A Legend Plays in Brooklyn
On May 11th, 2014, an eager crowd of 50 30-somethings huddled into the backroom of Baby’s All right in Williamsburg, to await the performance of a fabled musician. Some audience members traveled from as far as Illinois and Maine to see the reclusive virtuoso in person. After chatting through the first two bands, the crowd grew silent in anticipation for the presence of none other than R. Stevie Moore. Only the sound of crackling ice cubes could be heard until the portly man with a white beard to his chest emerged from backstage – the recording wizard had arrived. The stage lights projected hot shades of blue, purple, and green as the crowd howled and hurled greetings and explicates at the star of the night. Dressed in a blue and white striped short-sleeved dress shirt, navy slacks, Smurf -blue vinyl clogs, and a baseball cap with Arizona embroidered on its front, he looked more like an eccentric English professor than an occult rock star. Yet, he picked up his distinguished black and white electric bass (complete with a baby doll head one of its tuning knobs) and proceeded to scream “Check – check savings!” into the microphone for a sound test. The crowd sustained its fanatical pitch throughout the whole process. Then, just as abruptly as he appeared, Moore darted through the black velvet curtains and out of the performance space. His backing band continued playing a chaotic and dissonant arrangement as the crowd bellowed for his return. Finally, he reemerged from the curtain portal, clutched the microphone, and gruffly said, “I’m R. Stevie Moore, now shut the f—k up.” That’s when the show began.
Halied as a ”Lo-Fi Legend” by Tammy La Gorce in a New York Times article, Moore is a completely self-taught multi-instrumentalist who’s been a recording and releasing music from his home for over 40 years. Acclaimed as a “melodic prodigy,” and pioneer for the Lo-Fi genre, Moore has accrued a cult following throughout his lengthy career. He has sustained his career by self-releasing over 400 albums from his home via the R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club. Moore would mail his music directly to paying customers and communicate with his increasing fans through letters, then email as technology changed. While Moore is undoubtedly prolific, he does not tour often. Known for making single-stop appearances all over the country, Moore hadn’t actually toured until 2011. With funds raised from kickstarter.com, he was able to play in Europe for the first time in his career. Approaching his mid-sixties, Moore rarely performs now, playing a few shows a month in late-spring/summer only. Audience members mentioned fruitlessly trying to see him live for years. But he has been growing in popularity over the past five years. His performance at Baby’s All Right serves as a send off for his 2014 world tour. Brooklyn, where announcing your interest in obscure music has become a pastime, seems like just the place for Moore to begin his international tour before flying to Europe. He will end it in Queens.
Knowing they were in for a rare spectacle, the crowd withheld no attention from the performance. Realizing this, Moore seemed to toy with the crowd’s attention span. He abruptly switched genres, formats, and even instruments throughout the show; which is what fans expect from him. He even broke included a rendition of Snoop Dogg’s 2004 hit “Drop it like it’s Hot.” The only constant theme in the performance was his repeated references to the Nigerian hostage crisis (#BringBackOurGirls).
The front man was not the only one to engage in musical randomness, at one point in the show the entire band noodled on plastic recorders before an intermission (in which they cleared the stage, only to return minutes later.)
Anyone who listens to R. Stevie Moore is aware of his instrumental dexterity. Completely self-taught, many of his recordings feature him on guitar, bass, drums, keys/synth, as well as vocals. Although he played bass for the bulk of the performance, his band cleared the stage for a moment as he demonstrated his virtuosity to the crowd by playing a different tune on each instrument available.
The set list seemed to be centered on his most popular and newer songs – not exactly the list of personal favorites one might expect him to play – with bits of poetry and rants mixed in. Still, Moore’s showmanship is nothing less than captivating. The heads of audience members jerked and swayed with wide smiles of satisfaction cemented on their faces. The backing band handled Moore’s compositions with a ferocity not present in his recording’s. His guitarist improvised on his original riffs and showcases his technical skills by adding dizzying solos. The crowd became especially frenzied during their performance of “Sort of Way” (one of Moore’s most popular songs.)
Towards the end of the solid hour-long set Moore took to the stage alone to share his spoken word/political rants with the audience before jumping into a heavily distorted rendition of “Carmen is Coming”. The track, which spans a mere three minutes on the 2011 album Advanced, was extended to chaotic eight minutes of distorted guitar, head bangs, and a sweaty R. Stevie Moore laying belly-up in a puddle of freshly-spilled wine.
After closing another successful show, the “Veteran Progressive Popster” (as he’s described in his bandcamp bio) descended from the stage in silence. He grabbed only his bass, and cleared the room long before his band mates. Although Moore was not the last act of the once-crowded room became almost entirely empty upon the completion of his set. The crowd left smiling, sweaty, and glowing with enthusiasm. The elusively of R. Stevie Moore only makes his fans more dedicated. Moore himself sat perched on a stool hastily drinking a liter of spring water. After declining to a previously confirmed interview, he nodded sincerely and breathed “thanks for coming”. The Lo-Fi Legend continues to intrigue audiences around the world.
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