From Disneyland to the Top of the Pop Charts

Here's an old photo I really like. Richard Carpenter and his friend and songwriting partner John Bettis at Disneyland's Coke Corner. Long ago and oh so far away, years before he and sister Karen Carpenter started Carpenters and their reign at the top of the Billboard charts in the 1970's, Richard and John Bettis played on Main Street U.S.A.

With a little help from Photoshop!

Says John Bettis in a 2011 interview with Press Telegram: 

"We were 20 years old, maybe, and full of ourselves," Bettis said. 
"Disneyland had all these rules, you had to act a certain way, and Richard and I broke all the rules. When we were supposed to be playing `Ain't She Sweet,' we were playing `Penny Lane' and `Light My Fire.' So they rightfully, and deservedly, fired us."

No doubt according to Richard that their boss, Vic Guder, was their inspiration for the song, Mr. Guder, from the Close to You album. Nonetheless, Richard and John would go on to write some classics that would be among the Carps great hits: Top of the World, Yesterday Once More, Only Yesterday, I Need to Be in Love, and the opus Goodbye to Love. So, here's to getting the boot at Disneyland. It can open to doors to a great career!