Another Big Bird-Classic Ernie

OK, I promised some Classic Ernie pictures to break up the doodle monotony, so here's a close-up for you of a Great Blue Heron. This big fellows stand over three feet tall, and only marginally tolerate people in their territory. If you get too close they fly off with a loud squawk. Unlike the sandhill cranes I showed you earlier, these guys will fly off rather than attack. The sandhill cranes will actually come at you on occasion. This shot above is from South Lido Beach on the same day as this sunrise I previously shared. The picture below (a page from my August 2004 wall calendar) was taken at the Anna Maria City Pier. This gives you a pretty good idea of how large these guys are.

The Last Full Week In July

The calendar page this week is a bed of ginger plants and the brightly colored seed cones. At least I think that's what they are, I've never been sure. These have grown for years at one end of my parent's house under what used to be my bedroom window.

Oodles of Doodles LII-Christmas In July

Similar to our Don Ho offering a few days back, here are three more Christmas ornaments, this time courtesy of Christmas With Ed Ames (RCA Victor LPM-3838, 1967). At least this time we get a few little sparkles in addition to the ornaments. I'm still steamed at the lousy doodle from Don Ho!

B.C.D. (Before Compact Discs)

Way back in the dim dark recesses of time before the compact disc was the platter of choice for music, there was the Compact 33. The Compact 33 was a sort of hybrid format that combined the speed (and small hole) of the big, full-length LPs records with the smaller size and shorter playing time of the 7" 45's. RCA had invented the 45 a few years earlier in hopes that it would outsell the LP format developed elsewhere. Those discs fared pretty well with the advent of the new 'rock and roll' music. This little promo record I found tries to hype the advantages of such an odd form factor, but the public was not fooled. RCA and others released quite a few EPs in this format, and even occasionally full LPs spread out over two of these records, but they never sold in great numbers. Collectors salivate over some of the tracks released by Elvis in this format, but most everybody else has never heard of these things. If you look close at the back of the sleeve shown below, it appears to have been sent to a Citgo station! I guess in those days, even the gas station sold records.

Oodles of Doodles LI-Christmas In July

Even old Santa needs to take a breather every once in a while, and as this doodle plainly shows, Santa chooses to spend his free moments listening to the Hi-Fi. This doodle hails from George Melachrino And Orchestra-Christmas In High Fidelity (RCA Victor LPM-1045, 1957), and according to a price tag still on the LP, the record originally cost $2.88 from The Bike Kumler Company. What a bargain!

Oodles of Doodles L-Christmas In July

You read it right, this is doodle number fifty! To mark this milestone, we've got the biggest, most intricate doodle yet. This one took three different scans to piece together, and you really have to click the picture above to take you to the bigger picture to be able to appreciate everything that's going on in this dilly of a doodle. This doodle took up most of the backside of Jo Stafford With Paul Weston And His Music From Hollywood, The Norman Luboff Choir And The Starlighters-Ski Trails (Columbia CL 910, 1956). It's not purely a Christmas LP, but the tracks are either Christmas songs or at least winter-themed. And the doodle is tightly tied to the title since it shows you many of the popular ski resorts in the then-current 48 states. And they even threw in some water skiers for those of us in Florida who've never seen snow, much less mountains. If you look at this doodle long enough, you'll see wonderful little details like skiers with broken legs or a couple sunbathing with their skis as lounge chairs or cars stuck in the snow or even a jokester about to cut the tow rope on the water skiers. This is certainly a picture that rewards a detailed viewing. The signature on this sketch is Donald F. Moss, who appears to have been an artist employed by Sports Illustrated for many years. (It may not be the same fellow, but there's a good chance it is.) The main recording artist is Jo Stafford, all those other people comprise the orchestra, backup singers and chorus. Jo is actually married to Paul Weston, so his presence here is no surprise.

Oodles of Doodles XLIX-Christmas In July

This ring-a-ding-doodle is from the back of Lawrence Welk And His Champagne Music-Jingle Bells (Coral CRL 757186, 1957). It's a pretty nice doodle, and it's not even a Capitol or RCA Victor LP! Everybody knows about Lawrence Welk, and his infamous TV show. When I was little, I can remember leaving the room when my grandparents would watch it on TV. I was more interested in watching the Dukes of Hazzard on a different channel. It seemed like they were watching a channel that broadcast straight out of the past.
Technical note-This is the first doodle that was so large I had to scan it in two sections and paste them together in Photoshop. Not too bad of a job, if I do say so myself. The King would be proud!

