i was 6 when vpw died,, i remember being very upset...
lcm took his place...
lcm was my vpw...
him being on stage, in shape, looking like a winner really solidified HIS IMAGE in my mind...
as the "leader" and "m.o.g."...
i didn't know about dance, i just saw him as a guy who was bigger than the rest of the ppl, and he killed the devil spirits and the seed of the serpant...
he looked like hulk hogan next to those other dancers...
see, not only was he in my mind as THE teacher, he was in my mind as a "superstar" in my world (which was twi).
it was really a nasty thing... just another way for him to elevate himself...
then those teaching segments.. as i got older, i liked those also...
I was on HQ staff (interim corps) the year AOS was done. They did several performances and I attended several of those because my boss told me I had to go. I always fell asleep during the show. At first I tried really hard to stay awake and then I just thought "To hell with it" and enjoyed the nap. I don't know anything about dance, but I did find it painful to watch LCM doing his thing up there.
Groucho, your description of the performance is hysterical.
Looking back today, I'm really amazed that even Martinfail could have been that arrogant and stupid. What WAS he thinking? AOS! ... :lol: :lol: :lol:
I wonder if he had been in the military instead of playing college football...the production would have been called "Storm Troopers Of Our God's Eternity"? We would have called it Stooge...
Scene One...General Martinfail, dancing in his camoflague leotards, lobs a hand grenade into the midst of the devil spirits, resulting in the spattering of blood and entrails all over the stage...Sgt. Fury, move over.... The production ends with Craig receiving the "heavenly medal of honor", while the rest of the cast chants "All hail the mighty one, all hail the mighty one"...
Here is a tidbit on the AOS project which I have found to be an example of the seduction of self and hubris that is part of what makes the an organization like TWI a cult.
I was at gunnysack for the first block of the in residence 16th WC training. My twig coordinator was Terr* G*ll, who had been heavily involved in producing AOS.
One day she shared how LCM became the lead character. It was at her and another woman’s suggestion. Their reasoning was that since they were having such a difficult time find a male lead with the technical skill and the “spiritual awareness” or words to that effect that it would be easier to teach LCM how to dance (since he had all that natural athletic ability) than it would be to teach a good performer spiritual matters to the depth required for such a critical role.
How could LCM say no? (He asked VP and he did not nix it)-- This what caused his head to puff up in the picture above-- As a result the whole process and production helped bring out establish and the worst in LCM fed by an almost rock and roll entourage of ego reinforcement. I believe that LCM's role in AOS litteraly set the stage for and established his role for the fog years and TWI II.
Part of what makes a cult a cult is that it brings out the worst in people: particularly leaders, all the while making it appear to themselves, other leaders and the committed followers that it is actually their best.
Coolchef, I'm with you, he could have walked through it (kinda like Rex Harrison speaking his songs). But the idea that they "couldn't find" anyone was horsepucky. There were enough connections to NYC believers alone to come up with a Twiggie who could do the job. There were also believers who were connected to U of Utah dance department, and other places. And the original guy could have done a better job than LCM in a heartbeat.
Makes me think that LCM kinda "hinted" that he wanted the job, as has been suggested.
And once it became clear (and it had to be clear to the dancers, even with Waybrain) that Craig was not going to be able to do the part, why was no one able to admit that the emperor had no clothes? I'm betting that there were a lot of conversations behind closed doors, but that LCM had them convinced that "spirituality" was maore important than ability.
Add to that, that the choreographer's eyes were blinded by something less than "spiritual," and I think we have us a star....
Yeah. The story was that they talked Craig into doing it. Craig created such a buzz around it though. It was hard to "hear" anything without getting caught up in the buzz. From my POV the initial excitement was aound us doing the biggest Way Productions thing we'd ever done in the ministry. There was all of this biggest & the best stuff buzzing around it...
