Instrumental Invasion, 6/29/22 June 30, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video, Video Games.add a comment
The June 29 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was the first show recorded after three weeks off. One segment was recorded on May 9, three on the 10th, and two (plus a pickup) on the 11th.
The playlist was created on May 5, but wasn’t annotated until the 9th. The talk break scripts for the first two segments were drafted before recording each of them, with the rest of the script drafted before recording the rest of the segments.
I was inspired to play “Estancia” by Chick Corea after watching Timothy Gondola‘s transcription:
Since the word “estancia” refers to a South American ranch, I paired it with Dave Grusin‘s arrangement of “Git Along, Little Dogies” on Discovered Again!. In turn, I contrasted “dogies” (hard g) with Dogi (soft g) from the Ys video game series.
It took until two days before recording to realize that Pat Metheny‘s “River Quay” was a play (that rhymes) on The Bridge on the River Kwai. Quay can be pronounced “kway” or “key,” but as I said in the show, Pat had “kway” in mind to contrast it with “kwy.” Enough linguistics.
This year’s Smooth Jazz for Scholars influenced much of the show, with two songs played on the second night and music featuring four of the headliners. (Read about the first night here.) One of the second night songs was “Soul Ties” by Marcus Anderson:
This was the second week in a row with a version of “Veil of Spring” by Anders Enger Jensen, which preceded the second appearance of “Move Ahead” by Richard Elliot. I first played it last March 17, but it was a single at the time of recording, so back in it went.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
2020-21 WCWP Hall of Fame Ceremony June 17, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Education, Internet, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Rock, Technology, Travel, Video.2 comments
Other Hall of Fame ceremony recaps: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023
Video of the ceremony can be found at the end of this post.
It’s been three years since the last ceremony, but last Saturday, the WCWP Hall of Fame finally added five new inductees to its ranks. Due to delays by the COVID-19 pandemic, there were two sets of inductees:
- 2020: Alan Seltzer and Christina Kay (announced at Homecoming in 2019)
- 2021: Joe Manfredi, Jay Mirabile and Mike Chimeri
Yes, it’s true! I’d been dreaming of getting into the Hall of Fame for years and I got the dream fulfilling call last April.
Earlier this year, outgoing director of broadcasting Dan Cox reached out to the five of us for a ceremony date that worked for us. That date was Saturday, June 11. The venue ended up being the former LIU Post campus bookstore, now known as the Alumni and Employer Engagement Building…or it was, and now it’s Alumni Hall.
I reached out to friends and family, hoping they could attend. No matter how many turned out, I’d be happy.
I wore a suit and shirt combo that I picked out on Thursday with a tie that my mother Lisa bought with colors similar to those of LIU.
I may have been one of the inductees, but I still took photos and video when it wasn’t my turn. So, after dressing up, I packed up my DSLR camera, battery pack with a spare battery attached, camcorder, GoPro, and tripods to connect to them and my iPhone, which I would have brought anyway.
Once my sister Lauren arrived at noon, she, our mom, and dad Bill all left for campus. I was worried we’d be late after traffic was diverted away from the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway entrance on Alken Avenue in North Wantagh, but once we entered via Hicksville Road, we made great time, parking next to the Alumni Hall (I’ve settled on that name) at 12:40 (hey, like WGBB!).
Not wanting to unpack my camera yet, I took establishing exterior shots with my phone:
The ceremony began at 1:22:
The first 2020 inductee was Alan Seltzer, currently host of The Grooveyard on WCWP. He was inducted by Scott Perschke:
After each acceptance speech, guests were invited to share any stories. 2013 inductee Bernie Bernard had one about Alan, which he elaborated on: the story of the 1978 Dome Auditorium collapse. 
2019 inductee Lew Scharfberg talked about the collapse at his induction, and he shared his perspective again this year.
The second 2020 inductee was Christina Kay, now of WALK 97.5. She was inducted by Dan Cox:
Dan admitted in his induction speech that he considers her a second daughter. 
Christina’s table 
Yes, the plaque has a typo. It will be replaced. 
The storytellers following Christina’s speech were Charlie Moerler… 
Chris Maffei… 
Bernie Bernard… 
David North, Christina’s colleague at WALK 97.5 when he was a news anchor and reporter there… 
…and Will Bruner. 
Before moving on to the 2021 inductees, Dan Cox awarded the inaugural Art Beltrone Founders Award to Dan Casazza:
New director of broadcasting (or station manager, if you will) and 2019 inductee Pete Bellotti inducted two of the three 2021 inductees. First, Joe Manfredi, the station manager of Old Westbury Web Radio (OWWR) (listen here), serving nearby SUNY Old Westbury:
Joe acknowledged me in his speech, asking me to name some of the musicians I interviewed (over the phone) on The Mike Chimeri Show. The interviews can be found here, warts and all (meaning I’m hesitant to listen). 
There was also an anecdote about Karen Fiorelli’s news report blunder. 
Stories were shared by Dan Cox… 
Alana Leider, currently host of The Rockin’ Sunday Show on WCWP… 
Sandra Cerrone, a.k.a. DJ Sandra Dee, one of Joe’s Old Westbury Web Radio alumni… 
I love this camcorder vidcap. It’s like a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast cutaway. 6/18 UPDATE: While editing the video that I will add once complete, I noticed that this was really in reaction to a remark by… 
Joelle Desrosiers, another OWWR alumna… 
Joe Conte with an anecdote on unwittingly playing unedited songs… 
…and Mike Kinane, Joe’s OWWR colleague, and vice president of communications at SUNY Old Westbury. 
Dan reintroduced Pete to induct Jay Mirabile, longtime host of The Disco and Funk King Show (DFK for short):
Jay and his father Len 
Jay went beyond acknowledging me, inviting me to the podium to recall funny moments in early episodes of The Mike Chimeri Show. In those early days, Jay was my lead-in, and sometimes, I would acknowledge the last song of the show at the start of mine. The anecdote he relayed was how I quipped “wouldn’t you know it, they stopped” because his last song was “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” by McFadden & Whitehead. 
I thought he was going to mention the one where – channeling Jay Sherman’s boss Duke Phillips on The Critic – I began my show with “Jay, son, you’re a tough act to follow.” 
Upon leaving the podium, as I waved in thanks, Jay noted what great friends we are. 
This was my genuine reaction to the compliment. 
Story time. First, Christina Kay… 
Then, Charlie Moerler… 
Alana Leider… 
…and Joe Conte. 
Finally, it was my turn. I originally planned on my cousin Chris – C.W. Post Class of 2008 – inducting me, but he came down with COVID earlier in the week. His induction speech was partially complete and he offered to finish it and have Dan Cox read it on his behalf, but I declined and had Dan give his own speech:
LONG STORY: This is the first of the iPhone vidcaps. I foolishly recorded the entire ceremony from my table’s perspective when I’d have been better off recording my portion. Attempts to truncate the video and transfer to my computer via iCloud failed, even after upgrading to 50 GB of storage for 99 cents a month. The original mammoth video was still in the system and would need to be transferred with the edited version. This contributed to my insomnia Saturday night. Finally, late Sunday morning, I thought to download to my computer by connecting the phone to it with Dell Mobile Connect. It worked, but there was another hurdle. The raw MOV file wasn’t accepted by Adobe Premiere Elements 2020. Luckily, Wondershare Filmora accepted it and allowed me to convert it to an MP4, BUT I’d have to buy a subscription. $54 a year later, the video was converted, I loaded it into Premiere Elements, and extracted vidcaps. The absolute last hurdle involved correcting the wide-angle distortion in Photoshop Elements, and here we are. Anyway… 
In the center is Joan Yonke, LIU Post’s director of development, previously campus director of employer and alumni engagement. It was so great to see her there. I just wish I had thought to add her to my thank list. (More on that shortly.) 
Early in Dan’s induction, I asked my dad Bill to take photos with my camera. 
It’s time, as my table cheers me on! Besides Joan Yonke, going from left to right, there’s cousin Lisa Cassidy, my aunt Donna Dantes Chimeri (Chris’s mother), my mom Lisa’s friend Mandy Muldowney, Mom, Dad, Lori Downing, and Wendy Connelly. Mandy was the principal of Leo F. Giblyn School where Mom is a teaching assistant, and Wendy and Lori are (Lori retired in 2020) reading teachers at Giblyn. Interestingly, Aunt Donna (Post Class of 1998) knew Joe Manfredi’s father, also named Joe, but the elder Joe pronounced the last name “man-freedy” rather than “man-freddy.” 
Here I go! 
Mandy and Mom are taking photos and/or video. 
I made a two-page table in Microsoft Word of people to thank. I read from that with ad-libs here and there. 
My sister Lauren also shot video on her phone and shared vidcaps with me… 
Back to Dad’s photos with my camera… 
Joe Manfredi (the younger) kindly handled my camcorder during my speech. 
“… WCWP, the one place [my aunt Robin Rose Brinegar, then-academic counselor at C.W. Post] didn’t know anyone, has had the biggest, the biggest impact on my life.” 
“… I will never forget WCWP. Thank you so much.” 
I put the thank list back in my shirt’s breast pocket and left the podium. 
Another wave… 
…and a handshake with Dad. The expression on my face is a nasty anxious habit. Seeing myself do that in my on-camera moments has me eager to overcome the habit. 
I asked, “Anyone got stories?” Jay Mirabile had one, or at least compliments. 
…as did 2015 inductee Bobby Guthenberg. 
One final round of applause from my table (and the elder Joe Manfredi)
Dan, with his time as director of broadcasting at an end, closed the ceremony with poignant, and pointed, remarks:
Speaking of WCWP’s uncertain future: “… Let’s not let college radio go away, because if it does, there’ll be one less safe space for our kids to be when they go to college. Thank you. Have a great day.” 
A standing ovation
With the ceremony complete, all that remained were the photo ops:
Mandy Muldowney, Donna Dantes (aunt), Lori Downing, Lisa Chimeri (mom), me, Lauren Chimeri (sister), Bill Chimeri (dad), Wendy Connelly, Lisa Cassidy 
Lauren had two photos taken with her phone… 
Joe Manfredi and his OWWR alumnae: Nikki Kallipozis, Arielle Mancebo, Sandra Cerrone, Joelle Desrosiers (Names added on 6/22 via this SUNY Old Westbury article) 
Me, Lori Downing, Bernie Bernard
During Bernie’s WBAB days, she spoke at Lori’s high school, vividly remembering that when Lori told her about it.
Scott Perschke and Alan Seltzer 
Me and Jay Mirabile 
Me, Alan, Jay 
Oop, rabbit ears! 
A candid shot 
Christina Kay and me 
Joe Conte, Karen Fiorelli, me, Joe Manfredi 
Joe, Christina, Jay, me 
Pete Bellotti and me 
This was supposed to be another one of me and Dan Cox, but I wanted to leave in Bernie, her sister Melissa, and Christina. 
The last photo before I left the building: Joe, Pete, Jay, me
As I left, Dan had everyone yell “goodbye” to me. I happily waved and walked out…except that I left my camera battery charger in an outlet. I realized my error halfway to Domenico’s of Levittown. I didn’t feel like going back to campus, so Pete returned it to me today. Still, I went ahead and bought new third-party batteries with a charger. The batteries I had were 6 1/2 years old, anyway.
Joining my family at Domenico’s were Wendy, Lori, and Aunt Donna. The lone photo I took there was of a toast:
Thank you to those that gave me congratulations cards and gifts:
Thus ends the recap. I am overwhelmed by all the support I received during and after the ceremony. Congratulations to Alan Seltzer, Christina Kay, Joe Manfredi, Jay Mirabile, and yours truly Mike Chimeri, the 2020 and ’21 classes of the WCWP Hall of Fame.
6/21 UPDATE: The video is now up. Chapters are included if you want to skip ahead or know what to expect. There is occasional coarse language and suggestive dialogue.
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, 5/11/22 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:
SJFS 2022 Night 2 recap May 6, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Baseball, Internet, Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Sports, Technology, Travel, Video, Weather.add a comment
Updated with videos on 5/15.
Keyboardist Jay Rowe‘s 18th annual Smooth Jazz for Scholars (benefiting the Milford Public Schools music department) continued Saturday night with the second of two shows. Saturday’s headliners were Jeff Kashiwa (who made a surprise appearance late Friday), Alex Bugnon, and in his debut, Marcus Anderson. Alex appeared in place of Brian Simpson, who had to back out at some point after my promotional blog post in February. SJFS attendees last saw Alex on the first night in 2013.
Photos and the set list are on the way, but we start with the preamble.
I found it hard to sleep in my Hampton Inn hotel room on Friday night. Not only did I have photo editing on my mind, but intermittent trucks and motorcycles (or muscle cars) on I-95 made it hard to relax and drift into sleep. I didn’t mention this in the Friday recap, but I brought two pairs of foam ear plugs to wear on both nights. I got in the habit of wearing them or safety earmuffs at home to drown out loud or unsettling noises, like fireworks (sadly, not just on the Fourth of July) or high wind gusts that slam rain into my south and east-facing windows during coastal storms. I figured I should start wearing them at concerts; if only I had thought of that sooner. When I wore ear plugs at bedtime, I would lie on my back with a sleep mask on, attempting to sleep, or at least relax. That’s what I did Friday night into Saturday morning. There comes a point on sleepless nights where I give up and start my day. That point came around 5AM.
I’m a Mets fan, so I checked the MLB app on my phone (via Hilton Honors Wi-Fi) to see how they did while I was pre-occupied with SJFS. What?! A no-hitter against the Phillies?! That’s only the second one in team history! And a combined no-hitter, at that! Click here to read all about it (and watch videos).
I lifted weights in the fitness center, then went back in my room to do push-ups and whittle down the amount of photos from Friday night. I showered, got dressed, and brought my laptop and phone to the lobby for breakfast and potential mingling with fans or musicians. I didn’t see any musicians, but John and Theresa Monteverde were there, followed later by Mark and Phyllis Abrams, and Billy and Sandy Okumu. Diane and Richard were there, but we had forgotten about each other and didn’t reacquaint ourselves until Sunday morning.
For breakfast, I had two plates of French toast sticks with syrup, and two cups of apple juice to wash them down, followed later by two cups of hot chocolate. I mainly edited the road sign photos, but was able to start on photos from the show.
I went back to my room around 11AM and spent the next four hours editing the rest of Friday night’s photos and picking which ones to publicize. All the while, I listened to a few 2021 episodes of Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. (Sadly, Gilbert died last month.)
I’m also a fan (and Patreon supporter) of the YouTube channel Technology Connections. Alec, the creator, recently posted the third of three (and a half) videos on heat pumps. Part three included a segment on the PTAC (packaged terminal air conditioner) and their use in hotels. This was the PTAC in my room:
It was set to cool when I checked in on Friday, but I switched to heat. I switched back to cool Saturday afternoon as the unfiltered sun warmed up the room. That’s when I realized the thin curtain in front of the light-blocking thick one is supposed to filter the sun rays.
My girlfriend Kelly, dad Bill, and I had dinner at Gusto Trattoria, half a block from the hotel. It was there that self-doubt and performance anxiety set in. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to function at the auditorium because of my lack of sleep and that I’d compulsively end up taking as many photos as Friday night (around 400 before whittling). Somewhere in between, I managed to eat a piece of bread and bowl of Rigatoni Bolognese. Upon returning to my room after dinner, I lied down and took deep breaths. By 7PM (about an hour after dinner), I felt calm enough to get out of bed and go with Kelly to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium at Parsons Complex. Obviously, the sound check was over before we arrived because we saw attendees filing in.
I took an establishing shot of the auditorium with my phone before going in:
The second of my 2020 tickets was honored upon entrance and I went back to the same spot in the orchestra pit as Friday night to set up. I comprised with fellow photographers Katherine Gilraine and Ron Hancox to situate my camcorder (which recorded flawlessly on this night) (5/15 UPDATE: four videos are posted below) in a spot further back so the two of them had more room to maneuver during the show. I only had to move it out during a solo on the penultimate song of the night (one of the videos below). Fun fact (as Alec would say): this month marks ten years since I entered the world of DSLR cameras after Katherine recommended I switch to one.
While waiting, Jay Dobbins introduced me to someone I had met on Facebook through Jay Rowe’s weekly Tito Tuesday livestreams on Facebook (here’s one of the last streams to date). It was Robin Morin Stewart. After a pleasant conversation, Jay D. took our picture:
I also recognized Judy Raphael and spoke to her, but forgot to get a picture.
And of course, I saw the rest of my friends that I had seen Friday night and/or Saturday morning in the hotel dining area.
At some point before showtime, I got my second wind. I didn’t feel the least bit overtired or overwhelmed.
Saturday’s set began at 8PM with another enthusiastic introduction by Kevin McCabe of Jumpstart Jazz Productions:
Music director Jay Rowe led the house band on keyboards:
Andy Abel on guitar:
Dave Livolsi on bass:
Trever Somerville on drums:
…and percussion by Tony Cintron:
The headliners were Jeff Kashiwa on tenor sax and NuRAD (seen on tenor):
Alex Bugnon on keyboards:
…and Marcus Anderson on alto sax and flute (seen on alto):
SET LIST
1. I’ll Love You Later (Jay Rowe)
Originally heard on: Groove Reflections (2021)
Featured musician: Jay Rowe (keyboards)
2. There She Goes (Jay Rowe)
Originally heard on: Groove Reflections (2021)
Featured musicians: Jay Rowe (keyboards), Andy Abel (guitar)
3. Starlight Kisses (Jay Rowe)
Originally heard on: Groove Reflections (2021)
Featured musicians: Jay Rowe (keyboards), Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax)
4. Slow Turn (Jeff Kashiwa)
Originally heard on: Sunrise (2021)
Featured musicians: Jeff Kashiwa (NuRAD/tenor sax), Andy Abel (guitar)
The NuRAD is an EWI (electronic wind instrument) that can be paired with a phone or tablet. Jeff paired his with his phone. 5/9 UPDATE: Jeff said in a Facebook post sharing one of my photos that it was “triggering [his] iPhone with the Korg iMono/Poly Patchman library.”
5. The Night is Young (Jeff Kashiwa)
Originally heard on: Sunrise (2021)
Featured musician: Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax)
6. The Pecan Tree (Joe Sample cover) (Alex Bugnon)
Featured musician: Alex Bugnon (keyboards)
Jay didn’t play on any of Alex’s songs. Coincidentally, I played the original Joe Sample version of “The Pecan Tree” on last Wednesday’s Instrumental Invasion.
7. Harlem on My Mind (Alex Bugnon)
Originally heard on: Tales from the Bright Side (1995)
Featured musician: Alex Bugnon (keyboards)
8. Will Power (Marcus Anderson)
Originally heard on: Limited Edition (2017)
Featured musician: Marcus Anderson (alto sax/flute at the end)
9. Soul Ties (Marcus Anderson)
Originally heard on: Reverse (2022)
Featured musician: Marcus Anderson (alto sax)
10. Jay Rowe/Alex Bugnon duet: Poinciana/107 Degrees in the Shade
Originally heard on: 107 Degrees in the Shade (1991) (second song only)
Jay and Alex played the same medley in their 2013 duet. “Poinciana” is a jazz standard popularized by Ahmad Jamal on his album of the same name.
11. Night Groove (Alex Bugnon)
Originally heard on: Soul Purpose (2001)
Featured musician: Alex Bugnon (keyboards)
12. Understanding (Marcus Anderson)
Originally heard on: Limited Edition (2017)
Featured musicians: Marcus Anderson (alto sax), Jay Rowe (keyboards), Andy Abel (guitar)
13. Let It Ride (Jeff Kashiwa)
Originally heard on: Let It Ride (2012)
Featured musicians: Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax), Dave Livolsi (bass), Tony Cintron (percussion), Jay Rowe (keyboards)
Jeff noted that Let It Ride was inspired by 1960s and ’70s music, and the performance of the title track here exemplified the ’70s part. Dave’s solo was based (no pun intended) on “For the Love of Money” by The O’Jays (1973), while Jay based his on “People Make the World Go Round” by The Stylistics (1972) and “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors (1971). The ’70s influence carried into the finale.
14 (Finale). Love and Happiness (Al Green cover)
Featured musicians: Everyone but Alex Bugnon
Trever Somerville and Tony Cintron traded places on drums and percussion midway through, and Trever even sang vocals! He left the percussion kit behind at the end (I neglected to take photos) and just sang next to Tony. These were the only surprises of the show, which went quicker than Friday night.
Here are groups of pictures by artist, starting with Jeff Kashiwa on tenor sax:
Jeff on NuRAD for “Slow Turn”:
Alex Bugnon:
Pitch wheel fun… 
Marcus Anderson on alto sax:
Marcus on flute at the end of “Will Power”:
Jay Rowe:
Andy Abel:
More photos of Andy and Tony await us in the finale section.
Dave Livolsi:
Trever Somerville:
Tony Cintron:
Marcus and Andy:
Marcus and Dave:
Marcus and Jay:
Jeff and Jay:
The last note of “Let It Ride”:
Jay and Alex’s duet:
The finale: “Love and Happiness”:
The last note 
The end! 
Jay named all performers… 
“I’m Jay Rowe! Thank you all so much! It was a pleasure to do this this weekend…” 
“…and stay tuned for next year when Smooth Jazz for Scholars turns 20 ’cause it’s gonna be big! So, tell all your friends who missed it tonight they missed a great show. We’ll see you next year, and wherever else we’re playin’. …” 
“I’m gonna be tourin’ with Acoustic Alchemy this summer, so I hope to see you out with them. Thank you.” 
“Jay Rowe!”
All that remained was meeting and greeting, starting with me and Alex Bugnon:
Me and Marcus Anderson:
Jeff Kashiwa with my photography buddies Katherine Gilraine and Ron Hancox:
Just the three of us:
Back in the lobby, Marcus Anderson with Steve Lewis:
Johnnie “Butch” Brooks and Dolly Moye, whose birthday was on Sunday:
…and finally, me and Dolly:
Thanks to Jay Dobbins and Steve Lewis for taking photos of me. Jay also took this selfie with me:
Friday night, Kelly and I left for the hotel at 11:30, but Saturday, the departure time was 10:45. After transferring the photos and video to my laptop via a handy USB 3.0 SD card reader, I took melatonin and went to sleep. After five hours of successful sleep early Sunday morning, I noticed daylight peaking through the edge of the curtains and opted to wake up for the day. (The Mets lost Saturday’s game, but won on Sunday night while I was getting ten hours of sleep.)
I didn’t lift weights until I got home, but I did do push-ups in my room Sunday morning before going to the lobby for breakfast. All my rowdy friends, to paraphrase Hank Williams Jr., were there, including Jay Rowe. French toast sticks weren’t available, so I ate four sausages and two blueberry muffins with two lemon-lime seltzer cans that I brought and stored in my room’s mini fridge. Before returning to the room to pack up and leave, I got a selfie with the Monteverde, Abrams, and Okumu couples:
I saved photo editing for Monday and Tuesday, followed by drafting this post and the one before it on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dad and I checked out around 10:30 and got home by 12:25. I took tons of photos on the road to and from Milford, but those will get their own post next week. Until then, thank you for reading the recaps of both nights of the 18th annual Smooth Jazz for Scholars. As Jay Rowe noted, next year will be the 20th anniversary, but 19th annual. I hope to be there. Thank you to Jay and everyone involved in putting SJFS together each year.
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, 4/27/22 April 28, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Comics, Film, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Radio, Video.add a comment
The April 27 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded on March 8 (two segments) and 9 (four segments). A pickup was recorded on the 11th.
The playlist was created on March 5 and annotated on the 7th. The talk break script was drafted on the 8th, but I recorded the first segment after scripting its talk breaks.
The second and third talk breaks of the first segment were speed compressed, one more talk break than last February 3. I didn’t want to withhold anymore tidbits that I removed and wasn’t up to rerecording the breaks faster. I moved some of those tidbits to the first talk break of the second segment. The third and fourth segments had the opposite problem, which meant padding with extra liners and not having songs start underneath the talk-up.
The adamantium claws reference (with sound effect) after “Get Out Claws” by Oli SIlk was a nod to Wolverine from the X-Men.
This is the last show with the “no relation to” running gag. I employed it in some upcoming shows, but edited out all instances.
Here’s the Bob James Trio performance of “Feel Like Making Love/Night Crawler” that was extracted for use in Feel Like Making LIVE!:
If you want to see Scott Wilkie‘s “live” band perform “Fruit Sandwich,” you’ll have to buy the DVD.
As for last night’s show, click to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
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:
Instrumental Invasion, 4/6/22 April 7, 2022
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Baseball, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, News, Personal, Radio, Sports, Technology, Travel, TV, Video, Weather.add a comment
The April 6 Instrumental Invasion on WCWP was recorded over three days in mid-February: the first hour on the 14th (Valentine’s Day), one second hour segment on the 15th, and the last two on the 16th when a pickup was also recorded.
The playlist was created on February 12 and annotated on the 13th. The talk break script was drafted before recording on the 14th.
A few days before work on this show began, I finally took the plunge and bought the Kaotica Eyeball microphone isolation shield. Since my remote location has minimal room echo, the Eyeball is for home recordings. It only took two days to ship from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Here’s how it looks from my chair:
It’s as big as my head, a challenge for Zoom meetings and for reading text on the right side of my monitor, but it works! Room echo was practically gone from any talk breaks I recorded at home. You will have to lower the pot (potentiometer) on your mixer. The Eyeball isolates background audio so well that more of the mic is picked up.
Thank you to actor and impressionist Jim Meskimen (son of Marion Ross) for recommending the Kaotica Eyeball in one of Mark Evanier‘s 2020 voice-over panel livestreams (cued to the relevant portion) and then jogging my memory about it in an Instagram post a few days before my purchase.
This wasn’t the first show with talk breaks recorded through the Eyeball, due to pickups I recorded for March 16.
After acquiring new music releases in the weeks leading up to this show, and the Friday after, I re-instituted two 2017 to present segments for the second hour. I included “Feet First” by Rick Braun unaware that it was the first single off his eponymous album. I did know that “Sun Princess” by the Jeff Lorber Fusion and “Out to Lunch” by Oli Silk were on the smooth jazz radio charts. So, I worked them in. Due to time constraints in the last segment, I couldn’t remind listeners about the accelerando at the end of the Bob James Trio arrangement of “Westchester Lady.” That same arrangement was part of their Blue Note set in November 2018, a month after Feel Like Making LIVE! was recorded. I said of the Blue Note performance:
This song had a call and response between the trio and ended with an accelerando that led me to polka dance [in my seat].
“The Big Windy Cat” by Nick Colionne was played 52 weeks after the previous cut from No Limits, “Headin’ Wes Before Dawn.” “Rippin’ n Runnin'” by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, from That’s How We Roll, was played exactly six months after “Howdiz Songo?” We also went exactly six months between tracks from the Jeff Lorber Fusion’s Space-Time – “Louisiana” and “Sun Princess” – and between the last track to date from the previous Bob James Trio album, Espresso, and the first off Feel Like Making LIVE! The Espresso track was “Mister Magic,” which was also recorded for the new album.
Little did I know my inclusion of “Swingin’ for the Fence” by Nelson Rangell, and addressing personnel as “heavy hitters,” would coincide with the delayed start to the 2022 Major League Baseball Season, and appear in a show preceded by the baseball edition of The Rock Show. And it slipped my mind that an unusually late blizzard affected the New York metro area 40 years ago: April 6, 1982. You can watch WABC-TV‘s Eyewitness News coverage of that storm here.
Click here to download the aircheck MP3 or listen below:
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