Hi Fans!

Richard sends his thanks for all the lovely gifts and cards you all bestowed upon him. He particularly enjoyed the unique hand-made cards and gifts.

It was bound to happened sometime, and it did in Las Vegas. The opening act was finished, the M.C. announced "Ladies & Gentlemen - The Carpenters," the drum roll had commenced, and there stood Richard on stage - WITHOUT KAREN!! She was still in her dressing room unaware that it was curtain time. There were no monitors, and nobody had warned her. Needless to say, it was an astronomical Karen who flew on stage to sing the opening number which hilariously enough was Help.

Three days before the Vegas closing, they found that each morning they had to strip the stage of all instruments and equipment so Nancy Sinatra could rehearse her act which would follow the Carpenters closing. Then it had to be set up again by six in the evening, in time for their dinner show.

During the Tyre convention held in Las Vegas while Karen and Richard were there, they partied in Richard's dressing room with Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, Unser and other great race car drivers. Andretti and Richard had quite a Ferrari discussion, and Skiles and Henderson entertained with a hilarious car skit.

Other VIPs who dropped in to visit during their Vegas run were Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the Air Force Thunderbird pilots, Gerry Vail, Chill Wills, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower. Julie's visit was to our duo's Vegas residence, rather than the Riviera. Through secret servicemen were in attendance during Julie's visit, she entered the Carpenters house alone, and they all enjoyed a pleasant private visit. Julie later presented Richard and Karen with a beautiful book which she had edited, all about the Nixon family.

Karen and Richard also visited the Nellis Air Force Base, meeting again with the Thunderbird pilots, and were privileged to climb aboard one of the planes while Dad Carpenter took movies of the action.

A few times just for kicks, they went to Circus Circus, a circus atmosphere night club there, and road the bumper cars. Arriving at a time when there were no other patrons, the attendants turned the power up full blast so they'd experience rougher bumps, and a good time was had by all.

Leaving that fabulous city, the group flew on to Salt Lake City for a gig at the Special Events Center. Though once again their equipment truck was late in arriving, all hands on deck enabled the stage to be set up in time for the evening performance. However, the heavy rain created traffic problems with detained the show 45 minutes.

At Boise State College, there were locker rooms only for dressing rooms, so Karen was given the use of a coach's office that conveniently sported a lovely shower. After the gig they went to the only 24 hour restaurant for dinner, but when they arrived it seemed like the entire Boise State audience had the same idea. The place was so crowed there was no room for the group, so they didn't get dinner until 3:00 a.m. the next morning. So much for one night stands!

In Seattle's Center Arena, the show's promoter had delectable snacks sent to the arena for the group. This included a huge fruit bowl which overflowed with all the available fresh fruits including pomegranates, (the juicy red fruit with a jillion seeds Karen, Maria & Danny attacked these with justo, while the rest of the group stuck with the more conventional fruit. Curt Mercer, the lighting man celebrated a birthday that day, so they all trooped to Victor 6/10 for dinner-a hearty Italian one!

Dressing rooms in Spokane, though a bit small, were lovely, with sparkling clean showers and lighted mirrors. Blackula, Karen's big black wardrobe trunk had to be left in the hall nearby for custume pressing. After the gig, the hungry group returned to their hotel for dinner, to find to their dismay the kitchen was closed. Trudging to the bar, they located the chef who took pity on them and returned to the kitchen to prepare them a great steak dinner.

The next stop was Portland, Oregon, and the though of two days off, which gave them a chance to fly home, and attend an A&M dinner.

Continued next month. Ev.

Last changed: Sun May 29 13:52:33 EDT 2005