Instrumental Invasion, 6/29/22 June 30, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video, Video Games.add a comment

The June 29 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the first show recorded after three weeks off. One segment was recorded on May 9, three on the 10th, and two (plus a pickup) on the 11th.
The playlist was created on May 5, but wasn’t annotated until the 9th. The talk break scripts for the first two segments were drafted before recording each of them, with the rest of the script drafted before recording the rest of the segments.
I was inspired to play “Estancia” by Chick Corea after watching Timothy Gondola‘s transcription:
Since the word “estancia” refers to a South American ranch, I paired it with Dave Grusin‘s arrangement of “Git Along, Little Dogies” on Discovered Again!. In turn, I contrasted “dogies” (hard g) with Dogi (soft g) from the Ys video game series.
It took until two days before recording to realize that Pat Metheny‘s “River Quay” was a play (that rhymes) on The Bridge on the River Kwai. Quay can be pronounced “kway” or “key,” but as I said in the show, Pat had “kway” in mind to contrast it with “kwy.” Enough linguistics.
This year’s Smooth Jazz for Scholars influenced much of the show, with two songs played on the second night and music featuring four of the headliners. (Read about the first night here.) One of the second night songs was “Soul Ties” by Marcus Anderson:
This was the second week in a row with a version of “Veil of Spring” by Anders Enger Jensen, which preceded the second appearance of “Move Ahead” by Richard Elliot. I first played it last March 17, but it was a single at the time of recording, so back in it went.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 6/22/22 June 23, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Religion.add a comment

The June 22 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the third of three shows produced in ten days, making for six shows produced in 23 days. I wanted to allow myself a hiatus of at least two weeks to focus on my girlfriend Kelly’s visit from Connecticut, then attending and documenting Smooth Jazz for Scholars in Connecticut (recaps here and here).
This show was recorded entirely on April 18 with pickups on the 19th, the first show recorded principally in one day since recording the December 15 show on November 1, the same day as annotating and talk break script drafting.
The playlist was created on April 16 with annotations and drafting of the talk break script on the 17th.
Once again, I replayed songs to make up for past mistakes: “Ear Candy” by Pieces of a Dream (January 5) and “360” by Chuck Loeb (April 13).
I had fun with “Spinnin'” by Jessy J from her latest album, Blue. It unintentionally sounded like the Hora if it were done by Les McCann. So, I worked many Jewish cultural references (I was raised Reform Jewish) into my talk break coming out of it, led by the exclamation “L’chaim (to life)!”
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
2020-21 WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony June 17, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Education, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Rock, Technology, Travel, Video.add a comment
Other Hall of Fame ceremony recaps: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
Video of the ceremony can be found at the end of this post.
It’s been three years since the last ceremony, but last Saturday, the WCWP Hall of Fame finally added five new inductees to its ranks. Due to delays by the COVID-19 pandemic, there were two sets of inductees:
- 2020: Alan Seltzer and Christina Kay (announced at Homecoming in 2019)
- 2021: Joe Manfredi, Jay Mirabile and Mike Chimeri
Yes, it’s true! I’d been dreaming of getting into the Hall of Fame for years and I got the dream fulfilling call last April.
Earlier this year, outgoing director of broadcasting Dan Cox reached out to the five of us for a ceremony date that worked for us. That date was Saturday, June 11. The venue ended up being the former LIU Post campus bookstore, now known as the Alumni and Employer Engagement Building…or it was, and now it’s Alumni Hall.
I reached out to friends and family, hoping they could attend. No matter how many turned out, I’d be happy.
I wore a suit and shirt combo that I picked out on Thursday with a tie that my mother Lisa bought with colors similar to those of LIU.
I may have been one of the inductees, but I still took photos and video when it wasn’t my turn. So, after dressing up, I packed up my DSLR camera, battery pack with a spare battery attached, camcorder, GoPro, and tripods to connect to them and my iPhone, which I would have brought anyway.
