Chi McClean

Leftovers from the night before, kept cool in the passenger seat all night, sure make for a good breakfast! Mm... Bacon cheeseburger!!

After a wonderful time performing at Crab Landing in Half Moon Bay, CA, I woke up at my buddies’ place (thanks, Tim and Jenn!) in Moss Beach, CA, just in time to get dressed, clean up, pack up my gear, and hit the road up to wine country. It was a beautiful day for a drive, but I had to be there by noon to set up for a 1:00pm start, so there wasn’t too much time to stop and smell the roses, if ya know what I mean. Alas, it was hurry, hurry, hurry up the CA-1, then the 101, then the 37, 121, then 29 up to Napa, CA to set up and rock for a few hours at Falcor Winery.

Some unsuspecting bystanders wondering what all this gear was about. Little did they know... I would be melting faces in mere minutes.

Falcor Winery makes some pretty amazing wines, and plenty of ‘em. This particular event was a wine release celebration for their club members and about 100 or so of them descended upon the facility for some live acoustic music, great food, fun times and, of course, wine tasting. I might have missed the fine print when I booked this gig, because I ended up playing, off and on, for about five (count ‘em: 5) hours. It was a marathon of a gig, for sure, but the crowd was lots of fun, I had my PA system dialed, and the weather was unseasonably warm. Fueled by an amazing steak, potatoes, salad, and more from the winery’s head chef (and, of course, the leftover bacon cheeseburger I had in my car from the night before), I kept rockin’ with the help of a little Throat Coat tea to keep the pipes workin’. Make no mistake, five hours is a LONG gig for a solo act, but I finished with a smile, sold a bunch of copies of my latest release, signed up a ton of new fans to my mailing list, and met some really good folks from all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Big, big thanks to my friends at Falcor Winery for inviting me to the event and taking such good care of me… we had fun, didn’t we?!

My host from the night before, Tim Clark, showcasing his new found love for the bandura. This baby has 55 strings! What the?!

I nearly forgot… the night before, after my gig in Half Moon Bay, my host, Tim Clark (pictured above), whipped out his bandura for a little house concert performance. This thing is incredible. It has 55 strings, is played/plucked with two hands (the left plays the bass notes, the right plays the treble notes, sort of like a piano), and it weighs a ton. It sounds really cool and calls to mind some old Eastern European scene from a creepy movie (for me, anyway). Tim played his interpretation of “With Or Without You” written by U2… pretty neat to hear it on this crazy instrument! I gave it whirl and, to be honest, I totally flopped… Tim is an engineer and I’m pretty sure you need some high level aptitude for mathematics to comprehend how to approach this thing. Me? I was told there would be no math… Go, Tim!

Back in hiding in the San Francisco Bay Area, trying to lay low and out of sight for a while to catch up on some sleep and get ready to hit the road again in early March!

So, that’s pretty much it… the end of the road for this little run of fifteen (15) shows along the California coast. It was a ton of fun, a bit of a scramble at times, filled with lots of adventure (and misadventure), a couple lessons along the way, and more than a few laughs. Long story short: I can’t wait to do it all again in March! Until then, I’m laying low and getting ready for my OFFICIAL CD RELEASE EVENT at CAFÉ du NORD in San Francisco, CA on Thursday, March 8th, 2012. I’ll be officially releasing my solo, live-in-studio, acoustic CD, “A Thing Or Three” with some really special guest musicians on stage with me that night. Plus, for each of you all that makes it out, I’ll have a unique, parting gift as a take-away that you won’t want to miss! Oh, yeah… did I mention, I’m moving to Nashville, TN?! Yep… so this is the LAST TIME you San Francisco Bay Area folks will be able to see me perform for a little while. It’s gonna be a big night. Be sure to scratch off that date on your calendars NOW and let’s have some fun. Tickets will be available for advance purchase SOON, and they will sell out, so stay tuned right here and on my SHOWS PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE for details on how, when, and where you can get yours so you don’t miss out. Also joining the bill, and releasing her fourth studio album, will be country singer/songwriter Erica Sunshine Lee. If you haven’t heard of her yet, you will… she is terrific and will make a country music fan out of you with just one listen. Trust me.

Thanks, California, for your support these past two weeks I’ve been on the road! You are beautiful… come around and see me again soon! xo