Googolplexia

"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."--Mike Herr