Expanding my Christmas album collection December 11, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Christmas, Jazz, Media, Music, New Age, Personal.add a comment
Christmas Night in 2010
For over 25 years, the holiday season is my favorite time of year. One reason for that is the music; sans vocals.
In my formative years, The Weather Channel would replace their regular Local Forecast (later, Local on the 8s) playlist for most of December with instrumental Christmas songs. Over the years, viewers heard excerpts from Christmas albums by David Benoit (Christmastime, Remembering Christmas), Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel (The Gift), Mannheim Steamroller (Christmas), Chet Atkins (East Tennessee Christmas), Vince Guaraldi (the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas), and compilations put together by Narada (The Narada Christmas Collection, … Volume 2) and GRP (A GRP Christmas Collection, GRP Christmas Collection II, …Collection III).
Between 2002 and 2009, I bought those albums and compiled them onto personal CDs to play at Christmas parties and at my house on Christmas Day. I even bought albums with music not played on The Weather Channel. Those include Russ Freeman (Holiday), Craig Chaquico (also Holiday), Kim Waters (Home for Christmas), Peter White (Songs of the Season, Peter White Christmas [with Rick Braun and Mindi Abair]), Ken Navarro (Christmas Cheer), Nelson Rangell (All I Hope for Christmas), Bob James and Hilary James (Christmas Eyes), Plan 9 (The 9 Days of Christmas), Fourplay (Snowbound), and Spyro Gyra (A Night Before Christmas).
Last year, I took a big digital step and made an iTunes playlist for my iPod, which took the place of the CDs at future parties and Christmas Days. Last week, I decided to take another big step and expand my Christmas album collection even further. I bought four Windham Hill albums (The Carols of Christmas, A Windham Hill Christmas, …Christmas II, …The Night Before Christmas), two Boney James albums (Boney’s Funky Christmas, Christmas Present), another GRP album (Making Spirits Bright: A Smooth Jazz Christmas), and one by John Boswell (Festival of the Heart). My favorite song so far on those albums is “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by saxophonist Richard Elliot. I’ve heard many arrangements of that tune, but never with the Jeff Lorber sound. Jeff arranged Richard’s rendition with Steven Dubin. (12/20 UPDATE: Inspired by Music Choice’s smooth jazz channel, I made one more purchase: Trippin ‘N’ Rhythm’s The Very Best of Christmas. My favorites thus far are U-Nam’s rendition of “This Christmas,” and Gregg Karukas’ cover of “The Christmas Song.”) (12/21 UPDATE: Further inspired by a post on Smooth Jazz Magazine’s Facebook page, I bought an MP3 album: the instrumental version of Peggy Duquesnel’s All I Ask for Christmas.) (12/21/14 UPDATE: This year’s additions to my collection were A Smooth Jazz Holiday compiled by Nu Groove; Grover Washington, Jr.’s Breath of Heaven: A Holiday Collection, and A Soulful Christmas from Brian Culbertson. Tracks from those three albums, plus additional tracks from albums I already had, increase the duration of my iTunes playlist to 13 hours and 34 minutes!)
‘Tis the season for great music, great joy, and gratefulness. With the purchase of eight additional albums (plus five since this was originally posted), I have more music to share with my friends and family every year.
Matt Marshak at Houndstooth Pub: 2013 edition November 19, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Travel.add a comment
Other Matt Marshak show recaps: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015
For the second year in a row, Matt Marshak performed at Houndstooth Pub on the weekend of my birthday. Last year, the show was on my 31st birthday; this year, it was the night before my 32nd.
