Frankie Laine, RIP

I just saw on the internet where Frankie Laine passed away. So here's a small tribute, a Christmas song I found on We Wish You The Merriest ( Columbia CS 8499, 1961) called 'You're All I Want For Christmas'.

25 Days Of Christmas-In A Nutshell

So, I finally got busy and made a cover for my Christmas CD I put together back in December. I was motivated by the fact that my buddy CaptOT was going to put a review of it on his blog, and he wanted to put up something visual. So I threw together a cover for you and him both. I also put all the files into a single downloadable chunk, so those of you who missed it back in December can get it all at once. If you want to read about any of the included tracks, follow the links below to the original posts. Also, I didn't have scans of the original LP covers for two of the tracks when I posted them, so I'm throwing those in at the bottom of this post, if you are interested.

(Note-The tracks below are in reverse order. I guess you could play them in this order if you really wanted to, though...)

Tennessee Ernie Ford-Christmas Dinner
Harry Kari-Oh! Oh! Don't Ever Go
Dorothy Collins-Mister Santa
Connie Canuso-Somebody Painted Rudolph's Nose A Chocolate Brown
Sandy Offenheim-If Snowflakes Fell In Flavours
Up With People-Jingle Bell Beat
The Ames Brothers-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Jimmy Boyd-Santa Got Stuck In The Chimney
Lou Monte-Italian Jingle Bells
Les Paul-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
The Harmonicats-Winter Wonderland
Steve Allen and Ricky Vera-Can I Wait Up For Santa Claus?
Ricardo Montalban & Randy Newman-La Campanilla
Ralph Carmichael-The New Hallelujah
Lawrence Welk With The Lennon Sisters-Santa From Santa Fe
Billy May-March Of The Toys
The Davis Sisters-The Christmas Boogie
Anna Russell-Please Santa Claus
Kathy Dunn-Santaville
The Williams Brothers-The Holiday Season
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Banjo Barons-Jolly Old St. Nick & Jingle Bells
Johnny Brandon-Santa Claus, Jr.
Johnny Mathis-Have Reindeer, Will Travel
The Crew-Cuts-Twinkle Toes

Two For Tuesday-Part Six

Yep, it's Tuesday, and that means two cool tracks for you to add to the pile. Actually, as a special treat, this week you get three tracks, because I couldn't decide on just two. The theme this week is James Bond, so here are two versions of Goldfinger, and one version of Diamonds Are Forever. The first version of Goldfinger is a vocal version, by the Johnny Mann Singers. It's a little disconcerting to hear those sweet female voices harmonizing about the evil Auric Goldfinger. This track is from If I Loved You (Liberty LST-7411, 1965). The second version of Goldfinger is by Enoch Light And The Light Brigade from Discotheque Vol. 2 (Command RS 882 SD, 1965). It's a swingin' thing, trust me! Lastly, you get Diamonds Are Forever, by the oh-so-smooth Percy Faith And His Orchestra from the LP Joy (Columbia C 31301, 1972). If you like Bond music that's a little off-model, then these three tracks are going to right up your alley. You might say they've been shaken, not stirred. OK, that was pretty bad. Let me just give you the download link and go...

On Into February

This week features a calendar page filled with snow, or at least one of them is filled with snow. The shot above is a walkway near Brandywine Falls in the Cuyahoga Valley in Ohio. I shot that in January of last year on the one day it snowed during the whole week I was there. This year they've got piles and piles of it on the ground, but not last year. The other shot is a statue I found at the Ringling Museum here in Sarasota that's slowly being consumed by the overhead banyan tree. This shot is from about two and a half years ago, but I spotted the same statue on a recent visit. It's a little bit more obscured now, but it's not gone yet.

