That 1 Guy

Imagine the brainchild of Dr. Seuss, Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa, Stanley Kubrick and Rube Goldberg, and you begin to understand the spectacle of a That 1 Guy performance by Berkeley, CA-based, classically trained musician Mike Silverman. As inventor and player of The Magic Pipe, That 1 Guy’s show has to be seen to be believed, as he single-handedly (and foot-edly) plays his amazing instrument, made out of miked steel pipes with a single, thick bass string wired from top to bottom, not to mention an Appalachian handsaw, an electric cowboy boot and belching smoke. Combining elements of classical music with electronica, Silverman puts his classical training to good use creating music that is ethereal, gothic and heart pounding. “It’s pretty serious,” says Silverman, about his oneman concert performance, equal parts music, technology, science, art and spectacle and suitable for audiences of all ages, as he uses his hands and feet to create an industrial tribal rhythm that must be seen and heard to be believed. “There’s a lot to take in. When people see me play, they just intuitively get it.”

“That 1 guys tunes are ‘eargasms’ lingering sublimely in your subconscious long after the show ends.”