Matt was on guitar:
Etienne Lytle on keyboards, who was also part of Steve Cole’s band five weeks earlier:
…and Carl Anderson on drums:
The show was engineered by Neal Newman:
With the help of his son Dale:
SET LIST
SET 1
1. Cadillac Kid
2. Down in Delaware
3. A Silent Knowing
4. Time for Takeoff
5. Listen to the Music (The Doobie Brothers cover)
6. Sanibel
7. Funkology
8. I Will Be With You
SET 2
9. Put It Where You Want It (The Crusaders cover)
10. Feelin’ It
11. Hold the Line (Toto cover; Matt had a more jazzy arrangement than Toto’s original version)
12. I’m On Fire (Bruce Springsteen cover)
13. Wind Chill Factor
14. You’ve Been Had (Kenny Harris’ song)
15. Kiss (Prince and The Revolution cover)
16. Sleepwalk (Santo & Johnny cover, notably covered by Larry Carlton)
As I’ve started to do in recent show recaps, most of the pictures below are grouped by artist.
Kenny Harris:
Etienne Lytle:
Carl Anderson, during his “Sanibel” solo:
The blur was intentional. I wanted to show the rapid movement involved in Carl’s drumming.
Matt & Kenny performing back-to-back on “I Will Be with You”:
Matt & Kenny’s “Feelin’ It” vocal break:
Matt’s “I’m On Fire” vocal:
“Kiss”:
For this song, Matt and the band were joined by guest vocalist Anastasia Rene:
“Sleepwalk”:
At one point, Matt left the stage and played his way through the audience:
He returned to the stage for the end:
Between sets, Matt and I posted for this picture:
After the second set, I took pics with Carl Anderson:
I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present than the two hours of music I saw on Saturday night. Thanks to Matt, Kenny, Etienne, Carl, Anastasia, Neal, Dale, and to Steve Butler.
Charles E. Fillizola exhibit recap November 1, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Art, Education, Personal, Photography.add a comment
I was at Wantagh Public Library last Saturday – October 26 – for artist Charles E. Fillizola’s exhibit.
I was invited to Charlie’s exhibit by his fellow artist friend Dan Christoffel, whom I’ve known for about a decade. Dan and I met when I was a student LIU Post.
Here is what I saw:
I was inspired to buy prints of a pair of Charlie’s works: “Cedarmere,” a pastel; and “Lady Luck, Perkins Cove,” which is pen and ink.
This is “Cedarmere,” as it was displayed:
“Lady Luck, Perkins Cove”:
As the exhibit wrapped up, I asked Charlie and Dan for a picture:
I’m so glad I accepted Dan’s invitation to Charlie’s exhibit. I saw some magnificent works that I won’t soon forget.
For more from Charlie Fillizola, you can “like” him on Facebook.
6/28/21 UPDATE: My dad was cleaning out the garage on Saturday and found some photos and documents, which included a pair of caricatures from my friend’s bar mitzvah reception. I looked at the signatures and made out “C. Fillizola.” Yes, Charlie Fillizola caricatured me and my sister back in September 1995, 18 years and one month before this exhibit. I photographed both caricatures with my iPhone since they were too big to scan, converted them to grayscale, and removed the backgrounds so all that remained were white and black ink. Here’s my caricature:
2013 LIU Post & WCWP Homecoming, 2014 Hall of Fame Announcement October 22, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Audio, Interviews, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Photography, Radio, Sports, Technology.add a comment
Other recaps: 2008, 2009, WCWP 50th Anniversary (2011), 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022
Later in this recap, I share the aircheck from my Homecoming Weekend show and behind-the-scenes pictures from the pre-record. 2/26/18 UPDATE: Video that I shot for DVD has been reworked for YouTube and is embedded before my aircheck and behind-the-scenes pics.
I was at LIU Post on Saturday for their annual Homecoming celebration. I was there primarily for WCWP’s barbecue and announcement of 2014 inductees to their Hall of Fame.
