Oodles Of Doodles CCCVI

I knew I had another one of these "Music For A..." records somewhere. But it wasn't Japanese like I thought, it was Chinese. These doodles come from the back of Music For A Chinese Dinner At Home by Bob Lin Wu And His Orchestra (RCA Victor LSP-1936, 1959). I've brought you two other records in the series, both of which also featured the tag Dinner Music, as shown below. These doodles aren't signed that I can see, but I'm pretty sure they are by the same artist as the others in the series, Dillon.

Hawk And Hawk

Not thirty seconds after leaving the scene of the bald eagle below, I came across this pair of red-shouldered hawks on the side of the road. The first time I drove past, they were both sitting on the same wire, and I thought I could get them both into the same shot. But by the time I got turned around and parked, one of them had moved to a post on the other side of the road. But I still managed to get a few nice shots before I had to head on home.

Eagle Scout

Guess who's back in town after migrating away all summer? I walked out of the shop after work today, and I heard a lot of bird noises, all of them chattering away on top of each other. I didn't think much of it until I heard hawk noises, so then I started looking. I spotted an osprey flying around in tight circles near the cell tower across the street, but he soon headed away from there. Then I spotted something sitting on the cell tower. At first I though it had to be the mate of the osprey, but I looked closer and decided the head was just too white. Sure enough, it was a bald eagle. I watched him for about 15 minutes, catching him in mid-flight with a bite of dinner at one point. This is the first time I've gotten a shot of an eagle on the wing, and it's not too bad.

Oodles Of Doodles CCCV

This is the extra-special doodle of the week. Why? Because that's my Dad up there. Well, not really, but close enough. Looks just like him, except I don't think he has a globe in his radio shack. He does have more than one map on the wall though. He's got all the HAM radio equipment, the rolling chair, the clock that tells you what time it is everywhere all at once, the filing cabinets, I tell you this could be Dad. Except for the fact that this record came out when my Dad was only 8... This record is Elektra Code Course (Elektra CC-1, 1956), and was just the thing for the budding radio operator who needed to learn Morse code. (Dad tells me that they recently dropped the requirement for HAM radio operators to learn Morse code, though.) For the record, this is THE Elektra Records, which I believe is still around today, noted in their early years for folk music releases. There's a credit on the back for Jac Holzman, head honcho of the label, and it even lists his call letters, K2VEH. (Dad's call sign is KG4YNI if you want to say howdy sometime.) The doodle above is on the flip side of the LP, while the one below adorns the front. There's even a name on the one below, W. S. Harvey. The two don't look enough alike for me to attribute them both to the same artist, but perhaps.

Oodles Of Doodles CCCIV

This snazzy looking banjo player comes from the reverse of Bob "Banjo" Boyd-Ring-A-Ding-Ding-Banjo (Coronet CXS 178), a budget label collection of tunes featuring the instrument. Other than the vaguely Spanish dress of the gentleman in the doodle, there's nothing else on the album cover to indicate the type of banjo music you might hear inside. But none of the song titles sound Spanish, so I'm guessing the doodle is a little misleading. This is not the first doodle I've posted featuring a banjo. There have been at least two others, here and here.

Diamonds

I stumbled across a great blog recently that's sharing out tons and tons of Crime Jazz. In case you don't know what that is, it's music from old crime movies or mob movies, or sometimes spy flicks like James Bond. One of the things he shared was the LP shown above, which I had sitting next to the PC for ages wanting to record it. But I never did, thinking maybe I would some day stumble across a stereo copy. I never found that stereo version, but I did download it from The Crime Lounge. They didn't have a real cover for it, so I scanned mine in and shared it as a way of saying thanks for the music. So if you want to get the music, go visit The Crime Lounge. If you just want the LP cover (front and back), click here. Just for the search engines, this is Pete Rugolo-The Music From Richard Diamond (Mercury MG 36162).

Update: Where would we be without odd coincidences? Yesterday I found a stereo copy of an LP I'd already grabbed a Halloween track from, so I set about re-recording that track. While it was recording, I was reading the liner notes, and spotted something odd. One track was credited to Pete Rugolo and Steve Allen. I had no idea they worked together, so I read further. Turns out that Steve Allen had penned lyrics to an older tune by Pete Rugolo. The new tune is called The Girl With The Long Black Hair, and the old tune is Rugolo's theme from 'Richard Diamond'. How's that for a coincidence? If you're interested in a listen, here's The Modernaires-The Girl With The Long Black Hair from the LP Like Swung (Mercury Wing SRW 16231).

Oodles Of Doodles CCCIII

Tonight you get a great doodle featuring girls and guitars. Isn't that what rock and roll is all about? Well this isn't exactly rock or roll, I'm afraid. This is Don Gibson-Girls, Guitars And Gibson (RCA Victor LSP-2361, 1961).

Oodles Of Doodles CCCII

A doodle a day keeps the doctor away. That's what I'm hoping for anyway. I'll let you know how it works out. The doodle of the day is a grand piano inside a treasure chest. No pirates to be seen though. This comes to us from the flipside of Frankie Carle, His Piano And Orchestra-The Golden Touch (RCA Victor LSP-2139, 1960). There's a tag on the front of this one, too, but I shared it with you a long time ago. Not sure why I didn't go ahead and get the doodle at the same time, but I didn't. I'll throw it in below just for kicks. Piano Pearls, it says. You've also seen a doodle from Frankie Carle before.

On Into October

The calendar page for this week in October features this great shot of a red-tailed hawk taking off. I shot this in Ohio a year or so ago while looking for deer. I didn't get any deer shots, but I'll settle for pictures like this any day.