JAZZ FOR LINUS & LUCY

Yesterday I received an e-mail about Charlie Schultz's philosophy. A gang e-mail that I am sure has gone around many times. Viewing the cartoons made me think about the music to the animated films, music everyone knows in an instant. That may be what I love best about Peanuts TV specials and so began a reply to the sender:

"Loved the email on Charles Schultz but it is the sound-tracks to the Peanut films that I love most.

Because of Schultz, one "...reformed boogie-woogie piano player" got a chance to compose songs that a generation will never forget. Remember "Cast your Fate to the Wind?"
Find Vince Guaraldi at: http://www.vinceguaraldi.com/biography.htm.

I found Guaraldi because of Schultz and because of Guaraldi I found Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Jazz Impression of Black Orpheus", and "Samba de Orpheus," the ultimate Brazilian jazz.

And when I met Ed I found that he too loved these jazz sounds (altho we did not know how to prounce "Jobim"). But because of Jobim I found the Brazilian, Joao Gilberto, whose wife Astrid recorded "Girl from Ipanema," which to this day is our most favorite song to rumba to. Because I was able to convince Ed to try dancing, and because . . . history takes strange turns, we have been dancing together ever since."


Another recently discovered fact has given me reason to think. My husband and Elvis (yes, that one), were born the same year (Elvis in January, DH in May). Absolutely astounding!
What amazes me most is that I, like every teenager in the 50's knew and loved Elvis. By the time I met DH (second marriages), Elvis had been dead for six years. But to think of them together is contrast within a generation.
Elvis had rhythms we did not even know we wanted and served in the Army. DH learned electronics on a submarine in the Navy, then proceeded to graduate school on the GI bill. Elvis played Las Vegas, DH worked for a major communications company for 36 years. Elvis' home in Memphis, Graceland, is now a major cultural landmark. DH's first home in the 60s was a Levitttown development house in New Jersey.

Somewhere the notion that my DH, now retired and an amateur saxophone player, and Elvis could have anything in common seems a far stretch. Perhaps this is because I see DH gradually growing older and Elvis will forever be singing is a bejeweled suit and cape in Las Vegas. Viva Rock n' Roll!

Today's accomplishment was getting a new gas cap and stopping by my favorite thrift shop (across the street from the auto garage). Have a new idea for our summer coastal plans in Oregon and began hunting for some items. Next search: what to get DH for his birthday?
Stay tuned,
bbf