AMA - AI and the Arts (part two)

In Part One, I drew some lines in the sand and delivered a history of technology to demonstrate that, while disruptive, AI is just another technological step - an extension of the mind of man.

For clarification, it should be said that early technology (up to the industrial revolution) was focused primarily on amplifying the BODY of man, while 20th  & 21st century technology has shifted focus to extending the MIND of man.

That caveat aside, I decided (even though I had already sketched out the foundation of this article) to feed the entirety of Part One into Google's AI Gemini and see what it had to say. But not what it had to say in support of my thesis, but instead with explicit instructions to challenge EVERYTHING. 

"Tear it all down" were my specific words.

While it praised both the historical & philosophical rigor as well as the writing style (it seems machine minds dig my musical sense of symmetry and repetition - hahaha!), it hit back HARD.

If this topic concerns you, prepare to get even more anxiety and depression.

Journey to Japan!

Lexington....blue tower and blue lights....Horse Capital of the World....horses and bourbon....bluegrass and blues...."Athens of the West".....basketball and music....

70 miles an hour....blurry eyed but bushy tailed....

Cincinnati....glass and hot pavement....Queen City....Riverfront Park....beer and UC and Xavier....bright lights and green space....

Bumpy rush....then 30,000 feet and 500 miles per hour....

Touchdown....

Modern art and echoes and standing waves....Mont Royal and Vieux-Montreal....Jazz Festivals and Just For Laughs and Osheaga....City of Festivals and City of a Hundred Steeples....its Montreal. The smell of smoked meats and maple syrup and Starbucks rolling through the sound of French accents.

Then 13 hours at 40,000 feet...almost 600 miles per hour. 

Touchdown....

Bright lights and glass and metal....long lines moving too slow and too fast....black car at maximum speed blurs through gates and lanes in the darkness....a black-grey sky and the city is...big.

Tokyo.

AMA - My Health Clash with Pertussis

"It is health that is real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver." - Mahatma Gandhi

AMA (for anyone new here, it means "Ask Me Anything")....

I mentioned in an earlier post and elsewhere an illness that KO-ed me earlier this year, but have not written about it. I was asked about and have spoken openly about it in workshops (including Paulie Felice's amazing "The Forge" weekend retreat) and even a few of my more interactive gigs, but was recently asked again and decided to write a short piece on it.

Bordetella Pertussis bacteria

Let's leap right in!

Pertussis is the medical term (you may know it as "Whooping Cough"), and is something I always thought was just something little kids get.

Nope.

And, speaking bluntly, it's not just brutal, its a potential career ender for vocalists.

Retched cough, fever, broncho spasms, loss of voice....lasts for upwards of 3 months!

You've had the vaccine as a child, but unless you step on a rusty nail as an adult, you might find its been decades since you've had it. 

Don't mess around with this - if you've not been boosted in the last decade, get your vaccine now.

AMA - AI and The Arts (part one)

Art created by Gemini for this essay.

AI in music....and AI in the arts in general.

Before we leap in, one thing worth remembering - and it's highly likely to anger everyone reading this right now - is that most of the public discourse on this topic (at least by musicians and industry folk) has been of a legal or philosophical nature, while usually taking a brief moment to mention how "fake" AI sounds as composer or performer (or poet or essayist or visual artist).

If that's your view, you need to swallow a bitter pill: The market disagrees with you, and (by any metrics you yourself would apply to a fellow human) you are wrong.

Sienna Rose, The Velvet Sundown, Nick Hustles, Xania Monet, FN Meka, Yona, Breaking Rust, Eddie Dalton, and more....including the 100% AI driven (no human intervention) creation Anna Indiana - all streaming millions to hungry listeners. Listeners who largely don't care about any of the issues we're about to get into - they care only about if they like the music.

Admittedly, this pisses me off a little, too.

At any rate, ponder that for a moment and then we'll leap in.

While I've thought extensively about this topic (and have for longer than I care to say, as I've been an avid fan of the works of Raymond Kurzweil for a long time, starting with his 1990 book "The Age of Intelligent Machines", and, as an irrelevant aside, still own my Kurzweil K-2000 keyboard), it's usually fragmented based on specifics. I've never really coalesced these thoughts into a single, specific policy position.

So let's explore "both sides" of this issue and see where we land.

