deliberate. So they went over there, and they talked about it. And then the lead prostitute, I said,

do you guys have an answer? Who can do it? And she goes, yes, we do, Your Honor. And so I said, could the four men read the verdict? So she stood up and she goes, looks at Jewel and she says, Honey, you sing it. That white boy can't sing. Honey, you record it.

That white boy can't sing. And I think that was pretty awesome. How many weeks at number two on the billboard? Oh, dude, forever. And they were smart and it was very prescient of them because it was coming right out of grunge. And everybody was kind of ready for something. different because at first with grunge, you know, you had Nirvana, which was killer. Then you had Pearl Jam, which I didn't like as much as Nirvana, but some people love

that. But it wasn't what I liked about, I just thought Nirvana was the best. And then you had Soundgarden, which was really cool. But then you started getting all these more kind of wannabe grunge bands, you know, like where it becomes kind of corporatized. Concocted. Yeah. And, you know, I'm.

I'm not going to name names of the monkeys versus the Beatles. Yeah, but I love the monkeys. Because you grew up with them on TV. Huh? Because you grew up with them on TV. Yeah, I loved them. Yeah, you can't help that. Yeah, but you know, you had these bands that were like creed and stuff, you know,

and I'm sure they're good. I don't mean to throw shade on anybody because anybody can do good. That's fine with me. But it just became tired to my ears. And then all of a sudden it was time for women. And so you had Paula Cole. You had Sarah McLaughlin. You had Joan Osborne.

You had Lisa Loeb. You had Jewel. And it went on and on and on. That's when the Lulith Fair started happening. And so, Jewel was a recipient of good timing. She looked great. She sounded great. And she had the work ethic to do it.

And she had a huge label behind her and a really tough manager. And it was a perfect storm for her. And so that hooker was right in picking her. Because had I done it, it would have never. gone to number two, it would have been, plus I would have rugburnized it and said, you were meant for me, but I'm going to kill you or something. Because Jewel had said, we're not going to pulitzerize this song. Yeah, you're not going to add some humorous slicks to it. Yeah, just something we're almost in a way where I'll, it's like I'm almost scared of success,

so I'll ruin a song. Shoot yourself in the foot, I think you said, over and over and over and over and over. Yeah, and it's not good, but it's just a quality I have. Hey, it's an election year and one of my favorite candidates passed away this year, Mojo Nixon. So being a San Diego State kid, I remember having to drive up to the belly up as a photographer for the Daily Aztec to photograph Mojo Nixon, who was on his campaign for the presidency back in the day. Another time for another Nixon in the White House was his campaign. He must have been a big influence on you. Big time. And I was so sad to hear of his passing. We kept in touch. He would play my stuff on Outlaw Country, Sirius X-M, and I got a call from my buddies in the band, Dash Rip Rock.

They were on the boat on the Outlaw Country Cruise, and they called me from it and said they wanted to let me know. And I was so sad. I couldn't believe it. It's just the world's a little bit emptier without Mojo Nixon. And he and Country Dick were my teachers. I would think so. They really were my teachers.

I mean, you know, I mean, you were a disciple of that ethic, having fun, big show. you know, and make it some funny lyrics. Yeah. But those guys worked their asses off, and they played and played and played like you guys did. You played all the time. They did. Beat Farmers were one of the best bands I've ever seen in my life

at the height of their powers. It was insane. And Mojo Nixon, first time I saw him, it was at the Ken Theater. Remember the Ken Theater in Kensington? And they would show Art House films. Right. It was some art house movie was playing,

but their opening, act was Moja Nixon and Skid Roper. And he comes out with a sparkless water bottle singing, I want to be stuffing Martha's muffin. It was brilliant that the Ken Theater had him play there. And the stuff he was singing about was not PC. No. It wouldn't pass

the smell test today. Right. Because everybody today, you know, our mores, our values, the zeitgeist, everything will always change. The whole, that's the whole thing about time. And it'll flip back again.

everything switches, you know, with elections too. It goes hard right, goes left, and that somehow hopefully meets in the middle, and, you know, the moral arc of progress moves at a glacial pace. I think MLK said that. And so all I know is things always change, and I'm getting to be an old man. I'm 64 years old, and my friends are dying, and I'm lucky that I get to still do this. So an answer to your question that you were about to ask, if I can still do it at 90 the way Willie Nelson's doing it, God willing, I will do it. I mean, I have to.

