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Instrumental Invasion, 10/25/23 October 26, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Baseball, History, Internet, Japanese, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Livestream, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Pop, Radio, smooth jazz, Sports, Travel, Video.
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The October 25 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP marked the return of original shows after a nine-week hiatus. It was to be seven weeks, but reruns were delayed while the WCWP transmitter was moved. The move was part of ongoing renovations to the Abrams Communications Center.

Before I tell you “how I spent my summer vacation,” let’s get the scoped aircheck out of the way:

There were crossfades in automation between elements, which meant the beginnings and ends of each segment were inaudible. To remedy this, I added one second of silence at the beginnings and ends of next week’s segments before submitting the files to station manager Pete Bellotti. We’ll see if that solves the issue.

I was unable to resume radio show production until after finishing work on the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo photos and blog posts (part one, part two, part three).

I filled out my Casiopea and T-Square collections in July, I expanded my McCoy Tyner collection in September, and new smooth jazz CD preorders (plus one big band release) periodically arrived at my doorstep. Not having an outlet for those new releases required me to make up for lost time in this show’s playlist and the three that followed. I worked on all of them together, one at a time.

The show 177 playlist was created September 5 and 6, and annotated with the next three playlists between the 13th and 16th. The talk break script was drafted on September 19. The first four segments were recorded on the 22nd and the last two on the 23rd. No pickups were necessary during a quality control session on the 30th.

In all, it took me eight days to principally record shows 177 to 180, plus one day of checking for mistakes and mixing down segments. I continued my rerun-proof practice of leaving out dated references and will do so for as long as I’m on the air.

“The Bones” was one song I neglected to play from David Benoit‘s A Midnight Rendezvous last year, but I was inspired to end this show with his cover after he used it in a story post to his Instagram account. I made two “Dem Bones” references while talking it up and made sure to end with “‘The Bones.’ The bye!” The “ya see” ad-libs were icing on the cake.

I recycled the “I’ll Take Romance” tidbits from when I played Beegie Adair‘s by-the-books version nearly one year ago (November 2, 2022). An obsession with McCoy Tyner’s solos on his Blue Bossa arrangement led me to include it here. “Point of Departure” by Nelson Rangell was originally played on September 16, 2020.

“The Washington Post,” a John Philip Sousa march performed by the Band of the Grenadier Guards, was the middle song of the first segment due to a timing error I initially missed. While that error was caught before recording, the fourth segment error wasn’t. Like in show 176, however, it worked out for the best because I was building up a surplus.

Himiko Kikuchi‘s Flying Beagle was an additional music acquisition this summer, so expect to hear more from that eventually. “Fluffy” was a nice start, and good opportunity to share some of my Japanese learning. I originally learned of “fuwa fuwa” and other onomatopoeia from this Mochi sensei video. On the subject of Japanese teachers/Twitch streamers, I consider Misa an intermediate gamer, but not a pro. That doesn’t ruin her fun, nor the fun of subscribers like me. I began treating her ever-growing Dark Souls: Remastered death count (“YOU DIED”) like career home runs, syncing them to milestone home run calls when milestones arose. Her 400th is one example:

Sourced from Harry Kalas‘s call of Jim Thome‘s 400th career home run

Misa racked up over 200 more deaths since that video, but 80 minutes before air, she finally defeated Ornstein and Smough! I set that triumphant moment to Russ Hodges‘ call of the Shot Heard ‘Round the World, via a retrospective on The Best Damn Sports Show Period. This time, I left in Misa’s audio. Enjoy!

Back at it next week. I’ll leave you with Anders Enger Jensen‘s “Borderline” video:

2023 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo recap: conclusion and pickups September 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Baseball, Books, Education, Football, Game Shows, Golf, History, Hockey, Internet, Japanese, Language, Media, Personal, Photography, Sports, Technology, Travel, Video, Video Games.
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If you haven’t seen them yet, read the first post here and second post here.

