Instrumental Invasion, 7/27/22 July 28, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Boating, Health, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, News, Personal, Radio, Sports, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The July 27 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the fourth show in the last five with the 1-3-2 recording configuration: one segment on May 30, three on May 31, and two on June 1. Pickups were recorded on June 3, 5, and 9.
The playlist was created on May 28 and annotated on the 29th. The talk break script was drafted before recording on the 30th. I made a timing error in the last segment of the show, requiring a condensed script for the last talk break and ten extra seconds, the first time I went over 18 minutes since May 11.
Speaking of that last talk break, a week after referencing John McLaughlin‘s The McLaughlin Group sign-off, my sign-off this week referenced Chet Huntley‘s at the end of The Huntley-Brinkley Report. And speaking of the first, this imperfect Google translation is what led me to assume “Dinorah, Dinorah” by Ivan Lins (covered on the show by George Benson) was about a love affair with a teacher. I listened to the original for reference and to confirm the pronunciation:
And here’s a mellower 2017 duet in a lower key:
Despite obsessive listening, I said “gene-orah” instead of “gin-orah” in the initial first segment recording before going on a boat ride with my family. I redid any references to the song when I got home. I didn’t have a boat ride in mind when I added “Boat Ride” by Jay Rowe to the third segment, but it helped that I did (recap here) because it gave me talk break-padding material. I did away with some of that padding on June 9, shaving off four seconds, to make up for going over in the last segment.
A running gag established while recording – that I missed while drafting the script – was “thing/things” and all the songs written for someone. “Our Thing” by Jazz Funk Soul has made me think of the Mafia ever since More Serious Business arrived at my door 6 1/2 years ago. (Yes, the link goes to the MP3 version.) I sincerely believe the title of Jeff Lorber‘s composition is coincidental, and that’s why I always get a kick out of it.
The June 3 pickups were recorded after learning that my friend Pete Bellotti was named WCWP’s new director of broadcasting. I came out of Earl Klugh‘s cover of “If I Fell” with a liner that Pete recorded in 2020 while only working for CBS Sports Radio. Pete is still with CBS Sports Radio, but it didn’t feel right using a liner where he only identifies from there. I replaced the liner with one Game Dave recorded, giving new significance to my Mike Chimeri’s Music Collection reference. I said the low viewership was a humbling experience, but Game Dave reminded us of the big picture last July:
Playing off what Game Dave said, I performed in front of between 43 and 190 people, depending on the Mike Chimeri’s Music Collection video (as of June 3).
The expanded talk break meant I had to move the Bernie Bernard liner up one segment and put John Commins’s liner in her place.
Just this week, Dave posted a video chronicling his month-long weight loss journey with the help of exercise video games:
The June 5 pickup was recorded after learning new information from this interview Brian Pace conducted with Ivan Lins during his 2016 Blue Note engagement:
Click here to download this week’s aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 7/20/22 July 21, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Aviation, Internet, Jazz, Media, Military, Music, News, Personal, Politics, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment
The July 20 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP (120 on 7/20) was recorded from May 25 to 27: two segments on the 25th, three on the 26th, and one on the 27th.
The playlist was created on May 23 after completing production of the previous two shows, with annotations on the 24th and 25th, followed by the script draft.
I had to cut portions of the first and last talk breaks of the second hour to keep them from going over 18 minutes.
Incidentally, while recording the third segment of the first hour, which ends with “In the Sky Today” by Ken Navarro, the Navy Blue Angels were rehearsing for the upcoming weekend’s Bethpage Air Show at Jones Beach. They were too high up to see from my bedroom window as the skies clouded up, but I saw one plane flying low and slow as I walking back from a supermarket trip:
If I had my DSLR camera, the resolution would be higher, but my phone only has a 2x optical zoom and that’s all I had on me.
