Instrumental Invasion, 7/7/21 July 8, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Baseball, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports, Technology, Video.add a comment
The July 7 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded two segments per day between May 29 and 31 with pickups on the 31st and June 17.
The playlist was created on May 28 with annotations carrying into the 29th, followed by the script draft.
Half the segments ran long, half ran short. One of those segments ran short due to a miscalculation that gave me an extra minute. Another short segment gave me the opportunity to learn a “fun fact” (a term I lovingly borrow from Technology Connections) about Joe McBride. In all the years I’ve heard his music, I never knew he was Bake McBride‘s nephew.
I played “Red Suede Shoes” by Chuck Loeb after hearing the disappointing radio edit on SiriusXM’s Watercolors that cut the song in half, eliminating Till Brönner and Eric Marienthal‘s solos. They got their due in this show.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 6/9/21 June 10, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, Personal, Radio, Travel, Video.add a comment
The June 9 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded two segments per day from May 4 to 6. Pickups for the first two segments of the second hour were recorded on the 20th.
The playlist was created on May 2 with annotations and the script draft following on the 3rd. In spite of additional time allowed for talk breaks, I still wrote too much for myself to say, but I also didn’t write enough for two breaks. The latter issue allowed me to share a Jaco Pastorius tidbit I couldn’t share earlier due to the former issue. The drive through Oakland Park occurred on March 3, 2019, the day after my cousin David’s wedding to Talia. Here’s a photo:
The song I played before sharing the tidbit was “Jaco Smiled” by Ken Navarro, whose birthday coincided with last night’s show. As the show was winding down, he posted this video on Facebook, thanking everyone for the birthday wishes:
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
For the second week in a row, one of my spots ran during a break. This time, it was for the community calendar. You can hear it at the 3:58 mark.
Instrumental Invasion, 6/2/21 June 3, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sci-Fi, Video.add a comment
The June 2 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over the last four days of April: two segments on April 27, one on the 28th, two on the 29th, and one on the 30th. One pickup was recorded on May 3 and another on the 15th.
The playlist was created on April 25 with annotations and the script draft on the 26th. I wrote too much to say in the time allotted on the playlist, which led some things unsaid. You can find the personnel I didn’t have time to credit at the following links:
I didn’t have to cut much from the rest of the script, but still had to fade songs down early in several cases. In the case of “Better Days Ahead” by Gerald Albright, I let the talk break overshoot what I had in mind as the post. (That refers to “hitting the post,” ending just as the main melody or vocals begin.)
One script cut was so good, I’d like to share it below. It’s in reference to “Market Street” by Yellowjackets from the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home soundtrack:
That fourth film is set in San Francisco. I have yet to see it or any of the Star Trek films, outside of clips, and the clip I’ve seen of the fourth is Spock using his Vulcan pinch on a rowdy punk blasting music on a bus.
Here is that scene (the video):
5/26/22 UPDATE: The video was taken down, so break out your Star Trek IV optical disc (DVD, Blu-ray) or pull it up on Paramount+.
Incidentally, Leonard Nimoy directed Star Trek IV.
Midway through annotating the playlist, I received a call from Pete Bellotti informing me I would be inducted into the WCWP Hall of Fame as part of their 2021 class. Pete is chairman of the WCWP Hall of Fame Committee and a 2019 inductee. I couldn’t say anything publicly until the announcement on May 11. I had been dreaming of this honor for a few years and was thrilled the dream came true. I just hope the ceremony happens as scheduled.
Click here to download the June 2 aircheck MP3 or listen below:
The last spot break began with my latest promo, which I recorded on May 1:
Instrumental Invasion, 5/26/21 May 27, 2021
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The May 26 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days. The first hour was completed on April 20 with a pickup on the 21st, while the second hour and additional pickups were done on the 22nd.
The playlist was created on April 18 with annotations and the script draft on the 19th.
It was a Brown namesake extravaganza with songs by Norman (guitar/vocals), Alison (banjo), Paul (guitar/vocals), and Dean (guitar), plus songs by Lisa Addeo – making her Instrumental Invasion debut – and Julian Vaughn that featured Mel Brown on bass. I’d love to see the five of them perform together someday.
For the first time in six shows, I had to replace a song because time was running short in a segment; in this case, the first segment of hour 2. “Through the Years” by Brian Culbertson was replaced with “Northern Lights.”
