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Instrumental Invasion, 7/26/23 July 27, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, City Pop, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio.
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Let’s get the hard part out of the way first before all the stuff written in advance. Automation had difficulties throughout the day. I did not know this until turning on my reference monitors at 9:00 and hearing nothing. I contacted WCWP station manager Pete Bellotti and he told me just what I laid out in this paragraph’s second sentence. The good news is my show was joined in progress once automation was reestablished at 9:10 (after hearing random vocal rock songs for what felt like an eternity). The bad news is the show was joined only eight seconds in. Thus, it was the fifth time in the show’s Wednesday night history, and first time since November 4, 2021, where a show got cut off at 11:00. Five minutes and 19 seconds went unaired and will not be heard until the rerun, whatever date that ends up being. (9/14 UPDATE: It will rerun on September 27.) At least my last talk break aired in its entirety. I tip my hat to Pete for doing what he could to keep WCWP running.

Here is the joining in progress:

“Mona Lisa-” “-is Instrumental Invasion with Mike Chimeri…”

And the cutoff:

Now, the alternate reality where things ran smoothly:

The July 26 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on June 26 and 27 with pickups done on the 27th and 29th. I was getting over COVID at the time and the congestion returned to affect my voice after working on this show. You can hear it in the June 29 pickups.

The playlist was created between June 6 and 11, with annotations coming on the 13th and 15th. The talk break script was drafted June 16 and 19. That script allowed this show to air as an evergreen during an impending hiatus.

Two songs made their second appearance:

Click here to download the scoped aircheck or listen below:

And click here for the backstory on “Ue o Muite Arukō,” a.k.a. [that other title].

Instrumental Invasion, 7/19/23 July 20, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Bluegrass, Country, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video.
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The July 19 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on May 31 and June 5. I was hoping to get the second hour finished before the WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony on June 3 (recap here). Unfortunately, I had a crisis of confidence on June 2, the Friday before, and was overwhelmed by the impending workload. So, I wasn’t in any condition to record that day, and didn’t until June 5, the Monday after. Pickups were also recorded to make up time left over. An additional pickup was done on June 25 (in my COVID-compromised voice) to remove a dated reference.

Like last week, the playlist was created from May 14 to 16. Annotations came on May 22 and 30. The script for the first talk break was written May 30 with the rest of hour 1 written on the 31st and hour 2 on June 1.

It was also the second week in a row with a song originally played last November 16: “Night in the Algarve” by Nils.

My tease for “Foggy Morning Breaking,” Alison Brown‘s banjo duet with Steve Martin, ended with the line “don’t miss this one.” Bill O’Reilly sometimes said that going into commercial breaks on The O’Reilly Factor, following that up with “right back with it.” I’m not ashamed to admit I used to regularly follow politics and watch cable news. I haven’t done that in years. Nowadays, the less I know, the better.

While working on this week’s show, I had no idea how much hype “Foggy Morning Breaking” was getting. There’s even a music video!

And hours before air, the song was nominated for instrumental recording of the year at the IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards! The award ceremony will be held September 28.

Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:

Instrumental Invasion, 7/12/23 July 13, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, City Pop, Internet, Japanese, Jazz, Language, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video.
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The July 12 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on Memorial Day, May 29.

The playlist was created between May 14 and 16. Annotations came on May 22, 26, and 27. (The gap included production on last week’s show.) The talk break script was drafted on the 27th and 28th.

“Forecast” by Jazz Funk Soul was originally played on November 16, 2022.

Since the last song of the week was the Louis Hayes version of “Ugetsu,” I signed off with an homage to Japanese Ammo with Misa. Misa sensei ends her videos by saying, “jaa ma ta ne, bye-bye.” (I left off the “jaa” part.) Here is her latest video:

Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:

Instrumental Invasion, 7/5/23 July 6, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, City Pop, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video, World Music.
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The July 5 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was principally recorded on May 24 with evergreen pickups recorded on June 25, denoted by my COVID-compromised voice.

The playlist was created on May 14 and 15, alongside the ones for July 12 and 19. It was annotated with those on May 21 and 22 with the talk break script drafted on the 23rd and before recording on the 24th.

I anticipated going over in the last segment, so I made sure to build a significant surplus before then. The surplus ended up at 57 seconds, which wasn’t enough until I swapped out long liners for short ones.

Thanks to Mike Riccio for providing his year jingle compilation so I could play the 1979 one before “1979” by Roberto Restuccia:

In the House” by Kim Waters was originally played on August 4, 2021. It was included this week with two other songs performed in April at Smooth Jazz for Scholars. Kim and Paul Taylor headlined the second night while Marion Meadows was part of the first night.

The GRP All-Star Big Band recording session was filmed for later video release, and someone posted the “I Remember Clifford” portion to YouTube:

Now, I know what a threnody is.

Click here to download the scoped aircheck or listen below:

New blog header July 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Internet, Personal.
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7/4 UPDATE: This humble blog header post is my 700th post overall!