Video from around the house: 1994 and 2011 November 11, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Personal, Photography, Video, Weather.add a comment
July 25, 1994, was the beginning of my videography life. When I used my camcorder regularly, between 1994 and 2004, I would occasionally shoot video around my house. This was usually reserved for special occasions like a deep blue sky (especially in the middle of summer), fall foliage, and during or after a snowstorm. The videos below represent the first and second examples.
November 11, 1994, was a day off for me. I was in eighth grade at the time. Like today–also November 11, Veterans Day–trash and recycling was not picked up. We didn’t realize that in ’94, as you’ll see in the first video, but I checked the pickup schedule earlier this week and knew not to bring stuff to the curb. I feel sorry for those that didn’t know. I saw many houses with uncollected trash and recycling on my walk this afternoon. But I digress.
Earlier this year, I captured my old home videos on VHS (dubs of VHS-C), VHS-C masters, and MiniDV masters. I felt nostalgic enough today to retrace my steps (minus the primitive camera work).
Here then is what I shot on November 11, 1994:
And here’s what I shot today, November 11, 2011:
Today’s video was originally shot in 1080p, but I mixed two MTS files down to one MPEG4 file in 720p.
Snowtober in Wantagh October 30, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Internet, News, Personal, Photography, Politics, TV, Weather.add a comment
What was billed as “Snowtober” was “Rain-and-snowtober” or “Wintry mix-tober” in Wantagh for much of yesterday and last night. Just to the north and west (within Nassau County), more wet snow fell. The precipitation changed to all wet snow after 11PM.
What fell at my house only stuck to the cars in the driveway and to parts of the grass. Any cold surface accumulated snow.
Since it was the first snow we had in seven months, I took out my camera and took a few pictures. The first three pics are from around noon:
The last two were taken at 11:30, nearly twelve hours later:
A bigger concern for me was the strong gusty winds. The National Weather Service issued a High Wind Warning for Nassau and Suffolk until 6:00 this morning. This was, after all, a Nor’easter. So between that and wet snow accumulating on tree limbs, I feared downed trees, limbs, and power lines. I simultaneously flashed back to the Nor’easter of March 2010 and Irene of nine weeks ago. But the worrying was for nothing. The winds died down early this morning and the power never went out. That’s not to say it didn’t go out elsewhere on Long Island, but it wasn’t on the scale of either storms I flashed back to. I wish I could say the same for people north and west of the Island (2/11/13 UPDATE: The page I linked to in the previous sentence no longer exists).
11/3 UPDATE: Somehow, a link was made between this storm and climate change last night on NBC Nightly News:
BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: Everybody out East said the same thing about this freak snowstorm, “This kind of thing didn’t used to happen. This never happened before.” And while that is true, it may also be true that we’ll all have to start getting used to this kind of thing over the long haul.
I didn’t hear that. What I heard is what is noted later in Noel Sheppard’s NewsBusters post:
Yet October snows in the northeast though infrequent do occur. As AccuWeather reported Monday:
The last time that Central Park recorded measurable snow was on Oct. 21, 1952 when 0.5 of an inch fell. Prior to that, 0.8 of an inch fell on Oct. 30, 1925. […]
A record snowfall of 6.0 inches was set at Bangor, Maine, on Sunday. This broke the old record of 5.0 inches set back in 1963.
The point being that it does snow in this region in October.
…
One can only imagine what kind of storms hit this region during the Little Ice Age of the 16th through 19th centuries. But since Williams and Thompson weren’t alive, and snowfall records began in 1869, weather events earlier than that seem unimportant.
This of course is common for climate alarmists, so we shouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised.
In their view, whatever is happening today couldn’t possibly have happened before records starting being kept, and therefore all weather events outside “the norm” are considered extreme and therefore proof of climate change.
You think those still without power in Connecticut, New Jersey, and other affected areas care about that? Of course not. They just want their power back.
12/30 UPDATE: This storm was the #2 tri-state area news story in WCBS 880’s countdown of the top 11 stories of 2011:
Nineteen inches of snow in October? Even WCBS 880’s cautious chief meteorologist Craig Allen couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“There’s no way you can play this down based upon these weather maps. Almost everything is in agreement,” Allen reported.
And these flakes were falling on full foliage. All it took was a couple of inches of snow to start bringing branches down.
Hundred-year-old trees snapped like twigs. Mother Nature’s mischief night was the Halloween snowstorm of 2011.
Three million people lost electricity. …
You can read and listen to the rest here.
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!
