FBN finally comes to Cablevision! November 19, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Personal, TV.add a comment
At long last, after two long years, the Fox Business Network is finally coming coming to Cablevision.
Talking Biz News writes (h/t Inside Cable News):
Fox Business Network is expected to announce Thursday morning that it has secured an agreement with Cablevision Systems Corp.
The deal will expand the business network’s distribution by nearly 3 million subscribers in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area.
Fox Business will be available to Cablevision subscribers on channel 106 thought the provider’s Optimum-branded communications system.
The last major expansion for the business news channel occurred in December 2008, when it struck a deal with Charter Communications to expand its presence in the Midwest and Northeast regions to nearly 200,000 homes.
It’s also in HD on channel 772, which I just put on as I write this post. I thought this day would never come, but here we are. It looks great so far.
11/26 UPDATE: FBN release (h/t The Imus Times):
Cablevision (CVC) and News Corp.’s (NWSA) FOX Business unveiled an agreement Thursday that will make the business news channel available to more than three million additional households in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The deal takes effect Thursday and lands FBN on Cablevision’s channel 106 and in HD on channel 772. Cablevision operates the largest U.S. cable cluster and is in more than 4.7 million households and 600,000 businesses in the New York metropolitan area.
FBN is now available in more than 50 million homes.
“We’re pleased to welcome Cablevision as our newest FOX Business affiliate and look forward to providing the essential and up-to-the-minute breaking business news to the greater New York area,” Tim Carry, FBN’s senior vice president of affiliate relations, said in a statement.
The new agreement will expand FBN’s reach into New York’s surrounding area, including Long Island, Westchester, Fairfield and Bergen counties.
“We are pleased to make FOX Business Network available to our iO TV digital cable customers in both standard definition and HD,” John Trierweiler, Cablevision’s senior vice president of product management, said in a statement.
The announcement comes just over a month after FBN, which launched in October 2007, began simulcasting radio personality Don Imus on the channel.
Thursday Night Jazz fill-in aircheck October 30, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Jazz, Media, Personal, Radio.add a comment
Last night, I filled in for Martin Phillips on “Thursday Night Jazz” on 88.1 FM WCWP.
Here is the aircheck of the show.
And here are pictures of me that I took with the 10-second self-timer on my camera:
Thursday Night Jazz this week! October 25, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Personal, Radio.add a comment
This Thursday, October 29, on 88.1 FM WCWP, I’ll be filling in for Martin Phillips on “Thursday Night Jazz.” The show airs live from 10PM to 1AM ET. I worked on my playlist last night and made a few edits to it today. It should be a fun show with songs spanning 50 years; from 1959 to 2009.
See you Thursday.
11/1 UPDATE: You can hear the show’s aircheck in this post.
2009 Alumni Show one week away! September 26, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Personal, Radio.add a comment
One week from now, I’ll be hosting my yearly alumni weekend radio show on WCWP. In addition to the info I provided three weeks ago, I’ll be live from the WCWP Homecoming Dinner. It will be my first solo remote broadcast.
Here is a promo I cut for the show.
10/3, 9:23 AM UPDATE: Alumni weekend is being simulcast on myWCWP. Click on either the Windows Media Player or Quicktime logos to listen to the stream and see the webcam, which is on throughout the weekend.
2009 Alumni Show! September 3, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Personal, Radio.add a comment
I’ll be back on WCWP during the upcoming alumni weekend. You can hear me Saturday, October 3 – Homecoming Day – from 7PM to 9PM Eastern. This will be my fourth alumni weekend show.
I’ve already made the playlist. There won’t be an interview this year, but we do have some great music lined up. That lineup includes recently released music from Spyro Gyra, the Rippingtons, guitarist Chuck Loeb, and flautist/morning radio personality Alexander Zonjic. Listen in October 3 to find out the rest.
10/3/09 UPDATE: Over alumni weekend, the station Alexander Zonjic worked for, WVMV-FM, flipped formats. As a result, I’ve removed the “morning radio personality” link.
