BY BROCK SHIPMAN     We start with a glimpse into the life of Andy Chase. By definition, a proud man, family man, artist. But Hollywood has a different story. One story tells how a fiery Andy Chase, leads a revolt against the Producers of ER, for setting up separate lunch facilities for the "A-list" (Stars, Producers, and Directors), and the "B-list" (the crew). Knowing that He almost strangled David Russell, Director of Three Kings, causes people at Warner Bros. to run for cover, as Chase speeds by on his golf cart. Amarillo angel, or Hollywood badboy?

 Amarillo Nights:  Hmmm.  Angry young man.  Andy, after the last Batman movie turned out to be one of the biggest flops of all time, do you think you will be playing Batman in the next movie?
 Chase:  What are you TALKING about?  Where did you get all that stuff from?
 Amarillo Nights:  Research.
 Chase:  Okay, where did you get your research from?
 Amarillo Nights:  The Research Department.
 Chase:  (after a brief, blank stare)  What is your research department smoking?  Golf carts, Three Kings...  That´s stuff on George Clooney!
 Amarillo Nights:  And THIS is just a re-hash of the Clooney interview from the July 2000 Playboy.
 Chase:  I´m Andy Chase.
 Amarillo Nights:  And you were on ER, right?
 Chase:  Yes I was.
 Amarillo Nights:  But you didn´t used to be George Clooney?
 Chase:  (laughing)  No, I did not.
 Amarillo Nights: Alrighty then.
So Andy, does this mean you will or will not be playing the next Batman?
 Chase: Man, what planet are you from? You are a Martian! I play music here in Amarillo.
 Amarillo Nights: Okay, we´ll go in that direction then. When You take a look at the music scene in Amarillo, what do You see?
 Chase: First, I feel... Right now, it´s kind of in a "Down Cycle". Which is only the result of a giant "Up Cycle". We´ve had a ton of people come up thru the club scene and do the music thing. They can really play, I mean GOOD musicians. And for that reason, at this point we have more talented and skilled musicians, than we have clubs to play in. The other thing that I feel, kind of a regret if You will, that there are not more varied music venues in Amarillo. In other words, I don´t think we should have to go to a rock club, or a country-western club.... I´d like to see more acoustic venues. I´d like to see more gigs where You could go in and actually hear a guy play guitar. Like Sneakers used to be. I´d go in there and hear Jackie Anderson, or I´d hear Woody Key sitting there playing acoustic guitar, and (He´d) just sing a simple song. In other words, I don´t think as a musician, you should be there just to get the crowd up and dancing and drinking beer. That´s no offense to anybody, it´s just... there´s more kinds of music than just "dancing" music.
 Amarillo Nights: So along with everything You just said, how or what would You do to improve on that?
 Chase: (Laughing merrily) I´d buy my own music club if I had the money! I would re-educate Amarillo on how to appreciate, and how to listen to music. If a person is sitting there, playing live music, they have put in years and years of rehearsal time to give You that gift. A true musician can´t give You anything more valuable of him or herself. I´d teach them how to listen to music. I´d teach them how to appreciate the tastes in music. Hey, tip the musicians! Value the time that the music requires. (About his club) I´d get top notch musicians to play there, and I would INTRODUCE the musicians, instead of just saying, "Here, sit on this chair and play some music."
 Amarillo Nights: Some people that We´ve talked to, musicians and club owners alike, say that a lot of the problem is the crowds, or rather, a lack thereof. No one´s attending the shows.
 Chase: Um yeah, yeah. That´s the whole re-education thing. It deals a lot with demographics.... a lot of the people that go out to the clubs, are there to drink, or going there to find a member of the opposite sex. They are going out to dance, they´re going out to eat, but they are not particularly going out for the music. Music is a side of the line, and to some of those people it´s not even a side benefit, ´cause they don´t care.
 Amarillo Nights: So you´re saying in....
 Chase: (interrupting) Here´s what I´m saying. A lot of the people who WOULD go out to hear live music, don´t because they either have kids or because they have other thing going on. Those people stereotype the music scene here, as only a dance, drink, smoke, club-atmosphere thing. And they don´t necessarily want to go out to that kind of thing. On the other hand, those of us who play music don´t mind ANY of the venues we play, in fact, We´re appreciative. But we also wish that there were places that would EMPHASIZE the music itself. Because it´s a vicious circle...
 Amarillo Nights: (I can´t believe He interrupted Me) So make the music the DESTINATION, not the add-on feature?
 Chase: Exactly!