As I type this sentence, I have not played any version of Space Harrier, but through watching videos on YouTube, I’ve developed an appreciation for it. Thus, “Get Ready” by Jazmin Ghent (making her debut on the show) makes me think of the opening line in the game: “Welcome to the fantasy zone. Get ready!”
This video dares to compare every version of Space Harrier:
I also made reference to The Golden Girls. “Picture it!,” I exclaimed as Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) while acknowledging Nick Petrillo on keyboards.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 5/5/21 May 6, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Football, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Sports, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The May 5 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded two segments per day from March 31 to April 2.
The playlist was created on March 27 and annotated on the 28th. The script was drafted on the 29th.
I used the phrase “one compound word,” while back-selling “Magicsmiles” by Gregg Karukas, as an homage to a 2012 episode of The Angry Video Game Nerd (strong language):
The phrase was uttered by the Nerd (James Rolfe) toward the end of a monologue on football. The monologue starts at 1:27 with the phrase coming two minutes later.
And speaking of videos, here is the music video for “Motor City Sway” by Alexander Zonjic:
I didn’t have Cinco de Mayo in mind when I programmed “South of the Border” into the playlist, but I realized while drafting the script that the show would air that day.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 4/28/21 April 29, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Rock, Travel, Video.add a comment
The April 28, 2021, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over four days. One segment was recorded per day on March 23 (at home) and 24 (away on my laptop), and two per day on the 25th and 26th, both at home.
The playlist was created on March 21 and annotated on the 22nd, after which the script was drafted. While drafting, I forgot to include a tidbit about David Benoit‘s cover of “Your Song” by Elton John. The original came out in David’s last year of high school and he’s been a fan of Elton ever since. I added that tidbit in a March 27 pickup.
There were plenty more tidbits to go around, including one that required a pickup to make clear I was saying “funky” and not some other word. The personal tidbits are true and I have photographic evidence. Here I am in Florida at Christmastime in 1992, possibly the day that Cedar Walton‘s Manhattan Afternoon was recorded:
And this was taken during that trip on March 28, 2004, wherein I listened to “Expression” by Joyce Cooling and other songs on This Girl’s Got to Play:
One tidbit, however, was cut for time in the first segment:
Here is the cover of “Palladium” by Weather Report that I recommended in the outtake:
As for what aired, click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 4/14/21 April 15, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Travel, TV, Video, Video Games, Weather.add a comment
The April 14, 2021, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was painstakingly recorded over four days. The first hour was recorded in the early morning and mid-afternoon of March 9. The second hour took three days with the first segment recorded on March 10 on my laptop through an Apogee MiC 96k, and the last two segments back at home on the 11th and 12th. Pickups were required for a talk break in the third segment of hour 1 and one talk break in each segment of hour 2.
The playlist was created and annotated on March 7, and the script was drafted on the 8th. For the second week in a row, I made a timing error. Worse yet, two timing errors. In the last segment of hour 1, I put in a 4:32 song rather than 5:32. The replacement song faded out incredibly early, which still left me with too much time in the talk break that followed. I had to vamp. I made the opposite mistake in hour 2, inserting a 4:55 song in the second segment when I needed 3:55. The irony is the first segment was mainly comprised of songs that I had to cut from the last two shows, one due to timing and the other because of a wordy talk break. (9:35 AM UPDATE: I forgot to account for the replacement, which was from 2011. That meant listeners heard me refer in the vamp to a 2010 song that they wouldn’t hear until a week later.)
The inclusion of “Outside Solaris” by Clifford Marshall Van Buren is another of my loving tributes to the heyday of local forecast music on The Weather Channel. You can find an example of its usage on Matt Marron’s TWC Classics tribute site. I don’t always do this, but I prefaced the description of Solaris with “according to Wikipedia” to acknowledge my lack of knowledge. You learn something new every day.
The “fun fact” preface to the Dan Ingram tidbit was an homage to a catchphrase on the Technology Connections YouTube channel.
Picking up on what I said coming out of “Whispered Confessions” by Lisa Hilton, here is a side-by-side comparison of the song’s melody and what’s played between levels in the NES port of Pac-Man:
That remains a pleasant coincidence seven years after hearing the song for the first time at Carnegie Hall.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 3/31/21 April 1, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The March 31, 2021, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP marked one year since my Wednesday night premiere. The show was recorded one hour per day on February 25 and 26 with multiple pickups recorded on the second day, and still more on the morning of the 27th.