Once my sister Lauren arrived at noon, she, our mom, and dad Bill all left for campus. I was worried we’d be late after traffic was diverted away from the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway entrance on Alken Avenue in North Wantagh, but once we entered via Hicksville Road, we made great time, parking next to the Alumni Hall (I’ve settled on that name) at 12:40 (hey, like WGBB!).
Not wanting to unpack my camera yet, I took establishing exterior shots with my phone:
The ceremony began at 1:22:

The first 2020 inductee was Alan Seltzer, currently host of The Grooveyard on WCWP. He was inducted by Scott Perschke:
After each acceptance speech, guests were invited to share any stories. 2013 inductee Bernie Bernard had one about Alan, which he elaborated on: the story of the 1978 Dome Auditorium collapse. 2019 inductee Lew Scharfberg talked about the collapse at his induction, and he shared his perspective again this year.
The second 2020 inductee was Christina Kay, now of WALK 97.5. She was inducted by Dan Cox:
Dan admitted in his induction speech that he considers her a second daughter. Christina’s table Yes, the plaque has a typo. It will be replaced. The storytellers following Christina’s speech were Charlie Moerler… Chris Maffei… Bernie Bernard… David North, Christina’s colleague at WALK 97.5 when he was a news anchor and reporter there… …and Will Bruner.
Before moving on to the 2021 inductees, Dan Cox awarded the inaugural Art Beltrone Founders Award to Dan Casazza:
New director of broadcasting (or station manager, if you will) and 2019 inductee Pete Bellotti inducted two of the three 2021 inductees. First, Joe Manfredi, the station manager of Old Westbury Web Radio (OWWR) (listen here), serving nearby SUNY Old Westbury:
Joe acknowledged me in his speech, asking me to name some of the musicians I interviewed (over the phone) on The Mike Chimeri Show. The interviews can be found here, warts and all (meaning I’m hesitant to listen). There was also an anecdote about Karen Fiorelli’s news report blunder. Stories were shared by Dan Cox… Alana Leider, currently host of The Rockin’ Sunday Show on WCWP… Sandra Cerrone, a.k.a. DJ Sandra Dee, one of Joe’s Old Westbury Web Radio alumni… I love this camcorder vidcap. It’s like a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast cutaway. 6/18 UPDATE: While editing the video that I will add once complete, I noticed that this was really in reaction to a remark by… Joelle Desrosiers, another OWWR alumna… Joe Conte with an anecdote on unwittingly playing unedited songs… …and Mike Kinane, Joe’s OWWR colleague, and vice president of communications at SUNY Old Westbury.
Dan reintroduced Pete to induct Jay Mirabile, longtime host of The Disco and Funk King Show (DFK for short):
Jay and his father Len Jay went beyond acknowledging me, inviting me to the podium to recall funny moments in early episodes of The Mike Chimeri Show. In those early days, Jay was my lead-in, and sometimes, I would acknowledge the last song of the show at the start of mine. The anecdote he relayed was how I quipped “wouldn’t you know it, they stopped” because his last song was “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. I thought he was going to mention the one where – channeling Jay Sherman’s boss Duke Phillips on The Critic – I began my show with “Jay, son, you’re a tough act to follow.” Upon leaving the podium, as I waved in thanks, Jay noted what great friends we are. This was my genuine reaction to the compliment. Story time. First, Christina Kay… Then, Charlie Moerler… Alana Leider… …and Joe Conte.
