With so much response to the post that is under the label "fuck you", I could not help but let my curiousity fester as to what genius has been on the Albuquerque scene this entire time without my awareness. I have tried to keep up with as many bands as I can and we all know this is a very difficult task. It just so happened that the day I visited their Myspace page was the day of their show, an open mic at the always friendly Blue Dragon Coffee house. I figure perfect I'll relax after work and head over for some live jams, my favorite past time. A clear and beautiful Albuquerque evening ushered me to the venue and set the tone for a night of total chaos, fuck yeah!!! In my approach to the Dragon my mind was spinning, this masterful musician I may happen upon who had obliterated the entire music world with hatred and disgust is playing. This person must be a madman, this person must be so far out there that I might become perfectly frightened or possibly have a life changing experience. In my mind the completely laughable review of all of us, our music, our character and our entire presence had no bearing on my perception I went into this with an open mind and truly an open heart as with any live performance.
After a couple opening acts one being a duo of boyscout and friend jamming groovy originals between kick drum and acoustic, happily rippin through a couple songs with smiles and humor I was feelin alright. Next was an insprired solo keyboard player who did his thing. Finally The Subject to Change began setting up shop, at first I was little thrown off because there was only three members on the Myspace page but there were eight people on stage, maybe they just had alot of guest appearances? With a completely out of tune guitar one of the female artists begins strumming and she is joined by the same keyboardist formely mentioned, a doo, a homemade drum set, another electric guitarist and a couple other guitarists bass and acoustic. Finally Crossdress Charlie who is the "genius" behind it all playing an electronic hook up of some sort, I was not close enough to tell. Within a few moments which I thought were left for tuning and sound perfection I realized that The Subject to Change was in full flight. This noise was obviously experimental and a whirlwind of chaos, my mind still open but brimming with laughter I braved it. I have seen some really cool experimental stuff mixed with total improvisational thinking, it can be very interesting. If you have ever seen a concert of this ilk then you know it can be challenging because there is no structure, it can be hard to sit through even if all of the musicians are trained and accomplished. With the exception of a late arriving bassist, the occasional drum beat and the keyboard player which I could barely hear it seemed as though the rest had stolen the instruments from a nearby gig and been dropped off by their moms for a quick performance.
As the room began to clear about five miuntes into this blistering set it all became clear that I was not watching genius I was watching youthful confusion and a desparate call for attention. Charlie was pounding away on his instrument and belting out Jim Carey like noises amongst the other hideous layers of off key bellows. The passion, soul, and genius was no where to be found. I realized that a human being with such a lack of respect and pride for their own music could only see the same in the world around them. My disappointment soon became laughter as I found the entire situation to be humorous, the only redeeming factor. Charlie then picked up the guitar and began wailing or flailing I forget which, at this point I had my fill and was headed for the door. If you are feeling a little down I highly reccommend a The Subject to Change show to lift you up through laughter. I usually can appreciate most anything that people do live because it takes balls to get up on stage and perform, and I respect that. As for The Subject to Change, I recommend saving up all the money you have spent on womens clothing, hair dye and fish net stockings and buying some lessons from the many wonderful and talented artists that exist right here with you in your own city. As Charlie so eloquently stated, "well i can rave till im blue in the face but it doesnt matter cause you fucks will get famous and ill just die a poor peice of shit who wasted his life making music no one beleived in"...I could not agree more.
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