Sunday, August 13

After my last Long Island Retro Gaming Expo panel of the weekend, I made my way to the vendor marketplace and searched for games I didn’t have that were $20 or less. I bargained with each vendor, only spending close to $200. That’s the least I’ve spent since my first year (2017). The bulk of my purchases were for the Nintendo Entertainment System, my first video game console.

Satisfied, I exited the Cradle of Aviation Museum and waited for my mom to pick me up.

  • Exiting
  • The opposite view from the establishing shot in post 1
  • Cumulus clouds against the clear blue, sunny sky
  • The American flag (I captioned the other two, so why not this?)
  • My bag of combined pickups, led by the infamous Deadly Towers; I finally got it

Monday, August 14 and beyond

My attempt to make up for Saturday night’s severe storm-shortened sleep was unsuccessful. I woke up early Monday morning after five or six hours of sleep. Then, I went outside to look at the stars.

Back inside, as the sun rose, I unpacked the pickups from my paper bag and photographed them.

We’ll start with merchandise (and my badges):

The front of the badges:

12 games for Nintendo Entertainment System:

Now, I have an NES Yoshi to go with the Game Boy version I’ve had since childhood. The Power Pad games and Star Voyager were the subjects of early Pat the NES Punk episodes (including one with Alison).

“Power Pad Fun!”, Part 1:

Part 2:

Deadly Towers got the Angry Video Game Nerd treatment (via fans’ script submissions):

Two for Super Nintendo:

The TV ads at launch tempted me into getting SimCity, but I never did. I haven’t even seen Judge Dredd the film.

Two Nintendo 64 games:

Another game show game for my collection – Jeopardy! for Nintendo DS:

One self-explanatory 3DS title – Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS:

Wrongly assuming the 3DS and Wii U Super Smash Bros. games were the same, I only bought for Wii U when I started collecting for the two consoles in 2017 (there’s that year again). Prior to LI Retro, I saw a Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Video Games video that set me straight (Japanese with English subtitles):

Good thing I found a copy from a vendor, eliminating the need to buy from Amazon.

And lastly, my first Sega CD game – Joe Montana’s NFL Football:

To quote the infamous TV ad (parodied here), I “still don’t have a Sega CD,” but after buying my first game Sunday afternoon, I bought 12 more games on eBay between Monday morning and Wednesday night. This included eight from four-game lots, and two Sonic CD variants. The complete list (in order of appearance):

  • All the games on the shelf

Thank you for taking this photographic journey through the 2023 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. Until next year.

2022 WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony June 12, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Baseball, Basketball, Education, Football, Health, History, Hockey, Internet, Media, Music, News, Personal, Photography, Radio, Rock, Sports, Technology, Travel, TV, Video.
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Other Hall of Fame ceremony recaps: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-21, 2023

On Saturday, June 3, 2023, the WCWP Hall of Fame 2022 class was inducted in a ceremony at LIU Post‘s Alumni Hall.

As noted during the announcement in October, there were eight inductees (listed by name and graduation year):

  • Jon Cole, 1980
  • Kim Dillon, 1980
  • Cosmo Leone, 1980
  • Dan Reagan (“reegan”), 1981
  • Suzanne Langwell, 1983
  • Roger Luce (Lussier), 1984
  • John Mullen, 1988
  • Travis Demers, 2003

(In full disclosure, I was on the 2022 Hall of Fame Committee.)

WCWP station manager (and 2019 inductee) Pete Bellotti tapped me as the ceremony’s official photographer, in addition to the supplemental video I shot with my camcorder and GoPro to later combine with what his students recorded.

(NOTE: In prior recaps, I used the title “director of broadcasting” in place of “station manager.”)

Despite my best efforts, the performance anxiety issue I had with Smooth Jazz for Scholars affected me again ahead of the WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony. My essential tremor got progressively worse, reaching its peak when my dad dropped me off outside Alumni Hall at around 12:30. I’m feeling stressed again merely writing about it.

