Two world-famous beagles go nose to nose. (The other one is Uno.)
These articles are arranged from the most recent down, so you'll always find the newest news about Charlie Brown and his friends toward the top; older articles will be located further down, or on previous pages.
Good Grief!
December 18, 2008
By Alicia Grega-Pikul
Electric City [Northeastern Pennsylvania]
San Francisco native and jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi came of age in the North Beach beatnik scene. The famously mustachioed icon would go on to win a Grammy, enjoy copious TV and radio air time, and compose a modern jazz soundtrack for the Eucharist before skyrocketing to popular fame as the composer behind Charlie Brown's Schroeder. But it's the soundtrack he wrote to Charles Schulz's animated universe that would forever define his career.
Thanks to the series of Peanuts TV specials that began with A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, Guaraldi's music has further become synonymous with the holidays.
Those most popular selections, other holiday classics and traditional jazz standards will be performed at the Sherman Theater Saturday by the Eric Mintel Quartet. Titled A Jazz Holiday, the program also features Mintel's own original compositions and is itself becoming a holiday staple.
"Guaraldi's smooth trio compositions -- piano, bass and drums -- perfectly balanced Charlie Brown's kid-sized universe. Sprightly, puckish, and just as swiftly somber and poignant, these gentle jazz riffs established musical trademarks which, to this day, still prompt smiles of recognition," Derrick Bang wrote in an article titled "A Few Words About Dr. Funk" which serves as Guaraldi's biography at the musician's official Web site, www.vinceguaraldi.com.
While friends commonly referred to Guaraldi as Dr. Funk, he would forever describe himself as "a reformed boogie-woogie piano player," Bang explains.
While it's certainly possible the composer could have emerged from the dominant shadow of his three Peanuts albums -- A Boy Named Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Oh, Good Grief! -- he died prematurely of a heart attack at age 47 while breaking between sets in a Menlo Park motel room.
Guaraldi's compositions, and "Linus and Lucy" in particular, have been embraced not only by Peanuts fans but by jazz peers and proteges including George Winston, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, David Benoit and, now, Eric Mintel.
A native of Perkasie, Mintel has maintained his roots in Bucks County while touring the country with his quartet. He performed at the White House for President Clinton in 1998 and was a featured guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR. The Eric Mintel Quartet also features Nelson Hill on saxes and flute, Dave Antonow on acoustic and electric bass and Dave Mohn on drums.
A Jazz Holiday features video projections from everyone's favorite G features and have proven particularly popular with children. The concert is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Call 420-2808 or visit www.shermantheater.com for more information.
Snoopy and friends not gone, just moved to new home
December 17, 2008
By Candy Brooks
ThisWeekNews [Columbus, Ohio]
Snoopy lovers, do not despair. Jaws did not finally catch your favorite beagle.
The chase around the ice rink continues this year, just a few blocks away from where the Peanuts characters have been entertaining families for more than 20 years.
The new location of Worthington's favorite home Christmas decorations is McBurney Place in the Woods of Lawndale, a new subdivision located off Worthington-Galena Road, about a quarter mile from High Street.
Jim and Darleen Goebel moved there this year from 550 Lambourne Ave., where they had lived since 1975.
They hope that all of the families that have admired the Charlie Brown characters, along with the rest of their holiday display, will find them this year as well.
They have added even more to the display this year, decorating a 40-foot evergreen in their front yard with glowing red candy canes.
There are also cut-out carolers, a cut-out wooden Santa and sleigh, and Mexican lanterns in another tree.
But the star of the yard is the Charlie Brown display, which features Snoopy being chased around an ice rink by Jaws.
Every night through the holidays the duo laps the rink, with Snoopy always slipping the grasp of the gnarly shark.
Watching alongside are Woodstock sitting on top of Snoopy's house, and, of course, Charlie standing haplessly nearby.
The Goebels first built and displayed Snoopy when they lived in Zanesville in 1967. They moved him with the family to Louisville, Ky., for five years, then to Worthington in 1975.
Jim built the display. The characters are made of a papier-mch type of material over wire mesh figures.
Early displays were operated by a Sears paint-mixer motor. Jim Goebel is a retired Sears kitchen and bath remodeler.
Now an exercise machine motor keeps the lovable duo making their laps.
The early displays had Woodstock on the pond. In later years, Snoopy was chased by Kermit, then by a Ninja Turtle.
"Jaws has been around for 20 or 25 years," Jim Goebel said. "He is my favorite."
The Goebels have only kept the lighted display dark one year. In 1974, when the country was facing an energy crisis, the couple decided to conserve electricity. They placed in their yard a sign saying: "Snoopy has gone to Washington to help with the energy crisis."
Neighbors were disappointed. One left them a note promising to take down their decorations if the Goebels would put Snoopy back where he belonged.
Another year, someone stole Snoopy. Goebel went down to Worthington Hardware, bought the supplies and rebuilt the display.
"By 4:30, we had a new Snoopy," he said.
The couple loves the response they get from passersby.
It is not unusual now to hear a parent tell a child that they came to see Snoopy with their parents.
Each piece of the display comes with a history. None was purchased at a discount store.
The Santa and sleigh was purchased from a woman in Louisville. It was homemade, and is quite old.
Last year, Jim Goebel slipped and caught his arm between the reindeer and Santa as he was putting them on the roof.
This year, they are on the ground.
The Mexican lanterns are 50 years old, and two of the carolers were rescued from a trash can.
That, they say, is part of the fun.
"Most of my stuff is unique, that is why I like it," Jim said.
A very Charlie Brown Christmas
December 12, 2008
By Chris Starrs
The Athens Banner-Herald [Georgia]
When Marietta-based musician Jeffrey Butzer wants to pay tribute to an artist he admires, he goes all out.
Earlier this year, Butzer and his band, the Midwives, joined Don Chambers and Dancer vs. Politician's Sanni Baumgrtner at Tasty World for an evening of songs by Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. He's also working on an event to perform songs from the films of David Lynch of "Blue Velvet" and "Twin Peaks" fame.
This time out, however, Butzer is thinking Christmas and Charlie Brown.
On Thursday at Flicker, Butzer will team with T.T. Mahony (piano), Adrian Ash (bass) and Anna McBath (vocals) for a presentation of tunes from the soundtrack of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," created by Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Vincent Guaraldi, who composed the scores for 16 "Peanuts" television specials and a feature film.
"I grew up listening to that album," says Butzer, who released his debut album "She Traded Her Leg," last year. "That was one of my favorite shows and my favorite Christmas album. I wanted to do a show with a holiday theme, but I didn't want a hodgepodge of Christmas songs, so I decided we'd play the songs of Vincent Guaraldi."
Butzer says the concert will feature "traditional" readings of Guaraldi's songs, although their version of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" will be performed on toy piano and bowed bass.
"Depending on the version, there are between 12 and 16 songs on the album," says Butzer. "We're going to do 12 songs and we might take on a few other Christmas songs at the end. On the album, there's two versions of 'Christmas Time is Here' back to back; one is a five-minute instrumental version followed by a two-minute version with vocals. We kind of split the difference by doing it once as a long instrumental piece with some vocals."
The album also contains non-Guarldi compositions including Mel Torme's "Christmas Song," "Greensleeves" and "O Tannenbaum."
"The show will be about 60 percent Guaraldi's original music and about 40 percent traditional things," says Butzer.
While he usually plays piano and accordion (and is capable of playing a number of other instruments), Butzer says he's not good enough on the ivories to tackle Guaraldi, so he'll be on the drum kit.
"For this concert, I needed someone who could play jazz piano, so I called T.T.," he says, noting that Mahoney will appear with his band, Standard 8, as one of the openers at Flicker. "Drums were my first instrument, but I haven't ever played jazz drums before. And T.T. hasn't played jazz piano in public in a while either."
Butzer and his colleagues also will play "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on Dec. 20 at the Earl in East Atlanta.
"We actually booked that gig first and then decided to push for an Athens show," he says. "We figured as long as we learned all this music, we should play it as many times as we can."
George Winston to perform Sunday at Rose-Hulman
December 11, 2008
By Mark Bennett
The Terre Haute News [Indiana]
TERRE HAUTE -- Versatility is one thing. But George Winston's repertoire encompasses songs from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and The Doors.
"I just concentrate on playing the tunes as best I can," Winston said of his effect on listeners, "and what will be, will be."
Winston plays melodies on piano. His fascination with keyboards emerged in the mid-1960s. Charlie Brown and Jim Morrison -- along with fellow Doors band mates Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore -- deserve equal credit for Winston's plunge into a stellar career spanning four decades, including his concert this Sunday at Rose-Hulman's Hatfield Hall.
After the Peanuts TV cartoon classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" aired in 1965, Winston bought the soundtrack album, which was filled with songwriter Vince Guaraldi's memorable tunes. "I think he was the perfect composer for those cartoons at the time," Winston said Tuesday in a telephone interview.
Two years later, Winston -- then 18 years old -- heard The Doors' debut album. He bought that LP even before its single "Light My Fire" hit the radio charts. The seminal sound of that band, anchored by Manzarek's hypnotic organ playing, motivated Winston.
"I thought, 'This is the greatest album I've ever heard. I've got to get an organ, and play in a band,'" Winston remembered.
Forty-one years later, Winston has 11 solo piano albums to his credit, including the Grammy-winning "Forest" from 1994 and the 2006 release "Gulf Coast Blues and Impressions: A Hurricane Relief Benefit." Touring takes the 59-year-old Santa Cruz, Calif., resident around the world for about 110 concerts a year.
He's finishing up his latest album "Love Will Come: The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Volume 2."
That disc, due in stores by September 2009, follows his 1996 first tribute to the late Peanuts composer, "Linus & Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi."
Guaraldi, who died in 1976 at the young age of 47, "just had this great sensibility," Winston said.
Guaraldi's Peanuts songs are a staple of Winston's winter concerts. Doors fans at Sunday's Rose-Hulman show, though, probably won't hear covers of their favorites. Those adaptations, which Winston recorded on his 2002 album "Night Divides the Day: The Music of the Doors," are typically reserved for his summer gigs.
Still, his cache of influences extends far beyond Guaraldi and Manzarek. Winston feels a direct connection, in terms of piano styles, to New Orleans greats such as Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, James Booker and others. "I've gotten so much from New Orleans," Winston said.
Thus, after Katrina devastated the Crescent City and the Gulf Coast in 2005, Winston committed an entire album to that unique sound and the volunteer effort to save that region. "I just wanted to help out, like everybody else did, and I figured that was the best way to help -- to just do what you do," he said.
Winston has raised funds for food banks and charities for more than two decades, and, fittingly, Sunday's event in Terre Haute continues that tradition. Folks attending the show are asked to bring canned goods, to be donated to the Catholic Charities food bank. A portion of Winston's merchandise sales at the show will also go to Catholic Charities, according to a release by Rose-Hulman director of news services Dale Long.
Winston is driven to record and perform by a passion for music. While he also plays slack guitar and harmonica, the piano remains a central inspiration.
"The piano is a mountain," he said, "which is a never ending climb."
Jazz of 'Peanuts' got him hooked
Pianist and composer first drawn by comic as child, music as adult
December 3, 2008
By Jerry Fink
The Las Vegas Sun
Surprisingly, David Benoit's favorite character in the "Peanuts" comic strip is not Schroeder, the obsessive, classical-piano-playing prodigy who loves Ludwig van Beethoven and scorns Lucy.
Benoit, one of the top jazz pianists and composers in the country, is a Charlie Brown guy.
He will be performing a lot of "Peanuts" music in "A Charlie Brown Christmas," his concert Saturday at UNLV.
"I identified with Charlie Brown from the beginning," Benoit says from his home in Palos Verdes, Calif. "I liked the fact that Charlie Brown couldn't succeed in anything. Like me, he was a loser -- a nice loser. I couldn't do anything really well when I was growing up, so I understood Charlie Brown's pain.
"A lot of people liked Snoopy because he was so cool and hip. A lot of people think of me when they think of Schroeder, but Schroeder was very confident and devoted, and practiced all the time. When I was that age I loved the piano but I didn't practice that much and wasn't nearly that devoted or serious about music, so I identified with Charlie Brown."
Benoit's fascination with "Peanuts," which Charles Schulz produced from 1950 until his death in 2000, began at the age of 8 and continues today.
"It's a lifelong fascination," says the 55-year-old musician. "Absolutely. I loved the strip and then when the first Christmas show aired I loved the music."
The music for that first "Peanuts" special, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in 1965, was composed by Vince Guaraldi, who was closely associated with the TV shows until his death, in 1976.
Benoit credits Guaraldi -- who wrote the "Peanuts" theme song, "Linus and Lucy" -- for his interest in jazz.
"I started to play 'Linus and Lucy' when I was a teenager," the native of Los Angeles says. "I just loved the music. And as I got older and started making records, I recorded some of Vince's songs -- 'Christmas Time is Here' and 'Linus and Lucy.'
After Guaraldi died, film and TV composer Ed Bogas scored several "Peanuts" productions. He was followed by Judy Munsen.
And then came Benoit, who had gained a lot of respect in the music community when he toured with Lainie Kazan for eight years and then with the Rippingtons, Kenny Loggins, Dave Koz, David Sanborn and many others.
Lee Mendelson, producer of the "Peanuts" TV specials, liked what he heard from Benoit.
"He introduced me to Charles M. Schulz and the rest is history," says Benoit, who considers the day he met Schulz was one of the greatest of his life. "Lee drove me up to the wine country from San Francisco. He was telling me, 'I'm going to introduce you to Sparky'
cartoonist's nickname.
They met at Schulz's roller skating rink in Santa Rosa and dined on cheeseburgers and fries.
"Talking to him was like talking to any other guy," Benoit says. "He was so down to earth and natural that it actually surprised me. I thought he would have a bodyguard or people surrounding him or an entourage or something and I would have maybe a couple of minutes with him and then I would be dismissed and he would be on to the next appointment. That was not the case. There were no bodyguards, no assistants. Nothing. Just him and me hanging out in a burger joint. It was amazing. This man who had given so much to the world and was so world famous, but he was so humble."
The purpose of the meeting was to see whether Schulz would be willing to accept Benoit as his composer.
"Mendelson liked me," Benoit says. "He thought I was bringing back more of the jazz element, and he wanted to introduce me to Sparky and to get his blessing. Once we had the meeting, Sparky kind of made me the official Charlie Brown composer. That's was the purpose of the meeting, to sort of pass the torch, you might say."
Unfortunately, the friendship that was forged at that first meeting was too short.
Schulz died less that two years later.
"The family had invited me on a private cruise in Alaska they had planned for him, and then he died," Benoit says.
But Benoit is keeping the music alive.
He recently released "Jazz for Peanuts," which includes the themes from several of the 40 or so TV specials that spanned almost 40 years.
"Selecting the music for the CD was a long process," Benoit says. "I went through every single TV show they ever did and tried to find what I thought were the best themes. That was one of the reasons for the CD -- they discontinued doing the TV shows about two years ago, so I thought this was a good opportunity to put something out there and showcase some of the lesser-known songs and some composers that people would be surprised to know contributed to the show."
The composers include Wynton Marsalis ("The Buggy Ride"), Dave Brubeck ("Benjamin") and Kenny G ("Breadline Blues").
"I've joked that this is probably the only time in CD history where Kenny G and Wynton Marsalis are on the same CD," Benoit says.
Half of the UNLV concert will be devoted to Charlie Brown Christmas music.
He also will perform selections from the new album as well as several from an album he released in the spring, "Heroes."
"Heroes" is an album of covers highlighting some of the musicians who influenced him in his formative years -- such as Guaraldi, Brubeck, the Doors and Elton John.
But you won't find Schroeder on the list.
Dorney ice show the next hot ticket?
November 19, 2008
By Andrew C. Martel
The Allentown Morning Call [Allentown, Pennsylvania]
This year, Dorney Park brought us Voodoo. In 2009, the new arrival will be Snoopy. On ice skates.
The park, which will celebrate its 125th anniversary next year, plans to put on an Ice Capades-like show featuring mascot Peanuts characters.
Called "Snoopy Rocks on Ice," it will open in June and have multiple shows a day, six days a week, through Labor Day, according to park spokesman Charles Hutchison.
To host the show, Dorney is building Good Time Theater, a 600-seat, 18,000-square-foot venue immediately to the left of the main entrance to the South Whitehall Township park.
After "Snoopy Rocks" completes its run, the theater will be available for other shows and events, and will also serve as an attraction in next year's Halloween Haunt, Hutchison said Tuesday.
"It'll be a really good addition. It'll be the one venue in the park, an air-conditioned facility, that the whole family can enjoy," he said.
The show is likely to feature more than a dozen skaters who will perform stunts and routines to familiar music. Cedar Fair Entertainment, which owns Dorney Park, has put on similar shows at its other amusement parks, including Cedar Point in Ohio and California's Great America. Those shows have been big hits among families, said Stacy Frole, a spokeswoman for Cedar Fair.
The announcement of an ice-skating show might not excite roller-coaster fanatics, but Hutchison said Dorney Park has had a good run of introducing a new thrill ride almost every year. They include the floorless coaster Hydra in 2005, some high-speed water slides at Wildwater Kingdom in 2006, and Voodoo in 2008.
The addition of "Snoopy Rocks on Ice" helps Dorney Park balance family-friendly entertainment with attractions for thrill-seekers, Hutchison said.
"When you look at all those thrill rides, obviously they're going to be for a specific person," he said. "We try to keep a balance and offer something for everybody."
Dorney will also have other celebrations and special events throughout the season to celebrate its quasquicentennial, commemorating the park's founding in 1884 by Solomon Dorney, Hutchison said.
Cedar Fair announced Tuesday it will spend $62 million next year on new roller-coasters, family rides and attractions, including "Snoopy Rocks on Ice." Its amusement parks in Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina will see new roller-coasters next year, while several parks will feature a stunt show featuring tricks by bikers, skateboarders, in-line skaters and gymnasts.
Business at Cedar Fair's parks was strong in 2008, despite the slowing economy. High gasoline prices helped encourage people to go to the amusement parks, which were usually a shorter drive away than traditional vacation destinations, Frole said.
Overall, Cedar Fair's parks reported a 3 percent increase in attendance, and net income rose 7.2 percent during the first eight months of 2008, according to the company.
Dorney Park's performance reflects Cedar Fair's, Hutchison said.
"We shared in that. That buzz word last summer was staycation, and a lot of folks really took advantage of that," he said.
Growing up with Charlie Brown
November 15, 2008
www.theurbanwire.com
The side of his living room is an astonishing sight to behold: a customised wooden bookshelf covers the wall, housing over a hundred plush toys, dolls, and rare figurines.
Mr. Chong Ching Liang and his wife sit together with a Charlie Brown doll, Mr. Chong's first Peanuts character. The Interdisciplinary Studies lecturer has travelled with the doll overseas on many occasions. Photo: Yeo Kai Wen.
Mr. Chong Ching Liang, a School of Interdisciplinary Studies lecturer, received his first Charlie Brown doll when he was in Primary Five. It was this gift that ignited his fanaticism in collecting toys, especially his stash of the Peanuts gang, which has four levels of the shelf to themselves.
"I was one of the eBay pioneers in the mid-90s," said Mr. Chong, "When I first started, it was compulsive buying and I never kept track." True enough, it was easy to spot quite a number of 'stray kids' lying around the house.
His wife, Sharon, also shares his passion for all the little trinkets.
"The Pokemon ones are Sharon's because she loves that little one," Mr. Chong chuckled, pointing at the top of the shelf.
Like most people, the couple met at work. In their case, while they were both at the National Archives of Singapore. He was a Research Officer at the Oral History Centre, while she was in the Audio Visual Archives department.
"We started as friends. After four years, we start to see each other as more than friends. We felt that we would be very comfortable growing old together," he says.
Despite the kiddy treasure trove, the 41-year-old lecturer teaches modules related to politics and current affairs, and even keeps up with Thai politics.
Back in the '80s, Thai construction workers and prostitutes were being treated poorly and unfairly, so Mr. Chong felt it crucial that he became a social worker or a researcher to help people understand the situation.
"I want to get everyone to think. Politics and current affairs aren't subjects you can mug," said Mr. Chong.
During his school days, Mr. Chong was already linked to the Peanuts character -- long before his collecting frenzy even started.
"I had a hairless big round head when I was a kid, so Charlie Brown became my nickname. A lot of people got it wrong: It wasn't Snoopy that started it," he says.
Mr. Chong had expanded his collection to all the Peanuts kids because they were rare collectibles.
It was also partly because Snoopy has always been in the limelight, but the children are often ignored. Soon, the character always seen as "a permanent case of bad luck" became a huge part of his life.
"I see Charlie Brown not as the born loser, but as someone who never gives up despite being given a very raw deal all the time," Mr. Chong says.
Having grown up with the Peanuts underdog, he uses Charlie Brown as a reminder that even though being a teacher might be difficult at times, he will never give up.
Says Mr. Chong, "We can breeze through classes and not care, or we can be acutely sensitive to how we can coax students to be better than our generation."
The Peanuts fanatic has dreams:
"I want to change the world -- one person at a time."
Good Grief
Why I love the melancholy Peanuts holiday specials.
October 31, 2008
By Dana Stevens
Slate [www.slate.com]
What sound is most evocative of autumn? The crackling of dry leaves? The singsong chant of trick-or-treaters? The zip-zipping of corduroy jeans as you walk down the street? For anyone who remembers watching the original Charlie Brown Christmas special in 1965 -- or in any of the 42 years it's aired since -- the single best aural reminder of the waning year has to be the bouncy piano vamp of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy," better known as the Peanuts song. The Van Pelts' theme doesn't appear until midway through A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it was so instantly and indelibly associated with Charles Schulz's characters that it became the opening song for subsequent specials.
Those specials -- at least the big three: the Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas shows that were recently released in a "deluxe holiday collection" by Warner Bros. -- have a mood unlike any animated film for children made before or since. For one thing, they're really, really slow -- slow not just by our ADD-addled contemporary standards but also next to the programming of their own time. Just compare the meandering pace of A Charlie Brown Christmas (in which Charlie tries, and fails, to direct a single rehearsal of a Christmas play) with the generation-spanning epic crammed into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964). But what really sets the Peanuts specials apart is their sadness. Even digitally remastered, with the background colors restored to their original vivid crispness, the Peanuts holiday specials have a faded quality, like artifacts from a lost civilization. As Linus observes of the wan, drooping pine sprig Charlie Brown eventually rescues from a huge lot of pink aluminum Christmas trees, "This doesn't seem to fit the modern spirit."
Here I could write an epic poem detailing the multiple felicities of the Peanuts specials: the van Gogh-esque night sky that dwarfs Linus and Sally as they wait in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin, Linus' stirring reading from the Gospel of Luke at the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas, the impossibly hip "Little Birdie" song that plays in the background as Snoopy and Woodstock prep for their Thanksgiving feast. But I'll let you rediscover the specials' quiet joys for yourself, and I'll stick to describing the added value this collection provides: the fascinating but far too short making-of documentaries that are appended to each disc.
Those early specials were the output of a small creative team that was given free rein by CBS, as long as the results continued to pull in a giant Nielsen share. (The debut of A Charlie Brown Christmas was watched by literally half the viewing audience, a percentage unimaginable in our cable-fragmented era.) These were men who took their Peanuts very seriously indeed: Schulz, producer Lee Mendelson, and legendary animator Bill Melendez, who died last month at 91. It was Melendez who was responsible for figuring out how to turn Schulz's famously flat, spare drawings into moving pictures with backgrounds, as he recounts in interviews here. How were the characters' flat, boatlike feet actually supposed to walk? (Melendez had to invent a special gait, several beats faster than the normal human footstep, to make them move convincingly.) How does Charlie Brown's single strand of hair change shape when he moves from a profile to a front view?
The making-of featurettes also detail Schulz's close involvement in the writing and animation process. He insisted on the absence of a laugh track and on giving the Peanuts kids the voices of real children, many of them nonprofessionals. Since the kids, who ranged in age from 6 to 11, rapidly aged out of their parts, there was an ongoing search for new voice talent (though sometimes it could be found close to home; Christopher Shea, the original voice of Linus, was eventually replaced by his younger brother Stephen). The younger actors, still unable to memorize lines (or, in some cases, to read), had to have their lines fed to them half a line at a time by Melendez, who supervised all the recording sessions and provided the nonverbal stylings of Snoopy. This line-by-line editing process is what lent the Peanuts voices their signature choppy rhythm -- if you listen carefully, you can hear the seams between words. Mendelson, a charming storyteller, remembers how a girl voicing the part of Sally once had to be rushed into the studio for an all-night recording session before she lost her front tooth, which would have given her a lisp that matched poorly with the scenes she'd already recorded.
If these making-of features disappoint, it's only because they leave you wanting something longer and more comprehensive (like this 1985 Schulz-hosted tribute to the 20th anniversary of the Peanuts specials). An interview with Schulz's grown son Monte provides a tiny glimpse of his father as the troubled, egotistical man portrayed in this 2007 biography of the cartoonist. Monte describes how, as an airplane-mad boy, he suggested Snoopy's Red Baron persona to his father, who promptly incorporated it into his strip. But Schulz refused to acknowledge his son's contribution, in interviews or in conversation, until the final years of his life.
Vince Guaraldi, who deserves a two-hour documentary of his own, appears in only a few tantalizing images, improvising at the piano from a storyboard drawn by Schulz. It was Guaraldi's idea to use a trombone to simulate the off-screen voices of adults, and the "wah-wah" bleat of unseen teachers and parents became a defining feature of the Peanuts universe. After Guaraldi's early death in 1976, the musical standard of the Peanuts specials went way downhill, as evidenced by this Flashdance-influenced Flashbeagle number from 1985. The extras in this collection include three latter-day Peanuts specials, from 1981, 1988, and 1992 -- perfectly pleasant viewing but illustrative of the shows' decline from their '60s heyday.
Making-of documentaries about animated films have a unique fascination; it's a trip to witness the collaborative process by which a bunch of photographed drawings can somehow convince us that we're really watching Lucy yank away that football. Still, all the knowledge in the world about how these shows were produced can't account for the melancholy beauty of the opening of A Charlie Brown Christmas, in which poker-faced children skate on a pond to the strangely funereal carol "Christmastime Is Here." Or the bleak hilarity of Charlie Brown's Halloween-candy haul: "I got a rock." If the featurettes were the high point of this collection for me, it's only because, like everyone else who grew up with them, I can never see these wonderful specials again for the first time.
Hollywood Stars Spill the Beans on Who They're Voting For!
Stars Tape Humorous Online PSAs for Peanutsrocksthevote.com
October 15, 2008
www.businesswire.com
NEW YORK--The secret is out--Hollywood stars are taking sides in the Presidential race and they're not afraid to tell the world who they're voting for: Charlie Brown! Or Lucy! Or Snoopy, Linus or Sally!
Several dozen celebrities of the large and small screens have recently taped lighthearted online PSAs touting the new Peanuts website, www.Peanutsrocksthevote.com, where visitors can vote for Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy or Sally for President. Then visitors can click through to www.rockthevote.com to view the PSAs and get up to speed on the real election.
Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Griffin, Seth Green, Sharon Gless, Robert Morse of Mad Men, Virginia Madsen, The Daily Show's John Oliver, Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan, Ross the Intern from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, comedian Shelley Berman of Curb Your Enthusiasm, "Announcer Guy" Joel Godard of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, comedian Jeffrey Ross, co-host Sal Masekela from E!'s Daily 10 and Dirty Jobs star Mike Rowe are just a few of the celebrities who are taping the PSAs.
"You might be surprised to learn this about me, but I love to give my opinion," says Whoopi Goldberg. "So when it's time to give my opinion on the most important issue of all--who should be our President--I am all over it...I'm talking about the major, major election going on right now at Peanutsrocksthevote.com."
Several stars made time to tape their PSAs between interviews on the red carpet at the Creative Arts Emmys or at the celebration of the 100th episode of The Dog Whisperer. In fact, Kathy Griffin and Kathryn Joosten (Desperate Housewives) won Emmys just minutes after taping their Peanuts PSAs.
"I know who I'm voting for for President--Lucy!" says Griffin. "Who else could boss Congress around?"
Lucy proved to be popular with quite a few female stars, including actress Sharon Gless, who notes approvingly that Lucy "will be tough on...everything."
Snoopy is the candidate of choice, naturally, for Dog Whisperer star Cesar Millan, who proclaims the cartoon beagle "the second-coolest dog on the planet. The first is [Millan's dog] Daddy!" And, Millan adds, "We need a balanced pack leader."
Joosten, who took home an Emmy for her role as Karen McCluskey on Desperate Housewives, adds, "[Snoopy is] the philosopher of the bunch, the one who looks at life with reality, laying on his doghouse. If I had a doghouse, I'd probably lay on it, too."
Charlie Brown got the vote of actor/comedian Shelley Berman and Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton. "He may be wishy-washy, but he never gives up," says Lipton, who urged viewers to register to vote in the November 4 election. "You'll never, ever as long as you live, be faced with a more important choice."
Virginia Madsen, holding her dog Spike at the Dog Whisperer party, casts her vote for "Sally--because she'll give us school vacations permanently!"
Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs, went for the "real man," Linus, "because real men believe in security blankets....So register to vote on November 4. And wash your blanket!"
Joel Godard, the "Announcer Guy" for Conan O'Brien, found it hard to choose among the candidates, since he has something in common with all of them--even Sally: "Pink is my favorite color, too," Godard says with his trademark grin.
Comedian Jeffrey Ross, the first celebrity to be voted off Dancing with the Stars this season, encourages visitors to www.Peanutsrocksthevote.com to make "a thoughtful, informed, logical decision about which cartoon character you think would make the best President. Wow, as a comedian there are so many ways I could go with this... ."
Ross the Intern, of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno fame, finds himself having a hard time deciding between the five "green" candidates, who include Charlie Brown ("Obviously he's green, because who else could love that pathetic little Christmas tree?") and Lucy (whose psychiatric booth, at 5 cents per customer, "is seriously raking in the green").
And British Daily Show correspondent John Oliver is excited to be able to vote in an American election for a change. "You can vote for an actual dog," Oliver says. "How bad can that be?"
E! Daily 10 co-host Sal Masekela encourages citizens to register and vote through both a PSA and by participating in a photo shoot with celebrity photographer Christopher Ameruoso for the issue of In Touch Weekly magazine that hits the stands on October 31. Masekela posed with his Shar Pei/Staffordshire Terrier, Lola--who sported a "Snoopy for President" button on her collar.
Among the other celebrities who have participated in the Peanuts campaign--either by taping PSAs or being photographed wearing political Peanuts tees--are: Simon Pegg (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, the new Star Trek film), Julie Benz (Dexter), Gregory Cruz (Saving Grace), Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance?), Brendan Fehr (Samurai Girl), singer-actress JoJo, Stacy Keibler (Dancing With the Stars), actress Kate Linder (The Young and the Restless), comedian Mark Malkoff (who made headlines by spending a week in an Ikea store), Vincent Martella (Everybody Hates Chris), Shane Sparks (America's Best Dance Crew) and Francia Raisa (The Secret Life of an American Teenager.)
News flash: Hollywood stars will work for Peanuts--when the cause is a good one. And www.Peanutsrocksthevote.com is just that cause.
Cartoon candidates abound with Peanuts Rocks the Vote
October 7, 2008
By Lorrie Lynch with Kathy Rowings
USA Today Weekend
Many states are wrapping up their voter registration periods these days, getting ready for one of the most talked-about presidential elections ever. This year, however, finds the youthful Rock the Vote campaign reaching out to all ages with new team members: Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus and the rest of the Peanuts gang. The Peanuts Rocks the Vote website allows you to vote for your favorite of the late Charles M. Schulz's timeless comic-strip characters and get involved so you can also vote on Nov. 4. We recently talked with Schulz's widow, Jean (seen here with Seth Green), about the campaign for an upcoming issue, but our Brian Truitt found she had a lot to say about the issues, palling around with young celebrities and who her late husband would choose among his creations to run the country. Click read more below for a full report and one of the Peanuts Rocks the Vote PSAs, and tell us which Peanuts candidate would get your vote.
This year could see more younger voters than every before coming out on Election Day, and Jean Schulz is bringing in the young guns to help out with celebrity PSAs in conjunction with Peanuts Rocks the Vote: Green, who she met at Comic-Con in July; Whoopi Goldberg, a friend from way back when Charles Schulz was a guest on her show; and singer JoJo, who Jean Schulz ran into and befriended at a fashion show.
"Things are skewing younger, and more young people are involved," Schulz says. "I think Barack Obama has really energized a younger vote since before the primaries. They say that he's appealing to people who don't have home phones, so they're wondering about the validity of the recent polling data because they use people's home phones. But the important thing is to have people look at the issues."
Schulz's iconic husband, the man she lovingly refers to as "Sparky," was always interested in politics, she says, and was a "nominal Republican." But even more, the Peanuts strips that dealt with the campaigns from the 1960s to the '80s reflected a certain prescience about the evolution of politics. In one strip from the 1960s, Lucy talks about redecorating the White House -- "This was before Kennedy was elected," Schulz says. And in a March strip from 1984, Lucy foretells that we'll probably have had a woman president by the time she grows up. That may still be a little ways off, but with Hillary Clinton's run in the Democratic primaries and the political world's keen interest in Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, it might not be that far. "But wouldn't you have thought in 1984 that it might have happened sooner?" Schulz asks.
She mentions that she's as politically engaged as anyone right now, but is more interested in the issues, especially climate control. "It's barely -- BARELY -- on the radar screen," Schulz says. "People talk about it, yes. We have some local initiatives here in Sonoma County in California, trying to reduce our carbon footprint and people are doing a lot of work, but it's a lot of talk. To me, that hasn't risen to the level of political discourse that it should have. With Rock the Vote, the online campaign is cute, and voting for the characters is fun, but I'm hoping that people really take it seriously and realize that their futures, it's going to matter to them."
Visitors to the Peanuts Rock the Vote site can choose between Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Sally for president. Who would have been Charles Schulz's pick? Probably Linus, according to Jean Schulz. In the 1972 TV special You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (which debuts on a special-edition DVD today), Linus was way ahead in the race until he made the most disastrous of the political mistakes: the verbal gaffe. During a speech, instead of talking about politics, he brings up the Great Pumpkin when he finally has an audience and it all falls apart. "He completely loses that election and much to Lucy's dismay, she probably wanted to run out of the auditorium screaming," Schulz says. "I think he needs another chance. Now, he's probably a little politically wiser, and he knows that you say what your advisers tell you to say, not what you really believe."
Will the 'Great Pumpkin' show up this year?
He can be at your house, in a newly remastered DVD
October 3, 2008
By James Grant
The News-Sentinel [Fort Wayne, Indiana]
Can you imagine spending 42 years in a pumpkin patch? Seems like a long time, doesn't it?
Just ask Linus and Sally and the rest of the Charlie Brown gang of characters. Its approaching 42 years since they first hit television screens in the classic cartoon special, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."
For those of you who tuned in late, the plot centers on a Halloween evening with Charlie Brown and his friends -- and, of course, his dog Snoopy, the beloved World War I fighting ace.
While Charlie Brown goes trick-or-treating (where he repeats the immortal line "I got a rock" in response to not getting candy) and to a Halloween party; his friend Linus and Charlie Brown's love-struck younger sister, Sally, wait in a pumpkin patch all night in hope of finally seeing the Great Pumpkin.
This year, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" has been spruced up and re-released in a remastered deluxe edition DVD that hit the shelves in September.
The picture and sound have been cleaned up, the colors sparkle, and the sound is crisp and bright. Plus, the disc includes another cartoon, "It's Magic, Charlie Brown," as well as a new featurette titled "We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown!" that details the behind-the-scenes aspects of bringing "Great Pumpkin" to the small screen.
As an added bonus, two free digital downloads of two songs from the "Great Pumpkin" soundtrack are offered.
If you buy this new edition of the cartoon but still can't get enough of Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, Hallmark stores carry a wide range of Great Pumpkin items for sale, including cards, Halloween ornaments, books and a musical pumpkin that a masked Snoopy pops out of.
Deb Meisner, manager of Anne's Hallmark Shop on Dupont Road, said Hallmark has the exclusive license for the Peanuts characters and that the Great Pumpkin holds a special appeal to several generations.
"We grew up with it, and then our kids grew up with it and now their kids," she said. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz explained the appeal of the Great Pumpkin (as well as Charlie Brown, for that matter) best in the book "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Television Classic."
The Great Pumpkin is really a satire on Santa Claus, because Linus, of course, writes for gifts and expects to get them, Schulz said. And when the great Pumpkin doesn't come, Linus is crushed. It shows that you can't always get what you hoped for, but you can still survive and you can keep trying. Linus never gives up, and neither does Charlie Brown.
So, if you want to spend a fun-filled evening in a pumpkin patch, there's no more enchanting or humorous a pumpkin patch than in "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Oh, and if you see the Great Pumpkin, wish him a happy Halloween and tell him Linus sends his best.
Singer Sandi Patty even shows up in the funnies
She knew Charles Schulz of 'Peanuts' strip fame
September 23, 2008
By Terry DeBoer
The Grand Rapids Press [Michigan]
Sandi Patty sometimes pops up in unexpected places. Earlier this month, the "Classic Peanuts" syndicated comic strip referenced the singer's piercing voice.
"I saw that, and it brought back sweet memories," Patty said from her Anderson, Ind., home.
The strip by the late Charles Schulz -- now in classic reruns -- published an episode Sept. 9 featuring a disheveled, headphone-wearing Linus lying on the ground after a fall while skating.
"As I rounded the corner, Sandi Patty hit a high note," he says in the single-panel strip.
"I got to meet Mr.. Schulz a couple of times, and he was a sweet, kind man," Patty said of the comic illustrator, who died in 2000.
That strip originally was published not long after Patty's voice was showcased on a version of the "Star Spangled Banner" used in 1986 for the rededication of the Statue of Liberty and broadcast on national television.
"It's an odd song to be identified with," the five-time Grammy Award winner said. "But it's still a song that people recall me singing."
Since her first recording, in 1979, Patty has built a career that has overgrown the boundaries of her inspirational-music roots. Although she still performs in churches and is a regular on the national Women of Faith conference dates, she also performs pops concerts with local symphonies. Her repertoire includes Broadway, big band and show tunes.
But her most recent release, "Songs for the Journey," is largely a collection of hymns, gospel and inspirational ballads.
"Having grown up in the church, I grew up singing and loving all those great hymns," said Patty, who packs three familiar hymns into a single package she titles "Savior Medley."
"We recorded them quite intimately, with just my pianist and me, and what you hear is exactly how we did them," she said.
Patty also has written several books. Her latest, "Layers," is a revealing story of some of the performer's struggles, which she expands on during her conference speaking and singing dates.
In 2004, Patty was enshrined in the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. This summer she and several other artists were honored in a Grammy salute to gospel music at the Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C.
A day trip to the Schulz Museum: You're a good man, Charlie Brown!
September 23, 6:55 AM
By Ed Uyeshima
The San Francisco Travel Examiner
He created nearly 18,000 Peanuts strips over five decades without interruption. His last one ran on January 3, 2000, and he died five weeks later. For a generation of us, his characters were like family, his merchandise were permanent fixtures in our bedrooms, and the annual ritual of watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was as necessary to the holidays as baked yams with mini-marshmallows. After Elvis, legendary cartoonist Charles Schulz has been the "highest paid deceased person" for the past five years according to Forbes Magazine. His place in popular culture is intractable, which is why a daytrip visit to the Charles Schulz Museum & Research Center is a must for any self-respecting baby boomer and for every generation of Peanuts fans thereafter.
An hour north of San Francisco when the traffic karma is good, the state-of-the-art facility built in 2002 is in Santa Rosa, Schulz's hometown for the last thirty years of his life. It's too bad he didn't live to see the place since it represents an adroit reflection of a man who was aware of his pervasive influence but at the same time, remained a modest, easygoing fellow who went by his childhood nickname ("Sparky") all his life and ate twice a day like clockwork at the Warm Puppy Coffee Shop in the Redwood Empire Ice Arena right across the street. The multimillionaire Schulz built the ice rink in 1969 out of his passion for hockey. One would expect the challenge in building a museum to his legacy is making something visually interesting from a million little comic strip panels.
The 27,000-square-foot museum, however, is far more than Schulz's individual strips, one hundred of which are showcased in the Strip Rotation Gallery and continuously rotated among the seven thousand in the archive to show how Peanuts evolved over time. The entire place feels like a big house albeit a very nice modern one with slate floors, cherry ceilings, and a copper roof. It features six thousand square feet of gallery space, several education and research rooms, expansive outdoor areas with exhibits surrounding the building, and the Great Hall. The latter makes quite an impression with a huge mural by Japanese artist (and obvious Peanuts aficionado) Yoshiteru Otani, made up of 3,500 tiles, each a Peanuts strip. All together, they form a 22-foot high version of the iconic picture of Lucy taking the football away before just before Charlie Brown kicks it. Otani also designed the bas-relief sculpture overhead called "Morphing Snoopy", a 3.5 ton wood sculpture depicting the evolution of the famous beagle.
There's a colorful impressionistic painting by Tom Everhart of a Red Baron-chasing Snoopy at the dinner table in the Strip Rotation Gallery. Go upstairs to see a complete recreation of Schulz's office, Sparky's Studio, as well as intriguing exhibits like environmental artist Cristo's paper-wrapped doghouse and a near-primitive mural Schulz painted for his infant daughter that was somehow salvaged from a Colorado home. You can also see works by other cartoonists inspired by Schulz. Outside in the back are some nice figurines of Charlie Brown and Linus, a familiar kite stuck up in a tree, and even a Woodstock birdbath with holographic images as you walk around it. In front is a low-level labyrinth shaped in the profile of Snoopy's head.
Of course, there's an unavoidable little gift nook in the entry area. But if shopping is your main incentive, then walk past the ice rink to the two-story Snoopy's Gallery & Gift Shop, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Peanuts paraphernalia. There's even a viewing space on the second floor for the kiddies to watch the TV cartoons non-stop. The cash cow is obviously Snoopy in all his simple glory, whether he is plush, plastic or pliable. One wonders what Schulz would have made of all this. Embarrassed perhaps, but if you believe David Michaelis' dark-hued portrait in his voluminous 2007 book, "Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography", the cartoonist may have been quite pleased with himself.
Schroder and Beethoven forever
Exhibit showcases the young pianst in 'Peanuts' and his classical music
September 21, 2008
By Edward Ortiz
The Sacramento Bee
SANTA ROSA -- "Good grief!"
That familiar Charlie Brown cry from "Peanuts" might have been Ludwig van
Beethoven's reply had he learned that, 130 years after his death, his music
had become part of the internationally distributed comic strip.
It's tempting to think that Beethoven would have warmed to the idea of
being part of the long-lived "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz.
After all, "Peanuts" was often about unrequited love. And Beethoven's
own love life suffered plenty of it.
This theme is the focus of the exhibit "Schulz's Beethoven: Schroeder's
Muse," which runs through Jan. 29 at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.
The show tastefully and engagingly offers more than 50 comic strip panels
and other media. Some of those include displays of Schulz's most-loved Beethoven
recordings. The show offers 50 musical excerpts as well as spoken narratives
that can be heard using an audio wand. Also in the show are some Beethoven
ephemera on loan from the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies in
San Jose. Those include a life mask of Beethoven, first- edition scores and
two vials containing tiny wisps of the composer's hair.
"It's interesting to see how much of the strips start out with sheet
music from Beethoven's work," said Bill Meredith, director of the Brilliant
Center and co- curator of the exhibit. Schulz was keen on including Beethoven's
music, faithfully reproduced, in the strip's panels. It proved to be an
unprecedented use of music in a comic strip.
Most interesting is how the exhibit chronicles Schulz as an artist ready
to use musical ideas in graphic form. The medium for his musical interests
was the character of Schroeder, whom Schulz drew as a young and aloof piano
prodigy hunched over a toy piano. Schroeder first appeared in "Peanuts" on
May 30, 1951. However, the first mention of Beethoven came earlier that year,
in January, when a violin-playing Charlie Brown talks about the composer to Snoopy.
