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On SUNDAY March 25, 2012 at 6:00pm,
Potluck at 5:00pm
Jefferson Freedom Cafe concert series presents
STEVE POLTZ
We are having a special early Sunday evening show with no opener so our audience can get home early. I could not pass up the opportunity to get this performer to our venue even if it is on a Sunday. I have witnessed this month's performer "perform" approximately 8 times. At the International Folk Alliance conference last month I recommended to more than a few people that they should not miss Poltz's official showcase performance. I was asked, "What kind of music does he play?" I was dumbfounded. I told them that they would just have to witness what can't be described other than to use the word "spectacle". His show is something to behold. Poltz is a crafty songwriter. The subject matter of his music covers the gambit of humorous to serious. It is the story telling in the songs and between the songs that makes him even more captivating and unlike anything that you have seen. His energy level is off the charts. I promise that you will leave his show with the realization that you have seen nothing like it. He once broke his hand snow skiing on the eve of a sold out show in Canada and was unable to play guitar. The venue owner said that he needed to at least go on stage and talk for 30 minutes. He talked for 90 minutes, blew the audience away, and a man in the audience booked Steve to do a show in Australia as a result of his "performance". The following info from Steve's website is long, but worth the read and describes Steve better than I ever could. - Robert JFC
"To suggest that Steve Poltz isn't normal is about as safe a statement as one could make. You would basically require the powers of the Hubble space telescope to locate Steve Poltz from any region of normalcy. For music fans on both sides of the equator, this is a very good thing.
Born among the hearty seafaring folk of Canada's Halifax, Nova Scotia, Poltz has lived most of his life in Southern California, where the sun treated his rocky Canadian DNA like clothes in a dryer. Naturally a spectrum of cultural and emotional tensions arose and he eventually sought refuge in the art of songwriting, where he tapped into an unforgettable and often horrifying depth of unhinged genius.
Among the music cognoscenti, Steve Poltz is regarded as one of the most talented and prolific songwriters of our time. His songs have been among the longest running ever on the Billboard Top 100 and they regularly appear in movie soundtracks, television shows, and even the odd commercial. His touring schedule is ferocious, ping ponging between continents with enough frequency to earn him manic followings in scores of different accents and languages.
Any musician who has traveled as extensively as Poltz will have their share of colorful road stories, but Poltz' adventures read like a bucket list. Starting out auspiciously, Poltz recalls meeting Elvis Presley at a small airport and beaming proudly as The King hugged his sister for an inordinately long time. Growing up in Palm Springs, California, he trick-or-treated at Liberace's house and was Bob Hope's favorite altar boy. In an alcohol-soaked haze, he infamously accosted David Cassidy, who had summoned him to Las Vegas to write a hit song for the aging Tiger Beat cover boy.
His rich and colorful legacy is the stuff of legend, but it is his distinctive style of songwriting that has caused the world to offer up its stages, clubs, and alleys. Poltz' sound is entirely unique- from his inhuman finger style techniques to the inimitable melodies that roll from his guitar like cool waterfalls, you know a Poltz song as soon as you hear it. To see Steve to perform live is one of the most entertaining shows a human could ever see. Frenzied, aggressive, hilarious, and heartbreakingly sincere, his live performances have become bona fide events, with sub-cultures popping up all over the globe to entice him to come and tour. As relentless as he is in concert, he is also the guy who famously co-wrote the timeless ballad "You Were Meant for Me" with platinum-selling songwriter Jewel. Of course, because we're talking about Steve Poltz, it should surprise no one to learn that the song was written on a lazy Mexican beach, where Poltz and Jewel were soon snapped up and sequestered by Mexican Federales and required to witness and eventually assist in a large marijuana bust on the beach. Don't believe it? See for yourself in the pictures on his web site.
Poltz, an ex high school wrestler (98 pound class), is also an obsessive baseball fan, a die-hard yoga practitioner, a hopeless romantic, a smart-ass philosopher and a child-like adventurer with an absurdist's view of the planet and all of its curious life forms.
Music fans have adored him since he first fronted the hallowed punk-folk legends, The Rugburns, whose live shows earned the band a following that is best described somewhere between the terms "cult" and "crazed substance-abusing fanatics." Once touring over 300 days a year, the Rugburns occasionally reunite for wildly popular sold-out shows.
Poltz' solo body of work is an impressive collection of ballads, rockers and uniquely melodic acoustic numbers that reflect his incomparable style of alternate tunings and savage finger picking techniques. Guitar geeks fall prostrate at his feet trying vainly to learn how to play his stunningly gorgeous and deceptively complex songs. To see him play guitar is a visual feast so frenetic that close proximity to his playing exposes one to risk of seizure.
His albums reflect the depth and expanse of his influences throughout the years (One Left Shoe, Chinese Vacation, Traveling and Unraveling). He has also released a children's album (The Barn), a performance DVD (Tales From The Tavern) and a collection of other recordings that defy categorization, such as Answering Machine - a 56-track collection of 45 second "songs" culled from his answering machine's outgoing messages. Neil Young has ranked it as a favorite album.
Steve Poltz's latest recording project brought him back to Halifax, where he collaborated with Joel Plaskett, an award-winning Canadian songwriter, performer, producer and eminently kindred spirit. The two holed up in Joel's Scotland Yard studio with a 2 inch, 16 track analog tape machine, a 24 hour work ethic, their comfy clothes, and all the mojo they could conjure. The result was Dreamhouse, Steve's most accomplished and focused album to date. Critically acclaimed across the globe, it has been singled out by some critics as the 2010 Album of the Year.
His live shows have captivated audiences far and wide with a mix of singing, storytelling, shredding, and the occasional spoken word rants which have been known to incite riots. He can take an audience from laughter to tears and back again in the space of the same song. Steve Poltz transcends the word "talented." He is unforgettable in all the right ways."
Written by Joe Daly
To learn more about Steve Poltz go to www.stevepoltz.com
To listen to Steve's music click here
Doors open at 4:30pm, Potluck @ 5:00pm,
Show starts at 6:00pm
Tickets are $15
BYOB (beer & wine)
Jefferson Freedom Cafe is a smoke free listening room located at
1959 Sandy Lane, Fort Worth, TX 76112
click here for directions (near I-30 & I-820 on the eastside of Fort Worth)
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