Courtesy JackieMason.com

Sunday afternoon, I will be attending the very last show for “Jackie Mason: The Ultimate Jew” at New World Stages’ Stage 1 in New York City (Manhattan, anyway), a short train ride from Wantagh.  By the time you read this, it may be too late to get tickets, but go here anyway.  This is Jackie’s final show of his illustrious multi-decade career.  I feel honored to be a part of history and I’m looking forward to going.  I think I’ll only be a few rows from the stage.

Today, I left a few comments to a blog post on Alisyn Camerota’s (”Fox and Friends,” Fox News Channel) Greenroom blog.  Audra Floyd, Alisyn’s summer intern, posted while Alisyn is on vacation.  In one comment, I referred to my Saturday post on the passing of Tony Snow and Bobby Murcer:

[R]egarding Tony Snow, I was saddened when I heard he had passed away on Saturday.  I posted about him – as well as Bobby Murcer, who died of brain cancer on the same day – on my blog.  Click on my name to go there or click on the link below to see my post:

One of the regular commenters at the Greenroom blog was a man named Brad.  He left quite a compliment for me:

Mike C-
Awesome blog, it should be nominated for a Webby Award, just like this one
I heard about Bobby M[u]rcer from a sports channel I was watching the other day. He was a legend in the NY Yankee organization. It’s really sad and tragic. God bless him and his family.

In the three months that this blog has existed (three months ago tomorrow), I never thought I would even be considered for a Webby Award.  I’m just a humble blogger.  It’s an honor just to be told The Mike Chimeri Blog should be nominated.  I thanked Brad in the comments to Audra’s post, but I’ll repeat the thanks here.  Thank you very much, Brad.

7/15, 2:30 PM UPDATE: I originally had video of two commercials Audra appeared in for motorcycle dealerships in Arkansas and Oklahoma.  But after a comment in today’s Greenroom blog post where I linked to this post was removed, I feel that, as I had feared last night, I overstepped my bounds.  So, I have removed the videos.  I am very sorry I gave Audra too much exposure.  I wish her the best in her future endeavors and wish Alisyn the best as she returns to “Fox and Friends Weekend.”

7/15, 4:40 PM UPDATE: I have decided to give up commenting at any Fox News blog.  I’m better off focusing my energy on other things.  I’m repeating myself, but I am very sorry for being a bother in any of the comment threads I’ve been a bother in.
Now, let’s get back to talking about jazz or any venues I’m going to.

7/18, 10:50 AM UPDATE: Today was Audra’s last day as an intern.  Again, best of luck to her.

7/18, 3:40 PM UPDATE: Oh, what the heck?  I’ll put them back.  If I get any complaints, I’ll take them down again.  Here’s the ad for Sunrise Honda in Searcy, Arkansas:

And the ad for Shawnee Honda in Shawnee, Oklahoma:

Let me know what you think.

Almost four weeks ago, Ken Navarro’s 18th album, “The Grace of Summer Light” was officially released.  It has been available since May 1 on his website.  I pre-ordered the album back in February and was fortunate enough to hear the demo version of the title track back in late December.

As I documented back in April, Ken gave me my pre-ordered copy of “Grace” in the lobby of the Hampton Inn Milford [Connecticut] a few hours before this year’s Smooth Jazz for Scholars concert.  And as I further documented, I listened to the first six tracks while waiting for my dinner to be delivered from a nearby restaurant.  I listened to the remaining four tracks the following day (April 27) once I had returned home.  In a thread on The Magic Island BBS the day after that (April 28), I complimented Ken on the album:

… I can’t get enough of [the album].  You’ve created a masterpiece, Ken.  Thank you very much.

2 1/2 months later, I stand by that evaluation.  “The Grace of Summer Light” just gets better and better every time I listen to it.  Here are the tracks on the album:

1. Just Before The Dawn (prelude) (:28 )
2. Blue Skies, Bright Dreams (6:08 )
I mixed tracks 1 and 2 together in Adobe Audition 3.  They’re heard best together rather than separate.
3. The Grace of Summer Light (7:51)
4. On My Way To Somewhere (9:16)
5. Perfect Circle Sun (4:10 )
6. Daddy-O (6:50 )
7. Nomad (8:05)
8. Looking Everywhere For You (5:48 )
9. We Might As Well Dance (6:11)
10. Just Before The Dawn (2:18 )

A few days before “The Grace of Summer Light” was released officially, Ken recorded a podcast chronicling how the album was made and what inspired each track.  It is available here and on iTunes.  Also, Shannon West reviewed the album for SmoothViews in last month’s edition.

Thank you again, Ken on all your guitars and the additional keyboards and percussion; and thank you to Jay Rowe on the main keyboards; Tom Kennedy (no relation to the game show host and brother of Jack Narz) on acoustic, electric, and fretless bass; Joel Rosenblatt on drums; and Kevin Prince on percussion.  ”The Grace of Summer Light” really is a masterpiece and to those that haven’t heard it yet, it’s a musical journey worth taking.

Tony Snow in 1996; Courtesy FOXNews.com/AP

I didn’t wake up for the day until 1:30 this afternoon and didn’t have internet for a few hours because of a branch in the way of the cable wire to the house.  The problem wasn’t fixed about a half hour ago (it’s 4:48 as I post this).  Then, I checked my e-mail and was told by a friend on my private Topica discussion list that Tony Snow had died of colon cancer at the age of 53.  I immediately put on Fox News Channel to watch their coverage of his passing.

This is very sad news, but I could sense it was coming.  Among the many things I liked about Snow was he remained highly positive and upbeat to his final moments.  May God rest Tony Snow.

Mark Koldys, of the cable news discussion site Johnny Dollar’s Place, has posted several links to coverage of Snow’s passing here.

11:15 UPDATE (Picture and links updated on 7/14):

Bobby Murcer; Courtesy AP

Another great in his field lost his battle with cancer today: former Yankees player and play-by-play announcer Bobby Murcer died of brain cancer at the age of 62.  He, too, will be missed.

The last of the CDs I pre-ordered in May arrived today:
Nick Colionne, “No Limits” (Koch)

I’ve only listened to the first track, the title track, so far.  If it’s any indication, this is going to be a great album.  I’ll try to have a review once I’ve finished listening.  I also need to post a review of Ken Navarro’s “The Grace of Summer Light.”  In the meantime, I now have all the CDs I pre-ordered on May 10, two months to the date (July 10) later.

7/11 UPDATE: The instrumental tracks are great.  I cannot post a full review because I haven’t listened to the vocal tracks (outside of “Melting Into You”), which I generally don’t prefer listening to.  Therefore, it would be unfair to review only 10 tracks out of 13.  But I do like “No Limits” and do recommend it.

I know that I said a few weeks ago I would no longer post about Cablevision and what channels they should add but haven’t added yet.  But today at Johnny Dollar’s Place, I learned some very positive news.  There was a link to an online article from the staff at Broadcasting & Cable that said Cablevision will be adding 15 HD channels at the end of the month:

The new HD channels include Nickelodeon, WE tv, AMC, Animal Planet, The Weather Channel, Travel Channel, Fox News Channel, Discovery Channel, Hallmark Movie Channel and FX.  They will come online over five days starting July 28.

Cablevision’s press release says “The full list of new HD channels will be announced when the services become available later this month.”  There are still five channels we don’t know about.  Maybe ESPNEWS HD is among them.  And maybe Fox Business Network will finally be added in HD and SD simultaneously.  We’ll see what happens later this month.

7/5 UPDATE: Please disregard the automatically generated possibly related post that’s titled “I give up with Cablevision!”  I have no idea why it shows up or why you can still read the text of it in the RSS preview.  I’m sorry it’s even there.  Five hours after I wrote that, I was all calmed down, deleted it, and wrote this post in its place.

In this month’s issue of the online magazine “SmoothViews” is an interview Bonnie Schendell conducted with David Benoit to promote his latest album “Heroes.”  I posted about the album back on May 29 (late night May 28).

In my days at WCWP, I conducted four interviews of my own with David, which can be found here.  I’d interview him now, but I’m out of radio and don’t have a good telephone hybrid to conduct the interview from home for this blog.  If anyone knows where I can find a Gentner Telehybrid for sale, you have one to sell, or you know someone that will sell, please leave a comment.  The rest of you are also free to leave comments.

On Sunday, I attended the final round of the Champions Tour’s Commerce Bank Championship at Eisenhower Park Red [Golf] Course in East Meadow, New York.  This was the third year in a row I attended.  Each year, I showed up a few times in the background of a camera shot during the Golf Channel’s telecast.  The previous two years, I sat in the bleachers by the 18th green, watching the last 10 groups (approximately) finish their rounds and then watch the trophy presentation.  This time, I stood by the fairway at 18 until the last three groups.  After that, I stood by the green until the trophy presentation.  As eventual champion Loren Roberts was lining up for a putt, this is what you saw on the HD telecast (I’ve highlighted myself):

I had a vidcap, but got a better shot from my digital camera off my TV.

I also appeared in a wider crowd shot as David Eger (”Eager”) had a tap-in putt:

Here’s the same picture cropped:

I could be seen in HD and SD in that shot.  Eger took the lead from Roberts early in the round, but faded after the 11th hole.

For the record, Scott Simpson was also in that final group.

“Newsday” reported that this may have been the last Commerce Bank Championship after 22 tournaments.  If that’s the case, it went out on a high note.  And I don’t mean because I was in crowd shots.

7/2 UPDATE: I’m surprised at how many golf blogs are linking to this post.  Thank you for the publicity.  Feel free to check out the rest of my blog.

Today, I received three CDs I had pre-ordered weeks ago in the mail:
The Jeff Lorber Fusion, “Soft Space” (reissue)
Eric Darius, “Goin’ All Out”
Gerald Albright, “Sax for Stax”

As with “The Jeff Lorber Fusion,” the “Soft Space” reissue sounds much better than its LP counterpart.  I have yet to listen to the other two CDs in their entirety.  I’ll get around to them after “Soft Space.”

Two Mondays ago, I ordered The Dan Siegel Project’s new album “Fables.”  I received it in the mail five days later.  The album is a rearrangement of songs Dan recorded in the mid-1980s, plus two new compositions.  Here are the tracks:

1. Dark Star (4:29)
2. Concrete Jungle (4:51)
3. Fugitives (3:19)
4. A Day In The Country (4:06)
5. Celestial Body (5:45)
6. Behind The Shadow (2:24)
7. Before You Wake (3:55)
8. The Last Waltz (4:12)
9. Peace Of Mind (2:48 )
10. Where Are You Now (4:15)
11. Solitary (2:56)
12. Little Creek (4:28 )
13. Star Light (3:36)

Tracks 1, 5, 10, and 12 were “reimagined from” Another Time, Another Place in 1984.
Tracks 7 and 8 were “reimagined from” On The Edge in 1985.
Tracks 2, 3, 4, 11, and 13 were “reimagined from” Short Stories in 1986.
Tracks 6 and 9 were new compositions.
All tracks were written by Dan.

The album personnel was:
Dan Siegel: keyboards, melodica
Michael Lington: saxophone
Tony Guerrero: trumpet, peck horn
Pedro Eustache: flutes, duduk, various winds
Adam Glasser: harmonica
Michael Miller: guitar
Allen Hinds: guitar
Abraham Laboriel: bass
Alex Galas: bouzouki
Aloke Dasgupta: sitar
Paul Livingstone: sitar
Charlie Bisharat: violin
John Riley: oboe, piccolo, bass clarinet
Nadia Freeman: vocals

“Fables” has the same feel as Dan’s “Hemispheres” album in 1995.

My favorite tracks so far are “Concrete Jungle,” “A Day In The Country,” “Celestial Body,” “The Last Waltz,” and “Where Are You Now.”