HotForWords at Borders in NYC! August 20, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Internet, Media, Personal, Travel, TV.2 comments
Yesterday afternoon, I took the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) out to Manhattan for Marina Orlova’s book signing at Borders in The Shops at Columbus Circle. She was promoting her new book Hot for Words: Answers to All Your Burning Questions About Words and Their Meanings, which was released on Tuesday.
Leading up to the signing, she posted this video and appeared on the CBS Early Show and PIX 11 Morning News (WPIX-TV, a CW affiliate).
Once on W. 34th St. from Penn Station, I walked to 6th Ave. and turned left. I wanted to pass some major media buildings that were on that street. Among them were HBO, News Corporation (FOX, New York Post, etc.), and SNY (SportsNet York).
Across from SNY is Radio City Music Hall:
I then turned left at W. 49th St. and turned right on Broadway.
Before reaching Columbus Circle, I passed the CBS Store…
…and Ed Sullivan Theater, home to The Late Show with David Letterman:
Last night’s taping was in progress as I walked by.
At Columbus Circle:
Almost at Borders:
Inside Borders, shortly after 7PM, Marina made her grand entrance:
She was accompanied by her dog Gorby (as in Mikhail Gorbachev), a male miniature Maltese:
Gorby has been featured in many of her videos.
Before addressing the crowd, Carlos Sanchez of SneakGeekz presented Marina with a pair of sneakers:
After thanking everyone for coming, the floor was opened up to questions.
Gorby:
Next, the signing.
When it was my turn to have my book signed, I introduced myself as MCLIJazz from her website, where I’m a semi-regular commenter. She knew exactly who I was and that I was initially up in the air about going, but decided to go and made it.
We took two pictures together:
In this one, I laughed nervously as Gorby put his paw on my shoulder and sniffed my right ear (or he licked it):
After that, it was a whirlwind. Minutes later, a little after 8PM, I went down to the [extremely hot] subway station, which was mere steps from The Shops.
The last picture I took:
I boarded the [air conditioned] C train to [equally extremely hot] Penn Station. A few minutes after that, I was able to catch the [air conditioned] LIRR Babylon train and headed back to Wantagh. I was in Wantagh 50 minutes later.
I had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet Marina (and Gorby) in person.
Before heading back to Los Angeles, Marina wrote a talked about the signing on her website:
Hi guys!! The turnout at the book signing was AMAZING!!! I got some great footage, so I will be posting that as soon as I get back to LA and edit it! It was so great to meet you all! Thank you so much for coming out!
And I might even show up in that footage.
8/31 UPDATE: While at Borders, Marina was interviewed by Predicto TV:
9/28 UPDATE: Footage from this appearance was finally shown on Marina’s website today. It was part of a video promoting her appearance at Book Soup in Los Angeles on Thursday. I was only featured for two seconds saying “It’s-it’s great to be here.” That’s good enough for me.
John Tesh Tilles Center concert recap July 13, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Internet, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Travel.6 comments
Last Saturday, I attended John Tesh: Music & Intelligence for Your Life, Live in Concert, at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at C.W. Post.
I left for the campus at 5:00, walking to the N73 (MTA Long Island Bus) bus stop bound for Hicksville. That bus arrived at the stop around 5:15 and at LIRR Hicksville Station 25 minutes later. I passed part of the time at the adjacent Dunkin’ Donuts. Then, it was off to N20 bus stop and on to C.W. Post.
I shot this picture of the Tilles Center north entrance and Atrium exterior as I arrived:
The concert was hosted by KJOY 98.3 (WKJY-FM) and sister station Love 96.1 (WLVG-FM), both of which air “The John Tesh Radio Show.”
As of today, both station’s websites still have a video from John promoting the concert.
The KJOY version:
The Love 96.1 version:
The south entrance, adjacent to the Abrams Communication Building home of WCWP 88.1 FM and myWCWP.
The KJOY van:
The view from my seat before the concert:
KJOY’s Bill Edwards, whose weekday radio show precedes John’s, welcomed us:
Next to welcome us, and by extension warm us up, was Gib Gerard, the Tesh.com web producer:
Gib also operated the graphics emanating from the monitor during the concert.