Matt Marshak with Oli Silk & Joey Sommerville recap October 2, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Travel, Weather.add a comment
Other Matt Marshak show recaps: 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015
I was at the Houndstooth Pub last night to see Matt Marshak with Oli Silk and Joey Sommerville perform. Thinking the show was at 7:00, I left for the Wantagh LIRR station at 5:00 for the 5:18 train to Penn Station. Before I left the house, it still felt warm and barely humid outside, but on the platform at the train station, it felt cool and dry. It’s a good thing I brought a jacket. I also brought an umbrella, which came in handy for the four-block walk to Houndstooth. For the second day in a row, small bands of rain developed and moved their way north-northwest. The tri-state area was on the northeast side of an upper-level low pressure system centered over Pennsylvania. That’s still the case as I type. When I got to Houndstooth at 6:25, I was informed that the show was at 8:00 rather than 7:00. So, I had to wait in the entrance for close to ten minutes until the lower level, where the show was, was opened up.
Once the doors opened, the seats at the tables and bar (where I sat) gradually filled up. There were few empty seats left by show time. After an introduction from Eulis Cathey of WBGO (whose show I put on for a few minutes while writing the early part of this post), it was time to begin.
Matt Marshak played guitar:
Oli Silk on the keyboard:
Joey Sommerville on trumpet:
Kenny Harris on bass:
And Carl “C-Man” Anderson on drums:
I was there for the first set before they took a break. Here’s what they played:
(NOTE: Joey came to the stage after song 2, did not play on song 7.)
1. On the Rocks
2. S.O.S.O.S.! (Oli Silk)
3. Swag (Joey Sommerville)
4. Teddy P – Kenny Harris, vocals
5. A Silent Knowing
6. Moonshadows (Joey Sommerville)
7. Get Out Claws (Oli Silk)
8. Like You Mean It (Joey Sommerville) – Joey S., vocals
9. I Will Be With You – Kenny Harris, bass solo; Carl Anderson, drum solo/vocals
(singing): “Swing yo’ hips (4x) like you mean it!”
Joey took to the audience midway through “Like You Mean It”:
“I Will Be With You” had two major solos. First from Kenny Harris…
…and then Carl Anderson:
The C-Man got a standing ovation:
The last note of the set:
You couldn’t ask for a better night: a packed house and outstanding music from outstanding players.
10/4 UPDATE: Check out Katherine Gilraine’s recap.
WCWP Homecoming Weekend Radio Show! October 1, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment
I was back at WCWP (on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University) yesterday afternoon to record a radio show – CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri – that will air during the station’s 50th Anniversary Edition of Homecoming Weekend. You can hear it Saturday, October 22, from 1AM to 3AM Eastern; Friday, October 21, from 10PM to midnight Pacific. If you’re outside the signal range, head to the WCWP website and click on “88.1 WCWP” to hear the stream.
16 hours later, I’ll be at the 50th Anniversary Celebration dinner at the Top of the Commons. It should be an exciting event, as will the rest of the weekend. WCWP has been on the air for 50 years, and I’m glad to have contributed to one-fifth of that. Wednesday, October 5, marks the 10th anniversary of my first radio show – the maiden voyage (as I called it) of The Mike Chimeri Show.
Chieli Minucci & Special EFX concert recap 2 September 17, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal.add a comment
Friday was day two of the annual Long Beach Jazz Festival. Fall was in the air outside one week early. The festival’s main venue is the Long Beach Public Library‘s auditorium. The second of two shows in the auditorium that night featured Chieli Minucci & Special EFX, whom I last saw a year ago at Sounds of Brazil.
The auditorium was packed to the gills. And a few of the people I saw two nights earlier at the Dharma All Stars gig were present.
Chieli Minucci was on electric guitar…
…and acoustic guitar:
Jay Rowe on keyboards:
Jerry Brooks on bass:
And Lionel Cordew on drums:
SET LIST
1. Courageous Cats
Originally heard on: “Jewels,” 1995 (Chieli solo album)
2. Greenway North
Originally heard on: “Modern Manners,” 1985
3. Ascension
Originally heard on: “Sweet Surrender,” 2007
4. Nature Boy
Originally heard on: “Confidential,” 1989
Chieli played solo guitar on this.
