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
Spring 2009 pre-order update #2 May 6, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Audiobooks, Books, Comedy, Jazz, Media, Personal.add a comment
In recent weeks, I’ve had so many things to listen to, watch, and read, I feel pressured to review all of them. On top of that, I haven’t posted anything in two weeks. So, here is what I’ve been listening to, watching, and reading between April 23 and today:
- Joyce Cooling, “Global Cooling” (CD)
- Bernie Williams, “Moving Forward” (CD)
- Dennis Miller: The HBO Comedy Specials (DVD)
- Down to the Bone, “Future Boogie” (CD)
- Spyro Gyra, “Down The Wire” (CD)
- Suzy Welch, 10-10-10: 10 Minutes, 10 Months, 10 Years; A Life-Transforming Idea (hardcover book, CD)
I enjoyed all of the above and learned a few things in the process. What more could you ask for?
Long Island Radio & TV Day 2009 April 23, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Personal, Radio.9 comments
Last Saturday, I made the trek to C.W. Post for the annual Long Island Radio & TV Day at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, presented by the Long Island Wireless Historical Society and WCWP. From 10AM to 4PM, exhibits, performances, and events were held in the Tilles Lobby, Atrium, and Patrons Lounge.
I arrived shortly after 12PM and began snapping pictures.
I was greeted by Kip Rosser playing the theremin, the first electronic instrument.
The audience (at the moment I shot this) included Ted David and Maura “Bernie” Bernard. See if you can find them:
Kip between songs:
Here’s what else I found in the Lobby:
WGBB, my home from July 2004 to May 2005:
myWCWP, my home from October 2001 to May 2004, and May 2005 to January 2007:
Though I’m no longer with ‘GBB or WCWP, I’m an alumnus of both forever.
myWCWP’s Alana Leider gave a tour of the Abrams Communication Building every half hour. Meanwhile, at the table, here are Jordan Lauterbach, Jessica Burke, and alumnus John Zoni:
On to the Atrium…
When I was at WGBB, the station shared WNYG’s building. Here is the WNYG table:
And this is the Friends of WCWP and WCWP 88.1 FM table:
Bernie Bernard and Mike Schanzer (aka Mike Hendryx):
In the following picture:
Sitting L to R: Andrea Wiener, Anita Bonita, Keith Allen (WBZO-FM, B-103), Russ DiBello (aka Famous Amos), David Plotkin
Standing L to R: Brian Bannon, Mike Riccio
WCWP alumni: Jeff Kroll, John Zoni, Dan Cox:
John Zoni, Jeff Kroll, Dan Cox:
Mike Riccio, Bill Mozer, Bob Guthenberg (aka Bobby G):
John Zoni, Dan Cox, Bill Mozer:
Bernie Bernard and Kathy Cunningham worked together at WBAB-FM:
Dan Cox being interviewed by Jim Merritt of Newsday:
And to wrap up our look at Long Island Radio & TV 2009, me and Anita Bonita:
If you spot anyone you recognize in the pictures that I didn’t identify, let me know and I’ll edit their names in.
I had my chance to meet Don Tandler and fellow WGBB alum Mitch Lebe, and re-meet Jim Cutler, but there were gone before I could catch up to them. I’m sorry I missed you guys. Having said that, I had a great time. Thank you to Bill Mozer, Dan Cox, and all those that help put together this year’s Long Island Radio & TV Day.
5/3 UPDATE: Here is the Newsday article that Jim Merritt was working on. Thanks to Ted David for bringing this to my attention on the New York Radio Message Board.
5/7 UPDATE: The aforementioned Ted David wrote the following in a separate NYRMB thread entitled “LI Radio and TV Day a success”:
By all lights, Bill Mozer’s production was a smashing success.
If you missed it and missed this past Saturday’s Newsday, here is a shot of some of the folks who attended [picture in the post]:
Sal Giangrasso, Bill Diehl, Mitch Lebe, Bill Mozer and me.
Nice time was had by all. Come on out next time!
td
Sal, Bill D., Mitch, Bill M., and Ted were pictured in Studio 4 at WCWP, the very studio where I began my radio career on October 5, 2001.
10/6 UPDATE: I had to remove the NYRMB links and find a new Newsday link because the original links led (when I clicked on them today) to error messages.
Latest TPiR double showcase winner March 11, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Game Shows, Media, TV.add a comment
For third time in a month, and the fourth time in three months, a contestant on “The Price is Right” wins both showcases in the Showcase round. Today, the lucky contestant was Lorna Baker.
Lorna was the fourth of the first four contestants to come on down at the top of the show, and the fourth contestant to make it on stage, winning a Traeger Lil’ Pig grill in One Bid. Once on stage, she played Freeze Frame and won Wesley Allen bed with a Laura Ashley mattress.
In the Showcase Showdown, she spun 1.00 on the Big Wheel, winning $1,000, but nothing more in her bonus spin.
In the Showcase round, Lorna passed the first showcase to the runner-up, Catherine. The first showcase consisted of a Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding kit, a Segway scooter, and a Toyota Prius hybrid car. The second showcase contained Broyhill’s Affinity living room collection, Noritake dinnerware, a private chef from Big City Chefs, and a trip to Brussels, Belgium! (Sorry, I morphed into announcer Rich Fields for a second.)
Lorna’s bid for that second showcase was $17,250. The actual retail price…$17,333! With a difference of $83, $4 less than Zachary Newton’s difference two weeks ago, Lorna Baker won both showcases. In all, she won $56,150 in cash and prizes. What a day.
Video of today’s show can be found here. Skip to 16:55 to see One Bid and Freeze Frame, 28:34 for the Showcase Showdown, and 31:23 for the Showcase round.
