Dharma All Stars recap 5 April 9, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Personal.add a comment
Last night, I went to Mirelle’s restaurant in Westbury, New York, to see the latest performance by John Favicchia’s band, the Dharma All Stars.
Chieli Minucci was on guitar:
Jack Knight on bass:
Bill Heller on keyboard:
Bill Harris on tenor saxophone:
Brad Mason on trumpet…
…and flugelhorn:
And John Fav on drums:
The set lasted just over an hour, and what a set it was:
1. Horizons
2. Black
3. Sing a Song of Song
4. Coincidence
5. Snakes
6. Sister Cheryl
7. Kukuc
Powerful Nor’easter March 17, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in News, Personal, Weather.add a comment
Last weekend, mostly Saturday, a powerful Nor’easter tore through the Northeastern United States.
Among those hard hit was Long Island, specifically Nassau and Western Suffolk Counties. Wind gusts were as high as 75 miles per hour. The highest gust in Wantagh, where I live, was 67 mph. Many trees and power lines were downed, among other damaging effects.
Some houses escaped with little damage and retained their power. The rest lost it for an extended period. Our house lost power shortly before 9:00 Saturday night.
The damage was so extensive that the Long Island Power Authority, LIPA, had to bring in crews from out-of-state to assist them. They came from places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and even Canada. I hear crews working outside as I type. I can’t thank them all enough for the work they’ve done and continue to do.
I spent Sunday afternoon through Monday evening with a family friend that had power. Power was restored to my house at 6:45 PM Monday with cable returning a few hours later; in fact, minutes after I returned home.
Other affected areas took longer to get their power back or are still waiting, as I type, to get it back.
Smooth Jazz for Scholars 2010 date/lineup March 7, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal.add a comment
Jay Rowe is hosting his 8th annual Smooth Jazz for Scholars concert on Saturday, May 1, in his native Milford, Connecticut. After one year at Foran High School Auditorium, the concert is back at the Parsons Complex Auditorium.
The headliners this year are Chieli Minucci, Ken Navarro, Nick Colionne, Mindi Abair, and Paul “Shilts” Weimar. They will be backed up by Jay on keyboards, Rohn Lawrence on guitar, Dave Livolsi on bass, Trever Somerville on drums, and vocals by Lamone Andrews.
This will be my fourth SJFS.
More from Jay’s website:
The concert will be held Saturday 5/1/10 at the Parsons Complex located at 70 W. River St. Milford, CT 06460 and tickets for Smooth Jazz for Scholars are $40 each. You can purchase Smooth Jazz for Scholars tickets here or by sending a check or money order payable to Smooth Jazz For Scholars, Inc. to P.O. Box 3723 Milford, CT, 06460.
Tickets purchased at the P.O. box between now and 3/17/10 will include 1 free Jay Rowe “Laugh Out Loud” CD plus 2 passes good for 4 people to see Rohn Lawrence (with Jay Rowe and Trever Somerville) at Rohn’s weekly Monday night show at the Lilly Pad at Toad’s Place, 300 York Street, New Haven, CT. This offer does not apply to etix purchases.
5/5 UPDATE: The recap is up.
3/2 Evening Jazz aircheck video March 4, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Jazz, Music, Personal, Radio.add a comment
For the last few years, I’ve hosted a radio show on C.W. Post’s Homecoming Day on WCWP-FM. I’ve also brought my camcorder along to shoot video that I later mix with the aircheck audio.
Last night, I did the same for “Evening Jazz.” Here’s how that came out:
February 16 “Evening Jazz” postponed; will not be unpostponed this time February 15, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Radio, Weather.add a comment
I have postponed my show tomorrow night due to the snow and ice that will be in progress. This is what motivated me to unpostpone last Thursday’s show. I didn’t want to postpone consecutive shows.
See you Thursday at 7PM on WCWP.
2/16 UPDATE: I’ve been told there will be an automated jazz show tonight. So, listen and prepare to be surprised. I’m sure I will be.
February Blizzard/Shoveling/WCWP February 14, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Airchecks, Jazz, Music, Personal, Radio, Weather.add a comment
As I said in the postponed/unpostponed post, we were hit by a blizzard here on Long Island from late Tuesday night to early Thursday morning.
