On stage is an odd-looking man: tall, dressed in black, with long, angled sideburns. He wields an even stranger-looking contraption: taller than himself, made of stainless steel pipes, upright bass strings and numerous pieces of electronic and musical hardware held together with a healthy amount of duct tape.

From the device comes a seemingly endless stream of sounds: strange but sweet, while the music man spews lyrics about weasel dinners and romance in the same breath.

The audience members have no idea how this guy and his would-be lawn ornament are making this thunderous, captivating music, but they know they like it.

The man is Mike Silverman, better known as That 1 Guy, and the instrument is one he created himself and subsequently christened the Magic Pipe, and this is what it’s like to be at one of his concerts.

That 1 Guy’s traveling spectacle has stopped in Ames four times in the past year, once during Veishea and three other times at People’s Bar & Grill, including a free show there Wednesday.

Silverman’s biggest Iowa show to date, though, will be Friday night, when he opens for jazz-rock legends Little Feat at Des Moines’ Simon Estes Amphitheater.

That means a whole new crowd will be exposed to this one-man band as he creates his unique brand of percussive funk with the help of the Magic Pipe, which Silverman says has an “infinite” number of sounds.

“[The Magic Pipe] is primarily a string instrument, but there’s also transducers that are triggering other sounds that I make,” he says. “It sort of allows me to broaden my sound pallet, and not sound only like a string instrument, but like anything I like.

“I can bow it or pluck it or slap it, and can make it sound like anything really, like any melodic instrument.”

With the help of live phrase sampling, better known as “looping,” That 1 Guy can put together multiple layers of sounds and vocals until it sounds like an entire band is on stage with him.

Silverman has been playing instruments, especially the upright bass, since he was 10, and although his music brings to mind some familiar artists (like Les Claypool), he says he’s trying to create something completely original.

“I’m not really going for a specific sound in terms of trying to mimic an instrument or something I’ve heard. Instead I’m really trying to create my own sound and make as thick as a sonic picture as I can by myself,” Silverman says.

“At the end of the day what I’m trying to do is have it be its own voice.”

Friday night’s concert is part of this summer’s Alive Concert Series, which is presented by Ames-based People’s Productions. Tom Zmolek, owner of People’s Productions and People’s Bar & Grill, is excited to see That 1 Guy outside of the usual bar setting.

“When I saw That 1 Guy at Veishea, I knew I wanted to put him in a concert setting,” Zmolek says. “You have to sit there and watch him to really get the full effect.”

Zmolek is optimistic that a crowd with plenty of middle-aged people, such as what one would expect for Little Feat, will embrace That 1 Guy’s music as much as college kids at a bar.

“Everybody that’s ever seen him loves the show,” Zmolek says.

That 1 Guy is also looking forward to a more diverse audience.

“[My music] kind of appeals to everybody on some level,” Silverman says.

“I always like it at my shows when there’s a real good mix of different kinds of folks.”