Worthy of note: It should be obvious that the history given below (on both sides of the issue) is greatly abbreviated and oversimplified for brevity and ease of discussion. But the major pillars remain.

Let's get into it!

AMA - "Beyond the Music"

With Agatha in Nashville, 2025

For this edition of "Ask Me Anything" (and for the record, I'm writing this in late May of 2026), I'm responding to several questions that I'm lumping under "Beyond the Music" (the title I use at the end of the "about" section of my website).

Most of the folks who know me and/or have followed our Lifestyle Challenges and such here already know I'm into various other pursuits and have a specific interest in health & fitness, but there were a few surprises, I suppose, and it generated a handful of questions and comments, so I though I'd use this post to expand on some of those things and drop in some personal photos of some of those activities.

2026 Goals & Lifestyle Challenge

Here with Angelee Feltner and Bill Meck at the Lexi Awards!

Well.....this post certainly is late! As I write this, its already mid May - a long long way from January!

In my defense, I got pretty ill back in December, which led to a prolonged issue that I'm still not 100% recovered from...but I'm pretty close!

(Note: In addition to both bronchitis and pneumonia, I contracted the pertussis bacteria, which is a mean, mean illness. My advice: Get your DTaP if you haven't stepped on a rusty nail in a while!)

Today, I'll be using a format that ya'll (at least those of you who have read these for a while) are familiar with. Though I'm late writing & posting this, I have been pondering the goals for quite a while and, obviously, have been working on them since January....so this post will also find updates included.

Let's jump right in!

Blast from the Past

I got a GREAT surprise recently - thought I'd share here.

From a project I engineered and played on (percussion), though unfortunately only available on FB. If I locate another link (youtube, for example) I'll update this entry...

Check it out on Facebook HERE or better, YouTube HERE!

2025 Thankful & Wrap-Up

Thankful for so many things in 2025!

Agatha & me in Nashville

Lots of ups and downs....

On the personal front we saw some kid drama, health scares with parents, & more, but everything wraps in 2025 on an up note: Parents both doing well, kids & grandkids are good, siblings are out there rockin' it! And, as many of you know, Agatha and I have been together a year come January!

On the professional front, we're making a LOT of changes to music education (group vs private lessons and more), I've stepped down as executive director of the Lexi Music Awards to hand the torch to the VERY capable Angelee Feltner while I work on satellite projects (like two educational scholarships, UKY &/or EKU projects, "Walk of Fame", etc), and finally getting my focus on several album projects for 2026. Story on the official Lexi Music Awards blog.

You might also wanna check out the new Skinny Devil Music Lab website!

My Favorite B-Sides!

Readers of a certain age will have no idea what I'm talking about when I say "B-sides", but we'll dive in anyway - hahaha!

Jimi Hendrix

I live in Lexington, KY, and my buddy "Beerman" (he's a DJ on Classic Rock 92One) has a show called "Beerman's B-sides", which spurred a conversation between me and several others. So, I'm going to keep the list to a mere Baker's Dozen just to make it manageable, but I'd LOVE to hear YOUR favorites in the comment section!

Now, there are some very famous examples of B-sides that became hits and/or fan favorites, like "Beth" by Kiss (flip side of "Detroit Rock City") and "Good Riddance" by Green Day (A-side was "Brain Stew"), "Hound Dog" by Elvis Presley ("Don't be Cruel") and "Revolution" by the Beatles ("Hey Jude"), and many more by CCR, Doobie Brothers, Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, and on and on....but I'm running with my personal favorites. Usually something that grabbed me in an unexpected way or a song I liked better than the A-side.

In writing this, I did have several surprises....like "Carry On My Wayward Son" was actually the A-side (I always thought it backed "Questions of My Childhood").

I'm going to mostly hit songs from my youth (I'm old, so enjoy the trip to the land of dinosaurs haha!) because that's when I was buying singles, but I'll probably have a few from the last days of the 45rpm!

So.....in chronological order, my baker's dozen (though I could easily list a dozen more):

Happy 61

Kenneth shredding on "Ain't No Sunshine", birthday jam!

“There are two great days in a person's life: the day we are born and the day we discover why." -- William Barclay

My annual birthday post often begins with a quote. The Barclay quote makes me think of another. So if you'll indulge me two this year:

“It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot

And if you'll indulge me once more, let's stop, together, in this moment right now....and ponder both of those quotes. 

