VISITA DOS CARPENTERS AO BRASIL

Sunday - November 1st, 1981

I arrived at the Rio de Janeiro International Airport 4 hours before the flight, which was coming from Paris bringing Karen & Richard Carpenter, landed on Brazilian grounds. K&R were to come in a charter flight, the luxurious supersonic Air France Concord at that time. I roamed up & down the airport wearing a Brazilian Carpenters Friends Club shirt, which carried the hand-painted club logo ( we hadn’t got enough members to afford silk-screen work then ). Despite the simplicity of that shirt, it turned out to be the most effective way for me to be spotted there. After all the promotion on the radio and local papers on The Carpenters’ arrival in Rio, I suggested everybody should meet the fan club president (me) at the airport observation deck.

Little by little people started coming to me and I was fortunate to get to know some of them who were only familiar to me through mail. There were even brand new fans to the club who happened to be there because of the radio promotion. As time went by the group was growing bigger and bigger,and when we least expected it, we were over 50 people waiting for Richard & Karen. At last the hands of time reached the so expected hour, 3 P.M. , and I remember being the first one to spot the Concorde plane from afar.

A huge fuss broke through the observation deck. I recall many people coming to us to ask who we were waiting for, and many of them frantically joined us as soon as they got to know that we were to welcome the Carpenters in their first Brazilian trip .That was a way too special moment for everyone who was standing there. We didn’t even know if we’d actually get to see Richard & Karen, because it’s not usual for big celebrities to leave through the main arrival gate.

We waited for the Concorde to be the closest to the unboarding gates so that when the folded bridge was to reach its door in order to lead its passengers into the baggage claim area, we rushed to the gates. Less than five minutes later there we all were, in perfect readiness awaiting for R&K to appear before our eyes. Extreme anxiety was what we all were experiencing, because while we were standing there, R&K could be right leaving through one of the security side gates. Over 40 minutes dragged by and when we least expected it, I saw someone in an orange shirt who I thought to be Richard. When I was to say that, someone by my side yelled, "Look ! That’s Richard", confirming my supposition. Right after that Karen came out wearing a gorgeous sweatshirt on which you could read "The Sound Of Music". K&R were being escorted by a large group of people, but none of them were the members of the band. It took them 15 minutes to go through customs, leave that area and finally come to us.

We were waiting for R&K holding a bunch of flowers and were really excited. The moment the gates opened, I was the first to rush to Karen and introduced myself as the Brazilian Carpenters Friends' Club President. I do remember her first words to me when we shook hands : "Oh, good... Very Good..." . I just couldn’t resist the temptation and gave her a kiss on the cheek. It was even more thrilling when I saw that very moment was being taped by Globo Channel ( The main TV network in our country ). But what took the cake was seeing all those scenes all over again on the following Globo Sunday Evening Prime-Time news. K&R walked along the airport main halls with all those thrilled excited fans running and hoping around them. The commotion around Karen was bigger than the one around Richard, so much that the reporters and their cameras could only reach Karen when she was already inside the car.

There was an outstanding aggravation happening as the fans weren’t sure if they should rush to Richard or to Karen. Flash lights were sparkling from all around and we were really walking on clouds. A brand-new single lifetime experience to all of us... It took just few minutes for K&R to cross the whole airport main hall and get into the Galaxy LTD Landau. They were about to leave when I ran along side the car, what caused certain discomfort to its chauffeur.

As soon as I noticed that, I stopped and let them go, because I knew my greatest adventure was just about to start. So we stood there while the car faded away on the long highway that led to the airport. When we finally got our acts together, many people had already left, staying there only those who truly enjoyed The Carpenters. That was when the Friends’ Club reborn again. Everyone was willing to know what The Carpenters would be doing here in Brazil and I gave them all the information I was aware of. At that very moment the new Friends Club board was rising, with Silvia Helena Gomes as a vice-president and Eliane Vaccari as the general manager.

