"A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack added to Library of Congress' National Recording Registry

Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack album for "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the classic 1965 Peanuts television special, has been selected as one of this year's titles to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Each year, the Library of Congress selects 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" recordings to be preserved in the Registry.  This year's selections range from a 1888 Edison cylinder recording for a talking doll to Leonard Bernstien's 1943 New York Philharmonic debut to Prince's 1984 album "Purple Rain."

In its May 23, 2012, announcement, the Registry says:

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” introduced jazz to millions of listeners. The television soundtrack album includes expanded themes from the animated “Peanuts” special of the same name as well as jazz versions of both traditional and popular Christmas music, performed primarily by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. The original music is credited to pianist Guaraldi and television producer Lee Mendelson. Best remembered is the “Linus and Lucy” theme, originally composed by Guaraldi for an earlier “Peanuts” project, which remains beloved by fans of the popular television specials, those devoted to the daily newspaper comic strip, and music lovers alike.

For more information about the Registry and this year's selections, see Derrick Bang's post at the Impressions of Vince blog, the National Recording Registry's list of this year's selections, or this article from the Washington Post.

Reminder: Schulz art on Antiques Roadshow Monday May 21

Remember: one of the items to be appraised on tonight's episode (Monday May 21) of Antiques Roadshow is a piece of original "Li'l Folks" artwork by Charles Schulz.  On most PBS stations Antiques Roadshow airs at 8 PM (Eastern/Pacific), but check your local listings to confirm when your station will air the episode - its title is "Minneapolis, Minnesota (Hour 3)."

Schulz "Li'l Folks" art to be featured on Antiques Roadshow May 21

A piece of original "Li'l Folks" artwork by Charles Schulz will be one of the items appraised on the Monday, May 21st episode of the PBS television show Antiques Roadshow.  The episode title is "Minneapolis, Minnesota (Hour 3)."  Normally Antiques Roadshow airs at 8 PM (Eastern/Pacific), but different PBS stations have different schedules, so check your local listings to see exactly which time and day this episode will air.

"Li'l Folks" is the weekly comic strip that Charles Schulz drew before he started drawing Peanuts.

This is the third time Charles Schulz's work has appeared on Antiques Roadshow; episodes in 2006 and 2010 also featured evaluations of original Schulz art.

Impressions of Vince - a new blog about Vince Guaraldi

Derrick Bang, the co-proprietor of FiveCentsPlease.org and author of the recently published book Vince Guaraldi at the Piano, has launched Impressions of Vince, a new blog devoted to jazz pianist and Peanuts music composer Vince Guaraldi.

While Guaraldi may be most famous for his Peanuts television soundtracks, there was much more to his career - he released a variety of jazz music albums with various musicians and partners, was a frequent performer at West Coast jazz clubs, and wrote and performed the Grace Cathedral Jazz Mass, the first such jazz mass in the United States, among other accomplishments.

The Impressions of Vince blog will be devoted to commentary, discussions and thoughts about Vince Guaraldi and his work, together with updates about Derrick's extensive Guaraldi reference pages at FiveCentsPlease. Derrick also hopes that fans and friends of Guaraldi will write in to contribute commentary, anecdotes, and tidbits about Vince to add to the ever growing archive of information.

We'll keep posting Peanuts-related Vince Guaraldi news here on the FiveCentsPlease blog, but if you're interested in all things Vince, check out the Impressions of Vince blog - Derrick has already posted several entries!

Happiness is... Peanuts: Team Snoopy DVD now available

Happiness is... Peanuts: Team Snoopy, the latest DVD from Warner Home Video, is now available.

The DVD features two half-hour shows: the 2003 special Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown and "Snoopy's Brother Spike," episode #15 of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show from 1985.  There are no special features.

Happiness is... Peanuts: Team Snoopy has a suggested retail price of $14.97.  For more details about the DVD, see our previous announcement.