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WCWP honored at 2024 Legends of Long Island Music Awards November 26, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Food, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Rock, Travel, Video.
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Last Tuesday night, November 19, WCWP – LIU Post‘s public radio FM station – was among many honorees at the 2024 Legends of Long Island Music Awards. The ceremony was hosted by Good Times Magazine and the Long Island Music Business Organization. It was held at The Bayview in Freeport on the southern end of Woodcleft Avenue (near Richmond Street). Woodcleft Avenue is known colloquially as the Nautical Mile because its .85 land mile length is within .02 miles of the nautical unit of distance.

This was another homecoming of sorts for me (2024 WCWP/LIU Post Homecoming Weekend recap), as the Chimeri family part-owned and operated Ehrhart’s Clam House and Bar in the center of the Nautical Mile (adjacent to Suffolk Street) from the fall of 1970 through their sale in the spring of 2004. (Jeremy’s Ale House is where the Clam House was and Hurricane Harry’s replaced Ehrhart’s Bar.) The Chimeri family went on to run Water Lilly’s Waterside Cafe a block and a half to the north (before Hamilton Street) from the summer of 2004 through some time in 2009. (Halfway Down stands where Water Lilly’s used to be.)

Whether or not you could make the sold out Legends of Long Island Music Awards, this was the program with all honorees listed (not in order of presentation):

Good Times Magazine founder and publisher Rich Branciforte served as host, and presented WCWP station manager Dan Cox with the station’s award about halfway through the ceremony.

Now that you’ve seen the video, see photos taken before and during the honor below.

  • Standing above table 23 are Bobby Guthenberg and George Walsh (whose promo flyer for Knockin’ on Dylan’s Door was seen in the preivous photo). Grandfather Rock Chris MacIntosh (Rock ‘N Soul Gospel) is seated at the table while Pat Kroll can be seen at table 25.
  • The Wave program director Avery Cochikas takes a group selfie at table 25. Pat Kroll is visible in the upper left next to station manager Dan Cox, LIU director of development annual fund Joan Yonke, and Audrey Varnas. Woody Collins (Trawling the Decades) and his wife Jan are in the foreground at table 25.
  • George Walsh talks to Rick Lucidi (Rick’s Ranch Radio) and Rich Solomon (Taking Care of Business).
  • Bobby G. with Grandfather Rock Chris MacIntosh and Audrey Varnas
  • Among those in this photo are Cindy Schwartz (Rockin’ History), Vince Randazzo, WCWP station manager Dan Cox, Pat Kroll, Jeff Kroll, Audrey Varnas, The Wave program director Avery Cochikas, and LIU director of development annual fund Joan Yonke
  • Rich Solomon, George Walsh, Rick Lucidi, Bobby Guthenberg, Chris MacIntosh, Woody Collins, Dan Cox
  • Good Times Magazine founder Rich Branciforte introduces Dan Cox to accept WCWP’s honoree award.
  • Dan’s acceptance speech

I remain grateful for the opportunity to document the history of WCWP by chronicling events like this. It was an even bigger thrill to do so at a venue on a street with sentimental and nostalgic value in a village where I lived 11 years of my life and where my family (myself included) has worked for over half a century.

Congratulations to WCWP and thank you to the Legends of Long Island Music Awards for honoring the station.

2024 LIU Post & WCWP Homecoming Weekend October 4, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Baseball, Books, Football, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Pop, Radio, Rock, smooth jazz, Sports, Travel, Video.
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Ted David’s photo of the LIU Post west entrance
My photo of the Abrams Communications Center, as seen Saturday afternoon before an open house and barbecue

Last year, due to ongoing renovation of the Abrams Communications Center on the campus of LIU Post, WCWP‘s Homecoming Weekend programming block was cancelled. This year, it was back, running from September 20 at noon through September 22 at midnight. Coinciding with the LIU Sharks football team‘s Homecoming game against the University of Rhode Island Rams, this was the first Homecoming Weekend block overseen by returning station manager Dan Cox since 2021 and first coordinated by alumni Jeff and Pat Kroll since 2019.

Those who attended the WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony on June 1 were given a tour of the Abrams renovation afterward. More alumni would have a chance to see the changes this time.

As the unofficial station historian, a title bestowed upon me by Bill Mozer, I would document this weekend from start to finish, through videos, photos, and airchecks. The airchecks were mostly recorded off the FM internet stream at my Wantagh home via desktop PCs in my bedroom and the guest room. Exceptions are the first four hours of programming Friday and Bernie Bernard’s show after the football game Saturday. For those, I recorded at WCWP using Adobe Audition on my laptop, which was connected to USB phono preamp connected via a Y-adapter to a Sangean radio’s aux out port. The home recordings were done through Audacity and edited in Adobe Audition.

I always seem to develop anxiety ahead of an impending workload, and that was again the case on Thursday, September 19. I had temporarily limited my Twitch streaming schedule to one stream a week to focus on covering Homecoming Weekend and all the post-production to follow. I also, muted all the Discord chat servers I was in and turned off notifications on the many channels I followed and/or subscribed to. I needed to be calm going into the weekend and focus on the task at hand.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

With all my batteries charged and equipment packed, my mother Lisa drove me up to LIU Post just after 11AM. Once I arrived and entered WCWP, I unpacked and began setting up in studio 3 for the first show of Homecoming Weekend. Project Independence and You! was wrapping up its regularly-scheduled show in studio 2.

Homecoming Weekend led off at noon with Art Beltrone’s interview show.

Art was the first student voice heard on WCWP after its carrier-current station sign-on at noon on October 18, 1961.

Jeff Kroll was the engineer and co-host.

  • Art’s first alumni guests were Bill Rozea…
  • …and Bill’s wife April, members of C.W. Post first graduating class in 1959.
  • Art Beltrone presented April Rozea with a bouquet of roses. (Art’s wife Lee is seated in the background.)
  • Between interviews, Jeff played “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis Presley, to the delight of the Bill and April Rozea.

Bill Rozea speaking with Art’s next guest, Vinnie Salamone:

Art’s interview with Vinnie Salamone:

Bernie Bernard was next:

  • She also received a bouquet of flowers.
  • Jeff led the interview with Bernie.

The next four photos are courtesy of Ted David while he dropped by studio 3:

  • Jeff’s wife Pat Kroll produced and coordinated Art’s show.

Art Beltrone’s other guests included Stewart Ain, via Zoom (a fifth photo by Ted David)…

Jeannie Moon…

John LiBretto and Hank Neimark…

  • Hank was the first voice on WCWP-FM when it signed on at 4PM on March 16, 1965.

…and Steve Radoff, via Zoom:

After Hank, John, and Steve were interviewed, I gathered my equipment and headed for studio 2 to set up for my live edition of Instrumental Invasion at 2PM.

Here is Art’s full show, minus most of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”:

Aside from the guests listed above, Art spoke to Jon Benson (via Zoom) and Greg Tarone.

Portions of the above aircheck were synced to video I shot on a pair of Panasonic HC-X1500 camcorders, with occasional photo cutaways.

Click here for a recap of my live Instrumental Invasion, with corresponding photos, scoped aircheck, and video. (The link to the midnight prerecorded show comes later in this post.)

Hank Neimark and John LiBretto returned to the airwaves at 4PM to host Strictly Jazz. Jon Korkes served as the third host, appearing via Zoom, and Jeff Kroll was once again engineer.

  • Jon Korkes’s Zoom window (the text below him is burned in to the monitor)

Here are Jeff, John, and Hank after the show:

Now for the scoped aircheck of Strictly Jazz:

As you’ll see in the composite aircheck video, Hank and John interviewed me at one point:

I changed “Composite aircheck” to “Portions” due to title character limits

After becoming obsessed with “My Attorney Bernie” by Dave Frishberg during the drafting of this post, I realized I left the end of the song from the scoped aircheck in the video before jumping to my interview.

As Strictly Jazz proceeded in studio 2, I took two other photos in the lobby:

  • WCWP station manager Dan Cox (center) with LIU senior philanthropic advisor Charles Rasberry (left) and Neil Marks (right)
  • Neil Marks, John Zoni, Andrew Scarpaci, and Travis Demers prepping for the Homecoming game broadcast

John Zoni had the next show at 7PM Friday:

Jay Mirabile followed at 9PM with a special edition of The DFK Show. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a photo of him while I was on campus and he didn’t take one during his show. So, here’s a photo from 2013:

The scoped aircheck is from this year.

There are more alumni hosts below who were not individually photographed (Chris MacIntosh is in a two-shot) by me or anyone else this weekend, and I will include a photo if I have one to go along with their scopes.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21

As the clock struck midnight, my prerecorded three-hour edition of Instrumental Invasion commenced. Click here for that show’s recap, but I’ll say here it was the first time I’d hosted a three-hour show since filling in for Martin Phillips on Thursday Night Jazz in October 2009.

At 3AM, there was Magick Mike Hendryx, seen here live in 2016 following my live Instrumental Invasion:

John Commins was the last of the prerecorded shows early Saturday, airing at 5AM. This was John in 2017:

Jeff Jensen had Saturday’s first live show at 7AM back in studio 2. He’s seen here in 2019:

We now jump ahead to later in the morning atop the Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium prior to the LIU Sharks-Rhode Island Rams game.

This set of photos were taken by Pat Kroll:

  • Jeff and Pat Kroll
  • Jeff Kroll and Neil Marks
  • Travis Demers handled play-by-play in the 2nd and 3rd quarters while Jeff
    Kroll took the 1st and 4th quarters. Neil Marks analyzed.

The Homecoming game kicked off at noon, and I arrived on campus about half an hour later, setting down my equipment at the Abrams Communications Center.

Then, I took out my Canon EOS R7 and swapped the RF-S 18-150mm lens (a replacement after the Long Island Retro Gaming Expo mishap) with an RF 100-400mm lens. That plan worked for photos of the football field, but for everything else, I’d have to back up a long way for anything close to me.

First, a photo in the parking lot:

And one by the entrance:

When I arrived, it was halftime, and Vinnie Salamone got his second interview of Homecoming Weekend.

Listen to the interview here:

As halftime wound down, Jeff Kroll, Neil Marks, and Travis Demers recapped the first half, told stories, and remarked on the state of WCWP.

Thank you, Travis, for the shoutout to me and Jay Mirabile.

My photos atop the press box alternated between my EOS R7 and iPhone 13 Pro.

  • The LIU marching band’s halftime performance
  • The opposite end of the stadium
  • Until ten nights earlier at Freeport’s 9/11 memorial ceremony, I was unaware that Bronko Pearsall was one of the 343 FDNY firefighters lost that September morning in 2001. Pearsall was among the names read by Amanda Muldowney, sister-in-law of Richie Muldowney.
  • Practice kicks…
  • The LIU marching band gets back in position in the stands.
  • The LIU Sharks returned to the field…
  • …followed by the Rams of URI.
  • Jeff Kroll always managed to spot me taking a candid shot, leading to a posed photo.
  • Travis Demers, Neil Marks, and Jeff Kroll prepare for the second half, as heard in the earlier clip.
  • The second half kickoff
  • Travis Demers calling the action with Jeff Kroll analyzing and Pat Kroll producing
  • Neil Marks watched on during the third quarter, and would rejoin Jeff and Travis in the fourth.
  • Travis’s view of the field
  • A final photo at the stadium before returning to WCWP

The Sharks led the Rams 21-14, but went on to lose 28-21. The key moment came late in the fourth quarter. One play after the Sharks recovered a Rams fumble at the 1-yard line, the Sharks fumbled the ball back to Rhode Island at the 5. The Rams tied, and went ahead on their next possession. At least it was an exciting game for Jeff, Neil, and Travis to call.

“Highlights” were run during the postgame show, emanating from studio 3 and atop the stadium press box.

John Zoni handled the out-of-town scoreboard…

…and Andrew Scarpaci narrated the highlights:

Programming returned to studio 2 at 3PM with Bernie Bernard. Here are photos taken while setting up:

  • To the left of Bernie is Jett Lightning. Bobby Guthenberg (a.k.a. Bobby G.) and Larry Brodsky are to the right of her.
  • Bobby G. helped Bernie set up (Photo by Hugh Hammill)
  • Photo by Hugh Hammill

The photos were taken after Bernie’s show began.

  • Hugh Hammill is pictured talking to WCWP station manager Dan Cox with Bernie Bernard prepping the next CD to play. Jeff Kroll is standing on the right and Bernie’s sister Melissa is seating facing away in the foreground.
  • Ward Henry and Bernie Bernard (Photo by Hugh Hammill)
  • Bernie’s view of Wavecart (Photo by Hugh Hammill)
  • Larry Brodsky and Jeff Kroll (after Jeff spotted me taking a candid)
  • Travis Demers, Frank Iemitti (capital I; with his back to the camera), John Zoni, John Mullen, Dave Fleischer

I neglected to shoot video, but WCWP station manager Dan Cox addressed the gathered alumni outside at the barbecue.

  • Dan was joined by Kerry Kruckel, LIU vice president for university advancement.
  • This photo includes Joan Yonke (center), LIU director of development and
    annual fund, and Art and Lee Beltrone to the right of Joan.
  • Grandfather Rock Chris MacIntosh and Dan Cox listen to Ms. Kruckel’s complimentary remarks.
  • Dan was equally complimentary.

Back inside studio 2…

  • Bernie Bernard at the board
  • Chris MacIntosh joined Jett, Ward, Bernie, Melissa, and Hugh.
  • Me with my Panasonic HC-X1500 camcorders. One had a handle unit attachment, and a great shotgun mic and tripod. The other had an okay tripod and no external mic or handle unit.
  • Unfortunately, I forgot to hit record on those camcorders before Bernie interviewed me. Thankfully, Melissa Bernard took the next three photos that I used in the video you’ll see in a little while.
  • “I was born in the ’80s!”
  • Tony and Winnie Traguardo also dropped by.
  • Before Mike Riccio and Bobby G.’s radio show, Bernie tried to stump Mike on who sang covers of two songs.
  • Mike went 1 for 2.

John Zoni told me a story about he came to be involved in coverage of the C.W. Post Pioneers/LIU Sharks Homecoming game, as well as encountering Bill Mozer immediately before and after the university fired Bill as station manager in 1990.

As John and I continued to talk, I could hear Bernie wrapping up her show. So, I rushed back into studio 2 to record camcorder videos.

Here is a scope of the entire show:

And a composite aircheck video:

Outside the studio, a photo of Dan Cox (right) with Winnie and Tony Traguardo:

A candid shot of Bobby G. and Jeff Kroll:

Bobby took a photo of me and Jeff:

I should note I bought that blue and gold LIU polo on my way out of the stadium. I chose to wear a green and gold LIU Post shirt that predated the “One LIU” athletics merger and move to NCAA Division I, but it felt wrong wearing that shirt. I changed into the new one when I got back to WCWP.

Pat Kroll took this photo of me and John Zoni:

She also found a CD in my name in one of the station mail slots, per this photo taken over a week later:

The artist said there was one instrumental track for me to play on Instrumental Invasion, unaware that my weekly run ended last November.

Anyway, it was on to Mike Riccio and Bobby G. at 6:02 PM. The theme this year was songs from 1961 to 1989 albums that have been streamed the most on Spotify. Bobby, Jett Lightning, and Bernie Bernard had to guess what the most-streamed song was before Mike began each set.

  • Mike Riccio
  • Bobby G.
  • Jett Lightning
  • A posed photo of Jett Lightning
  • Bernie Bernard returned to studio 2 by the 1970s portion of the show.

Before I packed up my equipment and left for home, I got a photo of Mike Riccio and Bobby G.:

Here is a scope of most of their show. I edited out a talk break I intruded on and would like to forget.

And a composite aircheck video of all but that one talk break during their first 82 minutes:

Vince Randazzo came on at 9:03 PM with Alternative Jukebox. Yet again, I dip into the archives for a photo of him, taken at the 2022 WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony:

He even played “Hot to Go!” by Chappell Roan.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

Photos from Sunday are courtesy of Pat Kroll and Ted David.

I airchecked the last 18 hours of the weekend, beginning at 6AM with a pre-record of The Aural Fix Transmission with Mike Ferrari:

From here on out, everything was live, beginning at 8AM with Jay LaPrise:

The Ladies of Prison Break Radio, Jamie Mazzo and Sara Dorchak were next at 10:02 AM.

Photo by Pat Kroll

At 12:01 PM, it was Joe “Joseph P.” Honerkamp:

  • Photo by Ted David
  • Jeff Kroll, Ted David, Joe Honerkamp (photo by Pat Kroll)
I appreciated “Take Five,” Joe. Thank you.

It was Ted David’s turn at 1:59 PM:

Selfie by Ted

Thank you, Ted, for complimenting me and Travis Demers.

Ted, in turn, was followed by Lew Scharfberg at 4PM (photos by Pat Kroll):

  • Lew’s show was one of many on Homecoming Weekend engineered by Jeff Kroll.

Alana (seen below in 2022) hosted a special edition of The Rockin’ Sunday Show at 6:01 PM:

Grandfather Rock Chris MacIntosh was here with Rock ‘N’ Soul Gospel at 7:59 PM:

And Billy the Kid closed out Homecoming Weekend at 10:02 PM with Masters of Metal.

Post-production, no pun intended, began on the morning of September 23 and concluded on the morning of October 4 with publication of this post and the Instrumental Invasion posts.

Thank you very much for reading all the way to the end. In spite of any anxiety and stress, documenting events like this is a labor of love. I’m already looking forward to next Homecoming Weekend, but before then, WCWP celebrates its 60th anniversary as an FM station this March. I’ll surely have a recap of that.

Cheers to WCWP, the Abrams Communications Center, LIU Post, my fellow alumni, and the faculty I’ve gotten to know. I’ll see you soon.

10/5 UPDATE: I have a public Google Drive folder with airchecks and scopes of the Homecoming Weekend programs I recorded, while station manager Dan Cox has a folder with unscoped airchecks of all programming.

Instrumental Invasion, 9/20/24, 2PM (Homecoming Weekend) (Live!) October 4, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Livestream, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, smooth jazz, Travel, Video.
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Other posts: 9/21 12AM prerecorded show recap, comprehensive Homecoming Weekend recap

The live edition of Instrumental Invasion for WCWP‘s alumni-run Homecoming Weekend programming block aired at 2PM Friday, between Art Beltrone’s interview show and Strictly Jazz, WCWP’s longest-running program, dating back to the pre-FM carrier-current days when it was hosted by John March. The hosts of Strictly Jazz that followed me were Hank Neimark (“NEE-mark”), John LiBretto, and Jon Korkes (“CORE-kiss”) (via Zoom). You’ll see Hank and engineer Jeff Kroll at the end of the video below.

Before I get into how this Instrumental Invasion show was made and share photos taken during the show, let’s get the scoped aircheck out of the way…

…along with the aforementioned video.

The playlist for the live Instrumental Invasion was created July 24, long before a rough schedule was announced by Jeff and Pat Kroll, the Homecoming Weekend coordinators. I assumed I would be hosting one live show – intended for music from new releases – and one prerecord – the 60-year musical journey. So, I figured I’d get the presumed prerecord playlist out of the way and would work on the presumed live show playlist as the weekend approached.

The initial schedule was announced on August 12. I’d be live at 2PM, but didn’t see my name in an overnight slot. In a first for Homecoming Weekend, I made the 60-year musical journey the playlist for the live show, tweaking it slightly. I tweaked further on August 23. There would still be one song each between 1964 and ’89, and two songs for 1994 to 2004, but I scrapped the old plan of three songs each from 2009, ’14, and ’19. The 2024 song to close the remained, preceded by a set of three more songs from this year. 2009, ’14, and ’19 were winnowed down to pairs.

Annotations began August 23 after printing out the playlist, continuing on the 25th, 28th, and September 16. As in 2022, I didn’t make a script. I read the annotations, adding a Dancing with the Stars reference during the set with “Tropical Rain” by Jessy J (in that show’s Ray Chew Live house band). Otherwise, I spoke off the cuff. (It’s a shame that 1982 Weather Report video was pulled from YouTube after I watched it.)