Gib and Betsy Chase, the Vice President of Programming and Executive Producer for the radio show, look for potential bidders for the robe John wore Friday night at the Garden City Hotel:
The winning bid was $450. The money will go to feed a child through World Vision.
The winning bidder later gave the robe back so it could be bid on again.
Betsy also does the “Did You Know?” tidbits for the radio show, as she demonstrated by saying “Did you know John Tesh is from Long Island and his birthday was Thursday?”
The audience erupted in cheers:
I think that’s a yes. 🙂 (I never put emoticons in my blog posts, but it was necessary here.)
Then, it was time to begin. I apologize for some of the washed out pictures.
John’s grand entrance:
SET 1
1. Barcelona
2. Garden City
Only John and Tim Landers, the music director and bass player, performed on this one:
3. Bastille Day
This began with a bass solo by Tim:
Chelsea Ward on vocals:
Gannin Arnold on guitar:
For the next song, John shared the story of the first time he met Breeze Lee, his daughter Prima’s hip-hop ballet instructor. Then, he invited Breeze on stage:
And Breeze was interpreting the beginning of…
4. Trading My Sorrows
John can sing, too:
Everybody had a hand on vocals throughout the show, except for Breeze and drummer Dave Hooper (he might have, but I couldn’t see him from my seat).
5. Draw Me Close
John tells the audience how the song “Roundball Rock,” NBC Sports’ NBA theme, came to be:
6. Roundball Rock
He stopped midway through and brought out an NBA regulation size basketball, signed by him and the band, for an audience member to dribble to the “Roundball Rock” beat:
A girl named Shannyn came on stage and hilarity ensued.
I won’t give details, but one of her responses to a question by John led him to say, “In the 20 years I’ve been doing that, that’s the best answer we’ve ever had!”
High five!
“How ’bout a hand for Shannyn?”
INTERMISSION
Gib dressed casual for the second set to illustrate how casual this set is:
SET 2
7. Open The Eyes of My Heart
8. Give Me Forever (I Do)
John wrote this with James Ingram and performed it at his wedding to Connie Sellecca.
9. I Can Only Imagine
10. The Breeze Lee Challenge
This is where John and the band individually challenge Breeze Lee with their instrumentation; or in Chelsea’s case, vocalization. In turn, Breeze challenges the band by interpreting what they play. It is left up to the audience to decide who whether the band member wins or Breeze wins.
We start with drummer Dave Hooper…
Next, Tim Landers…
Followed by Gannin Arnold…
Chelsea Ward…
After a few lines of “At Last,” she threw Breeze a kiss:
And then, it was John’s turn:
The big finish:
The audience erupted in wild cheers and applause.
Wow! I, Mike Chimeri, think it’s safe to say Breeze Lee was your big winner!
He gave a thank you wave to the audience:
After John recalled how he, Connie, and Prima got involved in volunteering, and recommend it to the audience, it was on to…
11. Rescue
I, too, recommend volunteering.
12 (Finale). Spanish Steps
Gannin had an extended guitar solo:
Breeze Lee returned…
…to interpret wild keyboard and organ solos by John:
Throwing in the modulation wheel:
Switching to the organ:
Doubling up on organ and keyboard:
And back to keyboard:
Dave Hooper soloed on drums:
Then, the final measure of the night:
The concert was quite an experience. Not only did I hear great music and singing, but I learned a thing or two along the way. Thank you very much to everyone involved, and thank you to Betsy Chase for helping me remember what I forgot or didn’t know. Appropriately enough, now I know, and you all know, too. Thanks for reading.
7/14, 1:25 AM UPDATE: My recap has been linked to on John’s concert calendar page and concert homepage.
John Tesh at Tilles Center tomorrow! July 10, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment
John Tesh will be performing at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts tomorrow night at 7:30. It will be the first time I’ve ever seen John live in concert and my first trip to the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in three months. I was there for Long Island Radio & TV Day, which, coincidentally, was held at Tilles, but in the Lobby, Atrium, and Patrons Lounge.
