God Bless America!

Happy Independence Day! The United States of America is truly the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Thank you to all the men and women of the military- past and present- who fight for our freedoms, including our right to vocally agree or disagree with our government. And thank you, Walt Disney and the Walt Disney Company, for putting so much of your respect and love for our nation into the parks. From Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln to The Hall of Presidents to The American Adventure, you've given us opportunity to be reminded of how good we have it here and how blessed we are by God.

Return of Agent 86

Very funny, mostly clean and family friendly. This remake of a great 60's sitcom, Get Smart, is worth your time, and yes, sequel worthy. Inspired casting. Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway make a surprisingly good team. No spoilers here- go see it!

Notable and Quotable: Sting

"I think to have faith in nothing at all is to run pretty close to madness. I think insanity is very close behind if you are totally nihilistic about everything. You've got to believe in something."
                                                    Sting

A Look Back into Small World's Future

From the same mid-sixties souvenir book that announced the real Disney Decade...

Here's a piece of concept art which shows an alternative face to the show building of It's A Small World. If you look closely, you'll notice the iconic smiling timepiece is gone, replaced by flags of the world found in the large oval at the center. Also take notice of the colored geometric shapes and patterns on the building. Interesting, huh? The caption below this illustration fills in the missing information: "This model shows how a 'symphony of lights' will spread across the Small World building, highlighting a new area in Fantasyland." Shades of things to come decades later. Just goes to show good ideas never die in hands of the Imagineers.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Before Wall-E...

... there was SMRT-1. He was the cute and compact robot found in Communicore at Epcot Center. He could talk and interact with guests, answering questions with a sweet little boy voice and a charming giggle.

Notice anything special about this photo? Before becoming the current home of Innoventions, there was Communicore. It was a bright and airy place, filled with lots of light and open spaces, without so heavy an emphasis on corporate product placement. Epcot's smaller exhibits were designed to be updated, so things would change. But I'll always miss this little robot. Betcha he's just sitting in some imagineer's home or office, now just a memory of days gone by.

Kodak Moment: Figment of Our Imagination

Just a fun family reunion made a little more special by the appearance of our two favorite Epcot characters, Figment and Dreamfinder. Another great time circa 1992.

Carpenters: Close to You - Second Time's the Charm

Although quickly put together to capitalize on the success of the Close to You single, this 1970 album is actually a near perfect representation of the combined talents of Richard and Karen. This disc remained on my turntable for many weeks. Repeated listenings over the decades have only deepened my appreciation for it, making it a sentimental favorite.

Starting with the iconic recording of Paul Williams' and Roger Nichols' We've Only Just Begun, the set continues with Love is Surrender. This Ralph Carmichael tune is just the vehicle to show the duo's versatility, taking on a contemporary Christian song for a new spin. The rhythm track shines with playful vocals, making me a believer. Returning to ballads, Maybe It's You, this Carpenter / Bettis original, holds up well even in comparison to their later and better known compositions. Quietly elegant, this track still catches me off guard with its intimate reading by Karen. Even at twenty years of age, she sang like a seasoned professional, drawing me into her world.

Reason to Believe is next up. The Tim Hardin classic, the Rod Stewart standard? Yes, indeed, and Karen and Richard's warm countrified version meets the challenge, showing they can excel in most any style. I reconsidered my view on country music because of this song alone, and in my mind, there were too few songs of this style in their repertoire. A reading of the Beatle's Help is next. It is an unnecessary choice- my least favorite track on the album- and the one I used to wish wasn't here as it breaks the established mood. That said, the dramatic ending does set up the exquisite and elongated version of Close to You.

Turning the LP over (and don't you miss the old 12" x 12" covers?), I thought the best was behind me as the two hit singles were found on side one. But what a surprise. Baby It's You captured my ear at first listen and contains one of the finest saxophone solos the Carpenters ever put to disc. Karen's performance is surely a knockout, but this is one of the first times the listener gets a glimpse of young Richard as a great, not just capable, arranger. It is a perfect pairing of singer, song choice, and production, proving his work on the Close to You single wasn't luck. Baby is intimate, dramatic, compelling. The promotions folks at A&M missed the mark here, as this deserved to be their third smash single.

Another Burt Bacharach classic gets the definitive treatment as I'll Never Fall in Love Again is next. Layered vocals and engaging keyboards give us a fresh take on this Top 40 hit. Two more Carpenter/Bettis compositions, the stark but lovely Cresent Noon, followed by Mr. Guder- a good solid song with a strange title, shift the mood once again. For the next number, Richard proves himself a pretty good vocalist. On the breezy I Kept on Loving You, the rhythm guitar plays perfectly against his confident phrasing. This terrific album ends with Another Song, an epic tale of love found and love lost, featuring an ambitious arrangement equal to the powerful fuzz guitar solo on the later Goodbye to Love. This album was a perfect introduction to the talents of this brother and sister team. I was hooked.

Interestingly, I started to discover the power of music to influence its listeners. Not only was the album a turning point in my appreciation of other styles of music, country music in particular, but in hindsight I realized the music of Karen and Richard helped form many of my ideas about romantic love. In the real world, not necessarily a good thing. Yet I also discovered they made some great "mood" music, so you take the good with the bad!

Receiving their gold records. 

It was a pleasure discovering their wonderful singles were not a fluke. In my opinion, the only thing stopping this set from being Karen and Richard's masterpiece album is the absence of a chart topping Carpenter/Bettis composition. That would come later. This fine collection did establish a long and successful career, creating a large and dedicated fan base of listeners from all over the world. I could not wait for their next album, and fortunately it didn't disappoint.
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This is part of a continuing series on the albums of Karen and Richard Carpenter. There are so many stand alone posts highlighting different aspects of their career, recordings, rare photographs, and life that I've lost count. 

