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January 15-16 winter storm, aftermath January 18, 2024

Posted by Mike C. in Personal, Photography, Video, Weather.
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It’s been about two years since Wantagh – and Long Island in general – got measurable snowfall, but that streak ended on the night of Monday, January 15. About 2.5 inches of snow fell in a 16-hour period before changing to sleet and then rain.

My dad Bill cleared his car and left for work during the changeover, and I went outside to shovel two hours after that. By then, the one inch of snow on the driveway pavement had turned to slush. However, with temperatures due to fall back below freezing at night, and stay there for a few days, it was necessary to clear the slush from the driveway and sidewalk. I also cleared the snow off my mom Lisa’s car. It took 43 minutes to do those tasks, which impressed my parents and friends when I posted about it on Facebook.

What follows is a photographic timeline from the snowfall before bed on Monday night through the cleared driveway and car after walking to and from my credit union to deposit coins (and bringing garbage pails to the curb for Wednesday morning pickup).

Monday, January 15

10:59 PM

Tuesday, January 16

6:34 AM

7:40 AM

8:10 AM

I even shot a brief video:

11:35 AM, before shoveling and clearing

1:19 PM, after shoveling and errands

It won’t be long before the next post-storm blog post. 2 to 4 inches of snow are expected tomorrow (Friday, January 19). Expecting that much from the storm earlier this week, I moved items around in the garage – including some heavy items – so that the snow blower could be by the door ready for use. We didn’t need it then, but might next time. Until that storm’s recap, thank you for reading.

1/23 UPDATE: Long Island was spared any snow from that storm. My parents’ cars and the edge of the driveway got a coating, but that was it. I still made a post that you can read here.

My Twitch setup December 7, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Computer, Internet, Livestream, Personal, Technology, Video.
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RELATED: “Back after this” music cue mixes

Updated 10/15 and 12/31/24, 1/10, 5/8, 7/16, 7/20, 7/23, and 11/30/25, 1/9/26 with setup changes

My setup as of 1/9/26

In case you’re wondering, this is the gear that goes into my Twitch streams (UPDATED 10/15 and 12/31/24, 1/10, 5/8, 7/16, 7/20, and 8/20/25, 1/9/26):

The webcams, mixer, and Stream Deck are connected to an Anker 4-port USB 3.0 hub. For games that require standing, like Wii Sports Resort, I use the hutch-mounted Brio in a dedicated OBS scene:

I gave up on my PC build in December 2024 and switched to a Dell Alienware Aurora R16. Here are the relevant specs for that:

  • CPU: Intel Core i9 14900F (2 4-Core, 68MB Total Cache, 2.0GHz to 5.8 GHz with Turbo Boost Max 3.0)
  • Motherboard: Alienware 0RF96M
  • Memory: 64GB (2x32GB), DDR5, 5200MT/s
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16GB GDDR6X
  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

Overlay backgrounds were made in Adobe Photoshop. Below are six examples (updated 7/16/25; I dropped “…on Twitch” branding in March 2025):

The webcam video is accordingly cropped in OBS for just chatting (background 2) and gameplay/media production (backgrounds 3 and 4; plus a Firefox background I didn’t include here). Game capture (and prerecorded gameplay videos), Adobe Audition, Word, display capture, and other programs are scaled down to fit their box and Firefox is cropped. StreamElements and Twitch overlays, widgets, and alerts are placed in different spots depending on the background. Additional text is added in OBS where necessary (i.e. prerecorded gameplay disclaimer, notable commands [in place of followers goal widget], milestone stream banners). Chat emote animation is full screen and lasts for ten seconds. Sound commands also require an overlay to be heard. Alerts were initially handled entirely by SE, but moved to Twitch in March 2024. The SE donation alert was reinstated during my 300th stream on 2/26/25.

I used Elgato 4K Capture Utility (available for download here) to play in real time on the right monitor until relying solely on OBS. I create a windowed projector and enlarge it on my right monitor where it’s placed in front of Google Chrome where I use the Twitch Stream Manager webpage. (I only have the window fill the screen if game text is unreadable.) To avoid sync issues, a separate element was made for 4K X audio (more on that two paragraphs below). Desktop audio is advanced by around 400ms (-400ms), also to avoid sync issues, although that is not utilized as often thanks to OBS’s “capture audio” option for window capture elements.

