A little of this, a little of that ... Take 5

Aside from their savvy filmmaking skills, the folks at Blue Sky are equally adept when it comes to marketing and promotion. It would have been very difficult to miss hearing about The Peanuts Movie; we were reminded by everything from freeway billboards and YouTube videos, to the usual assortment of product tie-ins. By far the best gimmick, however, is the website that allows visitors to "Peanutize" themselves. It takes a bit of skill to get it right; I had far better results when my younger sister, a talented artist, took charge of the rendering. If you'd like to give it a shot, check it out here.

Concord Records, recognizing the value of such a clever marketing tool, has created a similar site that allows visitors to apply Guaraldi's signature mustache to themselves (or anybody else). It's quite a hoot, although you need just the right photo, taken at the proper angle, for the effect to work properly. So go ahead: Give yourself a Guaraldi 'stache!

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I love corresponding with fellow Guaraldi fans; aside from the enjoyment that springs from sharing our mutual enthusiasm, such exchanges can be fun and enlightening. A recent note from a helpful fellow named Jim called my attention to an interesting fact: Whether by accident or design, the release of jazz pianist David Benoit's new album, Believe, makes it possible to assemble a complete Benoit cover of Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack album. Jim even provided a handy guide for doing so:

1. "Oh Tannenbaum" (Christmastime, 1983)

2. "What Child is This" (Christmastime, 1983)

3. "My Little Drum" (Believe, 2015)

4. "Linus and Lucy" (Here's to You, Charlie Brown, 2000)

5. "Christmas Time is Here" - Instrumental (Christmastime, 1983)

6. "Christmas Time is Here" - Vocal (Believe, 2015)

7. "Skating" (Remembering Christmas, 1996)

8. "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (Remembering Christmas, 1996)

9. "Christmas is Coming" (Remembering Christmas, 1996)

10. "Fur Elise" (40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas, 2005)

11. "The Christmas Song" (Remembering Christmas, 1996)

12. Bonus Track: "Surfin' Snoopy/Air Music," from the "Guaraldi Medley" (Believe, 2015)

"Interestingly," Jim notes, "this set flows nicely, even though the songs were recorded over the course of 32 years. I had to adjust the volume on some tunes to keep it consistent, but otherwise it's difficult to discern the vintage of each track."

Many thanks, Jim; I suspect several folks are about to compose a new playlist!

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As I mentioned in a previous post, Concord didn't miss the opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack; the label tantalized us with a CD anniversary gift pack and three retailer-exclusive LPs on colored vinyl, along with a CD re-release of the album itself. In late November, a Concord publicist asked if I'd be willing to do some radio spots, to help promote all of these goodies, and just chat about Guaraldi in general. Sure, I said; sounds like fun.

Clearly, I should have requested clarification of the word "some."

(Not that it would have changed my answer, but I'd have been spared the sticker-shock.)

I subsequently received two packed schedules: 11 interviews at 15-minute intervals between 6 and 9 a.m. December 1, with a longer piece at 2 p.m. that afternoon; and 11 more between 6 and 10 a.m. December 3.

It was a scramble, although not quite as frantic as I feared. Most of the spots were on news and talk stations, and therefore only about 5-7 minutes; I usually had time to catch my breath before the next one. I definitely gained additional respect for film actors who get stuffed into a hotel room during a promotional tour, and must endure an entire day of interviews booked at 20-minute intervals.

Some of the DJs and hosts weren't at all prepared, despite Concord having sent along plenty of background information; in those cases, some of the questions and comments were inane. Happily, several of the DJs were quite prepared, one to a degree that I'm certain extended beyond what Concord had provided. I love folks who do their research!

If you're curious, these are two of the better spots:

• KFOR, in Lincoln, Nebraska (in two parts; scroll down to get the links in order)

• Overnight America, which is syndicated to roughly 90 markets

I also did a podcast for American Standard Time.

From left, David Willat, Beth Ruyak, your blog host and Jim Martinez

Finally, I marked the actual anniversary — December 9 — with a live chat on Sacramento's Capital Public Radio, on the public affairs show Insight, hosted by Beth Ruyak. I shared the microphone with jazz pianist and fellow Guaraldi fan Jim Martinez, and former St. Paul's Church Choir member David Willat, who as a young lad was one of the kids singing during the actual Charlie Brown Christmas TV special.

It has been quite a year for Guaraldi; 2016 likely will seem very quiet, by comparison!

Contest time!

The Peanuts comic strip celebrated its 65th anniversary on October 2, and A Charlie Brown Christmas will mark its 50th anniversary on December 9. On top of which, we've got this modest big-screen movie debuting November 6.

Add the impending proximity of the holiday season, and you know what that means: plenty of new and "freshened" merchandise, in a variety of formats.

