CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri on WCWP; WCWP 50th Anniversary Celebration October 22, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, News, Personal, Radio, TV.1 comment so far
3/27/13 UPDATE: Scroll down for pictures from the WCWP 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Other recaps: 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
Early this morning at 1:00, CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri aired on WCWP-FM. It’s part of the 50th anniversary of Homecoming Weekend which started last night at 7:00 and ends late tomorrow night.
I recorded my show a few weeks ago. And it’s a good thing I did because I’m coming off a cold and my voice isn’t quite at 100% yet. (I took my last of five antibiotics a half hour before writing this post.)
Below are the audio and video version of the aircheck recorded from the board a few weeks ago. The legal ID that played between hours of my show was recorded from the stream and added to the aircheck file. The video was recorded from my camcorder and mixed with the aircheck audio in Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10.0.
CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri – 10/22/11 Aircheck
And this is the complete playlist with written notes (click to view larger):
The “separate page” was a scan of the liner notes for “Anything’s Possible” and “One for Shorty.” I originally credited everyone on those tracks, but had to edit them out for time.
This evening, I’ll be at the Top of the Commons at C.W. Post for the WCWP 50th Anniversary Celebration. I hope to have pictures for a later post.
10/23 UPDATE: Rather than upload pictures to the blog, I’ve made my Facebook album of pics from last night public. Click here to see them.
3/27/13 UPDATE: With the 2013 WCWP Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony approaching, and with WordPress now letting users insert multiple pictures at once, I can now share pictures from the 50th Anniversary Celebration. The pictures include captions that I originally wrote for the Facebook album, which is now only for friends or friends of friends, and some new captions. Here is the photo recap:
My parents drove me up to the C.W. Post campus at about 6:20 (maybe 6:25) in the evening. I arrived on campus at 6:50, just as a barricade was put up in the Hillwood Commons/WCWP parking lot and points west. Apparently, there was a show at the Tilles Center. So, I was let out one lot to the east, walked down the stairs, and walked inside Hillwood. I took the elevator to the Top of the Commons (third floor) and in I went.
Pete Bellotti:
After Pete’s welcomed fellow alumni, he invited Bill Mozer to the podium.
Then it was Dan Cox’s turn:
Next, Dr. Paul Forestell, Post’s provost:
Art Beltrone:
Nick Parker and Christina Kay:
Nick was Christina’s guest for “The Throwdown”:
The 50th anniversary cake:
The raffle table:
Jay Mirabile was Christina’s second interview of the night. He made a crack about Alan Seltzer as I took this pic:
Pete told Dan that the WCWP Alumni Association had purchased for the station a new Panasonic 50″ LCD HDTV:
Another big announcement was the forming of the WCWP Hall of Fame. Bernie Bernard listed the first class of inductees…
…the founders of WCWP: Art Beltrone, Hank Neimark, Prof. Virgil Jackson Lee, and Dr. Herb Coston.
I was fortunate enough to be in Dr. Coston’s presence at the WCWP Alumni Dinner in 2007.
Bernie then invited Art Beltrone and Hank Neimark to say a few words.
Art went first:
A toast to everyone involved with WCWP from the beginning to today:
“Cheers for WCWP”:
Hank Neimark:
Raffle time. First up, the 50/50 raffle:
Scott Perschke announced the winner:
After that, two pairs of Islanders tickets, donated by John Mullen, and the winner of the silent auction for an iPad:
Craig Stern and Allie LaRue (née Roderick):
Christina’s last two “Throwdown” interviews were with Bernie Bernard…
…and Pete Bellotti:
Then, Christina turned things over to Jay Mirabile back at the station.
It was a great night. My one regret is I didn’t have more time to mingle and catch up with my fellow alumni.
Here’s to 50 more years!
Dharma All Stars recap 7 September 15, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Jazz, Music, Personal, TV.add a comment
Last night, I went to see John Favicchia‘s band, the Dharma All Stars, at The Brokerage, a comedy club in Bellmore, just a short trip from my house.