Finally, it was my turn. I originally planned on my cousin Chris – C.W. Post Class of 2008 – inducting me, but he came down with COVID earlier in the week. His induction speech was partially complete and he offered to finish it and have Dan Cox read it on his behalf, but I declined and had Dan give his own speech:
LONG STORY: This is the first of the iPhone vidcaps. I foolishly recorded the entire ceremony from my table’s perspective when I’d have been better off recording my portion. Attempts to truncate the video and transfer to my computer via iCloud failed, even after upgrading to 50 GB of storage for 99 cents a month. The original mammoth video was still in the system and would need to be transferred with the edited version. This contributed to my insomnia Saturday night. Finally, late Sunday morning, I thought to download to my computer by connecting the phone to it with Dell Mobile Connect. It worked, but there was another hurdle. The raw MOV file wasn’t accepted by Adobe Premiere Elements 2020. Luckily, Wondershare Filmora accepted it and allowed me to convert it to an MP4, BUT I’d have to buy a subscription. $54 a year later, the video was converted, I loaded it into Premiere Elements, and extracted vidcaps. The absolute last hurdle involved correcting the wide-angle distortion in Photoshop Elements, and here we are. Anyway… In the center is Joan Yonke, LIU Post’s director of development, previously campus director of employer and alumni engagement. It was so great to see her there. I just wish I had thought to add her to my thank list. (More on that shortly.) Early in Dan’s induction, I asked my dad Bill to take photos with my camera. It’s time, as my table cheers me on! Besides Joan Yonke, going from left to right, there’s cousin Lisa Cassidy, my aunt Donna Dantes Chimeri (Chris’s mother), my mom Lisa’s friend Mandy Muldowney, Mom, Dad, Lori Downing, and Wendy Connelly. Mandy was the principal of Leo F. Giblyn School where Mom is a teaching assistant, and Wendy and Lori are (Lori retired in 2020) reading teachers at Giblyn. Interestingly, Aunt Donna (Post Class of 1998) knew Joe Manfredi’s father, also named Joe, but the elder Joe pronounced the last name “man-freedy” rather than “man-freddy.” Here I go! Mandy and Mom are taking photos and/or video. I made a two-page table in Microsoft Word of people to thank. I read from that with ad-libs here and there. My sister Lauren also shot video on her phone and shared vidcaps with me… Back to Dad’s photos with my camera… Joe Manfredi (the younger) kindly handled my camcorder during my speech. “… WCWP, the one place [my aunt Robin Rose Brinegar, then-academic counselor at C.W. Post] didn’t know anyone, has had the biggest, the biggest impact on my life.” “… I will never forget WCWP. Thank you so much.” I put the thank list back in my shirt’s breast pocket and left the podium. Another wave… …and a handshake with Dad. The expression on my face is a nasty anxious habit. Seeing myself do that in my on-camera moments has me eager to overcome the habit. I asked, “Anyone got stories?” Jay Mirabile had one, or at least compliments. …as did 2015 inductee Bobby Guthenberg. One final round of applause from my table (and the elder Joe Manfredi)
Dan, with his time as director of broadcasting at an end, closed the ceremony with poignant, and pointed, remarks:
With the ceremony complete, all that remained were the photo ops:
Mandy Muldowney, Donna Dantes (aunt), Lori Downing, Lisa Chimeri (mom), me, Lauren Chimeri (sister), Bill Chimeri (dad), Wendy Connelly, Lisa Cassidy Lauren had two photos taken with her phone… Joe Manfredi and his OWWR alumnae: Nikki Kallipozis, Arielle Mancebo, Sandra Cerrone, Joelle Desrosiers (Names added on 6/22 via this SUNY Old Westbury article) Me, Lori Downing, Bernie Bernard
During Bernie’s WBAB days, she spoke at Lori’s high school, vividly remembering that when Lori told her about it.Scott Perschke and Alan Seltzer Me and Jay Mirabile Me, Alan, Jay Oop, rabbit ears! A candid shot Christina Kay and me Joe Conte, Karen Fiorelli, me, Joe Manfredi Joe, Christina, Jay, me Pete Bellotti and me This was supposed to be another one of me and Dan Cox, but I wanted to leave in Bernie, her sister Melissa, and Christina. The last photo before I left the building: Joe, Pete, Jay, me
As I left, Dan had everyone yell “goodbye” to me. I happily waved and walked out…except that I left my camera battery charger in an outlet. I realized my error halfway to Domenico’s of Levittown. I didn’t feel like going back to campus, so Pete returned it to me today. Still, I went ahead and bought new third-party batteries with a charger. The batteries I had were 6 1/2 years old, anyway.
