World Facts via Peanuts

 

 Whenever trivia pages ask "Did You know that the deepest point on earth is the Mariana Trench?", I always quickly answer "Why YES, I DID know that, actually! Knew it since I was a kid!" And just HOW did I know this? Why, thanks to Charles M Schulz and SNOOPY!

As you may know, a running motif of the 70's Peanuts strips is Snoopy and his attempts at writing the next Great American Novel, often with hilarious results! And while penning the tales of yet another one of his hapless heroes in the Sunday Strip of August 1972, Snoopy told the story of a would-be suitor who, while trying to impress his knowledge upon his fair maiden, only ends up boring her in an early example of mansplaining!    

Our Hero waxes: 

"My love for you is higher than the highest mountain...

 which is Mount Everest which is over twenty-nine thousand feet high. 

My love for you is deeper than the deepest ocean...

which is the Marianas Trench which is over thirty-five thousand feet deep."

before Snoopy sums up succinctly: "My hero is a terrible bore!"

AHAHAHA, Funny writing as usual, but also informative, especially for a kid!

Like I said, it was general knowledge that Mount Everest was the highest point in the world, but a young me was completely fascinated by this "Marianas Trench" that Snoopy wrote about and HAD to look it up in the school library! And who says comics don't teach you things!

PS: always wondered...why did Schulz spell it with an "S" on the end, as "Marianas" instead of Mariana?

Favorite Bands: The 5th Dimension

Let the Sunshine in!!! 5th Dimension in their heyday

  I’ve always loved the 5th Dimension and their easygoing style of Sunshine Pop music- To me they had the same sound that The Carpenters and The Association had, lush arrangements and beautiful harmonies that evoked images of  a dreamy and carefree life in California in the late sixties / early seventies!

  I enjoyed listening to their earlier pop tunes as well as their more soulful later singles, but it wasn’t until 1985, when American Bandstand aired an Anniversary Special that I stood up and really took notice of the awesome vocal group.

  The AB show featuring clips from the many, many artists and groups that appeared on the show during its long television run, and I have to say it was REALLY interesting to see the gamut of groups and styles that had graced the stages of the show over the years.

 So anyway there I was watching the show, and somewhere between Martha & The Vandellas and the O’Jays,  I saw a performance of The 5th Dimension singing “Up, Up and Away”. Now, this was a song I had known practically all my life, and I can even remember watching the Muppets singing it on Sesame Street (!), but this was the first time I really paid attention to it - This is in no small part due to the fact that I was taken aback by how GREAT the group looked performing it! They were outfitted in pretty hip sixties outfits, and Marilyn in particular looked just GORGEOUS in a very sexy mod skirt complete with go-go boots! I remember turning to my friend and exclaiming “Whoa! I never knew the Fifth Dimension were so…COOL!”

  After that, every time I heard one of their songs on the radio, the image of that smooth group I saw on American Bandstand would appear, and I would love their songs more and more! I eventually broke down and purchased “5th Dimension’s Greatest Hits on Earth” , and found I loved all those songs as well!! But what abut their actual back catalog? Well, most of those releases sadly weren't available at the time!

   Happily for me and the multitudes of other 5D fans, in 1999, Buddha Records announced that they would be releasingthe Fifth Dimension albums out on CD, and to put it mildly, I was beside myself! They released Up, Up and Away, The Magic Garden, Age Of Aquarius, Portrait and Stoned Soul Picnic and more, and needless to say, I snatched every one of them up! Thus for the first time, I was treated to the FULL Fifth Dimension experience, and I was blown away, every album was SO GOOD!

   Also around this time, Ed Sullivan released a boxed Set of Music Performances from his infamous show, and I was treated with several terrific songs from the 5D! Besides Up, Up and Away and Age Of Aquarius, I also got to see an incredible performance of “One Less Bell To Answer”...

and a REALLY cute performance of “Wedding Bell Blues”!

 That was it for me- I became a total and true 5th Dimension fan then, (as well as falling head over heels in love with Marilyn McCoo whom I STILL have a mad crush on to this day!)

 I had to have everything I could get my hands on, and I must say that at the time, there seemed to be a lot of 5D stuff out there! I grabbed every Album  I could find on CD, including Up Up and Away, Stoned Soul Picnic., Magic Garden, Age of Aquarius, Portrait, Love's Lines Angles and Rhymes, Individually and Collectively, Living Together, Growing Together, and their awesome "Definitive Collection"! There was another Ed Sullivan DVD collection featuring “Up Up and Away, as well as the 5th Dimension’s OWN Travelling Sunshine Show TV specials on DVD which I had to grab-

My 5th Dimensions CDs and DVDs

I even managed to grab a few of their original vinyl albums to add to my Greatest Hits LP perusing the record shops (and hope to find more!) Got most of them but still missing a few-

With the QUESTLOVE documentary SUMMER of SOUL  (featuring the 5th Dimension along with such luminaries as Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Stevie Wonder) knocking me out, it's rejuvenated my love of the band and I HAD to dig out all those CDs and have been spending all my walks enjoying them!

below: Marilyn and Billy reminisce about the events. Both still look great!

One more I'm taken to the music of my youth and I'm a kid again!