The Chameleon music venue shifts like namesake, learns from predecessor

On one of the last nights that Lucky You Lounge was open, Josh Lorenzen said that former co-owner Caleb Ingersoll mentioned he should take it over. At that point, Lorenzen had performed as a musician many times in the space “grown to be part of the Lucky You family,” he said.

“And I kinda laughed and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m definitely not gonna do that,’ ” said Lorenzen, the Chameleon co-owner and general manager. “A matter of months later, I was sitting down with Caleb and Dan Spalding, who owns the building, and talking about the possibility of doing it.”

Lorenzen and his wife, artist Hazel Miller, took over the space in November and opened it in March. The grand opening spread over four nights: a rock night, a hip-hop night, an R&B Soul night and a folk and country night.

“And just the first four nights we were open, we covered like eight to 10 genres of music and three states and pulled both locals and regional acts, and it was really special and we just kind of kept that thing going,” Lorenzen said.

The idea that the Chameleon can cover such a wide variety of music is where it derives its name.

“The idea there was to just focus on the shape-shifting element of the space and being a welcoming space to the entire community, which means that we have to be able to kind of shape-shift into these different forms on different nights for different genres,” Lorenzen said.

Lorenzen said he was able to benefit from learning from Ingersoll about the ins and outs of the building, as well as booking talent.

“We get the privilege of taking something that was already so special and being able to put a cherry on top of it and then start over fresh with all of the information about the rights and the wrongs,” Lorenzen said.

Of course, Lorenzen isn’t a stranger to running a business. He’s the owner of Rut, alongside partner Justin Oliveri. Though this project is more personal for him.

“I’m a musician at heart, that’s my passion and my life,” he said. “I’m able to kind of feel a little bit more connected on that realm by doing that kind of work.”

But even with his experience in the restaurant industry, “it’s very, very challenging to operate a business like this and then actually make it profitable,” Lorenzen said of the Chameleon.

One of his main strategies was to pare down the menu at the Chameleon, focusing on its role as an entertainment venue, instead.

“Owning a restaurant or operating a restaurant that doesn’t sell a lot of food is extremely expensive,” he said. “So that’s why we’re event-based right now. That’s why we’re not open consistently. That’s why I’m not committing to a food program quite yet until we figure out what’s going on.”

Miller, who is a co-owner, reimagined the space.

“I’m from San Antonio, Texas, and so I often gravitate toward these like warmer palettes and rainforest atmospheres and humidity,” Miller said. “Especially up here when it gets so cold in the winter, I just kind of want to escape to somewhere that feels a little warmer.”

Miller is especially proud of the gallery wall, which includes a mix of local and public domain artists. She was also able to redo a mural with Karli Fairbanks, former co-owner of Lucky You. The prior mural had been done by Fairbanks and had the establishment’s previous name.

“I just felt like painting over it just by myself didn’t feel quite right,” Miller said. “I was just so grateful that she was down to collaborate on a new mural for that wall, and we had so much fun creating that together. I feel like it just shows the support and love that’s there.”

Since the remodeling, Miller said she has been able to enjoy the space as mostly an attendee, though she is hoping to host accessible art classes in the future. Lorenzen said he has worked all but two shows since opening.

“As long as I’m reasonable about how I try to manage this, I think we can pull it off,” Lorenzen said. “It’s gonna take everything I got, though.”