I arrived on campus at around 2:30. After getting situated, I decided to head to Hickox Field for a little while:
In the lower right window of the press box are Neil Marks, Jeff Kroll, Dan Cox, and Pat Kroll:
Jeff Kroll described the above picture this way when I posted it to the WCWP Alumni Association Facebook group (account links removed):
We’re on the lower level of the press box…..hard to see clearly, but on the far right side, that’s Pat Kroll, sitting next to her is Dan Cox, standing next to Dan with the red shirt on (glad I had red on that day for identifying purposes) Jeff Kroll, and Neil A. Marks is standing next to me. Sat 10/19/13. Post 58 Pace 0. Pat was coordinating with Joel Feltman (down on the sidelines) for field interviews. (sign still says CW Post Campus!)
He later added:
If you look at the upper level of the press box, toward the left side, the third person in….that person is operating the scoreboard from what used to be the WCWP booth until the 2000’s. THAT was really home!
11/10 UPDATE: Jeff had one more thing to say about this picture tonight:
I received this note from Dan Cox today:
“I saw Bryan Collins today at the Field Hockey final. He told me the grandstand demolition begins next Monday. Looks like new press box by next fall. I hope!” If that happens, the press box goes with the entire grandstand. And this great shot will be a timely memory for those of us who have spent so many fall afternoons there. Thanks Mike Chimeri! Great timing to have taken that picture last month!
I’m honored to have taken it.
10/21/14 UPDATE: The press box was still there this year, but probably for the last time.
As Jeff noted, the LIU Post Pioneers dominated the Pace Setters (get it?) 58-0. I was at the field in time to catch the Pioneers’ second-to-last touchdown.
Touchdown!:
The extra point is good.
Satisfied, I walked back to WCWP. The Pioneers’ last touchdown came during my walk back. I could faintly hear the public address announcer declaring, “touchdowwwwwwwwn!”
Maura “Bernie” Bernard brought photo albums of past Homecoming weekends at the station:
She also prepared for show in Studio 1 following the Homecoming Game:
Meanwhile, in Studio 2, alumni interviews were recorded:
The interviewee here is Jay Elzweig:
The Hall of Fame plaque, introduced at this year’s ceremony:
Plaques dedicated to the late Dr. Herb Coston and Bill Epperhart:
Joel Feltman and Jay Mirabile look through some of the albums:
At 5:00, Pete Bellotti and Bernie Bernard announced the 2014 inductees to the WCWP Hall of Fame:
The inductees are Rita Sands, Frank D’Elia, Bill Epperhart, and Ted David. Bernie interviewed Ted over the phone.
John Mertz and Bobby Guthenberg listened along:
The announcement and interview with Ted can be heard here:
2014 WCWP Hall of Fame Announcement
Later, in Studio 2, Jay Mirabile and I were interviewed:
Thanks to Zach Parker for taking those pictures during the interview.
Here is that pre-recorded interview, which was later edited by me, but my edit isn’t the one that aired:
Interview with Mike Chimeri & Jay Mirabile
As Bernie’s show drew to a close, she posed for this picture with me, Jay Mirabile, Bobby Guthenberg, Barry Albano, and John Mertz:
The final aircheck of Bernie’s show:
The Disco and Funk King Show was next:
I had a wonderful time at Homecoming this year. It was great catching up with my fellow alumni, and meeting some in person for the first time.
2/26/18 UPDATE: Here is video that I shot for DVD and have reworked for YouTube:
The rest of this post is devoted to my Homecoming Weekend show – CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri – which aired at 3AM on Sunday, hours after I left campus.
I recorded the show back on October 4.
I took some behind-the-scenes pictures while recording, starting with this self-timed shot:
Here is the playlist, complete with my copious notes to mention during the show:
I made sure to mention whatever notes I wrote down, but unfortunately, I had to edit some out for time. Each pre-recorded hour had to be exactly 59 minutes long.
Here is the aircheck from the 2013 edition of CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri:
The file is downloadable here.
It’s mostly from the console when I pre-recorded the show, but I mixed in elements from WCWP’s stream as the show aired.