I don't know what else I could even do, and I would be bored if I didn't always have a gig on the horizon. Even if it's much, a lot fewer gigs as I get older, I'm fine with that. Even if it's just a few gigs a month, just knowing I can still do it would be a beautiful. beautiful thing. We're going to leave it right there. Thanks, Steve. Awesome. Really appreciate you making some time for Slow Baja. Cheers. We did it. Well, I hope you like that one with Steve

Polts. What a great storyteller. He's even a better performer. Got to see him that night at his show. He was kind enough to leave some tickets for me and my wife, and we got in and really enjoyed seeing him. I've seen him a couple times now. If he's in your town, Slow Baja proved he should get tickets and go. All right, well, if you like what I'm doing, hit that five-star review, leave some nice words, some kind words on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Go to slowbaha.com, pick up something at the store, a new hat, maybe a t-shirt, slap a sticker on the back of your Baja rig. Even if it's just your aspirational, I'd rather be in Baja rig. But get that sticker on there, wear that merch, start that story. Somebody is going to watch.

up to you and say, oh, you like slow Baja? I guarantee it's going to happen. I'm probably, as this story launches, I'm probably in Baja, delivering some baseball gear with the new Baja baseball program that I launched with my friends over at Barbers for Baja, Matt Schnitzer, and my buddy Ted Donovan, Baja visitor, and dropping some gear off in Mule Hay and Toto Santos and going to the state championships in La Paz, watching some youth baseball. Kind of love that. I kind of love that. I kind of love going back and watching kids, not even my kids anymore, but watching kids play ball and having a great time and helping them with the gear and the funds to get to these tournaments.

That's what Baja Baseball is all about. And if you want to be part of it, you can donate lightly used gear, DM me to get connected on that. And you know, we're dropping off a bucket of balls, bucket of pearls for every coach. That's $130 bucks, plus the gas, plus the gear that we're bringing them, plus, plus. Anyways, what I'm getting to is if you got some tacos,

in your pocket. Well, you can drop them at Barbers for Baja, barbers for Baja.org. Click on that baseball and Baja link, scroll down, hit the donate button, and donate whatever you can afford. We really do need your help, and this thing really has legs, and I can't wait until we're getting on to player clinics in October and January and fixing up some stadiums. We've got some big, big plans for this program, and it just really got off to a great start on this low Baja winter expedition. So please, if you can help, gear, De Niro, tacos, whatever you got, we need them. Check it out at barbers for Baja.org or send me a message if you want the link. Okay.

I'm going to tell you about my friend Mary McGee, Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer. Yep, that's right. She went to a New Year's Eve party back in 1962, saw her pal, Steve McQueen, who employs, Florida to get off that pansy road racer and get out into the desert with he and his buddies, Eakins brothers. And she did. And she was amazing. And she became a off-road motorsports Hall of Famer. And she stayed friends with Steve McQueen. And you know what Steve used to say? Steve used to say, Baja is life. Anything that happened before or after, it's just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to slow Baja?

Without a doubt, it's my Shielman seats. You know, Toby at Shieldman USA could not be easier to work with. He recommended a Vario F for me and a Vario F XXL for my navigator, Ted. This Ted's kind of a big guy. And Toby was absolutely right. The seats are great and they fit both of us perfectly. And let me tell you, after driving around Baja for over a year on these seats, I could not be happier.

Shieldman, slow Baja approved. Learn more and get yours at shielman.com. Thank you.