The players were the same as the last time I saw them 13 months ago. Chieli Minucci was on guitar:
Bill Harris on the tenor sax…
…and alto sax:
Nick Lazarev on bass:
Misha Tsiganov on the keyboard:
And John Fav on drums:
I was there for the first set. Here’s what was played:
1. Horizons
2. Coincidence
3. Sing a Song of Song (Kenny Garrett cover)
4. Bodybeat (Special EFX cover)
5. Kukuc
Bill switched to alto sax for “Bodybeat”:
Bill switched back to tenor on “Kukuc”:
The Dharma All Stars will return to the Brokerage on Wednesday, October 12, at 8PM.
Irene, Five Days in Freeport September 8, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, DVD, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, News, Personal, Photography, Radio, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.1 comment so far
After 26 years of barely missing hurricanes, or at least direct hits, Long Island’s luck ran out last weekend.
On a Friday afternoon, September 27, 1985, Hurricane Gloria, a fast-moving Category 2, made landfall near Long Beach. 25 years and 11 months later, it was Irene’s turn. Though Hurricane Irene was barely a Category 1 when it made landfall on Coney Island last Sunday morning (immediately weakening to a tropical storm), it wasn’t moving as fast as Gloria and it came during high tide rather than low tide. The south shore of Long Island got pounded. Over 500,000 Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) customers, including myself, were without power at the height of the storm. Either giant limbs or uprooted trees fell on power lines or transformers caught fire. I lost power at 1:30 AM Sunday because of the latter. (Also, the sub-station in Plainedge that we were linked to was badly damaged.)
I prepared my bedroom for the worst by covering up some belongings, including CDs, and putting them on the floor:
I spent Saturday night and much of Sunday in the basement and on the main floor, only going to the top floor in the afternoon to take a [cold!] shower. While preparing my room on Saturday, I found a lucky rabbit’s foot. I kept it close by or in my shorts pocket.
I don’t know if the rabbit’s foot was the cause, but our house was spared. The only damage for us was smaller branches and twigs, and leaves falling around the house. I took these pictures Monday morning in the front and back yards under a partly-to-mostly sunny sky:
I put everything I had put on the floor back where they were before on Sunday night. This picture was also taken Monday morning:
More pics from Monday near my house:
I stayed home without power until Monday afternoon when a family friend in Freeport was nice enough to let me stay with them until power was restored at my house. Villages like Freeport that have their own utilities didn’t lose power for long. If only that were the case for LIPA customers. Some didn’t get it back until early this week. I got it back 3:30 PM Friday. The family friend was without FiOS (for reasons I won’t get into), so I was stuck with radio, wireless internet (on my laptop), and mobile web (on my cell phone). I also passed the time by going for walks, listening to music on my iPod, and playing video games. I hadn’t played Game Boy or Game Boy Advance games in ages until last week. I brought my camera on one of those walks and stopped by my late grandparents’ old house and Cow Meadow Park (swatting mosquitoes along the way):
Before getting to the old house and Cow Meadow, I saw a sad sight walking up the block where the friend lives. Curbs on both sides of the street had flood-damaged carpeting, couches, and appliances waiting to be picked up. I used to live in southwest Freeport. So, I know what it’s like to get flooding from the bay in the bottom floor of the house. I got that during the aforementioned Gloria, and Nor’easters in December 1992 and March 1993. Within months of those last two storms, I had moved to a part of Wantagh that’s a few miles inland.
Back at the friend’s house, she had the complete run of I Love Lucy on DVD. I got into that show years ago when it was on Nick at Nite. My love for it was rekindled. I watched the latter seasons while the friend had them on.
The ride home late Friday afternoon was great. I knew I’d be returning home to electricity and cable, albeit with an empty refrigerator. Before leaving, I thanked the family friend for putting up with me for five days. I returned the favor this Tuesday when I stayed at her house while she was at work to be present for a Cablevision technician to install their services–iO, Optimum Online, Optimum Voice–in place of Verizon’s–phone, FiOS internet, FiOS TV.