Volume 6 For Hi-Fi Living

This is the second record I'm sharing with you today. I didn't get one up all last week, so I sort of felt bad. This record gets me right back on track. And as fate would have it, this is the best one so far in the Hi-Fi Living series. The Latin rhythms here will really get you off your can and out on the dance floor. Well, maybe not, but they won't put you to sleep, either, like some of the records in this series. This also marks the half-way point of the set, so if you haven't downloaded all 6 of the records, follow the links below to the rest of them. For now, ignore the Super Bowl, and go download Don Amore And His Orchestra-Latin Holiday-Vol. 6 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL-1006, 1957). Oh, and for those of you who like the little interludes they've been putting between songs, they aren't on this one. I don't know why, they just decided to skip them this time for whatever reason.

Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5

UPDATE: As several of you with better ears than mine have noticed, the tracks were all screwed up. But I think I finally figured out why. The labels on the record itself don't match the track listing on the sleeve! I think the record is correct, but I labeled the tracks using the sleeve. On the vinyl, it says side one, but lists the same tracks that the sleeve says are on side two, and vice versa. So that seems to have been the problem. Someone screwed up fifty years ago, and we're just fixing the problem today. I doubt if this is a particularly rare problem, either. Just yesterday I pulled a record out to play, and both sides had a label stating Side 2. So there you go. Anyhow, the link above has now been corrected. The music is still the same, it just has different names attached to it.

PS-Don't forget to watch The Police tonight on the Grammy awards. You can turn it off right after that.

Volume 5 For Hi-Fi Living

It's a week late, but finally, I present to you, Volume 5 For Hi-Fi Living! This time, it's love songs from the Broadway stage. The notes on the back mention that two of the tracks actually come from movies, not plays, but I couldn't tell you which ones those are. This is also the third set from Hill Bowen. I haven't looked ahead to see if he does many more, but to this point he's far and away the most popular orchestra leader in this 12 volume set. So please be my guest and download Hill Bowen And His Orchestra-Love On Broadway-Vol. 5 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL-1005, 1957).

The First Of February

It's the first day of February, and that means you get new pictures, even in the middle of the week! The shot above is from the 2007 calendar I gave my Grandmother this most recent Christmas. This great blue heron grabbed this fish from a fisherman on the North Jetty in Venice. I guess it was too small for him to keep, but the bird thought it was a great catch. The shot below is from the calendar I gave Nanny in 2005, but it's also for this week. That's the Anna Maria City Pier, which is a favorite subject of mine. Do a quick search through the blog here, and you'll see dozens of shots of that same pier.

Two For Tuesday-Part V

There's something about the music of The Beatles that turned the music world upside down. Everybody wanted to sing their songs. Everybody. So tonight I've got a couple of slightly off-beat Beatle covers for you, both from a Warner Brothers promo LP circa 1969. I'm sure they both came out on albums by the respective artists, but I got them from this LP. The first track is the rarely covered Piggies by Theodore Bikel. (Looks like this one saw light of day more recently on volume 4 of Rhino's excellent Golden Throats series.) Track two is also a seldom covered song, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey, and this one is by the great Fats Domino. Blueberry Hill this ain't. (And for whatever reason, this one is in mono...) As I mentioned, both hail from the double LP The 1969 Warner Reprise Record Show (Warner Bros PRO 336, 1969). Back in the day, you could have gotten this LP directly from the record company for $2, just by sending in a coupon found on the inner sleeve of most Warner Bros. or Reprise releases. There's a whole series of these things, going on for much of the late 60's and early 70's. Each one has great album tracks, and the occasional rarity, like live tracks, or b-sides or even music from commercials done by WB artists. But that's all a subject for another post. Go get these two great tracks, and remember, all you need is love!

The End Of January

Well, here it is Tuesday, and I haven't posted anything since last Wednesday. How lazy can I get... Don't tempt me, please. So I'm trying to get caught up a little bit. Here are the calendar pages for this last bit of February. The shot above is a sunset from 2005 that I stuck in the 2006 calendar, which has now rolled on over into 2007. I think I shot this from the Siesta Drive bridge, which means you're looking out over Siesta Key here in Sarasota. There are always cool sunsets out on the islands. Well, not always. Like tonight for instance. It's all overcast and raining, so there's no cool sunset tonight. The shot below is an F-14 putting the pedal to the metal and lighting off the afterburner. I just love those rings of flame in the exhaust. I caught this at the Sun-N-Fun airshow last year. I'm thinking that it's coming up again this year pretty soon now, so I'm sort of looking forward to that.

Oodles Of Doodles CCXIII

Once again, I've let too much time pass between doodles. But I think you'll appreciate the one I've got for you, even with the long wait. It's another doosie from Lou Myers. I found this on the flip side of Johnny Vadnal And His Orchestra-Carefree Polkas (RCA Victor LPM-1911, 1959). You get some great dancing in there, and some stuff that probably doesn't count as dancing. But everyone seems happy and carefree, as if they were listening to a polka record.

Two For Tuesday, Episode Four

How's about a little twistin' this week? I've got a couple of floor-shakin' twist tunes here that I know you'll enjoy. The first is from the McGuire Sisters as they reinterpret their big hit, Sugartime, as Sugartime Twist from McGuire Sisters Showcase (Coral CRL 757443, 1960-something). And since one is never enough on a two-for-Tuesday, I've also got Astrotwist by Steven Garrick And His Party Twisters from Come On Everybody Let's Twist (Golden Tone 14092, 1962). The back of the record credits Myrna March with Vocal Chant, which I assume means that's who you hear singing. I assure you that both of these tracks will get you to shakin' what your mama gave you. Go download 'em now!

The Next To The Last Week In January

I know you're itching to see what pictures I've got on the calendar pages this week, so here you go. The photo above shows the mountains to the west of Las Vegas. I can't remember if I shot this from the top of the Stratosphere Tower, or from a parking garage near the mall... Either way, same picture. I'm going to have to get back out to Vegas some day. Below is a frog giving the camera the evil eyeball. I shot this guy in a fountain at Stan Hywet, up in Akron, Ohio. I didn't notice him at first, but I noticed some kids paying a lot of attention to the fountain. Sure enough, this is what was attracting their attention. Pretty cool, eh?

Volume 4 For Hi-Fi Living

Here is the fourth volume in the series, and probably the most out-there yet. This one features some odd instrumentation and some different arrangements. It's the second volume to feature Hill Bowen, too. I'm not going to lie and tell you this is straight out of the Space Age Bachelor Pad, but it's decent. Please download and give a listen to Hill Bowen And His Orchestra-I Married An Angel, Volume 4 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL-1004, 1957).

Those of you just joining the party, you can work your way backwards through the series here.

Moonset

Did anybody else see the sunset tonight? I didn't think it was all that spectacular. But half an hour later, there was the moon, and I think that's Venus showing itself, too. Now that's a cool sight.

Birds, Birds, Birds And Birds

I drove down to the Venice Rookery this morning to see how things are coming along. It's still pretty early in the season, so there weren't a million birds there yet, but the great blue herons are actively beginning to nest. I spotted at least one bird that seemed to be sitting on eggs, but most of them were still working hard to build nests. Check out the pair above. You can see the blue around their eyes, which indicates it's mating time.

I just couldn't get enough pictures of this pair.

It can take an awful lot of trips back and forth to build a nest. That gives me ample opportunity to get pictures of these big guys in flight.

Back and forth, back and forth...

Who knew it took this much work to build a nest?

There were a few egrets beginning to nest as well, but not very many. Once the season gets into full swing, there will be as many of these guys as the herons.

There were also plenty of anhingas flying around, but I didn't see any that had begun to nest yet. The folks from Audubon were there with some high-powered scopes, and they reported seeing night herons and moorhens, but I couldn't see them through my 300mm lens. On a nearby pond, I saw a duck and a cormorant, so clearly the area is teeming with birds. Oh, there was a red-shoulder hawk in a pine tree nearby, I saw him fly in and heard his cries.

I watched this gator slowly float up to the island where all the birds were nesting. He nosed into a little opening where he hung out for a few minutes, then disappeared. Maybe ten minutes later, there was the sound of something hitting the branches in that area violently, then the cry of a bird, over and over again. Eventually, the noise ended. The twenty or so photographers at the rookery all raced over to that area, but nobody got a shot of anything. About a minute later, the gator came out of the same spot he'd entered, and slowly skulked away. Maybe the rookery isn't such a safe place to raise your kids after all.

Two For Tuesday The Third

Here's another part of my unpopular series of two tracks with some linking theme for your Tuesday enjoyment. I didn't put a lot of time or effort into it this week, I'm afraid. What I've got for you is just two versions of the theme from The Mickey Mouse Club. Which is pretty interesting, I guess, if you remember that show. Hopefully I won't get targeted by the mouse for sharing these off-beat versions... Version one is the oldest, and comes from a great LP called How To Get The Most Out Of Your Stereo (Warner Bros XS 1400, 1960), a sampler LP from the early days of both Warner Brothers Records and stereo. (I shared the cover from this one with you earlier, and I think I mentioned there that it's on beautiful gold vinyl.) Oh, the artist is Frank Comstock And His Orchestra, and he titles the track Theme From "Mickey Mouse Club". The other version, from 18 years later, but still 29 years ago, is George Wright, from George Wright Plays The Chicago Theatre Organ (Century Records CRDD 1060, 1978), where it's titled Mickey Mouse March. Dig it! (And don't forget last week...)

Volume 3 For Hi-Fi Living

It's a couple of days late, but I'm sure you'll find it worth the wait. Thank you to those who wished me well while I was ill. I was just a little sick to the stomach, but it was enough that I didn't want to sit here by the turntable for a couple of hours. For your download pleasure, I'm proud to present the third in this series of twelve recording from 50 years ago. This time, the music is from Hollywood, some of which I am familiar with, others I've never heard of. This is probably the best one so far in the series. At least I know more of the songs. (I'm secretly looking forward to volume 10, Very Hi-Fi Organ, but that's a long way off.) Please be my guest and download Ronnie Ogden And His Orchestra-Hits From Hollywood-Vol. 3 For Hi-Fi Living (RCA Custom RAL-1003, 1957). If you're new to all this, follow the links backwards...

Missing Living

I know I owe you another volume of Hi-Fi Living, but I was a little under the weather yesterday. I'll get it up as soon as possible. I haven't given up on it yet, I promise!

More Weeks In January

Are you ready for a couple more pictures? This week features a tiger at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida. Oh, and the shot below is from EPCOT in Orlando, Florida. I know you can't really tell where it's at, but trust me, that's where I was when I took the shot.

Yvonne

It took me a little while to get this up for you, but as promised, here is Yvonne De Carlo Sings (Masterseal 33-1869/1870, 1957), Orchestra Conducted By John Towner. I found the record the same night I mentioned it, but it took me these few days to get it recorded and scanned in. Hopefully you'll think the wait was worth it. Yvonne seems to be a competent singer, and she certainly doesn't veer towards the Golden Throats category. She sort of reminds me of Julie London a little bit, but she's not as good, in my humble opinion. I wonder if this wasn't originally intended to be a theme album about the blues, since five of the ten tracks have the word 'blue' in the title (and a sixth is Mood Indigo). I have to admit that my entire experience with Yvonne De Carlo was through The Munsters. I don't think I ever saw her in any of those movies they're showing clips of on TV now. And I'm pretty sure I never played this LP prior to her death. I can remember finding it, though, over ten years ago at a giant rummage sale held by some ladies auxiliary or something at The Lakeland Center. I don't know why I never played it... Don't make that same mistake. Download it and give it a spin! Rest in peace, Ms. De Carlo.

Now, who has a copy of her 45 on Capitol with Nelson Riddle???