The Elgato 4K X only allows access to one app at a time. So, I initially used the NDI 6 Runtime plugin for OBS and click “Enable Stream Pair” in 4K Capture Utility. It was seen and heard as an “NDI Source” – that I named “Elgato 4K X” – in all gameplay-related scenes. I’m forced to use external devices on my Alienware Aurora R16 because the RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card blocks the remaining PCIE slots. As noted in the previous paragraph, I eventually abandoned this practice and relied solely on OBS, only using 4K Capture Utility to play games off stream if I don’t intend on recording. (11/21/25 NOTE: I now use the plugin for Dancing with the Stars watchalong streams, such as the one for season 34‘s fifth week on October 14 and the finale on November 25.)

While using the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 from 12/31/24 to 1/6/25, I noticed a gradual audio desync problem with certain consoles – something not present in VODs or off-stream recordings. That required me to make a separate audio channel for the capture card, a solution I learned via this message board post. I bought the Live Gamer 2.1 for capturing to my laptop. With a working desktop, laptop captures and streaming will likely occur in the basement or away from home. (7/23/25 NOTE: One such “away from home” stream was from my hotel room in Connecticut on May 3 between Smooth Jazz for Scholars shows.)

I hope that answers all your questions. Thank you for watching my streams. I’ll leave you with a screenshot of an OBS test the night before my third stream.

7/23 and 11/30/25 UPDATES: As a bonus, I’m including my latest setup photos.

Before the 3D (7/23/25)
With the 3D (11/30/25) (pardon the dust)
To even out the gallery, this is the 8BitDo Ultimate 2 controller I use with my Switch 2, resting in its charging dock away from my desk. (11/30/25 UPDATE: I got two more Xbox Series X|S controllers and moved those controllers to a shelf.)

Instrumental Invasion, 11/17/23: Finale November 18, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Computer, Internet, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Livestream, Media, Music, New Age, Personal, Radio, smooth jazz, Video.
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The final prime time Instrumental Invasion on WCWP began life the same way the prior night did: as a Wednesday night show to air following what I assumed to be a short renovation programming hiatus. I hadn’t recorded this one yet, though. The playlist, annotations, and script were completed, but I wanted to work on more playlists before recording 181 or 182. I made 183 the Christmas show and 184 the third Three-of-a-Kind Showcase special. I’d work on 185 and 186 when I was ready.

The playlist was created on October 20 and 22. Annotations began on October 25, but were put on hold due to uncertainty over the hiatus and lineup change that was to follow. I finished those annotations and drafted the script on November 1. I figured I would record 181, then move on to 182.

After making tweaks to show 181 on the evening of November 6, I tweaked all components of 182: playlist, annotations, and script. Obviously, I’d have to redo the intro and outro, including a proper goodbye on the latter. These are the changes made:

Two segments per day were recorded from November 9 to 11. Each time, I streamed the recording sessions on Twitch.

Click here to download the finale’s aircheck scope or listen below:

I’m sad the show is over, but relieved that the hard work is behind me. So much time and effort went into each show, so burnout was inevitable. While this isn’t quite how I wanted to end, I’m grateful to WCWP station manager Pete Bellotti for allowing me a proper ending. Here was Pete’s complimentary statement on the WCWP Alumni Association Facebook group hours before air:

A salute to Mike Chimeri … yes, his birthday (Happy Birthday!!!!!) ….but to his final Instrumental Invasion tonight at 9p on 88.1 FM WCWP. There are no words to describe how important Mike will always be to WCWP as a talent, alum and human being. I am truly grateful for Mike’s friendship and I speak for many by saying THANK YOU! Time for some R & R and the next project that you will execute with class, professionalism & superior skill.

Cheers my friend!!!

Pete Bellotti, 11/17/23, 1:05 PM

Thank you very much, Pete.

Thank you, the listener and reader, for reading these recaps and listening to the airchecks. See you all on Twitch.