I put my equipment down on a table in the back and began snapping away while also talking to inductees and attendees.

  • 2022 inductee John Mullen speaking to ’19 inductee/WCWP station manager Pete Bellotti and Maureen Tuthill, interim dean of Long Island University’s College of Arts and Design (Brooklyn and Post campuses)
  • Cosmo Leone, Dan Reagan, and family
  • 2022 inductee Travis Demers with ’17 inductee Neil Marks
  • 2015 inductee Jeff Kroll speaks with ’22 inductee Kim Dillon and her first presenter, Ellyn Solis.
  • 2022 inductee Roger Luce with ’13 inductee Bill Mozer, Suzanne Langwell’s presenter

The ceremony was hosted by Dan Cox, WCWP’s station manager from 2002 to ’22:

Current station manager Pete Bellotti had opening remarks:

John Mullen was the first inductee, presented by Dan Cox:

Pardon the AI filtering. My tremor was really bad early in the ceremony and I couldn’t get a clear photo here. I applied shake reduction and JPEG restoration in Photoshop, then edited out some shake reduction ghosting.

John’s acceptance speech:

Rich Kahn presented the second 2022 inductee, Jon Cole:

Jon’s acceptance speech:

Inductee 3 was Cosmo Leone, presented by Larry Lamendola:

Cosmo’s acceptance speech:

Kim Dillon had three presenters, led by Ellyn Solis:

Next, 2019 inductee Lew Scharfberg:

Third, Cande Roth:

Kim was moved by Cande’s presentation.

Kim and her three presenters:

Kim’s acceptance speech:

At the halfway point, the Art Beltrone Founders Award was presented to graduating senior DeAnna Aguinaldo. After Pete Bellotti’s introduction…

…there were presentations by DeAnna’s WCWP colleagues: senior director Michael Moffa…:

…and Vincent Randazzo, student program director and vice president of The Wave (formerly WebRadio WCWP and MyWCWP):

DeAnna’s acceptance speech:

DeAnna with Pete, Michael and Vincent:

Before introducing Dan Reagan’s presenter, Dan Cox had kind words for his former student:

Like last year, the ceremony was streamed live on Zoom:

2019 inductee Fred Gaudelli presented Dan Reagan (“reegan”), the fifth ’22 inductee:

Dan began his acceptance speech by acknowledging Fred’s upcoming honor in the Pro Football Hall of Fame: the 2023 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

With eight inductees, WCWP’s 2022 Hall of Fame class matched the amount of players, coaches, and executives enshrined annually in Canton, Ohio.

This shot my camcorder viewinder became the new cover photo for my YouTube channel and LinkedIn page:

Dan thanked me at one point, which explains why he emailed me before the ceremony asking how to pronounce my last name.

He also talked about Post professor Chris Dodrill, who I remember fondly from my time as a student. I asked Dan for Professor Dodrill’s email address the following Monday. Chris replied to me the next day, noting that he watched the ceremony on Zoom, and congratulating me on my induction last year (2021 class). He gave his regards to my aunt Robin Rose, who was an academic counselor at then-C.W. Post, and the reason I went there in the first place. Dodrill is now a music researcher for the Library of Congress, to whom he generously donated his vast John Philip Sousa collection, answering questions from fellow Sousa enthusiasts.

It was 20 years ago in April when Fred Gaudelli and Dan Reagan spoke to a class taught by Prof. Dodrill, after which I posted for a photo with them:

2013 inductee Bill Mozer presented Suzanne Langwell, and tied up loose ends from his brief acceptance speech when the ceremony format was different.

Suzanne receiving her plaque from Bill:

Once I took the photo, Bill introduced me to the ceremony attendees as the station historian, a moniker he first bestowed upon me at the 2014 ceremony. Perfectionist that I am, I don’t know if the title fits since I don’t know everything about WCWP’s history, though I’m flattered to be called that.

