Chi McClean

So, I got this call earlier in the week from Bay Area songwriter Jim Bruno about a Beatles tribute night that he had put together at The Union Room in San Francisco. It turns out that he had a cancellation for his show on Saturday, July 17th and needed another songwriter to perform a couple of Beatles tunes. Now, I don’t own any Beatles records at all, and I don’t really listen to them, so I thought this might be a fun exercise. [To be honest, I'm more of a Hendrix, Cream, Zeppelin, Allmans sort of guy, and I just didn't know how vast the Beatles song catalog was.]

Yes, it's the bugle for The Union Room.

In any case, I said I was in, then completely forgot about it until yesterday, just a few hours before I was scheduled to perform. So, with just about two hours before the show, I scrambled online to figure out a few tunes to play, work out some arrangements, etc. Now, I have to thank my Facebook friends because I posted a plea for help in terms of what to play and received about 40 different comments on song suggestions. Ah… the power of social networking!

In the end, I performed a blues/slide rendition of “Come Together”, a Joe Cocker inspired version of “With A Little Help From My Friends”, and a soul/R&B version (alternated with a bluegrass/zydeco inspired vibe) of “All My Loving”. That was pretty much the first time I had played all three all the way through (I was literally reading the charts/lyrics on stage) and just had some fun with it and let loose. None of them sounded like The Beatles, but perhaps that was the point… to make them your own. In any case, a huge thanks to Jim Bruno for putting together the night and for including me in the fun. I definitely have a new appreciation for The Beatles and I really enjoyed listening to some of the other songwriters’ interpretations of some of their classic and lesser known tracks. In particular, this guy Hiram did a ridiculous version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on his ukelele (seriously, it was insane). All in all, good stuff… Thanks to everyone who made it a really fun night.

This place sounds good!

After about a month and a half of traveling and playing in New York and Nashville, I’m back in San Francisco and am psyched to do a solo acoustic set tonight at The Box SF here at home. They’re putting on a pretty slick networking event this evening and I’m closing it out from 8:00pm until 9:00pm, so bring your business cards, put your networking face on, and come on down to meet some new friends, enjoy some good wine and cheese, and wrap it up with a fun set from yours truly. It’s just $7.00 for the whole enchilada, so get there at 6:00pm and stick around for the music starting at 8:00pm. See ya soon!

Product page on the Walmart.com online music store.

I’m pretty psyched to say that I am currently listed on Walmart’s online music store as a featured indie artist! You can check it out here or the specific product page here and listen to all ten tracks from my debut release, “Something Out There”. I have no idea how many hits this page gets each day, but I have to imagine that it’s more than a few (heck, it’s Walmart!). Anyway, a big thanks to the folks at Walmart and Liquid Audio for recognizing my music and posting my record to their featured indie artist page. Take a few minutes to check it out when you have a second and buy some music! More news after this…

Yesterday, I was introduced to my first “meat and three”. It was incredible… for a guy that digs fried, heavy foods, it was a slice of paradise. Hamburger steak, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fried okra, cheese-jalapeño grits, corn bread, rolls, honey dijon sauce, and iced tea. Does it get any better than that?

Meat and three? Yes, please...

Afterwards, I did a bit of work in terms of reaching out to some songwriters and helped my buddy Keith get his venue ready for a showcase that Megan Conner had set up for her new record. After getting things ready, I was asked to get up on his stage and warm things up with some acoustic guitar. It was totally unexpected and totally fun… weird playing my stuff without any words/singing, but it was a good time and, consequently, I met a few interesting folks afterwards.

Megan Conner with Mark Lonsway on guitar at The Hayman Loft.

When Megan Conner and guitarist Mark Lonsway took the stage, the crowd went crazy. These guys were so polished, their songs were really good, and they each really brought solid energy to the stage. I was really impressed. Usually, when you listen to an album and you go to see a live performance, you generally might be a little disappointed. Not with these guys… if anything, their performance was more entertaining and inspiring than their record (which is saying a lot since their album is really, really well done). If you haven’t checked out Megan Conner’s music, make sure you do.

After the show, I went over to another part of town for a little breakfast for dinner and ate more eggs, waffles, biscuits and gravy, and other southern things that I don’t even know the names of… amazing. From there, I met up with singer/songwriter Issac Hayden who brought me over to 12th & Porter to see Sharif. I had never heard of this guy, but he was doing a SESAC showcase and was killing it on stage…

Sharif tearing it up on stage at 12th & Porter.

I know I sound like a broken record, but you should really check this guy out if you haven’t listened to him yet. He has a set of pipes on him with some serious range. His band is top notch, and they just are really polished. He’s coming out with a new single soon, so keep your eyes are ears peeled.