The Heidi Game story from an NBC log clerk November 17, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Film, Football, History, Hockey, Media, News, Sports, Technology, TV, Video.
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Today is not just my 42nd birthday, but the 55th anniversary of the infamous Heidi Game, an AFL game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders. My fellow WCWP Hall of Famer John LiBretto, inducted in 2017, was a log clerk for NBC at the time, and permitted me to share what he remembered from that night via our e-mail conversation on Tuesday.

This is John’s story:

A little background: I was a Log Clerk, which was my entry job at NBC (I had started in June of 1968). Basically logged all programming and commercials etc. for the local station (WNBC) and for the network.

I worked in a room with two TV monitors just next to BOC (Broadcast Operations Control), the area that was responsible for all programming output to the network and WNBC. Next door was Master Control, and just in front was the Control Room that switched between all the control studios, rolled the station breaks etc. etc. Busy place.

On any given weekend that had live sports, the Operations Dept issued Conditions that outlined what was to happen during various points in the broadcast day (i.e. handoffs between games and regionalization of games during the football season, and the end of sports into the prime-time schedule at 7PM on a Sunday night). Remember, while the NFL and AFL had announced their merger to take effect in 1970, they were still separate leagues in 1968. The AFL did not have the high ratings of the NFL, nor the clout over the network (in fact, it was said that NBC saved the AFL, and helped facilitate the merger).

There were times that the network would allow a game to run slightly past 7PM, and either slide the network accordingly (rare), or do a Join-in-Progress (also rare). The show on this particular Sunday, Heidi, was a very expensive adaptation of the story (music by John Williams, by the way), and the conditions specifically stated that, no matter what, the show would air to east and central time zones at 7PM. The big 4PM game was, of course, Jets at Oakland Raiders. The commercial control was in Burbank (NBC’s west coast headquarters), so the game was coming back to the east via the video/audio lines from NBC Burbank to Paducah, KY, where it was switched, by AT&T, into the main network via something called the Round Robin (the network signal left NY and traveled in a big circle, city to city, and eventually came back to NY…a big circle that allowed news feeds and regional commercials to be switched into the network as needed (not to mention regional football games).

A lot of set-up information for what transpired next.

As we got closer to 7PM, it was pretty clear the game was not going to end on time. Curt Gowdy had already promoted that Heidi would be coming up in the east and central time zones at 7PM; the game would continue out west. The powers that be (Julian Goodman, President of NBC) realized that this was probably not a great idea after all, and tried to call BOC to order a change (i.e. let the game finish, and slide the east and central feed of Heidi). By this time, the calls were coming into NBC New York from viewers and overwhelming the switchboard, so Goodman couldn’t get through in time.

Here’s the sequence as it aired on the East Coast:

6:58:40 Network Identification (NI) a :06 seconded, either a promo, or just “This is the NBC Television Network.”

6:58:46  Network goes to black for local station break

Somewhere in here, BOC got word from Goodman to delay Heidi and go back to the game…mind you, only 1:14 to accomplish this. That NI I mentioned was also a set cue for the AT&T facility in Paducah to reverse the eastbound feed from Burbank to the normal feed of the network outbound to the west coast. So, that already meant the game was never coming back to the East Coast.

7:00:00 NBC Color Peacock (The Following is a Special Color Presentation on NBC)

7:00:12 A little bit of the Heidi opening, followed by hash (yes, they switched to the incoming feed from California, which unfortunately had nothing on it). Hash is what happens when there is no usable signal on the incoming line (looks like grey fuzz on the screen).

Looked worse than it seems in the writing of it!

Finally, realizing there was nowhere left to go, BOC switched back to the studio airing Heidi and just let it play. The screaming in BOC was quite something, but they actually did everything correctly; had they NOT aired Heidi according to the conditions without Goodman’s authorization, they probably would have all been fired. As it turned out, two of us became quite busy Sports directors!

It’s a miracle Goodman got through at all; the switchboard completely melted down from the volume of calls. The surprise was so did the switchboards in Chicago, Cleveland and Washington. That’s how NBC discovered that the AFL had become a pretty hot property.

