Favorite Artists: Joni James

 

And continuing the lines of the "Things I first Heard About in Charles M Schulz Peanuts" is the name of legendary songstress Joni James, whom it seems was always mentioned in the strips, not only as s favorite singer of Snoopy's:

...but also as a prize for a phone-in contest Linus wanted to win tickets for! (sadly Lucy thwarts his efforts, so no Joni James for him!)

So I've always knew her name, but that was about it. It wasn't until many years later when Kate Bush (another HUGE fave artist of mine) covered the Gershwin classic "The Man I Love" and, falling in love with the mesmerizing vintage vocal stylings of the tune, piqued my interest in delving more into singers and songs of that era. 

But where to start? I had no real idea. Looking up artists of that time who covered George Gershwin (and there were many, many, many!!) for suggestions , I saw the familiar name Joni James and thought- "Ah! THAT'S a name I know- let's go exploring into HER catalog!"

Looking over Joni's HUGE catalog of music, I COULD have started on her Gershwin LP, however, I decided to start in a more chronological order, beginning with her earliest albums "In The Still Of The Night" and "When I Fall In Love".

WELL, to say I liked it is an understatement- I fell head over HEELS with these two albums; as a primer for the singers of the 40's and 50's, I felt it a WONDERFUL introduction- wistful, dreamy vocals and soothing orchestral backdrops- I was in LOVE!  Over and over I played those two albums and  I soon had to invest in MORE of her music, bit by bit, album by album (well, CD)  til I think I own (almost) all of them in some form or another!

My Joni James CD Collection:

Platinum & Gold: The MGM Years

Legendary: Platinum & Gold Hits

Let There Be Love 

Little Girl Blue

When I Fall in Love

In the Still of the Night

Sings Songs by Victor Young and Frank Loesser/

Sings Songs by Jerome Kern and Harry Warren

Merry Christmas from Joni/ Give Us This Day

Among My Souvenirs/ Joni Sings Irish Favorites 

Je T'aime... I Love You/Ti Voglio Bene... I Love You(1961)

Songs of Hank Williams / Country Style 

Joni Swings Sweet/Bossa Nova Style 

100 Strings and Joni

100 Strings & Joni In Hollywood /100 Strings & Joni On Broadway

Joni After Hours/ Like 3 O'Clock in the Morning

I Feel a Song Coming On/Put On A Happy Face (2x)

Something for the Boys/ I'm Your Girl

My Favorite Things/ Joni Sings the Gershwins

Italianissima!/Folk Songs by Joni

 The MOOD Recordings:

The Mood is Blue/The Mood is Romance/ The Mood is Swinging

 Joni James LPs

In the Still of the Night

Little Girl Blue

100 Strings & Joni

100 Strings & Joni in Hollywood

Give Us This Day

According to online stats, Charles M Schulz and Joni James were friends in real life, no wonder her name came up so often in his strips- Snoopy himself even appeared on the COVER of one of Joni's later collections "Jukebox Joni"!

How sweet is that!

Merry Christmas!

 

Haha, the look of absolute dread on his face in the panel where Lucy is threatening Linus!

The Complete Peanuts 1950-1990

Yeah, I dedicated about six weeks of evening reading to reading the entire Peanuts strips from 1950 all the way to 1990 in chronological order. yeah i know there was more after that but i have no sentimental attachment to those so never got the collections surrounding those years.
Man, how I loved these comics growing up. probably the single most important comics of my life, if I think about it. These strips and Richard Scarry storybooks made me the Graphic Novel/Comic Book aficionado I am today!

Lucy Doesn't Love You, Charlie Brown

Ivy + Charles M. Schulz = PROFIT!!!

Peanuts / Calvin and Hobbes Deja Vu!

I've always loved Peanuts comics as far back as I can remember- For some reason I always identified with poor Good Ol' Charlie Brown! I remember spending  all my allowance on those paperback books (the ones that were condensed versions of the "real" collections like "Thompson's In Trouble, Charlie Brown") and spending entire weekends just sitting around reading them!

  Years later, the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes came out- I immediately fell in love with the strip, because it gave me that same feeling I had when I used to read Peanuts, and it wasn't just the fact that Linus and Calvin dressed the same! Calvin's world of make-believe and the way Watterson strung several strips to tell a greater story all had the feeling and warmth of the old Schulz strips!

