Richard Carpenter Website Update

[YesterdayOnceMore]

Hello all

Wanted to report that the "Fans Ask" section and a few of the other sections of Richard's Website have finally been updated. I know several of you have asked questions, so I wanted to advise you to check it out!

There is some pretty interesting reading to do in the Fans Ask section - Palma and Love Me are mentioned there (I know I asked this question, and I suspect others did, too - whether or not Richard and Karen "recorded" any more of Palma's tunes), which didn't really get an answer.....but he attempted. The Lead Sister Tee is explained pretty well, and there are other quite interesting tidbits.

Let us know if one of your questions has been answered....


Tim

[wisejester7]

Thanks for the info, T-man.

[merlinjones]

That is cool. He answered a lot of questions in a rather detailed manner. Now, he did not answer my question (gosh darnit to high heck), but asides from that- he did well in answering questions.

[Dave]

Yep, he re-answered my question about their Road Runner, but my question about whether or not they ever sang the National Anthem at a sporting event got lost in the dust.
Two interesting tidbits..."Box Office Movie King" has resurfaced...and he's got stuff stored here in Pennsylvania?!!! Crikeys!
There are a few places that do that in Butler County, just north of Pittsburgh. They are abandoned limestone mines, famous for their naturally controlled climate.

[Rick Henry]

What I found interesting was the question about the RIAA Gold Record of "We've Only Just Begun" which someone purchased for over $1,300. on Ebay. This Gold Record was supposedly presented to Karen.

Richard answered back that it is a fake - as he has all those Gold and Platinum records in his possession.

I just wanted to touch on this subject. Most any item you see on Ebay which has the tag authentic is generally not authentic. Anything with an autograph going for a high price should never be purchased. First off autographs are not worth any money unless they are authenticated. But the tricky thing about getting authogrpahs authenticated is that there are many phony company who will authenticate anything for a fee. The only way you will get an autographed item which has real value would be directly from Richard Carpenter himself(or whoever the celebrity may be).

Another big scam right now is these RIAA Gold Record - there are litterally millions floating around on Ebay and other vendors - and they are all fakes. People can manufacture these things themselves and make them look authentic. These fakes are manufactured for something around $50.00 and then sold for thousands of dollars. Also as Richard stated sometimes these Gold Records belonged to someone - such as a band member or even a songwriter and a false plaque was made to say it was presented to Karen. The Gold Record itself without the plaque could fetch something like $100.00 to $150.00 but no more than that. But since the record was mounted on a fake plaque that nullifies any value of the item and it is completely worthless.

Another one is the one Ken mentioned about the "Horizon" album with the sticker on the album jacket - the sticker originally was never affixed to the jacket itself - it was sold with the sticker on the shrink wrap only. I'v etaken a look at this item and it looks like people are being smart on this one and nobody has bid on it. If the album was still in the shrink wrap with the sticker remaining on the shrink wrap I would pay as much as $20.00 for it - but seeing that the sticker was taken off the shrink wrap and affixed to the album itself - that is what I would consider damaged goods and only worth a few dollars.

Another thing I've been seeing a lot of lately are these prints on canvas with a description that reads:
"An inspiring b/w art print produced on 10 x 8" Hahnmuhle Canvas, regarded as the finest canvas media".
I personally would not even fancy buying any of these as #1 the person selling these is using pictures which were mst likely copped off the internet - some that have even been up here on The Carpenters Online - this person most likely does not have the rigths to be using these pictures and next there isn't any value behind these prints on canvas. Also this vendor has misspelled the word Hahnmuhle - it is spelled Hahnemuhle - and Hahnemuhle is not canvas - but it is paper. This vendor is not professional and is also very misleading. If I were to ever buy any of these (which I won't) I would pay no more than $8.00 (U.S. currency).

Also on Ebay right now is a copy of the album "Offering" with the original "sunflower" cover. The cover looks fairly warn and the record also looks somewhat warn. I would pay no more than $15.00 (USD) for this worn copy - but seeing the shipping cost is $8.50 I would actually not pay any more than $12.00 for it as shipping for this costs less than $6.00 including the price of the envelope or box it's sent in.

There are many people out there (especially on Ebay) who are trying to rip people off. Some of these sellers are people that are familiar names in the Carpenters circle. I've bought stuff from some of these people in the past. One of these people was offering a limited edition of "Gold: 35th Anniversary Edition" with signatures on it. The price was pretty high and the only place I ever saw it being sold was on Ebay - if this was truly authentic - this would have been something that Richard himself or Universal Music Group would have promoted. The person who was selling these bogus limited edition discs even had the gall to try and advertise them here on Carpenters Online - I quashed that immediately.

Anyway I am pretty good at differentiating as to what is actually a good value or not. so, if any of you ever see anything on Ebay and are questioning it's worth please email me at [e-mail] with the link to the product and I will give you I disagreeessment.

I apologize if I got a bit heated on this but, as you can tell I am very passionate about this - I am so against people who try to push items as being valueable or limited when they are not.

One I would buy... someone is advertising a copy of the single "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" with "Merry Christmas Darling" on the b-side (though the ebay listing says "Merry Christmas Darling"). This is from 1974 and the cover is in better than good condition. It's a Jukebox Special and is slightly different from the actual public release. I would pay as much a $40.00 for this item as it is rare. Here's the link to the item: cgi.ebay.com/45-Carpenters-Picture-Sleeve-Merry-Christmas-Darling_W0QQitemZ130052634053QQihZ003QQcategoryZ306QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item130052634053