The most significant snow began falling Wednesday afternoon:
My dad shoveled the driveway just as the snow intensified:
I shoveled as much of the driveway as I could early Wednesday evening. Snow continued to fall:
My parents shoveled the driveway Thursday morning with my sister and I shoveling for an hour in the early afternoon. After I’d finished, I took these pictures:
At around 5PM, it was off to WCWP for Evening Jazz. I shot these pictures as I arrived:
During the second hour, I shot a couple of self-timed pictures by mounting my camera on a mic stand:
More snow is expected Monday night into Tuesday. I hope it isn’t much. Honestly, I’m ready for Spring.
February 11 “Evening Jazz” postponed; then unpostponed February 10, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Jazz, Music, Personal, Radio, Weather.add a comment
2/11 UPDATE: I have unpostponed tonight’s show. See you tonight.
Due to the blizzard conditions today and tonight, I have made the difficult decision to postpone tomorrow night’s “Evening Jazz.” The playlist I originally made for tomorrow will be used next Thursday.
Tomorrow will be a day of shoveling for me. I’ll be back with you on Tuesday night at 7:00 Eastern on 88.1 FM WCWP. Fred Camin is slated for Monday night.
2/11 UPDATE: I shoveled for about an hour early last night. Today, my parents shoveled what fell after I finished. Then, my sister and I shoveled a bit more. I’ll have a recap and pictures in a later post.
Cause and Effects; 4/7/13 UPDATE: Drew’s side of the story, What took me (Mike) so long February 6, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Books, Game Shows, Media, TV, Weather.add a comment
5/16/19 UPDATE: I wrote a long overdue follow up after watching Perfect Bid: The Contestant Who Knew Too Much.
Terry’s side of the story
4/7/13 UPDATE: Drew’s side of the story comes later in this post.
Terry Kneiss, a Double Showcase winner on The Price is Right in December 2008, sent me the following e-mail (with permission to quote him here) on Wednesday:
I just got word from my publisher that the book “Cause and Effects: The Amazing Story Surrounding the ‘Perfect Showcase Bid’ on Television’s #1 Daytime Game Show” is available to buy online for pre-order. The website is www.perfectshowcasebid.com. Publisher is Langdon Press out of [Minnesota].
That perfect showcase bid led to an unenthusiastic reaction from host Drew Carey. At the time, I didn’t understand why he reacted that way, but I defended him nonetheless:
I believe he was simply in stunned disbelief and shock. Not everyone handles that situation by yelling and screaming. Drew has had the yelling, screaming reaction before, but he is far from perfect. If you want Drew to be wildly enthusiastic every time, you’re going to be disappointed. Clearly, many were disappointed by this. If you want to stop watching “The Price is Right” because Drew isn’t enthusiastic enough for your taste, it’s your choice. But there are plenty of people like me that support Drew and will continue to watch.
I now feel that Drew thought Terry was playing him and the TPiR staff like fools, the same way Michael Larson did on Press Your Luck in 1984. But I could be wrong.
Cause and Effects will showcase, pardon the pun, Terry’s side of the story. On the book’s website, there is this introduction:
My name is Terry Kniess as in the guy who hit The Price Is Right Showcase on the nose — last done in 1973! That earned me a “double showcase!” Oh, and you pronounce Kniess like “niece”, as in ‘my niece hit The Price Is Right showcase just a few weeks after I did!’ But is this a simple story of incredible luck? Or is this the tale– as so many members of the press are asserting — of a diabolical scheme perpetrated by a family of evil geniuses? Well, it all starts with a dog.
My vote is “a simple story.”
Terry is a retired meteorologist and has his own weather website.
2/10 UPDATE: Terry has supplied me with an excerpt from Chapter 15: “Pegging the Stranger Meter, or Just a Series of Coincidences?”:
If there is any reason to believe in a conspiracy theory, it’s because of the strange but true coincidences between the show she (my niece, Jodi) was on and the show I was on. Let’s review:
1. Her show aired exactly one month to the day after the one I was on.
2. She sat in the same seat I did.
3. Her fiancé, Tom, sat in the same seat as my wife, Linda.
4. Both Jodi and I were among the first four contestants called to “Come on down.”
5. Linda had to tell me my name was called. Ton had to tell Jodi her name was called.
6. She got up on stage with the third prize up for bid. The same with me.
7. We were both in the first Showcase Showdown. The Showcase Showdown is when the contestants spin the big wheel at the end of the first half and second half of the show.
8. Her first spin was $.95. My first spin was $.90.
4/7/13 UPDATE: Drew’s side of the story
Last week, Pop My Culture podcast co-host Vanessa Ragland was one of three guests (one of them recurring) on voice actor Rob Paulsen’s weekly Talkin’ Toons UStream show (formerly itself a podcast). My curiosity was piqued enough to search for the series on iTunes. As with the Nerdist podcast three years ago, The Price is Right host Drew Carey was on Pop My Culture last year.
About ten minutes in, Drew recalled Kneiss’ double showcase success (without naming him). And similar to that show, he was deadpan while lamenting the situation. Drew said there was a diehard TPIR fan that sits in the front row. The fan knew what the prices of prizes were because they were, at the time, recycled. “I don’t care what that f***in’ guy said,” Drew intoned. “He got it from the guy in the front row ’cause we have it on tape.” He went on to say the fan did that “out of malice to give everybody the exact price and kinda screw over the show.”
Drew wasn’t the only one to say this. Carrie Grosvenor said the same thing at About the day it aired!:
Apparently, according to the message boards at Golden Road, one of their regular members was in the audience on the day this show was taped, and had been shouting out pricing answers throughout the show. This isn’t unusual in and of itself – anyone who watches the show knows that the audience does this, and that contestants look to these shouted answers for guidance. However, in this case, the audience member, who calls himself “Ted” at Golden Road, is an expert on pricing these items and has some experience giving correct dollar amounts away to contestants. If you watch the show again, it’s very clear that contestant Terry was looking directly at a single person in the audience for help.
In Drew’s Pop My Culture appearance, he noted that TPiR now changes up the prizes and prize features regularly so the prices will be different each time. Terry Kneiss’ “simple story of incredible luck” may be simpler than I originally thought, but the show’s new practice make his story unique. His on-the-nose success may never be duplicated.
What took me so long?
You may be wondering why it took so long for me to update this post with that information. First, I wasn’t as big a Price is Right fan as others and as big a game show fan as I used to be. Second, I gave up watching the show in 2011 when George Gray was made the permanent announcer. Forgive me, but George has an exaggerated delivery and I couldn’t stand hearing it. That’s another thing Drew brought up on PMC: fans that don’t like the changes to the show. With my radio background and as a fan of voice acting, this is the only change that I don’t like. It makes me wish that Jim Thornton could double his announcing his duties and work TPiR in addition to Wheel of Fortune. But like my desire for FOX Sports to go back to using unique themes and cues for the sports they cover, neither George nor FOX’s practice of using NFL cues for more than just NFL coverage are going anywhere. So, I just need to accept both unpleasant situations and move on.
More views than MikeChimeri.com! January 27, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Uncategorized.add a comment
Today, The Mike Chimeri Blog surpassed MikeChimeri.com in views/visits. As I type, MikeChimeri.com has 13,212 visits. The Mike Chimeri Blog has 13,307 views and counting. It took only 21 months to get as many views as my website has in 4 1/2 years.
Thank you to all for visiting this blog.
11:04 PM UPDATE: There were 278 views today, a new one day record.
MikeChimeri.com 
Bold & Fresh Tour at Westbury! January 22, 2010
Posted by Mike C. in Commentary, Media, News, Personal, Radio, TV.3 comments
Tomorrow night, Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck’s Bold & Fresh Tour kicks off at the Capital One Theatre at Westbury. The show sold out only days after tickets went on sale. The same can be said for all other venues on the tour:
Actually, as I type, the early Pasadena show still has tickets available, but I doubt that will be true much longer.
The Norfolk show will be simulcast live in movie theaters across the United States. For more information, check the Bold Fresh Tour website.
On the website, the tour is billed this way:
I will be at the Westbury show tomorrow night. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen either O’Reilly or Beck in person. It should be great.
I’ll update this post after the show.
1/23, 10:55 PM UPDATE: The show was excellent.
The start of it was delayed about 15 minutes because some radical protesters wouldn’t allow cars into the parking lot. Traffic was held up during that time, resulting in a long stationary line of cars, including me and my dad, from the parking lot entrance to the Northern State Pkwy. exit ramps in both directions. After the delay, the parking lot was full and attendants made us park in a neighboring lot.
Just as we got to our seats inside, the show began. We were four rows from the stage and four seats from the aisle where Glenn and Bill walked to and from the stage.
Glenn came out first, dressed casually with a mic attached to his ear. He spoke for 20 minutes. After that, it was Bill’s turn. I knew he was 6’4″, but I had no idea how tall that looked up close until tonight. Bill was in a suit and tie and held a wireless mic.
Then, there was a 20-minute intermission, during which, I tried in vain to get to the concession stand because the lobby was packed.
Following the intermission, both Bill and Glenn sat in chairs and interviewed each other while the stage revolved.
There seemed to be more Glenn fans than Bill fans, but that’s okay.
I’m happy to report there weren’t any hecklers during the show.
1/25 UPDATE: Dave Marcus had his own recap yesterday in Newsday. Bill replied to the recap tonight on “The O’Reilly Factor” in the Talking Points Memo:
FOXNews.com Video
FOXNews.com Transcript
BillOReilly.com Summary
The tour website links here for info on the movie theater simulcast. It’s live this Saturday at 8PM Eastern with an encore replay next Tuesday at the same time. Three Long Island theaters will carry the simulcast live: Port Washington Cinemas, Farmingdale Multiplex, and Island 16: Cinema de Lux in Holtsville. Farmingdale Multiplex and Island 16 will also carry the encore along with Westbury Stadium 12.
1/26 UPDATE: The following viewer e-mails were read on “The Factor” tonight:
Bob DeFliese, Garden City, NY: “Bill, my wife and I attended the Bold Fresh tour show at Westbury and your talking points was spot on. Newsday distorted what happened. Neither you nor Beck made any political play for the Republican Party. You were fair, entertaining, and informative.”
Bridget O’Shea Burns, West Springfield, MA: “Bill, my husband and I drove down to see the Bold Fresh show. You and Beck have great on-stage chemistry and I was quite surprised how funny you guys were.”
Bill’s response: “Well, I appreciate the good review, Bridget. Glad it was worth the trip. By the way, the Bold Fresh show [in Norfolk, VA] is playing at nearly 500 movie theaters this coming Saturday night. Check the theaters out on the website BoldFreshTour.com. BoldFreshTour.com.”
Marissa Singer, Farmingville, NY: “O’Reilly, I know Beck teased you about wearing a suit during the show, but I thought you looked dashing.”
Bill’s response: (grinning): “Well, Beck is just jealous, Marissa. We all know that. Thanks for coming to see us.”
Thank you, Bill and Glenn, for such a great show. Thanks also to those that have checked out this post after I linked to it in the comment thread for this post at Olbermann Watch.
1/27 UPDATE: Thanks further to those that were referred from Johnny Dollar’s Place.
1/29 UPDATE: Tonight’s Talking Points Memo and At Your Beck & Call segment flashed back to last Saturday’s show at Westbury.
The Bold Fresh site has news regarding the Norfolk show tomorrow:
As a result, the movie simulcast site said this:
2/3 UPDATE: Excerpts from the simulcast Tampa show were shown Monday night on “The Factor”:
I’m hoping the simulcast is released on DVD or Blu-ray.
8/2 UPDATE: Bill and Glenn returned to Westbury on Saturday night. I was not there, but plenty of people were. It was another sold out event. Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer and Glynnis MacNicol were among the crowd and have their take on the show here and here.
The following e-mails were read tonight on “The O’Reilly Factor”:
Marilyn Fulton, Kings Park, NY: “O’Reilly, attended the Bold Fresh tour at the Westbury Theatre. Loved it. You and Beck are a great team.”
Bill’s response: “Well, I appreciate that, Marilyn.”
Gail Fischler, Bellmore, NY: “Saw the show at Westbury. You were hysterical, O’Reilly.”
Bill’s response: “In a humorous vein, right, Gail? I wasn’t literally hysterical, was I? I don’t think I was, but…never know what that word means.”
I’ll answer that: it was indeed a humorous vein. Bill was joking, of course.
1/22/11 UPDATE: The simulcast of last year’s Bold Fresh Tour event in Tampa is now available on DVD!