I did take DSLR photos during the Sunday air show:
Further incidentally, I played “In the Sky Today” 52 weeks after playing the title track to Ken Navarro’s All the Way album and “The Test of Time” by Shilts three months after playing the title track to his 2012 release, All Grown Up. It didn’t occur to me until annotating the playlist that Shilts and Bill Steinway incorporated Big Ben‘s “Westminster Quarters” into their composition.
My “bye-bye” after repeating the title of Gerald Albright‘s song – “By My Side” – was an homage to political commentator John McLaughlin‘s The McLaughlin Group sign-off. Here is a compilation I found of 18 bye-byes between 2007 and 2015:
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 7/13/22 July 14, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment
The July 13 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the third straight show with the 1-3-2 recording configuration: one segment on May 20, three on the 21st, and two (and a pickup) on the 22nd.
The playlist took three days to create: May 15 (the segments with singles), 17, and 18 followed by annotations. The talk break script was drafted entirely on the 20th before recording the first segment.
The show led off with “Is It James or Charlie?”, a cue from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving found on the second Lost Cues CD. Until reading the linked Wikipedia entry earlier this year, I naively thought most incorrect track listings were correct. This is the page I referenced on the air, cited in the entry.
Five songs made their second appearance, two of them singles on the smooth jazz radio charts at the time of recording, which is why I worked on those segments first. In order of appearance, the songs are:
- “Fantasy in D” by Eastern Rebellion (February 10, 2021, also following a Vince Guaraldi Peanuts cue)
- “Biencavo” by Ahmad Jamal (April 15, 2020)
- “Covent Garden” by Steve Cole (September 15, 2021) (the first single)
- “Shadow Dancer” by Vincent Ingala (December 8, 2021) (the other single)
- “Serenata” by Gregg Karukas (March 24, 2021)
If that wasn’t enough, I played both of Nelson Rangell‘s studio recordings of “Sonora” by Hampton Hawes in honor of his latest live whistling and piccolo rendition at Smooth Jazz for Scholars in April. Watch the performance here:
Marion Meadows also performed “Marcosinho” that night.
This was the first show with instances where the second song of the set will start, and is faded down for a liner before going back to full volume. I did that at the start of “Fantasy in D” and “Throw Yo’ Hands (In the Air)” by Gerald Albright.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 7/6/22 July 7, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The July 6 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the second consecutive show with the 1-3-2 recording configuration: one segment on May 17, three on the 18th, and two on the 19th.
The playlist was created on May 15 and annotated on the 16th. I drafted the talk break script for the first segment before recording on the morning of the 17th and completed the draft in the afternoon.
For the first time, I recorded segments out of sequence as I was eager to get the last segment out of the way. The talk-up for “Hello Beautiful” by Blair Bryant included this moment from The Simpsons episode “The Principal and the Pauper“:
My voice was comprised on May 18, though less so on the 19th, after screaming in a moment of frustration about two hours after the one segment on the 17th. I was satisfied with the two segments I recorded on the afternoon of the 18th, but redid two of the last segment’s talk breaks on the morning of the 23rd. (A pickup was required on the 29th.) My pacing was better, which meant I could play the Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster arrangement of “The Red Wings” in its entirety rather than fade down early. All talk breaks in the fourth segment (first of hour 2) had to be speed compressed, 95% of original speed.
I didn’t have time to mention, but GTV Japan has a great video on Final Fantasy IV, posted around the time of its 30th anniversary a year ago next week:
And while working on this show, StrafeFox posted a Splash Wave video on the Wonder Boy and Monster World games:
I’d occasionally thought about playing “Frankenstein” by the Edgar Winter Group, and finally committed to it this week.
I eventually learned that Gerald Albright wrote “G-Wiggle” (from G-Stream 2) for his grandson Gavin’s blueberry dance, but adding that fun fact to the talk break would make the segment go over a few seconds.
