Wistful soft-rock - the Carpenters, Bread, James Taylor, Carole King, that guy who sang “Feelings” - was a balm in troubled times. During their recording career, they became famous for making America feel good at a time when there was so much to feel bad about. Which is funny, because not even their fans look at the group as anything like the voice of a generation. Bringing them to Southern California was a need to share and, OK, overshare how and why the Carpenters matter. All told there are about 150 people present, coming from Belgium, Japan, Mexico and around the United States. The farm girl from Saskatchewan who heard the music on her transistor radio and performs it today on stages all over the world. A schoolteacher from Florida, hoping to spread the word about anorexia nervosa, the affliction that led to the congestive heart failure that killed Karen in 1983 at age 32. A mother and son from Arkansas, who sang hymns together in their church and today sing Carpenters songs outside it. I was determined to do it all, just like he did.” “I decided I had to study music and become Richard Carpenter. An older brother introduced him to their 1970 breakthrough hit “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” and pretty soon, it was over for him. “My father was abusive and there were all these other issues going on.” He was 9 or 10, living in a small West Virginia town, when the Carpenters began recording. He’s got short grayish-blond hair and a gentle grin. “I was a troubled youth, I guess,” he says.
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