After getting to know a few folks around the “compound”, as I’m calling it, here at my buddy’s place in Nashville, TN yesterday, we took a little tour around town and checked out Music Row, a number of cool spots on 2nd Avenue and on Broadway, and cruised by some of the areas that were previously under water. It’s amazing to see how quickly (and how well) Nashville cleaned up and recovered from the flood. If you dig deeper, you can still see evidence of the damage and how high the water actually got, but at a glance, it seems as though the city really pulled together and got things back on track pretty quickly.

After driving around for a while, we ended up at this diner called Noshville, which was a cross between my favorite New York deli counters and souther hospitality. My host, Keith, and I both ordered up some French dip sandwiches, some fries, some potato salad, and some ‘slaw partnered with a few icy cold Cokes and went to town. Unbelievable…

When we wrapped up, we headed over to the legendary songwriter venue just outside of downtown Nashville known as The Bluebird Cafe. Adorning the walls of this place are photos of songwriters and performers that have graced the four walls of this cozy little music venue and, it’s funny… pretty much every single one has made it big as a writer or a performer. All of them are autographed (a couple now have a few ink mustachios) and it’s a pretty neat piece of music history to survey.

Tim Bupper on drums going nuts!

In any case, one of Keith’s buddies Tim Buppert was playing with his quartet that night, so we reserved a four top and got to check out all of the action. Pretty much every person in his act was a professional songwriter and we heard a ton of great music. Not only was it well written, but these guys could seriously play. Very cool…

Now completely inspired, it’s up and at ‘em for a quick run and then off to make some calls and write some tunes.

Well, I finally made it down to Nashville, TN. Plenty of folks have insisted that I check it out and after avoiding it for a few months, I finally figured out a way to get here via a gig at The Bitter End in New York City. When I showed up at my buddy Keith’s pad here in Nashville yesterday, he was abuzz getting ready for a performance at his home or, what he calls from time to time, “The Hayman Loft”. Actually, he not only has a logo and a website, but a really killer sound system, a nice baby grand, a full light set up (including a smoke machine, disco ball, and strobe light), and a great stage in his loft-style apartment. He hosts a few shows each month and last night was awesome. About six different harp guitarists showed up to do their thing and I was instantly blown away.

A harp guitar duo at The Hayman Loft. These things are crazy!

In case you have never heard of a harp guitar (I hadn’t until last night), it’s a crazy beast of an instrument that, in some cases, has three instruments built into one. There’s a set of bass strings up top (as many as ten or twelve or more), a somewhat normal guitar in the middle, and what looks like an autoharp of some sort with open tuned strings at the bottom. It’s crazy!

Anyway, this group of musicians completely blew me away. Tons of fun and just ridiculous talent (and coordination) from everyone who took the stage last night.

Billups Art Space: a cool, mixed-use space with a cool stage, a great sound system, and a nice vibe.

This afternoon, my buddy Keith set me up at a place called Billups Art Space. They were hosting an art and music event throughout the afternoon and had an opening spot on their stage, so I took it gladly. It was hot and humid, but the sound was good and Keith’s friend Adam Browder (local, ripping guitar player here in Nashville) joined me and sat in for a few songs. We had an amazing time and ended up meshing pretty well… man, that guy can play. I met a few other local musicians there as well, and it was nice to get the networking thing going a little bit. Everyone seems to be pretty open and friendly in this town and it’s really great to see.

Really looking forward to playing this place tonight... looks sick!

Tonight, I’m headed over to 2nd Avenue Live to play a set from 11:30pm until 12:00am. From the looks of it and the sound of it, the venue seems pretty sick. There will be a few acts playing throughout the night and I’ll be doing a 45 minute set later in the evening. It’s going to be a hoot, so if you’re in the area, come on out and say “hey” for one of my first official sets in Nashville.

The legendary New York rock club: The Bitter End.

Well, after wrapping up a number of shows up and down the California coast earlier this week, I’ve found myself back in New York for some writing and, most importantly, a show at The Bitter End! I’ll be playing tonight, Thursday, June 17th from 7:00pm until 8:00pm with friend and bassist Malcolm Gold. We had a killer rehearsal yesterday and I’m really psyched to perform with him tonight. It’s going to be a fun evening with a few new tunes thrown in for good measure, too. Tickets are just $10.00 and will give you access to the entire night of music in addition to our set. For details, directions, etc. just click on over to The Bitter End website. See you soon!

