Carpenters Fan Club Newsletter #83 - February, 1985
Hello Friends,
The Carpenters Music Video has
been completed and will be released February 28. The long hours Richard
spent at A & M Studios resulted in a beautiful tape of Carpenters
hits entitled Yesterday Once More. The video will include clips from
some of their TV Specials, plus many rare photographs. You will also
see their star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Total running time is
55 minutes, 13 seconds. PLEASE! BE ADVISED THAT THE VIDEO TAPE WILL NOT
BE AVAILABLE FROM THE FAN CLUB, but will be distributed to local video
outlets. The price will be $XX.XX.
A new music book has been
published which is available from the fan club priced at $XX.XX to U.S.
members and $XX.XX for overseas members. Carpenters Greatest Hits is
for piano, vocal and chords. The lovely photo from the sleeve of the
album Made In America, graces the cover and there are three beautiful
pictures of the duo within the book.
Richard, with his wife, Mary,
and his parents, Harold and Agnes Carpenter, flew to the East Coast,
Friday February 8, at the request of the Air Force. Richard performed
with the Air Force Band as guest pianist, Sunday, February 10 in
Constitution Hall in Washington D.C. Selections included Slaughter on
Fifth Avenue, Dizzy Fingers, Flat Baroque, Warsaw Concerto, and Star
Wars / Close Encounters. At the close of the concert, the party drove
to Baltimore to visit relatives.
I just received a call from the
publisher of the Carpenter Music Books. He informed me of the
publication of Carpenters Complete, a two volume edition of their
songs. At this writing, I can not give you a description of the books,
nor the price of them, but an order is on the way to the fan club
office and will be available very soon.
February 4 marked the second
anniversary of the passing of our beloved Karen. Your kind remembrances
and beautiful floral gifts placed at her crypt, tells us of your love
or her. The Carpenter family sends sincere thanks for your continued
devotion and for these lovely memorial offerings.
NOTE TO JAPANESE FANS: Work is
now in progress for the release in Japan, of a new Carpenters album for
Japanese fans. It will be a four record set, the name of which, has not
yet been decided. It will be released in the near future. WE REGRET
THAT THIS ALBUM WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES.
We selected a number of questions often asked by fans, and Richard took time from his busy schedule to reply to them.
Q. When the Carpenters first started out, did they play all one nighters or a week at a time?
A. Both.
Q. In their early public appearances did the Carpenters have their music memorized or did they have it in front of them?
A. Memorized, of course.
Q When can we expect Richard's solo album to be released?
A. Late 1985, early 1986.
Q. Why wasn't Christmas Alphabet from the first Christmas Special, included on An Old Fashioned Christmas?
A. It is a unison duet with Kristy McNichol. Karen and Kristy's voices were recorded on the same track.
Q. Will the songs Little Girl
Blue, Dancing in the Streets, Make It Easy On Yourself, and When I Fall
in Love that K & R recorded for a TV Special, ever be included on a
future Carpenters album?
A. Possibly.
Q. What album was Karen's favorite?
A. Made In America.
Q. For which Las Vegas hotel/casinos did Richard and Karen perform?
A. The Sands, Riviera, and the MGM Grand.
Q. What are Richard's feelings on the increasingly popular compact Disc?
A. Richard owns two "CD"
players and is delighted with the "CD" frequency response, lack of
distortion, and absence of surface noise. He feels they are here to
stay.
Q. How many copies has the classic "Merry Christmas, Darling" sold to date?
A. Approximately 600,000.
Q. Would Richard ever consider forming his own record label?
A. No.
Q. The February 21, 1983
edition of "People" magazine, quotes Karen's hairdresser, Arthur John,
as saying, "Karen had started writing songs", What has become of them?
A. "People" magazine was mistaken. Karen had never written any songs.
Q. Who originally recorded Beechwood 4-5789?
A. The Marvelettes.
Q. How many promotional films were made, and of what songs?
A. Love is Surrender, Close to
You, Superstar, Rainy Days and Mondays, Hurting Each Other, Please Mr.