Steve Cole at Houndstooth Pub recap 2 October 14, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Travel.add a comment
Previous recap: November 2011
Saturday night marked my first visit to Houndstooth Pub, a few blocks north of Penn Station, since my birthday last November. I was there to see saxophonist Steve Cole, whom I last saw perform two Novembers ago (see link above). The show was a release party for his new album, Pulse.
The fun began just after 8PM.
Steve’s saxophone of choice was tenor:
Etienne Lytle played keyboards:
SET LIST
SET 1
1. Off Broadway (NY LA, 2003)
2. So Into You (Between Us, 2000)
3. Curtis (True, 2006)
4. Thursday (Spin, 2005)
5. Angel (Sarah McLachlan cover) (Moonlight, 2011)
6. Do Your Thing (Pulse, 2013)
SET 2
7. Just A Natural Thang (True, 2006)
8. With You All The Way (Pulse, 2013)
9. Undun (The Guess Who cover) (Moonlight, 2011)
10. The Way You Look Tonight (Fred Astaire cover)
11. Sugar (Stanley Turrentine cover)
12. Bounce (True, 2006)
13. (Encore jam)
Most of the pictures below are grouped by artist.
Naturally, we start with Steve:
Etienne Lytle:
Bernard Davis:
Wide shot during “Do Your Thing”:
The last note of “Sugar”:
Shots from the finale (“Bounce”) and encore:
That’s it!
Between sets and after the second set, I caught up with Steve.
This picture is from after the second set:
Thank you to Steve, Etienne, Dave, Bernard, and to Steve Butler. It was another fun few hours at Houndstooth.
I’ll be back there on November 16 to see Matt Marshak.
WCWP Homecoming Weekend show to air October 20 October 7, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Personal, Phone, Radio.add a comment
I was at WCWP (at LIU Post) on Friday to record my annual Homecoming Weekend radio show. CJazzPlus with Mike Chimeri will air very early on Sunday, October 20, at 3AM Eastern (midnight Pacific) on 88.1 FM WCWP.
If you are outside of the signal range, you can listen here or browse for it on the TuneIn mobile app.
In the two hours of CJazzPlus, I’ll be playing Chuck Loeb, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, Spyro Gyra, Steve Cole, and much more. The show took 2 1/2 hours to record and an hour and 15 minutes to edit. There was also an additional 15 minutes of editing (and one minute of re-recording) for hour 1 at home on Saturday and another 10 minutes of editing for hour 2 yesterday.
I’ll be on campus hours earlier – on Saturday, October 19 – for Post and WCWP’s Homecoming festivities, the latter of which includes the announcement of 2014 inductees to the WCWP Hall of Fame.
Busy mid-to-late summer for album releases September 23, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Media, Music, Personal.add a comment
Between July 30 and September 17, seven albums were released by my favorite contemporary jazz musicians.
Needless to say, I bought them all. They vary in style, but were all satisfying.
In order of release date, they were:
- Earl Klugh, HandPicked (July 30) – Mostly covers with a pair of original compositions, and a remake of “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” which he first covered on Magic in Your Eyes (1978); duets with Bill Frisell, Jake Shimabukuro, and Vince Gill (who also sang one verse)
- Chuck Loeb, Silhouette (August 13) – A series of tracks recorded with various bands backing up depending on the track; his wife, Carmen Cuesta, and their two daughters, Christina and Lizzy, are also featured
- The Jeff Lorber Fusion, Hacienda (August 27) – The third album since the Fusion were reborn in 2010; surprisingly, the album lacks remakes of original Fusion songs, but it doesn’t matter because every song is a thrilling adventure; “King Kong,” a Frank Zappa cover, features violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, who originally covered the song on King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa (1970)
- Pieces Of A Dream, In The Moment (August 27) – Has the signature Pieces style that I know and love; guitarist Rohn Lawrence featured prominently
- Jessy J, Second Chances (September 10) – Features Jeff Lorber, Jimmy Haslip, Johnny Britt, and Norman Brown; album title and its title track refer to never giving up on the first try, if at first you don’t succeed, etc.; the running joke in my head is the album should technically be Fourth Chances, since it’s Jessy’s fourth album
- Steve Cole, Pulse (September 17) – Collaborative effort with David Mann (co-producer, co-engineer, writer or co-writer, backing saxes and flute); “With You All the Way” is based in part on “All ‘n All,” David’s composition for Nelson Rangell on Far Away Day (2000)
- Oli Silk, Razor Sharp Brit (September 17) – Features Elan Trotman, Chuck Loeb, and Paul Brown (no relation to Norman); I was amazed how Oli was able to write (and perform) in Chuck’s style on “The Prestige,” the song featuring him
Besides these magnificent seven, I also finally bought Quartette Humaine by Bob James and David Sanborn, their follow-up to Double Vision (1986). It’s a straight-ahead, acoustic album, which initially drew me away when it was released in May, but I made the right decision in buying it last month.