Guaraldi fans whose taste crosses over to pianist David Benoit — and it absolutely should — won't want to miss Believe, his new album collaboration with jazz chanteuse Jane Monheit. It includes plenty of material from A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the instrumental highlight is a lengthy trio medley — with bassist David Hughes and drummer Jamey Tate — that features "Surfin' Snoopy" (aka "Air Music"), "Christmas Is Coming," "Greensleeves" and "O Christmas Tree." On the gentler side, Monheit's poignant handling of "Christmas Time Is Here" is backed by the All-American Boys Chorus (standing in for the young members of the St. Paul's Church Choir, who supplied Charlie Brown and the gang's singing voices in the TV special). The arrangement is pure Guaraldi, as is the case with an equally charming cover of "My Little Drum." The album also features Monheit's touching reading of "Just Like Me," the 2005 Benoit/Lee Mendelson original that serves as an emotional bookend to "Christmas Time Is Here."

Speaking of the aforementioned new 3D film from the talented folks at Blue Sky (the geniuses behind the Ice Age franchise and several other CGI hits), its soundtrack hit retail shelves on October 23. Although most of the original underscore comes from veteran film composer Christoph Beck, the album also includes three classic Vince Guaraldi Trio recordings: "Linus and Lucy," "Skating" and "Christmas Time Is Here."

Moving to the pure Guaraldi front, today (November 1) marks the debut of Concord Records' Charlie Brown Christmas 50th Anniversary Gift Pack, which includes the following:

• The original 11-track Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack
• Peanuts Portraits
• A reproduction of the children's book version of A Charlie Brown Christmas
• Four double-sided postcards featuring various members of the Peanuts gang

This item is a Walmart exclusive.

(Sharp-eyed fans will recognize the postcard images as smaller versions of the mini-posters originally packaged with Fantasy Records' first-run LP pressings of Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown.)

But wait; there's more! Today also marks the debut of three colored vinyl, retailer-exclusive editions of the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack:

• Red and green vinyl, available only at F.Y.E. stores
• Red vinyl, available only at Urban Outfitters
• Red and white vinyl, available only at Newbury Comics

And, of course, the existing green vinyl version remains available to all via Amazon.

So ... how many of those LPs will you scramble to find?

Looking a little further forward, November 20 is the release date of Concord's four-LP box set version of The Definitive Vince Guaraldi. The 31 songs from 2009's double-CD have been pressed onto four LPs, each housed in a different art sleeve. The package also includes a 12-by-24-inch poster of Guaraldi, original liner notes by noted jazz historian Doug Ramsey, a reproduction of the promotional cardboard "Vince mustache" that was handed out to patrons of his 1960s club gigs, and a 16-page booklet laden with vintage photos, club ads, newspaper articles and other ephemera from back in the day. (Many of the latter items come from the extensive library of archival materials I assembled, while researching my Guaraldi bio.) Not to be missed!

But wait, I hear you cry ... isn't this post headlined Contest Time?

Indeed yes, and I have not one, but two contests for you. 

Concord Records and JazzTimes magazine are running a sweepstakes that gives everybody a chance to win the four-LP Definitive Vince Guaraldi box set. That's right, just one winner ... so the question is, Are ya feelin' lucky? Check it out here.

Be advised: You'll need to establish a free JazzTimes user account, and then log into that account, in order to enter online. (All other forms of entry are void.)

This sweepstakes ended November 15, 2015.

But hey: You don't need to do anything special to enter our exclusive Impressions of Vince contest. Two lucky winners will be sent copies of Concord's Charlie Brown Christmas 50th Anniversary Gift Pack.

(This contest also concluded on November 15, and the answers now have been supplied below.)

All you need to is correctly answer the following questions:

1. Because A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted in 1965, it featured many characters who soon faded into obscurity and then weren't seen for decades thereafter. Name one. [Many possible answers here: Violet, the original Patty, 5 and his twin sisters 3 and 4]

2. Similarly, Charles M. Schulz hadn't yet introduced some of the strip's most popular characters when this show was made. Name one popular Peanuts character not seen in A Charlie Brown Christmas. [Again, several possible answers: Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Franklin, Woodstock and Rerun, among others]

3. Lucy never eats December snowflakes, even though Linus insists "They look ripe to me." Lucy tells us that she waits until which month? [January]

4. What will Linus do with his blanket when he grows up? [Make it into a sport coat]

5. What does Lucy want for Christmas? [Real estate]

6. In the school stage dance scene, what instrument does Pig-Pen play? [Bass]

7. Snoopy is called upon to imitate several animals for the school play. Which of the following is not one of them? a) sheep; b) goat; c) penguin; d) cow. [Goat]

8. How many tufts of green growth does the little tree have when Charlie Brown and Linus first spot it? [Three]

9. How many different ways does Schroeder play "Jingle Bells" for Lucy? [Three]

10. What color is the one ornament that Charlie Brown puts on his tree, which causes it to flop over? [Red]

Email your entries to derrickbang@gmail.com. Please, one entry per person. Winners will be selected randomly from entries with perfect scores. In the event nobody gets 100%, winners will be selected from entries with the most correct answers. 

Congratulations to our two winners: Doug and Bill. You know who you are...!