Joining my family at Domenico’s were Wendy, Lori, and Aunt Donna. The lone photo I took there was of a toast:

Thank you to those that gave me congratulations cards and gifts:
Thus ends the recap. I am overwhelmed by all the support I received during and after the ceremony. Congratulations to Alan Seltzer, Christina Kay, Joe Manfredi, Jay Mirabile, and yours truly Mike Chimeri, the 2020 and ’21 classes of the WCWP Hall of Fame.
6/21 UPDATE: The video is now up. Chapters are included if you want to skip ahead or know what to expect. There is occasional coarse language and suggestive dialogue.
Instrumental Invasion, 6/15/22 June 16, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment

The June 15 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days: April 13 (one segment), 14 (three segments), and 15 (two segments). The second talk break of the third segment was rerecorded on the 15th prior to recording the last two. I wasn’t thinking straight on the 14th as landscapers across the street made their annual debut, working on and off for four hours! After I got the first of my three planned segment recordings in, our landscaping crew made their debut, which took “only” two hours. I recorded the second segment of the day after they left and when the crew across the street was in a lull. I recorded the third in the evening. Naturally, all this occurred on the warmest (and most humid) day of the spring to that point. The Kaotica Eyeball only drowns out so much; the window still needs to be closed. It was drier and less warm on the 15th, so my room didn’t get stiflingly hot. There was a bird chirping in a tree at one point, but I didn’t notice it on playback.
The playlist was created on April 12 after wrapping up last week’s show, with annotations and the talk break script draft on the 13th.
For the second week in a row, a cut from Chet Baker‘s She Was Too Good to Me was played in the first segment followed by a Bob James song, and Fourplay ended the first hour. “Autumn Leaves” was originally played on May 20, 2020, but with less background info and the wrong vibraphonist credit. Next week’s show will have more recurring songs to compensate for misinformation.
Click here to download this week’s aircheck MP3 or listen below:
May 30 boat ride photos June 10, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Boating, Personal, Photography, Travel.add a comment
For those that aren’t connected with me on Facebook, I went on a long sightseeing ride on my dad Bill’s boat on Memorial Day afternoon.
My family and I took boat rides often when I was in my teens and early 20s, but I didn’t go on as often in subsequent years and hadn’t gone at all since my mid 20s. It’s been so long that the boat was docked at Al Grovers High & Dry Marina on South Main Street in Freeport rather than behind what was then Ehrhart’s and Ehrhart’s Clam House on Woodcleft Avenue.
Either way, the passengers aboard the boat were me, Bill, my mom Lisa, sister Lauren, aunt Robin, and Robin’s husband Allen. They were visiting from South Florida for a couple of days.
We arrived at Al Grovers just after 4:00 and left the dock within a few minutes.
