Mike Silverman built his instrument out of a dare. A San Francisco club owner paid his band, The Fabulous Hedgehogs, $50 for a full night’s work, then dared him to play solo next time. Silverman took him up on it, standing on a bar at Dr. Bombay’s in the Mission District with his head just touching the ceiling, and That 1 Guy was born, along with The Magic Pipe: seven feet of galvanized steel, bronze joints, and wired electronics that Relix Magazine says produces “funky bass-n-drum grooves so bombastic they rattle china cabinets.” He brings the Salty Snacks Tour to Rec Room on Tuesday, February 9.
About the Show
Silverman performs entirely alone, playing an instrument he built from hardware-store parts and wired electronics. The Magic Pipe generates simultaneous funk bass lines, bowed string tones, and live percussion. Live, he works in the Magic Saw, the Magic Boot (a wired cowboy boot), and the Magic Duck, a sock puppet with its own sonic role. Bass Player Magazine called it “like a one-man band plucked from the pages of Dr. Seuss.” The Ann Arbor Observer described a “gonzo sensibility influenced by Frank Zappa.” The SF Bay Guardian said his tunes are “eargasms lingering sublimely in your subconscious long after the show ends.”
What gives the act its structural integrity is Silverman’s training. A classically trained double bassist, he won a Dave Brubeck Jazz Scholarship and studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music before building a career around a seven-foot homemade instrument. His debut album, Songs In The Key Of Beotch, came out in 2004 on Righteous Babe Records after he had already sold 10,000 copies independently. His second album, The Moon Is Disgusting (2007), was conceived around an animated film concept exploring human evolution. He has performed alongside Ani DiFranco, Soul Coughing, and Saul Williams, collaborated with Buckethead as The Frankenstein Brothers, and played major festivals including Electric Forest and the Montreal Jazz Festival. He won the Tap Water Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and averages 150 to 200 shows a year. His audience crosses rock, electronic, DIY folk, funk, jazz, and experimental music.
The Buffalo date is one stop on a 22-show Salty Snacks Tour leg, with nearby dates at Funk ’n Waffles in Syracuse (February 7) and Beachland Tavern (February 10).
Venue & Logistics
Rec Room is on West Chippewa Street in downtown Buffalo, in western New York. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Ages 16 and up admitted with ID; those under 16 may attend with a parent or legal guardian; no one under 12 admitted. Presented by After Dark Presents.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Tickets are on sale now. Buy tickets