"At this point we have more talented and skilled musicians, than we have clubs to play in."

 Amarillo Nights: How long have You been playing?
 Chase: (long thoughtful look) Twenty-eight years. Twenty-eight years I´ve been playing guitar. I´ve been a singer since... (laugh) I was in little tiny people choirs since I was old enough to stand up and audition. I did chorale music very early in my life, either Christian music.... Church music, or..Classical music. Mozart, all that stuff. I found out pretty early, there aren´t very many jobs singing that stuff.
 Amarillo Nights: But there were was obviously SOMETHING else for You to do back then. What else have You done? (under my breath) Pizza boy!
 Chase: (after the laughs die down) Oh man, I worked at a Pizza Hut! I worked as a heavy equipment operator.. let´s see, what else did I do? I was in and out of radio for fifteen years, I uh.... worked for an irrigation company..
 Amarillo Nights: Ah! That would explain your clothes..
 Chase: I was a designer for an aluminum fabrication firm. I have experience in drafting, experience in sign-work. I was a studio artist for awhile.. that´s a very low paying job, ´cause You have to sell too.
 Amarillo Nights: What type of work was involved when You had your art studio?
 Chase: You remember, the old Café Americana stuff? I started out with more of a realistic approach into paintings. Big paintings, realism; it got too tight, to restrictive, and insincerity came across on the canvas. It took too much of my time. I didn´t like the demand of the detail, so I started loosening up at that period (5 or 6 years ago), drawing more loose lines, cartoonie figures, brighter colors, bigger canvases, and people started buying them, because I was having a good time painting them. The kind of work that you enjoy, reads. It´s legible.
 Amarillo Nights: Earlier You mentioned a fifteen year stint in radio. During that time, You had the unique privilege of integrating your music into your radio show....
 Chase: (laughing) I did. The cat´s outta the bag!
 Amarillo Nights: No pun intended! Andy, was that cat with a C, or Kat with a K?
 Chase: Andrew Hog Brown on the KAT. Um, the first time I did "The Boogie Woogie Weather", I think was over in New Mexico in about 1987 or so. A friend of mine said "You´re a talented musician, You should take your guitar into the studio and play something for your audience". I thought that was a really lousy idea; I thought that it would sound like... just another obnoxious morning show guy. However, (titter of laughter... Man, what´s he on?) I thought about doing the weather because it was an easy format. The weather only does so many things, right? And you can put anything to the blues, so I decided that´s what I´d do. I would make up a character.. a blues character and write the weather forecast to a blues chord progression. And so when I did that, it started sounding like a comedy bit. I tried it a few times on the air at KLZK in Clovis, and the people called in, just HOWLING! Well it turned into such a low maintenance, easy, easy gig. You know, an easy bit. And the response (more giggling) was incredible. I used it for years and years, ending up here at KAT.
 Amarillo Nights: What about your time here, at The KAT?
 Chase: I was the morning guy for KAT when it was a TRUE rock station, we played classic rock, and we broke new rock into the market. And I was there from ´90 to ´95, I think, doing mornings.
 Amarillo Nights: Any interesting stories from Amarillo radio?
 Chase: Tons of ´em! But-I´m-not-gonna-tell-YOU! (laughter)
 Amarillo Nights: (obnoxiously coughing the words into my hand) Jamey Karr!
 Chase: (thinking, "Damn, somebody did some research") I got into kind of a heated debate in the media with Jamey, who at the time was one of my friends.. and I hope still is....
 Amarillo Nights: Awwww. Don´t worry, I won´t print this part.
 Chase: (naively) Um.. We got into this debate in regards to commercial radio versus public radio. It became a little personal; I have to take responsibility for that myself, because I was the one who got steamed about it.... At first! It turned into a bit of an altercation between the two of us. I don´t know if anything was ever settled or resolved. Now, I just hope it´s something We can work out between us.
 JERRY SPRINGER: Well Andy, You didn´t know it until now, but we´ve had Jamey backstage in a sound-proof booth! And here He is now.
 Crowd: JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!
 Amarillo Nights: Sorry. So Andy, have You seen or talked to Jamey in a while?
 Chase: Dude, You´re losin´it! Anyway, I saw Him, not too long ago. I asked him out for lunch. He was doing a remote for his station, so he was busy. You know. I´ll follow up eventually with a call. And that´s all I´m saying about that.
 Amarillo Nights: Let´s get back to the music. Namely, your albums. "Aces, Eights, and Angels": What was your favorite track off of that album and why?
 Chase: I tend to think of albums as complete works in themselves, but if I were gonna get microscopic with it, I think "Seven Dollars´ Worth of Rain" is one of my favorite tracks. Because it was experienced artistically, it made me grow, made me more in touch with things that make me a songwriter. I mean, simplifying your emotions and still capturing the ESSENCE of that emotion. And being able to transfer that to the vehicle of music... That is the art of songwriting. Because emotions are complex. If you can get the feelings in a song that describe what´s inside you to someone else.... It´s very much like taking a book and writing a one page book report on it. And doing it in a way that makes everyone want to read the book. Because it´s self-expression. "Seven Dollars´ Worth of Rain" has to do with gratitude. It has to do with appreciation for what we have. It has to do with your outlook. It has to do with how you can actually change a situation by the way that you see it. For ALL of those reasons, I´m fond of that song.

