Googolplexia

One banned man from Saint Louis, Missouri. Plays accordion, ukulele, and banjo. Sings with the help of a wireless headset microphone. Doesn't like to use stages; prefers traipsing around in the crowd. Telly-award-winning composer and RiverFront Times-award-winning musical act and record label proprietor. From Michael Herr:

"With his electric banjo and ukulele, accordion and trombone kazoo, Robert Severson has crafted Saint Louis, Missouri's Googolplexia into a one-man outsider vaudeville. Severson stomps, claps, and gurgles into the disparate, cobwebbed corners of American music and sometimes beyond. Song to song, Googolplexia swings between styles and strategies, evoking Elvis, Belafonte, Whitney Houston, Gene Austin, Andy Kaufman, The Ink Spots, Yves Montand, karaoke, opera-from-scratch, improv comedy, Shakespeare, Smokey Robinson, gypsy, calypso, bal-musette . . . ; but whether it's a song about a giant monster fish, heartbreak and working fast food, his beloved Volvo 240, or even an off-the-cuff cover, Severson's crackling, three-steps-ahead wit and pyrotechnical phrasing give the songs beating hearts. Expect screwball theatrics at their most hand-embroidered."