I was the first show of the weekend to air from studio 2 at the renovated Abrams Communications Center. Here are photos I took during the first set of hour 2:

As “Beat Street” by David Benoit and Spice Fusion Big Band played, I had Jeff Kroll take a photo of me at the controls, just as he would be moments later.

A 16:9 crop of this served as the YouTube video thumbnail.

Hank Neimark is seen phoning Jon Korkes to set him up on Zoom.

My only regret about the show is that my remix of the WCWP Oldtimers Weekend liner was not in Wavecart. The original was in there and played “Machine Gun” by The Commodores at a slower speed. This is “Machine Gun” (excerpted portion at 1:32):

And this is my remixed liner:

(The Homecoming Weekend moniker was adopted once the programming block coincided with then-C.W. Post‘s Homecoming.)

That aside, dragging and dropping liners in was easy, and I enjoyed using the “WCWP Remembers [year]” liners.

Just when I thought this would be the only show I’d have on Homecoming Weekend, Jeff Kroll called me September 3 to say he needed a three-hour prerecord to fill time early Saturday or Sunday morning. You can read about that show here.

2024 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo recap: conclusion and pickups August 21, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Books, Education, History, Internet, Personal, Photography, Technology, Travel.
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If you haven’t seen them yet, read the first post here and second post here.

CONCLUSION
I mingled for a bit after in the guest table area after Leonard Herman‘s panel, then returned to the vendor marketplace for more games to buy. I texted my mom to come pick me up, said my goodbyes, and exited the Cradle of Aviation Museum:

  • My last photo of the weekend before getting in Mom’s car, bound for home

When I got home I took photos of my weekend badge…:

I still need to use that QR code.

…and pickups, starting with merchandise:

Thank you again to Ryan Shapiro and the LI Retro staff for gifting me with a backpack, pin, sticker, program, and t-shirt. I greatly appreciate the gesture after the mishaps I endured over the weekend.

I built up a $400 budget for merchandise, games, and maybe even consoles or accessories. I also brought two games I was unable to sell on eBay in the hopes of selling them to a vendor in the marketplace. I only got $10 for Knowledge is Power (PlayStation 4) and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition (PS5), but I was just glad to get rid of them. After struggling with games like the PS4 port of Celeste and (in my debut stream) the Xbox One port of Dark Souls: Remastered, it seemed pointless to keep games in my collection that I was terrible at or had no desire to play. (The Spider-Man games fell into the latter category.) So, my budget became $410.

I spent $105 on merchandise, with all but the My Life in Gaming t-shirt purchased Saturday. (I brought the M2: Complete Works Blu-ray for Coury and Try to sign after buying from them last February.)

That left $305 for games. I went to an ATM for an extra $40 (plus a $4 surcharge). Combined with a $5 bill from my wallet, I went $45 over budget. I’ve done worse in prior years, so I consider that a victory.

I successfully haggled with each vendor, saving me at least $50.

I bought a whopping 16 games for the Nintendo Entertainment System:

I finally bought individual carts for Super Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt, on the combo cart that came with my Zapper Set in February 1990, and I bought the triple combo cart for the Power Pad Set.

The games in alphabetical order, with purchase day in italicized parentheses:

Six of the NES games have appeared in Angry Video Game Nerd episodes, and seven appeared in Pat the NES Punk episodes. The Black Box releases were all in one episode.

Like last year, I bought two Super Nintendo games, both on Saturday.

Three for Sega Genesis:

One game per day for PlayStation:

Now, the only mainline Tekken games I don’t have are 2 and 8, and I still need the original Gran Turismo and 5.

My lone Wii U game was Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.

This wasn’t the end of buying, though. I passed up on To the Earth and Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? for NES (the latter game had a cracked a shell). When I bought the triple combo NES cart and World Class Track Meet from one vendor, she offered the Power Pad. Just as I was about to buy, a young man behind me lamented that he wanted it. So, I graciously declined and let him buy it. And I couldn’t find a copy of Ridge Racer 6. I rectified all of that on eBay in the days after LI Retro.

Wednesday, August 14, I bought To the Earth and Where in Time…?, I snagged a Power Pad on Thursday, August 15, and bought Ridge Racer 6 on Saturday, August 17. As of publication, I only have the Power Pad and To the Earth, which I photographed Monday, August 19 (updated at 4:05 PM August 21 with Ridge Racer 6 and on August 24 with Where in Time…?):

Thank you for taking another photographic journey through the 2024 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. Until next year, you can catch me on Twitch. Maybe I’ll be playing a game I picked up this year.

2024 Long Island Retro Gaming expo recap: touring the expo August 21, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Computer, History, Personal, Photography, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.
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If you haven’t viewed the first recap post yet, click here. Skip ahead to the third recap here.

The vendor marketplace photos were taken both days while the exhibits were all taken Sunday.

Let the tour begin.

FIRST FLOOR
Walking in:

Vendor Marketplace:

I had a nice conversation with Tessa on Sunday before buying Tekken 3.
The Glen’s Retro Show table featured a light gun that can be used on modern TVs.
Jeff (left) was there to promote the light gun, a GRS Sinden Target Pro.

EON Gaming:

First floor artwork:

First floor signs:

Hangar Arcade:

PC Freeplay:

Best believe it’s still Bejeweled. (Sorry. As a Swiftie, that’s where my mind goes.)

Console Freeplay:

Virtua Cop on a Disney TV. Who’da thunk it?
I was in the area too early for tournaments.
NFL Blitz and Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, two classics. (Admittedly, I like Blitz more, especially 2001.)

Dreamcast Indie Section:

Sho’s number 1!

PokéLab:

The Hall of Oddities:

Vintage ads:

WeatherSTAR 4000 simulations:

Returning to civilization after nearly getting lost on the first floor:

SECOND FLOOR
I briefly caught up with LI Retro staff member George Portugal while walking this floor.

High Score Challenge

Indie/Homebrew Showcase

Gaming Console Timeline

Ahra is in this photo. I’d meet her Sunday afternoon at Leonard Herman’s panel.

The Arcade Age Exhibit

More NFL Blitz, this time in arcade form
The Simpsons arcade game, and NBA Jam, another Midway game featuring the voice talents of Tim Kitzrow.
Computer Space, the first arcade video game

Other things on the second floor:

LI Retro garnered media coverage from News 12 Long Island.

A view from the stairs to the third floor:

THIRD FLOOR
25 Years of the Sega Dreamcast

That’s the end of the tour. All that remains is the third recap post with a conclusion and pickups photos, including what I picked up after LI Retro.

2024 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo: introduction, guests, mishaps, panels August 21, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Aviation, Books, Computer, Education, Game Shows, History, Internet, Media, Personal, Photography, Podcast, Radio, Technology, Travel, Video, Video Games.
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Feel free to skip ahead to the second post (touring the expo) or third post (conclusion and pickups).

INTRODUCTION
2024 was my sixth year at Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, held in the Cradle of Aviation Museum, on the right end of Museum Row in East Garden City. This was also the first year that Flagstar bank had naming rights. That’s evident in the first photo below, taken as my mom pulled off Charles Lindbergh Boulevard at 9:45 AM on Saturday, August 10.

LI Retro, the expo’s shorthand, launched Friday, August 9, at 4PM, but since the expansion to three days (or 2 1/2) in 2022, I’ve forgone the Friday leg.

Tickets went on sale all the way back at the end of December and I was quick to secure my weekend badge, even though it would be months before attendees even knew who the guests would be.

Once announced, Long Island Retro Gaming Expo’s 2024 guest list was a mix of mainstays, newcomers, and returnees. Naturally, author/publisher Leonard Herman, Mark Baer (middle child of videogame pioneer Ralph Baer), Frank Cifaldi (Video Game History Foundation) and Jeremy Parish (Retronauts, Limited Run Games) would be there. G Gracin (G to the Next Level) returned for the second year in a row, this time with Greg Sewart (Generation 16). Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson were back for their fourth consecutive LI Retro. (There was a gap between their first and second years due to COVID postponements in 2020 and ’21.) The Immortal John Hancock was back for the first time since 2018. (I met Lenny Herman through the panel he and John co-hosted that year.) And it was the second appearance of Coury Carlson and Marc “Try4ce (‘triforce‘)” Duddleson of My Life in Gaming, having first appeared in 2019.

If you remember my disappointment last year when spotting Clint Basinger (LGR) walking through the vendor marketplace after the expo while editing photos, I was pleased to see he was a guest this year!

Two other notable guests were Warren Davis, the creator of Q*Bert “and other classic video arcade games” (as his book title notes), and legendary Nintendo marketer Gail Tilden. I was not able to attend Warren’s Saturday evening panel, though I met him at his table in the morning as you’ll see in that portion of this post. Gail had a free-form panel on Saturday evening and an interview panel on Sunday, the latter of which I attended.

Ahead of Saturday morning, I packed a printout of my badge retrieval code, my Canon EOS R7 with RF-S 18-150mm lens and Speedlite 430EX II, TASCAM DR-05X, and stenographer pad with pen. (I never used those last two.) I was anxious that my compulsive nature would lead to as many photos as last year. The bad news is I was right. The good news is the total over three cameras (you’ll read the why of that quantity later in the post) was 697 photos. This time, however, 617 were chosen to spread out over three blog posts, not counting scans or photos taken after Sunday.

Since last year’s Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, I have begun streaming on Twitch at least four days a week. Gaming is the channel’s main focus with occasional “media production” streams where I work on radio shows or edit photos from events like this. I spent a whole week editing photos in April after returning from Smooth Jazz for Scholars. While the initial plan was to do the expo photo editing off stream and go on hiatus until I was finished, I opted instead for occasional streams to report on my editing progress and show all games and merchandise I picked up. Thanks to a quicker editing process, only two of those streams were required before returning to gaming. The first stream – Wednesday, August 14 – dovetailed into saving smaller versions of watermarked photos (“© Mike Chimeri” on the lower left) edited that day. And with only 96 photos left to edit going into Saturday, August 17, that became the sole photo editing stream.

ARRIVING AT THE MUSEUM
Several paragraphs ago, I said I arrived at the Flagstar Cradle of Aviation Museum at 9:45 AM Saturday. After my mom dropped me off in the parking lot to the left of the roundabout, I took an establishing shot of the museum, unaware that my folded badge code printout was visible in the bottom left. So, I took another shot Sunday morning:

The photos in this gallery are from Saturday.

Badge retrieval area
A staff member instructs attendees waiting in line.
He got a kick out of this Link cosplayer’s sign.
Seconds before 10AM
Entering the museum
A hearty welcome after my bag check
(NOTE: Lucas Thomas, Nintendo Force magazine founder, is seen entering on the right in the penultimate photo. Little did I know I’d see him again Sunday afternoon.)

On the way to the guest table area, I ran into Timothy (a.k.a. Sho), a fellow My Life in Gaming fan. We met in person in 2019 and I had to get a selfie this time:

GUEST TABLE PHOTOS

Entering the guest area, with additional vendors on the opposite side, whom you’ll see in the second post; Panel Room 2 is out of view to the right

Photos in this section were taken Saturday and Sunday. You can tell which day by what we’re wearing.

Warren Davis
Warren and I didn’t talk much – so, no magic tricks – but I introduced myself and gladly bought a copy of Creating Q*bert for him to sign. I told him on Sunday that I bought a copy of Q*bert’s NES port in his honor. He thanked me for that. (More on pickups in the third post.)

Clint Basinger (LGR)
It was honor to meet Clint in person. As I told him, I’ve been a fan of LGR for years, and that we both have the distinction of reading quotes in Gaming Historian videos. (I was in The Story of Link’s Awakening, per a blog post.) We commiserated over Norman Caruso’s April announcement that he was stepping back from pursuing his YouTube channel full time (but not retiring). (Norm went out in style with his magnum opus, The Story of The Oregon Trail, a video years in the making.) I told Clint that I unknowingly photographed him last year and thought about printing a copy for him to sign, but opted not to.

Clint with his Panasonic SuperDisk PalmCam PV-SD4090, the subject of a future LGR video. Maybe you’ll see the selfie we took with it. (8/23 UPDATE: Yes. Video added below.)
Prior to that selfie, I took one with my EOS R7. Dissatisfied with my appearance, I made tweaks in Photoshop.

8/23 UPDATE: Today, that future video became a present video.

The LI Retro portion begins around the 10:20 mark and the selfie compilation includes me, Coury Carlson, Adam Koralik (more on him in the John Hancock segment), and Frank Cifaldi.
A screenshot of our selfie

Thinking Clint would be at the expo on Sunday, as well, I brought my PlayStation 3 copy of Duke Nukem Forever to sign. Alas, he had left after Saturday.

A recent LGR video made me think of my psychologist of 27 years, known to patients like me as Brad. In the mid ’90s, Brad had an Acer Aspire. If I remember correctly, it was the same color as Clint’s. (Brad retired in 2018 and I’ve had another therapist since 2019.)

9/6 UPDATE: Clint went into greater detail about LI Retro in the vlog below.

The Immortal John Hancock
I reacquainted myself with John on Saturday – fresh from Retrocon in São Paulo, Brazil! (John’s Retrocon vlog) – and proudly bought the Genesis port of his original game, Block ‘Em Sock ‘Em, seen in the second photo.

John included a pin and sticker, which I put inside the Block ‘Em Sock ‘Em case.
Adam Koralik returned this year as a paid attendee. I go by Mike Camera on his Discord and introduced myself as such on Sunday. He recognized me immediately. I had to get a photo with him and his good friend John.

Check out John’s LI Retro vlog. He saw exhibits that I missed, and thus won’t be seen in my second post.

Give Adam Koralik a look, too.

Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson
I was not a fan of either Pat or Ian prior to their LI Retro debut in 2019, but I got to know Ian and his wife Vani at their Luna Video Games table, placed between the My Life in Gaming table and Pat’s table. I worked up the courage to meet Pat, buy Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the NES Library and all DVD volumes of early episodes of Pat the NES Punk. That led to an interest in Flea Market Madness and The Video Game Years, and The CU (Completely Unnecessary Podcast). I was even hyped for Pat’s next Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the SNES Library. I wrote reviews for both guides after reading them later in 2019 (NES, SNES).

So, of course, I was thrilled to see them again this year, and ask a question for the third year in a row at their panel/podcast recording.

G Gracin bumping fists with Pat and Ian on Sunday
G brought their Sonic the Hedgehog Interactive Camera for selfies in digital file and thermal print form.
G handing the thermal print to Pat
They got a selfie with Ian, too.
Pat and Ian
Find out why my smile is subdued in the “Mishaps” portion of this post.
Before they departed on Sunday, I snapped a photo of Pat, Daniel Greenberg, Ian, Frank Cifaldi, and Daniel’s wife Alex.

9/2 UPDATE: The latest Flea Market Madness video is embedded below photos of the CU Podcast panel.

G Gracin and Greg Sewart didn’t have a table, but did have a Saturday panel. (Check the “Panels” section of this post for photos.) I posed with them in this photo on Sunday.

I also got the Sonic selfie treatment, in digital form…

…and in thermal print form. I scanned that (left) and used Photoshop’s photo restoration filter to limit the vertical banding (right).

G posted a few YouTube Shorts at LI Retro:

[The first short was removed in 2025.]

There really is so much to see at Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. John Hancock and G saw things that I missed.

I really liked Greg Sewart’s Ridge Racer series retrospective:

I’ve had Ridge Racer 7 since I bought a slim PS3 back in 2018. The video made me seek out Ridge Racer 6 for Xbox 360 when scouring the marketplace at the end of each day.

Since you saw Daniel and Alex Greenberg (Winterion Game Studios) in Pat and Ian’s photo gallery, here is a photo Alex took of Daniel and me after Pat’s CU Podcast Live panel.

Let’s skip ahead one table to the My Life in Gaming duo of Coury Carlson and Mark “Try4ce” Duddleson:

This was last photo of the weekend taken on my EOS R7. Again, the explanation is in the “Mishaps” segment.
I brought my copy of the M2: Complete Works Blu-ray for Coury and Try to sign. Try signed the cover first…
…then Coury.
A photo with the signed cover
Sunday, since shirts were selling well at the MLiG table (myself included), Try decided to splurge on a rare PlayStation game: Koudelka, the first in the Shadow Hearts series.

I spent a lot of down time at the MLiG and Leonard Herman tables (see below). Coury and I talked about photography, while Try and I talked about Backloggery‘s recent 17th anniversary celebration, my multiple raids to the Backloggery Twitch channel, and how I rightly kept dejitter off on my Analogue Nt Mini Noir. Try neglected to do that in the MLiG review of the console back in 2020. (Source: Comment to Analogue Reddit post.) Having dejitter off allowed me to connect my Monoprice VGA-to-composite/S-Video adapter, run a composite cable to my sister’s old Durabrand DWT1304 CRT TV (a Funai-manufactured TV sold by Walmart), and play NES Zapper games in my last two Twitch streams before LI Retro.

9/2 UPDATE: Coury and Try ended August with a new My Life in Gaming video: the second in their Multi-Games Compilations series. It’s worth watching for Try’s LI Retro t-shirt alone.

Leonard Herman

We round out this segment with the Father of Videogame History, Leonard Herman, joined by Patrick Wong and Mark Baer (middle child of videogame pioneer Ralph Baer).

A replica of Ralph Baer’s Brown Box prototype
Mark played tennis on the replica with an attendee.
And after Lenny’s Sunday panel, Patrick took our photo.

I spelled video game as one word because that’s how Ralph Baer spelled it and how Lenny spells it.

Leaving the guest tables behind, it’s panel time!

PANELS

Saturday Panel 1, 11AM-12PM
Panel Room 2
Mark Baer and Leonard Herman
Ralph Baer: His Creative Life in Electronic, Videogames and More

This strayed close to the 2023 presentation, which was the last panel I attended. So, I changed my photographic approach. Before the photos, here are the videos shown during the panel:

Despite the German title, the video is in English.
The panel concluded with the What’s My Line? segment that Mark referenced.
Host Larry Blyden and Bob Fritchie were “Playing ‘Tennis'” on the Magnavox Odyssey
Mark and Lenny shook hands after a panel well done

Before the other panels, a diversion.

Mishaps

It was in between the Ralph Baer panel and the CU Podcast panel that I accidentally knocked my camera off a food court table, breaking my Canon EOS R7’s RF-S 18-150mm lens. The ring attachment stayed on, but the rest of the lens broke off.

It was irrecoverable. The only solution was to buy a replacement lens once I got home, and with a 5-year lens accident warranty. I’m covered if history repeats itself, God forbid.

The lens and UV filter arrived Wednesday morning and a test photo was successful.

I took the rest of Saturday’s photos on my iPhone 13 Pro. Then, Sunday, I shot in RAW for the first time on my Nikon D5500 with a Nikkor 18-300mm lens.

Unfortunately, Sunday had another problem. Patrick Wong from Leonard Herman’s table prepped to take a photo of me with Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson. Ian sprained his ankle and was only at LI Retro that day. After I took the photo of Pat and Ian together, I foolishly chose to take a photo with them to the right of Pat’s table. Ian’s cup of coffee was perched on the right end of that table. As I turned to get into position for the photo, Ian warned “watch the backpack!” The warning was in vein. My bulky backpack knocked the cup over and it spilled on the upper right end of the table. The photo op was aborted, paper towels were summoned, and adjacent merchandise was checked for damage. As all that happened, I felt tremendous guilt and shame. I thought I’d become persona non grata to both of them, and God forbid, would be sued. Thankfully, none of that was true. No merch was damaged, the spill was quickly disposed of, and Pat used hand sanitizer to further clean the affected area. Then, we retreated to a safe spot away from the table for our photo op. Pat and Ian were all smiles in the photo while I was too drained to fully smile. They both assured me everything was fine and not to worry. That’s when I headed to the main theatre for the Gail Force panel.

After that panel, LI Retro staff member Ryan Shapiro gifted me with an expo backpack that contained a pin, sticker, 2024 program, and Asteroids-themed t-shirt. I’ll save the contents photo for the third post, but I’ll show the backpack here, too.

Thank you very much, Ryan.

Now, back to Saturday’s panels.

Saturday, 12:30-1:30 PM
Main Theatre
Pat Contri with Frank Cifaldi (filling in for Ian Ferguson)
CU Podcast Live!

The topic was the sudden end to GameStop’s Game Informer magazine, and the bizarre public relations statement accompanying its demise. (Reactions were compiled in this Resetera thread.)

When the theatre was opened to Q&A, only one person had an Amico-related question. Mine focused on Pat’s Wednesday Twitch streams:

Aside from the podcasts, you’re also on Twitch every Wednesday, watching retro commercials. How did you- What made you decide to go that route instead of streaming games?

Pat responded that it spun off from his NES Charity Marathon (origin of the “Buh-lack Box!” catchphrase), and that he felt relaxed and nostalgic watching things from the past. The TV commercials or promos allow him to recall moments from his past. That led to a discussion about the significance of preserving these moments in the same way video game media is preserved. I chimed in with radio airchecks as an example, but I might not have been heard.

Pat welcomes the assembled crowd.
Frank Cifaldi arrives to fill in for Ian Ferguson
The Kotaku article linked above the gallery
In this photo, the topic is how Game Informer‘s archives were all thrown away.
Q&A time
A shoutout to Daniel and Alex Greenberg. Daniel wrote game reviews in Pat’s Ultimate Nintendo guides.
Panel/podcast complete
A round of applause

As of publication, the podcast is not up in audio or segmented video form. There is, however, Flea Market Madness Volume 49, recorded on Father’s Day (June 16). It features the other Frank, as seen in the thumbnail.

3:51 PM UPDATE: There is audio of the Game Informer discussion, but not the Q&A, starting at the 1:17:25 mark of the latest podcast.

10/28 UPDATE: Video of Pat and Frank’s discussion went up six days after this post was published (August 27).

Saturday, 2PM-3PM
Panel Room 2
G Gracin and Greg Sewart
Growing Up Sega: A Trip Down Sega’s Console Timeline

G’s introduction
Greg’s introduction
A question from the audience
What followed was a chronological journey through Sega’s console history. First, the SG-1000.
The Master System
The game changer: The Sega Genesis, released 35 years ago last week (August 14).
Game Gear and Nomad (portable Genesis)
Sega CD
The 32X
G bought a custom-made Neptune at LI Retro. It’s based on the never-released Genesis/32X hybrid prototype.
Sega Saturn
The Dreamcast
After the Dreamcast, the panel (and Sega’s console history) was complete.
Another round of applause
G and Greg spoke to fans afterward

After browsing and buying from the vendor marketplace, I went home.

I returned a little closer to 10AM on Sunday morning. I still had to wait in line for a bag check; I didn’t mind that.

In lieu of a panel I had in mind at 11AM, I re-photographed areas that were blurry on Saturday, took photos of vendors I missed on Saturday, then toured the exhibits on all three floors. Look for those in the second post.

Sunday, 12:30-1:30 PM
Main Theatre
Gail Tilden, interviewed by Jeremy Parish (Retronauts, Limited Run Games) and Lucas Thomas (Nintendo Force magazine founder)
Gail Force: An Intimate Interview with a Nintendo Legend

The interview initially covered Gail’s involvement in the Nintendo Entertaintment System’s North American launch, beginning in the New York Metro Area in October 1985. Among the locations chosen to carry the NES were Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream. At some events, attendees could play Baseball against either New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling or center fielder Mookie Wilson.

Then, the topic switched to her tenure with Nintendo Power magazine. Lucas asked the audience to give a “whoo!” when their first issue was displayed on the projection screen above them.

Watch the video to see if I misremembered anything. Then, see the photos that I kept bending over to take.

Listen for me at the 7:03 mark.
Jeremy Parish
Gail Tilden
Lucas Thomas
Discussing the first issue of Nintendo Power
LJ, whom I met at a panel in 2019, asked Gail who did the claymation for the first issue’s cover.
He also gave a “woo-hoo!” for the DuckTales cover, a nod to the cartoon series theme song (played at a faster tempo on the title screen).
The Super Mario Bros. 3 strategy guide was technically my first issue, bought by one of my parents at Te’amo convenience store on West Merrick Road in Freeport.
This was the sixth issue I had after first subscribing to Nintendo Power at Volume 70.
Gail’s Nintendo Power journey ended with Volume 100.
And it’s where the panel ended.
Afterward, many people had questions and recollections for Gail…
…and items for her to sign.
I just wanted a photo, which LI Retro staff member Joe Vincent took for me.

Then, it was quickly off to Panel Room 2 for my last panel of the weekend.

Sunday, 2PM-3PM
Panel Room 2
Leonard Herman
The History of the History of Videogames

This was the place to be: a celebration of a man who blazed the trail for videogame history. 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the original Phoenix: The Fall and Rise of Videogames.

Ahra wanted a photo with Lenny beforehand:

Then came a prologue from John Hancock:

“I just want to say this is the reason why I started seriously collecting. … I remember going up to a classic gaming expo, and this gentleman here gave me the 2000 edition, correct? Third edition [of Phoenix]. And this is what started me on my serious collecting journey. And I’m honored that I consider him a friend, a close friend, a good guy. And I want to say, like, this book changed my collecting trajectory. And you know, this gentleman is really a big contributor to getting some serious facts of videogame history in a serious book. And I’m just honored. So, I want to just thank you for all you’ve done. He needs to be remembered. And I will continue that, like how you promoted and honored Ralph Baer. That’s me to you. So, I just want to say thanks. And this is your time. Thank you so much.”

Well said, John.

The stage is yours, Leonard.

How Leonard’s Rolenta Press got its name
A letter from Ralph Baer!
No Starch Press was the villain in this story.
How Lenny took photos for Phoenix IV
Unflattering background?
Just mask it away.
The paperback edition of Phoenix IV (and a bookmark)
Lenny holds up the hardcover color edition
Will there be a Phoenix 5 in 2025?
If so, here’s the outline so far. With the help of Jeremy Parish, it will published by Press Run, the publishing arm of Limited Run Games.
A shoutout to Frank Cifaldi’s Video Game History Foundation.
Frank recalled he was working for GamesTM magazine when he contacted Lenny for a copy of Phoenix III.
My favorite shots of Lenny were when he smiled or laughed. You could tell he enjoyed sharing his story.
The many video game history books that followed Phoenix
Lenny promoted his Game Scholar website.

Upon closing, Lenny opened the floor to Q&A:

Ahra was among those to ask a question.
Frank Cifaldi had a few questions.
So did John Hancock.

The funniest question and answer came via Mark Baer:

LENNY: Yes, sir.
MARK: Do you have a favorite historical figure in videogame history, by any chance?
LENNY: Yeah. Nolan Bushnell.
[audience laughs]
If anyone doesn’t know, that’s Ralph Baer’s son. That’s his son, Mark. He’s a troublemaker.
MARK: You could answer honestly.

After a few more questions, the panel ended with a round of applause.

I had to get a photo of Leonard Herman, Frank Cifaldi, and John Hancock:

Ian Ferguson dropped by after the panel to say hello:

That is the end of post one. Head to post two for a tour of the marketplace and exhibits. Post three features a conclusion, pickups photos, and a postscript with post-expo pickups.

SJFS 2024 Night 2 recap May 2, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Classical, Health, Internet, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Livestream, Music, Personal, Pets, Photography, Pop, Radio, smooth jazz, Travel, Video.
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Continued from Night 1 recap

The night of Saturday, April 20, would bring the second set of Jay Rowe‘s 20th Smooth Jazz for Scholars, benefiting the Milford Public Schools music department. Before I recap that, I have another long preamble listing how my day went before the show itself. (Scroll down to Kevin McCabe’s first photo if you don’t want to read it.)

I got six hours of sleep, waking up around 7:30 AM. I neglected to pack mouthwash and could only rinse with warm water on Friday evening. My room at Hampton Inn – room 144 – lacked a bottle of complimentary mouthwash. Upon returning to the hotel from Veterans Memorial Auditorium at Parsons Complex, I asked the front desk if they had any, since a message in my bathroom said to ask there. The clerk had bad news: no mouthwash there, either. Thus, upon waking up Saturday morning and doing a few sets of push-ups, I got dressed, put on my jacket with a sun visor to keep the jacket’s hood from drooping below my forehead, and walked to a nearby supermarket on Boston Post Road (U.S. 1). The approximately quarter-mile walk took me across Plains Road, through a shopping center that featured an Aldi, and to Big Y. Once inside Big Y, I bought pairs of Cool Mint and Total Care Listerine travel-size bottles, a three-pack of ChapStick Medicated (the tube I had was almost finished), and a $1 reusable bag. That should hold me over for the next year or so.

Once back at Hampton Inn, I entered from the south side with my key card and went back to my room. I showered, got dressed in clean clothes, and brought my laptop to the lobby for breakfast and mingling with any musicians or fans I happened to see. Estella Taylor-Greene and Norma Rohadfox were there, Rob and Mel Hoogenboom were there with their dog Olive (third photo below), Mark and Phyllis Abrams had their dog Cody (first and second photos), and Friday night headliner Althea René was there (fourth and fifth photos with Rob, Mel, and Estella).

All the while, I sat at the elevated table with my laptop, eating banana muffins and drinking apple juice. (I didn’t feel like eggs or waffles and it was too late for cereal.) On the laptop, I went through the 401 photos I kept from Friday night, deleting anything overly blurry or where Althea wasn’t blowing into her flute’s lip plate or fellow headliner Marcus Anderson wasn’t on his alto saxophone’s mouthpiece. I struck up a conversation with a young couple who were in town for a friend’s wedding as the boyfriend marveled at the photos I was going through. Diane Roth and her partner Rich said hello and I spoke them for a bit, as I did with John and Theresa Monteverde. I’ve seen John and Theresa since the Houndstooth Pub shows in the early 2010s. They live in Merrick here on Long Island and John was retired from working at the Citibank in Freeport, near my day job. There wasn’t any caffeine free tea available in the lobby; only black tea, which has caffeine. So, John offered a green tea bag from his room and I drank from that instead.

My parents Lisa and Bill came down to check out of their room around 9:30 and said goodbye before driving back to Long Island. My dad is in the Freeport Fire Department (in Truck Co. 1) and they were holding their annual installation dinner Saturday night at a hotel in Melville. It was there that fellow Truck 1 member Joe Falco was named honorary chief for his 50 years of service. (Joe is a 9/11 survivor, and was the focus of a documentary that served as my college senior project.)

Saturday headliner Steve Cole came down to the lobby at one point and I struck up a conversation with him and another fan that was seated next to him.

By 11:30, the lobby began to thin out, so I brought my laptop back to my room. Before finishing up winnowing Friday’s photos, I walked to the fitness center to lift weights. As I exercised, I listened (on my phone) to the remaining “from the vault” tracks on the redone 1989 (Taylor’s Version), one of the CDs I bought when building my Taylor Swift studio album collection earlier in April. “Is It Over Now?” accompanied me back to my room where I completed the winnowing process. 280 of the 401 photos remained.

After eating a protein bar, I used a newly discovered time-saving tool to easily rename the photos from my Canon EOS R7‘s filename system to my date specific names. The old way was long and tedious. Since these photos were taken April 19, 2024, the filenames would begin with “MC41924” and follow with 001 and beyond. A My Life in Gaming video (released exactly two months earlier) introduced me to Advanced Renamer. Thankfully, my task did not require paying for registration. I imported the files, typed “MC41924” in the “new name” section, clicked on “<Inc Nr> – Incrementing Number,” clicked “start batch,” and “start” in the prompt. Immediately, all photos were renamed, from MC41924001 to MC41924280. The process was just as easy for renaming the watermarked photos chosen for the blog posts. Watch this clip from my April 27 photo editing Twitch stream to see how that went. (I streamed most of the photo editing process on my Twitch channel over a seven-day period before going back to video games.)

With the renaming taken care of, I began editing Friday’s remaining 280 photos. I wasn’t going to get them all done, but I did as much as I could. I also jumped ahead to the meet and greet photos since they’d be easier to edit. I listened to various tracks in iTunes by Casiopea, the Chick Corea Elektric Band, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet until around 2:00 when Courtney Visser and Cerian (“kerry ann”) began their Twitch streams. They guided me through the next two hours (and 85 photos) until a second shower and a walk back to Pasquale Pizza for another pasta dinner. I went from rigatoni with meat sauce on Friday to tortellini with meat sauce on Saturday. After paying the check, I went to Cumberland Farms for the same ice cream pints as Friday: Twix Cookie Dough and Snickers. Approaching Hampton Inn’s south entrance, I thought about a line in Taylor Swift’s “Is It Over Now?”: “you search in every model’s bed for something greater.” I joked to myself, yeah, like I have access to models – model cars I made when I was a teenager. (I showed off those cars in the second SJFS photo editing stream.)

My friend Kelly Dacey arrived in the parking lot at 7:00 to drive me to the auditorium. I carried all my gear from my room to her Kia Sportage and put them in the front seat with me. That gear again:

We briefly spoke to Steve Cole as he stood outside before his trip to the auditorium. He remembered Kelly from a 2013 Houndstooth Pub gig where she brought her saxophone lesson book with her. After one song, he joked to her “that’s page [I forget the number] in your book.”

Kelly parked in the lot adjacent to Wasson Field, a baseball field where a game was in progress. We walked in to Veterans Memorial Auditorium and I set up my equipment in the orchestra pit. Then, I went back to the lobby to buy a copy of Saturday headliner Blake Aaron‘s latest CD, Love and Rhythm, from Michelle at the merchandise table. I said hello to Jay Rowe’s mother Mia DiStasi who stood at a table next to the 50/50 raffle table. It was there that I bought three tickets for $10. I didn’t expect to win, but I figured I’d take a chance.

On my way back in, I said hello to usher Steve Lewis and his daughter Jen, and to Paul, another usher.

I saw Kevin McCabe and asked if he had a set list for that night, he said no and quickly moved on. There were a lot of things to take care of before the show, after all. Fortunately, I came across Jay Rowe who was able to forward me his e-mail to Kevin with both night’s set lists. So, in the pit, I wrote down the songs on my stenographer pad.

As I was copying the set list, John Monteverde approached me to ask if he and Theresa could drive me back to Wantagh on Sunday morning so my parents wouldn’t have to drive back from Melville to get me in the afternoon. After talking it over with my mom, I agreed. It was set: John, Theresa, and I would check out of our rooms around 9AM, they’d drive me to Wantagh and then drive to their home in Merrick. And that’s why my photo editing streams began Sunday afternoon at my usual approximate 2:00 start time instead of Monday afternoon at around 5:30.

Most of the photographers were the same as Friday night: me, Katherine Gilraine, and Kenny Combs. Dolly Moye’s friend Rick joined us in the pit along with Bill, a friend of Saturday headliner Marion Meadows. Andrew James could only make the sound check, while Ron Hancox couldn’t make it at all. He and his wife Nydia were flying to Greece at midnight.

8:00 finally came, and Kevin McCabe walked on stage to greet the audience:

He introduced the Jonathan Law High School Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dave Pelaggi. Mr. P’s ensemble performed “Blue Moon” and “Cry Me a River.”

They even had a vocalist.
A round of applause for Mr. Pelaggi and his ensemble!

Like Friday night, after the crew removed the chairs for the student performers, Kevin returned to thank sponsors and Milford officials…

…and again, showed off a work of art by Marion Meadows.

Then, he introduced the house band, led by Jay Rowe. (Pardon the sheet music tablet.)

In order of appearance, Saturday’s headliners were Blake Aaron:

Steve Cole:

Timmy Maia:

Marion Meadows:

…and Alex Bugnon:

The four-piece house band was made up of Trever Somerville on drums:

Dave Anderson on bass:

Andy Abel on guitar:

And music director Jay Rowe on keyboards:

This time, I put my earplugs in sooner, during the ensemble performance, and took them out after the finale.

SET LIST (Updated with videos on 5/25/24)
1. City Groove (Jay Rowe)
2023 single
Featured musician: Jay Rowe (keyboards)

2. Groovers and Shakers (Blake Aaron)
Originally heard on: Color and Passion (2020)
Featured musicians: Blake Aaron (guitar), Steve Cole (tenor sax)

3. Crush (Blake Aaron)
Originally heard on: Love and Rhythm (2024)
Featured musicians: Blake Aaron (guitar), Steve Cole (tenor sax)

Blake and Steve both had their share of jokes, but Steve had me in stitches. Before the next song, he said “Alexa…play Steve Cole.”

4. C’mon Y’all (Steve Cole)
Originally heard on: Without a Doubt (2023)
Featured musician: Steve Cole (tenor sax)

“ALEXA!”

Ahead of Steve’s second song, he went from Amazon to Apple: “Hey Siri! (pause) All your phones just went nuts, didn’t they? Play ‘Mirage’!”

5. Mirage (Steve Cole)
Originally heard on: Turn It Up (2016)
Featured musician: Steve Cole (tenor sax)

6. Something About You (Timmy Maia)
Featured musician: Timmy Maia (vocals)

7. Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing (Timmy Maia) (Stevie Wonder cover)
Featured musician: Timmy Maia (vocals)

8. Wishing on a Star (Marion Meadows)
Originally heard on: Player’s Club (2004)
Featured musician: Marion Meadows (soprano sax) (started in audience)

9. Marcosinho (Marion Meadows; Dave Valentin cover)
Originally heard on: Whisper (2013)
Featured musician: Marion Meadows (soprano sax)

10. Night Groove (Alex Bugnon)
Originally heard on: Soul Purpose (2001)
Featured musicians: Alex Bugnon (keyboards), Marion Meadows (soprano sax)
Jay Rowe did not play.

11. Spellbound (Alex Bugnon) (Joe Sample cover)
Featured musician: Alex Bugnon (keyboards)
The story behind Alex’s cover of “Spellbound” involved filling in for an ailing Joe Sample at Yoshi’s in 2013. Spellbound was the first jazz album I ever bought, in the summer of 1998.
Jay Rowe did not play.

12. Europa (Blake Aaron) (Santana cover)
Originally heard on: Soul Stories (2015)
Featured musician: Blake Aaron (guitar) (played through audience at midpoint)

13. Attitude (Steve Cole)
Originally heard on: Without a Doubt (2023)
Featured musician: Steve Cole (tenor sax)

14. Southern Living (Alex Bugnon)
Originally heard on: Southern Living (2003)
Featured musician: Alex Bugnon (keyboards)
Jay Rowe did not play.

15. Romantica (Marion Meadows)
Originally heard on: Player’s Club (2004)
Featured musicians: Marion Meadows (soprano sax), Blake Aaron (guitar)

16. Can We Talk (Timmy Maia) (Tevin Campbell cover)
Featured musician: Timmy Maia (vocals)

17 (Finale). Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) (The Jacksons cover)
Featured musicians: Everyone

Photo galleries of the headliners, starting with Blake Aaron:

Steve Cole:

Timmy Maia:

Trever Somerville sang along with Timmy (off-mic) during “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing.”

Marion Meadows:

Entering through audience on “Wishing on a Star”…

Alex Bugnon:

On to the house band, beginning with drummer Trever Somerville:

Bassist Dave Anderson:

Guitarist Andy Abel:

And Jay Rowe on keyboards:

On to medium shots. First, Steve and Blake’s “Groovers and Shakers” call and response:

Blake and Andy:

Marion and Alex:

Marion and Blake:

Steve and Marion:

Wide shots, led by the end of “Don’t Your Worry ’bout a Thing”:

End of “Wishing on a Star”:

End of “Marcosinho”:

End of “Europa”:

The ovation after “Europa”:

More audience shots during “Marcosinho”…

Estella Taylor-Greene, Norma Rohadfox, Dolly Moye, ?, Jay Dobbins

…and the finale, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”:

Phyllis and Mark Abrams are featured on the right
Dolly Moye is dancing along in the center

There’ll be more finale photos after shots of the 50/50 raffle.

Kevin McCabe brought the raffle ticket basket from which Jay picked at random.

Saturday’s pot was $1,250, $400 higher than Friday. As noted earlier, I bought three tickets for $10.

Jay calling the winning number

The winner was a photographer in the orchestra pit, but not me. That honor went to my fellow photographer Kenny Combs.

I congratulated Kenny when he returned to the pit.

