Instrumental Invasion, 4/26/23 April 27, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Anime, Audio, City Pop, Education, History, Idol, Internet, Japanese, Jazz, Language, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, VTuber.add a comment
The April 26 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP went on the air at the end of the station dinner for students and alumni. The dinner was held at The View Grill, located off Long Island Sound in Glen Cove. I listened to much of the first hour during a ride home from my parents. Mom took a photo of Dad’s infotainment system while tuned to 88.1 FM:
3:47 PM UPDATE: Here’s a photo I took with my camera:
I caught the rest at home.
I have a lot to say, so I’ll get the scoped aircheck out of the way here:
The show’s playlist was created on February 24, annotated on the 27th and 28th, scripted on the 28th and March 1.
For the first time since December 7, I recorded out of sequence. Segments 6, 1, and 3 were recorded on March 2, followed by segments 2, 4, and 5 on March 3. I wanted to get the last segment out of the way because of the mammoth talk break that expounded on my city pop discovery, including excerpts of “4:00 A.M.” by Taeko Onuki and of the Caitlin Myers English version. My hunch was right, but I only managed to go 69 seconds over, plus another three seconds in the first segment where I first discussed city pop vis-à-vis Casiopea. I had little trouble compensating, completely making up for the overage over the last four segments without remixing.
After recording a quick pickup for the second segment on March 4, I redid the entire last talk break on the 5th. Taeko noted in a 2017 interview that Stuff drummer Chris Parker played on Sunshower, her precursor to Mignonne. Eric Gale was in Stuff. Maybe it was him. I bought a 2008 CD reissue of Mignonne on Amazon, planning on scanning the presumably Japanese liner notes once it arrived on March 6 and translating the text in the scan. Hedging my bets, the full talk break record said the soloist was Eric. Then, I did an alternate tack-on where I said it wasn’t. I played part of the solo in each.
Served me right for not noticing Discogs’ entry for Mignonne‘s 1989 CD reissue with its English credits. Nope, not Eric. It was Tsunehide Matsuki. I canceled the Amazon CD order, cited the Discogs ’89 CD credit, tacked that onto the earlier redos, and called it a night. I did one more pickup for this redo on March 7 because I was unsure of whether or not Caitlin Myers had more city pop adaptations in the pipeline. I did a separate pickup for the first segment on the 7th, with the precise Japanese transliteration of Casiopea, and a pickup for the top of hour 2.
For posterity, here was the original last talk break with all my nervous energy:
The redo where it was Eric Gale (and the Caitlin YouTube channel plug):
The redo tack-on where it wasn’t Eric:
Read about my early city pop journey in this blog post.
I’ll still include the relevant city pop videos, starting with the original “4:00 A.M.” by Taeko Onuki (or Ohnuki):
As Lou Monte would say (in “Lazy Mary”), the “British” version by Caitlin Myers (from the U.S.):
And T2norway‘s video about Casiopea:
[Removed on 5/3]
April 15 portion joined in progress:
Caitlin’s anime dubbing background inspired me to sign up with CrunchyRoll and watch select anime series. I started with the second season of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, featuring Caitlin as the introverted Shioriko Mifune, who slowly comes out of her shell as the season progresses. At first, I wondered “why the hell am I watching this?,” but by the third episode, I was hooked. So, now I can add idol/virtual idol to my diverse musical interests. (What I play on Instrumental Invasion remains my primary interest.) Incidentally, the English dub does not account for songs, meaning episodic numbers and the opening and closing themes are sung by the original seiyuu (Japanese voice actors).
On March 28, YouTube recommended a Ruri Ohama video, which led to a recommendation of a compilation video by JapanesePod101.com. After watching several of those compilations, I took the plunge by subscribing to the site itself and taking various courses. JapanesePod101.com is a division of the Franklin Square-based Innovative Language Learning. I always feel a sense of pride when I come across a Long Island-based company, past or present. Concurrently, I subscribed to Mochi real Japanese (Mochi Sensei) to learn Japanese from her videos. The teaching styles differ, but that’s okay.
