|
Post by Rick Henry on May 23, 2004 14:02:14 GMT -5
What do the Carpenters mean to you?
The Carpenters are such a big part of my life. They are comfort and soothing to me.
They are a group who represents quality music.
Carpenters were one of my main influences in pursuing a career in music which lasted for nearly 15 years.
|
|
|
Post by Song4You on May 23, 2004 16:42:35 GMT -5
Wow, Karen and Richard are such a huge part of my life. I often find myself telling others that they aren't a part of my life, they are my life! There's not a day that goes by where I don't listen to them. I don't know what it is; just everything about their music makes me feel at ease and content. They just mean so much to me. Who knows what kind of music I would be listening to these days if Karen and Richard hadn't pursued their musical careers. ;D
Laura
|
|
|
Post by beaner on May 23, 2004 20:04:23 GMT -5
The Carpenters have done something for me my whole life since age 11 and continue to do so. Their music influenced me and allowed me to learn how much music can mean to me and how it can help others too. The way they kept their heads throughout "making it big". They made me proud and in that, I learned how to be a kind and considerate person myself. Whenever family or friend heard of the Carpenters, it was a given that they thought of me at the same time. I look to their music in happy and sad times and it lifts me EVERY time! A Toast to Karen and Richard Carpenter!!! A Special Drum Roll to Karen and her absolutely beautiful voice and genuine spirit!!! ;D
|
|
|
Post by enigma on May 24, 2004 0:33:58 GMT -5
Like Song4You I don't go a day without listening to a Carpenters song. I cannot see anything but possative things coming from listening to their music its innocent no profanity or controversy just pure beautiful music. I appeciate the hard work Karen and Richard put into each song they recorded and the quality of the records proves that their hard work payed off. I can't explain what it is about Karens voice that makes me want to listen, contnue to listen and never grow tired of it but I feel good whenever I listen to her sing. Even when I'm not listening to their music I get their songs in my head. I thank Karen and to a lesser degree Richard for enriching my life with her fabulous voice and their beutiful music.
As far as keeping their heads with sucess I suppose they did the best they could but success did cost both Richard and especially Karen (too much, too fast, too soon and too young).
|
|
|
Post by beaner on May 24, 2004 7:59:49 GMT -5
I still think they kept their head throughout making it big and by that I mean I don't think, for one minute, they let all this success change the people that they are. They never thought they were better than anyone else and always seemed down to earth!!
|
|
ThomB
CERTIFIED GOLD MEMBER
Posts: 110
|
Post by ThomB on May 24, 2004 11:03:12 GMT -5
I still think they kept their head throughout making it big and by that I mean I don't think, for one minute, they let all this success change the people that they are. They never thought they were better than anyone else and always seemed down to earth!! That's another reason why I love them so. They were down to earth. They weren't your typical superstars. To me the Carpenters are beauty and peace. Karen's voice is the one voice I never tire of. She had such a special quality. Her voice is so personal and soulful that I often think of her as being all my own. Like as if she were my sister.
|
|
|
Post by Alejandro2710 on May 24, 2004 11:42:13 GMT -5
What can I add? I read all the beautiful words all of you have writen. Karen had the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. When I feel happy a Karen's song rounds in my head, when sad or anguish another one. She has been with me since 1975 and has never left. Her body might not be us anymore, but she has left us her voice and I'll never forget. She was, she is and will be walking beside me with a different song to every different mood of my life-
|
|
|
Post by beaner on May 24, 2004 18:24:24 GMT -5
It's so nice to know that there are so many of us out there that think alike when it comes to the Carpenters. Many of my friends like them a lot, but all of you make my day when I can read what another fine person has to say about one of the most important parts of my life and that is Karen and Richard.
Thank you all!
