Chi McClean

Historic landmark, killer saloon and music venue, or both? You be the judge on Thursday, August 4th, 2011.

Get ready, folks, ’cause it’s going to be another rowdy night at The Hotel Utah Saloon this Thursday, August 4th in San Francisco, CA. Starting at 8:00pm, Heather Combs, Jesse Brewster, Melissa Philips and I will be trading acoustic songs in the round until about 11:30pm or so. These nights are always a blast and there are usually some surprise collaborations that either work out wonderfully or provide an equally entertaining train wreck of sorts. Long story short, it’s good fun all around.

Tickets are available in advance at TicketFly or at the door on the night of the show for just $8.00. Keep in mind that this is a 21+ performance, however. (Sorry, kids!) Also, I have to tell ya that The Hotel Utah Saloon offers up some tasty morsels and plenty of good beer and liquor, so saddle up, order up, eat, and drink ‘em down with us for a night of delicious music and fun. See ya soon!

The last of a short run of shows down the coast recently, Kreuzberg on Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 was a great experience. This cool little book and coffee bar in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA offered up huge ceilings, a cozy atmosphere, Steve Key’s (from “Songwriters at Play”) warm and rich sounding PA system, and a neat line up of artists throughout the night.

"Songwriters at Play" has been so supportive of my career. Thanks, guys!

I went on from 8:00pm until 8:45pm or so and had a great time. I saw a bunch of folks that had attended some earlier performances up in Paso Robles, CA and met some new friends while reconnecting with some avid fans that I’d been corresponding with over e-mail since my last run down the coast. We all had a blast and I enjoyed hanging out afterwards with some local folks around town, playing shuffleboard, and then talking music into the wee hours of the night with local Los Osos, CA songwriter Jody Mulgrew.

Local artist Stephanie Austin performing just before my set at Kreuzberg in San Luis Obispo, CA.

It was a great last show for this little run and a fun way to end the trip. A huge thanks goes out to the good folks of San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles and Capitola for their support this time around and, especially, to my friends at Cava Wine Bar, Songwriters at Play, Jody Mulgrew, Steve Key, Sculpterra Winery, Vinoteca Wine Bar, Vintage 1255, Peter Sanford, Adam Dale, and the crew over at The Krush 92.5 FM. I had a fun time playing for you all and hope we get to catch up again real soon! Until then, take it easy and keep rockin’.

Wow! This was, indeed, a killer day… And I’m going to tell ya why right now… After a relatively sleepless night in a little room that reminded me of a scene out of “Being John Malkovich” down in San Luis Obispo, CA, I made my way north to the wine country of Paso Robles, CA to play a mini showcase set at Sculpterra Winery as part of local promoter/songwriter Steve Key’s “Songwriters at Play“ performance series. It was a hot one by San Francisco standards (anything over 60 degrees feels hot these days!), so I found some relief inside the Sculpterra Winery barrel room where the stage and PA were set up for the show. Very cool on several accounts.

The outdoor garden around the back of Sculpterra Winery. Ahh...

Steve booked a number of great acts throughout the day including Martin Paris, who happened to be the featured performer for the day. Martin plays beautifully and writes some really interesting songs while putting together super unique arrangements of old standards for the guitar (I personally got a serious kick out of his rendition of “Little Wing” being a huge Hendrix fan). Martin plays in a number of alternate tunings and since I’m heading in that direction these days, myself, I took a special interest in some of his phrasing and voicing for his melodies and chord movement.

Martin Paris performing at Sculpterra Winery in the barrel room.

Bringing up the rear was lil’ ol’ me at 3:45pm. I opened up with one of my favorite new tunes “It’s Alright” and, right before the bridge, broke my D string. Ack! I figured I could pull off the rest of the song without it, so I quickly removed the end pin, pulled out the broken string, and kept playing in more or less one fluid movement. I was then was faced with trying to come up with alternate fingerings on the fly. Not as easy as I thought, but I made it through to my surprise. Fortunately, I had another guitar up there on stage with me (my new GC8 from Taylor Guitars). I continued on with my set and when I was finished, the audience asked that I keep on playing. (That feeling never gets old!) With host Steve Key’s approval, I kept going for three more tunes and had a great time. Afterwards, I hung out with the good folks working the tasting room at Sculpterra Winery and enjoyed chatting with several members of the audience. Honestly, I really do love playing along the central coast. The people are GREAT down here! They really are…

At about this time, I ran into bassist and inventor Peter Sanford who I met last Friday at Vinoteca Wine Bar in Paso Robles, CA with Jody Mulgrew. He came out to see my performance and check out some wine. Turns out, Peter owns a plane that he keeps in the local Paso Robles airport and he was headed up for a flight that afternoon. He asked if I’d like to join him (after reassuring me that he hadn’t had more than a “taste” of wine) and, of course, I said “Heck, yeah!” So, after downing my glass of “Reserve” from Sculpterra Winery and bidding them farewell, I loaded up my truck, got on Peter’s six, and raced out of the winery to the Paso Robles airport to doing some flying.

