Instrumental Invasion, 12/22/21: Christmas December 23, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Christmas, Country, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, Personal, Radio, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The December 22 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from home on November 4 (four segments) and 5 (two segments and pickups) with the denoise filter applied to all talk breaks. Additional pickups were recorded on November 23 and December 13, both without the denoise filter and the latter while shortening four segments. It was recommended on the 13th that I make 18-minute segments. Between this week and January 26, I’ve shortened any segments that were padded by liners or songs that don’t start with a talk-up. The first show with 18-minute segments in mind will be February 2, 2/2/22. Wait till you hear what I have in store.
The playlist for the Christmas show was created and annotated on November 3.
Like last year, the show included two songs each by David Benoit and Mannheim Steamroller, but also two versions of “Carol of the Bells” (1 1/2 last year) and “Jingle Bells.” One of those versions was Jay Rowe‘s that I referenced last year. This year, a slightly longer version was included on Jay’s new album, Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, from Jay Rowe. The November 23 pickup came after Jay announced the album’s release on Facebook. Here’s the original single version, not the album version that aired:
I was glad to reference Roy’s poem in Game Dave‘s video posted exactly a year before the show aired:
Roy’s portion is about 8:20 in.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Merry Christmas!
Festival of Games recap December 13, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Animation, Aviation, Christmas, History, Internet, Media, Personal, Photography, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.add a comment
Saturday, for the first time in two years and four months, I made the pilgrimage to the Cradle of Aviation Museum along Museum Row in East Garden City. The event was Festival of Games, spun off from the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. The main expo returns next August, but video games were calling for me. So, I bought a ticket to the Festival on November 23.
My plan Saturday was to attend for two to three hours, walking through the vendor hall, free play zones, and ticketed arcade zone. (Patrons were given a ticket with their wristband at the front desk.) If any arcade games caught my eye, I’d play them. Then, I’d go back to the vendor hall and pick up games. I followed that plan to the letter upon my arrival just after 12:30. Here are the photos:
A R.O.B. quintet “dances” to Christmas music. 
Computer Space is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month (and last month)! 
Ah, Tetris. As I noted in my recap of the 2019 LI Retro (the expo’s preferred shorthand, rather than LIRGE), I have fond memories of playing the Tetris arcade game at Kutsher’s Hotel and Country Club in March 1995. It was the third of four years in a row of weekend retreats with my fellow congregants of Union Reform Temple. We went to Kutsher’s in ’95 and January ’96, and prior to that, the Nevele Grand Hotel in January ’93 and ’94. Sadly, URT and the two resorts are now defunct. 
The next arcade machine I played was Street Fighter II. I picked up where the previous players left off, but didn’t realize they were in two-player mode until I had my way as Guile with Dhalsim. 
After this, one-player mode kicked in and I was summarily defeated by Ryu, despite somehow winning round 2. 
I am better with the NES port of Donkey Kong Jr. than with the arcade original. 
“Body blow! Body blow!” 
Out of privacy, I chose to remove the boy’s face from this photo. 
I’d heard about Rolling Thunder, but never played it until Saturday. Again, I didn’t get far. 
After that, I gave Double Dragon a go. Yet again, I didn’t get far, but it was far enough for me. 
I could not get a handle on Arkanoid, nor am I the best at its spiritual sibling Breakout. I’m great at Alleyway on Game Boy. 
NFL Blitz isn’t the same off N64. 
Last but not least, another game I saw in the arcade room at Kutsher’s: NARC.
I didn’t play NARC then (or now), but I videotaped two of my friends playing, per these vidcaps (12/27 UPDATE: I upscaled the vidcaps with Bigjpg):
I left this out of the stacked gallery, but one of the free play TVs was connected to a Famicom Disk System, which ran a festive program:
Back at the vendor hall, I picked up 33 games for various consoles. I don’t remember what I bought from which vendor, but the business cards show they were Geek Guilt, Flashback Gaming, The SemiCollector, and Joega’s Comic Chaos. When greeting one of the vendors, I inadvertently said “hello” like Sheldon Cooper, Jim Parsons‘ character from The Big Bang Theory (and Iain Armitage‘s from Young Sheldon). Noticing, I repeated and got a laugh. As I edited Saturday’s photos, I noticed I missed a couple of vendors over the course of my shopping spree. Oh, well.
As I shopped, I checked my video game collection Word document to make sure I didn’t buy a game I already had. I didn’t.
While waiting for a ride home, I photographed my haul:
Once I got home, I photographed my pickups by console.