This year’s Smooth Jazz for Scholars once again influenced the playlist as the third segment included two songs from the first night and one from the second. One first night song was “Treasures” by Marion Meadows:
“Amore” by Julian Vaughn was first heard last May 26, replayed as one of four current singles, three that were charting at the time of production. This time, I played up the references to “That’s Amore” and Dean Martin (“pally”). I had two more singles I wanted to include, but couldn’t, so I got a head start on next week’s playlist.
Before then, click here to download this week’s aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 6/1/22 June 2, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment
The June 1 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the third of three shows produced in eleven days. Recording took place from April 4 to 6 in the same 2-3-1 configuration as the May 18 show: two segments on April 4, three on the 5th, and the last segment and pickups on the 6th. An additional pickup was recorded on April 18.
The playlist was created on April 2 after recording the first hour of last week’s show and annotated on the 3rd before recording its second hour. The talk break script was drafted on the 4th before recording the first two segments for this week.
June 1 was the first day after Dan Cox’s retirement as Director of Broadcasting. Long Island University is going to make that position part-time upon hiring his replacement. At Dan’s request, I continue to work on shows even if some of them don’t air, assuming the worst case scenario: where the university terminates WCWP after 57 years on 88.1 FM and 61 years since its carrier current launch. This is the only time I’m acknowledging the station’s uncertainty unless the worst comes true. (6/9 UPDATE: Pete Bellotti became the new director on June 6 and stated that the current FM lineup will continue through at least Labor Day.)
Getting back to this week’s show, in my back-sell of “Vinyl” by Euge Groove, I referenced an (original) Animaniacs segment called “Please Please Please Get a Life Foundation” (from episode 73):
I’ve since watched the first two seasons of the reboot, which I enjoyed.
This show’s second segment was the hardest to record, compounded by my new habit of zooming in the waveform to see mouth clicks I can edit out. If every song fades out and you’re light on information, the last resort is to do the talk breaks at a slow pace. I recorded the third talk break slow, but there was still too much left, so I had to redo the second. The third segments of each hour required careful editing of their second talk breaks to avoid running over. It was in the last segment that I realized it makes more sense looking for mouth clicks in a talk break after editing out flubs, but I’ve since reverted to the old way.
It marked the second time I paired songs by Wes Montgomery and Earl Klugh, coincidentally recorded the week of the show with the first time. The inclusion of “Midnight Madness” by Skinny Hightower after “Midnight Sun (Extended Version)” by Darren Rahn was serendipity. The first segment of hour two needed a song around 3:45 and I came across “Midnight Madness.” Then, I noticed it had vinyl record crackling just like “Vinyl”; two callbacks in one.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 5/25/22 May 26, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Drama, Game Shows, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment
The May 25 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded one hour per day on April 2 and 3. A pickup was recorded on May 2.
The playlist was created on March 31 and annotated on April 1. The talk break script was drafted before recording the first hour on the 2nd. This was the third time the playlist did not include David Benoit. The other two times were the 40th birthday special last November 17 and the 100th show on March 2.
After finishing last week’s show, it occurred to me that I hadn’t played many live recordings on Instrumental Invasion: ten songs in 111 shows. Five of those were Pat Metheny; one with his Group, two versions of “Better Days Ahead.” This week alone had five live recordings in it, four of them long. Spyro Gyra‘s Access All Areas version of “Heliopolis” was part of Extended Cuts Week on the original The Instrumental Invasion on WGBB. That show aired January 27, 2005, 17 years and four months ago tomorrow (May 27). The phrase “almost live” was part of The Gong Show announcer’s intro spiel: “From Hollywood, almost live, it’s The Gong Show!” (I’d link to video of the intro, but all the videos on YouTube are poor quality.)
I ended my talk-up of “Seventh Heaven” by Jeff Lorber with the line “the seventh heaven is, of course, the best,” an homage to a bit in the Technology Connections video on touch lamps. I’ve clipped the bit here, but the full video is worth watching:
I was going to reference the bit after playing “Tenth Victim” by the Jeff Lorber Fusion last week, but realized that would be in bad taste, even if I added “at least in positive situations.”