Suzanne’s acceptance speech:

John “J.P.” Parise presented his radio co-host, inductee Roger Luce (Lussier):

Roger and J.P.:

Roger’s acceptance speech:

Roger spoke to broadcasting students at Humanities Hall in March 2002, and again, a photo was taken with me afterward:

The inductee presentations were bookended by Dan Cox, presenting the last of the afternoon, Travis Demers:

Travis’s acceptance speech:

The ceremony concluded with Dan’s closing remarks:

After the ceremony, we see seven of the eight inductees and the Art Beltrone Founders Award recipient:

(John Mullen had to leave early.)

DeAnna Aguinaldo and her parents:

Dan Reagan and Cosmo Leone:

Fred Gaudelli, Dan Reagan, Brian Miles, Mike Maimone:

A group photo with inductees, presenters, friends:

  • I was taking shots without asking them to look at me, but Bill Mozer directed them to me.

Travis Demers with 2021 inductee Mike Chimeri (me):

Travis and his wife Hannah:

A selfie with Joan Yonke, LIU Post Director of Development, formerly Director of Employer and Alumni Engagement:

To paraphrase Bob Barker, Joan is a loyal friend and true of WCWP.

Mozer and me:

Bill was praised by several inductees and their presenters, and rightly so.

Me with Roger Luce (21 years after the first time) and Dan Cox:

Roger and his sister Christine:

Roger, Christine, and her husband Neil Sass, editor for ABC News’s Nightline:

Finally, candid shots:

  • Joan Yonke grew up in Atlanta and was pleased to meet Dan Reagan, longtime director of Braves telecasts. (Hannah Demers [right] is also a Georgia native.)

Preliminary stress aside, it was a pleasure to capture the day, catch up with those I knew, and meet those I hadn’t.

Congratulations to Art Beltrone Founders Award recipient DeAnna Aguinaldo, and to the eight Hall of Fame inductees: John Mullen, Jon Cole, Cosmo Leone, Kim Dillon, Dan Reagan, Suzanne Langwell, Roger Lussier (the one time I didn’t use his on-air name), and Travis Demers.

As of publication, I am working on the ceremony video and will update with the video once it’s ready. Thank you for reading this recap.

7/9/23 UPDATE: The video has been ready for a few weeks, but an unofficial announcement made at the end has yet to go official. So, I uploaded a version without the announcement yesterday, and after hours of processing, it’s ready for publication.

Instrumental Invasion, 5/31/23 June 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Baseball, City Pop, Comedy, Dogs, Film, Health, Horse Racing, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Religion, Sports, Thoroughbred, TV, Video, Western, World Music.
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The May 31 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the fifth in a row with talk breaks recorded in one day, and third in a row/fourth out of five recorded in one day. That day was April 10, 19 days after last week’s show was recorded. I got a cold a few days after that recording (March 25) and used the time to work on playlists for this show and the next two. Pickups were recorded on April 13, April 16, and May 5.

The playlist was created March 19, 22, and 26, then tweaked on April 1 to add a track from Keiko Matsui‘s Euphoria album released the day before. Annotations were written from April 3 to 5, and the talk break script was drafted April 8.

I played the lead single from Keiko’s album, “Steps on the Globe,” which prompted me to play a clip from “Moosylvania Saved,” the final Rocky and Bullwinkle story arc where the punchline was “spots on the globe.” This exchange between Fearless Leader (Bill Scott) and Boris Badenov (Paul Frees) occurred in episode one of four:

“That’s what my uncle came down with: spots on the globe.”

That talk break also had references to a pair of Mel Brooks films, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. The second segment’s second talk break referred to Ghostbusters and Steve Somers. The Schmoozer homage came when I said “The Square were schmoozing S-P-O-R-T-S,” Steve’s catchphrase at the start of some shows or hours of those shows.

There were three retreads this week:

Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:

See you at the WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony this Saturday.

