Pre-order update #5 July 10, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Personal.add a comment
The last of the CDs I pre-ordered in May arrived today:
Nick Colionne, “No Limits” (Koch)
I’ve only listened to the first track, the title track, so far. If it’s any indication, this is going to be a great album. I’ll try to have a review once I’ve finished listening. I also need to post a review of Ken Navarro’s “The Grace of Summer Light.” In the meantime, I now have all the CDs I pre-ordered on May 10, two months to the date (July 10) later.
7/11 UPDATE: The instrumental tracks are great. I cannot post a full review because I haven’t listened to the vocal tracks (outside of “Melting Into You”), which I generally don’t prefer listening to. Therefore, it would be unfair to review only 10 tracks out of 13. But I do like “No Limits” and do recommend it.
Another post about Cablevision after all July 3, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Personal, TV.add a comment
I know that I said a few weeks ago I would no longer post about Cablevision and what channels they should add but haven’t added yet. But today at Johnny Dollar’s Place, I learned some very positive news. There was a link to an online article from the staff at Broadcasting & Cable that said Cablevision will be adding 15 HD channels at the end of the month:
The new HD channels include Nickelodeon, WE tv, AMC, Animal Planet, The Weather Channel, Travel Channel, Fox News Channel, Discovery Channel, Hallmark Movie Channel and FX. They will come online over five days starting July 28.
Cablevision’s press release says “The full list of new HD channels will be announced when the services become available later this month.” There are still five channels we don’t know about. Maybe ESPNEWS HD is among them. And maybe Fox Business Network will finally be added in HD and SD simultaneously. We’ll see what happens later this month.
7/5 UPDATE: Please disregard the automatically generated possibly related post that’s titled “I give up with Cablevision!” I have no idea why it shows up or why you can still read the text of it in the RSS preview. I’m sorry it’s even there. Five hours after I wrote that, I was all calmed down, deleted it, and wrote this post in its place.
David Benoit interviewed for SmoothViews July 1, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Personal.add a comment
In this month’s issue of the online magazine “SmoothViews” is an interview Bonnie Schendell conducted with David Benoit to promote his latest album “Heroes.” I posted about the album back on May 29 (late night May 28).
In my days at WCWP, I conducted four interviews of my own with David, which can be found here. I’d interview him now, but I’m out of radio and don’t have a good telephone hybrid to conduct the interview from home for this blog. If anyone knows where I can find a Gentner Telehybrid for sale, you have one to sell, or you know someone that will sell, please leave a comment. The rest of you are also free to leave comments.
Commerce Bank Championship July 1, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Golf, Personal, Sports, TV.add a comment
On Sunday, I attended the final round of the Champions Tour’s Commerce Bank Championship at Eisenhower Park Red [Golf] Course in East Meadow, New York. This was the third year in a row I attended. Each year, I showed up a few times in the background of a camera shot during the Golf Channel’s telecast. The previous two years, I sat in the bleachers by the 18th green, watching the last 10 groups (approximately) finish their rounds and then watch the trophy presentation. This time, I stood by the fairway at 18 until the last three groups. After that, I stood by the green until the trophy presentation. As eventual champion Loren Roberts was lining up for a putt, this is what you saw on the HD telecast (I’ve highlighted myself):
I had a vidcap, but got a better shot from my digital camera off my TV.
I also appeared in a wider crowd shot as David Eger (“Eager”) had a tap-in putt:
Here’s the same picture cropped:
I could be seen in HD and SD in that shot. Eger took the lead from Roberts early in the round, but faded after the 11th hole.
For the record, Scott Simpson was also in that final group.
“Newsday” reported that this may have been the last Commerce Bank Championship after 22 tournaments. If that’s the case, it went out on a high note. And I don’t mean because I was in crowd shots.
7/2 UPDATE: I’m surprised at how many golf blogs are linking to this post. Thank you for the publicity. Feel free to check out the rest of my blog.
7/22 UPDATE: I think it was only two blogs, but still, thank you.
11/6 UPDATE: Last Friday, October 31, Commerce Bank was renamed TD Bank.
Pre-order update #4 June 24, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Personal.add a comment
Today, I received three CDs I had pre-ordered weeks ago in the mail:
The Jeff Lorber Fusion, “Soft Space” (reissue)
Eric Darius, “Goin’ All Out”
Gerald Albright, “Sax for Stax”
As with “The Jeff Lorber Fusion,” the “Soft Space” reissue sounds much better than its LP counterpart. I have yet to listen to the other two CDs in their entirety. I’ll get around to them after “Soft Space.”
The Dan Siegel Project, “Fables” June 23, 2008
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Two Mondays ago, I ordered The Dan Siegel Project’s new album “Fables.” I received it in the mail five days later. The album is a rearrangement of songs Dan recorded in the mid-1980s, plus two new compositions. Here are the tracks:
1. Dark Star (4:29)
2. Concrete Jungle (4:51)
3. Fugitives (3:19)
4. A Day In The Country (4:06)
5. Celestial Body (5:45)
6. Behind The Shadow (2:24)
7. Before You Wake (3:55)
8. The Last Waltz (4:12)
9. Peace Of Mind (2:48 )
10. Where Are You Now (4:15)
11. Solitary (2:56)
12. Little Creek (4:28 )
13. Star Light (3:36)
Tracks 1, 5, 10, and 12 were “reimagined from” Another Time, Another Place in 1984.
