Popovich Part III: Junior, Nashville and the Comfort of Cornbread
Popovich Part III: Junior, Nashville and the Comfort of Cornbread
Nashville's Great, but Cleveland Rocks!
Welcome friends!
Sorry to keep you waiting, I had a lot of difficulty finishing this one. Perhaps, it’s because I don’t want this story to end!
Popovich Part III
Continued From Last Newsletter…
Seeing me there in the ropes, caught between Cleveland and Nashville, not knowing if the fight was over or just beginning, Hank LoConti, stepped in with a suggestion. He thought it would be good for me to go down to Nashville, see what Steve Popovich had wanted for me and get some closure. He suggested I meet with his son, saying, “It’ll be good for both of you. You guys should know each other!”
Looking back at journal entries written at the time of Steve Popovich’s death, and the photographs I’d taken around that time, I notice that I seemed to be re-examining the people and places I may have taken for granted.
2011 represents, for me, the first time in my life that I am affected negatively by the passage of time. I spent most of my childhood, wishing it would hurry up and end already. Forced to endure school, church and family functions, everything seemed to move too slowly.
Oblivious to their importance, I moved hastily through and eventually away from all of these ordinary things, trying to get to where all of the good stuff was hiding, the cool and exciting stuff. And while I definitely did find what I was looking for, living and traveling with a highly sought-after singer/songwriter/guitar player, it was sadly short-lived. With bills to pay and a future to plan for, I realized that being the girlfriend of a musician, who continually turned down commercial success, was not a viable career, and so I set out to turn my culinary passion into a profession that could support us both.
I rushed to buy income property, get a degree, build a career and start a business, running even faster this time, to get through the mundane and onto the sublime, but with the funds to make it last. I couldn’t wait to pay everything off, and again, time seemed to move too slowly.
In all that rushing around, the nuts and bolts of my life began to shake loose and all I knew, was that I moved more easily. Some wear and tear I was too busy to see, others too blind, but gradually, the institutions and relationships that formed my foundation began to crumble and ten years after opening Tastebuds Restaurant, I lost my balance entirely and wanted, for the first time in my life, for things to slow down.
The following is an excerpt from my journal:
June 8th 2011
Just as I was laying in bed thinking what a perfect ass I’d been tonight, I got a text from Mike Sokolowski that Steve Popovich, my greatest mentor, was found dead in his home. I was planning to see him in three weeks down in Nashville, on my way back from California. This is a total and complete shock and I am devastated. I have no one to console me, making it much worse.
I feel like my life is coming apart at the seams. Things are disappearing or fading away. Things that made me who I am; my past, my history being erased. My family is unraveling, I feel like my mom has boarded the dinghy and is rowing away from the mother ship.
This past Saturday, I felt the sting of what it truly means that St. James is really gone. Linda McLendon, who dedicated her life to that church, had to have her funeral held at a foreign church.
I hate America right now for its blatant disregard for history. I hate death right now for its blatant disregard for the living, and I hate myself right now for not having someone to console me.
Side Note: Linda McLendon was our fun and charismatic next-door neighbor, who had two daughters around our same age. She and her husband were Eucharistic Ministers at St. James Church who sang in the choir and did much for the parish community. In a devastating blow to many, St James was closed as a part of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese’s downsizing in 2010. My family belonged to this parish, both the church and the school for multiple generations. Nearly every significant moment in our family’s history happened there.
Hank had known Steve Popovich for nearly 50 years and had known me for less than five, but had seen how Steve’s death upended my life, personally and professionally. Feeling I’d lost all direction, I took his advice, and headed south to ring in the new year in Nashville, six months after Steve’s death.
I had only met Steve Popovich Jr. once before, in the receiving line at his father’s wake, not the best time for meaningful, or even memorable conversations. It was hard for me to imagine myself dropping in on Steve Jr. and his family, so when I saw that one of my favorite bands, The Paul Thorn Band, was playing in Nashville on New Years Eve, I purchased tickets, to ease the pressure of merely going there to meet Steve’s son.