Before I get to the main boat ride photos, here are all the planespotting ones:
CV4357 (Cargolux) from HKG (Hong Kong International Airport) to ANC (Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport) with stopover at JFK, B74N (LX-VCD), Landed at JFK 4:48 PM, Departed for ANC 11:09 PM, Landed at ANC 4:48 AM (10:48 AM ET) AZ3301 (ITA Airways, Operated by Delta Air Lines 667) to SLC (Salt Lake City International Airport), B73J (N876DN), Took off from JFK 4:48 PM, Landed at SLC 7:06 PM (9:06 PM ET) LY8734 (El Al, Operated by Operated by JetBlue Airways 669) to SJC (Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport), A320 (N658JB), Departed JFK 4:51 PM, Landed at SJC 8:26 PM (11:26 PM ET) DL182 (Delta Air Lines) to FCO (Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, Rome), B76W (N176DZ), Took off from JFK 5:04 PM, Landed at FCO 6:59 AM (12:59 AM ET) DE2017 (Condor) to FRA (Frankfurt Airport), B76W (D-ABUD), Took off from JFK 5:06 PM, Landed at FRA 6:07 AM (12:07 AM ET) AF23 (Air France) to CDG (Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris), B77W (F-GSQL), Took off from JFK 5:04 PM, Landed at CDG 5:50 AM (11:50 PM ET) Here, the Air France plane was low enough to see the tail number. B689 (JetBlue Airways) to SAN (San Diego International Airport), A32B (N989JT), Took off from JFK 5:14 PM, Landed at SAN 7:47 PM (10:47 PM ET) IB6250 (Iberia) to MAD (Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport), A333 (EC-MAA), Took off from JFK 5:21 PM, Landed at MAD 6:16 AM (12:16 AM ET) AA66 (American Airlines) to BCN (Barcelona-El Prat Airport), B772 (N785AN), Took off from JFK 5:26 PM, Landed at BCN 6:29 AM (12:29 AM ET) DL202 (Delta Air Lines) to ATH (Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, Athens), A333 (N809NW), Took off from JFK 5:46 PM, Landed at ATH 9:55 AM (2:55 AM ET) MU588 (China Eastern Airlines) to FOC (Changle International Airport, Fuzhou), B77W (B-2005), Took off from JFK 5:56 PM, Landed at FOC 9:16 PM (9:16 AM ET) MS986 (EgyptAir) to CAI (Cairo International Airport), B77W (SU-GDO), Took off from JFK 5:57 PM, Landed at CAI 9:52 AM (3:52 AM ET) I attempted to identify all the commercial aircraft for this post (and Facebook) on last Thursday evening, but gave up before I could identify these last four. You try matching take off time with the time of the photo. If only flight tracking websites considered take off time as departure time rather than the time a plane leaves the gate. I didn’t bother at all with the helicopters.
Now, the main event. This first photo was taken just as Dad started the engines:
Meadowbrook State Parkway Cow Meadow Park I took many photos from this perspective. A closer look at Cow Meadow. This is the spot where I stood 11 years ago during a walk. It was one of the days I stayed at a family friend’s house following Tropical Storm Irene which knocked out power at my house in Wantagh. You can read about that experience here. The Freeport water tower The plane was too far away to identify. Besides that, I racked my brain trying to figure out where this was. With the help of Google Maps, I finally determined that it’s the corner of Hudson Avenue and Howard Avenue with The Anchorage on the left end. The other Freeport water tower The WGBB transmitter The southern tip of Woodcleft Avenue I’d get a better view of the Jones Beach water tower on the way back. I’d get a better view of this Loop Parkway bridge on the way back, as well, but here, you can make out Jones Beach Theater. Oceanside landfill Another plane approaching JFK runway 22L; One World Trade Center is visible on the left Bertha Drive in Baldwin Harbor The Golf Club at Middle Bay Huge waves! Thankfully, the wake from the passing boat didn’t affect my phone or camera. They were only slightly sprayed. Good thing I had lens wipes and a paper towel sheet. A closer look at the landfill Oceanside Park The north end of Long Beach… Looking north at Island ParkBarnum IslandLong Beach Bridge An LIRR train heading north on the Reynolds Channel Bascule Bridge Going under… No cars drove over heading this way. A closer look at the train bridge Pop’s Seafood Shack & Grill in Island Park The last car… One last look at the train bridge as we turn back for Al Grovers Back under the Long Beach Bridge… A car! Looking back, I saw the train bridge was up. Long Beach High School Lido Golf Club in Lido Beach Another look at the golf club A glimpse of Lido Boulevard Nassau University Medical Center (also visible in some photos before this one) The bridge before Loop Parkway’s western terminus Point Lookout… Fisherman’s Catch The eastern tip of Point Lookout Loop Parkway’s eastern terminus Another look at Point Lookout’s eastern tip Jones Bay Bridge on Meadowbrook Parkway Coast Guard station A clear view of the Jones Beach water tower Crossing Loop Parkway… Cars! Fundy Channel bridge A clear shot (cropped like the planespotting) of Meadowbrook Exit M9E (the M10 photo was also cropped) Cow Meadow Park again Another clear shot of a Meadowbrook sign Closer and clearer… And M9W! Freeport Industrial Park Almost there… Back at Al Grovers!
