Instrumental Invasion, 4/27/22 April 28, 2022
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The April 27 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on March 8 (two segments) and 9 (four segments). A pickup was recorded on the 11th.
The playlist was created on March 5 and annotated on the 7th. The talk break script was drafted on the 8th, but I recorded the first segment after scripting its talk breaks.
The second and third talk breaks of the first segment were speed compressed, one more talk break than last February 3. I didn’t want to withhold anymore tidbits that I removed and wasn’t up to rerecording the breaks faster. I moved some of those tidbits to the first talk break of the second segment. The third and fourth segments had the opposite problem, which meant padding with extra liners and not having songs start underneath the talk-up.
The adamantium claws reference (with sound effect) after “Get Out Claws” by Oli SIlk was a nod to Wolverine from the X-Men.
This is the last show with the “no relation to” running gag. I employed it in some upcoming shows, but edited out all instances.
Here’s the Bob James Trio performance of “Feel Like Making Love/Night Crawler” that was extracted for use in Feel Like Making LIVE!:
If you want to see Scott Wilkie‘s “live” band perform “Fruit Sandwich,” you’ll have to buy the DVD.
As for last night’s show, click to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 3/2/22: Show 100! March 3, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Basketball, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Rock, Sports, Video.add a comment

The March 2 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the 100th Wednesday night show! It was recorded on January 10 (four segments) and 11 (two segments). A pickup was recorded on the 12th.
The playlist was created on January 8, annotated on the 9th, and the script was drafted on the 10th before recording.
With the LIU Sharks men’s basketball team in the NEC (Northeast Conference) tournament, I had to prepare for the possibility of the show getting bumped back a week. Not only would that mean realignment of the six shows that followed, but I had to redub any references to March 2 in the 100th show. Here’s a compilation of those dubs:
My worries were for nothing and those dubs went unused. Yes, the Sharks’ quarterfinal against Sacred Heart University was at 7:00, but I was told the show would be joined in progress after coverage concluded. However, listening to the stream around 7:30 and 8:00, I noticed The Rock Show was running as scheduled. Apparently, the game – which the Sharks won – wasn’t going to be streamed. The 100th Instrumental Invasion aired in its entirety, as you’ll hear (scoped) below. (7:15 PM UPDATE: The game was not broadcast because of a telecommunications issue which should be resolved by Saturday for the semifinal game against Wagner College.) (3/6 UPDATE: They lost.)
The format for this milestone show – as I said on the air, I couldn’t have imagined this when I volunteered to record shows to fill airtime – is the same as the one last March 24. This was only the second show without a David Benoit song, but there was plenty of Jeff Lorber to go around.
Starting with this show, I don’t say “on 88.1 FM and WCWP.org” at the top of hour 2. The legal ID has run without fail every week but the first, so it’s unnecessarily redundant. It took me 99 shows to figure that out, including the shows where I said “on WCWP Brookville.”
Three songs were played for the second time as they were singles when making the playlist (first time in parentheses):
- “People Power” by Al DeGregoris (September 16, 2020 [show accidentally replayed the following week])
- “Lunchbox” by Marion Meadows (June 30, 2021)
- “March Forth” by Bill Heller (October 20, 2021)
I had the reverb shout for “People Power” in mind since hearing the song on SiriusXM’s Watercolors. I’d been meaning to play “Lunchbox” for a few weeks, but kept forgetting to include it. I learned “March Forth” would be the next single from Passage through Bill himself.
I was inspired to play the Jeff Lorber Fusion cover of “King Kong” after seeing Zappa, the Frank Zappa documentary mostly culled from his personal archives, on Hulu on Christmas Eve. I knew that Jean-Luc Ponty was part of The Mothers of Invention and post-Mothers ensembles, but I was surprised how many others were associated with Zappa, including one other performer on the JLF cover: Vinnie Colaiuta. Still another Zappa alumnus to play on the cover was Ed Mann.
I mentioned after “Sooki Sooki” by Gerald Albright that I saw his daughter Selina, who sang background vocals, at the Tilles Center in December 2017 as part of Dave Koz‘s 20th Anniversary Christmas Tour. Here’s a recap. Tilles is a short walk from WCWP’s Abrams Communications Building.
The last talk break was a pain to record because there was too much to say and too little time. It’s just as well since Hudson‘s cover of “Wait Until Tomorrow” started slowly fading out in its last minute. Plus, I didn’t get any sleep the night before, an occasional nuisance.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
As you’ll hear, I included promos for WCWP-FM 57th anniversary programming to air before my show on March 16.
Instrumental Invasion, 1/26/22 January 27, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Politics, Radio, TV.add a comment