I don’t think this will be anything like the jazz or rock concerts, cruises, or small gigs I’ve been to. I hope I like it. I’ll have a recap up within a week.
7/12, 12:15 AM UPDATE: The concert was pretty good.
7/13 UPDATE: Here’s the recap.
IMAC closing…for now? July 3, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Music, Theatre.add a comment
An exterior shot of IMAC that I took in July 2006 following a David Benoit concert.
I’m late in posting this, but here goes. The IMAC (Inter-Media Art Center) is leaving its location of 26 years in Huntington, New York. IMAC’s future is unknown, but as a semi-regular there for four years, I hope very much that it is reborn at another address. We’ll see.
IMAC executive director Michael Rothbard released this statement:
IMAC leaves the Huntington Theater
First, Kathie, our staff, Cleo and I want to thank the many patrons who have enjoyed so many of their favorite artists at the IMAC Theater over the years.
An old, decaying building with too many flaws to continue to manage, exponentially raising costs and declining support have brought us to the conclusion that it is time to move out of the building that have been renting for 26 years and pursue a new mission.
IMAC has been a pioneering organization since its inception 36 years ago when we became one of the 13 original Media Art Centers. Our mission was to establish a professional video production facility to serve Artists, non-profit organizations and independent producers from Long Island in an attempt to facilitate a whole new range of television productions that never existed before.
In 1983, IMAC was the first on Long Island to turn an abandoned theater into a non-profit performing arts center whose mission was to present a wide range of music not normally found on Long Island. In the last few years, a number of townships have revitalized their abandoned theater “eye-sores” into successful venues and a number of universities are regularly presenting programming echoing the IMAC model. Now the music and artists that we first brought to Long Island can be found at many of the new venues and we feel we are not pioneering any longer.
IMAC has decided to broaden its mission and return to its pioneering roots in a number of ways. One of our new directions will involve using electronic media to better connect audiences with venues in ways that will help increase revenues to venues and connect patrons to venues in new and easy ways. Additionally, IMAC will be available for a wide variety of arts consulting projects.
Huntington has been revered as a cultural Mecca for well over two hundred years. It’s obvious that a world class town like Huntington, being the “Little Apple”, needs a world class theater. Toward that end IMAC and the Huntington Town Supervisor, Frank Petrone will explore the possibilities of bringing back a state of the art performing arts center to Huntington.
Please stay in touch. Visit our site from time to time to see what’s going on and feel free to email us at info@imactheater.org.
Musically yours,
Michael, Kathie, Cleo and the staff
Further reading:
Newsday: Influential music hall closes in Huntington
Newsday op-ed: IMAC’s closing marks the end of the mom-and-pop music hall era
Newsday column: What’s next for Inter-Media Art Center’s founders?
Long Island Press: Exit Stage Left
Times Beacon Record: Curtain down on a quarter century
MikeChimeri.com 
Bold & Fresh Tour at Westbury! January 22, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Commentary, Media, News, Personal, Radio, TV.3 comments
Tomorrow night, Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck’s Bold & Fresh Tour kicks off at the Capital One Theatre at Westbury. The show sold out only days after tickets went on sale. The same can be said for all other venues on the tour:
Actually, as I type, the early Pasadena show still has tickets available, but I doubt that will be true much longer.
The Norfolk show will be simulcast live in movie theaters across the United States. For more information, check the Bold Fresh Tour website.
On the website, the tour is billed this way:
I will be at the Westbury show tomorrow night. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen either O’Reilly or Beck in person. It should be great.
I’ll update this post after the show.
1/23, 10:55 PM UPDATE: The show was excellent.
The start of it was delayed about 15 minutes because some radical protesters wouldn’t allow cars into the parking lot. Traffic was held up during that time, resulting in a long stationary line of cars, including me and my dad, from the parking lot entrance to the Northern State Pkwy. exit ramps in both directions. After the delay, the parking lot was full and attendants made us park in a neighboring lot.
Just as we got to our seats inside, the show began. We were four rows from the stage and four seats from the aisle where Glenn and Bill walked to and from the stage.
Glenn came out first, dressed casually with a mic attached to his ear. He spoke for 20 minutes. After that, it was Bill’s turn. I knew he was 6’4″, but I had no idea how tall that looked up close until tonight. Bill was in a suit and tie and held a wireless mic.
Then, there was a 20-minute intermission, during which, I tried in vain to get to the concession stand because the lobby was packed.
Following the intermission, both Bill and Glenn sat in chairs and interviewed each other while the stage revolved.
There seemed to be more Glenn fans than Bill fans, but that’s okay.
I’m happy to report there weren’t any hecklers during the show.
1/25 UPDATE: Dave Marcus had his own recap yesterday in Newsday. Bill replied to the recap tonight on “The O’Reilly Factor” in the Talking Points Memo:
FOXNews.com Video
FOXNews.com Transcript
BillOReilly.com Summary
The tour website links here for info on the movie theater simulcast. It’s live this Saturday at 8PM Eastern with an encore replay next Tuesday at the same time. Three Long Island theaters will carry the simulcast live: Port Washington Cinemas, Farmingdale Multiplex, and Island 16: Cinema de Lux in Holtsville. Farmingdale Multiplex and Island 16 will also carry the encore along with Westbury Stadium 12.
1/26 UPDATE: The following viewer e-mails were read on “The Factor” tonight:
Bob DeFliese, Garden City, NY: “Bill, my wife and I attended the Bold Fresh tour show at Westbury and your talking points was spot on. Newsday distorted what happened. Neither you nor Beck made any political play for the Republican Party. You were fair, entertaining, and informative.”
Bridget O’Shea Burns, West Springfield, MA: “Bill, my husband and I drove down to see the Bold Fresh show. You and Beck have great on-stage chemistry and I was quite surprised how funny you guys were.”
Bill’s response: “Well, I appreciate the good review, Bridget. Glad it was worth the trip. By the way, the Bold Fresh show [in Norfolk, VA] is playing at nearly 500 movie theaters this coming Saturday night. Check the theaters out on the website BoldFreshTour.com. BoldFreshTour.com.”
Marissa Singer, Farmingville, NY: “O’Reilly, I know Beck teased you about wearing a suit during the show, but I thought you looked dashing.”
Bill’s response: (grinning): “Well, Beck is just jealous, Marissa. We all know that. Thanks for coming to see us.”
Thank you, Bill and Glenn, for such a great show. Thanks also to those that have checked out this post after I linked to it in the comment thread for this post at Olbermann Watch.
1/27 UPDATE: Thanks further to those that were referred from Johnny Dollar’s Place.
1/29 UPDATE: Tonight’s Talking Points Memo and At Your Beck & Call segment flashed back to last Saturday’s show at Westbury.
The Bold Fresh site has news regarding the Norfolk show tomorrow:
As a result, the movie simulcast site said this:
2/3 UPDATE: Excerpts from the simulcast Tampa show were shown Monday night on “The Factor”:
I’m hoping the simulcast is released on DVD or Blu-ray.
8/2 UPDATE: Bill and Glenn returned to Westbury on Saturday night. I was not there, but plenty of people were. It was another sold out event. Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer and Glynnis MacNicol were among the crowd and have their take on the show here and here.
The following e-mails were read tonight on “The O’Reilly Factor”:
Marilyn Fulton, Kings Park, NY: “O’Reilly, attended the Bold Fresh tour at the Westbury Theatre. Loved it. You and Beck are a great team.”
Bill’s response: “Well, I appreciate that, Marilyn.”
Gail Fischler, Bellmore, NY: “Saw the show at Westbury. You were hysterical, O’Reilly.”
Bill’s response: “In a humorous vein, right, Gail? I wasn’t literally hysterical, was I? I don’t think I was, but…never know what that word means.”
I’ll answer that: it was indeed a humorous vein. Bill was joking, of course.
1/22/11 UPDATE: The simulcast of last year’s Bold Fresh Tour event in Tampa is now available on DVD!