Child of the 70's
I was born in the year nineteen hundred and seventy four. That number describes the years following the year of our lord. Karen Carpenter couldn't be any more embedded into my brain. She competes only with Lennon/McCartney, and Robert Plant for top slot in the great "which singing voice has my grey matter most been exposed to?" contest. You didn't even realize there was a contest concerning vocalist within your grey matter did you?
Hey, blond women turn my crank very often. I only don't understand why some people have such a fascination with blond women. My opinions always lead me to the conclusion that the most beautiful women in the world have always been brunettes. If you are a blond haired woman - you shouldn't take this to mean that I don't find your looks to be stunning, breathtaking, and that you've not already stepped on my poor little black heart with your high heels, spat on it, and ground it further into the ground.
Somewhere in the back of my mind there is a remote and rebellious little syndicate of grey matter that is forever playing We've Only Just Begun , I'll Never Fall In Love Again , and On Top Of the World . If I could snuff out that annoying little coterie of resistance, then there are days that the purge would surely have been carried out already.
Karen Carpenter - Beautiful - Young and Older.
Superstar.
The Carpenters are forever a historic bit of Americana. Barbie Dolls they are, clean, clean cut, brother and sister. The anti hippies, the anti head bangers, the music my Mom listened to. The following movie, however, is creepy, to the point, and brilliant in ways that I can't even explain. I'm told that brother Richard tried to sue over this movie, as it portrayed him in a negative light. I don't think that he was successful, as being portrayed in a negative light isn't a crime, especially when your particular shade of light has been misrepresented as "positive" for so many years. The dark side won, Richard, move along.
It's not my intention here to cause you to like "Superstar," the creepy movie using barbie dolls to portrayThe Carpenters. It's my intention here to introduce you to something you might not be aware of concerning The Carpenters. If watching "Superstar" opens your eyes a bit to the fact that celebrity culture victimizes us all in many ways, then congratulations, we both hate the mass media, and come away wiser persons.
A Moment In Time.
One particularly weird moment of my life happened a few years ago at the office of the Terrell Tribune.
Something in the wind has learned my name
And it's telling me that things are not the same
In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze
There's a pleasing sense of happiness for me.
It was a completely dead moment in the newspaper business that afternoon, and I was playing on youtube. I played that song, and Mother came out of her office and we sang it. . . .or at least, I started singing it to her. An office full of women and girls, with the exception of yours truly. . . .stopped whatever they were doing and listened to the little show. None of those older women could hide the fact that they thought it was a beautiful moment, and that they wished they had a son at the office to sing to them.
The Carpenters - Top Of The World.
More than just a singer.
Karen Carpenter was more than just a singer though. When I figured that bit of trivia out though, I just about flipped. I had no idea. I was perusing a list of Rolling Stone magazine drummer of the year award winners. . . .and saw the name Karen Carpenter. I thought that it was surely some mistake. I was wrong!
I think that she was altogether beautiful on this first clip on the adjoining video.
Karen Carpenter was an OUTSTANDING Drummer.
Studio Perfection - The Carpenters.
Struggle For Perfection.
What do you get when you strive for perfection? You only get lies, pain and sorrow, you never get perfection. You get concerned about what some whore who works forRolling Stone says about your weight, or your looks, and maybe, just maybe you let that ruin your life. Karen Carpenter was already as close to perfect as she would ever be, she only didn't realize it, and somehow, someone's shitty comments in a shitty corporate magazine destroyed her. It's nobody's fault, and it's everyone's fault.
The State Hospital
Once I was in a nuthouse, well, there was more than once. . . .but a young woman that looked like a skeleton with skin stretched over it . . .sat across from me at a meal, and proceeded to ask for my food, you know, "if I wasn't going to eat it." It's pretty tough to NOT give some food to someone that looks like they already should be dead from starvation.
After a few meals like that I was approached by a large black woman, one of the many, unfriendly ones that work there, and she said,
I don't know why you give your food to that bitch, she just throws it up in the bathroom after she eats it.
I don't believe I ever claimed to understand that.
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