R. Stevie Moore
November 2008
Cake Shop, New York, NY
By Andres Jauregui

Eli Moore (no relation) from LAKE turned me on to his mentor, R. Stevie Moore, during an interview for Crawdaddy!, so when LAKE opened for R. Stevie in November of 2008, I had to check him out. To say that R. Stevie Moore is an eccentric doesn’t scratch the surface of his character. A lifelong devotee of home recording, R. Stevie’s discography is as deep as it is eclectic, and is supplemented with a slew of homemade videos. He regaled the crowd with broken-down pop for close to two hours in a green velor track suit with “Brooklyn” stitched in yellow block lettering across the chest, and “fired” his bassist on stage for complaining that he had to move their van. I think this photo captures R. Stevie’s on-stage personality really well: Spacey, whimsical, as if he’s taking cues from voices no one else can hear—a bard in the dark, listening mirthfully to whatever happens to cross his lips.

Reach Andres at andres@dutchvowels.com