Postman (filmed at Disneyland), Only Yesterday, I Need to be in Love,
Calling Occupants, All You Get from Love is a Love Song, There's a Kind
of Hush, Beechwood 4-5789, Those Good Old Dreams, Touch Me Then We're
Dancing. Eleven of these are among the fifteen selections featured in
the Carpenter's video, Yesterday Once More.
Q. What and when were The TV Specials?
A. The Carpenters Very First
Television Special 1976. The Carpenters at Christmas 1977. Space
Encounters 1978. Christmas Portrait 1978. Music, Music, Music 1980. All
were aired on ABC.
Q. Who is the H. B. Carpenter whose signature appears on my membership card?
A. For the few who may not know, H. B. Carpenter is the inimitable Harold Bertram Carpenter, Karen and Richard's father.
Q. In Reverend Charles Neal's
"In Remembrance" for Karen, he stated that Karen was born into the home
of Harold, Agnes, Richard and Joan. Who is Joan and what is her current
status?
A. Joan is one of the
Carpenter's cousins and was raised from the age of eighteen months by
Harold and Agnes. She is presently married and resides in Downey just a
few miles away from the Carpenter home.
Dear Friends,
I now approach the most
difficult segment of this, my final newsletter to you. As
incomprehensible as it appears to me, mother nature dictates the time
for my retirement has arrived. It is with deep and mixed emotions that
I "officially" sever my connections with the Carpenters International
Fanclub at the end of this month. I have been very privileged to have
held such a unique position for the past 11 1/2 years, and I thank you
all most sincerely for having made my job such a pleasant one through
the warmth of your friendly correspondence.
Most of all I thank you for
your awesome dedication and loyalty to our mutual idols ever the years,
(no artist could hope for better fans), and I derive comfort from
knowing you will continue to support Richard as he embarks on his solo
career.
I will cherish forever the happy memories of my association with the Carpenters and their wonderful fans.
Thank you so much, and may God Bless You All. Rosina.
Carpenters Fan Club Newsletter #84 - July, 1985
Hello Friends,
Ev here once again at the helm of the Fan Club due to Rosina's
retirement. It is a great feeling to open Fan letters and find that
many of the signatures are familiar names from long ago. Richard, his
family and his staff truly appreciate the continued support and
devotion that you have shown throughout these many years. We all send
our thanks to you.
Richard and Mary wish to express their thanks for the numerous
Beautiful cards they received to celebrate their first Wedding
Anniversary.
Richard has been extremely busy this year. Since the release of the
Carpenters' video, he has toured different cities, including Mew York,
Atlanta, Baltimore/Washington and Minneapolis, appearing on both radio
and TV to promote both the Yesterday Once More video and two record
album which are now available.
He will be performing at EPCOT Center in Orlando, Florida on July 19th,
20th and 21st. Included in the program will be an all new 15 minute
Carpenters' medley scored for piano and orchestra.
Recording sessions began on June 26th for Richard's debut album for A
& M Records for which he has written several new songs.
Some Fan Club members who are night owls may have seen Richard perform
on the Children's Miracle Network Telethon. The event was broadcast
from the Osmond Studios in Orem, Utah on June 1st and 2nd. Richard
performed Star Wars / Close Encounters and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue in
to performances approximately 12:50 a.m. and 1:50 A.M. PST. The
telethon raised approximately $21 million.
Richard participated in other fund raising activities. He appeared at a
"Mardi Gras" June 15th to help raise money for the Children's Cancer
Center at Long Beach Memorial Hospital and on the March of Dimes
Telethon the evening of June 29th.
On April 9th, Richard and Mary hosted a lovely dinner/dance to honor
Mom and Dad who celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary. The
celebration was held in the Garden Room of the Disneyland Motel in
Anaheim. During gift opening, Mom and Dad were surprised and delighted
with an 1985 Cadillac Coupe Deville given to them by Mary and Richard.
In response to questions concerning the release of the Yesterday Once
More video in ENGLAND, Richard was apprised by A & M Video that the
compilation will be released in the fall of 1985. It will be released
in SPAIN in December and should now be available in JAPAN and
AUSTRALIA.
Mavens of both the Carpenters and the Compact Disc will be happy to
know that within the following ten months, the entire Carpenters'
catalog will be released in the CD format.