Three footnotes:
1. As I type this post, Hurricane Katia is about to turn northeast and move away from the U.S. East Coast. Good.
2. There were plenty of columns and blog posts in Irene’s aftermath that downplayed the storm and/or reprimanding the media for overhyping it. Many media did overhype it, but damage is damage. Downed trees are nothing compared to massive flo0ding, whether from storm surge or rivers overflowing from nonstop rain. Residents of New Jersey, Eastern New York State, and Vermont are among those that got the latter. And the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee in the last few days have only added to the flooding.
3. I stumbled upon a blog post that offers the Washington, D.C. area perspective. It’s written by freelance writer Kristine Meldrum Denholm: How I’ve dodged the demise of the east coast, part II: Goodnight, Irene. There was minimal damage in her neighborhood and she never lost power. Kristine is not alone. My neighbors two houses to the west of me never lost power, neither did my piano teacher in Freeport.
4. Yet another link: Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean summed up Irene at her blog last Monday.
9/27 UPDATE: It’s hard to believe that tomorrow will mark one month since Irene made landfall here. And as I noted at the top, Hurricane Gloria whizzed (compared to the slower Irene) through Long Island 26 years ago today. Since I wrote this post a few weeks ago, a few more Atlantic tropical cyclones have formed and none have directly impacted the U.S. (Knock on wood.) In checking the August archives at the website Johnny Dollar’s Place, I found an interview John Gibson did with Janice Dean on his Fox News Radio show. It took place on August 29, the day after landfall:
12/30 UPDATE: Irene was the #1 tri-state area news story in WCBS 880’s countdown of the top 11 stories of 2011:
… But Sunday morning, August 28, we knew the caution was called for.
Irene swept ashore in Brigantine, battered New Jersey, then crossed Coney Island at 9 a.m. on a path for New England.
Throughout its path, Irene caused widespread destruction, left millions without power and killed 56 people.
“We are now into day three of no electricity for hundreds of thousands of Long Islanders,” reported WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs. …
Even with all that Irene turned out not to have been a hurricane when it hit our area.
Okay, fine, it wasn’t a hurricane. It was Tropical Storm Irene. It might as well have been a category 1 hurricane because it moved slow enough to cause the same amount of damage.
You can read and listen to the rest here.
Bolder & Fresher Tour at Westbury August 10, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Commentary, Internet, Media, News, Personal, Politics, Radio, TV.add a comment
Next Saturday, Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller will kick off the Bolder & Fresher Tour at the NYCB Theatre at Westbury. It’s the sequel to the Bold & Fresh Tour with Bill and Glenn Beck.
The Tour is billed this way on its website:
Bolder and fresher than ever before… Bill O’Reilly, godfather of “no spin” and in-your-face television, and Dennis Miller, the king of references and rants, are teaming up to take the country by storm! Your town may never be the same.
So far, three other shows have been booked after Westbury:
- 10/29: Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
- 11/25: Landmark Theatre, Richmond, VA
- 11/26: Borgata Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City, NJ
I will be in the audience next Saturday. I can’t wait.
8/21 UPDATE: Here’s my recap of the show.
Mindi Abair on Happily Divorced!; auto-tuning on Hot in Cleveland July 9, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Jazz, Media, Music, TV.add a comment
Last week, I began watching the new TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced. Wednesday night, the show’s fifth episode aired, “A Date with Destiny.” Mindi Abair appears in one scene as the saxophonist in Judi’s (Tichina Arnold) band and another scene as an extra. Check TV Land listings for a rerun of this episode. It happens about 19 minutes in.
HONORABLE MENTION
Happily Divorced was preceded by Hot in Cleveland. Wednesday’s episode, “Battle of the Bands,” featured the four main cast members–Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, Betty White–singing into an auto-tune wireless microphone. I find most voice alteration (pitch/speed modulation) funny, especially auto-tune. So, I got a kick of the auto-tuning in that episode.
11/27 UPDATE: Cablevision recently added the TV Land HD channel. So, I got to see “Battle of the Bands”–and many other episodes airing this weekend as part of a marathon–in HD for the first time.