Incidentally, the inclusion of “Seventh Heaven” plus “Supernatural” by Brian Simpson made for two songs sharing their name with a WB/CW drama. 7th Heaven was family-oriented while Supernatural was dark fantasy.
As for last night’s show, click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
I had Homer Simpson in mind when I used the word “dealies” at the end of the first segment.
Instrumental Invasion, 5/18/22 May 19, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Travel, TV.add a comment
The May 18 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the third consecutive show recorded over three days. Two segments were recorded on March 28, three on the 29th, and one on the 30th. Pickups were recorded from March 29 to 31, and on April 2 and 22.
The playlist was created on March 27 with annotations and the script draft on the 28th.
I first played “Five6Oh83” by Steve Cole on July 1, 2020. I noted that 56083 was the ZIP Code for Sanborn, Minnesota, but missed the connection to David Sanborn. Instead, I wondered if Steve lived there and advised against looking into that. I played “Slam” by David so I could play Steve’s tribute later. It’s also why I included “Slings and Arrows” by Michael Brecker after playing “Starburst” by Spyro Gyra, which he ended with his solo. “Slam” and “Starburst” were chock-full of alumni of Paul Shaffer and The World’s Most Dangerous Band. If I wasn’t short on time in the first segment, I would have noted when they were in the band and who replaced them.
I swapped out the second instance of Ted David‘s segment open liner with a liner by Travis Demers.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 5/11/22 May 12, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Travel, TV, Video.add a comment
The May 11 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days: the first hour on March 21, the first segment of the second hour on the 22nd, and the last two on the 23rd. Pickups were recorded on April 22 and May 2, the latter of which incorporated a new liner by WCWP/LIU Post alumnus Travis Demers.
The playlist was created on March 20 with annotations and the talk break script draft on the 21st.
For the second time in three weeks, speed compression was involved. The last talk break was sped up to 98% (except for the pickup) to keep the segment as close to 18 minutes as possible. This was after removing extemporaneous tidbits, which I also had to do for the last talk break of the first hour.
One tidbit I removed was about the music video for “Mornin’” by Al Jarreau, billed only as Jarreau:
In the show’s last talk break, while back-selling “Shandling” by Ken Navarro, I referenced “This is the Theme to Garry’s Show,” the theme song for It’s Garry Shandling’s Show:
My talk-up for the short “Funky Song (SC-55)” by Anders Enger Jensen ended in rhyme: “This is Anders Enger Jensen with ‘Funky Song.’ It isn’t very long.” That was a reference to this moment on Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza:
I swapped out the 1984 and earlier segment for an extra 2017 to present, something I haven’t done since December 29, as four new albums came my way before working on this show.
Guitarist Wayne Bruce’s appearance on “95 North” by Kim Waters allowed me to make up for my oversight last June 23. Coincidentally, tomorrow’s blog post has photos taken on I-95 north in New York and Connecticut. (5/26 UPDATE: Here’s the post.) Kim had the Maryland portion of the interstate highway in mind for “95 North.”
I didn’t mention on-air that May 11 marked 28 years since my first “radio show” with my cousin Chris. He held a Talkboy cassette voice recorder and I held a Panasonic microcassette voice recorder. 11 years after that – May 11, 2005 – The Mike Chimeri Show returned to WebRadio WCWP, six days after ending the original The Instrumental Invasion on WGBB. He’ll be introducing me at the 2020-21 WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony exactly one month from last night, on June 11.
Click here to download the May 11, 2022, aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 5/4/22 May 5, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, TV, Video.add a comment
The May 4 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded from March 14 to 16, two segments per day. Pickups were recorded on March 19 and 21, and April 22.
The playlist was created on March 13 and annotated on the 14th. The talk break script was drafted before the first two segments were recorded, and before and after recording the third segment on the 15th.