|
|
|
Post by smoothie2 on May 24, 2004 20:48:46 GMT -5
I truly agree with all that everyone has said...otherwise, I wouldn't be such a regular to the forum! I, like most of you, grew up with their music. And I find that I just love and appreciate Karen and Richard and their band even more so, the more I learn and hear of them through books written or special shows on tv and their performances. When I listen to them, I consider them old familiar friends...it doesn't matter how long the day has been or how good or bad the day has been, I know that if I listen to the music, the harmonies, whether fun or sad, or happy tunes...a part of me at those times, just is put at ease. Karen managed and Richard too, managed to always be the gracious hosts friendly to the audiences...because they really cared about people and music. The money and fame were great in that they could have a very good living and to travel around the world while doing something they loved. But mostly, it came down to they gave it all they had and then some. They believed in hard work because they could make many folks happy while doing so. and so it goes... smoothie
|
|
|
Post by BethMosior on May 26, 2004 7:48:27 GMT -5
Richard & Karen where my only reason for being on this earth, the only other one that ever made me feel like that is Jesus Christ The Carpenters were real, they didn't give the impression of superiority, they were just like anyone else they are my sanity, I started liking them when I was about 4 or 5 years old, I think it was when they were on make your own kind of music, because of thier smile, it was like they were smiling at me( that was a new feeling for me) like i was importent to them that was also a new feeling ,they seemed like really nice people too. then when I heard Karen's voice and Richard's music that was it I was hooked out side of Jesus Christ, Karen and Richard really are the only reason why I'm still alive, somebody really cared about me even if I never got to meet them personally. The Carpenter's really are the greatest this world has ever seen or heard or ever will Thanx, this topic was a great Idea and I hope that I didn't ramble
|
|
|
Post by smoothie2 on May 26, 2004 10:40:43 GMT -5
???thanks to all for opening up...it is very interesting to hear what an impact R. and K. had to everyone personally.
|
|
|
Post by Song4You on May 26, 2004 16:25:05 GMT -5
???thanks to all for opening up...it is very interesting to hear what an impact R. and K. had to everyone personally. I'd also like to give my thanks to everyone...I love to read how Karen and Richard have impacted and influenced our lives in so many different ways. Laura
|
|
|
Post by Moe on May 27, 2004 1:44:25 GMT -5
The Carpenters introduced me to music. I knew hymns from church and some classical music from Mom, but the Carpenters took me to an entirely different place. The fact that they were so real and down to earth, really helped me relate to them. Their music meant a lot to me through my childhood and adolescence, but I think I appreciate them more now, in adulthood. Class acts with classic music!
|
|
steve
NEW TO THE FAMILY
Posts: 27
|
Post by steve on May 27, 2004 22:22:27 GMT -5
The carpenters to me represent something that is so missing in Popular music today!! Great songs,brilliant arrangements and Class..They made brilliant and lasting music and "The Voice" was simply so natural,clear and beautiful that it speaks directly to your heart..Steve
|
|
Tracey
NEW TO THE FAMILY
While Dreaming of who you may become, You waste the person that you are
Posts: 25
|
Post by Tracey on May 28, 2004 10:06:24 GMT -5
I've been looking at this topic for a while and wondering if I wanted to be honest and say what I really feel, or just gloss over the past and say something that wouldn't be too risky. I've decided to just do it. Hopefully those of you who think I'm a nice person will still think so after this.
As a child the Carpenters made me feel kindness. There wasn't much of that beyond my immediate family in the world, it seemed to me. My moms family were a group of Irish/French Catholic Alcoholics. Some of them could be quite abbrasive with children and I worked to make myself invisible early in life.
When I was 9 I became a "finicky" eater. I lost alot of weight, but the doctor was not concerened- he said it was a phase kids go through. My weight did come back up, but was like a roller coaster for years and noone really understood what was going on with my eating - firstly because boys " don't worry about their weight"(Bull----) and secondly, because although Anorexia was known to exist, Boys were not known to be susceptible. It was not until 1979 that I was officially diagnosed a sufferer of Anorexia Nervosa. Their seemd to be a very CRUDE blossoming of understanding, among the medical community, about anorexia at that time -- but my doctor told my mom that it wasn't life threatening and would pass as it had always done. Well this time it didn't and soon I was a walking hanger. I kept some pretty ominous secrets. Like the fact that the pattern of my socks was bruised into my ankles and the grommets on the sides of my sneakers were bruised into my feet. Like the fact that at times my lips and fingertips would turn blue and my whole body would feel cold(later found out this is caused by the blood being too thin from lack of nutrients and capilaries collapsing- the body is atrving for oxygen) and a heightend sense of awareness that made normal lighting irritating to my eyes. I wore sunglasses everywhere. This went on for a couple more years and my family tried everything to turn me around - not because we really felt my life was in danger though, because my doctor still didn't think it was! I didn't think it was. NOONE at this time knew Karen Carpenter was suffering from Anorexia.