Going chronologically, I picked up 15 NES games:
Five for Sega Master System:
Three on Game Boy:
Two for Super Nintendo:
One for Super Famicom!:
Two for Sega Genesis:
One for Sony PlayStation:
One for Nintendo 64 (N64):
Two for PlayStation 3:
And one for Nintendo Switch:
In writing, the games were:
Nintendo Entertainment System:
- Balloon Fight
- Cobra Triangle
- Fester’s Quest
- Freedom Force
- Gauntlet II
- Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode
- Hogan’s Alley
- Kabuki: Quantum Fighter
- The Legend of Zelda
- Mickey Mousecapade
- Rambo
- RoboCop
- Section Z
- StarTropics
- Wrath of the Black Manta
Sega Master System:
Game Boy:
Super Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Famicom*:
Sega Genesis:
PlayStation:
Nintendo 64:
PlayStation 3:
Xbox 360:
Nintendo Switch:
Thank you to LI Retro for an enjoyable Festival of Games. I’ll see you in August.
Instrumental Invasion, 1/27/21 January 28, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Christmas, Drama, Internet, Jazz, Laserdisc, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Technology, TV, Video.add a comment
The January 27, 2021, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on December 22 (between sounds of fence construction next door) and December 23, 2020. Pickups for the first segments of each hour were recorded on the 23rd (hour 1) and Christmas morning (hour 2).
The playlist was created and annotated, and the script was written on December 21.
This was the last show I recorded in 2020 before allowing myself time off for Christmas (outside of pickups) and New Year’s Day, and the last show recorded through the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. I received a Zoom LiveTrak L-8 for Christmas.
As noted on air, Anders Enger Jensen‘s “DiscoVision” ode to the early days of LaserDisc, contains samples from side 1 of the 1979 instructional disc, Operating Instructions for the MCA DiscoVision PR-7820 System. Here is that video, hosted by actor J.D. Cannon:
The Don Sebesky album I referenced while back-selling “The Traveler” by Earl Klugh is called Giant Box. I gave it the “big” prefix (“big Giant Box album”) because it was originally a double album on LP in 1973. The 2011 remaster fits neatly on one CD.
I inadvertently referenced the Butch Hartman cartoon series T.U.F.F. Puppy (this episode, in fact) when I said “no, don’t duck; that’s his name” after noting Marty Duck was part of the horn section on “At Your Service” by Oli Silk.
Click here to download the show’s aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 12/23/20: Christmas December 24, 2020
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Christmas, Country, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, Personal, Radio, Technology, Video.add a comment
The December 23, 2020, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on November 20 and 21. Pickups were recorded on the 22nd after remembering Steve Rodby was also an alumnus of Pat Metheny Group. Originally, I only acknowledged Danny Gottlieb and Mark Egan. Another pickup was recorded on the 30th after learning that Jay Rowe recorded a newer, faster version of his arrangement of “Jingle Bells” for Jessy J, which I played in the third segment:
The first and third segments were kept at their original 18:45 length. The rest were cut down to 18:40.
The playlist was created on November 17 (my 39th birthday), then refined and annotated on the 18th.
As I’ve said in the past, I absolutely love instrumental Christmas music, dating back to its use in local forecasts on The Weather Channel in the first 25 days of December. I have a vast playlist in iTunes that I play at parties (in a normal year) and at home ahead of, and on, the special day. The 27 songs on this show were just a taste of the day’s worth of songs in that playlist.
The first song of the show, “Carol of the Toy Keyboards” by David Murray, a.k.a. The 8-Bit Guy (YouTube, website), premiered on David’s sister channel, 8-Bit Keys, on December 1, 2015:
And Lindsey Stirling has a video for “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” (with over 20 million views!!!):
The name of the vocalist and percussionist on “We Three Kings” by Marion Meadows was Arto Tunçboyacıyan. I consulted this page for the pronunciation. Since recording the talk break, it now rolls off the tongue, like Krzyzewski. The name of the stringed instrument Brian Keane used was a bağlama.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
And as a bonus, here’s a liner that will be heard on WCWP today and tomorrow:
Merry Christmas!
My Christmas music playlist December 24, 2018
Posted by Mike C. in Christmas, Jazz, Music, Personal.2 comments
In the past (here and here), I’ve talked about my collection of jazz and new age Christmas albums. I’ve continued to add as new albums come out or I rediscover songs on the albums I already have.
The time has come to share what songs are currently in my Christmas music playlist, which I curated in iTunes. There are 329 songs combining for 21 hours, 26 minutes, and 52 seconds of listening. Here is the playlist, over 14 screencaps (click on them for full size):
I usually listen to the playlist twice. The first pass took me a few weeks. The second pass should be quicker since I’ll be playing it at a Christmas Eve party and at home on Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good listen.
10:15 AM UPDATE: I duplicated the playlist so it would appear in a different form. That way, you can see full titles and artist names. Rather than take screencaps again, I made a video recording, set to “Snow Bells” by Ficara:
The parenthetical “MC Edit” and “remastered” mean I edited the files in Adobe Audition. The edits involved removing the first few seconds of a song, fading out the end of a song that led into the next track on the original album, or improving the sound quality.
