Chi McClean

Last night was a blast at The Hotel Utah Saloon… A good crowd, some fun bands, and just a cool room, as usual. The sound was a little interesting at first (after finishing our first song we learned  that the front of house system wasn’t actually on for the entire song… oops), but once we got that settled, things seemed to move along pretty well. To spice things up, we invited friend and local SF Bay Area producer Michael Winger up on stage to share some of his tasty guitar licks. He pretty much tore it up and we all really enjoyed jamming with him. (Go Winger!)

Gotta love the logo! Be sure to tune in this Sunday from 11:30am-12:00pm PST. See station details at www.KPIG.com.

Next up, I’m headed down to Santa Cruz (well, Freedom/Watsonville, technically) on Sunday to do a live radio interview on KPIG Radio. I’ll be on air from 11:30am until about 12:00pm on Sunday, May 16th. If you’d like to tune in, you can do so by checking out 1510 AM in the San Francisco Bay Area, 107.5 FM in the Santa Cruz area, and 94.9 FM in the San Luis Obispo area. If none of these places sound familiar to you, then simply click on over to KPIG’s website and you’ll be able to find instructions on how to stream the show live from just about anywhere in the world. It’s going to be a fun session, so go ahead… tune on in!

Afterwards, I’ll be doing a really intimate show at Cava Wine Bar in Caplitola, CA – right next to a cool little surf break. It’ll be an exclusive, free, solo acoustic set at a really neat little hideaway, so come on down and say “hi”. If you bring your board (and there are waves… please, Lord, let us have some friggin’ surf for once this Spring), give me a shout and let’s paddle out for a session. In the mean time, have a great weekend, be safe on the road, and see ya soon!

Well, it’s official! I just received word that I have been invited to participate in the Elixir Strings 2010 Product Endorsement Program! After years of enjoying their acoustic strings, it feels great to now officially be a part of the Elixir Strings team.

Elixir Strings: Great Tone, Long Life!

As always, I’ll be playing my Elixir Strings Phosphor Bronze with Nanoweb tonight at my gig at Rockit Room in San Francisco, CA and throughout the entirety of my April California Coastal Tour. These babies plays so well and sound like new, every time, day in, day out for weeks (and even months) on end. If you haven’t tried them before and have been playing with “regular” acoustic strings that rust out or get grimy, gross and dull after a few days, you owe it to yourself and your playing to check out Elixir Strings. Go visit www.elixirstrings.com to learn more and improve your sound with just a set of strings.

Thanks so much to the good people at Elixir Strings for making this happen and the folks over at Taylor Guitars for making the introduction. I can’t thank you all enough for supporting my dream and my career. Keep rockin’!

It’s Monday and I’m already getting pretty excited for my show on Thursday at The Hotel Utah Saloon here in San Francisco, CA. I’ll be sharing the stage with some awesome, local songwriters: Heather Combs, Austin Willacy, and Stewart Lewis. We’ll all be playing acoustic guitars (or pianos, I suppose) and doing solo sets of our own material in a “songwriters in the round” format. Basically, that means that we’ll all be up on stage at the same time trading songs, stories, etc. In other words, someone will play one song, then it will rotate to the next person, to the next person, and then the next until the first person to play is up again. Simple enough, right? In any case, it should make for a really fun evening with a ton of variety. Both Heather and Austin have a long history here in SF and I’m thrilled to be able to share a bill with them… so cool!

If you’re interested in checking it out, you can purchase tickets in advance for just $8.00 here or just purchase them at the door, while supplies last. All of these writers have sold out shows locally here in SF, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this one sold out, too! Just in case, if you’re at all interested in checking it out, I might recommend picking up your tickets beforehand. Hope to see ya there!

Had a killer weekend out here in SF… The weather was pretty much perfect, the surf was pumping, and the mountain bike trails were tacky and fast. Kicking things off on Friday night, I headed up to Penngrove, CA to perform at Penngrove Pub. It was a mix of some covers and some original material and, as always, it was a great time. Laurel, who runs the joint, was so generous with her hospitality and the local folks who were there in the audience were (and pretty much always are) one of the best audiences I have ever played for to date. You have to love the small town vibe up there… It’s as plain as day.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh...

The drive home was pretty intense after wrapping things up at 2:00 AM on Saturday morning. After saying my goodbyes, I headed home and, after dozing behind the wheel and nearly driving off the road a few times, I finally crawled into bed at 4:00 Am! Needless to say, waking up at 1:30 PM later that day was much needed. I managed to get a killer session in at a secret spot here in SF (yes, they still do exist) and then met up with a buddy for some Indian food at one of my favorite spots, Naan’n’Curry out on Irving and 7th Avenue in SF. Not a bad day!

Today, I woke up, took care of some errands and some chores around the house, made a few calls, then cruised by the studio to drop off the PA from Friday night and headed straight to Ocean Beach to catch the building swell at Sloat Avenue. The tide was a bit full, but I managed to get a few good lefts and rights while taking more beatings than anything else. Lots of a fun, though, and a good way to get things rolling.

Taking a break before heading towards Solstice on Tamarancho.

Afterwards, I headed home and got my gear ready to head out for a ride with my buddy Tate. When we rolled up to the parking lot in Fairfax, CA, we ran into my friend Ceil who then joined us for a ride from Tamarancho to Solstice and back to town. It was a killer day up there – not too hot, fast trails, and not too loose – and we had a blast. Lots of good climbing and some solid descents, too. In any case, it’s back to promoting, booking, and writing tomorrow morning before heading to an event for The Recording Academy tomorrow night. Still lots to do before heading out on the road later in April, but it’s all coming together! All things being equal, it was great to have an awesome, active weekend here around SF before putting the nose to the grindstone again tomorrow morning. For now, g’night, everybody!