The January 26 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from December 7 to 9, 2021. The first segment was recorded at home on the 7th, four segments at the remote location on the 8th, and the last segment and pickups back at home on the 9th. More pickups were recorded at the remote location on the 14th as I shortened four segments. Starting next week, all segments will be 18 minutes long, bringing me full circle as that was the standard duration for the first seven months of Instrumental Invasion. (Going forward, I will not specify where segments are recorded; only when.)
The playlist was created on December 5 with annotations on the 6th. The talk break script was drafted on the 6th and 7th.
The stream cut out seven minutes into the show. Audio returned 39 minutes later, but uncompressed and initially fluctuating between channels. I will reuse the songs that didn’t air in future shows.
I played “Sundance” by Boney James because it was on the smooth jazz radio charts at the time of recording. I also wanted to work in the line “without Butch” in reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You won’t hear that on Watercolors!
I didn’t realize “Legacy” by Kenny G – a “duet” with Stan Getz – was new to the charts. I chose it as the first of six tracks to play from New Standards because it was featured in Kenny’s episode of the HBO documentary series Music Box that aired on December 2, the day before the album’s release. Plus, I got to call back to the Return to Forever song at the top of the show (“Medieval Overture“) since Stan Getz collaborated with Chick Corea during the RTF era. Fun fact: Chick’s compositions “Captain Marvel” and “500 Miles High” were recorded with Stan before RTF, but Light as a Feather came out first.
And yes, it’s true. I once let slip my political views on air, as noted after Jeff Lorber‘s “Anthem for a New America.” These days, the less I know about politics and current events, the better, and I don’t want to clash with people. I want to be everyone’s friend, regardless of politics. Incidentally, this was the second week in a row where I played a song from Jeff’s He Had a Hat album.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
The dead air portion was filled with segment file audio. The audio afterward was hard limited with the fluctuating portion converted to mono.
Instrumental Invasion, 10/13/21 October 14, 2021
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The October 13 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was another 3-2-1 recording. The first hour was recorded on August 26, two second hour segments on the 27th, and the last on the 28th. Pickups were recorded on August 28 and 29, and September 1.
The playlist was created on August 25 and annotated on the 26th. The script was drafted before recording the first hour and then before the first two of the second hour.
There were no references to Homecoming Weekend because it was unknown at the time if it would even happen. The release of the weekend’s schedule on September 1 allayed my fears. For the first time since 2014, I only have an overnight pre-recorded show. The theme will be music from musicians’ latest albums.
The Hall of Fame ceremony, which would have coincided with Homecoming Weekend, was moved back to its traditional month of April.
10/20 UPDATE: Here is my recap of the weekend, culminating in WCWP’s 60th anniversary broadcast.
Getting back to the 80th Instrumental Invasion, after playing “Ballad of the Whale” by Yellowjackets, I finally got to reference the scene in Star Trek IV that there was no time for back on June 2. I almost met William Shatner last Thursday at New York Comic Con and saw a livestream of George Takei‘s panel the day after I attended. You can read about my experience here.
Ironically, in a later segment, I had to cut an anecdote about my cousins in the Pacific Northwest – I’ve only seen them when they visit the East Coast – and an assumption about The Rippingtons‘ Built to Last album that entries on Wikipedia and Discogs disproved.
“Sunset Passion Juice” by Special EFX had been a single for a while leading up to recording, but the mellow sound made me reluctant to play it…until this show.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
For the second week in a row, the aircheck includes my show promo.
Instrumental Invasion, 9/1/21 September 2, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video, Video Games.add a comment

The September 1 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded an hour per day on July 22 and 23 amid construction next door.
The playlist was created on July 21 and annotated on the morning of the 22nd. The script was drafted before each recording session. That means the first hour was drafted on the afternoon of the 22nd and the second on the morning of the 23rd.
As usual, some segments ran long, requiring fast delivery or removing sentences, while others ran short, requiring padding, swapping out short liners for longer ones, and extra info. For example, I wasn’t planning on listing all the Hubert Laws albums Chick Corea played on.
I referenced the 1989 film The Wizard while back-selling “The Wizard” by Joyce Cooling. It’s a film I had heard about, but didn’t see until last September on HBO Max. It surely made moviegoers want a Nintendo Entertainment System, Power Glove (Lucas Barton loves it!), and Super Mario Bros. 3, key to the film’s climax. SMB3 was released in North America two months after The Wizard released.
The Power Glove was mentioned in The Gaming Historian‘s video on the U-Force, which creator Norman Caruso posted eight hours before airtime. Watch:
As for my show, click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
The stream audio was fine this week, clear as a bell in both channels, but there was a glitch toward the end of the first segment of hour 2. The stream (or automation) froze for about three minutes, resumed, froze again for several more seconds, resumed again, then jumped ahead to the next segment. For the part that didn’t air, I copied from my segment files and applied a multiband compressor filter.
9/3 UPDATE: Ken Navarro hosted a listening party tonight on Facebook for I Will Still Be Here, and I learned I’ve been mispronouncing the last name of trumpeter Tyler Mire. It’s “meer,” as in meerkat. It doesn’t rhyme with fire. Last week’s show and next week’s show, which I submitted yesterday morning, also have that mispronunciation.
Instrumental Invasion, 8/25/21 August 26, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Blu-ray, Comedy, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Weather.add a comment