I was half way to Nashville the first time I had spoken to Steve regarding my trip, as it was Hank LoConti that had made all the preliminary arrangements. Steve made some hotel and restaurant recommendations, then graciously offered to take me on a tour of Nashville the following day.
As promised, Steve picked me up in front of my hotel the next morning, getting out of his car and breaking the ice with a big, warm hug, before opening the passenger side door and holding it for me. After a tour of Music Row and some getting to know each other better sharing stories of his father, he asked if I would mind if we popped over to his office to take care of something. I don’t think he had planned on taking me to lunch, but when I mentioned how his father would rave about a restaurant called Olives, I could tell that it struck a chord of nostalgia and he cleared his afternoon schedule!
Steve was the Executive Producer of Specialty Programming/Outlaw Country for Sirius Radio at the time, and he introduced me to everyone we passed from the lobby to the elevator and in the halls outside of the studios. Once we reached his office, he closed the door behind us, leaned back into it and looked at me puzzled and smiling. “You don’t know country music, do you?” He asked, laughing slightly, implying that I showed no signs that I new anyone I’d just met.
“I know Willie Nelson!” I said proudly.He laughed and said, “Well, I could introduce you to Willie too, but we’d have to drive to Texas!”
Apparently, the Sirius Studio was jam packed with famous musicians, recording promotions for Nashville’s New Year’s festivities, from the Bash on Broadway to concerts at the Bridgestone Arena and Riverfront Park.
Our lunch at Olive’s was bittersweet. The owners and staff were excited to see Steve, but they had not known of his father’s passing and they took it pretty hard, understandably. Steve loved this place and I quickly understood why. There is a special kind of nourishment that can only come from Lebanese food and people! We left feeling loved and finished out our perfect afternoon, at a famous honkey tonk called Tootsies, sharing stories, more sappy and sentimental with each round of drinks!
Journal Entry after meeting Steve Popovich Jr.
December 28th 2011
His passion had me gnashing my teeth, squinting my eyes, taking his every word into my bloodstream!
I could talk to Steve Popovich Jr. all day, all night…maybe even all week! He is so smart, passionate, hungry, insightful and so inspiring! Did I mention, he is fucking gorgeous and built and funny? It’s not even fair!
I did not know what to expect. He is the executive producer of Sirius Xm Country, he has a record label, and signs both country and polka bands! His heart is pure, his words are sincere- I’ve never seen anything like it. Well, no. That’s not true. Steve Sr. was like that!
Steve is at a crossroads right now. His father’s legacy is weighing heavy in his heart and on his mind. I too am at a crossroads right now, and Steve Sr. influences the decisions I’ve been making. Funny how life is.
Steve Jr wants to come back to Cleveland and start something. I’ve been thinking of leaving Cleveland for Nashville, but I forgot how passionate I am about Cleveland. Steve wants to come back and he has a group of people raring to go, who want to put Cleveland on the map as the Rock & Roll Capital of the World and I’d love to be a part of that. What Nashville is to Country music, Cleveland should be to Rock & Roll.
Steve wants to start an independent record label and put offices in the Rock Hall. He wants to start a foundation in his father’s name to support musicians and provide scholarships for the Berkley School of Music, which is the best in the country.
Steve thinks the food scene in Cleveland is the best in the world and he pointed to Chef Nick Kustela, and what he has created in Ashtabula, as an example. I went to grade school with him and had no idea, so we called him and made plans to all meet up in the future!
So destiny told me to come to Nashville. Steve Popovich Sr. continues to influence and inspire. I lead a charmed life and I owe it to all the beautiful people who have helped make me who I am and to live my life to the fullest.
I called Hank LoConti on New Years Day and asked, “Why did you do this to me? Nashville is so great and I did not need to know that there are guys like Steve Popovich Jr. in the world, it’s gonna make it so hard to date assholes again!”
