Instrumental Invasion, 1/26/22 January 27, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Politics, Radio, TV.add a comment
The January 26 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from December 7 to 9, 2021. The first segment was recorded at home on the 7th, four segments at the remote location on the 8th, and the last segment and pickups back at home on the 9th. More pickups were recorded at the remote location on the 14th as I shortened four segments. Starting next week, all segments will be 18 minutes long, bringing me full circle as that was the standard duration for the first seven months of Instrumental Invasion. (Going forward, I will not specify where segments are recorded; only when.)
The playlist was created on December 5 with annotations on the 6th. The talk break script was drafted on the 6th and 7th.
The stream cut out seven minutes into the show. Audio returned 39 minutes later, but uncompressed and initially fluctuating between channels. I will reuse the songs that didn’t air in future shows.
I played “Sundance” by Boney James because it was on the smooth jazz radio charts at the time of recording. I also wanted to work in the line “without Butch” in reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You won’t hear that on Watercolors!
I didn’t realize “Legacy” by Kenny G – a “duet” with Stan Getz – was new to the charts. I chose it as the first of six tracks to play from New Standards because it was featured in Kenny’s episode of the HBO documentary series Music Box that aired on December 2, the day before the album’s release. Plus, I got to call back to the Return to Forever song at the top of the show (“Medieval Overture“) since Stan Getz collaborated with Chick Corea during the RTF era. Fun fact: Chick’s compositions “Captain Marvel” and “500 Miles High” were recorded with Stan before RTF, but Light as a Feather came out first.
And yes, it’s true. I once let slip my political views on air, as noted after Jeff Lorber‘s “Anthem for a New America.” These days, the less I know about politics and current events, the better, and I don’t want to clash with people. I want to be everyone’s friend, regardless of politics. Incidentally, this was the second week in a row where I played a song from Jeff’s He Had a Hat album.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
The dead air portion was filled with segment file audio. The audio afterward was hard limited with the fluctuating portion converted to mono.
Instrumental Invasion, 1/19/22 January 20, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Travel.2 comments
The January 19 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from November 30 to December 2, 2021: the first segment at home on November 30, the next three at my remote location on December 1, and the last two back at home on December 2. Pickups were recorded on the 3rd and 14th, the latter date for shortening three segments.
The playlist was created on November 28 with annotations and the script draft on the 29th.
The John Favicchia liner played after his song “Horizons” was one of a handful of Instrumental Invasion liners repurposed from my Mike Chimeri Show days. “The,” “show,” and “WebRadio” were edited out of those liners. Here are recaps of John’s Dharma All Stars gigs that I attended since starting this blog:
September 7, 2008 (preceded by Alan Bates)
June 24, 2016 (Dharma 2.0)
As for Wednesday’s show, I finally got to play Will Donato‘s cover of “Play That Funky Music.” I didn’t have the CD to reference for musician credits when working on the October 27 show, but I bought it, and a few other CDs, days before working on this one. I bought many more CDs in the last two weeks, and you’ll start hearing tracks from them in mid-March.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 1/12/22 January 13, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Art, Audio, Comedy, History, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, News, Personal, Philanthropy, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment
NOTE: This post concludes with remarks on the passing of Bob Saget.
The January 12 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from November 23 to 25, 2021. The first segment was recorded on the 23rd, the next three on the 24th, and the last two on the 25th, Thanksgiving. Pickups were recorded on the 25th, 27th, and 28th, with an additional pickup on December 14 to accommodate a shortened final segment. The other five had no wiggle room and remained 18:30 in length.
The playlist was created on November 21 and annotated on the 22nd, followed by the script draft.
I had South America, particularly Brazil, on my mind after watching a documentary on Disney+ called Walt & El Grupo about Walt Disney’s 1941 trip, with a group of studio artists, to South America. Then, I watched the two films inspired by the trip: Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. The combination of watching those and listening to a DAT transfer of an extended of “Life is Like a Samba” by David Benoit, which was on a 7″ EP, are the reason I played the album version of the aforementioned song, “Cabana Carioca” by Spyro Gyra, and Cedar Walton‘s cover of “Aquarela do Brasil,” a.k.a. “Brazil.” And while determining how to pronounce vocalist Jerri Bocchino’s last name, since she sang the “Life is Like…” refrain, I was led to her website where she goes by Jerri Bo Keno. That’s how: “bo keno.”
I continued my tradition of playing a different version of a song I played the week before. Last week, I played the original Nelson Rangell version of “Dancing with Ivy,” and this week, it was the song’s writer Jay Rowe‘s version on his debut album, A Dream I Had.
“Wayman” by Steve Cole, “Still In Love” by Marc Antoine, and “Just Can’t Resist” by Oli Silk were all played for the second time. The first two were singles at the time of recording while the third song, like “Chrome Explosion” last week, was used to fill out the segment.
This was the second week in a row where the first song of the show was from 1979 and by a guitarist, and where the third song was by The Crusaders.