That leaves the finale, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground).” Coincidentally, that song closed the first Smooth Jazz for Scholars I attended in 2007, also featuring Timmy Maia as a headliner. Here are Saturday’s finale photos:

“Okay. Thanks so much for comin’. This was a great weekend. It comes and goes quickly, but we will be back before you know it next year. … We’ll see you outside in a minute. Thanks so much. Have a good night.”

I balked at an opportunity to speak (and pose for photos) with Steve Cole and Alex Bugnon inside the auditorium, but did get a couple of photos in the lobby. Kelly was waiting for me there. She’d been talking to Jeff, a trombonist who got to play in a band with Steve Davis, another trombonist that Jeff considers his favorite.

As for the artists seen Saturday night, here I am with Blake Aaron:

I told Blake I’d played several tracks from his prior album, Color and Passion, on Instrumental Invasion. In turn, he noted he also hosted a radio show for a while.

The other photo taken in the lobby was with Marion Meadows:

Kevin McCabe finally got a copy of the set lists for both nights and handed it to me right before Kelly took the above photo.

My last photo of the night was a photo of a photo. Estella posed with Marion and his signed artwork (he signed the back of the print):

I briefly said hello to Timmy Maia before he left for the after party. I spoke to Jay Dobbins, Janet Abel, and Dolly Moye. Then, Kelly and I went back to the parking lot, into her SUV, and back to Hampton Inn. I hugged her goodbye until next year and thanked her for her friendship.

I was greeted in the lobby by Estella, Mark and Phyllis, Rob and Mel, their dogs Cody and Olive, and Bennett. Bennett is a loyal concertgoer who’s brought an acoustic guitar to all the shows he attends – including Smooth Jazz for Scholars – and has musicians sign that guitar. Taylor Swift is among those to sign his guitar!

Here is Bennett’s guitar, as seen Friday night:

To the chagrin of the hotel clerk at the front desk, Cody and Olive barked happily at their new friend Bennett. After she politely asked for the dogs to be quiet or brought back to their rooms, I bid everyone good night and went back to my room. I then repeated the process of unloading the photos and videos onto my laptop, and converting the RAW files to JPGs – 440 of them on Saturday – in Adobe Lightroom. All the while, Emily McVicker and her community kept me company on Twitch. For the second time that weekend, my stream viewership coincided with a resub; the start of my fourth month with Emily.

I’m not sure how much sleep I got, but it was at least four hours. I was awakened around 5:30 AM Sunday by chirping birds outside my room. It was too close to sunrise to bother putting in earplugs and trying to sleep a little more. So, I turned my laptop on and took a figurative machete to the 440 photos moved from my camera. 305 remained, and I swiftly (no pun intended) renamed them with Advanced Renamer.

I did not bother editing anymore photos. Instead, I backed up all photos and some videos to the portable hard drive I brought with me. I took a shower, got dressed, and packed up all but the laptop. Then, I went to the lobby for breakfast sans laptop. There was cereal this time, and I ate one small bowl each of Honey Nut Cheerios, Froot Loops, and Rice Krispies, adding a little milk for the first two. I had to eat very carefully because of my hand tremor, but eat I did. I complemented the cereal with two cups of apple juice. I spoke to Diane and Rich, Phyllis, and John and Theresa.

When I finished eating, I went back to my room. There, I packed up the laptop, gathered all my belongings, and trudged them all to the lobby for checkout. It was shortly after 9AM by then, but John and Theresa had yet to check out. So, I sat in the lobby behind the TV as CNN’s State of the Union aired. Within 15 or 20 minutes, they had checked out and we headed to the parking lot to load up their Toyota RAV4.

According to my watch, we left at 9:31. The ride flew by in time and conversation. With SiriusXM Watercolors on in the background, we spent the whole time talking about Smooth Jazz for Scholars, the other events we’ve attended (or they’ve attended), and other things in our lives. I forgot to check my watch when John pulled up to my house in Wantagh, but I assume at was around 10:51. It only took an hour and 20 minutes, shorter than any return trip from Milford since 2007. I recall fast return trips with my parents taking an hour and 50 minutes, but that’s because we would leave around 11AM. There was even less traffic earlier in the morning. I thanked John and Theresa for their generosity and we vowed to keep in touch. In fact, as I type this, I’m due to write back to John.

Now that I’m a Twitch streamer, I vowed to use my stream time to edit photos from Smooth Jazz for Scholars, and will do so again with later events like the WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony and Long Island Retro Gaming Expo. From Sunday afternoon to Saturday afternoon, April 21 to 27, I streamed 15 hours of editing and picking photos to watermark for use in these blog posts. Since I didn’t want to get copyright strikes, I downloaded classic video game soundtracks off YouTube and played those in the background. I talked about my experience in Milford, about my progress listening to Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, and anything else on my mind. I even picked up three photo editing stream followers along the way. I enjoyed sharing the process on Twitch and look forward to doing it again in June with my next event. Until then, it’s back to gaming.

I was in my element at Smooth Jazz for Scholars. I’m honored and privileged to document the event each year and to be surrounded by my fellow fans and musician acquaintances. Thank you very much to Jay Rowe, Kevin McCabe, the headliners, and all my friends. And thank you for reading one or both of my 20th Smooth Jazz for Scholars blog posts.

Until next year, I leave you with a montage of all seven photo editing streams at 100x speed, set to the Wurttemberg Chamber Orchestra performance of Bach’s “Concerto in A minor, BWV 1044 for Flute, Violin, Harpischord and Basso continuo: Allegro.”

SJFS 2024 Night 1 recap May 2, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Health, Internet, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Livestream, Music, Personal, Photography, Pop, Rap, smooth jazz, Travel, Video.
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Read about night 2 here.

Friday, April 19, was the first of two nights of the 2024 Smooth Jazz for Scholars, hosted by keyboardist Jay Rowe in his hometown of Milford, Connecticut. It was the 21st anniversary, but 20th overall (postponed by COVID in 2020 and ’21). Each year, this two-night event (one night prior to 2012) benefits the Milford Public Schools music department. And as with most years, each night opens with a performance by student musicians under the direction of their music teacher. The “smooth jazz” part comes from the four to five headliners each night. I’ll name Friday’s four headliners after my preamble. (Scroll down to Kevin McCabe’s first photo if you don’t want to read it.)

A lot has changed in my life since last year (night 1, night 2). A chance browse of Twitch on the evening of May 9 sent me down another rabbit hole: the wonderful world of music streamers. As if my horizons hadn’t been broadened enough by Japanese city pop, idol music, and anime thanks to the likes of Caitlin Myers, I was now exposed to female vocalists from the United States, Canada, and even the UK (England, Ireland). Most have written and performed original songs, but others just do covers. Those covers exposed me to the likes of Maisie Peters, Olivia Rodrigo, and Taylor Swift. Over the last few months, I have become a Swiftie, and after buying her CDs, a savant that can name what album a given song appeared on. It’s weird looking in iTunes and seeing Taylor, Cerian (“kerry ann”), Katie Seto, and Steph La Rochelle juxtaposed with all my instrumentals. (I’ve been on a McCoy Tyner kick in recent months.)

On November 3, I joined the ranks of Twitch streamers, primarily playing video games, but occasionally breaking for media production. At first, that involved recording what part of what became the penultimate Instrumental Invasion show and then recording the finale. That was it until all of last week when I edited most of the photos from both nights of the 20th Smooth Jazz for Scholars, all while listening to video game music soundtracks. (I didn’t want to risk copyright strikes for playing music by the SJFS headliners.) Even though I’m not a music streamer, I raid out to (end by sending my audience to) music streams more often than any other category. My road as a streamer and a stream viewer has not been flawless. I’ve had my share of self-inflicted bumps and costly errors, which I won’t get into. On the whole, however, I’m satisfied with the path I’ve taken.

Unlike last year, I wasn’t the least bit anxious about the workload at the Parsons Complex Veterans Memorial Auditorium. I only feared having a meltdown while in Milford as I’d had at prior events like last year’s New York Comic Con (which I’ll never go to again) or various parties where I was out of my comfort zone. Miraculously, there were no meltdowns. I was in my comfort zone all throughout. Nothing broke me. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I spent parts of Thursday and Friday morning packing up for my journey to Milford. I would be staying at the Hampton Inn on Plains Road, I-95 exit 36. My parents Lisa and Bill would stay until Saturday morning, return to Long Island for the Freeport Fire Department installation dinner, and drive back to Connecticut to pick me up by Sunday afternoon. (SPOILER: They wouldn’t have to come back for me. Read about that in the Saturday recap.)

We left our house in Dad’s Ford Explorer at 1:02 PM Friday. Despite pockets of traffic on the Northern State Parkway, Lakeville Road, and the Throgs Neck Expressway (I-295), we reached the Hampton Inn parking lot at 3:19, only two hours and 17 minutes later. SiriusXM’s Watercolors smooth jazz channel was on the car stereo, but I watched Twitch streams on my phone with earbuds. I started with Gillian Hayek‘s fishing game stream, then moved on to Natalie Paige‘s last stream before moving to Connecticut (can’t say where) from the Seattle, Washington, area. The stream coincided with my six-month renewal, and I chose Norah Jones‘s sinister-sounding “Miriam” for Natalie to cover.

At check-in, I had my dad request rooms facing the parking lot rather than I-95. I was in room 144, near the south entrance accessible by key card. Once my laptop was unpacked and I’d paid for two days of guest Wi-Fi, I returned to Natalie Paige’s stream and put on Ellie Fier‘s stream after 4:00. Ellie is the reason I became a Swiftie in the first place. Friday was a big day for Taylor Swift fans: release day for the latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. I’d already bought Taylor’s prior albums on CD earlier in the month and would be sure to rip the tracks from my TTPD CD (The Manuscript Edition) once I got home. (Yes, there’s The Anthology. I accessed those additional 14 tracks via YouTube Music.) As noted in my photo editing Twitch streams, I wouldn’t listen to all 31 tracks until the following Tuesday, finishing on the treadmill three mornings later. My only exposure to any track prior to then was Ellie’s rendition of “So High School,” track 22 on The Anthology.

