Thinking about what he’s singing: Chic Street Man

Chic Street Man was absolutely steamin’ in 2009 when he stalked sensuously on stage at the Lucie Stern Theatre, playing guitar and singing John Lee Hooker’s “Crawlin’ King Snake.”

He took turns “seducing” each of the three actresses on stage with him in “Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues,” and the performance was every bit as sexy as Hooker meant it to be.

Now Street Man is back for another TheatreWorks Silicon Valley show, “Mark Twain’s River of Song,” opening Saturday (10/5) at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts. He took a few minutes to talk with me before a rehearsal, and told of his personal history with “Crawlin’ King Snake.”

“When I first started playing ‘Crawlin’ King Snake’ — I just loved John Lee Hooker, loved the feel of the song — I was interested in copping the feel of it, and trying to make it my way. I wasn’t thinking of the sex connotation.

“But my mother, a blues and gospel fan, wrote down to me, ‘You have to think about what you’re saying.’ Prior to that, I just wanted to learn to play and sing it.”

And then, “a friend, a dorm chief at UCLA, asked if I wanted to sing for the girls (in the dorm). I went down there, did an hour show, and they asked me to sing ‘Crawlin’ King Snake’ again. I

sang it seven times before I left. I was stupid, still young, didn’t know you did that. My friend said, ‘Did you have any idea what was going on in the audience? Did you see how they were

squirming?’

“It was like my mother said, you’ve got to think about what you’re singing.” Mark Twain’s River of Song,” developed by Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman — who also created TheatreWorks shows “Fire on the Mountain” and “It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues” — is not likely to include that old Hooker song.

Instead, it will take the audience on a trip down the Mississippi River, narrated by Mark Twain himself, as played by TheatreWorks veteran Dan Hiatt. With the help of Valisia LeKae, Tony Marcus, Rondrell McCormick, Wheetman, and Street Man, who are all accomplished musicians and singers, a history of the great river will be told in song.

Featured tunes include “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” and “Deep River Blues.”

“I’ll sing ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd,’” said Street Man. “It was a song directing slaves to get away.”

He’ll be doing some back-up singing, and playing “harmonica, a National steel guitar, and an acoustic guitar, the spoons … and a little hambone,” Street Man said.

Street Man was born in Augusta, Georgia, but was only there for two months before his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts.

“Boston, at that time, was one of the most racist cities in the North,” Street Man said.

He got his first guitar when he was 7 years old, but someone broke in the house and smashed it.

He got another guitar when he was 15, and his brother showed him some chords.

“What has come out of it is my own personal style,” he said.

Dropping out of Northeastern University, he joined the Air Force in 1965.

“That brought me to Vandenburg Air Force Base,” Street Man said. “While I was there, a lot of the guys would go down to L.A., to listen to jazz. I stayed, listened to Brownie McGhee and

Sonny Terry. They became my idols, because of Brownie’s guitar and Sonny’s harmonica.

Country blues. It just felt very ethnic. Once you get out of the ghetto, everything around you is predominantly white. Blues kept me connected to the black community. “

He was also listening to other blues greats, including Big Bill Broonzy, Hooker, B. B. King, and Muddy Waters.

“I learned to feel, and play, and sound, the way I wanted,” said Street Man.

After the Air Force, Street Man landed in Santa Cruz, where he played music at a number of restaurants and house shows, while attending and graduating from UC Santa Cruz.

Then he went to Paris, he recorded his first album. Street Man performs and composes music all around the world, and has a slew of albums out. He is based in Seattle these days.

“I like the rain,” he said. “With global warming, we’re getting less rain. Summer starts earlier now, and ends later. It’s nice for Seattle, but not good for the world.”

What got him to Seattle?

“A woman. Karen Sorensen, she’s a classical violinist, was in the pit at Opera San José. I was touring with ‘Spunk,’ for which I composed music.”

That was 1993.

They met, were married six months later, and moved to Seattle, where Sorensen plays with the Northwest Sinfonietta, teaches, and works in real estate. Their son, Julien Streetman, is 21.

“He’s awesome,” said Street Man. “He’s also into music, into

hip hop. He dropped an album a year ago, goes by ‘J Streets.’ I’m very proud of him.”

Theater

What: “Mark Twain’s River of Song”

By: Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman

Directed by: Randal Myler

Featuring: Dan Hiatt, Valisia LeKae, Chic Street

Man, Tony Marcus, Rondrell McCormick, and Dan Wheetman

When: Previews Oct. 2-4, opens Oct. 5, closes Oct. 27, 2019

Where: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View

Tickets: $30-$100 (savings available); http://theatreworks.org or 650-463-1960