Oodles of Doodles XLVIII-Christmas In July

Today's doodle is hardly a doodle at all, but I figured it was appropriate somehow. Everyone has heard of Christmas Seals, although I think they are less well known now than to earlier generations of Americans. The picture above is from the back of a promotional LP called For Christmas Seals (Style D-1965, 1965), and this particular volume features Peter, Paul And Mary on one side, and Lorne Greene on the other. There was a small series of these LPs, and each featured an informational program from the artist in support of Christmas seals and their fight against tuberculosis. Unfortunately, my sleeve contained a radio transcription disc which I figured might be what it should contain, but I was wrong. The record contains two non-Christmas shows from WNYE. Snooze-ville. If anybody out there has this program, or any others in the series, please let me know... (OK, I cheated here a bit, since the picture below is from the front of the LP, but if I hadn't told you that, you'd never know.)

For the curious among you, some of the other artists listed on the back of this LP as having similar LPs are Eileen Farrell, Eddy Arnold, Barbra Streisand, The Wayfarers, Eydie Gorme, Steve Lawrence, Al Hirt, Andy Williams & Mitch Miller. They also list several compilations of celebrity spot announcements. Somebody out there has got to have copies of these...

Oodles of Doodles XLVII-Christmas In July

Today's Christmas doodle is an angel that looks like an old woodcut. I hope that still counts as a doodle. This visitor from the ethereal plane is found on the back of Kurt von Baum Conducting The Homburg Symphony-Handel's Messiah (Premier Albums XM/S 1). This looks to be a cheapie release on a no-name label, but you never know where the next doodle might turn up. You have to turn over every stone, or in this case, every album, looking for that pot of gold.

Somewhere Under The Rainbow

For the second time since I sent my camera in for repairs, I see a rainbow. Not a piece of a rainbow, not a little slice of color in the spray from a garden hose, but a full blown, horizon-spanning, afternoon thunderstorm rainbow, with a hint of a double rainbow if you look closely to the left. This was at my parent's house, so Mom offers to let me use her camera, which is my old camera. It was like going back to a Brownie after you've gotten used to your Leica. Of course the batteries were dead, so I had to get that fixed first. Then I had to remember how to turn it on. Then I had the realization that it's a fixed lens, meaning no zoom. Anyhow, what you see is what I got. No adjustments, no nothing. Enjoy! (I won't tell you how bad this picture looks on Mom's old, dark monitor. I hope it looks better for you...)

Oodles of Doodles XLVI-Christmas In July

It's amazing how fast the doodles are multiplying around here. I suppose that's bound to happen when you post something every day. Today's doodle is from Hank Thompson And The Brazos Valley Boys-It's Christmas Time (Capitol/EMI ST 2154, 1964). Once again I've ended up with a foreign pressing, this time from the UK. Well, at least I have the sleeve to a foreign pressing. I wasn't paying attention on whatever day I bought this, probably just grabbing and buying at random, and when I got home, I discovered the wrong vinyl between the covers. I was sorely disappointed. I wanted to hear such tracks as "I'd Like To Have An Elephant For Christmas" and "It's Christmas Everyday In Alaska". Hmmm, I see one on eBay right now, and the seller is only a few miles from here... Wait, it's out on CD. Anyhow, it's a nice country-themed doodle.

Another Week In July

The calendar page this week is a seagull on the seawall at Ft. DeSoto. Exciting stuff, eh?

Oodles of Doodles XLV-Christmas In July

Here's a delightful set of doodles that I almost missed. I found this record in a pile of stuff I thought I had already doodlized, but it turns out that I hadn't. So here're seven little doodles from the back of Christmas Surprises From The Ralph Hunter Choir (RCA Records SL10911, 1959). Don't ask me how, but I ended up with an Australian pressing of this LP. I'm sure there are collectors out there who know that from the catalog number I listed, but I know it because of the little blurp on the backside (right below the partridge picture) "Records manufactured by RCA of Australia Pty. Ltd." Anyhow, these seven doodles are sprinkled around the back cover. The music on the inside is pretty good, too. If only this copy hadn't come over from Australia on the bottom of the boat. It's rough, believe me! (Anybody know anything about this group? Google is failing me on this one...)

Oodles of Doodles XLIV-Christmas In July

They say that no two snow flakes are alike, and here're four examples to prove the point. These flakes hail from the reverse of A Christmas Treasure-Julie Andrews With The Orchestra, Harpischord & Arrangements Of Andre Previn (RCA Victor LSP-3829, 1967). This LP does not contain Julie's most famous Christmas song that isn't really a Christmas song at all, My Favorite Things from The Sound Of Music. You'll have to dig up that soundtrack to hear that song. But the songs that actually do show up on this collection are all quite nice.

Oodles of Doodles XLIII-Christmas In July

Today is pretty much the halfway point of our Christmas In July feature, so it's time for another special color doodle. We're also bending the rules a little, since I scanned this image from the front of the LP, but it's repeated in grey on the back, so maybe it's OK. And the version on the flip side is obscured somewhat by some text, too. Anyhow, this is from Ogden Nash-Christmas With Ogden Nash (Caedmon TC 1323, 1970). This record is Mr. Nash reciting some Christmas stories, which may or may not be from his book Santa Go Home. The liner notes do admit that the cover illustration is borrowed from that book, and is drawn by Robert Osborn. That's a pretty hip Santa, don't ya think?

Oodles of Doodles XLII-Christmas In July

I think this is the sloppiest doodle we've featured yet, it looks like it was scribbled out in just a few seconds. Don't get me wrong though, it's still very attractive. You're looking at a detail off the flip side to Fred Waring And The Pennsylvanians-'Twas The Night Before Christmas (Decca DL 8171, 1955). The front cover to this LP is an illustration by no less than Norman Rockwell. I don't know if he had anything to do with the doodle on the back, but I sort of doubt it.

Oodles of Doodles XLI-Christmas In July

After the relative disappointment with yesterday's Don Ho doodle, we have a nice surprise today. The gift box above is found on Christmas Greetings From The Town Pipers (High Fidelity Recordings R418, 1959). If you look closely, that fancy wrapping paper isn't just abstract doodling. I've found a Santa Claus, a reindeer, a Christmas tree, a snowflake, and a couple of areas that may be something but I can't figure out what it's supposed to be. Maybe it's just more decoration. I'm afraid I know next to nothing about the Town Pipers, other than what I read on the LP. It's three guys and a gal, they are from Scranton, PA, and this is their first recording. Odd that anyone would debut with a Christmas LP, but this was the 50's in America. There's a lot of info here about the HiFi label, but only a single entry in the discography about this release.

Oodles of Doodles XL-Christmas In July

No, this isn't an extra-large doodle, those are Roman numerals for 40, which means it's time for the big four-oh! I had big hopes for this LP, but when I flipped it over, all I got was a triple-strength dose of ornaments. Oh, the possibilities lost! Our artist today is Don Ho and the LP is The Don Ho Christmas Album (Reprise RS 6265, 1967). I wanted to get a nice palm tree with these ornaments, or maybe a luau with a Christmas tree, or at least something relating to Hawaii. All I got were these ornaments.

Eye To Beak

Well, my camera is still in the shop. They want $226.20 to fix it. I guess I'm going to have to break down and do it. That's a chunk of the price of a new one, but not as big of a chunk as I was afraid of. And I'm really jonesing to get my camera back. There was a sandhill crane outside my window at work today, and I wanted to take his picture. The shot you see above is from one of their previous visits. These guys are really big, and they let you get fairly close. I suspect they must get fed by some folks, so they think I'm going to feed them. I'm sure you know how bad of an idea it is to feed wild animals, so I won't bore you with the lecture.

Oodles of Doodles XXXIX-Christmas In July

It's a small but festive doodle today from The Harry Simeone Chorale-Sing We Now Of Christmas (20th Century Fox, Fox 3002, 1958). This LP claims to contain the original version of The Little Drummer Boy. Perhaps it has the popular version, but apparently not the first. I liked the little rectangular shadings on the bells. If it were in color, it might remind me of the Partridge Family bus. Which in turn would remind me of that artist who's name escapes me, but his work consists of little colored squares. You know the one I mean. And then Manhattan Records started using a ripoff of his art for their record labels. It's all so confusing.

Trapped!

It's been almost a week now without my camera and I'm starting to get the DTs. But to keep you from going into withdrawal also, here's a leftover picture from a trip to the Ringling Museum a few weeks ago. This statue is just a little too close to a banyan tree, and it's slowly becoming enveloped. He won't be a happy little cherub for much longer. Looks like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, doesn't it?

The Next Week In July

Another week, another calendar page. This week we have a nice calm beach scene. I think this is a shot from Sand Key, Florida (near the same spot as last week). I may be totally wrong on this one, since it's a pretty generic picture. This calm scene is totally opposite the chaos at the beach this weekend in the wake of Hurricane Dennis. Water levels were almost two feet higher than normal, and 4-5 foot waves were eroding the shoreline at a rapid rate. But that's just nature's way. I'm sure things will be back to normal this week.

Oodles of Doodles XXXVIII-Christmas In July

Here's a pretty large selection of Christmas-themed doodles from the back of Christmas Organ & Chimes With Buddy Cole (Pickwick SPCX-1001). The Pickwick label gives this record away as a later reissue (Electronically Enhanced For Stereo!), but I don't know if the original LP features the doodles or not. This particular LP is still sealed, and is part of a lot of between 10 and 15 other still-sealed Christmas LPs I found at a Salvation Army store last week. Nothing too exciting in there, but nice to have anyway. This doodle features the initials JB in the lower right hand corner (with the ice skates). Could it be that James Brown sketched these doodles? Maybe not...

Oodles of Doodles XXXVII-Christmas In July

The doodle for this hurricany Saturday is from The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra Conducted By Carmen Dragon-The Music Of Christmas (Capitol SP8393, 1958). We've got a detail of the faces of the three wise men above, and the same three guys on their camels travelling towards the star hanging over Bethlehem below. There's a small scrawled signature on the lower left corner of the three wise men, but I can't make it out at all.

Oodles of Doodles XXXVI-Christmas In July

Today's doodle is from the reverse of Gisele MacKenzie-Christmas With Gisele (RCA Victor LPM-2006, 1959). Mrs. MacKenzie was a Canadian songbird who has sort of faded into the obscurity of history today. This release features a side of traditional carols and a side of more modern, popular tracks, including the recent favorite of mine, Too Fat For The Chimney.

Oodles of Doodles XXXV-Christmas In July

Wow! This is our 35th doodle! It seems like only yesterday we were at 34. Anyhow, this ornamental doodle is from Andy Williams And The Williams Brothers-Christmas With Andy Williams And The Williams Brothers (Columbia Special Products C 10105). You probably already know more than you want to about Andy, and who really cares about his brothers. What you should really know about is Andy's ex-wife, Claudine Longet!

Who Was That Masked Man?

Here's a Classic Ernie picture for you. I shot this racoon over on the north jetty at Ponce Inlet, Florida. That's just south of Daytona Beach. I was up there visiting the lighthouse, but the weather was overcast and grey, so I had to find other things to shoot. This furry fellow and his mate lived among the rocks on the jetty and made a decent living by begging fishermen for scraps. There were also a number of feral cats living in the same area. I hoped I'd get to see an argument or an altercation between the two competing species, but nothing happened while I was there.
Today is day two without my camera, and I'm having withdrawal symptoms. Everywhere I look, I see a picture I want to take. Last night I saw the sandhill crane family again, but I had no camera! (I also only saw one baby, which worried me a little bit. The other one may just have been out of sight when I drove by, but you never know...)

Oodles of Doodles XXXIV-Christmas In July

For those of you who are still with us on day 6 of Christmas in July, here's yet another Christmas doodle. This LP may win the award for largest mouthful of a title: James Blackwood And The Blackwood Brothers Combine With Hovie Lister And The Statesmen To Wish You A Musical Merry Christmas (RCA Victor LPM-2606, 1962). Whew, what a name! These two gospel groups each sing 5 tracks, and then they combine their talents on two additional tracks. This is one of the few Christmas LPs I remember my parents playing when I was growing up. When I found a copy of it a few years ago, I was surprised to find that I could still sing along to all of the songs. The two angels you see are actually separated by some text on the LP back, but I put them together for you here.

Color Commentary

I don't know how exciting this is going to be to most of you, but here goes. The red flower above is pretty common around here this time of year. So I thought it odd when I spotted the pink one below. I'd never seen a pink variety. I just thought I'd mention that. I should also mention that the flowers you are looking at are only about a 1/4" to 3/8" across. I love the macro setting on my camera. And speaking of my camera, it's in the shop and I'm going into withdrawal without it.

Oodles of Doodles XXXIII-Christmas In July

All that talk about Dean Martin yesterday got us to thinking about the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra, so we dug up his A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (Capitol W894, 1957). Only Frank would be giving away some swell swank such as this to his friends.

Fiddle Faddle

Here are a couple of shots from a short trip to South Lido Beach this weekend. Part of the beach on the bay side was covered in these little fiddler crabs. When I approached them, they scurried off en masse into the tall grass and weeds, making an odd rustling noise. If I hurried along and cut them off, they'd run the other way into the water, but they prefered the grass. I suppose it offers more protection against predators. If you aren't familiar with fiddler crabs, the males feature one large claw, which you can clearly see above, and one smaller claw, which is visible in the photo, but just barely. Most of these crabs were about an inch long, but the one above was a giant among crabs at almost an inch and a half.

Danger!

Don't let it happen to you! OK, this was funnier when I first saw it...

Great Speckled Bird

I haven't posted a bird picture in a while, so here's an odd fellow I spotted Sunday night. I'm not sure what kind he is, but he's got his dinner firmly trapped in his beak if you look closely. I'll go do a little research on this fellow. I suspect he may be in the midst of an adolescent plumage change, but whether it's dark to white or white to dark I can't say. The dark tip on his bill may be a giveaway though.

Update-Juvenile Little Blue Heron, I believe! Which means it's white to dark blue.

Feliz 4th de Julio!

No, I don't speak Spanish. I just saw a sign on my way to the fireworks that was in Spanish and thought it was interesting. Anyhow, here's another fireworks picture for you, this time it's actually from the Fourth of July, this time from the city of Palmetto, Florida, fireworks show. I always try to scout out a good location before hand, and this time I scouted poorly. To the right of all my shots was a streetlight, and I had to shoot around it the whole time. (See that little bit of orange light in the lower right corner? That's from the offending streetlight.) I even tried moving, but to no avail. I suppose a little cropping and you'd never notice, but it's almost midnight and I have to go to work in the morning, so no cropping for me!

Oodles of Doodles XXXII-Christmas In July

And the Christmas doodles just keep coming! I mentioned him earlier in a posting a about Jimmy Roselli, but here's the real thing. Here's Dean Martin-A Winter Romance (Capitol ST1285, 1959). Dean is everyone's favorite rat packer, right below Frank, and a little bit above Sammy, at least in my book. And you can't go wrong with this collection of Dean's Christmas crooning. You can't see the front cover of this one, but it's classic Dean. He's squeezing one girl while giving the eye to another. What a guy!

Happy 3rd Of July!

Here's a nice little shot of the fireworks from Bradenton Beach, Florida, this evening. The Beach House restaurant always shoots off their fireworks on the day before July 4th, I guess so they can get a bigger crowd. It's always a nice little practice shoot for me before the real thing. I'm not too good at shooting the fireworks, mostly because I do a poor job of anticipating where exactly they are going to explode, and how bright they are going to be. So my photos are sort of hit and miss. For every good one, I get a completely black frame. The shot below is of a vendor selling those little glow stick necklaces, and other flashy lights. It's an 8 second exposure, which is why everything sort of trails around, and the boats on the water look blurry. I thought it was neat, and it helped kill the hour and a half I stood there in one place waiting for the real show to start.

Oodles of Doodles XXXI-Christmas In July

Today's Doodle is a very special three-fer, even though it features an artist we've already spotlighted. The three doodles you see here are all from Jackie Gleason-Merry Christmas (Capitol DW 758, 1956). There's not much left to say about Jackie Gleason, except maybe that our favorite starring role of his was as Sheriff Buford T. Justice in Smokey & The Bandit.

The Week Containing The 4th Of July

The calendar picture for this week is a rather obvious picture of an American flag. It's harder to get a good picture of a fluttering flag than you might imagine. I took this one in a stiff Gulf breeze on Sand Key near Clearwater, Florida.