Carpenters 55th Anniversary Celebration - April 2024 in Downey

[David A]

A hearty and grateful THANKS to all who posted/are posting their pics and stories from the 55th. I attended the 50th but couldn't swing this one.

Very interesting that Richard attended this one, and not the 50th - let's not speculate, please, lest it start up any untoward discussion. I just think it's interesting, and what a boon for those of you who attended - congrats! YES, I'm jealous (in a good way)

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I almost forgot. The author Paul Tornbohm who just released Carpenters every album, every song came on Saturday too. He was there to sell, and autograph copies of the book. He sold out!!!

I counted over $200 on that table lol

I never heard of him, he has a website.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I guess it would have been cheaper for me to fly to CA to see Richard than to fly to the UK

I hope some video clips appear soon of Richard speaking. If that was allowed?

 

[Portlander]

Thought I would add a photo of Peter, Kathy and Greg who put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort to pull this amazing event off. Was nice reconnecting with old friends from the 50th celebration and making new ones during the past week. Had an opportunity to meet Ken (GDBY2LV) who is a great guy and a class act even though his in-depth knowledge about everything related to the Carpenters made me feel like a novice! Props to Chris May for making Richard's surprise appearance possible due to the trust and respect he has earned from our favorite musical legend!

 

[Chris May]

Thought I would add a photo of Peter, Kathy and Greg who put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort to pull this amazing event off. Was nice reconnecting with old friends from the 50th celebration and making new ones during the past week. Had an opportunity to meet Ken (GDBY2LV) who is a great guy and a class act even though his in-depth knowledge about everything related to the Carpenters made me feel like a novice! Props to Chris May for making Richard's surprise appearance possible due to the trust and respect he has earned from our favorite musical legend!

It was a fun night!

 

[Portlander]

Chris providing guidance for Richard behind the stage at the end of the event. Mary is amazing and so down to earth and that is oboe legend Earle Dumler to the right and Tori Holub at center rear. I have some videos of the excellent interview by Chris but will refrain from posting without permission and he may release it in its entirety on his site in the future which was professionally filmed by our friend and photographer Chip Cogswell.

 

[Chris May]

Chris providing guidance for Richard behind the stage at the end of the event. Mary is amazing and so down to earth and that is oboe legend Earle Dumler to the right and Tori Holub at center rear. I have some videos of the excellent interview by Chris but will refrain from posting without permission and he may release it in its entirety on his site in the future which was professionally filmed by our friend and photographer Chip Cogswell.

Thanks, Jim for giving up your hotel room for a few hours for the fam!! We are forever grateful.

 

[Portlander]

My pleasure. You have a great family and your dad is one cool dude!

 

[Chris May]

My pleasure. You have a great family and your dad is one cool dude!

My father-in-law is awesome!!

 

[Portlander]

Photo that I took in front of some random house in Downey. Not sure of what was happening at the time but they were unruly and must be part of a tough LA street gang due to the number of matching blue t-shirts claiming to be part of some blue collar trade union. It also appears they were searching for a very collectible red Ferrari that could not be found in the garage. Obviously a well organized group with a high level of street cred because I observed them leaving in two luxury buses that stopped at a local McDonalds for lunch. After little more research it appears that the local Mayor is one of the ringleaders, go figure!

 

[Portlander]

Still in decent shape compared to some of the other stars.

 

[Portlander]

The Downey Patriot article from Thursday, April 25th and I apologize for the creases.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

It's too bad the star doesn't have their full names on it.... or else it should just say "Carpenters."

 

[newvillefan]

Still in decent shape compared to some of the other stars.

Didn't some hardcore fans club together a few years back to pay for its repair? If memory serves me right, it's right on line with an off-street garage and originally sustained a fair bit of damage due to the vehicles driving back and forth over it onto the boulevard.

 

[GDBY2LV]

Jim is pictured in the bottom left corner with some of the ladies from Mexico, I believe. He is definitely our Good Will-Mr. Congeniality Ambassador. Always making new friends, and helpful to all, with an ever present friendly smile, and great stories.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

It's too bad the star doesn't have their full names on it.... or else it should just say "Carpenters."

When I see or hear the words The Carpenters I always think of everyone who made up the group including the band members. Don’t they deserve part of that star?

 

[GDBY2LV]

According to Ev in the fan club letters. Carpenters were a duo, not a group. Most of the band just toured. A few, like Bob, and Tony played as studio musicians, but did no vocals, other than a couple of lines on Christmas Portrait. They referred to themselves as Carpenters, not The Carpenters. You only see the word “the” used on a couple of titles. By accident I think.

 

[Bartog739]

The T.V. specials would usually insert a "The" in the same style as Carpenters logo as you'll notice on the YouTube videos that include the introduction. It would seem Karen and Richard just never made a big deal about it themselves so...that might be why the "The" is present on the star - even though we purists know it shouldn't be there.

 

[Jack A.]

Honestly, the official album/single releases were really the only time “The” wasn’t included. Can’t think of a single time they were referred to as just “Carpenters” other than that.

 

[Bartog739]

Honestly, the official album/single releases were really the only time “The” wasn’t included. Can’t think of a single time they were referred to as just “Carpenters” other than that.

Johnny Carson kind of got it right. He said "The Carpenters" twice when describing them but when introducing them he finally said "Please welcome - Carpenters!" At least he was making an effort.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

It’s really a mess because if you have these CD’s check out the spines
Carpenters Treasures (Pickwick CD one Not the Japan 2 CD set) The spine says The Carpenters
Live at the Palladium Pickwick CD spine says The Carpenters
Carpenters Singles 1974-1978 the CD I have says on the cover says The Carpenters, The Gold Foil LP also has The Carpenters
A Song For You MFSL Gold CD the spine says The Carpenters
Love Songs CD (mine is a US one) the spine says The Carpenters

When I go to artists in my iTunes library, I have:
The Carpenters
Carpenters




Even this Forum has The Carpenters Forum lol

 

[crescentnoon]

It looks like the article from The Downey Patriot took a lot of wording from the City of Downey's press release for the event.

It can be found here: https://www.downeyca.org/our-city/press-releases

I couldn't find anything on the city's Proclamation.

Also, the city website has Carpenters as 'notable Downeyeans' https://www.downeyca.org/our-city/visitors/downey-on-screen#ad-image-0

 

[Bartog739]

It’s really a mess because if you have these CD’s check out the spines
Carpenters Treasures (Pickwick CD one Not the Japan 2 CD set) The spine says The Carpenters
Live at the Palladium Pickwick CD spine says The Carpenters
Carpenters Singles 1974-1978 the CD I have says on the cover says The Carpenters, The Gold Foil LP also has The Carpenters
A Song For You MFSL Gold CD the spine says The Carpenters
Love Songs CD (mine is a US one) the spine says The Carpenters

When I go to artists in my iTunes library, I have:
The Carpenters
Carpenters




Even this Forum has The Carpenters Forum lol

Finally noticed that! "Oh, the Humanity!"

 

[newvillefan]

It looks like the article from The Downey Patriot took a lot of wording from the City of Downey's press release for the event.

It can be found here: https://www.downeyca.org/our-city/press-releases

I couldn't find anything on the city's Proclamation.

Also, the city website has Carpenters as 'notable Downeyeans' https://www.downeyca.org/our-city/visitors/downey-on-screen#ad-image-0

They got the apostrophe in the wrong place in the headline ("Downey to recognise Carpenter's 55th Anniversary"), unless they were referring to Richard only

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

They got the apostrophe in the wrong place in the headline ("Downey to recognise Carpenter's 55th Anniversary"), unless they were referring to Richard only

They used The throughout the article so maybe it would sound better for the heading to have read Downey to recognize The Carpenters 55th anniversary?