Instrumental Invasion, 4/19/23 April 20, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports.
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The April 19 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was another 4-2 recording with four segments recorded on February 25 and two (plus pickups) the next day, on the 26th.

The playlist was created on February 11, but tweaked on the 13th when I inadvertently put a 1998 song in the first 1985-97 segment. That song will be part of next week’s show. Annotations started on February 14, but weren’t completed until the 22nd. The talk break script was drafted on the 21st and 24th.

There were three retreads, all from 2020:

Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:

And why not post the Unified jingle?

Audiobooking 8 March 24, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Animation, Audiobooks, Basketball, Comedy, Film, Game Shows, Golf, History, Media, Music, News, Personal, Podcast, Politics, Radio, Rock, Sports, Technology, Theatre, TV, Video Games.
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It’s time for the annual “audiobooking” post. Most are visible in the thumbnail, but here are all the audiobooks (with links) that I’ve listened to on Audible since post #7 last year:

That’s a total of 27 audiobooks (two co-written by O’Reilly, one wholly by Reilly), plus two returns. Everything from I’m a Still a 10-Year-Old Boy through Face the Music was purchased in October while Audible steeply discounted their catalog. Since then, I only use Audible credits on audiobooks over $14.95, the monthly membership fee. Of course, if I buy three credits for $35.88, then I’ll buy anything over $11.96.

Next year’s “audiobooking” post will be the ninth overall, but the tenth anniversary. Until then, happy listening.

5/26/24 UPDATE: I can no longer commit time to these “Audiobooking” blog posts. So, last year’s eighth post is the final post. Thank you for following my journey through audiobooks over the past decade.

Instrumental Invasion, 3/22/23 March 23, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Football, History, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports, TV.
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The March 22 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on January 30 (after completing last week’s show) and 31. Pickups were recorded on the 31st and February 1.

The playlist was created alongside last week’s on January 20, annotations followed on the 25th, and the talk break script was drafted on the 27th.

Key January 31 pickups were for the Gregg Karukas song I played. I didn’t realize my mistake until putting “Soul Secrets” into Adobe Audition and seeing its shorter duration. “Secret Smile” was the song I wanted, and it had radically different credits. So, I fixed the annotations and script. I also recycled Jeff Kroll’s “smile, Mike!” from the earlier liner. That liner led into “Behind the Rain” by Herb Alpert. This time, I didn’t even bother guessing who played what, but I challenge you to listen and not think of slow-motion NFL highlights narrated by John Facenda.

Another notable pickup padded out hour 2’s second segment, ad-libbing January 20 tidbits that I left in the annotations, but didn’t put back in the script.

This was only the fifth show in 155 without a song by David Benoit. Like the other four times, he will be back next week.

Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:

Instrumental Invasion, 1/18/23 January 19, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Biking, Film, Food, History, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports, TV, Video.
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The January 18 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from December 1 to 3, 2022: the first segment on the 1st, the next three on the 2nd, and last two on the 3rd along with remixing and pickups.

The playlist was created on November 27 with annotations on 29th and 30th. The talk break script was drafted November 30 and December 1.

This week, the extra 2017-present segment was swapped for an extra 1985-95 segment. The last four segments only had two talk breaks each. The first two of hour 2 were made up of three songs in a row (a triple shot).

“Off the Top” by Kim Scott was originally played last April 6.

Since I brought it up after playing Wes Montgomery’s cover of “Windy,” I would have liked to attend the Dancing with the Stars Live tour stop at the Tilles Center last Tuesday, but the show was sold out when I looked for tickets and they were only available marked up through resellers on Ticketmaster. Oh, well. By the way, my “everyone knows it’s Instrumental Invasion” line going into “Windy” referenced a lyric in the song.

I included “Automat” by Yellowjackets after having seen a documentary on the titular fast food restaurants popularized by Horn & Hardart.