FLASHBACK: Interviewed for Dave’s Gone By on New Year’s Eve 2006 June 6, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Comedy, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Politics, Radio, Theatre.add a comment
I was Googling my name just now and came across this page. It’s the website Dave’s Gone By, a weekly radio show hosted by Dave Lefkowitz. There I found an interview I did–in which I was the interviewee–for the Dave’s Gone By New Year’s Craptacular special on New Year’s Eve 2006. You can hear that interview here. It starts at the 8:11 mark.
I was returning the favor after interviewing Dave a handful of times for The Mike Chimeri Show, which was days from its last show. Here are all those interviews (with air dates in parentheses):
Dave Lefkowitz Interview, Part 1 (August 17, 2005)
Dave Lefkowitz Interview, Part 2 (August 17, 2005)
Dave Lefkowitz Interview II (November 23, 2005) (In this one, I accidentally refer to Dave by his show title at one point. I had to rush down to Rockville Centre after I recorded the interview and my mind was all over the place.)
Dave Lefkowitz Interview III (March 29, 2006) (This was the first of three interviews I recorded in one day. After Dave came Nick Colionne and Mindi Abair. For all my Mike Chimeri Show interviews, which I self-consciously haven’t listened to since I edited them, click here.)
Dave Lefkowitz Interview IV, Part 1 (December 22, 2006)
Dave Lefkowitz Interview IV, Part 2 (December 22, 2006) (This was the last interview I recorded for The Mike Chimeri Show.)
About four years later, I was the interviewee again during the Fan Phone Call segment of Alison Rosen’s UStream show, Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend. You can hear that here.
Rating Improv-A-Ganza games; the ratings May 25, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Commentary, Game Shows, Media, Personal, Radio, Theatre, TV.add a comment
I have been a fan of improv comedy since I discovered reruns of the British version of Whose Line is it Anyway? on Comedy Central 14 years ago. The American version with Drew Carey and much of the American performers from the British version brought the Whose Line franchise and improv to the stratosphere. My love for Whose Line carried over to Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show, which unfortunately didn’t last long. But I had the good fortune to conduct phone interviews with Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood while I was at WCWP. Here’s how those interviews went:
Brad Sherwood Interview (May 25, 2005)
Colin Mochrie Interview (September 14, 2005)
Brad Sherwood Interview II (November 10, 2006)
(More interviews can be heard here and here.)
Four years into Drew Carey’s run as host of The Price is Right, along came Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza on GSN. With a month and a half of the show under viewers’ belts, I’ve decided to choose my favorite, least favorite, and so-so games from the show:
(NOTE: Ratings are subject to change and vary by the episode in which the games are performed.)
FAVORITE
- Fairy Tale
- First Date
- Forward/Reverse
- Freeze Tag
- Kick It!
- Options
- Playbook
- Question This!
- Sentences
- Two-Headed [Expert]
LEAST FAVORITE
- Sound Effects – I’m a perfectionist. With the exception of Rich Fields and Steve Kamer, audiences members’ attempts at sound effects are tough to watch.
- Moving People/Bodies – This is also tough to watch.
- Mousetraps – All I can say is ouch! I feel for whatever two performers have to participate.
SO-SO
- Bob’s Call – When Bob Derkach hears a line that songs like a song, he’ll improvise a song and the two performers in the scene have to do the same.
- Compilation Album
- New Choice
- Song for a Lady
I’m hoping there will be more Improv-A-Ganza in the weeks, months, and perhaps years ahead. But unfortunately, it may not be around much longer, either, as it is suffering from low ratings. I got so caught up in watching each episode and savoring every moment, I didn’t consider looking up the ratings. Since the show’s competition includes cable news opinion shows, I’m not surprised. The ratings would probably be higher if DVRs were factored in. I’m one of those DVRers, if that is a word. I watch my Improv-A-Ganza recording later while watching Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor as it airs.
I convert each episode to my MiniDV camcorder then capture those episodes to my computer as AVI video files. The final step is normalizing audio and inserting fades or crossfades then rendering as MPG files and deleting the AVIs to save hard drive space. Unfortunately, the recordings are in SD (standard definition) because Cablevision hasn’t added GSN’s HD feed. Improv-A-Ganza airs in HD.