Monday - November 2st, 1981

On the following Monday we were asked by the A&M Records General Manager, Stephen Patrick, to let R&K rest in their hotel so that it would turn out to be their very first day off since their exhaustive promotional tour for the "Made In America" album in France. We promptly obeyed Mr. Patrick’s request because K&R deserved all of our respect and appreciation. And that kind attitude of ours granted us the opportunity to have lunch with The Carpenters and all their escort group the following day at the royal restaurant of Brazil Newspaper headquarters, where R&K gave their first press interview to Radio Cidade.

K&R took their own sweet time resting at the hotel and around lunch time they decided to take a walk along the beach that lies right in front of Caesar Park Hotel. Karen felt deeply impressed by the warmth of the Brazilian people and by the colorful way they decorate their beaches. But what most caught her attention was the melodic way the lemonade and ice-tea vendors used to sell their products. Karen did find that absolutely stunning.

During the afternoon they took a brief rest after lunch and then went to the Corcovado Mountain, where the statue of the Christ lies with its arms open to embrace all the tourists in Rio. While sightseeing there they still met some other fans. Among them was Sara Amorim, a Friend’s Club member. K&R were way too kind to all of them and posed for many pictures with fans. That was when Richard bought the shirt he was to used while leaving Rio ( the read one he is wearing on the pictures of their parting ).

Tuesday - November 3rd - 1981

I practically didn’t sleep during that night imagining what it would be like standing there, side by side with whom we so much admired. As the invitation for lunch concerned me and the Friends-club vice-president only, Silvia & I went together. We met at the rooms of Brazil Newspaper Building a few minutes before the established time. When we got to the restaurant, Richard and Karen were already waiting for us at a table. We felt sort of embarrassed before the idea of joining them. Nonetheless Richard welcomed us with a large smile, as though he did remember who we were, and with a gesture showed us our seats. In fact, we ended up eating nothing, simply because we just couldn’t !!!! Being before Richard and Karen just thrilled us to death ! At that very moment I first noticed that everyone’s plate was being emptied , except Karen’s. She used to play with the food from side to side of her plate and practically ate nothing. That disturbed me because I could tell how thin she was, and the reason for that seemed to be right there. She simply seemed to eat nothing at all... And nothing was also all we knew about Anorexia then... but... We remained there feeling as if we were some sort of misfit, but way too happy for being side by side with K&R. Lunch went by smoothly and soon they announced that R&K should be on air in a few minutes. We quickly rushed through the confusing halls from Brazil Newspaper Building, towards the Radio Cidade FM radio studios. I also do remember that, while running along a corridor, I asked Karen if I could take a picture of her making a face. She did not understand that, but we could finally make ourselves understandable and there was Karen making a face !!!!

Soon after that we arrived at the radio studio where DJ Fernando Mansur was waiting for us ! Mansur was a long term friend of mine because it had been right there, in the radio studios, where the DJ and I presented many Carpenters Specials and announced their visit to Brazil and their participation on his radio show as well. Mansur quickly took his seat before the mic and in the very first interval between a song and another he played "Back In My Life Again" and announced that K&R had already arrived at the radio studio.

The phone immediately started ringing - fans calling in an attempt to talk with either Richard or Karen. Mansur tried some suspense before finally getting K&R on air. Many were the questions asked to R&K, but, in my opinion, the most remarkable moment, was when I myself was asked - live on air - what my favorite Carpenters song was. I promptly said : "Crystal Lullaby" and right after that a surprised Karen Carpenter started singing the song, but on the second line of the song she seemed to have forgotten the words and simply hummed the song. I grabbed the mic and sand it along with her !

It was, indeed, one of the most moving moments from such experience. Besides getting Karen surprised with my choice of a favorite song, Mansur rooted for us singing and at that moment Karen got carried away and yelled : "Everybody sing..." ! That was really fabulous... It was almost an hour of Carpenters live on air. A really interesting fact was when they were asked about their own favorite Carpenters song and Richard answered "Superstar" and Karen, "Because we are in Love", explaining that was a song Richard had written for her wedding.