Below is the list of my "Revisited /Fresh Look" reviews and then my initial ones a decade earlier. Each have different photos and clippings.

My Revisited / Fresh Look at the albums:

Offering / Ticket to Ride
Close to You
Carpenters 
A Song for You 

Now & Then

The Singles 1969 - 1973

Live in Japan

Horizon

A Kind of Hush

Live at the Palladium

Passage

The Singles 1974 - 1978

Christmas Portrait

Karen Carpenter (The Solo Album)

My Initial Reviews of the albums:

Offering/Ticket to Ride

Close to You

Carpenters

A Song for You

Now & Then

The Singles 1969-1973

Live In Japan

Horizon

A Kind of Hush

Live at the Palladium

Passage

The Singles 1974-1978

Christmas Portrait

Made in America

Voice of the Heart

An Old Fashioned Christmas

Time (Richard Solo)

Lovelines

Karen Carpenter (Solo)

As Time Goes By

The Message

Plainly, this is a great book. It is the sheer simplicity of the message and its presentation that makes it so compelling. It is a tale as old as time itself. Truth be known, at its core, it is a love story. The simple true love story that unfolds in a way you've never read before. Here's the plot: God's love for men and women is so deep and rich and his plan for them powerful and unique. Because of the sorrow, pride, and brokenness of ours souls and spirits and the way we live our lives, we are separated from the one who loves us so. This state of being keeps us from fully understanding what our lives could be.

Thankfully, due to his great and sacrificial love, our lead character sends his son Jesus to the earth to die for us, our mistakes, and the tragedy that our lives become. This is the only gift that accomplishes what God desires for us, inner peace, joy, and a reunited life in him. This amazing gift is given but must be opened by us. No one else can choose to take this gift for us. We each make our own decision.

The author, Eugene Peterson, tells this biblical love story in a modern but not dated, warm and relational way, keeping the substance of the message without using archaic language. Read it for yourself. It is a timeless message about a timeless Gift.

Disneyland's Golden Tomorrow

Another concept of the New Tomorrowland for Disneyland. Just look at this great piece! It certainly was "A World on the Move". Found in this illustration is that slightly different take on Space Mountain's exterior that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago- and in a new location, no less! If I'm viewing this correctly, it seems to be where Carousel of Progress ended up. Too bad, as it would have made a great new centerpiece. If you look closely, you'll see there's two levels for pedestrian traffic here. The Peoplemover still glides along while heading into the center station under the Epcot-like golden dome. However, that doesn't seen to be the Rocket Jets up on top but something more like the Observatron!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

Amazing "Journey"

This may end up being one cheesy film, but every once in awhile, you just have to indulge! And I cannot wait for this. One of my favorite and classic Jules Verne novels made into film many, many times. I even like the casting. Brendan Fraser knows how to balance goofiness with true action heroics as seen in the Mummy series. He'll be great fun to watch here.

This story as a theme park attraction forms the centerpiece of Tokyo DisneySea's Mysterious Island, an area based on Mr. Verne's imaginative novels. It's quite popular. The rumor of this showing up as a stateside attraction comes and goes in cycles. Hopefully one day, the rumors hold true with an attraction becoming fleshed out in steel and concrete. I'll be first in line at opening.

(By the way, on Monday I'll have that other rarely seen Space Mountain concept art up on the blog.)

Beastly Transformation

Hidden among the book, Disney Dossiers, are all kinds of little gems. But you have to look good to find them! Here's an unused character concept for the main character from Beauty and the Beast, and he appears to be the more French cousin of Rafiki from the Lion King!

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

The Real Portofino Resort

Time certainly passes all too fast. It was one year ago that my wife and I were in Italy, enjoying the beautiful towns of Tuscany with side trips to Venice and to Cinque Terra and on to the world famous city of Portofino.

The delicately winding road into the city was buzzing as autos flew by while cyclists cruised and pedestrians crossed the road. It's a blur of activity. My wife described Portofino as the "Italian Beverly Hills", and it really does have the air of the well-moneyed. Mansions and yachts were far from out of the ordinary. Stately shops and hotels beckoned. Outdoor cafes are patronized by women in designer clothes and men looking as if they stepped out of a Fred Astaire movie. The experience was almost surreal- as unique as Venice but entirely different. And worlds apart from the pseudo-Portofino at Universal Orlando.

(Photographs copyright Mark Taft.)

Comstock's Plant (and Animal) Kingdom

Paul Comstock is the modern day genius landscape architect behind so many of Disney's wonderful theme parks and resorts. Mentored by the legendary Bill Evans, his reputation is crowned by his breathtaking work on Disney's Animal Kingdom. Here is one of his pieces for the park. Astounding. (Copyright Disney and Paul Comstock.)

To view more of his two decades of work at Disney, see his portfolio at his new employer, Valley Crest Design Group.

Guns Galore!

From the 1964 Disneyland Guide- a rare look into the long gone Adventureland Shooting Gallery. Something you'll never find 44 years later at the more politically correct Disney's Animal Kingdom!

Rooftops of Paris

This absolutely gorgeous photograph was found by me on the website Flickr several months ago. I am using it by permission per the page I found it on even though I lost the information of the photographer! (If it is you, please e-mail me.) This view is one of many reasons Paris is a city that must be seen to be believed. The City of Lights is a city of delights. (Sorry for the pun!)