It was like the Jedi mind trick from the Star Wars movies. You know where Luke Skywalker rides up in his scooter and the Storm Troopers are guarding the gate? Luke says to the guard while he waves his Jedi finger across the guards view,
"I need to get through here..."
Guard then says, in a dazed manner, not even knowing what he's saying.... "You need to get through here..."
Skywalker, "Yes, I'll be passing through now...."
Guard, "Yes, pass through now."
It was like whatever Craig said, had to happen. It was like we had no choice. He talked about how he was actually living the part of the Athlete of the Spirit "minister" while he was going to consult with all of the best minds in the minstry to formulate his training routine. He was going to get back into competitive shape, cut some weight, re-tone some muscle, gain some flexibility, learn the dance and martial arts moves and do this awesome thing.
What was most awesome about it was the fact that he actually WAS doing it. I think people just assumed that Hayward Chappell would do the lead role. After all Hayward Chappell had danced the lead in every Way Prod Dance thing out of HQ for like the past ten years, as had Murphy. It was like a no-brainer. Hayward already had the body, the skills, and the experience w/Way Prod dancing the role even. I felt like it was a sort of slap in Hayward's face that after all he'd done to help build The Way Dance Co. he was "out" when the company did it's biggest thing ever.
It was like "all of the top" people in various areas did their thing in Athletes. Hayward handled the snub graciously. I actually figured that Craig would do some sort of scaled down version of dancing. There was just no way a bulky tight end football player could become a graceful dancer and hang with Murphy.
They said part of the reasoning was height. There were a few guys in the cast who could have handled the role easily. They were way too short to partner Murphy. The rehearsals were closed. They only folks who saw Craig prior to the show were the other dancers who trained and rehearsed separately from Murphy & Craig. He actually did a lot of his training/rehearsing away from HQ in Cleveland where Murphy lived. He just Jedi mind tricked us,
"My training is coming along, I've lost __________ much weight."
He was getting slimmer. He had stories about funny things in his training and how he felt about what he called trading in his spikes for the little dancing shoes. It wasn't until it was unveiled when it was like, "What?" Then it was like too late to make any changes. Plus. YOU tell the boss his dancing sucks.
Gee boss, you look like a dancin' bull in china shop!
HCW...That's funny stufff. My Gawd, it must have been awful to be that close to the action and see this obscene spectacle unfold. From a spectators point of view, I recall standing outside the new WOW ambassador auditorium...watching as waves of wayfers lined up and went marching in to see this most spectaculae show....it was finally my turn...I walked in with my group and we sat down with great anticipation...
When Martindale finally came prancing out in his Aquaman uniform I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. As I watched him sashay across the floor like a ruptured chimpanzee, I realized that I was witnessing a man who had deliberately chosen to publically humiliate himself...Did he have a sprit of masochism? Had he snapped from too much pressure...but then I finally realized...no, I was watching Aquaman!
You know how when you're driving along and you smell a skunk and it smells so horrible but you just can't quit sniffing? Watching Craig dance was like that. It was so awful that I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
LOL, tonto! Even seeing the video, years after I'd been out, I couldn't believe it, then I kept waiting for him to move again, so I could laugh again! And he never disappointed me.
As far as telling him he sucked, as a New-York trained dancer, I would not have had a problem with it. I would have been doing him a favor. But I doubt he would've heard me, he had his yes-women all around him.
Believe it or not, I have always wanted to see AOS on tape again just for grins. I guess if anyone has an extra copy I'd be willing to buy it. Shoot, I've been out for almost 19 years but I can still picture one move he did that I can only describe as a little roll of the hands then poofing them up to the right, then another roll with a poof to the left. To this day if I copy that little move, my husband recognizes it as craig and says "get me behind thee, satan".
When we were sent out lightbearers that year we had to use AOS as a "public explanation" kind of tool. I remember thinking that was a real whacked-out decision. I am happy to report that I couldn't convince one person to attend. :lol:
...Believe it or not, I have always wanted to see AOS on tape again just for grins.
Gee, I'd like to look at it again just to see what I thought was so wonderful about it at the time.
I think I have that tape buried around here somewhere; unfortunately....it's in Betamax format.
Guess I'll just have to visualize it in my mind.
-_-
I remember my wife and I seeing the depiction of "sensual" spirits in that production; she turned to me and said, "They can't get possessed portraying that kind of stuff over and over again, can they?" And I said, "Naw, honey, these folks are the cream of the crop spiritually-speaking. They know what they're doing."
ugh.....how well i remember watching AOS. Scared the .... out of me. Drove my car home that night with the dome light on all the way with the rear view mirror focused on the back seat. I was convinced there was a devil spirit there. Had nightmares for weeks. Of course, you know, when I mentioned this fear I was told it was "too much meat for a neophite." Well duh.....
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Sunesis
I went to see it in the auditorium at a corps week. Two things struck me. First, the devil spirit humping. It was at the forefront of the production. I thought, this is just the tip of the iceberg
bliss
funny.........I remember one night we were to play AOS on video, and that day, some folks in our Twig "copped-out" (left) the ministry.
All night I heard, "it's cuz we were showing AOS, damn adversary, look at the spiritual competition!"
I bought it hook , line - and shtinker!
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nandon
the pure genius of lcm being the lead in aos...
i was 6 when vpw died,, i remember being very upset...
lcm took his place...
lcm was my vpw...
him being on stage, in shape, looking like a winner really solidified HIS IMAGE in my mind...
as the "leader" and "m.o.g."...
i didn't know about dance, i just saw him as a guy who was bigger than the rest of the ppl, and he killed the devil spirits and the seed of the serpant...
he looked like hulk hogan next to those other dancers...
see, not only was he in my mind as THE teacher, he was in my mind as a "superstar" in my world (which was twi).
it was really a nasty thing... just another way for him to elevate himself...
then those teaching segments.. as i got older, i liked those also...
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Scout Finch
I was on HQ staff (interim corps) the year AOS was done. They did several performances and I attended several of those because my boss told me I had to go. I always fell asleep during the show. At first I tried really hard to stay awake and then I just thought "To hell with it" and enjoyed the nap. I don't know anything about dance, but I did find it painful to watch LCM doing his thing up there.
Groucho, your description of the performance is hysterical.
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GrouchoMarxJr
Thanks Scout... B)
Looking back today, I'm really amazed that even Martinfail could have been that arrogant and stupid. What WAS he thinking? AOS! ... :lol: :lol: :lol:
I wonder if he had been in the military instead of playing college football...the production would have been called "Storm Troopers Of Our God's Eternity"? We would have called it Stooge...
Scene One...General Martinfail, dancing in his camoflague leotards, lobs a hand grenade into the midst of the devil spirits, resulting in the spattering of blood and entrails all over the stage...Sgt. Fury, move over.... The production ends with Craig receiving the "heavenly medal of honor", while the rest of the cast chants "All hail the mighty one, all hail the mighty one"...
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Goey
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
goey
thanks a lot
i was about ready to sit down to a nice dinner and a glass of wine
now i will have to settle for the whole bottle
what a puke pic!
thanks for the laugh!!!!!!!
jeeez that is gross!!!gotta go windex for my comp. screen!!! lol
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templelady
GOey
It's okay to RESIST those irrepressable impulses! :D
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ckeer
Here is a tidbit on the AOS project which I have found to be an example of the seduction of self and hubris that is part of what makes the an organization like TWI a cult.
I was at gunnysack for the first block of the in residence 16th WC training. My twig coordinator was Terr* G*ll, who had been heavily involved in producing AOS.
One day she shared how LCM became the lead character. It was at her and another woman’s suggestion. Their reasoning was that since they were having such a difficult time find a male lead with the technical skill and the “spiritual awareness” or words to that effect that it would be easier to teach LCM how to dance (since he had all that natural athletic ability) than it would be to teach a good performer spiritual matters to the depth required for such a critical role.