Bassist, inventor and pilot Peter Sanford prepping his aircraft for flight.

Peter ran through the entire pre-flight procedure with me and taught me all about scoping out the plane for cracks, structural weakness, etc. outside, running the systems check, etc. It’s a lot to cover! Finally, we climbed in, yelled “Clear!” and cranked ‘er up. I put on those cool noise canceling headphones with a mouth piece so we could communicate with air traffic control and ourselves during the flight and then buckled up for take off.

A lot of instruments to read! Wow...

Taking off was really cool. This little plane accelerated really quickly and it seemed like we’d only traveled 100 yards before we lifted off traveling at about 160mph. Once we leveled off at about 4,500′, Peter flew us on a westerly heading over the coastal hills towards the Pacific. We turned south when we hit coast and flew towards some familiar spots that I recognized from surfing with my buddy Adam over the last year. It looked pretty different from way up in the air! At that point, Peter confirmed our plan with control, checked the immediate area for any traffic, then asked me if I was ok with doing some real flying. I tentatively agreed, whereupon, he demonstrated everything that the plane could do. He dropped the wings so we tipped at nearly 90 degrees to either side, then he played with the trim, the yaw, and then the fun part… he pulled up super hard, then dove the plane at a really steep angle. It felt as though we just came over a massive arc on a roller coaster and were heading down for the ride of our lives. So cool! After all this, Peter asked if I’d like to give it a try… What?! Me?! Of course! So, he relinquished the controls, told me to grab the yoke, and recited a few quick things to look out for while saying “There’s really nothing you can do that will endanger us…” Hm… rrrrright. So, I played around, dropped the nose, climbed, made some hard turns, got some g’s going, flew through some turbulence, crossed mountains, water, took a heading to a town and flew there, and basically had the time of my life!

One hand on the yoke, one hand on the iPhone. Yep, this is me flying!

After a while, it was time to head back down and grab some grub, so Peter took the controls and brought us back to Paso Robles, CA and got us on the ground safely. As easy as it was to fly this thing up high, it seemed awfully hard to take off and land. I got the sense that one needs a lot of training and practice to get it right. And, like almost anything else, it’s not just about getting it done… it’s about doing it with style, and this dude maneuvered his aircraft pretty darned smoothly.

Peter taking us out over the hills to the Pacific while checking in with air traffic control.

So, when we landed, we did a quick post flight check, got the plane back in the hangar, and headed into town to grab some Thai food.

What an awesome day… You know, I’ve been heading out on the road off and on for a while now, and you just never know who you’re going to run into or what’s going to happen along the way. I’ve met some pretty cool people and done some neat things along the way, but his day was one of those rare, amazing experiences that I will definitely remember with a smile for a long, long time. Thanks, Peter!

Monday, I took the day off and bumped into an old friend for some catch up time and some food. Not bad, not bad at all… Tonight (Tuesday, July 26th), I’ll be playing a featured set at Kreuzberg from 8:00pm until 8:45pm. There’s music starting at 6:30pm and it will run all the way through about 9:30pm with a bunch of great performers, both from near and far, so come out early, grab a seat, order up some food and drink, and let’s rock out! Find details on the show here and meet us there!

The last time I passed through San Luis Obispo, CA while performing, I took a few hours in between shows to walk around and find a few new places that might need some live music. It’s a numbers game, like almost anything else, so I introduced myself to a number of folks at several establishments in town and did some follow up. A few took the bait, but the most promising seemed to be this cool little wine bar and wine seller, Vintage 1255. Just outside of the (sometimes) madness of the Higuera “strip” in downtown SLO, this spot pours and sells more wine than you can shake a stick at, offers a few really great small plates, and sounds great. I had a nice little crowd last night from 7:oopm until about 9:30pm or so and played mostly originals with just a few of my favorite covers along the way. Local artist, songwriter, and promoter Steve Key swung by with a few folks to check out the set and I even convinced him to come up and plays us a few of his tunes. It’s was great!

Local artist, songwriter, and promoter Steve Key sitting in for a few songs at Vintage 1255 last night.

It occurred to me that last night was the first time that I heard someone else play my guitar and sing through my PA system the way I have it typically set up for more intimate performances. I was so pleased that it sounded so good…. When Steve wrapped up his second song and surrendered the guitar to me, I sort of wanted to ask him to keep playing! I mean, Steve is great and his songs are fantastic, and through that system with my Taylor 814ce, it was a beautiful way to hear this guy. Mm!

