Surprise severe storm August 3, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in News, Personal, Travel, Weather.add a comment
Most of Nassau County got an unpleasant surprise late Monday afternoon. At around 3PM, a severe thunderstorm developed ranging from northwest to central Nassau and eastern Queens. It was nearly stationary, expanding and intensifying rather than moving. The storm brought torrential rain, extensive lightning, and golf-ball sized hail. Wantagh, where I live, was on the fringe of the storm. We were limited to distant lightning and thunder, moderate winds, and heavy-but-not-torrential rain. But the fear between 3:50 and 5:20 was the storm would eventually get to us. But as quickly as the storm developed, it slowly dissipated and moved offshore. My hamlet was spared, but points north and west weren’t so lucky.
Read all about it (to borrow a phrase) in these links:
Long Island Weather Examiner: Parts of Nassau County rattled by violent storms
Long Island Press: Thunderstorms Prompt Flood Watch in Nassau
Wall Street Journal: Hail and Rain Wallop Region
Newsday (subscription needed): Strong storms knock out power, LIRR service
CBS 2 (WCBS): Hail Storm Shatters Windows, Rattles Nerves In Queens Neighborhoods
Jessy J at Daniel Street, Fourplay at the Blue Note August 2, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Internet, Jazz, Media, Music, Travel.1 comment so far
Last week, my friend–blogger, graphic artist, and author Katherine Gilraine–attended four jazz shows. For my post, we’ll focus on two of the shows.
First up is Jessy J at the Daniel Street club in Milford, Connecticut, last Friday. (6/22/12 UPDATE: Daniel Street closed six months later.) Jessy’s band featured Jay Rowe, another friend of mine, on keyboards. K.G. writes in part (with links added by me):
… Out came Jessy on the alto, and out came Dizzy [Gillespie]’s Tin Tin Deo, and immediately, I saw that she has made leaps and bounds in her stage presence. She danced, she played to her audience, she back-and-forthed masterfully with Rohn Lawrence and Carl Carter, and she made it clear from the first thirty seconds that she was very much into the music that she was playing. The show quickly became a showcase as she went to the mic and got to singing – Mas Que Nada, mind you, is a favorite of mine – and commandeered a party through a Gloria Estefan cover. Granted, I’m no Gloria Estefan fan by any stretch of the imagination, but Jessy knew how to incorporate it into her style. There was no one with her on stage who wasn’t equally involved in the overall dynamic, and the audience was just as into her music as she was. …
Jessy has a new album coming out the day after Labor Day, Hot Sauce.
K.G. had this to say about the Fourplay show:
If Bob James or Chuck Loeb come to the Blue Note, I’m very sure that you will find me in the audience. If Bob James and Chuck Loeb are at the Blue Note, so is every Fourplay fan in New York City.
No, really.
… [Let’s Touch the Sky] was the focal point of the Blue Note show, and I saw how New York Attitude on guitar worked its way into the (admittedly) smooth dynamic of Fourplay. If you want to hear a great example of it, check out 3rd Degree. Written by Chuck in a tribute of himself being the third guitarist in the Fourplay lineup, it’s classic Loeb indeed: sharp, gritty, and almost toeing the line of rocker guitar, but not quite there. At the Note, this was a crowd-pleaser, right along Nathan East‘s voice on I’ll Still Be Loving You. …
Rippingtons Smooth Cruise recap 2 July 28, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, News, Personal, Photography, Travel, TV, Weather.add a comment
Yesterday, I went to Chelsea Piers’ Pier 61 for the weekly summer Smooth Cruise aboard the Spirit of New York. I was aboard the Rippingtons‘ 6:30 cruise. This was my second Rippingtons Smooth Cruise. The first time was in 2009. And overall, it was my fifth Ripps concert.
Before we get to the sights inside, let’s focus on the outside.
As the ship passed Lower Manhattan, we passengers caught a glimpse of the half-completed Freedom Tower (9/11 UPDATE: The tower is officially known as One World Trade Center):
Further north, the Empire State Building:
The East River view of the Freedom Tower:
Now, the inside story. The ship embarked at 6:43 and the concert began a few minutes later.
Lenny Green, host of Kissing After Dark on 98.7 KISS FM, warmed up the audience and then welcomed the Rippingtons to the stage!