After sleeping in my truck in Malibu, CA following my performance the night before in Los Angeles, CA, I got off to a bit of a rough start the next morning when I finally “woke up”. When I finally motivated and crawled out of the truck, it was foggy and grey, but I figured I’d check the surf since I was in Malibu/Point Dume, after all. So, I cleaned myself up a bit (that included, at the time, running a comb through my hair once and brushing my teeth), got back in the car, and drove the short stint up the coast past Zuma, La Piedra, Leo Carrillo… nothing. When I arrived at County Line, though, I saw a few small but fun waves without anyone really on ‘em. So, since I needed a shower anyway, I donned the wetsuit, waxed up my 5’9″ fish, and paddled out for a few waves.

I was glad I did because the fog broke and gave way to a beautiful sunny morning with soft, but rip-able waves and a major acrobatics show from a local pod of dolphins. I mean, there were about ten of these guys (big ones, too!) just jamming around in the break zone doing aerials, buzzing our feet underwater, and just having fun/feeding. Maybe they were trying to vibe us out (“Hey, dudes… this is OUR beach… you don’t live here, you don’t SURF here…”). Either way, it was a pretty neat experience to be that close to these guys.

The rock reef section at County Line. Small, soft, but surprisingly fun!

When I got out, I met up with Kevin Shirley for a few minutes to pick up a hard drive (Kevin is the guy that magically transformed my record into a beautifully mixed and mastered finished project – thanks, Kevin!) Kevin just moved into a new studio in Malibu, recently, and I got a quick chance to check it out yesterday. Very, very cool, ridiculously insane gear, and amazing sound/acoustics/trapping in all the rooms. He seems super busy these days, but if you are in need of an outstanding mix for your project, you might just want to check him out. You’ll be pleased ya did and surpised by how much a really good mix through a killer board and vintage outboard gear can improve your sound.

After leaving Kevin’s studio, I started the trek up to Santa Barbara to set up for my outdoor gig at Borders. I really love playing there: State Street is always happening, it’s always sunny, always warm, and the passersby always seem to dig my performance. I generally end up selling a bunch of CDs, meeting some great folks, building new friends and fans, and I always come away with a smile. Yesterday was no different… just a great crowd. (Thanks, you guys!)

My portable setup ready to go... man, it was sounding good yesterday!

When I finished up, I hung out for a bit chatting it up with some of the folks who stopped by to see me/listen to my set (I realized that I played and sang for three hours straight without a break… I guess time flies when you’re having fun, huh?) and started to load out. Once I got packed up, I headed over to visit my friends Darin and Sierra at their restaurant and live music venue Live Culture Lounge. They had a local artist performing that night (Kris Candy) who was playing her first show in nearly 5 years! I was really impressed and enjoyed it so much, I stuck around and ate one of Live Culture’s signature Italian sandwiches. Man, the food there is sooooo good.

Afterwards, I was fortunate enough to connect with my old friend, Rolland, and his family. Funny story about this guy… many, MANY years ago, I took a solo trip to Costa Rica to surf and travel for about 3.5 weeks. I was by myself, spoke pretty good Spanish at the time, and in addition to surfing my brains out every single day I was there, I was also out and about meeting new folks, chatting it up with other travelers, Ticos, etc. as much as I could whenever on terra firma. I bumped into Rolland at Playa Negra and he sort of showed me around, gave me some great surfing tips, and took me under his wing, so to speak. I hadn’t seen or even talked to the guy in probably eight years since. In fact, while we traded contact information, I can’t say that I remember what I did with it after all those years. Then, one day this past April when I was playing through Santa Barbara, this guy pulled up to a driveway near where I was staying and I thought I recognized the face… sure enough, after walking over and saying hello, it was Rolland. What a small world, huh?! In any case, he invited me to crash at his house last night after my show and, I have to say, it was a such a welcome treat by comparison to sleeping in my truck the night before! Plus, with the UCSB graduation this weekend, there really weren’t any motel rooms available for any price, much less the one I was able to pay. A big thanks to Rolland and his family for so generously opening their doors to me! Let me tell you, when my head hit the pillow, it was lights out… (Click!)

On Saturday night, I joined back up with artists and songwriters Shane Cooley and Adam Smith for one more show together at Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica, CA for another solo acoustic performance. I hadn’t ever been here before, but a bunch of buddies in the area had been talking it up for a long time so I was glad to have the chance to finally check it out. In any case, they had an awesome stage, great sound (Thanks, Stephane!), a cool design theme/vibe, and just great, fun, helpful people running the place. Plus, the location (just a few blocks from the water in Santa Monica, CA) was pretty neat.

A couple new friends/fans at Dakota Lounge after my set. Thanks for the support, guys!