At 5:30, like last year, my parents and I drove a short distance to Pasquale Pizza for a pasta dinner, preceded by garlic knots. When I was finished, I left my parents and walked back to Hampton Inn, stopping at Cumberland Farms along the way to buy two low-calorie pints of Mars candy flavored ice cream to eat in my room. One was Twix Cookie Dough and the other was Snickers. By this time, I paired Natalie’s stream with Katie O’Flaherty. I watched until shortly before 7:00, at which I packed my equipment to bring to the auditorium.

The Canon EOS R7 with RF-S 18-150mm lens was in my backpack with a stenographer pad (the same one I bought at the Milford CVS a year ago) and battery charger with spare battery attached. I kept the Panasonic HC-X1500 with VW-HU1 and Rode VideoMic GO II in a travel bag along with a spare battery, but that wasn’t all. I decided to bring my GoPro HERO7 with YOLOtek Juicebank attached for wide cutaway shots when repositioning the HC-X1500. That meant I brought a second tripod, by Targus (I forget the model number), aside from the Magnus VT-300 for the camcorder.

My parents dropped me off adjacent to the auditorium and I lugged my equipment in. It was all surprisingly lightweight. In the lobby, I stopped at the merchandise table where I bought a CD of Friday headliner Althea René‘s Live in Detroit from Michelle. Then, I proceeded to the orchestra pit, limboed under the rope on the right side, and set up in the center. Jay Rowe didn’t e-mail me the set lists for each night beforehand. So, I had to rely on what was said on stage. I only blanked on one song out of 15, but figured out what it was Saturday morning.

As 8:00 approached, I mingled with fellow photographers Katherine Gilraine, Keith McDonald, Ron Hancox, and Andrew James, and with fellow fans like Robin Morin Stewart, Judy Raphael, Mary Jane Manna, Rob and Mel Hoogenboom, and Mark and Phyllis Abrams.

At last, it was time for the house lights to dim and Kevin McCabe bid us “good evening” (and have us repeat it louder):

He introduced the John F. Kennedy Elementary School Select Grade 4 Chorus, under the direction of Theresa Voss.

The chorus sang “Over the Rainbow.” I was moved to tears by their performance.

I saw a stack of jackets on right side of orchestra pit when I arrived. They belonged to members of the chorus.

Kevin returned to thank sponsors and Milford officials:

  • Showing off one of Marion Meadows’ artworks, on sale in lobby

(Marion Meadows would be one of Saturday’s headliners.)

Jay Rowe had opening remarks, then went into first track – “City Groove,” his latest single. (The full set list follows introductory photos.)

In order of appearance, Friday’s headliners were Vincent Ingala:

Steve Oliver:

Althea René:

…and Marcus Anderson:

Steve Scales was absent this year, but the rest of Jay’s house band was intact from last year.

Trever Somerville on drums:

Dave Anderson on bass:

Andy Abel on guitar (rhythm during Steve Oliver songs):

And directing at all, Jay Rowe on keyboards:

I forgot to put in my earplugs until the first song below. I took them out when the house lights went up after the finale.

SET LIST (Updated with videos on 5/22/24)
1. City Groove (Jay Rowe)
2023 single
Featured musician: Jay Rowe (keyboards)

2. Rosemary’s Tune (Jay Rowe)
Originally heard on: Live at Daniel Street (2011), Smooth Ride (2016)
Featured musicians: Jay Rowe (keyboards), Vincent Ingala (tenor sax)

3. Snap, Crackle, Pop (Vincent Ingala)
Originally heard on: Personal Touch (2018)
Featured musician: Vincent Ingala (tenor sax)

4. High Noon (Steve Oliver)
Originally heard on: Positive Energy (2002)
Featured musician: Steve Oliver (guitar, vocal sounds)

5. Skyway (Steve Oliver)
Originally heard on: A New Light (2023)
Featured musician: Steve Oliver (guitar, vocal sounds)

6. Pastel Leather (Althea René)
Originally heard on: Pastel Leather (2022)
Featured musician: Althea René (flute)

7. Life on Mars (Althea René) (Dexter Wansel cover)
Originally heard on: Flawsome (2019)
Featured musician: Althea René (flute, “flute talk” while playing through audience at midpoint)

8. Reverse (Marcus Anderson)
Originally heard on: Reverse (2022)
Featured musician: Marcus Anderson (alto sax)

9. Understanding (Marcus Anderson)
Originally heard on: Limited Edition (2017)
Featured musician: Marcus Anderson (alto sax)

10. Chips and Salsa (Steve Oliver)
Originally heard on: 3D (2004)
Featured musician: Steve Oliver (guitar, vocal sounds)

11. GoGo Bootz (Althea René)
Originally heard on: Pastel Leather (2022)
Featured musicians: Althea René (flute), Marcus Anderson (alto sax)

12. Care for You (Marcus Anderson)
Originally heard on: Reverse (2022)
Featured musician: Marcus Anderson (alto sax, rap interlude)

13. Personal Touch (Vincent Ingala)
Originally heard on: Personal Touch (2018)
Featured musician: Vincent Ingala (tenor sax)

14. On the Move (Vincent Ingala)
Originally heard on: Fire & Desire (2021)
Featured musician: Vincent Ingala (tenor sax)

15 (Finale). Miss You (The Rolling Stones cover)
Featured musicians: Everyone; Steve Oliver (vocals, vocal sounds)

Here are photo galleries of the headliners, starting with Vincent Ingala:

Steve Oliver:

Clap prompt on “High Noon”
“High Noon” vocal sounds break…
“Chips and Salsa” guitar symphony orchestra intro…
“Olé!”
“Oh-oh, oh, oh-oh! Come on, your turn!”

Althea René:

Playing (“flute talk”) through audience during “Life on Mars”

Marcus Anderson:

Midway through “Care for You,” Marcus rapped a promo for his Jazz AND Coffee Escape festival in North Carolina.
He then threw roses to women in the audience.
Phyllis Abrams caught this one. (I channeled Vin Scully while editing this on stream: “and what a catch by Abrams!”)

Now, the house band, beginning with drummer Trever Somerville:

Bassist Dave Anderson’s “Life on Mars” solo:

Guitarist Andy Abel:

Finally, Jay Rowe on keyboards:

On to medium shots, starting with Vincent and Jay:

Vincent and Dave:

Vincent, Andy and Trever:

Marcus and Jay:

Althea and Marcus on “GoGo Bootz”:

Wide shots from the end of “Life on Mars”:

End of “Chips and Salsa”:

“GoGo Bootz”:

End of “Care for You”:

Audience dancing during “GoGo Bootz”:

Nydia Hancox, Estella Taylor-Greene, Norma Rohadfox, Dolly Moye, ?

After “Care for You,” Kevin McCabe presented the basket of 50/50 raffle tickets.

  • I didn’t buy tickets on Friday night, but would on Saturday.
  • Jay revealed he was in between cataract surgeries and will no longer need glasses.
  • Jay picked the winning ticket.
  • The $850 winner was Karen Russillo.

The finale, “Miss You“:

Steve Oliver channeled Mick Jagger‘s vocals…
…and Keith Richards‘ guitar.
This last set of photos and video required me to prop myself against a stack of chairs and a rack. That’s how close Steve, Vincent, Althea, and Marcus were.
The last notes…
The end!
“And give it up for your host, Jay Rowe!”
Jay: “Dave Anderson on bass, Trever Somerville on drums, and Andy Abel on guitar! See y’all tomorrow night!”

As I packed up, Phyllis Abrams showed me the rose she caught from Marcus Anderson, going so far as putting up to my nose. I said it smelled like fabric softener, but I meant carpet cleaner. Then, I introduced myself to photographer Kenny Combs, and said hello to Jay Dobbins, Janet Abel (Andy’s sister), and Dolly Moye. Dolly introduced me to her high school friend Rick. My friend Kelly Dacey was there and we spoke briefly in the auditorium, but more in the lobby during the meet and greet. Below are photos from the meet and greet.

Estella and Steve reprising the “Chips and Salsa” vocal sounds:

The next two photos are by Andrew James: me with the headliners – Steve, Marcus, Vincent, Althea:

Then, Jay Rowe joined in:

Dolly Moye let me have a pair of dancing sunglasses, as seen in this selfie, my last photo of the night:

At least that was the last photo taken that night on the EOS R7. Andrew wanted photos with the headliners and Jay, and Mark (a different Mark) wanted a photo with Marcus.

Kelly helped me bring the equipment to her, then we drove back to Hampton Inn where she dropped me off. She went to the after party, and I went back to my room to unload the photos and videos onto my laptop, and convert all the RAW files to JPGs in Adobe Lightroom. I had SashiBOOM and her dog Perry keeping me company on Twitch until that process was complete. Then, off to sleep.

Read about Saturday and beyond in the second recap.

Smooth Jazz for Scholars 2024 dates/lineup January 16, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Personal, smooth jazz, Travel.
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I’ve been so busy with Twitch – as a streamer and a viewer (read about my setup here) – that I missed keyboardist Jay Rowe‘s January 4 announcement about this year’s Smooth Jazz for Scholars. It’s the 20th year and 21st anniversary. The two-night event in Jay’s hometown of Milford, Connecticut, benefits Milford Public Schools‘ music department.

With the exception of one night in 2015, I have documented every night of Smooth Jazz for Scholars since 2007, when it was only one night.

Below is Jay Rowe’s official announcement:

Appearing for the first time are Althea René (Friday) and Blake Aaron (Saturday). The rest are making return appearances, including Marion Meadows – who headlined the inaugural 2003 lineup – and vocalist Timmy Maia. This is Vincent Ingala‘s first planned appearance since 2015. He was a surprise guest in 2022.

Repeating the information in Jay’s announcement:

Friday, April 19
Vincent Ingala
Althea René
Steve Oliver
Marcus Anderson

Saturday, April 20
Marion Meadows
Steve Cole
Blake Aaron
Alex Bugnon
Timmy Maia

Location:
Veterans Memorial Auditorium in the Parsons Government Center
70 W. River St.
Milford, CT 06460

Tickets: $50 for one night, $85 for both nights

General admission tickets can be bought through Eventbrite, but reserved seating must be ordered by writing a check to:
Jay Rowe
P.O. Box 3723
Milford, CT 06460

I’ll end this promotional post with recaps of last year’s first night and second night.

5/2 UPDATE: Here are recaps of this year’s first night and second night.

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: