Steve Poltz: Talented independent singer/songwriter

If you've seen the great music documentary "Before the Music Dies" you might remember a charismatic singer/songwriter, Steven Joseph Joshua Poltz, that speaks about how he co-wrote Jewel's hit "You Were Meant For Me." After watching him and liking his sense-of-humor, songwriting, and love for writing and performing I wanted to hear more of his music. After googling his name I found his website and is stage name of Steve Poltz.
(Here's an interesting video of him explaining the story behind "You Were Meant For Me." It's the 1st of 3 parts. Who ever would have guessed that the longest running song in the history of the Billboard Top 100 was written during a Mexican drug bust?)


I felt good about supporting a talented musician that absolutely loves what he does and doing my little part to help him succeed. I honestly believe that by him being able to make a modest living sharing his music with the world he considers himself successful. And those are the type of talented musicians that I love to support. So, I got a number of his cds from his webpage (www.poltz.com).

I have three favorite songs that's I'm going to share in this update.

Steve Poltz - "A Street Fighter's Face" (off his 2008 cd "Traveling")

Here's a great song about a marine that goes out to war in Iraq and the stuff that he goes through. The song is upbeat and happy sounding, but gives a story of the life of a soldier that isn't usually heard. I'm not sure why a marine would be in a jeep, but it's a great song nonetheless.

Steve Poltz - "Rains (w/ AJ Croce)" (off his 2008 cd "Traveling")
Here's a song with the son of one of my favorite songwriters of all time, Jim Croce. If Jack Johnson's "Flake" could break through mainstream radio, why not this?

Steve Poltz - "You Remind Me" (off his 2003 cd "Chinese Vacation")
A good catchy song that's better than most of the stuff that they play on radio.

If you like these then please support him and spread the word about him. You can find him on myspace at www.myspace.com/stevepoltz

I gotta catch this guy next time he comes to the Bay Area...

Shove This Jay-Oh-Bee

This update is dedicated to all of my friends that work for the city of Sacramento that are either losing their job or being displaced.

This classic-to-me song is a widely hated-on song by Canibus off of the Office Space soundtrack. (Which also gave us the hood-classic "Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta" by the Geto Boys.) At the time this song came out (1999) Canibus was one of the most ferocious battle rappers in the rap game. He was abusing every mix-tape he was on and rapping circles around anyone he did a track with (Redman on "Beasts From the East" and Common "Making a Name For Ourselves" to name a few). He had a loyal following off of his creative and descriptive lyrics and his intricate rhyme patterns.

I feel that people hated this song for what it wasn't (a battle rap song) and didn't give it a chance to like it for what it was (a extremely funny song about a guy quitting his job). I've never quit a job on bad terms, but I can imagine if I ever do I will bust out this song and blast it cause it'll describe exactly how I feel.

Canibus gives a very descriptive and humorous tale of an office worker without sacrificing his slick wordplay. Biz Markie adds his trademark funny sing-style chorus that fits the light mood of the track perfectly. Alone the track is nothing special, but like the Bizmark chorus, it fits.



[Canibus]
People get hired
Drink coffee to stay wired
So they don't get tired, sleep late, and get fired

[Biz Markie]
You came in late, you already ate,
nowww, you wanna take a lunch break!??!

[Canibus]
Ay, yo bust it, ain't no need to discuss it
Just take this job and shove it, right between your buttocks

[Biz Markie]
Take this job and shove it
I ain't workin here no more...

If there's ever been another song to describe a typical office this perfectly I haven't heard it. Of course I'm not talking about my office. I like my office, cause my office isn't typical. Ummmmm-Yeeeeaaahhhh...