Instrumental Invasion, 5/4/22 May 5, 2022

The May 4 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from March 14 to 16, two segments per day. Pickups were recorded on March 19 and 21, and April 22.

The playlist was created on March 13 and annotated on the 14th. The talk break script was drafted before the first two segments were recorded, and before and after recording the third segment on the 15th.

My line in the intro was in reference to this:

On February 1, the Late Show with David Letterman YouTube channel was revived as a David Letterman archive channel (billed as “Letterman”). The channel is primarily made up segments from all three of Dave’s shows – The David Letterman Show (“the morning show”), Late Night, and the Late Show – and remembrances by surviving staff – including directors Hal Gurnee and Jerry Foley, and writers Merrill Markoe and Gammill and Pross. Despite Dave’s left-wing political bent, explicitly expressed over his last decade on the air, I have a fondness for him and his shows. I was fortunate enough to attend a Late Show taping with my dad Bill in December 2004, and to have met Hello Deli proprietor (and hidden camera subject) Rupert Jee four years earlier, as seen on this blog’s People I’ve Met page:

5/17 UPDATE: Since my Netflix account has been paused for over a year, and due to the potential politics of a given episode, I forgot that Dave continues to have an interview series on the platform called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.

But enough about all things Letterman. 6/9 UPDATE: That sentence took on a new meaning yesterday when I unsubscribed from the channel. I grew overwhelmed by the frequency of videos that I felt compelled to watch, and they posted two politically-fueled videos in two weeks: one from 2013 (Republican senator-shaming Stooge of the Night compilation), one recorded yesterday (bashing the governor of Florida after Dave’s sister wrote to him). Oh, well. It was a fun few months. I’ll always have “doppity-doh” and “Ball, Get Out of My Nachos.”

I didn’t mention it on the air, but four of the songs in the first hour are the latest in a line of songs played on the show that were excerpted in local forecasts on The Weather Channel in their day:

• “James and Wes” by Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery
• “Let’s Just Say Goodbye” by David Sanborn
• “Florida Suite: Sunset (USA)” by Mannheim Steamroller
• “True Companion” by The Rippingtons

There was so much information I did share that I didn’t use many alumni liners, but no speed compression was required for talk breaks. For the first time since January 12 (only acknowledged in the playlist), I swapped the Ted David and Bruce Leonard liners for the start of the last two segments.

Not only did the show have plenty of organ, but also many James Taylor alumni, leading up to Chuck Loeb‘s cover of “Mean Old Man.”

Coming in and out of “Dees Blues” by the Roger Kellaway Trio, I subtly referenced a suggestive meme.

“Run Your Race,” Ken Navarro‘s tribute to Eddie Van Halen, was first played on October 6, recorded before learning it was a tribute (in this livestream).

“Gotta Get Up” by Adam Hawley was on the smooth jazz radio charts at the time of recording.

Here is the video for the Bob James Trio’s cover of “Rocket Man“:

Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:

8:18 AM UPDATE: Whoops, I guess last week’s show wasn’t the last with the “no relation to” bit. I accidentally left one in at the top of hour 2.