Here is a composite of CBS Sports’ coverage of the 1988 Tour de France, complete with John Tesh‘s music:

While skimming through the video, I thought John himself covered parts of the race, but the voice I heard (and face I saw) was Tim Brant.

Click here to download this week’s scoped aircheck or listen below:

1:50 PM UPDATE: This is another of those shows where I don’t notice mistakes or oversights until after the show airs. Bob Mintzer played tenor and soprano sax on “Automat.” The phrase trumpeter Igmar Thomas borrowed on “Blues Vagabond” by Lisa Hilton was from “Killer Joe,” which Quincy Jones covered on Walking in Space. The song was originally written and performed by Benny Golson for The Jazztet‘s Meet the Jazztet record. “Chicken Joe” was by pianist Joe McBride.

I also missed a community calendar spot I recorded on Monday that ran during the last break:

The music bed is “Working Girl March #2 (Film Cue)” by Dave Grusin from the Tootsie soundtrack.

4:05 PM UPDATE: Oh, and this is the PAMS jingle I referenced going into “Wherever You Go” by Brian Simpson:

I clipped from part 2 of Jon Wolfert’s The History of the Musicradio WABC Jingles.

Instrumental Invasion, 12/28/22 December 29, 2022

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Christmas, Computer, Football, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, New Year, News, Personal, Radio, Sports, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.
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The December 28 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on November 17, my 41st birthday, and 18, followed by pickups and remixing. An additional pickup was recorded on the 19th.

The playlist was the third of three created between November 7 and 9. I created it solely on November 9, started annotating on the 9th and finished on the 12th, with the talk break script drafted on the 15th and 16th.

For the second year in a row, I played Christmas-adjacent songs the week after the Christmas show. “December Dream” by Fourplay was originally in mind for last week, but I replaced it to allow for a longer third song in its intended segment.

For the second show in a row, I played two versions of the same song, ending each hour with “Auld Lang Syne“; first by Kenny G, then by Jessy J. Yes, I know J is technically not her last initial, but for poetic license, it was in this show.

All of the last three shows have had segment gaps filled by songs less than three minutes long. And speaking of last initials, I searched my blazers for a suitable (no pun intended) nickname to go with “Armani B” by Brian Simpson. Jos. A. Bank made the most sense; ergo, “Joseph A. Bank M.” By the way, I bought a CD copy of Closer Still just before publishing this post.

“Busta Move” by Julian Vaughn was originally played on August 17.

I’m still not finished listening to my iTunes Christmas music playlist, which I’ve been listening to incrementally since early November. I got through big portions of it during a Christmas Eve party and then on Christmas Day at home, but there were over a hundred songs left. I’ll update this paragraph once I finish. 1/2/23 UPDATE: I finished this morning.

Mid-November Mike (another nickname) could not have foreseen a historic winter storm, an explosive cyclogenesis (“bomb cyclone” in media hype lingo), when he included “Black Frost” by Grover Washington, Jr. to fill out the first segment. Crazy as the storm and aftermath were here on Long Island – southwest winds ushering in cold air?! – it was much worse elsewhere, particularly in Buffalo! Here, temperatures plummeted from the mid 50s (Fahrenheit) to the single digits! That meant there was black frost ice on the roads, and patches of ice on the sidewalks, from floodwaters brought on by rain and coastal flooding. I haven’t talked to Ryan “A Ripping Good Time” Grabow since the storm, but I know from its Wikipedia entry (first link) that Central Florida – where he lives and works for the Orlando Fox affiliate – had a period of sleet and snow flurries in on Christmas morning! (Okay, enough exclamations.) Christmas also marked record cold highs for Fort Lauderdale and Miami: 49° and 50°F, respectively. Reading that took me back to similarly cold Christmastimes in 1989 and ’90 in Crystal Beach, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area; not to mention how cold it was outside LaGuardia Airport before flying to Tampa in ’90. Maybe weather conditions are cyclical.

