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!
Instrumental Invasion, 10/7/20 October 8, 2020
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Comedy, Country, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Technology, Video.add a comment
The October 7, 2020, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days. The first segment was recorded on September 3, the next three on the 4th, and the last two on the 5th. One talk break each in the first and last segments of the show were re-recorded on the 24th. The show intro was redone on the 26th. I originally said Herb Alpert was “the subject of a forthcoming documentary,” which was to premiere October 1, the day after the intended air date. Due to the September 23 programming error, the air date was moved back a week, so I redid the intro with the words “new documentary.” (And that documentary is fantastic!)
The playlist was created on September 3 and annotated on the 4th, hours before recording that first segment.
This show had the most scripted talk breaks to date.
The re-records were to acknowledge that I played songs by (or featuring) three different Browns, none of whom are related. There was Alison on banjo, Paul on acoustic and electric guitar, and Norman only on electric guitar.
I did mention in the initial recording sessions that The Champs’ song “Tequila” – covered by Larry Carlton – always makes me think of the Pee-wee Dance, which originated in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure:
I also mentioned that Anders Enger Jensen‘s cover of “Floaters” by Jimmy Fontanez and Media Right Productions was an homage to the Technology Connections YouTube channel, which he supports on Patreon. I, too, proudly support the channel, which puts out great content like this:
I like how, in the captions, creator Alec Watson identifies the song as a different adverb of “smooth jazz” in each episode. For the above episode, the caption read “glaringly smooth jazz.”
Thank you, Ryan Grabow, for getting me into the channel, which he recommended to me during his visit last October.
Click here to download this week’s aircheck MP3 or listen below:
12:45 PM UPDATE: I don’t know how I missed it, but I misspelled “ones” while referring to Paul Brown’s Ones Upon a Time album. I erroneously spelled it O-E-N-S, not O-N-E-S. The later line about “French Cafe” by David Benoit and Marc Antoine acting as the “second serving” of David is technically correct if you go by lead musicians. I forgot while recording the last two segments that David was also on “Samba del Luna” by Craig Chaquico and Russ Freeman in the show’s first segment that I recorded two days earlier.
Audiobooking 4 December 12, 2017
Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Audiobooks, Comedy, Country, Film, Game Shows, History, Internet, Media, Music, News, Personal, Politics, Radio, Technology, Theatre, TV.add a comment
Here is a list of all the audiobooks I’ve listened to in the 51 weeks since my previous “audiobooking” post:
- Rush Revere and the Presidency by Rush Limbaugh and Kathryn Adams Limbaugh (read by Rush)
- Life is Not a Stage: From Broadway Baby to a Lovely Lady and Beyond by Florence Henderson (1934-2016) with Joel Brokaw (read by Florence)
- I Am Spock (abridged) by Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)
- Jeannie Out of the Bottle by Barbara Eden with Wendy Leigh (read by Barbara)
- My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke (foreword written and read by Carl Reiner)
- Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds (1932-2016) and Dorian Hannaway (read by Debbie)
- Old School: Life in the Sane Lane by Bill O’Reilly and Bruce Feirstein (read by Holter Graham)
- All My Life: A Memoir by Susan Lucci with Laura Morton (read by Susan)
- Shirley Jones: A Memoir by Shirley Jones with Wendy Leigh (read by Shirley)
- I Only Know Who I Am When I Am Somebody Else: My Life on the Street, on the Stage, and in the Movies by Danny Aiello
- Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson
- Confessions of a Serial Songwriter by Shelly Peiken (Check out my review of Shelly’s book from last March and recap of her book discussion and signing from last September)
- Easy Street (the Hard Way): A Memoir by Ron Perlman with Michael Largo (read by Ron) – the penultimate chapter, “Legacy” was highly political, from the far-left, and kept me from listening to the rest, as I wrote in my Audible review
- Whisperin’ Bill Anderson: An Unprecedented Life in Country Music by Bill Anderson with Peter Cooper (chapters read by Bill, chapter intros read by Peter) – ends with new recordings of “Bright Lights and Country Music,” “Whiskey Lullaby,” “Po’ Folks,” “I’ll Wait for You,” “City Lights,” “Still,” “Give It Away,” “The Tip of My Fingers,” “A Lot of Things Different,” and “Which Bridge to Cross” – worth getting on CD if you want to rip the tracks for listening outside of the audiobook
- Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (read by Robert Petkoff, except for introduction read by Bill)
- Lessons from the Prairie: The Surprising Secrets to Happiness, Success, and (Sometimes Just) Survival I Learned on America’s Favorite Show by Melissa Francis
- Mean Dads for a Better America: The Generous Rewards of an Old-Fashioned Childhood by Tom Shillue
- The Road to Happiness is Always Under Construction by Linda Gray
These audiobooks got me through workouts, bedtime, long walks, and boredom.
In the case of Ron Perlman’s book, I found out after the “Legacy” chapter that Ron is politically active on social media. But I digress.
While I was obsessed with Game Show Network (now GSN) in the early 2000s, I saw plenty of Bill Anderson on Goodson-Todman game shows like Match Game and Password Plus. So, it was nice to be reacquainted with him and introduced to his music.
When you read a book, you don’t hear the tone and inflection that the author had in mind. Listening to Shelly Peiken read Confessions of a Serial Songwriter put what her words I read 16 months earlier into perspective.
Next year’s post will be #5, but will not mark five years of regularly listening to audiobooks. That milestone comes in a year and a half. In the meantime, I hope I’ve inspired you to give the above audiobooks a chance. Happy listening.