I remember all this because I had to log every single second of what went on the air that evening. Eventually, a flash caster was aired over Heidi giving the final score (Oakland scored twice in a matter of a few seconds and won the game [43-32], which further pissed off the New York market).

John LiBretto, via 11/14/23 e-mail

As a postscript to John’s story, here is David Brinkley‘s report and Curt Gowdy’s re-creation of the end of the game on the following night’s Huntley-Brinkley Report:

Modified from original video source

The Jets would get their revenge on Oakland six weeks later in the AFL Championship Game, beating the Raiders 27-23 at Shea Stadium. Of course, two weeks after that, the Jets upset the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

Instrumental Invasion, 11/16/23: 60-year musical journey, 1963-2023 November 17, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Computer, Football, Game Shows, Internet, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Livestream, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, smooth jazz, Sports, Technology, TV, Video.
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This edition of Instrumental Invasion started out as a regular Wednesday night show that I assumed would air after a short programming hiatus (one or two weeks) for WCWP. I guessed wrong. Thus, this was reworked as a Thursday night show. References to “this week” were removed and the intro and outro were redone to acknowledge the impending demise.

Rather than have my last six shows run on The Wave, station manager Pete Bellotti arranged for this show and the next one to air on consecutive nights, hours before the renovation programming hiatus was to begin. This meant I was on three nights in a row: November 15 to 17, all in the regular 9PM slot.

The playlist was created on October 4 and annotated from October 13 to 15. The script was drafted on the 15th, 17th, and 18th.

Recording began on November 4, during my second-ever Twitch livestream. It was an opportunity let viewers in on the process, though few cared to watch live. I worked on the first hour over the course of a two-hour stream. Then, I raided out to music streamer Cerian (kerry-anne). (Twitch doesn’t have a radio category, so I chose music and felt I should raid a fellow music streamer.) I was giddy (as in Biddy) to raid her because I’d been meaning to give her streams a try. I promised I would play the instrumental version of her song “Wrong Side” in my last show, which I assumed would be 186. More on that in the finale recap.

Livestream clips:

The first segment of hour 2 was recorded on November 5 and the rest on the morning of the 6th. I was over a minute beyond my desired 1:49:00 threshold, but with legal IDs and spot breaks, I’d still end before 11PM.

As noted earlier, pickups were recorded on the evening of the 6th, but only after reinstating backups of segment session files. Thinking I was moving to The Wave, I recorded a tag to play in place of all FM references in liners, then I saved and exported those files accordingly.

This proved unnecessary.

David Benoit‘s cover of “Song for My Father” was first played on July 1, 2020, but not with the lengthy origin story. I ended up hooked on a video YouTube recommended of the Horace Silver Quintet playing “Song for My Father” on Danish TV in April 1968:

That, in turn, sent me down a Billy Cobham rabbit hole, culminating in this August 2016 Drumeo presentation:

Click here to download the penultimate scoped aircheck or listen below:

Instrumental Invasion, 11/1/23 November 2, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Comedy, Internet, Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Rock, smooth jazz, TV, Video.
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There is a major announcement at the end of this post.

The November 1 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on September 23 (first two segments) and 24 (last four). Pickups were recorded on the 30th.

The playlist was created September 6, and annotated with three other shows between the 13th and 18th. The talk break script was drafted on the 20th.

David Benoit‘s cover of “Then the Morning Comes” by Smash Mouth was originally played April 14, 2021. I played it in tribute to their late lead vocalist Steve Harwell.

My talk-up for “Junior” by Euge Groove – “you can call it Junior!” – was a nod to the late Bill Saluga‘s Raymond J. Johnson Jr. character. An example performance:

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

Automation still cut off the beginnings and ends, so I resorted to using segment files in the above aircheck. Next week and beyond, segments will be bookended by WCWP jingle bumpers.

Before air, I made the following announcement on Facebook:

Before tonight’s show airs, I would like to announce that I am ending my run of Instrumental Invasion after show 186. If the FM stream is working by 9:00, show 178 will be airing. That means I will have eight shows left to air. Two are ready to be recorded and the last four have yet to be worked on. I have taken this show as far as it can go and am burned out.