Expanding my Christmas album collection again December 17, 2015
Posted by Mike C. in Christmas, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, Personal.add a comment
2014 Christmas presents prior to unwrapping
Two years ago, I wrote about my love of Christmas music, which I incorporated into an extensive iTunes playlist. I listed all the albums I had compiled prior to 2013 and the albums I added that year. Last year, I updated the original post:
12/21/14 UPDATE: This year’s additions to my collection were A Smooth Jazz Holiday compiled by Nu Groove; Grover Washington, Jr.’s Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection, and A Soulful Christmas from Brian Culbertson. Tracks from those three albums, plus additional tracks from albums I already had, increase the duration of my iTunes playlist to 13 hours and 34 minutes!
This year, three new Christmas albums came out and I didn’t hesitate to pre-order either of them on Amazon.com. A pair of men named Kim released their albums in October. Kim Pensyl’s Early Snowfall was released on October 2 while Kim Waters’ My Gift to You came out two weeks later. Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band released A Big Phat Christmas WRAP THIS! on November 6. I added to the Christmas Music playlist three tracks from My Gift to You, eight from …WRAP THIS!, and nine tracks from Early Snowfall.
But that wasn’t all. About a year ago, my girlfriend gave me several Dave Koz albums, including A Smooth Jazz Christmas (Dave Koz & Friends) and December Makes Me Feel This Way. I didn’t take the time to listen to those albums until March. There were plenty of gems to be found, including a Hanukkah song (“Eight Candles”). Six songs from those albums were added to the playlist.
And just yesterday, I bought the instrumental tracks from David Benoit’s 2 In Love and Believe albums. I added “Guaraldi Medley” from Believe to the playlist.
Those 27 tracks, along with more material from the albums I already had, added another four hours and two minutes to the playlist; 17 hours and 36 minutes overall.
So far, the only person to hear my playlist this year is me. Since Thanksgiving, whenever I’ve gone for a run, or when I want to drown out music I don’t like in a store or restaurant, I listen to the playlist on either my iPod or iPhone. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I’ll share my playlist with family and friends, as I do every year.
Merry Christmas to all.
Fourplay at the Blue Note December 3, 2015
Posted by Mike C. in Christmas, Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Travel.add a comment
I was at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village on Thursday night to see contemporary jazz group Fourplay perform. It was the third of six nights at the legendary venue, which they called their Blue & Silver Holiday Celebration. Each night had an 8:00 show and a 10:30 show. I was there for the 8:00 show.
I left my house in Wantagh at 4:00, walking about 20 minutes to the Wantagh LIRR station. From there, I boarded the 4:27 train bound for Penn Station.
Once at Penn, immediately walked to the Subway station and took the A train, as in the Duke Ellington song, downtown to West 4th Street. I ascended the stairs at West 3rd and walked a quarter block to Blue Note.
I arrived at 5:40, waiting outside until the doors opened at 6:00. I took this picture while I waited:
After I was let in and I checked my coat, I chose a table facing center stage and sat at the closest seat to the stage.
After dinner and dessert, it was time for Fourplay.
The band is made up of Bob James on piano and keyboard:
Nathan East on bass and vocals:
Chuck Loeb on guitars and background vocals:
It’s Chuck’s birthday today. Happy Birthday, Chuck.
And Harvey Mason on drums:
Unfortunately, I couldn’t see Harvey from my seat, but I did get this shot of him when he stood up as he and the band introduced each other:
Fourplay is celebrating 25 years as a band, the silver anniversary. That’s why their latest album is entitled “Silver.” A few songs from the album were incorporated into the set list, as you’ll see below:
1. Angels We Have Heard On High
Originally heard on: “Snowbound,” 1999
2. December Dream
Originally heard on: “Esprit de Four,” 2012
3. Max-O-Man
Originally heard on: “Fourplay,” 1991
4. Chant
Originally heard on: “Between the Sheets,” 1993
5. Quicksilver
Originally heard on: “Silver,” 2015
6. Horace
Originally heard on: “Silver,” 2015
7. Silverado
Originally heard on: “Silver,” 2015
8. Silver Streak
Originally heard on: “Silver,” 2015″
9. Bali Run
Originally heard on: “Fourplay,” 1991
10 (Encore). Between the Sheets (The Isley Brothers cover)
Originally heard on: “Between the Sheets,” 1993
The rest of this recap contains various shots of each band member. We start with Bob James:
Nathan East:
Chuck Loeb:
Harvey Mason:
Nate and Chuck:
Shots from the encore: “Between the Sheets”:
Nate thanked the audience:
And the last note was played:
I had a blast at this show. I was into every note of every song. Thank you to Bob James, Nathan East, Chuck Loeb, and Harvey Mason for a fantastic night of music. And thank you to Ken Freeman for his masterful mixing. The audio levels were just right – not too loud, not too soft – and each instrument was in tune.