Later in the night, I succumbed to my need for sleep, not getting a whole heck of a lot the last three nights, and rented out a small (and I mean SMALL) room at a local motel here in SLO. It was fine – included a fridge, toilet, sink, shower, and a single bed – but like so many of these cheap motels on the road, it was really musty and moldy. Just six and a half hours later of wheezing, coughing, and cursing, I figured I’d get up, pack my gear, get the heck out of there, and try to get my voice back before my showcase at Sculpterra Winery later this afternoon (those stinky rooms reek havoc with my voice,.. add no sleep in the mix and you’ve got a hilarious morning of my doing my best Tom Waits impersonation). The room didn’t have a number listed on it (I think it was the old laundry or storage room or something) and it was a cash only deal. Very sketchy, but, hey… like my mom and dad always have said, “You get what you pay for.” Indeed.

My musty closet, I mean "room", at what I'm now calling the "No Tell Motel"...

So, I’m now in recovery mode after another night of no sleep last night, but I’m happily typing away as I listen to some good gitano music in this nice, airy spot down the road from that stinky motel named the Steynberg Gallery. I’ve played here before and remembered that they served great breakfasts and made absolutely killer Chai Latte. It’s the little things that can make the biggest difference… and this little Chai Latte and tasty breakfast burrito are doing wonders!

In a few hours, I’ll be heading up to Paso Robles, CA to play a mini showcase set at one of Steve Key’s “Songwriters at Play” events at the scenic Sculpterra Winery. We’ll be rockin’ the barrel room and a number of great artists from near and far will be performing. Check out the details here and come on by if you’re in town! Music starts at 1:00pm and goes all the way until 4:00pm or so. However, I’ll be playing my mini set starting at 3:25pm. It’s a free event, there’s great wine, and it’s a very cool, intimate way to get up close and personal with several different artists. Don’t be a square… be THERE!

The elephant seals just north of San Simeon, CA along Highway 1. These dudes are HUGE!

So, after a great evening up in Capitola, CA and beautiful surf in Big Sur the next morning, I continued on south down Highway 1 to join Jody Mulgrew at Vinoteca Wine Bar for an acoustic performance. Along the way, I stopped at this crazy site (pictured above) and hung around for a while just watching the madness. I suppose the elephant seals are molting and mating, so there’s currently a lot of gnarly battling and barking for mates among this crew and all sorts of neat Discovery Channel stuff happening. If you’re in the area, definitely make a point to swing by and check this place out. Amazing creatures…

Local Los Osos, CA artist Jody Mulgrew crooning away at Vinoteca Wine Bar on Friday, July 22nd.

Finally, I arrived in Paso Robles, CA and started loading in so I could meet up with Jody, figure out the lay of the land, etc. We got things going just in time to crank out some music and away we went. I opened up with about 45 minutes of music or so, then Jody took the stage with his bassist Pete, then I hopped back up there, then Jody closed out the night. This joint sounded great. The people were incredibly into the music, and incredibly into their wine! (Who can blame them?! Both were exquisite!) I had a great time catching up with some friends I’ve made in the Paso Robles, CA area as well as making some new acquaintances. I’ll definitely be returning to Vinoteca Wine Bar again… it felt like home. Big thanks to Jody Mulgrew for inviting me down! If you’re hankering for some new music, definitely take a few minutes to check out his new album scheduled for release any day now here.

A nice, compact set up at Cava Wine Bar in Capitola, CA.

This place is, quite honestly, my favorite little hideaway! Nestled in the quaint little town by the sea named Capitola, CA, Cava Wine Bar is a haven for wine lovers. The place sounds so, so good, the wine selection is top notch, the staff is warm and friendly, and the patrons are just so awesome! I mean, what’s with this place? Everything is… well… pretty much perfect? In any case, I had a great time, as usual, playing at Cava Wine Bar on Thursday night and enjoyed making some new friends and piecing together an unusual medley towards the end of my set (thanks, Scotty, for suggesting it). After packing up, fueled by a late night brownie that was just so perfectly undercooked, I hauled ass down to Big Sur, CA to camp in my truck on the side of the road at 3:30am. Sort of an unruly night, but I woke up to this (see below).

A nice, left hand peeler at one of my favorite, not-so-secret spots in Big Sur, CA.

So, many of you might remember that I banged myself up pretty well back on March 5th, 2011 skiing up in Squaw Valley. This spot is the LAST place I surfed before hurting myself, so it seemed an appropriate spot to try to get back in the water. Now, the doc didn’t really give me an “official” clearance to try to surf again (two of my transverse processes are still, technically speaking, broken), but I have been feeling pretty good, and I have been anxious to get back in the water, so I made the call. Paddling out was as cold as ever (no surprises there), and I was horribly out of shape (still, no surprises… hahah), but when I paddled into my first wave, I had no idea whether I was going to crumble over in pain or what. Long story short, I made the drop, made a decent bottom turn, came up the face, pulled a floater off the lip, came back down, made a few more turns, then kicked out. YES! I am surfing again… just a little slice of Heaven on earth, I tell ya! At that point, I knew this trip was gonna be a good run down the coast.

