"Rainy Days and Wrecking Balls Always Bring Me Down"

The Carpenter home as depicted on the album "Now and Then"

Something's wrong in Downey, California and people are frantic! It seems the current residents of the home once owned by Harold and Agnes Carpenter (parents of the famous Karen and Richard) want to demolish the house because gawking fans have a become a nuisance. But, there are a growing number of people who want the home declared a national landmark. This is where I have a problem.

Over zealous fans consider the residence a "Graceland" of Popular music. I think this is going overboard just a bit. If Richard Carpenter had any sentimental ties to the house, he wouldn't have sold it (the home was left to him when Mother Agnes passed away.) For Richard, the Carpenter legacy lies in the musical success achieved by he and his sister Karen in the 1970's.

Karen remains this maudlin symbol to many after her death from complications of Anorexia - Nervosa in 1983. "Karen Carpenter was actually a happy and sometimes sarcastic woman with a wicked sense of humor." notes biographer Ray Coleman. The melancholy characterization is probably derived from Carpenter's rich, alto voice well suited for many sad ballads penned by brother Richard and lyricist John Bettis.

The actual home was used in an awful 1989 biopic: "The Karen Carpenter Story" starring Cynthia Gibb and a very miscast Mitchell Anderson as Richard. The film is filled with inaccuracies as each scene rings with a "Carpenters" song in the background. Even the actors were annoyed as the family hovered over script rewrites and production control. The only saving grace is that the film paints Agnes (Louise Fletcher) as a control freak with the notion that Richard was the true talent in the "Carpenters." The film ends all tidy with Agnes proclaiming: "Karen, I love you" and Karen walking up the steps of the family home looking back: "I love you too Mom." She turns to us with a big smile suggesting: "Wow, she really loves me and now I can go upstairs and die in peace." What a load of crap.

The reality is the home had no value to Richard and have you been to Downey, California lately? Actually the home may the core of a great deal Richard Carpenter would like to forget. So, to all you "Carpenter crazies" out there (and I'm one of them) if you want to remember Karen, just play any "Carpenter" song (except: "BEECHWOOD-45789", what the hell was Richard thinking?) or go leave flowers at the family tomb. Better yet, make a donation to help cure the disorder that still remains a huge problem among women and silenced forever one of the greatest female voices in pop music history. Click the link below to listen to Karen Carpenter's personal favorite.

"I Need to be in Love"