Hmmm....

From "Undermain" Arts Magazine

HUGE thanx to David T. Miller for the very flattering interview!

From the piece:

“There’s such a concentration of musical talent here. I honestly think it's comparable to Memphis and Nashville and L.A. and Atlanta. I think there’s a higher concentration of musical talent [here] than in those places, to be honest.” -- David McLean

Skinny Devil Music Labs: 25 Years of Making and Teaching Music

Miller: What’s your earliest musical memory?

McLean: I think it was “Peter and the Wolf”, which I'm guessing was the Leonard Bernstein recording. The first time I think I saw anything like rock music was sitting with my grandparents at five or six years old and David Bowie came on the television doing his song “Space Oddity.” This was, I think, 1969. They were horrified but I was hooked!

Read the entire piece HERE.

OCT 5: International James Bond Day!

In celebration of the very first Bond movie, October 5 (the day "Dr No" was released way back in 1962) has been dubbed "James Bond Day" and is celebrated globally.

Ian Fleming created Bond in 1953 with the release of the first book, "Casino Royale". Fleming went on to write nine short stories and a total of 12 novels before his death in 1964, and the first Bond movie starred Sean Connery and, as stated above, was released in October 5, 1962.

Many more books were written by others following Fleming's death (sadly, he died of a heart attack at only 56 years of age) and 25 films, the last (as of this writing) was "No Time to Die" starring Daniel Craig.

My focus has primarily been on the music of James Bond, which, in fusing big band, surf rock, orchestral, and shots of "world musics", has become almost a genre of its own!

See my lesson article (complete with info and song charts) HERE.

October '25 Lifestyle Challenge

Long time, no see!

Kicking things off on my birthday month with a BANG!

For those new to the challenges, it isn't to compete against others. It's to push yourself to greater heights, have some company & inspiration along the way, and a few ideas the help get us focused. For example, you can use this waving of the analytical knife to help organize your goals:

1) Exercise/Diet - Set a specific plan or goal(s). Keep us posted weekly (or more) on your progress!

2) Creativity - Music, art, writing, acting...set a goal to complete by month's end. Keep us posted!

3) Personal life - Re-affirm your personal relationships, get to that project/chore you've been avoiding, or just read a book you've always wanted to read!

4) Professional life - Set a work goal or change jobs or....just tell us what it is and keep us posted!

My personal goals include:

Musical Slang 101

For all the years I've been teaching, you'd think I would have written this article a long time ago! The music world is full of slang terms (I'm guessing all industries are, but....) and its good to know the language if you're surfing these waters, kids!

We will avoid genre-specific slang and focus on general terms....and I'll up-date this piece, so feel free to contact me directly or leave a comment if you have any terms you think I should add.

We'll start with general musical terms and then look at some other specific terms (like studio lingo or business sayings).

Also note: I've utilized AI for the time-frame/origin of the terms and, in most cases, my personal understanding of the terms confirms the research. However (as personal knowledge falls into the category of "the fallacy of small sample"), I'm interested in YOUR views on the terms and origins. So please contact me or comment any corrections!

Finally, there are many outstanding genre-specific resources out there, and I'd refer you to those for specific musical styles. Books like Debra Devi's "Language of the Blues", "STREET TALK: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop & Urban Slanguage", by Randy Kearse, "Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary" by Stephen Calt, and many others exist for those who dig the language exploration, both contemporary and historical. I highly recommend taking the dive - the water is warm!

Here we go!

Happy 60

How on earth did I neglect, WAY BACK in October of '24, to do my birthday post???
 

Vintage, baby!! Scotch is the only way to fly!

Apologies, y'all!

OK, I usually start these off with a quote, so here we go:

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."
― Madeleine L'Engle

Another frenzied dance around the sun, making music, playing with my kids, teaching guitar and bass and ukulele and percussion and songwriting and improv and more, hitting the gym, recording in studios and playing on stages, hosting open mics and recitals, doing radio & TV....a massive FREE summer session of guitar for all the kids due to school budget cuts (we served 100 kids and gave away 50+ guitars).....and our 10th anniversary for Lexi Music Awards (which turned out to be our final year at the Lyric Theatre, as we switched in 2025 to the Singletary Center for the Arts on UK's campus)!