5A. My Girl Sunday
Originally heard on: “Sweet On You,” 2000 (Chieli solo album)
5B. Miami
Originally heard on: “Masterpiece,” 1999
6. Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers
Originally heard on: “Renaissance,” 1996 (Chieli solo album)
7. New Bop
Originally heard on: “Sweet Surrender,” 2007
8. Kickin’ It Hard
Originally heard on: “Night Grooves,” 2003 (Chieli solo album)
Jay’s “Courageous Cats” keyboard solo:
Chieli switched to acoustic guitar for “Nature Boy” and “My Girl Sunday”:
“My Girl Sunday” began with solo improv by Jay:
Lionel’s “New Bop” drum solo:
The last note of “Kickin’ It Hard”:
The band left to a standing ovation:
Their next stop is Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, next Friday for a jazz festival there.
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 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:
- Global warming
- California
- The southern U.S. border
- Michael Moore
- Getting old
- What he likes and dislikes about President Obama
- Barney Frank
- Nancy Pelosi
- Pope Benedict XVI
Then, it was Bill’s turn. Among his topics were:
- President Obama
- The Republican presidential candidate field
- Who has the best chance to be the Republican nominee
- The split in the Republican Party between the Tea Party and the establishment
- His upcoming appearance in an episode of Rizzoli & Isles
- His upcoming book, Killing Lincoln
- Recounting his previous appearance on The View
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:
- How he moved from the left to center-right politically
- His old CNBC show and how things fell apart between him and his monkey sidekick Mowgli
- His work in Bordello of Blood and on Monday Night Football
- Meeting Frank Sinatra
- Checking out the room Elvis Presley stayed in at the Vegas Hilton
- A story Billy Crystal told him about Redd Foxx
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:
Dennis Miller & Bill O’Reilly – Bold[er & Fresh[er] Tour (@ Mohegan Sun Arena) http://t.co/UJ475ItU
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:
Hi Dennis, Dr Karen Ruskin here, mental health expert- appeared on O’Reilly. Great show w Bill Sat! Will never see ED the same
@DennisDMZ
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.
MikeChimeri.com 
My 9/11 experience September 10, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Commentary, Media, Music, News, Personal, Radio, TV.3 comments
Related posts: 20th anniversary retrospective, 2024 Freeport 9/11 Memorial Ceremony Photos (20th anniversary link includes 2013 ceremony photos)
9/2/20 UPDATE: Original photos have been replaced with higher-quality retouched scans and the links at the bottom removed. A link to a subsequent relevant post was added.
9/16/21 UPDATE: I forgot to mention in my portfolio or the addendum that I was tired and wanted to sleep a little longer before getting ready to go up to campus for class. My classes were either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. I recall having two or three classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays this semester with the first, public speaking, at 11:30. If I had a 10:00 class, I would have been up sooner, probably seen the news break, and seen the second plane hit before leaving my house.
The following is an excerpt from a written summary of a 9/11 portfolio I made at the end of the Fall 2001 semester (December 16) at C.W. Post (9/2/20: now LIU Post) for my Broadcasting 1 course, edited for brevity and accuracy:
Addendum:
Classes were suspended in the afternoon and didn’t resume until Thursday. So, I needed a ride home in the mid-afternoon. I couldn’t get through to either of my parents for that ride. When I walked past Humanities Hall, I found my Human Values professor from two semesters prior, John Lutz. Dr. Lutz was gracious enough to give me the ride home I needed. We listened to 1010 WINS for much of what turned out to be a long ride. Traffic was heavy nearly the entire way home. Lutz is still teaching at C.W. Post, now as an associate professor of English (9/10/13: and Chairman of the English Department). If you happen to read this, Dr. Lutz, I can’t thank you enough for your help on that chaotic day ten years ago.
I was so overcome with emotion that I wasn’t in the mood to listen to any music (on CDs or MP3s on the computer) for up to a week. Yet, I had a song in my head that I couldn’t repress. As the song looped, I kept visualizing either the two towers on fire after being hit or the image from NewsCopter 7 – one that got replayed repeatedly – of United 175 flying diagonally into the South Tower. It was chilling, as I said in my summary. When I wasn’t watching the nonstop coverage on that day and the days ahead, I watched syndicated reruns of The Simpsons that I had been taping for a year. (I gave that up in 2006.) It was a therapeutic escape from the insanity of real life.
I’ll conclude this post with a
fewhandful of pictures. These were taken on a return trip to Ground Zero while shooting my senior project: a documentary about Joe Falco, a now-retired FDNY firefighter who survived the collapse of the South Tower:9/2/20 UPDATE: There were several links at this point in the post, but none of them work anymore. Instead, I refer to a post five years later which includes video of the Joe Falco documentary.