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There were also lots of bars where you could hear swing era cats like Al Morgan and

Buddy Banks, who had played with Fats Waller and Count Basie years before, or the
great blues pianist Joe Liggins, the man who wrote ‘The Honeydripper’ and ‘Pink

Champagne’ back in the 40s. Of course, Phil would get up and sing with all of them.
Haha! There were old style country and western honky-tonks as well, like The

Tumbleweeds in nearby Bell Gardens, where we could see brilliant country singers
like Wynn Stewart plus there

were neighbourhood Mexican
Karen Carpenter
bars where we could hear

fantastic accordion groups. So,
the area around Downey had a
lot to offer musically if you

knew where to look and,

fortunately, we did.

LL: So, every holiday season
my family would get in the car

and drive from Whittier over
to Downey to join the line of

cars driving by The
Carpenters house, to see their

spectacular animated
Christmas lawn decorations …

and The Carpenters van
parked out front! Did your

family do that?! Did growing
up in the same town as these

huge pop stars influence you
in any way?

DA: Haha! No, we didn't, but I
can understand the appeal of

doing that. I never cared for The Carpenters. None of my teenage pals liked them
although my parents and their friends loved Karen’s voice. They were the hometown
celebrities, though, so they were truly beloved by some in Downey and mildly hated

by others. It wasn't until later in life, when I was older and wiser, that I came to

appreciate Karen's soulful voice and what a role model she was to a lot of young
women whether they were musicians or not. I also came to understand the tragic
mental and physical pain and anguish she suffered with all of her life. Musically, I

would have dug seeing her step out of the middle of the road, musical spider web that
The Carpenters had her artistically trapped in. Sadly, that was never to be.