"Don't believe everything you read" is an adage that still proves to be
true... at least when applied to recent articles concerning the TV
movie on The Carpenters. Here are the facts at the present time as told
to me by Richard.
A) Executive producers Jerry Weintraub and Richard Carpenter have
entered into a developmental pact with CBS for a TV "movie of the week"
based on the career of the CARPENTERS.
B) Jerry and Richard have hired screenwriter Barry Morrow (of Bill and
Bill: On His Own fame) to write the teleplay. Barry has spent many
hours interviewing the Carpenter Family and friends in research for the
script which he will be writing shortly.
C) Although Richard is a "fan" of Stephanie Zimbalist and Remington
Steele, he has never mentioned using Stephanie to portray Karen.
D) Jerry and Richard will non attempt to "gloss-over" Karen's tragic
battle with Anorexia Nervosa. Both parties feel that the Carpenters'
"docu-drama" should deal with both,, the "Ups and down" of the
Carpenters' career.
E) Since the project is in its embryonic stages, little thought has
been given to casting. As a result, it is not known at this juncture
whether "knowns" or "unknowns" will be playing the parts of the
principal characters.
We have had numerous requests for one of the pictures of Karen and
Richard which appears on the video. It is a 1981 picture where Karen is
leaning over Richard's shoulder. This picture is now available to Fan
Club Members. Also available is a lovely color picture of Richard and
his beautiful wife, Mary, taken in 1984. Both pictures sell for $X.XX
each. Also, a limited number of Song For You posters have been
discovered in our storage room. They will be sold on a "first come,
first served" basis. The price of the poster is $X.XX each for USA,
Canada and Mexico, and $X.XX each for all other countries.
You might be interested to know, that all of the lovely anniversary
cards that you thoughtfully sent to both Richard and Mary and Mom and
Dad Carpenter have been lovingly placed in Books of Memories. Mom and
Dad received three beautiful photo albums as anniversary gifts and they
are all filled to capacity with greeting cards and numerous pictures
taken at their celebration.
Work is in progress on a new keepsakes list which will feature photos of each keepsake which is now for sale.
FLASH!! I have just been informed that 3 more colored photographs are
now available, one is a full length picture of Karen and Richard
sitting back to back on two boxes. An other picture is of Richard and
Mary with Mom and Dad Carpenter which was taken on the eve of Mom and
Dad's Golden Wedding Anniversary. The third one is of Richard seated at
a piano in the Garden Room of the Disneyland Hotel on the eve of Mom
and Dad's Anniversary where Richard obligingly entertained the guests.
Q. Will any of the TV Specials be available on Video Tape for purchase in stores?
A. At this juncture, no plans are being made to release any of the ABC Carpenters Specials.
Q. Are there any more track's recorded by K & R which may yet be released?
A. Yes, and they will be released sometime in the future.
Q. Are there further unreleased Christmas songs?
A. No. All remaining Christmas recordings were included in An Old Fashioned Christmas.
Q. During the ending credits on the video, who does the Close To You instrumental music?
A. It is Burt Bacharach's version from his A & M album Close To You. (1971)
Q. Was the Carpenters' Bless the Beasts and Children the same one used for the movie? Also, was it ever on the charts?
A. Karen and Richard's version was used for the movie. It was the
"flip" side of Superstar and after Superstar peaked at number 1, Beasts
was programmed by certain stations. This resulted in the song reaching
the national "Top 40" charts, ultimately peaking at 67. (This was
before the "trade" magazines charted "B" sides being played at the same
numerical position as the "A" side.)
Q. What is it that Karen is saying on the Voice of the Heart album before Make Believe It's Your First Time?
A. "Uh, I have to get into a serious mood here."
Q. Can I still purchase a Carpenters watch?
A. Sorry, they are no longer available.
Q. Is the Voice of the Heart poster (no. F.) the inside cover or the outside cover of the album?
A. The outside cover.
Q. On Calling Occupants who did the voice of the space creature over the telephone while talking to the DJ?
A. Richard's voice was used with the help of an "Outboard" piece of equipment called a harmonizer.
Q. Will Richard's solo album feature him on vocals, instrumentals, or both?
A. Richard will handle production, arranging, instrumental and vocal chores.
It is good to be rapping with you again. EV.