I grew up with this seasonal special from Charles Schulz and his beloved band of characters who felt like childhood companions. Its soundtrack from Vince Guaraldi has become part of the genetic makeup of generations of kids and for many such as myself there’s a visceral response upon hearing any of the compositions from it.
One of my favorites is Skating with its bright, cool, and clean lines. It both evokes memory from the past and feeling in the present moment, gliding seamlessly between the two. Maybe that’s the mark of a timeless piece of art?
I don’t know.
So, for this Sunday morning music, let’s give a listen to Skating from Vince Guaraldi. Can’t think of a better way to skim into the day. Have a good one.
Wishing everyone out there a good day and a Merry Christmas. Just going to let the soothing tones of Mel Torme‘s lovely version of the Vince Guaraldi classic, Christmastime Is Here, from A Charlie Brown Christmas. It seems almost sacrilegious to play something other than that sparkling original. But this version, with Torme’s older and even mellower voice and a gorgeous arrangement, is a worthy alternate.
Hopefully, your day will have that same kind of pace and mellowness.
“You see, the point is that the strongest man in the world is he who stands most alone.”
― Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People
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This is another new painting that is headed to the Kada Gallery for my show, Sensing the Unseen, that is opening there on Friday, December 1. It is titled Resist the Dark and is 8″ by 24″ on canvas.
There are a lot of possible interpretations for this piece, the most obvious being to the current state of affairs in this country and the resistance of many citizens to the actions of this administration as they seek to strip away many protections– financial, environmental and regulatory– that seem to only benefit the wealthiest of us and leave many of us vulnerable to the whims of large corporations. You may not feel this way– and if not, I both envy and pity you– but many folks feel like this country is living under a dark cloud at this point and without resistance it will only get darker.
This resistance to an impending darkness is the most obvious reading of this piece but it can also be taken to a more personal level, one where each of us has to stand our ground again the darker impulses we see being played out every day. We cannot personally fall prey to feelings and actions borne of hatred and prejudice nor can we stand idly by while others act out their own hatreds and prejudices.
Each of us is a barrier, a dam, against the baseness and incivility that is always ready to flood over us, if given the chance. There have been breaches in the dam as of late, these darker aspects getting bolder and stronger. It grows because it is allowed to do so, because many find it easier to accept the darkness rather than stand firm and shine their light into it.
Don’t let that darkness become your darkness.
If each of us stands our ground, even when it seems we are alone in doing so, the darkness will recede and return to the far corners where it has lived in anonymous shame for so long. And that is the only place where it should exist, which is still more than anything that thrives on hatred, fear and prejudice deserves.
Okay, that’s enough for this Sunday morning. Here’s a song from the 1960’s from the late, great pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi who you most likely know from his iconic music for the Charlie Brown specials. You most likely will hear a lot of his music from A Charlie Brown Christmasthis holiday season. Unlike some holiday music, I never get tired of hearing his stuff. This song is not a holiday song however. This song, Cast Your Fate to the Wind -which seems to fits this painting- was released in 1962, winning the Grammy for Best Jazz Composition, and has been recorded many, many times by other artists. It’s a nice way to kick off a Sunday morning.
Give a listen and have a great day. And resist the darkness…
At the Kada Gallery opening last week, a very pleasant man asked if my work was influenced by the Peanutscartoons. He said the work had that same feeling for him. I laughed and said that, of course, these cartoons had been a large influence on my work and probably the way I see things in general. After all, Snoopy was the first thing I ever learned to draw, the result of an older boy on my school bus ( thank you, Tom Hillman, wherever you might be) showing me how to do so in several easy steps. Throughout grade school Snoopy was drawn all over every piece of paper I came across, his Joe Cool and World War IFlying Ace characters being personal favorites.
I explained that many of those early cartoons — the great Chuck Jones’ Looney Tunes , the very early Popeyes , the Disney cartoons with their gorgeous color, and so many more–informed and influenced the way I looked at things and set a pattern for the way I would later interpret the landscape. They created a visual shorthand in the work that simplified the forms in the surrounding landscape yet still gave a sense of place and time and emotion.
And that’s precisely what I try to do in my work today.
For me, A Charlie Brown Christmas is as close to perfect as any cartoon can be. It’s a wonderful blending of mood, movement and music with a smartness and charm that never seems to diminish. For this week’s dose of Sunday morning music, what could be more fitting than the Vince Guaraldi’s Christmas Dance from it?
Have a great Sunday and, if you feel like it, dance along with the Peanuts gang. It’ll do ya’ good…
It’s Thanksgiving and hopefully you haven’t waited all year to express a little gratitude for the good things in your life. If that is the case, get on the stick and start giving out the thanks, pronto. If you have been grateful throughout the year, relax and listen to a little Thanksgiving-inspired music. It’s pianist George Winston‘s version of the theme from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The cartoon itself is not quite up to the level of A Charlie Brown Christmas but the music of Vince Guaraldi always shines.
And I am thankful for that. And for Snoopy.
PS: The original YouTube clip with the George Winston version has been taken down but I have inserted Vince Guaraldi’s original below. You can hear the Winston version on YouTube by clicking his name above or here.
I’ve been taking a few days off here around Thanksgiving, taking it a bit easier in the days that kick off the first days of the Christmas season here. I can’t say I’m as big a fan of the holidays as when I was child but I still feel that same warm fuzziness when certain songs of the season come on the radio. Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Songor Bing Crosby’s White Christmas,for example. One of my all-time favorites are the wondeful compositions from Vince Guaraldi for A Charlie Brown Christmas. Hearing the relaxing tones of Christmas Time Is Here with the children’s chorus is like zen candy to me–it just pushes away all the bad things we,ve come to accept as part of the season and fills the void with a peaceful calm.
I thought I’d share Diana Krall‘s take on this great piece. It lacks the children’s voices but it is lovely nonetheless and a good way to head back into my work.
Redtree Times 