I remember I was driving to my part time job - one of those stupid minimum wage jobs we use to get movie and mall money at that age -- and I was listening to the radio and the announcer said "the Girl with the Golden Voice is dead at age 32" Before he said anything else a shock went through me . I KNEW he was talking about Karen. I hadn't heard her name yet, and he could have been talking about any number of wonderful singers - but somehow I knew, before he said it, that it was Karen. When he actually said her name I just fell apart and had to pull to the side of the road. He said the death was of Cardiac arrest. That was the first life changing shock. I did not go to work that day. I went home and lay on my bed, more depressed than I had ever been in my life. The second shock came in the morning when my mother told me she had just seen one of those morning shows - can't remember which one - and they had been discussing Karens death and it was related to Anorexia Nervosa. I could NOT beleive it. She made an appointment for us to see my doctor that day and for the FIRST time he did a really thorough exam of my - by now emmaciated - body. I remember hearing him say "good lord" after I had removed the layers of sweatshirts and other clothes. I had strange bruises all over my body. bruises from the seams of clothing and where I had slept against the mattress- things like that. By the VERY NEXT DAY I was on my way to Friends Hospital in Philadelphia - against my will of course- for what would become the first of many hospitaliztions. That was an era when they didn't even have a good treatment program for anorexia. It was just feeding tubes and round the clock supervision with a "one on one partner" and some punishing - you want to come your hair - you eat - you want to bathe - first you eat. It was later programs that actually saved my life, but it might never have happened if Karen Carpenter had not died that day. I might never have had a chance to get well. So, in my young life Karens voice gave me a feeling of friendliness and comfort amidst a rough family life, and later her death , in my opinion , saved me from the same fate. I remember hearing Karen say that the fan letters she got that bothered her were the ones from people asking her to solve problems in their lives. She felt bad that she could not help them and so did not like getting the letters. I think as a child I may have written her such a letter. I wrote many. I wish I could apologize for those letters, and tell her that ultimately, her life DID help so many young girls and boys, women and men, who were suffering secretly at the hands of a dark disease that the medical community did not know how to treat. I wish she knew that - because of her - study programs and treatment programs ARE available now. More people are winning the battle than ever would have been possible if she had not brought such a focus to the disease/disorder. I still struggle every day with my body image and feelings of inadequacy - feelings that I'm not good looking. It is very hard in the Gay community to which I "abstractly" ( I don't actually socialize in the gay scene any longer- I hate bars too - even straight ones- there is a suspenseful air of unpredicatbility in them - like any moment something violent may happen) belong. The women reading this will undertsand the pressures to be pretty and thin and fit that have been imposed for centuries on them, but many people do not realize that these pressures run rampant in the gay community as well. I think most of the male anorexics I have met have been gay. And I still think of Karen in some way EVERY single day. I sometimes have strange dreams in which I have conversations with her. I feel a great loss in her death, but I also feel that she was and is my unknown commrade. And while she was an unknowing champion for all us "skinny kids" struggling to be rescued - I consider it one of her greatest accomplishmnets. And I BLESS her. I love you Karen!
|
|
|
Post by BethMosior on May 28, 2004 15:11:55 GMT -5
Hi Tracey, Don't worry, you've got a friend in me, you shared in the right place , My family life was terrible too. I just became shy and backwards though, detached from the world around me, the Carpenters are the only ones that I felt I was allowed to have any kind of emotion, to exspress myself,about the only true place I found friends but now I'm glad to say alot of my friends are here Thanx ever so much for sharing
|
|
|
Post by smoothie2 on May 28, 2004 19:48:29 GMT -5
:'(Hi Tracey...and hugs to you...Bigtime!!! I'm really so glad that you opened up here on the forum. There are many (yes, there are) who CARE! You are special firstly because God made you and loves you. I'm touched by your honesty in letting us know about what you've gone through. My heart goes out to you because of what you have been through. I do hope things are much better now with your health and life in general. I can see why the Carpenters have meant so much to you and especially Karen. I'm very thankful that people know about anorexia now and other eating disorders and that there is help. I really hate the fact that Karen suffered just as you did and that death came so quickly to her. But, I believe that somehow she knows now what you were going through and she understands why so many fans did write to her hoping she could help them. thanks again for being part of our group here on the forum! "when there's no getting over that rainbow, when my smallest of dreams won't come true..I can face all the madness the world has to give, but I won't last a day without You." smoothie
|
|
|
Post by Rick Henry on May 28, 2004 20:03:11 GMT -5
|
|