If Improv-A-Ganza is in its last days, then there is an upside: there will be more episodes of this show than the Green Screen Show.
5/25 UPDATE: Last night’s episode featured those so-so rated games Bob’s Call and Compilation Album. I liked them both. Moving Bodies was all right.
5/26 UPDATE: I have a theory about some of the Improv-A-Ganza ratings analysis. The show is not a traditional game show, yet it’s on GSN. Therefore, if its ratings can be negatively spun, perhaps that will hasten its cancellation. It’s similar to the Fox Business Network (FBN): highlight the channel’s low ratings and root for its demise.
I’m probably wrong. It is, after all, just a theory from a fan of Drew Carey’s improv franchise, from the American Whose Line to Improv-A-Ganza.
5/27 UPDATE: Look at this post on the MGM Grand Las Vegas Facebook page (h/t Improv-A-Ganza Facebook fan page):
Stand-up comic, producer, writer and host of “The Price is Right,” Drew Carey, will return to the Hollywood Theatre at MGM Grand with his Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza. Audience members may appear in an original, primetime GSN (Game Show Network) television series being shot during these special live performances!
Improv-A-Ganza is alive!
6/3 UPDATE: Or is it? Tonight’s show was the season finale. Let’s hope it wasn’t the series finale.
Not watching The Price is Right; but instead… May 19, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Game Shows, Media, Personal, Theatre, TV.add a comment
This season, The Price is Right went in a direction that I did not like: they decided to go with guest announcers that had little or no announcing experience. The guest announcer they felt was best was made permanent. The result is a stilted delivery with caricatured announcer emphasis. I don’t want to name the announcer because if I decide to watch regularly again, he may grow on me. In that case, I will update this post with the good news. Until then, I watch three shows with professional announcers:
- Jeopardy! with Johnny Gilbert
- Wheel of Fortune with a series of guest announcers trying to fill the late Charlie O’Donnell’s shoes; as I type, Jim Thornton is guest announcing for the third week in a row
- Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza with former TPiR announcer, the last pro, Rich Fields
In the case of Improv-A-Ganza, it appears Drew has finally found a successful successor to Whose Line is it Anyway? I love nearly every second of the show. The best game so far was Forward/Reverse on last Monday’s episode. Jonathan Mangum, part of the Improv-A-Ganza performer rotation, is a good announcer/sidekick to Wayne Brady on Let’s Make a Deal, a show I watched (despite not airing in HD) until I could no longer take poor decisions by contestants. Wayne has appeared as a special guest in select Improv-A-Ganza episodes.
With Wheel, it helps if there are as little dud letters called and as little Bankrupts and Lose-A-Turns spun as possible. A successful bonus round solve doesn’t hurt either.
Jeopardy! is at its best when the two rounds are completed without the annoying bip-bip-bip-bip indicating time has run out and clues will remain hidden.
Fan phone call! September 1, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Pets, Photography, Radio, Sports, Technology, Travel, TV.add a comment
Since March, I have been a semi-regular viewer of Alison Rosen’s weekly internet show, Alison Rosen is Your New Best Friend, on the website UStream. One of the segments on her show, which streams through a webcam on her laptop, is Fan Phone Call. Phone numbers e-mailed to her by fans are taken out of a pot at random. The lucky fan is then called. If there is no answer, Alison leaves a funny voicemail and picks another number. If there is an answer, she interviews the fan. I e-mailed my number in March but it was never picked. So, I e-mailed it again on August 1.
This Sunday, my number was finally picked. You can see the call here. Scroll ahead to 27:40. I also recorded my end of the conversation in Adobe Audition with my mic in hand. I later mixed Alison’s end and my end together. Here’s the end result.
As you listen or watch, keep the following in mind:
- I bear no malice toward WCWP or any of the management. I have nothing but fond memories and best wishes. I’ll have more on my Homecoming show in a later post. (9/25 UPDATE: The show is not happening, but I will be at Homecoming. 10/16 UPDATE: I’m not going, but should be on hand for WCWP’s 50th anniversary next year.)