Tracks 7 and 8 were “reimagined from” On The Edge in 1985.
Tracks 2, 3, 4, 11, and 13 were “reimagined from” Short Stories in 1986.
Tracks 6 and 9 were new compositions.
All tracks were written by Dan.
The album personnel was:
Dan Siegel: keyboards, melodica
Michael Lington: saxophone
Tony Guerrero: trumpet, peck horn
Pedro Eustache: flutes, duduk, various winds
Adam Glasser: harmonica
Michael Miller: guitar
Allen Hinds: guitar
Abraham Laboriel: bass
Alex Galas: bouzouki
Aloke Dasgupta: sitar
Paul Livingstone: sitar
Charlie Bisharat: violin
John Riley: oboe, piccolo, bass clarinet
Nadia Freeman: vocals
“Fables” has the same feel as Dan’s “Hemispheres” album in 1995.
My favorite tracks so far are “Concrete Jungle,” “A Day In The Country,” “Celestial Body,” “The Last Waltz,” and “Where Are You Now.”
Acoustic Alchemy concert recap June 22, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal.1 comment so far
Later Acoustic Alchemy recaps: October 2010, June 2012, November 2016
Earlier tonight, I attended Acoustic Alchemy’s concert at IMAC. I sat in the first row of the Center Right section’s odd number seats. The theater’s audio mixing board was a few feet ahead to my left.
The set list included:
“Get Up (Levantar y Bailar)”
“Jubilation”
“Jamaica Heartbeat”
“Out of Nowhere”
“Big Sky Country”
“Carlos the King”
“Ariane” (last song before intermission)
“Ernie”
“Tied Up with String”
“She Speaks American/English”
“Tuff Puzzle”
“Lazeez” (encore)
I took 129 pictures during the concert. Here are the ones that stood out:
Greg Carmichael:
Miles Gilderdale on acoustic guitar…
…and electric guitar:
Fred White on keyboards:
Gary Grainger on bass…
…and younger brother Greg Grainger on drums:
Miles and Greg C. in the final measure of “Lazeez”:
And the band taking a bow (or, at least, about to):
It was an excellent show!
Afterward, my friend Kat Sarracco took this picture:
Standing left to right: Greg Carmichael, Miles Gilderdale, Mike Chimeri; Sitting left to right: Gary Grainger, Greg Grainger, Fred White
This was my first Acoustic Alchemy concert, but I guarantee it won’t be the last.
6/29 UPDATE: Kat has added my pictures of Miles Gilderdale (on electric guitar) and Fred White to the 2008 Fan Photo Gallery on the official Acoustic Alchemy site.
7/14 UPDATE: My picture with the band is part of the recently added 2008 Fan Archive.
Acoustic Alchemy at IMAC tomorrow June 20, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Personal.add a comment
I’ll be going back to IMAC tomorrow night to see Acoustic Alchemy in concert. To prepare, I’ll be spending the next two days listening to many of their songs. This way (hey, that’s their latest album title), I can identify what’s played.
Either tomorrow night or Sunday, I’ll have a recap of the concert, complete with any pictures I take.
Tim Russert: 1950-2008 June 13, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Media, Personal, TV.1 comment so far
Alex Wong/Getty Images file; used in MSNBC.com link
I was surprised, shocked, and saddened to learn about a half ago that Tim Russert has died of an apparent heart attack today. He was 58.
Tim was a great man, a giant in broadcast news, and one of my broadcasting inspirations. In July 2004, as I was beginning my run at WGBB, I bought and listened to the audiobook for his book “Big Russ & Me,” about his love and appreciation for his father. I listened to it again with my dad two months later, as we drove to Penn State, my sister’s alma mater (she was a senior at the time), to watch a Nittany Lions football game against UCF (the University of Central Florida) at Beaver Stadium. Flooding along the Delaware Water Gap – as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ivan – forced us to turn around on I-80 near the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border and drive home, giving my dad and I an opportunity to listen to more of that touching book.
My condolences to Tim’s wife Maureen Orth, his son Luke, his extended family, and his father, the original Tim Russert: Big Russ himself.
No more posts about Cablevision June 12, 2008
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, TV.add a comment
I’ve decided to give up posting about my experiences with Cablevision. I have no confidence in any channels being added no matter how much we customers plead or demand. I don’t know what I’ll do in the future, but one way or another, I’ll get the channels I want, like Fox Business Network, even if it means moving and switching providers.
Thank you for reading my posts about Cablevision. I invite you to stick around for posts about other goings-on in my life, as well as concert recaps and album reviews. For example, next weekend, I’ll have a recap of Acoustic Alchemy’s concert at IMAC. And I’m bound to let you know about any albums I pre-order, buy, or listen to.
MikeChimeri.com 