Tomorrow, Spyro Gyra’s The Rhinebeck Sessions album comes out. Based on the previews I heard on Amazon, I’m in for a treat with that one.
Scanning pictures and transferring audio tapes September 1, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Audio, Media, Personal, Photography.add a comment
The evening of July 12 marked the beginning of seven weeks (though not nonstop) of photo and audio archival, scanning and transferring media – 35 millimeter prints, cassettes, and microcassettes – to my external hard drives.
The first task was scanning pictures from photo albums that I didn’t scan back in December 2008 and January 2009. At that time, I scanned at 300 DPI (dots per inch). This time, I opted for 400 DPI. And unlike the previous period of scanning, I didn’t mindlessly adjust contrast, levels, and color in each picture. I made a picture-by-picture decision.
I also tried my best to clone stamp out dust, scuffs, and scratches, but it was very hard. For some of the early scans around July 12, I gave up and left them in. I also settled for the vertical banding (red, green, and blue streaks) that was present when I used an Epson Perfection V33 scanner. For subsequent scans, I switched to a Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II and there wasn’t any banding.
The albums contained pictures from the 1940s through the early 2000s, including shots of me as a kid. Three albums were of special days: my high school senior prom, my sister Lauren’s Bat Mitzvah reception and my Bar Mitzvah reception. The third one was the last album I scanned.
After completing the albums, I moved on to an album-less bin of pictures that were mostly from high school and college. I was scared to look at them until now.
In the process of scanning the albums, and the pictures in that bin, I was reminded how much I miss those that are no longer alive and I wished I could reconnect with those still living that I haven’t seen in years.
The point of scanning all of those pictures was to archive them digitally to go along with all that I’ve shot on digital cameras since 2004. Unfortunately, a fraction of the prints have become blurry over time. Sharpening couldn’t save them, but I archived those nonetheless. If it was in an album or in that bin, it had to be scanned.
Picture scanning took just over a month, completing on August 17. The next day, I took the next big plunge and began transferring cassettes and microcassettes to one of my external drives as WAVE files. Both cassette types contained personal recordings from me, my sister Lauren, and my cousin Chris. Like the pictures from school, I was scared to listen because I didn’t like how I spoke back then. I commonly began sentences by saying “okay, now, we’re…”, “um,” “uh,” and “right now, we’re going to have…” There was even one recording of me in June 1994 where I had an embarrassing lilt. But by 1998, my speech was improved, and more so by 2000.
I transferred my 36 microcassettes between August 18, my father’s birthday, and August 24. The 40 cassettes were transferred between August 19 and August 31 (yesterday).
Editing the microcassettes involved speeding up or slowing down either parts of a side or an entire side. Editing for both formats (cassette and microcassette) involved normalizing the audio, which was sometimes loaded with valleys (low levels). The peaks came when turning on whatever recorder was used or from clicks and hits while holding and moving the recorder around. In the normalization process, I had to work around those peaks. It wasn’t easy.