It was a dream-come-true sitting there being able to listen to Karen sing live, as if it were only for me. Song after song... there she was singing along and humming for us. Such a shame she was away from the mic, which could have captured her live rendition of the studio songs that were being played.

Anyways, I guess that must have been the easiest moment I had with R&K.

During the afternoon they went to Glob Network TV Studios to film their guest appearances in the following shows : Geração 80 / 80’s Generation ( Back in my life again / Close to you / We´ve only just begun ) and Globo de Ouro / Golden Globe ( Touch me when we´re dancing ).

Wednesday - November 04th, 1981

As soon as they woke up, K&R had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and left for Santos Dumont Airport. They flew to São Paulo, where they were special guests in numerous radio shows, continuing their mass promotion of their "Made In America" album. Around 10 A.M. K&R arrived in São Paulo, where many fans welcomed them at the airport. It was only in São Paulo that the Radio Cidade listeners had the pleasure of listening to Karen singing live during their interview, because the D.J. left her mic own so that you could hear Karen’s voice singing along with her own recordings. That was when "SING" was played... K&R also visited Jovem Pan II, Manchete, e Antena I F.M. radio studios, and also the CBS ( Record Company ) Headquarters, where they had a chance to meet many Brazilian artists, amongst them, Kátia, the singer. After their professional commitments, K&R went shopping at the Iguatemi Mall, where, while visiting the Hi-Fi record store, they bought many domestic artist albums and even posed for more pictures.

Thrusday - November 05th, 1981

That Thursday, K&R woke up, had breakfast and took a walk along the beach for some minutes. Soon they were heading to Urca, where the famed Sugar Loaf Mountain lies. There the Brazilian version of their " Touch me when we’re dancing " video was filmed. It took long hours of video taping: The weather was really nasty, and they waited some while for the sun to come out of the clouds. As that did not happen, they had the video filmed under that cloudy weather.

Karen & Richard felt astonished by the wondrous natural beauty of the place. That clip was aired by Globo Tv Network on a Sunday prime-time show named "Fantastico", on Nov/15/81, a week after their departure from our country.

From Urca, R&K went to Sendas Shopping Mall ( now Grande Rio Shopping Mall ), where a small concert was to be held. We were eagerly waiting for that, because that would be the only live presentation The Carpenters would have in Brazil. We knew they would play and sing over playback because the whole band hadn’t come along, but the expectation was deeply exciting anyways. As R.&K. had not arrived yet, I managed to trespass the isolation cord, step on the stage and talk about our Friends Club for a while, giving the audience some information on who we were and how to join the club. Suddenly I was told Karen & Richard had finally arrived. I decided to leave the stage not to cause any virtual embarrassment. When R&K stepped on the stage, they were greeted by Mr. Carlos Henrique, spokesperson for Sendas Co. Richard & Karen answered to many questions and then, to our delight, started the concert.

Delights apart, a few mistakes by the guy in charge of the sound made that afternoon very peculiar. Although there was a small keyboard for Richard, the sound engineer inadvertently started playing "Close to You" while our hero was still standing by the crowd at the front part of the stage. Richard, in a jolt, had to rush towards the keyboard. The weather was still really dark, but no signs of rain so far and the people there were overwhelmed by Karen & Richard’s performance. As the concert went on, Karen sang "We’ve Only Just Begun" and "Back In My Life Again". In the middle of "BIMLA", a downpour broke over all of us. They quickly interrupted the song in a fade out, and Karen & Richard ran for shelter back stage, being invited to stay inside the Sendas Co. Main house until the storm was through. Unfortunately, The Carpenters would not return to the stage. Later on we were told that they were to perform only those three songs. Despite our brief disappointment, we were truly over the moon for having the chance of watching The Carpenters performing on stage, and also way too happy because our BCFC had one of its very best promotions.

That day only, many people who had attended the concert came to us to join the club. We spent a few good hours talking with other fans, giving them all the necessary info, and letting them know about the Carpenters’ agenda for their upcoming days in Brazil.

Karen and Richard spent that evening having dinner with some Brazilian business people and managers.