Russ Freeman, the bandleader, was on guitar:
Jeff Kashiwa on the alto saxophone…
…and EWI (electronic wind instrument):
Rico Belled on bass:
And Dave Karasony on drums and percussion:
SET LIST
1. Côte D’Azur
Originally heard on: “Côte D’Azur,” 2011
2. Modern Art
Originally heard on: “Modern Art,” 2009
3. Postcard From Cannes*
Originally heard on: “Côte D’Azur,” 2011
4. Mr. 3
Originally heard on: “Let It Ripp,” 2003
5. Aspen
Originally heard on: “Curves Ahead,” 1991
6. Le Calypso
Originally heard on: “Côte D’Azur,” 2011
7. When It Feels Good (Jeff Kashiwa)
Originally heard on: “Back in the Day,” 2009
Jeff pointed out that a 24-second snippet of this song can be heard in the background in one scene from Larry Crowne, the new movie starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
8. Avenida Del Mar
Originally heard on: “Life in the Tropics,” 2000
9. Sainte Maxime
Originally heard on: “Côte D’Azur,” 2011
10. Snowbound**
Originally heard on: “Curves Ahead,” 1991
11. Black Diamond*
Originally heard on: “Black Diamond,” 1997
*Jeff on EWI
**Jeff on EWI and alto sax
Russ and Rico got the audience clapping to start “Côte D’Azur”:
Bill’s vocoder finish to “Modern Art”:
The stage view on closed-circuit TV one deck below:
Jeff walked through the audience for the first half of “Aspen”:
Bill used the “skating rink organ” setting on “Le Calypso”:
Dave’s drum solo came in “Avenida Del Mar”:
Jeff played both the alto sax and EWI on “Snowbound”:
Jeff put the alto sax down for “Black Diamond,” going with the EWI:
The end of the set:
Before the show, I said hello to Bill and Rico, and we posed for this picture:
And afterward, I stayed behind the camera for this pic of Russ and Bill:
This was the best Smooth Cruise I’ve been on in recent memory. Thanks to Russ, Bill, Jeff, Rico, and Dave for another great show! And thanks to an area of high pressure for providing nice, comfortable (or at least not as humid) weather.
This recap is dedicated to my cousin Steve who turned 18 yesterday.
8/2 UPDATE: Katherine Gilraine attended the 9:30 cruise and wrote about it (and three other shows) at her blog:
Spirit Cruises: The Rippingtons
With Cote D’Azur out and on sale, I couldn’t miss it. The Rippingtons have always had a reputation for producing wonderful material, and when Russ Freeman brings out his inner rocker – just stand back, that is all.
Last week’s Wednesday night was no exception. I boarded the ship, and when Russ Freeman broke into Cote D’Azur’s title track, it was on. Jeff Kashiwa, a strong saxman in his own right, also had a chance to shine with his current hit, When It Feels Good. Me being picky me, I listened into Jeff’s style, and have to admit that his is more than palatable. Straightforward, but easy on the ear, strong and direct – all the marks of what I like in my horns.
That cruise, though…I can’t put it into words. Somewhere between Black Diamond and the NYC skyline at night, I reaffirmed just why I do what I do: the traveling, the jazz, the writing… It makes me feel utterly alive.
Mindi Abair on Happily Divorced!; auto-tuning on Hot in Cleveland July 9, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Comedy, Jazz, Media, Music, TV.add a comment
Last week, I began watching the new TV Land sitcom Happily Divorced. Wednesday night, the show’s fifth episode aired, “A Date with Destiny.” Mindi Abair appears in one scene as the saxophonist in Judi’s (Tichina Arnold) band and another scene as an extra. Check TV Land listings for a rerun of this episode. It happens about 19 minutes in.
HONORABLE MENTION
Happily Divorced was preceded by Hot in Cleveland. Wednesday’s episode, “Battle of the Bands,” featured the four main cast members–Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, Betty White–singing into an auto-tune wireless microphone. I find most voice alteration (pitch/speed modulation) funny, especially auto-tune. So, I got a kick of the auto-tuning in that episode.