Another Double Showcase Winner on TPiR! February 19, 2009
Posted by Mike C. in Game Shows, Media, TV.add a comment
Today on “The Price is Right,” Lindsey Marie Kowal won both showcases in the Showcase round! Lindsey Marie – a Cleveland, Ohio, transplant living in Las Vegas – came within $116 of the actual retail price of her showcase, which featured Jo Malone products, a bedroom set (with mattress), and a jet ski. (If a contestant is within $250 or less on their bid, they win both showcases.) She was the first Double Showcase winner since Terry Kneiss, another Vegas resident, won in December. Host Drew Carey exhibited much more enthusiasm than last time, which means there won’t be an uproar from fans on the internet. (I’d be surprised if there is.)
The second showcase was James Bond-themed with a watch, an assortment of “007” movies on blu-ray disc, a home theater system with blu-ray disc player and a 46″ plasma TV, and a trip to Monte Carlo.
In addition to the showcases, Lindsey Marie won snowboarding equipment in One Bid, the game played in contestants’ row.
Video of the full show can be found here. The Showcase round begins at 31:37.
2/24 UPDATE: Today, only three airdates later, “The Price is Right” had another Double Showcase winner! Zachary Newton, the top winner in the Showcase round, came within a mere $87 of the actual retail price of his showcase. The showcase featured a bedroom set (with mattress), snowboarding and skiing equipment, and a snowmobile.
Zachary passed the first showcase, which featured nine iPod Nanos, a monthly home spa party for a year, and a trip to Sweden.
His One Bid prize was a refrigerator/freezer.
Video of the full show can be found here. The Showcase round begins at 32:22.
Defending Drew Carey December 17, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Game Shows, Media, Radio, TV.add a comment
5/16/19 UPDATE: I wrote a long overdue follow up after watching Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much.
Yesterday on “The Price is Right” on CBS, a contestant named Terry Kneiss (“niece”) from Las Vegas made a perfect bid in the Showcase round and won both showcases. This was only the second time in the history of the show that a contestant bid perfectly. The other time was in the first season, 1972-1973.
For not being enthusiastic enough in announcing this milestone, host Drew Carey has been roundly criticized, especially on the internet. Other criticisms include: he bungled the situation, he can no longer be defended, he shouldn’t have been the host in the first place, bring back Bob Barker, etc.
I was going to link here to video of yesterday’s Showcase round, so you could just for yourself. But it wouldn’t load properly. Instead, click here for the full episode on CBS.com. Then, scroll ahead to 31:25 for the full round or 37:06 for the stoic reaction that’s infuriated so many people.
I am here to defend Drew. I believe he was simply in stunned disbelief and shock. Not everyone handles that situation by yelling and screaming. Drew has had the yelling, screaming reaction before, but he is far from perfect. If you want Drew to be wildly enthusiastic every time, you’re going to be disappointed. Clearly, many were disappointed by this. If you want to stop watching “The Price is Right” because Drew isn’t enthusiastic enough for your taste, it’s your choice. But there are plenty of people like me that support Drew and will continue to watch. I have been a Drew Carey fan since “The Drew Carey Show,” I became a bigger fan when he started the U.S. version of “Whose Line is it Anyway?,” and I’ve supported him on all projects since.
If you’re a fellow Drew Carey fan/supporter, you’re welcome to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you.
And congratulations to Terry. You wrote a second chapter for the history books.
12/18 UPDATE: TMZ – I can’t believe I’m linking to them – has audio of an interview with 93.1 The Party in Las Vegas.
And Paul Walsh of The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a report on Terry’s win and the “internet buzz” that followed it (and, of course, Drew Carey’s stoic reaction).
Cablevision adds CNBC HD, but not FBN. December 5, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Personal, Sports, TV.2 comments
On Tuesday, Cablevision added four more HD channels to their lineup. The key add among them was CNBC HD. This flies in the face of customers like me that have been lobbying for the Fox Business Network to be added. I’ve been as vocal as I can be since a week before FBN debuted in SD (standard definition) and HD (high definition) on October 15, 2007.
Originally, I was going to say more, but I decided to hold back.
The other channels added were also under the NBC Universal umbrella: Bravo HD, SCI FI HD, and USA HD. This means that next year, I’ll be able to watch early rounds of the tennis U.S. Open in HD.
From the press release linked above:
Bravo HD (iO TV channel 745) offers Bravo’s critically acclaimed arts and entertainment programming devoted to the food, fashion, design, beauty and pop culture genres including critically acclaimed series “Top Chef 5,” “Top Design 2,” Shear Genius 2,” “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style 2” and “The Real Housewives of New York City 2.” CNBC HD+ (channel 771) has become the essential service for the investor, providing all the elements of CNBC with greater levels of information equipping the viewer with more tools necessary to make investment decisions. SCI FI HD (channel 748 ) continues to fuel the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies, and classic science fiction and fantasy programming including “Sanctuary,” “Stargate Atlantis,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Ghost Hunters” and “Eureka.” USA HD (channel 738 ) is the #1-rated television network in all of basic cable for the past three years. USA offers hit original series and feature movies, sports and entertainment events, off-net television shows and blockbuster theatrical films. Hit original series include: Emmy-winning “Monk;” Friday night comedy “Psych; #1-rated cable show of summer, “Burn Notice;” the #1-rated new show of the summer “In Plain Sight;” and the Emmy-winning series “The Starter Wife.”
2/13/09 UPDATE: After getting a comment to this post, I noticed that the “8” and “)” became a sunglasses emoticon: 8)
I’ve added a space between the two characters to fix that problem.
11/19/09 UPDATE: FBN has finally come to Cablevision!
MikeChimeri.com 