Instrumental Invasion has been my longest-running production and my best work creatively. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it with the world and will carry on with the name each October during Homecoming Weekend.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, August 13

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

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

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

Monday, August 14 and beyond

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

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

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

The front of the badges:

12 games for Nintendo Entertainment System:

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

“Power Pad Fun!”, Part 1:

Part 2:

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

Two for Super Nintendo:

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

Two Nintendo 64 games:

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • All the games on the shelf

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

2023 Long Island Retro Gaming expo recap: touring the expo September 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Aviation, Computer, Education, 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.

Now that you’ve seen the panels, why not tour the rest of this year’s Long Island Retro Gaming Expo at the Cradle of Aviation Museum?

Before we do that, while editing on the Monday after (August 14), I noticed a familiar face in the bottom right of this Saturday (August 12) photo in the vendor marketplace:

What?! Clint Basinger (LGR) was there?! According to his Twitter activity, yes.

I was kicking myself for not knowing he’d be there, but John Riggs and LI Retro staff member Ryan Shapiro told me on Facebook that Clint was there as a paid attendee, not a guest. In their words:

He visited the show but did not host a panel. I was very excited to see him there.

Ryan Shapiro

I didn’t know he was gonna be there, either. There were quite a few YouTube people that weren’t on the list but showed up to hang out. Tells you how awesome the show is.

John Riggs

Hear hear, John. While I missed Clint in the moment, I did notice Justin Silverman walking along a separate row of vendors. I’d have said hello if we crossed paths.

Here is the latest LGR video:

The walking photo tour begins in earnest with a “good retro morning” greeting:

Most photos were taken on Saturday, but a small amount are from Sunday (August 13). (You’ll know by the filename.)

Vendor Marketplace:

I thought of Japanese Ammo with Misa as I passed this vendor’s Pokémon figurines.
Consoles and PCs were available from vendors

EON Gaming:

The rest of the first floor:

This TV cycled through WS4000 simulator flavors to show weather conditions in several video game locations.
The music was from actual Weather Channel local forecast recordings on the tribute site TWC Classics…
…but Dan Chandler’s recreated narration was enabled.
Speaking of Pokémon, here’s the Pokélab.
The next four photos were actual museum exhibits, unrelated to LI Retro.
After taking this, I sat down in the right window seat. It was as close as I’ve been to air travel since March 2019.
Back to LI Retro exhibits.

Second floor:

The second floor had its own Game Boy Selfie Station.
Once again, I present the not-rare Black Tiger.

The third floor was Tetris-themed:

I’ve been a fan of Tetris ever since playing the Game Boy version as a kid. I have that and 21 other variations of Tetris in my collection. This includes Tetris & Dr. Mario and Puyo Puyo Tetris. I also have the three ports of Tetris 2. The sequel gets a bad rap, but I enjoy it.

Anyway, that’s the end of the photo tour. Click here for my third recap post with a conclusion and pickups photos.

2023 Long Island Retro Gaming Expo recap: introduction, guests, panels September 1, 2023

Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Aviation, Books, Computer, Education, Game Shows, History, Internet, Media, Personal, Photography, Podcast, Radio, Technology, Travel, TV, 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

The weekend of August 12 and 13 marked my fifth year at Long Island Retro Gaming Expo, held in the Cradle of Aviation Museum, situated along Museum Row in East Garden City. This is LI Retro’s second year as a three-day event, running from 4PM Friday through 5PM Sunday. Again, I opted to skip Friday and just go Saturday and Sunday. I had to last year since I used my ticket for the postponed 2020 expo, but I saved money this year by purchasing a three-day ticket. I would have gone Friday if I lived within walking distance or had a car of my own.

When LI Retro’s schedule was published a few weeks before the event, I planned my days around panels, three per day. I also hoped to catch musical performances, but time would not allow that. I did not allow myself to buy games from vendors until after the last panel on Sunday.

I brought my Canon EOS R7 (and compatible speedlite, which didn’t cooperate) along with a TASCAM DR-05 audio recorder. While panels would be posted online, I wanted personal recordings to hold me over in the meantime. As of this writing, I have yet to listen, let alone edit out the beginnings and ends.

I hoped not to go overboard with photography, which means I did. A whopping 831 photos (466 Saturday, 366 Sunday) were taken with the R7 at LI Retro, plus four on my iPhone 13 Pro. I spent a week and a half editing them all, spreading out 563 of them in three blog posts. (I couldn’t possibly cram them all in one.)

This first post contains the introduction you’re reading now, photos with guests, photos from the six panels I saw, and relevant links and media embeds.

We start with an establishing exterior shot taken Sunday morning:

Waiting in line before doors opened on Saturday morning
Entering…

Guest table photos

It was fun catching up with guests and staff that I’ve seen before, and meeting new guests for the first time.

Leonard Herman (right) and Mark W. Baer (left), middle child of videogame pioneer Ralph H. Baer:

Mark gifted me with copies of his father Ralph’s patent and of the Magnavox Odyssey licensing agreement between Magnavox, Atari and Sanders Associates. From Leonard, I bought his book ABC to the VCS: A Director of Software for the Atari 2600 and Bill Kunkel‘s Confessions of the Game Doctor. Each book was published by Leonard’s Rolenta Press company.

Leonard and Mark with Patrick Wong:

Me and Jeff:

I didn’t compete with him on the Brown Box prototype this year.

LI Retro staff member Ryan Shapiro posed with Mark Baer prior to Sunday’s panel:

Me and John Riggs:

I bought another Genesis ROM hack cartridge from John’s table this year, but not one he made.

Adam Koralik:

Pat Contri (a.k.a. Pat the NES Punk) and Ian Ferguson:

I congratulated Pat for 15 years on YouTube, and he and Ian on a decade of the CU Podcast. We talked about cameras, the upcoming N64 entry in Pat’s Ultimate Nintendo book series, and my merch purchases. (I also apologized for how my podcast panel question trailed off at the end. [SPOILER])

Sunday morning, Pat was interviewed by Margaret Sykes of WRHU, radio station for nearby Hofstra University:

She then spoke to Leonard and Mark:

Adam’s table had prototype consoles and a signed copy of Shenmue II:

Frank Cifaldi spoke to Lenny and Mark before his panel, my first of the weekend:

John Riggs talking to attendees:

John’s LI Retro vlog:

Travis McGeehan (TIKevin83) and the TASBot:

On to panel photos and relevant links, including video and/or audio.

Saturday Panel 1, 11AM-12PM:
Frank Cifaldi
Adventures in Saving Video Game History

I winced at all this misinformation.
Q&A

After the panel, I ended up part of a conversation with Frank and fellow archivist Jason Scott. (I had no idea I was in the presence of greatness until a Google search Sunday morning.)

A selfie with Jason (sans top hat) and Frank:

I resorted to AI enhancing to compensate for lens blur.

Saturday Panel 2, 2PM-3PM
Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson
CU Podcast Special 2

Podcast audio out of the way, including my question:

The not-rare Black Tiger cabinet (in reference to this):

And the podcast videos:

Topic 1: Nintendo is expected to release the Switch 2 next year.
Audience member: “If it’s not backward compatible, I will riot.”
Topic 2: a scummy eBay seller.
Topic 3: Ten years of the CU Podcast
Demonstrating Steph Curry’s uninspired percussion…
…and Klay Thompson’s inspired percussion
Q&A…
Waiting to ask my question
Asking my question: Do friends and family that appeared in videos get recognized (Alison, in particular)? (Plus, I saw a Black Tiger arcade cabinet on the second floor, alluding to Pat’s Flea Market Madness encounter.)
Back at my seat
This was a question or two after mine
The last questioner asked if Pat and Ian had seen Grandma’s Boy because “it’s fire,” slang for “great.”
Looking it up on IMDB
6.9/10
A final thank you

While waiting to ask a question, I noticed my friend Daniel Greenberg of Winterion Game Studios in the audience with his wife Alex. I whispered hello and we spoke more after the panel. It turns out Daniel and Alex had visited LIU Post earlier in the day. As you’ll see in the photo Alex took, I was wearing a Post polo on Saturday:

Saturday Panel 3, 3:30-4:30 PM:
G Gracin
Growing Up Genesis with G to the Next Level (streamed live on Twitch)

Watch the Twitch stream VOD here.