Left at 4:04, returned at 6:57. That’s nearly a three-hour tour, but with better results than the SS Minnow.
I hope you enjoyed experiencing my boat ride through photos. Tomorrow, I go into the WCWP Hall of Fame. A photo and video recap will be up next Friday.
Instrumental Invasion, 6/8/22 June 9, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment

The June 8 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on April 11 (four segments) and 12 (two segments) with pickups recorded on April 13 and May 2.
The playlist was created on April 9, annotated on the 10th, and the talk break script was drafted before recording on the 11th.
Between last week’s show and this one, Pete Bellotti was named WCWP’s new director of broadcasting. In an e-mail on Monday, he informed me and my fellow FM hosts that the current programming lineup will continue through at least Labor Day.
As noted on the air, I played “It’s You or No One” by Chet Baker in the first Wednesday night show back on April 1, 2020. In that show, I misidentified She Was Too Good to Me, the album it’s from, as “…too good for me.” I’ll be replaying “Autumn Leaves” from that album next week to make up for misidentifying the vibraphonist in the eighth show (May 20).
Serendipity struck again this week as the last song I needed to fill out hour two’s first segment had a similar title to the song I played from Darren Rahn‘s Rock The World album. Last week, it was “Midnight Sun” and “Midnight Madness,” and this week, “Infinite Love” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before.” One segment after that, I experimented with one long song taking up the entire segment: “After the Cosmic Rain” on Return to Forever IV’s live album The Mothership Returns. Contrary to what the playlist says, I had the post-song liner picked out before recording the talk break.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 6/1/22 June 2, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment

The June 1 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the third of three shows produced in eleven days. Recording took place from April 4 to 6 in the same 2-3-1 configuration as the May 18 show: two segments on April 4, three on the 5th, and the last segment and pickups on the 6th. An additional pickup was recorded on April 18.
The playlist was created on April 2 after recording the first hour of last week’s show and annotated on the 3rd before recording its second hour. The talk break script was drafted on the 4th before recording the first two segments for this week.
June 1 was the first day after Dan Cox’s retirement as Director of Broadcasting. Long Island University is going to make that position part-time upon hiring his replacement. At Dan’s request, I continue to work on shows even if some of them don’t air, assuming the worst case scenario: where the university terminates WCWP after 57 years on 88.1 FM and 61 years since its carrier current launch. This is the only time I’m acknowledging the station’s uncertainty unless the worst comes true. (6/9 UPDATE: Pete Bellotti became the new director on June 6 and stated that the current FM lineup will continue through at least Labor Day.)
Getting back to this week’s show, in my back-sell of “Vinyl” by Euge Groove, I referenced an (original) Animaniacs segment called “Please Please Please Get a Life Foundation” (from episode 73):
I’ve since watched the first two seasons of the reboot, which I enjoyed.
This show’s second segment was the hardest to record, compounded by my new habit of zooming in the waveform to see mouth clicks I can edit out. If every song fades out and you’re light on information, the last resort is to do the talk breaks at a slow pace. I recorded the third talk break slow, but there was still too much left, so I had to redo the second. The third segments of each hour required careful editing of their second talk breaks to avoid running over. It was in the last segment that I realized it makes more sense looking for mouth clicks in a talk break after editing out flubs, but I’ve since reverted to the old way.
It marked the second time I paired songs by Wes Montgomery and Earl Klugh, coincidentally recorded the week of the show with the first time. The inclusion of “Midnight Madness” by Skinny Hightower after “Midnight Sun (Extended Version)” by Darren Rahn was serendipity. The first segment of hour two needed a song around 3:45 and I came across “Midnight Madness.” Then, I noticed it had vinyl record crackling just like “Vinyl”; two callbacks in one.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below: