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I bet some people were hoping VPW would be electrocuted or that the gathering together would occur and poor Vic would be alone on stage with everyone else beamed up to heaven

The guitar playing incident occurred at the one and only ROA held at the Lima Fairgrounds in Lima, OH. IIRC it was ROA 1975. It rained cats and dogs for most of that rock and the Lima location honestly, just sucked! During one of those late afternoon downpours, vic walked out on the main stage in his finest “dress” overalls with that small acoustic guitar reported previously. The crowd was trying hard to “be blessed”, but by now, the rain had become depressingly annoying. So, vic comes out and thanks everybody for being so blessed, brings Ted Ferrell out, and they do like a little talk show leading up to vic performing his obscure old classic from childhood, “Ole Rattler”, a song about a dog named Rattler. It lasted about 1:20, was pretty piss- poor imo, but vic and Ted were out in the rain together doing their hoakie routine. Later on that night, again, under a steady, cold drizzle, da Forehead was the main teacher. He was out there in a suit and tie, with some poor schlepp standing next to him holding a big golf umbrella. Suddenly, out comes vic, yelling “I stood in the rain today, why can’t you??”. He takes the umbrella from the poor schlepp, throws it toward the drum set, and storms off the stage! The pictures referred to above by WW were pictures of Vic’s afternoon performance of “Ole Rattler” from the main stage of the ROA ‘75.

An ex-twi group founded by people who stood by and did nothing while others were kicked out, who played along and smeared reputations for people who were kicked out or who left in disgust, who did nothing when thousands of others brought up all the obvious problems but rather played along with silencing dissent and taking a share of the loot...... those people were the founders of an ex-twi group who turned around and made their own version of the same corruption in twi. Gee, who would have guessed?

I feel for you, At A Loss. Best you show the little lad what real love is, on the few occasions you are allowed to see him. Reassure him. Without doubt when he returns home, he will behave differently and his boundaries will be subtly changed (for which you will be blamed, when he is "out of control" (ha ha)). Obviously you will have some boundaries that he must adhere to, but these will be reasonable boundaries. He will undoubtedly rebel in his current circumstances when he gets to teen years (and able to make up his own mind) and you want his alternative choice to be you, and not the street, or a gang, or drugs. He may be rather strange and act oddly at that time, and that's not just teenage angst. (Most of us had become rather disturbed adults when we "got out;" how much worse for a child?) Be patient; it can take years to overcome the terrors of abuse. Just as it takes years to "destroy the self," so it takes years to "rebuild the self."

Parental alienation is very real. I figure you've already discovered that and have read some on the issue. I went through it and it devastated me for all of my daughter's teen years. I am most thankful that when she turned 20 (and happened to be pregnant by the young man she eventually married), my daughter initiated reconciliation with me. I now have two wonderful grandchildren who I adore. Even though I know the pain such alienation causes, I'd be encouraged that your grandson still has affection for your son. This article spells out some of the issues. The last paragraph has crucial guidance. During the years I suffered great emotional pain, I was convinced my ex-wife did have borderline personality disorder. If she did, she seems to have grown out of it.