- I didn’t notice that Alison and her friend Dustin Goot were referring to the former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater as they were pressing me on my departure from the station.
- I was speaking generally when I said I’ve stormed out of places in the past, later coming back and apologizing. It comes with having Asperger Syndrome. I may regret writing this publicly.
- As you’ve seen in a few concert recaps on this blog, I do take pictures of street signs, highway markers, and exit signs. I used to have Hagstrom’s New York City, Western Suffolk, and Eastern Suffolk atlases. Now, I only have a recent Nassau atlas. With sites like Mapquest and Google Maps with printable directions, there’s less of a need to rely on atlases.
- Despite the heat, I kept my word and went for a walk 20 minutes after the call.
MikeChimeri.com 
Bolder & Fresher Tour at Westbury recap August 21, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Audiobooks, Books, Comedy, Commentary, Media, News, Personal, Politics, Radio, TV, Weather.11 comments
(2/22/13 UPDATE: For those that found this post by search engine, this is a recap of the original Bolder-Fresher show at Westbury in August 2011. There will be another show there on June 1 of this year, but I won’t be attending that one.)
(12/6/14 UPDATE: On the other hand, I will be attending the Don’t Be a Pinhead Tour show at Westbury on May 2, 2015. The new name for the tour is the result of retooling.)
(Update at the bottom with viewer e-mails from audience members at 10/29 Mohegan Sun show, 11/2 Miller Time segment, my quick review of Killing Lincoln, and highlights from the 10/29 show.)
Last night, I returned to what is now the NYCB Theatre at Westbury for the debut of the Bolder & Fresher Tour starring Bill O’Reilly and Dennis Miller.
I went with my dad and we were joined later by family friend Joe Falco. Joe is a former FDNY firefighter who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center’s south tower on September 11, 2001. My college senior project was a documentary featuring his recollections and a return to Ground Zero where he retraced his steps.
The show was at 8:00, but since it was nearly sold out, Dad and I left the house at 6:45 to be safe. It took about fifteen minutes to arrive. Once in the theatre, we sat down for 50 minutes. Our seats were adjacent to the aisle where Bill and Dennis walked to and from the stage. A few minutes after 8:00, the lights dimmed, and Bill, via the public address system, introduced “the fresh part of the Bolder Fresher Tour, Miller!” My dad said he and Dennis made eye contact during his walk down to the stage.
Dennis’ material was toned down a bit. In TV ratings terms, he was TV-14-DL; no s- or f-words but suggestive dialogue. His 35-minute set touched on many topics, including:
Then, it was Bill’s turn. Among his topics were:
After a 15-minute intermission, Bill and Dennis returned for 35 minutes of Q&A. At this point, the two sat in stools while the stage rotated. It took Dennis a few minutes to notice that and then he acknowledged it to the audience. They each had stories to tell. Dennis talked about:
Bill talked about his upbringing, from Levittown to The O’Reilly Factor, and everything in between: working as a lifeguard for the Town of Babylon, going to St. Brigid’s, Chaminade High School, Marist (to which Dennis made a Marist/Roger Maris joke), working his way up in TV news.
It was a great show. Bill and Dennis both entered and exited to standing ovations. To be honest, I enjoyed this more than the Bold & Fresh Tour show last year.
If you’d like to see Bolder Fresher for yourself, check the tour’s website for upcoming dates and venues. You’ll be glad you went.
8/23 UPDATE: Three e-mails from audience members were read tonight on The O’Reilly Factor:
Keith Warhola, Mineola, NY: “Bill, you and Miller killed at Westbury. Loved the show.”
Bill’s response: “We didn’t actually kill anybody. It means that–[in] show biz–we were good.”
Gina Serra, Syosset, NY: “Bill, the Bolder-Fresher show was great! You were charming and Miller was a riot.”
Caryl Taylor, Briarcliff, NY: “Officer O’Reilly, we salute you and Dennis Miller. We were fully entertained by your observations and Miller’s stories.”
