The Nightfly

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Media Type: CD
Artist: FAGEN,DONALD
Title: NIGHTFLY
Street Release Date: 07/07/1987
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Donald Fagen's 1982 solo debut extends the sleek, smart pop craft of his work with Steely Dan into the realm of the concept album, taking the Dan's penchant for intricate plotting, evocative narrative voices, and allusive imagery to the logical next step. Fagen's connective thread is futurist nostalgia for the "New Frontier" as anticipated from the prosperous vantage point of late-'50s America. He romanticizes a brave new world of technology in the sultry diorama of "I.G.Y.," celebrating the coming glories of the Atomic Age. He then filters that view through his own suburban adolescence--a would-be seduction in a fallout shelter, the siren song of a graveyard-shift jazz DJ, a not-quite-hard-boiled noir adventure ("The Goodbye Look") that borrows its title from an early '60s Ross MacDonald mystery. Song for song, the set's a stunner and stands apart from Steely Dan thanks to a unique, poignant romanticism embodied in Fagen's yearning "Maxine" and a creamy update of Dion & the Belmonts' "Ruby Baby." --Sam Sutherland

© Brian E Kushner
The other day I was out back and heard a commotion in the trees about 25 yards away, it was Black Crows and I've come to know when they are acting like that there is probably a Hawk around. Sure enough this Red Tailed Hawk was sitting on a branch relaxing. After a while the Crows left which is unusual as they usually stay at the Hawk until it flies away. I grabbed my Camera and got some in the tree shots and since the hawk was facing me I figured when he flew there was a good chance he was coming my way. Three hours later here come a pair of Bluejays that began to taunt the Hawk as the crows were, it was back and forth and at times the hawk would yell back and ruffle it's feathers. Finally the hawk gave in and flew, yelling like mad, I jumped from my seat sore from sitting 3 hours and began to fire my 6fps and hope for the best. Got some decent shots, none better then this.

Size:
Male

Length
17.7–22 in
45–56 cm
Wingspan
44.9–52.4 in
114–133 cm
Weight
24.3–45.9 oz
690–1300 g

Female

Length
19.7–25.6 in
50–65 cm
Wingspan
354.3–52.4 in
900–133 cm
Weight
31.7–51.5 oz
900–1460 g

Relative Size

The second-largest Buteo hawk in North America, after Ferruginous Hawk.

Specs:

Hawks
Typical Voice

*
Size & Shape

Red-tailed Hawks are large hawks with typical Buteo proportions: very broad, rounded wings and a short, wide tail. Large females seen from a distance might fool you into thinking you’re seeing an eagle. (Until an actual eagle comes along.)
*
Color Pattern

Most Red-tailed Hawks are rich brown above and pale below, with a streaked belly and, on the wing underside, a dark bar between shoulder and wrist. The tail is usually pale below and cinnamon-red above, though in young birds it’s brown and banded. “Dark-phase” birds are all chocolate-brown with a warm red tail. “Rufous-phase” birds are reddish-brown on the chest with a dark belly.
*
Behavior

You’ll most likely see Red-tailed Hawks soaring in wide circles high over a field. When flapping, their wingbeats are heavy. In high winds they may face into the wind and hover without flapping, eyes fixed on the ground. They attack in a slow, controlled dive with legs outstretched – much different from a falcon’s stoop.
*
Habitat

The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of open country. Look for it along fields and perched on telephones poles, fenceposts, or trees standing alone or along edges of fields.

Facts:
* The Red-tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors seem to think. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk.
* Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that.
* The "Harlan's Hawk" breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan's and more typical Red-tailed Hawks.
* Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away.
* Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.
* The oldest known Red-tailed Hawk was 28 years 10 months old.

OK, for the ultimate, but interesting, timewaster on the web, there is Chatroulette. So one recent evening, I took Gigantor (that’s Tetsujin-28 for those of you in Japan) out on the site to see what sort of reaction I’d get from people joining in video chat to find a 4 inch high toy robot. Let’s just say he’s not the strangest thing to be seen on the site! This image is a sampling of some of those images (Gigantor is “You” in the center—that’s what they saw from me)….

Special thanks to all who took the time to chat with Gigantor and made this image possible.

NOTE TO PARENTS: While this was an interesting “observation of humanity” project, the site is NOT kid safe. And while “Chatroulette does not tolerate broadcasting obscene, offending, pornographic material” there were many times the video from the other end was all that and more. And while “You have to be at least 16 years old to use our service,” sadly, you do see quite a few—apparently unsupervised—kids on the site. Not a good match. Please watch after your kids and supervise their online activities!

Ida Mae Jones dreams of fl ight. Her daddy was a pilot and being black didn't stop him from fulfilling his dreams. But her daddy's gone now, and being a woman, and being black, are two strikes against her.

When America enters the war with Germany and Japan, the Army creates the WASP, the Women's Airforce Service Pilots - and Ida suddenly sees a way to fl y as well as do something signifi cant to help her brother stationed in the Pacific. But even the WASP won't accept her as a black woman, forcing Ida Mae to make a difficult choice of "passing," of pretending to be white to be accepted into the program. Hiding one's racial heritage, denying one's family, denying one's self is a heavy burden. And while Ida Mae chases her dream, she must also decide who it is she really wants to be.