In addition to streaming on Twitch, G recorded the panel for a future YouTube video.
G’s Sonic collection
Twitch montage…
To mark the occasion, G displayed three items with a New York area theme (two, at least). First, El Viento, partially set in 1920s NYC.
Next, the New York Pokémon Center Game Boy Advance.
Third (not directly NY-themed), issue 0 of the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics series.
G turned their webcam toward the audience so we could say hello.
“Hello, Twitch chat!”
Q&A began with the same audience member who joked to Pat and Ian that he would riot if the Switch 2 isn’t backward compatible.
A clip of G rating the dubious Genesis game Slaughter Sport (a.k.a. Tongue of the Fatman).
One question from Twitch chat
A parting shot of the TV screen

G and me:

I tried to go to sleep early Saturday night, but I was wired from the long and exciting day I had. I figure I got four hours of sleep before being jolted awake by a severe thunderstorm just before 3AM. The peak came at 3:13 with two close (and loud) lightning strikes. Thankfully, conditions mellowed after that, though sleep was impossible. I got some editing done and prepped for a return to Cradle of Aviation at 10AM. Somehow, Lenny, Mark, Patrick, Pat, and my parents all slept through the storm.

Sunday morning was when Margaret Sykes conducted her interviews, and where I spoke to her about WRHU general manager John Mullen’s recent induction to the WCWP Hall of Fame.

Sunday Panel 1, 11AM-12PM:
Adam Koralik, Evil Rob Thanos, Sunshine (from Adam’s Discord)
Talking Console Prototypes: Sega Pluto (and hard drives), Atari Jaguar “Hot Rod” Dental Unit, Sony PlayStation Debugging Station, Nintendo GameCube NR Reader

Relevant videos:

Finally, panel photos:

The first and last of the above videos looped throughout the panel. Adam joked that they were 70mm IMAX editions, like for Oppenheimer.
Adam with the Nintendo PlayStation prototype
RIP Terry Diebold (right)
Adam and Rob introduced themselves.
Sunshine wondered why he was there.
Sunshine showed off the Sony PlayStation Debugging Station and GameCube NR Reader.
An audience member guessed what prototype Adam was holding.
Answer: the Atari Jaguar “Hot Rod” Dental Unit.
Adam at the National Videogame Museum
Who’s that with him outside the museum? (It’s Rob, of course.)
Lastly, the Sega Pluto…
…and its hard drives.
Q&A…
Squishchin’s question
Afterward, a fan named Rob (left) gifted Adam with Shenmue promotional material he acquired while working at an electronics store. (source)

While working on this post, I joined Adam’s aforementioned Discord. I was welcomed with open arms and given the nickname Mike Camera. I like it!

It’s where I found Squishchin’s LI Retro vlog:

10/11 UPDATE: Watch Adam’s travelogue on his second channel, Flying & Eating with Adam Koralik:

Look for me at the 22:43 mark.

Sunday Panel 2, 12:30 PM-1:30 PM:
Frank Cifaldi and Rachel Simone Weil
Unraveling Nintendo’s Most Elusive Lost Hardware: The Nintendo Knitting Machine

I mistook this Royal for a different Royal and was corrected by Frank. (I apologized for that.)
A GIF of Rachel at the controls
Rachel’s creation
My Columbo impression (a la Pat Contri’s friend Frank [last name withheld]) from the day before continued to haunt me.
Rachel’s original AI advertising
More AI ads
Q&A…

Sunday Panel 3, 2PM-3PM:
Leonard Herman and Mark W. Baer
The Life, Time and Influence of Ralph H. Baer, The Father of Videogames

As noted in last year’s recap, Lenny grew to be like a surrogate son to Ralph. You can see the brotherly love between Lenny and Mark in many of the photos below.

Mark showing the patent and licensing agreement…
…and Ralph’s book Videogames in the Beginning (published by Lenny)
Mark reenacted the What’s My Line? panelists’ amazement during their questioning
Q&A…
Answering my question: What did Ralph think of videogames (one word) becoming publicly known as video games (two words)?

This concludes post one. Click here for post two or here for post three.