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This article pretty well covers it: While Pete Townshend cries crocodile tears for a new generation’s
cultish worship of the iPod, the kids are busy playing live music. One local teenager raising hell when the lunch bell rings
is Marcus Rubio. Most youngsters aspire to rock and/or twist knobs on turntables, but Rubio simply picks up a violin and whittles
away at your intellect with lyrics referencing everything from the Beach Boys’ Smile to the questionable coffee at a
hospital cafeteria. He recently played for more than two hours at an art opening at 1906 Gallery and listeners complained
when he finally decided to take a break. Rubio hovers in the Texas outsider tradition of Daniel Johnston, with his rudimentary
drawings and humble ramblings of seemingly quotidian events. The apple-cheeked, one-man band takes loops of lovely violin
sounds and layers them with punchy guitar chords and curious stories, as with the tale of “2 Robots (pretending to be
2 humans in love).” His first release, My Head Blew Up (and turned into the sky) primarily exhibited straightforward
singer-songwriter guitar ditties, with expert support from Joe Reyes, Erik Sanden, and odie of Buttercup (Reyes aptly dubbed
Rubio’s music “space folk.”). Rubio is currently working on his second album, which he says will feature
a bigger sound, including a significant layering of strings. The term “one-man band” often evokes images of a
chimney sweep lackadaisically hitting a horn and clapping cymbals together with his knees. Rubio elevates the solitary craft
of do-it-yourself to a different plane, conjuring delightful songs that are bright and unpredictably complicated. Pete Townshend’s
concerns notwithstanding, the kids are all right if they’re percolating with inspired, eccentric talents such as Marcus
Rubio. • Michelle Valdez- I've also played guitar/sang with several local bands. And I've played violin with the likes
of Claude "Butch" Morgan,Real Live Tigers,Leatherbag,Ethan Azarian,W-S Burn,Big Soy,Eaton Lake Tonics, Carley Wolf, Laura
Scarburough,Billy Harvey,Karrie Hopper,Ashlee Rose, Voodootron,Patches Seguin, Matt The Electrician,Red Hunter/Peter and the
Wolf,JD Whittenburg,Travis Hopper, Erik Sanden/Buttercup,Chris Welch of Pinebox Serenade,Girl In A Coma,Los Mescaleros and
the Summer Wardrobe.And believe it or not I really am just barely 17! CDs are availabe from Hogwild Records, 180 Grams, www.thetexasmusicstore.com
and directly through me. The 2nd album is out now!
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