  Reading Calvin and Hobbes, every once in a while I would get a strange feeling of Deja Vu, like I'd read something like it before in a Peanuts strip. It got to the point that I went back and dug out some of my old Charlie Brown books, and was quite surprised how many of the Calvin and Hobbes strips echoed the Peanuts ones!

For those like me who always had that sense of deja vu,I thought I'd line some of them side-by-side so you can understand better what I'm talking about!

"Killing the Pumpkin"

Both Linus and Hobbes get squeamish watching a Pumpkin meet its demise

"When You Wish Upon A Star"

Both Sally and Calvin expect instant rewards from Starwishing.

"The "Penitent Sinner" Shtick"

False regret doesn't work for either Linus OR Calvin!

"If I could, I'd flee from School"

Sally and Calvin both dream of tickets out of Elementary School.

"I'd rather dance that perform my part in the School Play"

Linus and Calvin both try to soft-shoe their way out of reciting.

"Pursued by Inanimate Object!"

Both Lucy and Calvin are being chased by things brought to life,

in Lucy's case her brother's Blanket, and Calvin's is his bike!

"I Opt out of this Sled Ride"

Both Snoopy and Hobbes wisely step-off a dangerous sled ride.

"Homework? What Homework?"

Both Charlie Brown and Calvin procrastinate all week on doing their homework.

Both don't learn their lessons.

Peanuts is copyright United Features Syndicate Inc

Calvin and Hobbes copyright Universal Press Syndicate

These pics uploaded for entertainment purposes only...please don't sue my ass!

The Complete Peanuts

As anyone who’s taken a glance at my “Books”  featured in the sidebar of this blog knows, I’m a BIG fan of the awesome COMPLETE PEANUTS series that Fantagraphics has been putting out pretty regularly since about 2004.

I was a HUGE fan of Charlie Brown and the gang growing up, and was always frustrated whenever parts of an ongoing “story” within the strip were skipped over in the paperback reprints. I spent most of my life trying to get the various different packaged collections trying to get the complete run of the strips, not realizing that they NEVER DID print the “Whole Run” of Peanuts…that is , until the Fantagraphics collections!

The series is broken down into years (1950-1951, 1952-1953,etc, etc…) and each time a new book is released, I am constantly in AWE of just how many strips have never been seen in print since their original appearances in the newspapers! I thought there might be a handful of strips that were “new” to me, turns out there are HUNDREDS!

The latest book to come out is Peanuts 1969-1970, and in this one some of the rare strips reprinted are one like the first appearance of Franklin (whom Charlie Brown met at the beach!) the first appearcne of Snoopy's Pal Woodstock, and a truly unforgettable one in the chapter of Charlie Brown and his obsession with The Little Red-Haired Girl!

At some point, charlie Brown began talking about the Little Red Haired Girl in past-tense, as if she no longer was a part of his life. like this strip from the 1970 paperback “You’re Out of Sight ,Charlie Brown”…

  I initially assumed this was simply because school was out and he’d see her again next semester, but I was to realize later that she’d MOVED at some point in the strip, but no evidence I had shed any light on when that might have been!

So I’m reading through THE COMPLETE PEANUTS 1969-1970, and lo and behold- the actual story arc where the Little Red Haired Girl Moved! So it really DID exist! This was one of the key finds I’ve come across in the Complete Peanuts series- I can’t believe such a significant storyline  was overlooked when it came to reprinting the strips for the paperbacks, but it was thrilling AND insightful to FINALLY get to read them!

For one thing, this really was the closing of a chapter of Charlie Brown’s life, taking the Red Haired Girl from a simple elementary school crush to the nearly mythic-like status she ascended to when she became more like a symbol for every desire Charlie Brown wanted.

 Secondly, I think it’s pretty significant in that it was really the last time Linus had much faith in him. After this incident, Linus accepted that his friend was a wishy washy guy who’d NEVER step up to the plate!

A truly memorable story arc that belongs up there with the Linus and Lucy Move Away. Linus for Class President, and Lucy buries Linus’ Blanket storylines!