Friday - November 06th, 1981

The Carpenters started out their day with a visit to Globo Radio Station where they were interviewed and posed for many pictures for promotion.

In the afternoon, the so announced visit to Manchete Co. / Bloch INC. finally happened. They went through a photo session for Amiga Magazine and had lunch with the all-mighty Adolpho Bloch. After lunch they headed to Manchete Radio Station, where they took part in a live talk-show for Manchete FM, recorded an interview for Manchete AM and presented Nair Campos her prize for winning the Carpenters’ Radio Contest . We were invited to take part in the radio shows, so we were at the Bloch INC. around 11 A.M. We saw the car that was transporting the Carpenters everywhere parked in front of the building. We did not give it much of attention because we knew R.&K. had already arrived. But we were stopped by their chauffeur who showed us a newspaper and asked me if that wasn’t me in a picture on the left-hand side of the main page. I almost passed out with excitement : that paper was the Brazil Herald, printed for a Brazilian community in the USA and the higlights on their front page was The Carpenters visit in Brazil.

That was a way too glorious moment for me : seeing there my picture beside Richard & Karen... I begged for the chauffeur to give us that newspaper but he said that copy was Karen’s and that she had strictly affirmed she wanted to keep it. I tried to take a picture of such paper by placing it on the ground and snapshooting it with my camera. But as it was simply a fair camera, the picture came out a disaster, much to my disappointment.

When we arrived at the radio studios, we were introduced to Cacá, the guy who would lead the interview for Manchete FM, and to the enthusiastic Maria Joana, for Manchete AM. We talked a lot and we, from the club, even suggested lots of questions to be asked. We emphasized the fact the Carpenters had won the Hollywood Bowl contest with our very own "Girl from Ipanema", by our very own composer Vinicius de Moraes, in the ides of the 60’s. The guys at the radio made us feel so important for carrying so many precious information for their interview. Around 2 P.M. Richard and Karen arrived, immediately followed by Nair Campos, the contest winner. The moment she laid her eyes on Richard and Karen, Nair almost fainted, so excited she was. Way too nervous, she was having her lifetime dream coming true while R.&.K. shook hands with her and autographed her Made In America album right before her. She presented Karen and Richard a fluffy Mickey doll and a golden pen , respectively.

After many pictures were taken, we went to the radio studios. The interview for Manchete FM was soothing and fun, but the one for Manchete AM, which was being recorded to be aired the following day, was way too hilarious. With such poor command of spoken English, Maria Joana couldn’t get herself together while commenting on "A Garota de Ipanema" (The girl from Ipanema) : amidst her talking she said " - .... "The from girl Ipanema" , I guess it was something like that" Everybody cracked up laughing... And besid

es a few high and lows, the interview was successfully made. At the end of it, we had what we regard our best moment with Richard : We discussed a lot about their work and our Friends club. Richard established a commitment to help us whenever we needed any support from them. We were overjoyed by his promise and we left that 30 minute talk in ecstasy.

We were invited to take part of the news conference that would happen around the swimming pool at the Caesar Park Hotel. Even though the access to such resort was rather difficult for us, because we didn’t have a car, we did not measure efforts to be there at the established time. We just watched the interview without saying a word, accompanied by our very good friend Francisco Rodrigues. Right after the whole thing was finished, we took the opportunity to enjoy some talking to Karen. We spent over 5 minutes asking her questions while she was giving us answers, very caring and giving us all of her attention. We realized she felt quite uncomfortable when we insisted on asking her about her solo album and she said that was just a dead forgotten project. We still insisted on asking if the album would be ever released and she affirmed that she and Richard would not let that happen because the Carpenters meant Karen and Richard, and that album wouldn’t be the thing responsible for breaking such tangles.

As we felt Karen was getting more and more uncomfortable, we thanked her and kissed her goodbye. But... a fan doesn’t let things go that easy ! So we managed to go to the hotel floor where her room was. Already knowing her room number, much to our surprise we found the door opened. We called for her and she came to us. We knew we were somehow pushing the limits, but she was really kind to us. At first we thought she didn’t want us to get in, as she leaned her back on one side of the door, blocking the way. But later on, we realized that had been just mere coincidence : Actually she was really really tired. We just thanked her for her attention and immense kindness towards us.

