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Post by Rob813 on Aug 9, 2004 18:48:22 GMT -5
This is a very difficult topic for me. The day Karen died I was at work in New York City. I didn't have access to a radio or TV so I went thoughout my day without knowing. I took the bus back to New Jersey and entered my apartment around 5:55 PM. My answering machine was blinking so I hit the button to play my messages. My sister's voice greeted me with the news that Karen had died! I thought it was a joke. I couldn't believe it. I immediately turned on the TV and the 6 o'clock news was beginning. The lead story was the stunning confirmation of my sister's proclamation. Death comes at 32 to the beloved singer Karen Carpenter. A clip of Karen singing We've Only Just Begun was playing. I felt like I had been sucker punched! I immediately began calling everyone I knew at the time to connect with someone and to pour out my tears. That evening and throughout the night I played Carpenter music. I didn't sleep a wink. I lit candles and just played their music over and over throughout the night. That night I entered into a period of intense grief that lasted exacting one year. One year later, to the day, I was in a church in New York City. I prayed that God would take away my sadness over Karen's death. I left the church and was walking down a busy street when I looked up in the sky. It was filled with clouds - but- suddenly there was a parting of the clouds and a large ray of sunshine shone through the middle of the sky. At that instant, I felt a large weight lift off my shoulders. "Your pray has been answered", I heard in my heart. I knew that Karen was with God. I felt the grief lift off of me.
The ensuing years saw layers of healing in me. Eventually, I was able to listen to Carpenters music without falling into despair. I still get down about it, but I know life goes on. Someday, I'll see Karen again in a far better place than when I first "met" her. I look forward to that day! You know, relating this story, I still get a lump in my throat. I cannot believe how deeply I loved Karen.
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Mariah Andrews
CERTIFIED GOLD MEMBER
I'm 29/Transsexual M2F/Lesbian from Southern NV. Now a first-time author on the market!
Posts: 113
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Post by Mariah Andrews on Aug 9, 2004 19:19:15 GMT -5
I was still a child in the 2nd or 3rd grade, I don't recall which grade, and I paid no attention to the news. I was only 2 when Elvis died, 5 when Lennon died, both events I have no memory of. Nor do I of Karen's death, because my family wasn't really that big a fan of the Carpenters and they never discussed them at all. To my knowledge, I didn't even knew the duo even existed until I stumbled upon a TV show that mentioned them sometime in 1987. Their songs I've always remembered, like "Sing" and "Yesterday Once More", hearing them on the radio from as far back as age 3, but I never knew who sang them nor the identity of the singer until around 1992 or so. I saw like a show called "A Current Affair" in 1991 that talked about Karen Carpenter and how she died in 1983. Not owning a single record of the group, I had no reaction. But as I kept hearing this one nostalgic radio station somewhere in San Bernardino, CA (where I lived at the time), at the time, I disliked old music that wasn't cool and hearing a station I was forced to listen to. But to me, the only "salvagable" cool songs I heard on that station were Carpenters tunes.
So, hearing "Begun" several times one week, I learned it on the piano. Then, suddenly, I wanted to learn more of K and R's stuff. So I did. Bought more albums. My first two Carpenters records I bought at a thrift shop in 1993, my dad saying, "I didn't know you liked the Carpenters!" because he wasn't into them a whole lot. (But why did he steal those records of mine and keep them for himself?)
So sad to say, I was just a dumb little kid who had limited taste and was hard to please at the time when Karen died. I know that spiritually, she sings to me and that she forgives me for not knowing about her music then.
But musical deaths that really made an impact on me were those of Freddie Mercury (Queen) and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana). John Denver I also liked, and Sonny Bono, whose wife Mary I met many times when I lived in Palm Springs.
Funny, I was listening to old demo tapes of my group from ten years ago, 1994. I heard myself singing "Yesterday Once More" in a grunge-rock fashion. Oh God. Why did I do that? I kick myself for recording that. (It started off the same way as the original version, then came noise-driven guitar.) I kind of regret that big-time.
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Post by beaner on Aug 9, 2004 19:58:20 GMT -5
I remember exactly where I was. I was two months shy of becoming 24 and had my own apartment. I worked until 11:00 am every morning so I was sitting on my loveseat watching my soap operas on ABC and when they had their quick news break like they did every day, they announced "singer Karen Carpenter, dead at 32." I was more than devastated. In my bedroom there were pictures of the Carpenters everywhere and I just stared at them in disbelief. My mother called me on her lunch hour when she heard to see if I was okay, along with a few of my closest friends who knew how dear the Carpenters are to me.
At that time it was the saddest day of my life until I lost my own mother to a stroke 8 months later. That became the worst and doubled with Karen's death, I became quite depressed. It took a while for me to get back to my old self again.
Both my parents are gone now but I can say that the most important people in my life are all watching down on me. That makes me feel good!
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