Saturday 9

 

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!


Saturday 9: Hurting Each Other (1972)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song was written by Gary Geld and Peter Udell, who also wrote 1962's "Sealed with a Kiss." What was in the last envelope you sealed?
I sent my mother's Social Security information to her stepson, who is the executor of her estate.

2) In "Hurting Each Other," Karen Carpenter sings she wishes she and her lover could stop making each other cry. Have you most recently shed a tear in the last week, the last month, or longer ago than that?
I am a cry-er.  I cry at sad things, I cry at happy things, I cry at Hallmark card commercials and SPCA reports on abused animals.

3) One of the Carpenters' first records was a cover of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride." Both Karen and Richard were huge fans and nervous about how the Beatles would react to their version. They were thrilled to learn that Paul McCartney responded by saying Karen had "one of the best female voices in the world." Tell us some news you received recently that brightened your day.
Well, first of all, I agree with Paul McCartney.  I was not a Carpenters' fan but every time I heard her sing, I was moved.  As far as news that brightened my day, it was probably hearing that someone I know (slightly) is about to become a parent.

4) Karen died in 1983, but her musical partner and big brother Richard is still with us. He has said he grew up a big fan Top 40 radio, listening every morning as he got ready for school and every afternoon while doing homework. When you were a kid, did you like to study with music or the TV on? Or would you prefer quiet?
I probably listened to the radio, but these days, the radio or music in general bothers me a lot when I'm working.  Oddly enough, I don't mind the TV being on.

5) Karen and Richard spent their teen years in Downey, California. It has the distinction of being home to the nation's oldest, still-operating McDonald's. It's been on the same site on Lakewood Blvd. since 1953. Tell us about a business in your neighborhood that seems to have always been right there, in that spot.
There is a grocery store a few blocks away that was Lucky's when we moved here, then became Albertson's and now is Save Mart, but it's always been a supermarket.  There is also a Chinese restaurant in the same complex that has been there since we moved to Davis in 1973

6) The siblings may have had a squeaky clean public image, but Richard did have a brush with the law while in Downey. The Carpenter family lived for a time in an apartment complex, and one of their neighbors -- a policeman -- objected to Richard "banging on the piano" at all hours. When did you most recently interact with an officer of the law?
I can't remember.  Probably years.

7) In 1972, when this song was popular, Mark Spitz was America's premier Olympian, winning seven Gold Medals. A poster of Spitz wearing his red, white and blue swim trunks and all seven medals was a top seller. Can you recall a poster that decorated your bedroom wall when you were a kid?
No.  My sister and I didn't have posters in our bedroom.

8) Also in 1972, Liza Minnelli was encouraging us to "come to the cabaret." Without looking it up, do you know who Liza's famous parents were?
ROFL.  Does this give you an idea?

I have been a passionate Judy Garland fan since I first saw A Star Is Born in 1953.  Her father was Vincent Minnelli.  Did you know Liza made her screen debut in the 1949 film, In  the Good Old Summertime.  She's a toddler walking in a park with Judy Garland's character, Veronica Fisher.

9) Random question: Are you a better student or teacher?
Neither, really,  But if I have to choose, student.  I have taught catechism classes and was horrible at it, though I have been able to teach students to decorate cakes and definitely helped women learn how to breastfeed their babies..