"So I was enjoying being there on the set, And people like Anthony Edwards were walking by, it was off the wall. Goose from Top Gun was there having a sandwich with me."

 Amarillo Nights: Here´s a fun story for you Andy. There are three songs that You did on the last album that I had put on a tape. Sometimes, if I would be with "That Special Someone", I would put in that tape. First, it would be "What´cha Got? (The Teardrop Song)". Great mellow lovey-dovey song. The next song would be "You Should Go To Nashville". Another great mood-setter. And just as things would start getting nice and romantic, "Portales Alice" would come on! Not a romantic kind of song, Funny, but far from makeout music. So now that We know it can bring laughter to my already laughable relationships, tell us the story behind "Portales Alice".
 Chase: Ooookay? Um, I lived in New Mexico for a few years and later I moved back East to go to school, you know, college. Anyway, it didn´t take long for me to become homesick for the Southwest, and for the carefree times that I had at that point in my life. And so, "Portales Alice" is a good composite of how I felt about my life at that time. It was goofy, it was carefree, it was fun. But at the same time, (laughs) it didn´t really mean much at all. In other words, "Portales Alice" is not a fact filled song, it´s just a goofy sort of whimsical attempt at comedy.
 Amarillo Nights: With some great lines.
 Chase: Significant lines.
 Amarillo Nights: Like, "I´ve always had my doubts about that vato´s macho".
 Chase: Yeah, well that´s pretty much a comic formula. This guy goes to another guy´s house for wine and nachos.. and found out that wine and cheese may not have been the only thing the other guy was after.
 Amarillo Nights: Say, that was Macho what You just said! Let´s talk about the NEW album. Is it Macho?
 Chase: Ah, the new album... I´m being very optimistic. It should be a great step forward. Musically, it should be far more superior song writing. It should be..
 Amarillo Nights: Macho?
 Chase: Production-wise, it should be great. A lot of the same musicians from the last album are on it, a lot of new musicians are on it. The material, I´d say, is the main difference. I have grown as a songwriter, my material´s a little bit deeper.... and a little bit more shallow.
 Amarillo Nights: Ma-cho!
 Chase: It´s like a tool or a weapon in songwriting; as you learn to use it, you can use it anyway you want to. You can use it to bring emotion, you can use it to ease emotion, and I think I´ve gotten better at those things over the years.
 Amarillo Nights: And when should we expect this new macho album, Andy?
 Chase: Dude, will you stop it with the macho?
 MachotainmentNow: Sorry.
 Chase: The new album is expected by this spring-slash-summer.
 MachotainmentNow: Earlier, we determined that You are not in fact, George Clooney. So why were You on ER?
 Chase: Okay, ER. I have some great friends in LA, one of which is a fantastic singer whose Husband works with a production company, that he is co-owner in, and He also works with Warner Brothers on the set of ER, as a technical advisor. Anyway, I started hanging out there at Warner Brothers. Now, to my friend PJ, "It´s just a job", but to Me it´s like... "Hey! Bugs Bunny lives here!" You know? So I was hanging out with P.J cleaning fake Hollywood blood off of Hollywood I.V.s, and just freaking out, enjoying being there on the set. And people like Anthony Edwards were walking by like "Heeeyyy, I´m gonna get a sandwich", you know, it was just weird, it was off the wall. Goose from Top Gun was there having a sandwich with me. Just weird, it was strange. Now I´ve been around rock stars and people like that, but to see somebody on TV a lot, and to be able to say, "I know those people", is whacked, it´s outrageous.
 Amarillo Nights: Yeah, I was like that when I met Homer Simpson at Brewster´s, last Halloween.
 Chase: Anyway, PJ said casually one day, "If this interests you at all, you should be an extra on one of the shoots." And I said, "Well Who would NOT like to do that?". And he said, "Well, I didn´t wanna bother you with it," And I said, "BOTHER me? I´d LOVE to do it!" So, since everyone there at ER calls me "Andy Bob", (´cause everyone from Texas is "Bob" as far as they know) They got me this Levi jacket, and put it on me, I already had my Resistol hat on, and they put me in the background of the episode where Susan comes back. ER fans will recognize that episode, for people who are casual watchers, it´s the one where the guy got the picket fence thru his chest. And I got to see most of that entire shoot. The thing that struck me is , how hard those people work. They do work. Extras AND the actors. They took out scene, it was about a 10 or 15 second scene, and we worked on it, it seems like two hours to me, just to get the shot right. We took a lunch break, then came back and worked on it again, it was incredible.
 Amarillo Nights: Were You playing while You were in LA?
 Chase: Yeah, I´ve played several times with kind of an "All-Star" band there at B.B King´s in Hollywood, it´s a Universal Studios. I was embarrassed the first couple of times I played there, because we were playing covers, and you never know what´s gonna happen in LA, especially Hollywood. So I started writing up some Blues stuff, so that I could be performing originals if some producer walked in and said, "Hey, He´s pretty good. Too bad he´s covering the same crap everyone else´s covering." I was just trying to increase my odds a little. So I wound up writing about one or two hours worth of original Blues material, and now, I´m really happy with that material. Nothing has come of it to date, but that´s what this industry´s all about.