I was unaware of bassist Will Lee‘s Uncle Will nickname until an Instagram post by Bob Saget on October 28. I first used it on the Christmas show a few weeks ago. The reason for this anecdote is the unexpected passing of Bob this past Sunday. I saw a post by him that morning, thinking nothing of it, and was blindsided when I saw this post from actress Khrystyne Haje at the top of my feed around 8PM. I was ready to go to sleep, but couldn’t for about two hours. How could I with shocking news rattling around my brain? How could anyone, especially those that knew him personally?
Bob’s media friends, like Rich Eisen, suggested fans donate to the Scleroderma Research Foundation in his honor. Bob became involved with SRF after the disease took the life of his sister Gay. I made a donation before airtime last night, and I’m happy to report that thousands more have done the same.
As for last night’s show, click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
January 7 snowfall January 8, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Personal, Photography, Weather.add a comment
The first measurable snowfall of the season fell Friday morning, exactly five years to the date of the first measurable snowfall of that winter. I’m not sure when it started this time, but I know it ended around 9:00.
The initial forecast earlier in the week called for a rain/snow mix, but I’ve learned to expect a colder and snowier forecast as the event approaches. That’s what happened here. Thursday’s winter weather advisory called for 3 to 5 inches, then 2 to 4. 8 inches fell (one less than five years ago), at least on our lawn. I measured 5 inches in the driveway, which was resurfaced in August. With air temperatures around the freezing mark (32 degrees Fahrenheit), snow was more wet than powdery, at least by the time I woke up. My friend Jeff Jensen noted it was powdery at the onset. Seeing snow clumped on the trees and bushes misled me.
What follows is the usual photographic timeline from my first photo of the day through the last. We begin at 6:35 AM:
8:49 AM 
The sun peeked out at 9:07 AM. 
10:12 AM 
11:19 AM: My dad Bill is in the middle of clearing the driveway with the snow blower. 
Then, he cleared his car and my mom Lisa’s car. 
11:48 AM, before shoveling 
12:13 PM, after shoveling 
No more snow is expected for a while. The next time more than two inches falls, I’ll post about it. Until then, thanks for reading.
1/11 UPDATE: Jinx. Another round of snow is possible this weekend.
Instrumental Invasion, 1/5/22 January 6, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Baseball, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, New Year, Personal, Radio, Rock, Sports.add a comment
The January 5 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP, the first show of 2022, was recorded over three days in November 2021. The first hour was recorded on my 40th birthday, November 17, the first second hour segment on the 18th, and the other two segments on the 19th. A pickup was recorded on the 20th with more pickups on December 14 as I shortened the length of four segments.
The playlist was created and annotated, and the talk break script was drafted, on November 16.
Jeff Kroll was generous enough to record liners for the show, but he went the extra mile by contributing show open voice overs. Hearkening back to the latter days of The Mike Chimeri Show, I added a laser gun sound and the end of “Brave New World” by The Rippingtons. The end result:
I’ll be using that every week going forward.
I originally intended on talking about that emotional time in my life when I was first exposed to “Dancing with Ivy” by Nelson Rangell (written by Jay Rowe). Coincidentally, it was the latter days of The Mike Chimeri Show. I was depressed, obsessed with the New York Mets, obese, felt threatened by WebRadio WCWP’s new death metal format, Capital Punishment Radio, and I treated anyone and everyone like a therapist. My stubborn arrogance led me to foolishly record a promo where I mocked the tropes of other DJ’s promos, such as a flange effect and bleeping curses. Capital Punishment replied with a mocking promo of their own. It began with a big band excerpt, cut off by DJ derision, and then mimicking a portion of another insulting promo of mine. Picking up on namesakes, I said in the promo that my show didn’t have Coldplay, but did have Fourplay; no Yellowcard, but Yellowjackets; no Jessica or Ashlee, but Brian Simpson. “We don’t have Yellowjacket,” one of them said in my voice, before concluding with words to the effect of smooth metal “and a whole lot more.” That played off my show’s tagline, “smooth jazz and more.” That humbling, humiliating experience eventually led me to stay in my lane and be a team player, but not until after Evening Jazz. I wasn’t a team player then, either. Evening Jazz on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then just Thursdays, was wildly different from the nights Fred Camin hosted. I once ranted to Bernie Bernard, “Ayn Inserto? Insert this.” What a jerk I was.
With that confession out of my system, on a lighter note, I consulted Jay Rowe while working on the playlist, remembering that he admitted who Ivy was when he played it on his piano during a 2020 Facebook livestream (my request). I had forgotten, but Jay reminded me it was for his guitarist friend Tod Baharian‘s daughter, who was just a toddler at the time.
“Chrome Explosion” by Anders Enger Jensen was first played on Instrumental Invasion on June 24, 2020, the same week I first played “Song for Bilbao” by Michael Brecker, which I replayed last week. Here is the “Chrome Explosion” music video I referenced in the subsequent talk break:
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
7:35 AM UPDATE: It took until listening to the aircheck to notice that Tony Watson Jr. played soprano sax on “Ear Candy” by Pieces of a Dream, not tenor. Sometimes, foolish oversights escape my ear until it’s too late.
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