My line in the intro was in reference to this:
On February 1, the Late Show with David Letterman YouTube channel was revived as a David Letterman archive channel (billed as “Letterman”). The channel is primarily made up segments from all three of Dave’s shows – The David Letterman Show (“the morning show”), Late Night, and the Late Show – and remembrances by surviving staff – including directors Hal Gurnee and Jerry Foley, and writers Merrill Markoe and Gammill and Pross. Despite Dave’s left-wing political bent, explicitly expressed over his last decade on the air, I have a fondness for him and his shows. I was fortunate enough to attend a Late Show taping with my dad Bill in December 2004, and to have met Hello Deli proprietor (and hidden camera subject) Rupert Jee four years earlier, as seen on this blog’s People I’ve Met page:
5/17 UPDATE: Since my Netflix account has been paused for over a year, and due to the potential politics of a given episode, I forgot that Dave continues to have an interview series on the platform called My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.
But enough about all things Letterman. 6/9 UPDATE: That sentence took on a new meaning yesterday when I unsubscribed from the channel. I grew overwhelmed by the frequency of videos that I felt compelled to watch, and they posted two politically-fueled videos in two weeks: one from 2013 (Republican senator-shaming Stooge of the Night compilation), one recorded yesterday (bashing the governor of Florida after Dave’s sister wrote to him). Oh, well. It was a fun few months. I’ll always have “doppity-doh” and “Ball, Get Out of My Nachos.”
I didn’t mention it on the air, but four of the songs in the first hour are the latest in a line of songs played on the show that were excerpted in local forecasts on The Weather Channel in their day:
- “James and Wes” by Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery
- “Let’s Just Say Goodbye” by David Sanborn
- “Florida Suite: Sunset (USA)” by Mannheim Steamroller
- “True Companion” by The Rippingtons
There was so much information I did share that I didn’t use many alumni liners, but no speed compression was required for talk breaks. For the first time since January 12 (only acknowledged in the playlist), I swapped the Ted David and Bruce Leonard liners for the start of the last two segments.
Not only did the show have plenty of organ, but also many James Taylor alumni, leading up to Chuck Loeb‘s cover of “Mean Old Man.”
Coming in and out of “Dees Blues” by the Roger Kellaway Trio, I subtly referenced a suggestive meme.
“Run Your Race,” Ken Navarro‘s tribute to Eddie Van Halen, was first played on October 6, recorded before learning it was a tribute (in this livestream).
“Gotta Get Up” by Adam Hawley was on the smooth jazz radio charts at the time of recording.
Here is the video for the Bob James Trio’s cover of “Rocket Man“:
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
8:18 AM UPDATE: Whoops, I guess last week’s show wasn’t the last with the “no relation to” bit. I accidentally left one in at the top of hour 2.
Instrumental Invasion, 4/20/22 April 21, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Travel, TV, Video.add a comment
The April 20 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on March 1 (four segments) and 2 (two segments), the latter occurring before my guest reading stint. Pickups were recorded on the 4th, 8th, and 24th.
The playlist was created on February 26, but not annotated until the 28th, after which the talk break script was drafted.
I forgot to plug the video of “Angela” by the Bob James Trio that was recorded as they recorded:
The session was recorded as video and the Dolby Atmos audio from it was extracted for MQA-CD players. The version of “Angela” you heard on the show was ripped from the CD with regular audio, which is good enough for me.
Coincidentally, the day I started recording this show, Ken Levine (“la-vyne”) wrote a remembrance of Taxi, the series for which Bob wrote the theme. Ken and his writing partner David Isaacs went on to work with some of the Taxi staff – such as the Charles Brothers and Jim Burrows – on Cheers and its spin-off Frasier.
The Shilts anecdote after playing “All Grown Up” referred to his May 2012 show at Houndstooth Pub. Last night was the first time I mentioned the prank.
A few days before the show aired, I finally learned how to properly say Maynard Ferguson‘s first name: “may-nard,” not “-nerd” like for football players Brad and Don. Unfortunately, it was too late to correct the mistake, but rest assured it won’t happen again.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
MikeChimeri.com 