Remember yesterday when I mentioned something about being in a streak of weeks where I have to be on TV three days during those weeks? Well, guess what I have to do in a few minutes?
(And I HOPE you said “go on TV”)
I have to go do “High School Bowl”. And since I have to do that I'm going to leave you with something I wrote ten (wow!) years ago, but something that's entirely appropriate for this time of the year.
Tomorrow—no TV. So you get something new!
*****
(as originally posted 12/8/2014)
I was looking through an old laptop of mine a few days ago, and one of the things I found was a link to a newspaper article, an article I had entirely forgotten about. But I'm glad I found it, because this is the perfect time of the year to discuss everyone's favorite gateway drug. No; I'm not talking about a gateway drug that's either pharmaceutical or alcoholic.
I'm talking about “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
That link I found was from a newspaper article from back in 2012. In the article, the jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times made the argument, while talking about Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack to the show, that for a large chunk of American kids the music in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was their first exposure to jazz, that it was their “gateway’ drug to the musical form.
And you know what? I think he may be right.
Just speaking from personal experience, I’m quite certain that the first jazz music I ever heard was from the TV special. I’m sure that I didn’t know at the time I was listening to jazz; the music, however, imprinted itself onto my brain so strongly that even 40-some years later it’s still a disc I have to listen to at least once a holiday season. And the rhythms and phrasing of the music must not have been totally alien, as even when I was a kid I was drawn to pop music with jazz influences. The older I became, the more jazz I listened to, even being part of a jazz band in high school. And while I listen to all kinds of music these days, jazz still has a special place in my musical consciousness.
And though I had never thought about until reading the LA Times article, I can now say that it’s all Charlie Brown’s fault. Good grief!!!
I don’t believe that’s the only way “A Charlie Brown Christmas” affected those of us born in the 60s or the 70s, either. I mean, how many times have we referred to a “Charlie Brown tree” when we see a particularly pitiful holiday tree, or a “Snoopy’s doghouse” when we see an incredibly gaudy display of Christmas lights? And speaking from personal experience, I know that at least a few times in my life I’ve given the answer “Cash, preferably in tens and twenties” when asked what I want for Christmas. None of that, of course, would’ve been possible without the influence of that one holiday cartoon.
So when you think about it, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is more than just a gateway drug to jazz. You could almost make the argument that’s a gateway drug to how an entire generation of Americans celebrates the holiday season. I wonder if, back in 1965, Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez and Vince Guaraldi had any idea that the little cartoon they put together would have such an influence?
Hmm. It's amazing what you find when you're trying to clean up a hard drive, isn't it?
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