New Guitar Class Session

We had a HUGE summer session....and as school comes back in for the fall, we're gearing up for a new 8-week session of group classes!

We also have private lessons available (limited spaces) - so contact me if you're interested!

The new group session starts Thursday, August 22. Sign-up form is here:

SIGNUP FORM

Group cost is $240 for the 8 weeks.

I also have a few private lesson slots available. Contact me directly (909-929-2007 or sdmusiclab@gmail.com) if you're interested. 

Cost for private lessons is $129 per month.

Looking forward to hearing from YOU!

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If you value my work and want to support it......contact me for lessons (guitar, electric bass, ukulele, social drumming, songwriting, etc), sign up to my Patreon, or feel free to leave a tip (one-shot or monthly):

PayPal (one-time or monthly options)
http://www.paypal.me/skinnydevilmusic

Venmo (one-time only)
www.venmo.com/David-McLean-47

Free Summer Guitar Session

(Up-dated 6-19-24)

As announced last month, in response to budget issues at Fayette County Public Schools, we've decided to offer the 8 week summer group classes at Willis Music in Lexington for FREE.

The social media traction led to TV, radio, & newspaper interviews (see WLEX story, Spectrum News story, Herald-Leader story & mirror at Yahoo News, and I'll include link to WEKU story soon) and I'm happy to announce that is also led to FIVE guitar donations so far to help students in need, other arts orgs announcing free services (including On the Move Art Studio giving away art supplies & art lessons, and Studio 223 giving away a month of free lessons AND free guitar rental), and we have - as of this writing - registered 96 students.

That is $23,040 worth of guitar lessons FREE this summer!

PLUS we've gathered donations and, so far, given away over 20 guitars!

I can't thank Willis Music enough for allowing us to do this, I can't thank everyone enough who has helped promote this initiative, and I can't thank everyone enough who has donated guitars!

To accommodate that many students, we've had to double the number of class options (G1 classes at noon, 5pm, and 6pm, and our Boot Camp class at 4pm). We hope to secure a few more guitar donations so we can assist everyone in need.

Classes begin Thursday, June 6, at Willis Music in Lexington.

For more info, contact me directly at sdmusiclab@gmail.com 

For more info about me & past students, see my bio at SDML Academy of Guitar.

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If you value my work and want to support it......contact me for lessons (guitar, electric bass, ukulele, social drumming, songwriting, etc), sign up to my Patreon, or feel free to leave a tip (one-shot or monthly):

PayPal (one-time or monthly options)
http://www.paypal.me/skinnydevilmusic

Venmo (one-time only)
www.venmo.com/David-McLean-47

FREE Guitar Lessons to FC Students

Howdy, all!

We have had an amazing response to the free lessons that we're doing in response to the budget issues at FCPS. We've extended to offer of a free summer guitar classes to private schools & home schoolers who may also be in need.

As of his writing, we have 78 registered students (about 10 in the G4 class, all others beginners), leading us to offer addition class times to accommodate everyone.

If anyone is reading this who has NOT registered, please contact me directly for info (I can be reached at sdmusiclab@gmail.com).

Classes begin THURSDAY, JUNE 6 at Willis Music. After the first class, we will also make a Zoom link available, though I strongly urge everyone to attend in person.

Class times are as follows:

G1 (beginner) students have he option of attending class at noon, or 5pm, or 6pm.

G4 (the "boot camp") students can attend the 4pm class.

Each class is roughly 40 minutes long, and we'll run the session for 8 lessons across 9 weeks (we're off Thursday, July 4). We provide all handouts and such - just bring a guitar and be ready to learn!

Yes, I also offer group classes year round AND private lessons year round. In addition, I teach workshops covering a wide array of topics (improvisation, social drumming, intro to piano, songwriting, etc).

For anyone who is interested in more info about me, my official bio can be found at our academy website HERE.

We have had a couple of guitar donations, so anyone in need, please don't hesitate to contact me to we can attempt to get you a guitar to use!

That about wraps it up for the moment. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone this Thursday at Willis Music! 