The playlist was created on February 23 with annotations continuing into the 24th, after which the script was drafted.
This was an incredibly hard show to do. I had to improvise multiple talk breaks because there wasn’t enough time to read from the lengthy scripts. The second talk break of the show was so lengthy that I had to replace “Lakeshore Cowboy” by Ramsey Lewis with “Heartsounds” by David Lanz. In future playlists, I’m expanding the back-sell length to 50 seconds. That may not even be enough.
“Giant Steps” and “Fly with the Wind” were included days after acquiring John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner‘s albums of the same name. Giant Steps is the first Trane album I ever bought.
My “Giant Steps” curiosity had been piqued by several YouTube videos that either covered the song…:
…or adapted the changes into other songs:
So, it was only right that I acquaint myself with the original.
I played “El Camino Real” by David Benoit to make up for the factual error I made when I first played it last August 19.
Click below to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
Instrumental Invasion, 3/10/21 March 11, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Animation, Audio, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Travel, TV, Video, Weather.add a comment
The March 10, 2021, Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days: one on February 3, three on the 4th, and two on the 5th, which is when I added the first segment pickup “ready, and appear!” Like last week, the first segment of hour 2 was remixed on the 16th after Patrick Bradley e-mailed his liner.
It was my mother Lisa’s 65th birthday, but I superstitiously didn’t acknowledge that. To celebrate, she, my father Bill, sister Lauren, and I went out to dinner at Vittorio’s in Amityville. It was my first time at a restaurant since Mom’s 64th birthday. (The next day, the country began to shut down.) I was only required to wear my mask when not seated at the table, so I adapted quickly.
The playlist for this show was created and annotated on February 1 as a snowstorm raged outside. I added annotations for “Snapshot” by Richard Elliot on the 2nd after my copy of Authentic Life arrived in the mail. The script was drafted on the 3rd.
I was inspired to play “Nautilus” by Bob James after watching this video the night before creating the playlist:
I had wanted to play a John Philip Sousa march for a while, and chose this show to incorporate my appreciation for his marches and for Monty Python by playing “The Liberty Bell,” which was the theme to Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In the talk-up, referencing the show’s intro, I quoted John Cleese‘s BBC continuity announcer character and imitated Michael Palin‘s “It’s” Man.
I paid homage to another favorite series of mine, Rocky & Bullwinkle, while talking up “Why Not” by Fowler and Branca. One episode of the Banana Formula story arc found Boris and Natasha stealing the tape recorder they used to capture Bullwinkle hiccuping said formula back from Fearless Leader after he was knocked out by a spring in the machine:
NATASHA: Now what, Boris?
BORIS: What else? We run like rabbits.
NATASHA: Good idea!
BORIS: On second thought, we take secret formula (on the recorder) with us.
NATASHA: You mean steal it?
BORIS: Why not?
(pause)
NATASHA: Funny, I can’t think of a reason.
The aforementioned snowstorm inspired me to play Nelson Rangell‘s cover of “Sweetest Somebody I Know” by Stevie Wonder. One of the first times I listened to it was on the back end of a 2015 winter storm, also in early February. That storm began as snow, changed to sleet and freezing rain, then changed to rain, after which I shoveled, and changed back to snow, which led to more shoveling because it was accumulating.
I said “album” a lot!, but I don’t care.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
MikeChimeri.com 
Audiobooking 6 April 4, 2021
Posted by Mike C. in Animation, Audio, Audiobooks, Baseball, Comedy, Commentary, Film, History, Media, Personal, Politics, Radio, Sports, TV, Video.add a comment
It’s been just over a year since the previous post. Instrumental Invasion has taken up most of my time, providing a necessary escape from the tumultuous reality.
I continue to listen to audiobooks on days where I workout and run, or even while editing photos. My source remains Audible, now as a paid member. When I’m billed at the end of each month, I use my credit on the next audiobook to listen to. As I type, I have a three-book backlog.
Here’s what I’ve been listened to since Andrea Barber’s memoir:
There, all caught up.
Until next year’s “Audiobooking” post, happy listening.