"My kids are a TRILLION times more important to me than my music. To me music is a labor of love. Everything that I do now, has to do with my kids."

 AmarilloNIghtsMacho: Aside from your music, what else do you live for? What else does Andy Chase hold important?
 Chase: My kids are a TRILLION times more important to me than my music. Way more important. Because music, is an incidental gift that God gives us besides Love, besides Family, besides other people to take care of. You know what I´m saying? Music is a tool to take care of those people. So, it´s not a matter of, "Is anything as important as my music?", to me music is a labor of love. Everything that I do now, has to do with my kids.
 Photographer Danielle: They´re his "Star-Children!"
 Chase: They are! They´re "Star-Children", Man. They taught Me about God. They taught Me about Love. They taught Me about how you´re surrounded with Love, even when you don´t know it.
 Amarillo Nights: Okay fine, plug the kids.
 Chase: (laughing) Man, I know you´re joking. Jessie is my baby girl, she´s 6 now... (at this point Andy stops the interview to pull out pictures and show them to everyone) ...And this is my Son Isaac. He´s 3. (Danielle is now having a hey-dey)
 Photographer Danielle (A bit smitten, I think.): Awwwwwwww!
 Chase: I wish they were here, I should´ve brought ´em down. Because, THAT would have been how we got a good picture
 Amarillo Nights: It looks like they´ve had their pictures taken enough, Andy. Sheesh, do you ALWAYS carry a family album in your pocket?
 Chase: Haha, look at this picture of Isaac. He´s a little football guy already! He likes to just run into things and see who wins. And then look at this one Danielle, She...
 Amarillo Nights: (After 30 minutes of Andy and Danielle looking at pictures) Once it´s all been said and done, how do you hope people see you?
 Chase: Someone who valued "Spirit OVER flesh". Someone who sang from the heart. One of the original long-haired friends of Jesus.
 Photographer Danielle: There you go!
 Chase: Someone who tried to make a difference. And somebody who DIDN´T GIVE UP! Somebody who didn´t give up.