Hank laughed and said, “Now common home to Cleveland, there’s something I wanna show you!”
A few days later, I arranged to meet Hank at the Agora. He took me up to the top floor where he showed me an architects model of an entertainment venue that he and some other investors were planning to build in the Flats. He said it would be a concert club with giant penthouses to house the acts that would perform there for weeks, maybe months at a time, like they do in Vegas. He said they had already gotten commitments from Bruce Springsteen and Eric Clapton.
“But, there’s nothing in the Flats and everyone is deserting downtown. There are so many vacant buildings and empty storefronts.” I said.
He smiled, and said, “Exactly! That’s when all the investors move in! You can get property really cheap right now in Cleveland, and let me tell you something, I’ve seen the drawings and a lot of the plans. Cleveland is gonna blow your mind! Mark my words, in ten years, you’re not gonna recognize this city. It’s gonna blow Nashville away!”
He was right!
Funny Story
The day after meeting Steve Popovich Jr, I set out to get a pedicure, in case I found a date for New Years Eve, I guess! I stumbled on a place close to my hotel that took walk-ins, and before long, I was having the most delightful chat with a nail technician named Tara Totty. She asked me what had brought me down to Nashville and I told her that I came to ring in the new year watching the Paul Thorn Band at 3rd and Lindsley. She pushed herself back on her stool and looked at me with such excitement, and said, “My dad is best friends with Paul Thorn!”
We laughed about the song Pimps and Preachers and she said, “Imagine having those as mentors!” Which prompted me to say that I had just met the son of my greatest mentor. When I said the name Steve Popovich, she pushed her stool away with more force this time, and ended up half way across the salon, with her head down and shaking. She lifted her head, tilted it sideways and looked at me, with an open mouth and astonished eyes, “You knew Pops?”
I had never heard him called that before, but when she went on to say, nearly in tears, that she had gone to beauty school with his daughter-in-law Brittany, and that Pops would bring all of the girls sandwiches from time to time, I knew we had the same guy! We both got goosebumps, wondering what were the odds, that of all the nail salons in Nashville, I would end up there, talking to another soul that Steve Popovich had touched. Just incredible!
Tara decided then, that I was too cool to keep frequenting the touristy bars on Broadway and insisted I take her advice, and go to where the locals drink. She said a lot of really cool musicians and song writers drink at Dan McGuinness Irish Pub, and she gave me some directions saying it wasn’t too far to walk. I wrote them down, as I was still a long way off from having a smartphone!
Perhaps it was the uncomfortable but stylish shoes that I wasn’t used to wearing, or the light jacket I wore thinking Nashville would be warm in winter at night, but the walk to Dan McGuinness seemed torturously long, desolate at times, and even scary, especially when I had to cross a highway overpass.
I could see from the reflection in the window, that I was a frozen windblown mess when I finally reached the pub, and walking in, I noticed I smelled like bus fumes! When the bartender asked how I was, I said, “Great, except that I think that a girl named Tara Totty is trying to kill me!”
The guy next to me turned and said, “I know Tara!” And so did the bartender, so I explained that I had met Tara earlier and she told me I could walk here from the Hotel Indigo in downtown Nashville! They did not get it, so I just ordered my Guinness and Shepherds Pie and found all the warmth and comfort I needed in those!
Side Note: In my research for this story I googled directions from The Hotel Indigo to Dan McGuinness Irish Pub, which I was sad to see has closed. I was surprised to see that it was only one and a half miles, and I wondered, was I so out of shape back then that walking that far would’ve killed me, but then, thankfully, I read on to find a warning. “Walking directions are in beta. Use caution- This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths,” and that made more sense of what I recalled!
True to her word, I met some great musicians and ended up in a limo with them, after vetting them through Steve Jr., as again, I don’t know country music! These were song writers and one of them, Bruce Wallace, had just sold a song to someone big, so they were celebrating and kindly asked if I’d like to join them, since I was all alone and…since I knew Tara Totty! We went to several bars and ended up at Doc Holiday’s Saloon, where Bruce Wallace took the stage and performed a song everyone knew but me!