11/27 UPDATE: Cablevision recently added the TV Land HD channel. So, I got to see “Battle of the Bands”–and many other episodes airing this weekend as part of a marathon–in HD for the first time.
235 Years! July 4, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Uncategorized.add a comment
235 years ago today, the United States of America was born. Here’s to another 235, and then some. God bless the men and women serving and protecting our country.
11:44 PM UPDATE: Here is saxophonist Mindi Abair‘s rendition of “America the Beautiful”:
Home video projects July 1, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in DVD, Personal, Video.add a comment
Last Fall, I captured old home videos of mine to my computer through Windows Movie Maker as AVI files. The videos were shot between 1994 and 2007. Unfortunately, WMM captures AVIs with 32 kHz audio rather than 48. So, for the last week and a half, I’ve been re-rendering those AVI files in the 48 kHz format. It’s a good thing I have Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 (yes, a long name). I went through each of the 30 VHS tapes, 40 VHS-C masters, and 12 MiniDV masters one at a time. I imported them into Vegas, Vegas built a 48 kHz audio proxy, I normalized the audio, and rendered. That took me from last Tuesday through this Monday. I didn’t stop there. I captured many MiniDV tapes that I didn’t officially consider home videos. This included:
- Video of my late chocolate lab Cocoa
- A final project I made for a video production class in my last semester at C.W. Post
- Raw video (most not used) of my senior project, a documentary interview with Joe Falco, a now-retired FDNY firefighter who survived the collapse of the World Trade Center’s South Tower
- The finished senior project
- An updated version of the senior project that I made two years after graduating
- Converted VHS tapes of car video brochures between 1994 and 1998 (I was obsessed with cars at the time and collected printed and video brochures.)
As I write this post, I’m preparing DVDs of my late grandparents’ home movies that I remastered last Fall. The program I’m using is Sony DVD Architect Studio 5, which came with Vegas 10.
25,000 views! June 16, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Internet, Personal.1 comment so far
This morning, The Mike Chimeri Blog surpassed 25,000 views! Thanks to all of you that have visited since I launched the blog three years, two months, and one day ago. You’re always welcome here.
Shilts at Houndsooth Pub recap; with guests! June 13, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Photography, Sports, Travel, Weather.add a comment
Later Shilts recap: May 2012
Saturday evening, I made my second trip to Manhattan in four days. I saw Lisa Hilton down in Greenwich Village on Wednesday. On Saturday, the musician was Shilts at Houndstooth Pub in the Fashion District, a few blocks north of Penn Station.
Unlike Wednesday when my dad and I drove to the venue, I went by myself taking the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) to Penn Station. Not that it mattered to me, but alcohol was banned from trains that day because of the Belmont Stakes. It made sense. Why spoil the day of someone who came from out of town for the race? I was between Woodside and Penn Station while the race was in progress. Neither Shackleford nor Animal Kingdom won. Instead, Ruler on Ice was the surprise winner, as I learned through mobile web on my cell phone once inside Houndstooth Pub and watched on DVR when I got home.
Getting back to music, the last time I was at Houndstooth for Brian Simpson, there were strong winds and heavy rain. This time, there was a lighter wind and mist. The $19.99 umbrella I bought earlier in the day was worth it.
Bass player Kenny Harris opened up for Shilts with two songs. The latter song was a Bobby Caldwell cover, “What You Won’t Do For Love,” which he also played during Matt Marshak’s Houndstooth show in December.
Kenny was accompanied by his brother Rodney Harris on drums and the aforementioned Matt Marshak on guitar.
Then, it was time for Shilts.
Kenny Harris remained on bass:
Frank “Third” Richardson was on drums:
And Jay Rowe played the keyboards:
SET LIST
1. See What Happens
2. Look What’s Happened
3. Good Evans – Solo intro by Jay Rowe
4. Steve Cole: Just A Natural Thang – without Shilts
5. Sugar (Stanley Turrentine cover) – with Steve Cole
6. Seeing Things Clearly
7. Jam – with Matt Marshak
8. Staten Island Groove – with Matt Marshak
Jay led off “Good Evans” with an original piano solo:
He had another in the middle of the song:
After “Good Evans,” Shilts introduced a special guest:
Shilts yielded the stage to Steve who played “Just A Natural Thang”:
Shilts returned and Steve stuck around for “Sugar”:
Shilts brought out another special guest, Matt Marshak, seen earlier with Kenny, for the last two songs:
Third Richardson’s “Jam” drum solo:
The last song of the set was “Staten Island Groove”:
And that was it for the first set:
I’m sure the second set was just as great.
Before I left, I said hello to Shilts and we posed this picture:
I had a blast. I send my thanks to all involved: Shilts, Steve Cole, Kenny Harris, Rodney Harris, Third Richardson, Matt Marshak, Jay Rowe, Eulis Cathey, Kevin McCabe, Steve Butler, Kat Sarracco, Frank Sarracco (neither present, but there in spirit as Neko Productions was a sponsor), and Katherine Gilraine. K.G. has a post up about the entire night.
Lisa Hilton at Zinc Bar recap June 9, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Travel, Weather.add a comment
Later recaps: January 2014, January 2015, January 2016, January 2018, January 2019
(If you’re friends with me on Facebook, I cross-posted pictures from this show in a photo album.)
Last night, my dad and I went to see pianist Lisa Hilton perform at Zinc Bar down in Greenwich Village. It was the first of two concerts I’m going to in four nights. I’ll be seeing Shilts at Houndstooth Pub on Saturday night. (6/15 UPDATE: Here’s how that show went.)
We left Wantagh at about 5:15. Thanks to delays for seven exits on the L.I.E. (Long Island Expwy., I-495) and volume on Park Ave./Union Square E./Broadway, we didn’t get to West 3rd Street until 6:30. We parked by Mercer Street, three blocks east of Zinc. We walked in the high heat and humidity past Zinc to Ben’s Pizzeria on the corner of MacDougal Street for a few slices of pizza. Eating was a challenge because we sat a table that was right next to a fan. (Ben’s was open-air with no air conditioning; hence the large fan set on high.) I had to weigh down my plates and napkins. The pizza made it worth it. After that, it was back to Zinc just before 7:00 as another band was finishing up.
Lisa was scheduled to play two sets, but she and her band seemed to combine the two into one long set. That set began at 7:20.
Lisa’s band was made up of JD Allen on the tenor saxophone:
Ameen Saleem on acoustic bass:
And Jaimeo Brown on drums:
The set lasted about an hour and 45 minutes with 15 songs played. Here’s the set list:
1. City Streets (without JD)
2. Underground*
3. Someday, Somehow, Soon*
4. Just A Little Past Midnight*
5. So This Is Love
6. Boston+Blues* (+ = and)
7. Come & Go*
8. Midnight in Manhattan
9. Meltdown
10. Seduction (Lisa solo)
11. Moon River (Henry Mancini cover) (Lisa/JD duet)
12. Blue Truth*
13. Early Morning Impressions
14. Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day cover) (without JD)
15. Jack & Jill*
*From Lisa’s latest album, “Underground.”
Lisa spoke to the audience between each song:
Lisa & JD during their “Moon River” duet:
Lisa rhythmically swayed her right arm at one point in “Jack & Jill” while playing with her left hand:
I spoke to Lisa afterward. We were both glad to finally meet each other in person after six years when first interviewed her at WCWP. (Those interview occurred in November 2005 and August 2006.) Then we posed for this picture:
Lisa asked me what my favorite song was. I told her it was hard to pick one favorite. So, I chose three: “City Streets,” “Underground,” and “Jack & Jill.”
It was certainly an interesting two hours at Zinc Bar. Thanks to Lisa and the band for a really good show.
MikeChimeri.com 
Tim McCarver auto-tuned July 19, 2011
Posted by Mike C. in Baseball, Commentary, Media, Music, News, Personal, Politics, Sports, Technology, TV.add a comment
During the last commercial break for the 8PM Eastern airing of last Friday’s The O’Reilly Factor, there was a promo for the MLB on Fox. In the promo, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are to be auto-tuned during their broadcasts to appeal to a younger demographic. Tim follows through, but Joe refuses:
This promo has been running since the start of the season, but Friday was the first time I saw it. I initially posted it to my Facebook wall, but decided to post it here, too. As I said in my previous post, I find auto-tune hilarious and always get a kick out of it, especially if spoken word gets the auto-tune treatment.