I’m further reminded of a video I watched on YouTube five years ago that exemplified the cold Christmastime in ’89: the start of NBC Sports coverage of the Miami Dolphins’ Christmas Eve regular season finale against the Kansas City Chiefs at then-Joe Robbie Stadium in not-yet-incorporated Miami Gardens. As you’ll see in the video below, the game time temperature was 39° with gusty northwest winds. No wonder it was dubbed The Miami Ice Bowl.

Yes, that was “Carol of the Bells” by Mannheim Steamroller (from A Fresh Aire Christmas); yes, that was Charles McCord announcing (“NBC Sports presents…”); and yes, John Tesh‘s “Gridiron Dreams” was the NFL on NBC theme song.

Anyway, click here to download the last scoped Instrumental Invasion aircheck of 2022, or listen below:

See you in 2023!

Photos from Dutchess County trip, drive back home October 28, 2022

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Baseball, Biking, Comedy, Film, Fire, Health, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Politics, Radio, Running, Sci-Fi, Sports, Technology, Travel, Video, Video Games, Weather.
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In two of my Homecoming Weekend posts (live show, main post), I referenced a family trip to Dutchess County the prior weekend. This post is about that trip.

Back in the spring, my mom sprung the trip on me: a few of my relatives were going to run a race – The Fall Foliage Half Marathon and 5K – in Rhinebeck on the Sunday of Columbus Day Weekend and we would all be put up in a nearby AirBNB. I initially panicked, worried that it would conflict with Homecoming Weekend (henceforth, HCW), but one of my alumni friends assured me the LIU Sharks‘ Homecoming football game would likely be the following weekend. And in recent years, it has been held on the third Saturday of October. My conscience was clear and I was prepared for the trip.

I assumed the AirBNB would be in Rhinebeck and my parents, sister, and I would leave for there on the morning of Friday, October 7. Instead, we were to leave in the mid-afternoon and the house was in Staatsburg. I had an extra day to prepare since I decided not to go to New York Comic Con this year, or ever again, due to my disenchantment with the event and a need to save money for paying off my PC build. (And then, a week later, I went and bought a new camera and related equipment, which I’m still trying to get the hang of.)

I have a mixed record when it comes to time management. More often than not, I mismanage my time, and that’s what I did prior to departure on Friday afternoon. In the days leading up to the weekend, I tried to get as many radio shows recorded as possible to allow for a sizable buffer of weeks ahead. I only managed to produce and record the HCW prerecord and one regular show (November 16). I finished creating the playlist for the live HCW show with only an hour to spare before leaving the house.

Annotations for the live show and next regular show (November 23) were done from my laptop during downtime at the AirBNB. It was not an easy task with constant action at breakfast time or with babies occasionally crying indefinitely, all amplified by the hardwood floors on the main floor. Most of the regular show annotations were done on Sunday evening when I had the house to myself and then in my bedroom with white noise blaring in my earbuds.

Don’t chalk this up to disdain for the experience that weekend. Overall, I had a great time seeing the sights and catching up with relatives.

My parents and I left at 3:15 Friday afternoon and drove five minutes east to pick up my sister at her apartment. Four hours of traffic and spotty cell service later, we arrived at the AirBNB on Connelly Drive in Staatsburg.

For privacy’s sake, I won’t include photos of the house’s interior or of my family, but here are two exterior shots I took Saturday afternoon:

The rest of the post is dedicated to scenery photos taken from Saturday, October 8, to the ride home on Monday, October 10.