The Avett Brothers rawk-ing it at The Fox Theater in Oakland, CA.

Wow… people have been telling me about this act for a while, and Lord knows I’ve read countless articles about them in Paste, Rolling Stone Magazine, Tape Op, etc. But, I must say, I never really listened to ‘em before. So, when my buddy Mark called me up and told me he was coming into town for a few days and wanted to see some music, I thought it was a good time to see these dudes at one of my new favorite venues: The Fox Theater in Oakland, CA.

To be honest, I thought their recorded material that I listened to on Spotify was a little soft/wimpy, but when the lights came on and they ripped up the stage, I was totally sold. It’s rare to see a live act with more energy in this genre. And, what, exactly, IS this genre? Can we call this indie punk bluegrass? Huh… whatever it is, it’s sort of cool. Anyway, that’s about all I have to say about that… great band, great live show, definitely check them out the next time they come to a town near you!

The live recording demo setup to DSD (Direct Stream Digital) at the Blue Coast World exhibit at this year's California Audio Show.

From Friday, July 15th through Sunday, July 17th, audiophiles from all over stormed the gates of the Crowne Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Burlingame, CA via the California Audio Show for three days of the craziest audio gear and technology demonstrations and workshops that I have ever seen (or heard). I was fortunate enough to be invited to perform at a live recording demonstration that engineer/producer Cookie Marenco was hosting via Blue Coast Records and Blue Coast World on the morning of Sunday, July 17th.

The schedule of events/artists at the Blue Coast World room at this year's California Audio Show.

It was basically a mini recording session in an exhibit hall. Cookie and her crew from OTR Studios, as well as Gus Skinas from the Super Audio Center in Boulder, CO, set up some sweet mics, checked levels, and basically ran a mini session with the audience just a chair away from me (the performer) and Cookie, Gus, and crew (the engineers). It was an incredibly cool experience for me, and I could tell that the attendees really dug the opportunity to sit in on a session, hear the live performance, then hear the immediate mix/playback on DSD (Direct Stream Digital). As absolute audiophiles, I was curious how the audience would perceive the recording quality – they loved it! The sound is outstanding and has become the gold standard format for audiophiles everywhere. (You can learn more about the format/technology here.) Take a listen and decide for yourself. For me, the choice is obvious. Tape or DSD all the way, baby!

Welcome to Blue Coast World!

After I wrapped up, I checked out a few panels and exhibits, then listened to a cool discussion about DSD, pricing, viability in the marketplace against lower res, compressed audio files (like the iTunes or mp3 format), etc. It was an interesting back and forth with some really passionate music lovers and audiophiles debating the pros and cons of both and whether the format will take hold beyond the core, audiophile community. I learned a ton, met some great people, and will definitely mark my calendar to attend next year’s California Audio Show. For more details on the conference, click on over to the California Audio Show website. See you there next year!

Man… what a fun afternoon and evening down in Half Moon Bay, CA at the second annual Project KNEW Groove Fest this past Saturday! I played a short acoustic set from 1:00pm until about 1:45pm in support of this amazing not for profit that is working hard to raise funds to build an educational recording studio for the Half Moon Bay, CA area youth. I met a bunch of great music fans, made some new friends, and had an outstanding time. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves a ton throughout the day listening to everything from solo acoustic sets to country swing to rap to hip hop, punk, ska, metal, reggae, and just about everything in between.

My friend Mark Kostrzewa's kid somehow got a hold of these sticks and was KILLING it! Did I witness the beginning of the next John Bonham?

After I finished up there was tons of great music on four different stages, both outside by the Half Moon Bay harbor and inside at one of the best new clubs around, The Old Princeton Landing. During all of this, there was “live” street art, crafts, all sorts of food (I got food poisoning a little later in the evening after one too many garlic artichoke chicken sausages… yucky!), and more.

This dude was awesome! When I started my set, this was just a blank wall. 45 minutes later, this is where he was!

Be sure to check out Project KNEW Groove online and make a charitable, tax deductible donation to help support local, youth music studies. It’s a great organization that’s doing wonders for the local scene along the coast.

"Something Out There" is currently highlighted on the Walmart.com indie music page.

So psyched to see that my first release “Something Out There” is currently highlighted on Walmart.com’s indie music page. It’s always so fun to have a huge player like these guys take notice and it means a lot. If you haven’t purchased your copy of “Something Out There” yet, be sure to click over to my album listing on Walmart’s music website here and get a copy for $1.00 OFF!