Steve Poltz, John Kruk and Tony Gwynn at Ardmore Music Hall 2014 10 18

On Saturday Night Folksinger/Punk troubadour Steve Poltz brought his talents to the Ardmore Music Hall. I have seen Poltz roughly a dozen times dating back to the early 90s when he fronted the San Diego rock band the Rugburns.

He always gives a entertaining show and his latest performance did not disappoint.

2014 10 18 Steve Poltz at Ardmore Music Hall

The 54 year old Poltz put together a high energy set which spanned his solo career and even reached back to the Rugburns catalog for "Rub somebody the Right Way" and "Tree Hugger". There were at least three songs from his Mercury album "One Left Shoe" - "Silver Lining", "Impala" and "Everything About You" - Poltz mentioned his songwriting with Jewel a couple of times when referencing songs from this era.

Poltz filled his set with a number of funny stories about his life, career and music. When discussing "Silver Lining" he mentioned that he and John Kruk had become friends after Kruk discovered his name being referenced. Poltz said Krukker is supposed to be joining him in San Diego to go Surfing - imagine that. 

A few years back I got Steve to autograph this: 

1988 Topps #596 John Kruk (signed by Steve Poltz)  

I rank this one right up there with my Hall of Fame autographs. 

Steve is a pretty big baseball fan, he his friends with Giants Third Base Coach and fellow songwriter Tim Flannery and he has been involved in the sausage race hosted by the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Recently Poltz has written a song to honor Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

Unfortunately Poltz didn't play the new Gwynn song, but I did get him to vogue with a Gwynn Card.

 

2014 10 18 Steve Poltz and 2009 UD Goodwin Champions #135 Tony Gwynn

Poltz tour will take him through the Mid-Atlantic and the southeast in the coming weeks. I recommend the show for fans of any type of music (or comedy). For locals he will be doing a 2nd area show - On Wednesday 10//22 he will be upstains at the Wilmington DE location of World Cafe Live Wilmington.  

Sources
imdb
Hi, I'm Steve Poltz
Tim Flannery

2013 15 04 - Erin McKeown's Anti-Holiday Spectacular @ Ardmore Music Hall

This past Wednesday Erin McKeown brought her Anti-Christmas Spectacular to the recently rebranded/refurbished Ardmore Music Hall. The night was a great fun and I look forward to the show returning in the future.   

 2013 12 04 Erin McKeown at Ardmore Music Hall

Erin McKeown is blessed with tremendous talent, on stage you can tell she is a seasoned professional, deft musician, and terrific vocalist. Add to this her keen wit and skilled songwriting and you have the makings of a very entertaining show.

The Anti-Holiday Spectacular is a 2 set show. The first is an abbreviated concert. While I am not that familiar with her catalog, she was able to mix in some songs that I sort of knew (likely from Grand – including The excellent “Taste of You”  and a reworked “Vera”). She also delved deeper into her catalog for the more devoted fan. The set was solo with McKeown spending the bulk of the time on the guitar with 2 or 3 songs done behind the keys. Adept at many styles she picked a good varety of songs pop, rockabilly, and jazz. 

As well done as the traditional set was, The Anti-Christmas set was the highlight of the evening. Basically McKeown claimed to have written a Christmas Musical which her theater contacts deemed unproduceable - apparently “Santa is an Assh-le” isn’t the type of song that can be done in a musical.

Fortunately as McKeown stated “You can put anything on a record” and this is how the Anti-Christmas show came to be. Songs feature rewritten classics and some new songs that echo the Christmas sound. She had enough to put together an entire set with a makeshift chorus that I believe featured local members of the Philadelphia Folksong society – All donning ugly sweaters. 

Hello Sports Fans
For both of my followers I want to mention that McKeown has a Sports Column she writes for the WNYC radio Soundcheck blog. During the show, McKeown played a song that mentions Hall of Famer (HoF Jerk) Rickey Henderson.   

Side Notes 
-This was my first trip to the Ardmore Music Hall (old 23 East Cabaret). The new place is nice, cleaned up, fresh paint, curtains to dampen some of the noise. The floor features tiered seating, decent rotating beer selection 
– I didn’t eat there but they had a mediteranean menu that appeared appropriate to the style of the room. 
- It appears AMH is trying to get a national/NE Corridor Regional act in about once a month