I rang in the New Year at 3rd and Lindsey with The Paul Thorn Band, and gave my extra ticket to the doorman saying, “I hate to waste it, if you know anyone who could use it.” He expressed sympathy that I was alone on New Years Eve, and I told him it’ll only be a problem when the clock strikes midnight. Just as I had hoped, he obliged me with a kiss at midnight, on the cheek anyway! In the south, that’s just bein’ polite!
And Finally…
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
-Pericles
Living in Midleton, in the shadow of the Jameson Distillery, I am reminded everyday of legacy, especially one passed down from generation to generation. Steve Jr. is certainly carrying on his father’s legacy, reviving Cleveland International Records and several other music ventures. But what is even more remarkable, is that he has started a legacy of his own.
While his father was known for fostering talent, Steve Jr. and his beautiful wife, Brittany, made the decision in 2012, to begin fostering children with special needs. Far from the glamour of the music business and with no promise of fame or fortune, they have taken on the ultimate challenge and privilege of changing the lives of all the children they have welcomed into their home.
“Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.” -Josh Shipp
In 2015, they fostered a little girl, who was receiving round the clock care at a hospital, while awaiting life saving heart surgery. They trained on how to care for her when she was finally released from the hospital. Once they got her home, they were astonished to find that she had a brother, and they became his foster parents as well, eventually and lovingly adopting both siblings.
Jameson has recently won an award for their new marketing campaign, “Widen the Circle.” I was struck by the power of those three words and while they were speaking of social circles, I thought about Steve and Brittany, and how they have widened their family circle. It is no surprise, that the son of my greatest mentor, would instinctively want to share his offerings and blessings with the most vulnerable in the best and most meaningful way.
“Be Stubbornly Passionate About Your Beliefs” -Steve Popovich
I am so humbled and inspired by Steve and Brittany. The path they chose was not an easy one. They have seen more court rooms and fought more battles than I can count; fighting for what’s right and fighting for what is best for the children they have loved and nurtured. They continue to share their talent, love and blessings with the world, and are always, always widening the circle and inviting others to pull up a chair!
What a generous thing it was, for Hank LoConti to insist we meet!
The Recipe for Tastebuds Cornbread Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
1 Cup Cornmeal
1 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Cup 2% Milk
1/3 Cup Melted Butter Cooled
1 Large Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
Preheat oven to 375 Degrees. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners and mist over the pan and liners gently with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine first 5 ingredients, mix thoroughly. Beat egg in a smaller bowl and whisk in milk, vanilla and butter, then add to dry ingredients, mixing well, but don’t overdo it. Spoon batter into liners and bake in oven 18-20 minutes, rotating the pan after first ten minutes. Insert toothpick to check for doneness, it should come out clean after being inserted.
Thank you for being here once again my friend!
If you are in Cleveland and would like to meet Steve Popovich Jr. in person, (and why wouldn’t you?) he will be bringing the 45th Anniversary of Bat Out of Hell celebration to Music Box in October!
Also…
September 23rd is Nine Inch Nails Fan Day at the Rock Hall in Cleveland, featuring a free live Q&A simulcast with the 2020 inductee band (they are performing at Blossom the following night). The musician I mentioned earlier was asked to tour with Nine Inch Nails in the early 90’s and I got to spend time with the band in the Hollywood Hills. Drew Carey, a friend and fan of my boyfriend, had also arrived in Hollywood at that time.
In my next newsletter, I’ll take you inside the Sharon Tate house, where Nine Inch Nails recorded The Downward Spiral and then over to Andrew Dice Clay’s old apartment where Drew Carey was super excited to be living at the time! I hope you’ll join me! Subscribe now to gain full access and know that I am not offended at all, if you choose to be a free subscriber! I just love knowing you’re out there!
Cheers!
Bridget