First, two more negatives:

  • The Mets completed their unraveling by losing their National League Wild Card Series to the Padres. I found out about their game 1 loss Saturday morning, game 2 win Sunday morning, and game 3 loss seconds after it happened Sunday night. It was extremely demoralizing. I spent five months of my life believing this was the year the Mets would win their third World Series, allowing me not to care if they’d win a fourth in my lifetime. Five months of my life were wasted for nothing, including hours spent editing photos from the two games I attended. Obviously, I won’t make a slideshow of photos from that second game, which turned out to be the apex of the Mets’ season; all downhill from there. I hadn’t thrown away so many months expecting an outcome that didn’t happen since the 2012 presidential election. And I was away from home that night, too, at a family friend’s house in Rockville Centre, waiting for power to be restored back at my Wantagh home. (It was the next afternoon.) (11/1 UPDATE: Whoops, forgot to note power was lost during Sandy. I wrote about my experience here.) Incidentally, that family friend now lives an hour north of where we were and she met up with us Sunday in downtown (village) Rhinebeck.
  • In another case of time mismanagement, I hurriedly and anxiously shaved my face and neck on Saturday and Sunday, making everyone wait before we could drive to wherever we were going. I cut myself in multiple places, and contemplated going back to an electric razor after nearly 20 years of a manual razor with five-blade cartridges. My dad generously bought one for me as an early birthday present on Monday morning. As of publication, I’m still mastering it. Most of my face is easy to shave, but I can’t get all the hairs off my neck, above my chin, or below my sideburns.

Now for the photos. Saturday morning, October 8, included a trip to the Kesicke Farm Fall Festival (more alliteration) in Rhinebeck. One day after warm and slightly humid conditions, conditions were sunny and breezy with temperatures in the 50s. I brought a winter hat and light gloves on the trip, but only needed the gloves.

A plane taking off from nearby Hudson Valley Regional Airport
A pumpkin still on the vine
A mama pig and her piglets
Emus
Donkeys
Sheep
Peacocks (I was the only making NBC jokes around them)
A rooster, and it actually crowed!
A rooster and hen
Peacock vs. hen
Goats
And lastly, a horse

Returning to the AirBNB:

Sunday, October 9, brought us back to Rhinebeck. I packed my camcorder and tripod on Friday because I thought we’d be watching the end of the races Sunday. I thought wrong. I did use the camcorder Saturday afternoon to record soccer practice with my sister and our cousin. We did, however, walk up and down Market Street in Rhinebeck. That made me think of a song bearing that name by Yellowjackets from the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home soundtrack. Of course, the film was based in San Francisco, not Rhinebeck, but Rhinebeck was the location of Spyro Gyra‘s last album of original music to date, The Rhinebeck Sessions.

Another pair of road signs on the way back to Staatsburg:

While I was walking through Rhinebeck, my dad biked to and from the Ashokan Reservoir via the Ashokan Rail Trail. Those are the first two photos below. He took the third Sunday evening while everyone but me traveled to the Walkway Over the Hudson. (I stayed in Staatsburg.)

Monday morning, October 10, I spotted three wild turkeys walking through the AirBNB’s backyard. I went outside to take photos with my phone, and ended up following them several yards into the woods.

This is how far I got from the backyard.

Trembling from excitement and anxiety (I wanted to go home), I shot this shaky video:

We left for Wantagh at around 10:30 AM. These photos were taken on the way to the Taconic State Parkway:

On the parkway:

I-84:

I-684 (briefly in Connecticut):

  • No longer content with my phone’s 3x zoom, I switched to my DSLR.

I-287:

The Hutchinson River Parkway/I-678 (supplementing my photos from May 1):

The Cross Island Parkway:

And finally, the Grand Central Parkway/Northern State Parkway:

  • The last photo of the trip

It took less than 2 1/2 hours to drive from Staatsburg to Wantagh. After a short treadmill run to compensate for Friday’s shortened run, I tried my best to unwind. I edited Saturday’s and Sunday’s photos at the AirBNB, but took care of Monday’s photos at my remote location on Tuesday and Wednesday (October 11 and 12). After uploading the scenery photos (and selfie) to WordPress and making a rough draft of this post with only the photos, I shifted my focus to HCW (Homecoming Weekend, if you forgot) and finally wrote a recap on the 24th, publishing today, the 28th. Thank you for reading it all and I hope you liked the photos.