Bill’s response: “Well, thank you for all the nice mail, guys; got tons of letters. Clips from the show are now posted on BillOReilly.com for premium members. Next week, we’re gonna open ’em up to everybody. So you can see about 15 minutes of the Bolder Fresher show on BillOReilly.com. Info on upcoming shows in Connecticut; Richmond, Virginia; and Atlantic City available on BolderFresher.com. BolderFresher.com.”
In addition to those e-mails, a few clips were shown last night in the Reality Check segment. I compiled that and tonight’s e-mails into this video:
9/9 UPDATE: The latter half of August 24’s Miller Time segment was devoted to the Westbury show:
I would have posted this sooner, but Irene set me back and then I forgot.
11/1 UPDATE: Saturday night, the Bolder Fresher Tour came to Mohegan Sun. As the winds howled and snow mixed with rain here in southeast Nassau, I wondered if the show would even happen, but this tweet confirmed it did:
O’Reilly and Miller weren’t going to let a pesky snowstorm/Nor’easter stop them. I’m sure everyone got back home, or home away from home (i.e. hotel room), safely.
One viewer e-mail from an audience member was read tonight on The O’Reilly Factor:
Lynda Hanratty, Selden, NY: “Hey, Mr. O, we drove five hours to Connecticut in that snowstorm to see you and Miller. And it was worth the white knuckle ride! You two were hysterical! Was that your limo that passed us on the ride home?”
Bill’s response: “No limo for me, Lynda. I drove up there, just like you did, from Long Island. Glad you liked the Bolder Fresher show. Watch out, Richmond, Virginia; and Atlantic City. We’re comin’ to you Thanksgiving weekend. Details on BillOReilly.com.”
11/2 UPDATE: Tonight’s Miller Time only made a passing reference to Saturday’s show at Mohegan Sun. Here’s the video, anyway. And here’s another viewer e-mail:
Mark Underhill, East Aurora, NY: “Bill, my wife and I drove seven hours to see you and Miller in that snowstorm on Saturday. To make the trip go faster, we tried to buy the Killing Lincoln audio. It was sold out everywhere. So we bought the book and my wife read it to me. Excellent.”
Bill’s response: “Your wife’s a trooper, Mark, and I’m sending you the audio for your ordeal. Killing Lincoln is selling out everywhere, but we are printing them as fast as we can get ’em out to you. More than 900,000 copies of ‘Killing Lincoln’ in print right now. Thank you all.”
I pre-ordered the audio of Killing Lincoln before it came out and began listening to it September 28, the day after it was released. It got me through my daily walks and I finished it in two weeks. It reads (or is read by Bill) like a thriller. I vividly remember where I was walking while listening to key passages.
11/3 UPDATE: Highlights from Saturday can be seen on the BillOReilly.com video page. Look for “Bolder & Fresher Tour at Mohegan Sun” and click to play.
For the third night in a row, a viewer e-mail from an audience member was read:
Kathleen O’Gorman, Meriden, CT: “Mr. O, we lost power in the storm and it’s been rough. You and Miller were the only bright spots as we caught the Bolder Fresher show.”
Bill’s response: “[I] appreciate that, Kathleen. The power situation in the Northeast is gettin’ desperate. A clip from the Bolder Fresher show on Saturday [is] posted on BillOReilly.com. And Miller and I will see everybody in Richmond, Virginia; and Atlantic City at the end of November.”
11/4 UPDATE: Another day, another update. Psychotherapist Dr. Karen Ruskin was in the audience Saturday night and tweeted Dennis this afternoon:
An audience member viewer e-mail all the way from Montana!:
Margot Belden, Missoula, MT: “Bill, I came from Montana to see you and Miller in Connecticut! It was worth the ordeal. You were so funny, I had tears in my eyes.”
Bill’s response: “I hope from laughing with me, Margot, and not at me. Signed copy of Killing Lincoln coming your way for that big trip. …” That was followed by another reminder about the Richmond and Atlantic City shows in a few weeks.