There are a few pictures left to scan and cassettes left to transfer, but the bulk of my work is complete. It’s a great relief.
Spyro Gyra Smooth Cruise recap 2 August 15, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Travel, Weather.add a comment
My first Smooth Cruise aboard the Spirit of New York five years ago featured Spyro Gyra. Wednesday evening, I saw that legendary band for the second time. As usual, I opted for the sunset cruise over the moonlight one.
Smooth Cruises are run out of Pier 61 at Chelsea Piers in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The cruise rides along the Hudson River to New York Harbor and back.
Thanks to an area of Canadian high pressure behind a cold front the night before, the Northeastern United States was treated to low humidity and early fall-like weather. But that was the weather outside. We’ll get to outside pictures later.
Inside, the heat was on with Spyro Gyra in action.
The leader of the band, Jay Beckenstein, was on the alto saxophone…
…but not simultaneously.
Jay wore a t-shirt with the Morning Dance album cover on it.
Tom Schuman on keyboards:
Julio Fernandez on guitar:
Scott Ambush on bass:
…and Lee Pearson played the drums:
Lee brought his two sons along.
SET LIST
1. Freetime
2. Catching the Sun
3. De La Luz – Julio, lead vocals; Lee, background vocals
4. Dancing on Table Mountain – Scott, extended bass solo
5. I Believe in You
6. Expect a Miracle – Lee, extended drum solo
7. Falling Walls
8 (Encore). Morning Dance – Jay called this “an encore without leaving the stage.”
Julio’s lead vocal on “De La Luz”:
Backed up by Lee:
Scott’s extended bass solo on “Dancing on Table Mountain”:
The view from my table:
The last note of the night:
Immediately after the set, the band made their way to the deck below for a meet and greet. I caught up with Jay Beckenstein:
Tom Schuman:
…and Scott Ambush:
As promised, we’ll conclude this recap with shots taken outside before and during the cruise:
The Pier 62 skate park:
Close-ups of Hoboken and Weehawken:
Lincoln Tunnel ventilation building in background, Beast Speedboat in center:
Jersey City:
Manhattan’s West Side:
The nearly-completed One World Trade Center:
The Statue of Liberty:
As you can tell by the reflection, I took that at my table.
Brooklyn:
Brooklyn Bridge:
One last shot of One World Trade Center:
Riding the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, Southern State Parkway, and Wantagh Parkway August 12, 2013
Posted by Mike C. in Personal, Photography, Travel.add a comment
This is the fourth in my “Riding” series of pictures taken on parkways and expressways while in transit from one area to another.
This time, the pictures were taken on the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, Southern State Parkway, and Wantagh Parkway. I took them with a Nikon D5100, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8, and an iPhone 5. You can figure out what pictures were taken with what camera (or phone) by their quality. License numbers were blurred out in Photoshop.
On the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway south, Exit 13W:
Exit 11 (southbound only):
Exit 10:
Exit 9:
Exit 7E:
Exit 6:
Exit 5:
Exit 4W:
Exit 4E:
Exit 2E:
Seaford-Oyster Bay north, Exit 4W:
Exit 5:
Exit 7E:
Exit 7W:
Exit 8:
Exit 9:
Exit 10:
Exit 12E:
Exit 12W:
Southern State Parkway west, Exit 28S:
Exit 27N:
Some of these next signs were, or may have been, replaced, like the ones above were.
Exit 27S:
Exit 25N:
Exit 19N:
Exit 18:
Exit 13:
Southern State Parkway east, Exit 28S:
On the Wantagh Parkway north, Exit W6:
Exit W3E:
Exit W3W:
Wantagh Parkway south, Exit W4W:
Exit W4E:
Exit W5W:
Exit W5E:
Exit W6W:
Exit W6E:
That concludes this “Riding” post.
MikeChimeri.com 