[Removed on 5/3]
Back to what I wrote on March 3:
Ever since I watched Cronkite Remembers on DVD in the 2000s, I’ve had the introductory narration to Walter Cronkite‘s You Are There in my head. “We Were There” by Jazz Funk Soul always jogs my memory, but I never thought to play it on Instrumental Invasion until this show. The way I did the talk-up is how I’ve said the title to myself.
“Knee Deep in Rio” by Maynard Ferguson and Big Bop Nouveau was the song I moved from last week after realizing I wrongly placed it in the 1985-97 segment.
Robben Ford‘s “Magic Sam” was originally played on October 19 before I knew of the eponymous blues musician. Back then, I assumed it was about a magician, and I said that he “disappeared” as Jay Mirabile’s liner played on the fade out.
Tomorrow, I travel to Milford, Connecticut, to attend and photograph Smooth Jazz for Scholars. Wish me luck.
6:11 PM UPDATE: [Removed on 5/3]
Instrumental Invasion, 4/19/23 April 20, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports.add a comment
The April 19 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was another 4-2 recording with four segments recorded on February 25 and two (plus pickups) the next day, on the 26th.
The playlist was created on February 11, but tweaked on the 13th when I inadvertently put a 1998 song in the first 1985-97 segment. That song will be part of next week’s show. Annotations started on February 14, but weren’t completed until the 22nd. The talk break script was drafted on the 21st and 24th.
There were three retreads, all from 2020:
- David Benoit‘s cover of “Eye of the Tiger” dates back to May 20, but I had more background information on the original this time. I also referenced my WGBB past, since I was introduced to the song in the mid ’90s by Halftime Howie on his high school sports-centered radio show, and I was his lead-in late in The Instrumental Invasion‘s run. When I promoted the show on Facebook yesterday, David complimented me for playing this song. “Wow that’s a real oldie! Going back to the AVI days!” After I said I’d digitized it from a Waves of Raves cassette, he added “very cool!” I told him “I appreciate that.”
- Jeff Lorber‘s cover of “Ain’t Nobody” was recycled from October 7, with more background info.
- “Unified” by Brian Simpson and Steve Oliver was first played 156 weeks ago (another of those) – April 22. Once again, I referenced the home remodeling contractor‘s harmonious jingle. I thought about playing the jingle, going so far as clipping from a commercial on Unified’s YouTube channel. Fearing legal action, I held back. After all, WCWP staff were recently warned against references to Michael Buffer’s iconic (but trademarked) catchphrase.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
And why not post the Unified jingle?
Instrumental Invasion, 4/12/23 April 13, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Astronomy, Audio, City Pop, Computer, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sci-Fi, Technology, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The April 12 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded entirely on February 22, the day after my city pop journey began.
The playlist was created February 8, except for the last segment on the 10th. Annotations started on February 14 and finished on the 15th. The talk break script was drafted on the 21st.
This is the third week in a row with two Chick Corea songs, and second where the first song was followed by an Earl Klugh song.
I expanded my Maynard Ferguson collection with three of his latest albums, debuting this week. Maynard and Will Donato covered different songs with the same title: “I’ll Be Around.” One was the Alec Wilder standard, the other by The Spinners. Of course, last week, I played two versions of the same song: “Sunrise” by Chet Atkins.
Fourplay‘s “Aniversario” was originally played on December 30, 2020, and Najee‘s “Bounce” was first heard on August 10, 2022.
I had the opposite problem of last week, ending up two minutes and 30 seconds under after five segments! Thus, I filled the void with an extra song and reworked the final talk break. That song was David Murray’s 8-Bit Keys arrangement of “The Unknown Planet” by John Keating (or Johnny Keating), as adapted by Rob Hubbard for the video game Warhawk. In my haste, I forgot I played a Cedar Walton song (“The Early Generation”) in the first segment that featured Freddie Hubbard, so I didn’t emphasize Rob’s first name. Here is the accompanying 8-Bit Keys video:
The plan worked too well and I had to give back five seconds in the fourth segment. Either way, the last segment was the longest I’ve ever produced: 20 minutes and 45 seconds, breaking the old record set on January 4.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 4/5/23 April 6, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment
The April 5 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on February 19 (four segments) and 20 (two segments). Pickups were recorded on the 20th and 22nd.