She confirmed that on the second half of the following year The Carpenters would be returning to Brazil for a concert tour. When we returned to the hotel lobby (Silvia Helena and I) we met all the fans who were there waiting for us and eagerly willing to know everything we had talked to Karen during the minutes we had spent with her upstairs. When we left the hotel for good, we already had in mind the thrills that would be in storage for us in the upcoming day, free of meetings and appointments.

On and on, each and every moment we were going through was way too precious for us and for the Friends Club.

Saturday - November 07th, 1981

In the morning of their last day in Brazil, Richard and Karen chose to stay in their rooms just packing. Our morning was made of many plans for meeting them at the Ethnic and Good Will Fair. We also took the time to buy the gifts we had decided to give them : A huge Mickey Mouse Club cushion for Karen and a silver plaque for Richard, thanking him for everything they had granted us.

At the Ethnic and Good Will Fair, Karen & Richard would make a short appearance at the Rádio Cidade FM stand, where they would be greeted by Fernando Mansur, the nice DJ who had interviewed them at the radio studios. We arrived at the fair at 3 P.M., an hour earlier the time set for R.&K. to arrive. We stayed backstage and when we least expected it, we heard some aggravation outside, which meant R.&K. were arriving. Richard wearing a plain white shirt whereas Karen was in a fancy leather jacket with The Carpenters logo on its back.

We waited until the crowded set them free, and as soon as they stepped on the stage, we did the same so that we could give them the presents we had bought. We were thrilled to see how much Karen enjoyed the cushion we gave her. Richard also loved the plaque and made a brief speech thanking the Club members and all the Brazilian fans for the tender and warm way we welcomed them in our country. Everything with their hit single "BIMLA" as a background song. ( "BIMLA" was the song chosen to promote their "Made In America" album in Brazil ).The whole thing on stage lasted only 10 minutes, but everything was way too overwhelming to all of us.

From the Fair, Richard and Karen went back to the hotel to pick up their bags and head to the airport. We thought it would be wise to follow them to the Hotel because that would be a moment more before seeing them for the last time. This time, just to avoid invading their privacy, we decided to stay outside the Hotel gathered in a group of approximately 15 fans .

Richard was the first one to come out and we could notice he was looking for us because we were always around somehow. As he was coming down the flight of stairs which lead to the streets, he almost tripped on a step when he saw us. He waved us goodbye and with a smile he got into the Galaxy LTD Landau. Karen came out afterwards, escorted by a few bodyguards. She looked extremely exhausted and did not seem to notice us there. Richard, inside the car, turned back to give us a last look as the car left for the airport.

When they arrived at the Rio De Janeiro International Airport, now Tom Jobim International Airport, Karen & Richard clearly carried worn out faces but still had energy to meet fans, sign autographs and pose for more pictures.

Richard was wearing a red shirt he bought on his visit to the Corcovado Mountain, where the open-armed Christ Statue lies. Karen was holding tight the Mickey Mouse Cushion we had given her. That came as a proof that all of our efforts were not in vain and that their staying in Rio had really been very impressive to both of them. Those were the last moments of The Carpenters in Rio, and it could never occur deep in our hearts and minds those would forver be their first and LAST visit to our country.

They boarded a Los Angeles bound flight by the extinct Panam Airlines.

Karen & Richard Carpenter’s visit to Brazil was a highlight in my life and certainly in the lives of way too many other people here.

No doubts that all the dedication and commitment of everyone who contributed to make Richard and Karen’s staying here the nicest one were elements of vital importance, not only for the expanding of our Friends Club, but to assure Richard and Karen that in our country there are many many many people who truly respect and love their work, their music; and who treasure Karen’s heavenly voice and worship Richard’s talent in composing and arranging such beautiful songs. People who, in a nutshell, DO love the Carpenters.

Sydney Ferreira Jr.

English Version by: João "Johnny" do Valle