Both Shane and Adam did a phenomenal job (I really enjoy their writing) and the flow was really pretty darned good throughout the entire night. If you ever have a chance to check out one or both of those guys, do yourself a favor and make sure you go see them.

Adam Smith doing his thing at Dakota Lounge on Saturday night. Nice mix of what I suppose Tracy Chapman and Stevie Nicks might sound like together. Pretty sweet...

After we wrapped up the set, I said my goodbyes to Shane, Adam, and Adam’s manager, Jim. They took off for The Stinking Rose whose motto is “we add food to our garlic” or something like that. (Nice!) I joined some new friends and fans for a milkshake at this place called Swingers that, oddly enough, I found myself at several months ago after a really late set in Venice. (Funny how I end up at the same spots!) Anyway, time passed, we had some fun conversations, etc. but dinner finally ended and it was time to go home… but where? I thought I would just pick up a cheap motel somewhere in LA, but on a Saturday night? (Oops…) After driving around for a bit and making more than a few calls, I threw in the towel and just starting driving up the coast. I made it to Malibu/Point Dume and, feeling as though I was going to fall asleep at the wheel with no motels in view, I decided I’d just find a quiet neighborhood, pull over on the side of the road, and crash out in my truck. The only problem (that I failed to realize at the time) was that my truck was packed with gear, surfboards, CDs, instruments, etc. There really wasn’t any room, so I just moved some things around, got my passenger front seat as far back as it could go (not very far), lowered the sun shades, pulled my coat over my head to block the street lamps, and tried to get comfortable. Well, it wasn’t much, but I think I did sleep until about sunrise (sort of). Long story short, you gotta pay yer dues and, you know what… it wasn’t all that bad. Plus, I think I’ve got some songwriting ideas out of it, too. Nice. I was just hoping that I could muster some singing and playing for three hours as I had a gig in Santa Barbara that afternoon… it was to be a game time decision, I suppose.

Cool friggin' logo, cool friggin' place...

I think I’ve said it before, but any place that has a skeleton with a rose in it’s hair (head?) holding a piping hot mug of coffee as their logo gets the thumbs up in my book. Viento y Agua Coffee House in Long Beach, CA has just the logo. Plus, they have a deceivingly good sound system (I mean, it sounds REALLY good). They’ve got these tiny little Yamaha mains for the front of house and one, single, solitary Peavey monitor on stage, but I’ve never heard an acoustic guitar and vocal mix sound so good. A big thanks to Angie for making it happen and creating a really comfortable mix for the show!

This place was on it, and so much fun... Me gusta a Viento y Agua!

Before I went on, I had some time on my hands, so I decided to check out the Long Beach coast. It was pretty interesting – I never noticed the gigantic breakwater before (well, I’ve only been here once before, but still… it’s kinda hard to miss). Basically, that shuts down any possibility of surf, but the beach is actually quite beautiful on its own. So, I took a stroll, walked around a bit, then decided to nap it out for a while to the sound of the shore break. Pretty peaceful and, as far as green rooms go for chilling out before a show, that was pretty hard to beat.

Preparing for a little snooze before my gig at Viento y Agua. Ahh...

After I wrapped up, this cool band fronted by writer and music industry veteran Tom Kell called “The Fergusons” took the stage and wowed everyone with a really nice group of songs and arrangements. You could tell this guy had been around a while as pretty much every one of his songs was almost perfectly crafted. (I heard a rumor he writes a new song every single day… woah.) Anyway, they were great, and it was fun to hear the front of house with a trio in that environment.

Tom Kell and The Fergusons doing their thing at Viento y Agua.

After they wrapped up, I hung around for a bit with a few new friends and fans and had a chance to talk shop with Tom for a bit. That guy has been through it all. Major label deal with Warner Bros., publishing deals in Nashville, teaching, etc. The guy has lead a really interesting and full live of music (and still continues to do so). Pretty solid inspiration, I must say. After we rapped for a while, I headed out to find a place to crash and settled on the old standby, Motel 6.

This morning, I’ve been chillin’ out in the warm, SoCal weather at Starbucks working a bit, sending some e-mails, and updating this here site. In a bit, I’ll be headed out to watch a tiny bit of the world cup with my buddy Dave, then will be heading up to Los Angeles to meet up with a few folks before playing at Dakota Lounge tonight at 7:00pm. It will be another solo, acoustic set, but I hear this place has a great stage, good sound, and is generally a pretty happening joint, so if you’re in town and itching to do something fun on your Saturday night, come on out and get it started with me at Dakota Lounge! Until next time…

After I packed up and everyone was gone, just one last parting shot of this cool venue.