The playlist was created hour by hour on February 3 and 4. Annotations didn’t come until February 14 and the talk break script was drafted on the 18th. I made two one-minute timing errors that escaped my eye until recording, a combined two minutes over. As the playlist PDF shows, I was able to break even after much maneuvering.
“Sign of the Times” by Bob James was first played on June 2, 2021, and “Drive Time” by David Benoit was recycled from the second Wednesday night show – April 8, 2020, 156 weeks ago.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 3/29/23: Third Anniversary March 30, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Weather.add a comment
The March 29 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP marked three years since my Wednesday night premiere! The show was recorded entirely on February 1. Pickups were recorded on the 1st, 2nd, and 9th (after learning Burt Bacharach had died). Thus, I’d recorded three shows in four days, my fastest output since recording the first six shows on consecutive days in March 2020.
The playlist was created on January 21, a day after the two prior shows (March 15, March 22), and annotated on January 25 and 26. The talk break script was drafted January 28.
I padded out the last talk break of the show with more information regarding the midnight sun while back-selling the Ahmad Jamal version of “Midnight Sun.” With 33 seconds left to fill, I redid the third segment’s talk breaks at a slower pace and swapped the short Jeff Kroll liner in the first segment for the longer “smile, Mike!” liner. I reinstated the short liner a week later to compensate for the Burt Bacharach acknowledgment.
Following in the tradition of anniversary shows past (first, second), the hour 1 format was 1984 and earlier – with songs from 1967 to ’83 – and hour 2’s format was ’85 to ’97 – with songs running the gamut, just like last year.
The underlying theme was songs with April in the title, seeing how the Wednesday night premiere aired April 1, 2020. It was the second week in a row with a version of “April Fools” by John Favicchia.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
8:35 AM UPDATE: Whoops! I left in an error. April 1 is Saturday, not Friday.
Instrumental Invasion, 3/22/23 March 23, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Football, History, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports, TV.add a comment
The March 22 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on January 30 (after completing last week’s show) and 31. Pickups were recorded on the 31st and February 1.
The playlist was created alongside last week’s on January 20, annotations followed on the 25th, and the talk break script was drafted on the 27th.
Key January 31 pickups were for the Gregg Karukas song I played. I didn’t realize my mistake until putting “Soul Secrets” into Adobe Audition and seeing its shorter duration. “Secret Smile” was the song I wanted, and it had radically different credits. So, I fixed the annotations and script. I also recycled Jeff Kroll’s “smile, Mike!” from the earlier liner. That liner led into “Behind the Rain” by Herb Alpert. This time, I didn’t even bother guessing who played what, but I challenge you to listen and not think of slow-motion NFL highlights narrated by John Facenda.
Another notable pickup padded out hour 2’s second segment, ad-libbing January 20 tidbits that I left in the annotations, but didn’t put back in the script.
This was only the fifth show in 155 without a song by David Benoit. Like the other four times, he will be back next week.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 3/15/23 March 16, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Video, Weather.add a comment
The March 15 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on January 29 and 30, with pickups on the 30th. After hearing the filtered audio over the air on January 25, I abandoned the technique. The two locations I record at have unique audio quality, and there’s no point in trying for a uniform sound.
The playlists for this week and next were created on January 20. This week’s annotations came on the 24th and 25th, and the talk break script was drafted on the 26th and 27th.
I led the show with Quincy Jones’s “Killer Joe” arrangement to make up for my blunder on January 18. I superstitiously neglected to acknowledge Q’s 90th birthday on Tuesday; the perils of recording in advance. I did, however, acknowledge the January blunder while back-selling “Chicken Joe” by Joe McBride. The talk-up for that song referenced Chicken Boo from Animaniacs. (I had no idea season three of the Hulu reboot was to launch on February 17.) My cluck for the tease was inspired by Jay Sherman’s (Jon Lovitz) cluck in The Critic series finale.