The August 25 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was again recorded two segments per day, from July 15 to 17.
The playlist was created and annotated on the 15th and, again, the script was drafted as I recorded.
A few segments ran long, which required me to cut out information, such as what I hoped to share about The Goonies, which I watched on Blu-ray back in February.
The rest of the segments were barely short, requiring minimal padding.
I continued my tradition of playing songs that were excerpted for local forecasts/Local on the 8s on The Weather Channel. That included “Mirage” by The Rippingtons, “One Thousand & One Nights” by Shahin & Sepehr, “Go Wes Young Man” by Chris Camozzi, and “Happy Feet” by Steve Oliver. I first heard “The Way to You” by Nelson Rangell on CD 101.9. The point where I ended my talk-up is where the radio edit began.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
For the second week in a row, the left channel audio was barely audible. That means this aircheck is once again mono from the right channel.
Instrumental Invasion, 8/11/21 August 12, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sci-Fi, Technology, Video.add a comment

The August 11 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days. The first hour was completed on July 1 with two second hour segments recorded on the 2nd and the last on the 3rd. Pickups were recorded on the 3rd and 4th (in the morning, before intermittent fireworks began).
The playlist was created and annotated, and the script drafted, entirely on June 30.
Since I was eager to play the McCoy Tyner Big Band version of “Fly with the Wind,” I swapped out the 1984 and earlier segment for a second 1985 to ’95 segment.
Some segments ran short, others were a little too long. In the last talk break, I forgot to acknowledge Trevor Neumann in the horn section of “Wayman” by Steve Cole.
I had the talk-up for “I’ll Love You Later” by Jay Rowe in mind ever since he played a solo piano version last year during one of his Facebook Live streams. For the sake of example, here’s his stream from May 25 of this year:
There’s a reason I played “Godzilla” by Nelson Rangell. While I have never seen a Godzilla film, not even the latest, I appreciate the franchise. I owe my appreciation to James Rolfe‘s explanatory 2019 Cinemassacre video, “Godzilla for Beginners”:
His spoiler-free review of Godzilla vs. Kong on March 31 set me up for if I ever watch it:
One more thing: Last Friday, James posted a behind-the-scenes video regarding his recent Angry Video Game Nerd episodes. That included outtakes from Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown, the first episode of 2021. The outtakes inspired me to clip them and add “Floaters” from the YouTube audio library, which is heard at the end of Technology Connections videos, to play underneath. For fans of that channel, “Floaters” has become synonymous with “le bloops,” bloopers from a given video. It came out this way, complete with Technology Connections-inspired captions:
As for this week’s show, click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 7/28/21 July 29, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Comedy, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment

The July 28 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on June 17 (four segments) and 18 (two segments).
The playlist was created and annotated, and the script was drafted, on June 16.
Since the early days of the show, I’ve reached out to fellow WCWP alumni to record liners for it. The latest is Alexis Lindsey, known as Lexticy during her time at the station. Her liner debuted in this week’s show:
I recorded liners for her in the days of her show and I was glad to reach out to her for Instrumental Invasion.
It only took a week for me to play Rodney Franklin‘s addictive “Windy City,” which Lex’s liner led into.
Immature as it is, I can’t think of this show, the 69th overall, without an exclamation from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure coming to mind:
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 7/14/21 July 15, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sci-Fi, TV.add a comment

The July 14 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on June 3. It was the first show recorded in one day since January 6, which was recorded four weeks earlier on December 9.
The playlist was created and annotated, and the script was drafted, on June 2, one day before recording.
In all, I worked on three shows in 12 days, between May 23 and June 3, recording them in a 10-day span, between May 25 and June 3.
Pickups were recorded from June 9 to 11, and on the 26th.
A few segments in this show ran long, but I didn’t have to cut much out to compensate.
I made a timing error for the second straight show, this time in the second segment of hour 2. That meant I had to replace “Altair and Vega” by Bob James and Keiko Matsui with “Au Naturale” by Chieli Minucci and Special EFX. The script for the talk break coming out of that song had to be revised, along with the tease at the end of the previous segment.
I called “Vulcan Worlds” by Return to Forever a “fascinating” song because Spock (Star Trek) was half-Vulcan and fond of the phrase “fascinating.”
I came up with “Wummers of Summer” two summers ago when I heard Steve Oliver‘s “Wings of Spring” on SiriusXM’s Watercolors. I’m glad to finally say that publicly.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Audiobooking 7 March 26, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Animation, Audio, Audiobooks, Baseball, Books, Comedy, Commentary, Drama, Film, Football, Health, History, Internet, Media, Music, News, Personal, Politics, Radio, Rock, Sports, TV, Video, War, Wrestling.2 comments
Another year of audiobook listening is in the books. I’m still an Audible member and use each month’s credit on a new book, but throughout my membership, there will come a time where I pay $35.88 to buy three extra credits. I listened while exercising, running (or walking) errands, doing household tasks, and at bedtime.
I even listened to one book on YouTube rather than Audible. Find out which one as I list the audiobooks I listened to since last year’s Audiobooking post:
As I crafted this post, adding one book at a time, I had no idea how many books I had listened to: 34, plus three that I returned! That far exceeds the amount of books in earlier posts.
Until next year’s “Audiobooking” post, happy listening.