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If you value my work and want to support it......contact me for lessons (guitar, electric bass, ukulele, social drumming, songwriting, etc), sign up to my Patreon,  or feel free to leave a tip (one-shot or monthly):

PayPal (one-time or monthly options)
http://www.paypal.me/skinnydevilmusic

Venmo (one-time only)
www.venmo.com/David-McLean-47

This Day in Music (June 1st)!

Big day in music history....this day is the birthday of music greats Pat Boone (1934), Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood (1947), producer legend Michael Landau (1958), "Jagged Little Pill" singer Alanis Morissette (1974), alt-folk legend Brandi Carlile (1981), and more.

Its also, sadly, the day we lost soul legend David Ruffin of the Temptations, who died in 1991.

Also on this day we had debut albums release by David Bowie (1967), Black Sabbath (1970), and the Eagles (1972), and also saw the release of what many consider the greatest rock-n-roll album of all time, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by the Beatles (1967).

Elvis hit #1 with "Surrender" (1961), Leslie Gore hit #1 with "Its My Party" (1963), Simon & Garfunkel hit #1 with "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), Ray Stevens' song "Everyting is Beautiful" goes to #1 (1970)....Dolly Parton moves to Nashville to launch music career (1964), George Harrison sees Ravi Shankar in concert (1966), leading to his embrace of Indian music, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones released (1968), John Lennon recorded "Give Peace a Chance" (1969), Paul McCartney's "James Bond" theme song "Live and Let Die" is released (1973), the Rolling Stones kicked off their first tour with guitarist Ron Wood (1975), AC/DC graced the cover of the very first issue of Kerrang! Magazine, the Prince album "Around the World in a Day" (the follow-up to "Purple Rain") his number one on the album charts (1985), Ed Sheeran was the most played pop act and "Uptown Funk" the most played song of 2016, and Grateful Dead singer/guitarist Jerry Garcia's "Wolf" guitar was auctioned for charity and sold for $2.5 million!

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If you value my work and want to support it......contact me for lessons (guitar, electric bass, ukulele, social drumming, songwriting, etc) or feel free to leave a tip (one-shot or monthly):

PayPal (one-time or monthly options)
http://www.paypal.me/skinnydevilmusic

Venmo (one-time only)
www.venmo.com/David-McLean-47

Thankful for '23!

Thankful for sooo many things in 2023.....

On stage, December 2023, charity event.

Last year, I wrote a fairly comprehensive piece on being thankful, loaded with a fair bit of detail, professionally speaking.

This year I'd like to focus on something more personal and more general. I do focus on some 2023 highlights in my annual birthday post if you're interested, however....

It is often bragged - in song, poetry, moving pictures, literature, & the like - that one has made it on their own. That no one provided any assistance. That the person clawed out of the gutter and climbed the mountain all on their own.

This is a romantic vision and is, perhaps in some cases, absolutely true. But it isn't true for me.

From my first gigs to the first key to a recording studio door all the way to the day before yesterday, I have been blessed with opportunity and a helping hand from all manner of people - some family, some friends, some almost complete strangers.

I am blessed beyond belief.

And I am as grateful as I can possibly be.

I definitely have NOT done it all on my own. The life of a self-employed musician is hard, but mostly its hard on those around you. Every woman with whom I've had a failed relationship (that's ALL of them) and every woman I've ever been involved with will attest to that. My kids and my family and my friends can attest to it as well. Its a volatile industry and an incredibly stressful lifestyle for those who love us....or even just like us a little bit, for a little while - a few moments in time.

So, yes, it can be hard personally and financially and about any other way one can think. But its also incredibly rewarding, incredibly fulfilling, incredibly....magical. And it stuns me every day to realize this has been my life for decades.

On stage, June 2023, Woodsongs.

And I never could have done it on my own. 

So cheers to YOU, everyone who has ever lent a helping hand (financially, emotionally, or let me crash on your sofa when my life was falling apart), put cash in my tip jar, shared my music, attended my gigs, recommended me to others for music instruction, gotten me a gig, trusted me to teach a loved one or to play on your record, hired me to compose music for your business or to play music at your event or to produce your recording, collaborated with me (music, teaching, events, etc), and the like.

Saying "thank you" seem inadequate, to say the least. But being less than gifted as a wordsmith, its all I can find to say, I'm afraid.

But I can say: Its been a wonderful life and I look forward to every single day.

Thank all of you for making my dream a reality.