I’d been meaning to play “Free” by Beth Michaels ever since TWC Classics posted its appearance in a [glitchy] November 27, 1994, local forecast:
During the annotation process, “Metro Blue” by Richard Elliot replaced Kenny G‘s cover of “The Way We Were.” Wikipedia’s entry for the album it appears on lacked concise credits, as did all other online resources. Forgetting I had the CD at home, I hastily searched for a replacement, settling on “Metro Blue.” The Metro Blue record label tidbit I had in mind for “Coastline” next week was moved up a week.
I took an educated guess on Herb Alpert‘s “Rotation” personnel.
The playlist included three retreads:
- “Lake Shore Drive” by Brian Simpson (April 8, 2020)
- “Space-Time” by The Jeff Lorber Fusion (August 25, 2021)
- “Nightingales & Fairy Tales” by Lisa Hilton (September 29, 2021)
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 3/8/23 March 9, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Comedy, Comics, Computer, History, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Technology, TV, VHS, Video, Video Games.add a comment
Since there’s much to discuss and many photos and videos, I’ll post the scoped aircheck up here (and below) instead of at the end:
The March 8 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from January 14 to 16: the first hour on the 14th, the next two segments on the 15th, and the last on the 16th. Pickups were recorded that day and the next (January 17).
Due to a facility issue at the Abrams Communication Center, WCWP activity was not allowed the day this show aired. Station manager Pete Bellotti informed me the show would air at 7PM and 9PM since there couldn’t be a live edition of The Rock Show. The above scope is from the 7PM broadcast.
The playlist was created and mostly annotated on January 11. The rest of the annotations came on the 12th, followed by the talk break script draft that carried into the 13th. A timing error in the first segment meant I had to make up a 72-second surplus. I successfully made up that time without having to remix segments.
Five songs in this show have appeared in prior shows:
- “Feel Like Making Love” by Bob James (1/20/21)
- “Freda” by Nelson Rangell (9/9/20)
- “When We Dance” by Ken Navarro (4/22/20)
- “And Now This” by Paul Taylor (1/5/22)
- “Ride With Me” by JJ Sansaverino (8/24/22)
“Freda” was preceded by David Benoit‘s arrangement of “Frieda with the Naturally Curly Hair” from Here’s to You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years! I had yet to see the special that gave David’s CD its name, but watched a few days after completing production. Here it is:
A chance viewing of a video that showed the differences between the original and subsequent airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas got the ball rolling on Peanuts documentaries and specials. The first video YouTube recommended was the documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown, not to be confused with the later film:
The second video chronologically was the third recommended to me: Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown.
The second special I watched was It’s Your 20th Television Anniversary, Charlie Brown. (I originally omitted the “television” part, correcting the error in my January 17 pickup.)
The last special I watched on YouTube before working on this show was You Don’t Look 40, Charlie Brown. This special coincided with the unrelated CD Happy Anniversary, Charlie Brown! David Benoit appears in a “Linus and Lucy” music video, concluding with his anniversary wishes to Good Ol’ Charlie Brown.
After Here’s to You, I watched the CBS News special Good Grief, Charlie Brown: A Tribute to Charles Schulz, hosted by Walter Cronkite:
And just this Sunday, the following ran on CBS Sunday Morning (4/12 UPDATE: CBS removed the YouTube version, so here it is via Facebook):
Lee Cowan’s report featured Schulz’s widow Jean and Pearls Before Swine cartoonist Stephan Pastis (first name pronounced like Stephen Curry).