Happy Silver Anniversary to all!
I’ll leave you with a few pictures I took at West 4th Street Station while waiting for an uptown A train back to Penn Station:
Downtown A train:
Expanding my Christmas album collection December 11, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Christmas, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, Personal.add a comment
Christmas Night in 2010
For over 25 years, the holiday season is my favorite time of year. One reason for that is the music; sans vocals.
In my formative years, The Weather Channel would replace their regular Local Forecast (later, Local on the 8s) playlist for most of December with instrumental Christmas songs. Over the years, viewers heard excerpts from Christmas albums by David Benoit (Christmastime, Remembering Christmas), Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel (The Gift), Mannheim Steamroller (Christmas), Chet Atkins (East Tennessee Christmas), Vince Guaraldi (the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas), and compilations put together by Narada (The Narada Christmas Collection, … Volume 2) and GRP (A GRP Christmas Collection, GRP Christmas Collection II, …Collection III).
Between 2002 and 2009, I bought those albums and compiled them onto personal CDs to play at Christmas parties and at my house on Christmas Day. I even bought albums with music not played on The Weather Channel. Those include Russ Freeman (Holiday), Craig Chaquico (also Holiday), Kim Waters (Home for Christmas), Peter White (Songs of the Season, Peter White Christmas [with Rick Braun and Mindi Abair]), Ken Navarro (Christmas Cheer), Nelson Rangell (All I Hope for Christmas), Bob James and Hilary James (Christmas Eyes), Plan 9 (The 9 Days of Christmas), Fourplay (Snowbound), and Spyro Gyra (A Night Before Christmas).
Last year, I took a big digital step and made an iTunes playlist for my iPod, which took the place of the CDs at future parties and Christmas Days. Last week, I decided to take another big step and expand my Christmas album collection even further. I bought four Windham Hill albums (The Carols of Christmas, A Windham Hill Christmas, …Christmas II, …The Night Before Christmas), two Boney James albums (Boney’s Funky Christmas, Christmas Present), another GRP album (Making Spirits Bright: A Smooth Jazz Christmas), and one by John Boswell (Festival of the Heart). My favorite song so far on those albums is “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by saxophonist Richard Elliot. I’ve heard many arrangements of that tune, but never with the Jeff Lorber sound. Jeff arranged Richard’s rendition with Steven Dubin. (12/20 UPDATE: Inspired by Music Choice’s smooth jazz channel, I made one more purchase: Trippin ‘N’ Rhythm’s The Very Best of Christmas. My favorites thus far are U-Nam’s rendition of “This Christmas,” and Gregg Karukas’ cover of “The Christmas Song.”) (12/21 UPDATE: Further inspired by a post on Smooth Jazz Magazine’s Facebook page, I bought an MP3 album: the instrumental version of Peggy Duquesnel’s All I Ask for Christmas.) (12/21/14 UPDATE: This year’s additions to my collection were A Smooth Jazz Holiday compiled by Nu Groove; Grover Washington, Jr.’s Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection, and A Soulful Christmas from Brian Culbertson. Tracks from those three albums, plus additional tracks from albums I already had, increase the duration of my iTunes playlist to 13 hours and 34 minutes!)
‘Tis the season for great music, great joy, and gratefulness. With the purchase of eight additional albums (plus five since this was originally posted), I have more music to share with my friends and family every year.
MikeChimeri.com 
Audiobooking 2: Listen Up! November 12, 2015
Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Audiobooks, Basketball, Blu-ray, Christmas, Comedy, Commentary, DVD, Film, News, Personal, Politics, Sports, TV, Video.add a comment
Early last December, I listed all the audiobooks I had listened to while working out between June and the day I wrote the post. I said “there [would] be more audiobooks to come in the weeks ahead.” This follow-up post will list those books, all of which I listened to on Audible.
Since my misadventure with Dick Cavett’s left-leaning
bookcollection of New York Times blog posts, I’ve only listened to apolitical or right-leaning audiobooks.From last December to now, here is what has guided me through workouts, bedtime, and boredom:
allmost episodes of Wings on DVD for seven weeks. All By My Selves took up half of January. It was written back in 2010 and chronicles Jeff’s life from birth to meeting his now-wife Audrey, and all my favorite characters: Walter, Peanut, Achmed, Jose, and Bubba J. For the record, I’ve pre-ordered Unhinged in Hollywood on Blu-ray. It comes out next Tuesday, my 34th birthday.I have many more audiobooks I plan on listening to between now and the next post, whenever that will come. Just today, I started Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes’ book on Jack Kemp. It’s called Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America. After that, I’ll move on to the another Rush Revere book: Rush Revere and the Star-Spangled Banner. Then, a series of autobiographies should keep me occupied through the summer. Until next time…