As my Facebook friends and Instagram followers know, I obsessively archived Brian Simpson‘s Closer Still CD for posterity since it’s rare for anyone to find the real thing. (You can’t even find it on eBay!) I won’t share my WAV and MP3 rips from the CD since you can buy and stream the tracks digitally from places like Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. I will, however, share my camera photos and flatbed scans. Photos first:
Scans:
“Hidden Pleasures” (track 4) was the centerpiece of my three Brians segment (two Brians, one Bryan). The talk break that followed paid homage to two video game-centric content creators: Game Dave and Metal Jesus, with a reference to Frank Cifaldi and the Video Game History Foundation for good measure. Metal Jesus occasionally posts “hidden gems” videos, highlighting overlooked video games. Here’s a marathon of six episodes he did on Wii hidden gems:
Thank you for reading to the end of this post. I’ll return to the regular show recap format next week.
Instrumental Invasion, 3/1/23 March 2, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video.add a comment
The March 1 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded and mixed entirely on January 9.
The playlist was created on January 3, with annotations starting on the 3rd and not resuming until the 7th. The talk break script was drafted on the 8th.
This was the second week in a row with songs from David Benoit‘s Waiting for Spring album and Trilogy 2 by the Chick Corea Trio. “All Blues” was the third of three songs over ten minutes long. The other two were “L-Dopa” by Maynard Ferguson and “Orchestrion” by Pat Metheny, the only song of hour 2’s first segment.
Here is the link to the Orchestrion backstory, along with a walkthrough video:
This was the final week before a segment format expansion, laid out below:
- 1984 and earlier is unchanged
- 1985-95 becomes 1985-97
- 1996-2006 becomes 1998-2009
- 2007-16 becomes 2010-20
- 2017 to present becomes 2021 to present
Minimal background information in my talk breaks led to an excessive surplus of time. Padding segments with extra liners only wasn’t enough. So, I partially redid hour 2 talk breaks at a slower pace, except for two that were redone entirely.
As noted on the air, “The Lift” by Marion Meadows was originally played on April 8, 2020. I played the 1978 version of the Jeff Lorber Fusion’s “The Samba” on February 23, 2022.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 2/22/23 February 23, 2023
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Christmas, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Pop, Radio, Rap, Video.add a comment
The February 22 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded the first show recorded in 2023: four segments on January 3 and two on the 4th, along with pickups. I applied a 10-band equalizer effect to my hour 1 talk breaks in an attempt to match the audio quality when recording at my secondary location. It isn’t the first time I’ve done this, but is the first on such a large scale; not just for pickups.
The playlist was created on December 28, 2022, with annotations on the last three days of the year, and the talk break script drafted on New Year’s Eve and Day.
It’s become a habit to program three-song sets in most segments, so I stopped acknowledging the feat in talk breaks.
After two theme weeks, this week had an unofficial theme with eight cover songs.
The Chick Corea Trio’s Trilogy duology were two Christmas presents from my sister Lauren. Playing their cover of “Pastime Paradise” by Stevie Wonder (from Trilogy 2) allowed me to reference “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio and “Weird Al” Yankovic‘s parody, “Amish Paradise.” And since I also played “Who Should I Pay,” Jay Rowe‘s homage to “Blurred Lines,” I got to reference “Word Crimes.” (Read my Mandatory Fun synopsis here.) (7/19 UPDATE: I spoke to Jay on the phone today and he said it was actually percussionist Steve Scales who exclaimed, “yeah, put that in your bank!”)
The show led off with the adjective-less “Paradise” by Grover Washington, Jr., exactly 365 days after I last played a cut from Paradise the album. It’s also been 51 weeks since playing something from The Test of Time by Ken Navarro, and exactly eight months have passed between songs from Chuck Loeb‘s Between 2 Worlds.
To change things up, I had an extra 2007-16 segment after going to the 1985-95 and 1996-2006 wells in previous weeks.
Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:
As a bonus, here are the music videos for “Amish Paradise”…:
…and “Word Crimes”:
Plus, Al’s breakdown for GQ of his most iconic tracks:
Plus plus, the “pivot!” scene on Friends (from “The One with the Cop“), since I referenced it after Randal Clark‘s “Pivot“:
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