How could LCM say no? (He asked VP and he did not nix it)-- This what caused his head to puff up in the picture above-- As a result the whole process and production helped bring out establish and the worst in LCM fed by an almost rock and roll entourage of ego reinforcement. I believe that LCM's role in AOS litteraly set the stage for and established his role for the fog years and TWI II.
Part of what makes a cult a cult is that it brings out the worst in people: particularly leaders, all the while making it appear to themselves, other leaders and the committed followers that it is actually their best.
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
having some theartrical back ground {directing childrens theater,community theater, and semi pro theater} maybe that fiasco wouldn't have been so bad
if all the dancers could dance. and here is my point as a director
loy did not have to dance but could have walked the scenes.
it would have been much more dramatic t hat way imo.and maybe he would not have made a fool of himself
thoughts anyone?
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WordWolf
If he had just stayed in narration like he did in two scenes, he would have been fine.
(The productiion would still have been a bad idea, but not so painful to watch.)
I also think that different people may well be convinced that they talked lcm into
being the lead, even twisting his arm around it,
but I personally believe he had himself in mind for the lead from the beginning,
and just made sure to drop vague hints until someone suggested it so he could
be surprised.
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GrouchoMarxJr
Had Marindale walked the scenes, it wouldn't have been as funny...This production WAS a comedy, wasn't it?
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shazdancer
Coolchef, I'm with you, he could have walked through it (kinda like Rex Harrison speaking his songs). But the idea that they "couldn't find" anyone was horsepucky. There were enough connections to NYC believers alone to come up with a Twiggie who could do the job. There were also believers who were connected to U of Utah dance department, and other places. And the original guy could have done a better job than LCM in a heartbeat.
Makes me think that LCM kinda "hinted" that he wanted the job, as has been suggested.
And once it became clear (and it had to be clear to the dancers, even with Waybrain) that Craig was not going to be able to do the part, why was no one able to admit that the emperor had no clothes? I'm betting that there were a lot of conversations behind closed doors, but that LCM had them convinced that "spirituality" was maore important than ability.
Add to that, that the choreographer's eyes were blinded by something less than "spiritual," and I think we have us a star....
Regards,
Shaz
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HCW
I'm with you guys.
Yeah. The story was that they talked Craig into doing it. Craig created such a buzz around it though. It was hard to "hear" anything without getting caught up in the buzz. From my POV the initial excitement was aound us doing the biggest Way Productions thing we'd ever done in the ministry. There was all of this biggest & the best stuff buzzing around it...
It was like the Jedi mind trick from the Star Wars movies. You know where Luke Skywalker rides up in his scooter and the Storm Troopers are guarding the gate? Luke says to the guard while he waves his Jedi finger across the guards view,
"I need to get through here..."
Guard then says, in a dazed manner, not even knowing what he's saying.... "You need to get through here..."
Skywalker, "Yes, I'll be passing through now...."
Guard, "Yes, pass through now."
It was like whatever Craig said, had to happen. It was like we had no choice. He talked about how he was actually living the part of the Athlete of the Spirit "minister" while he was going to consult with all of the best minds in the minstry to formulate his training routine. He was going to get back into competitive shape, cut some weight, re-tone some muscle, gain some flexibility, learn the dance and martial arts moves and do this awesome thing.
What was most awesome about it was the fact that he actually WAS doing it. I think people just assumed that Hayward Chappell would do the lead role. After all Hayward Chappell had danced the lead in every Way Prod Dance thing out of HQ for like the past ten years, as had Murphy. It was like a no-brainer. Hayward already had the body, the skills, and the experience w/Way Prod dancing the role even. I felt like it was a sort of slap in Hayward's face that after all he'd done to help build The Way Dance Co. he was "out" when the company did it's biggest thing ever.
It was like "all of the top" people in various areas did their thing in Athletes. Hayward handled the snub graciously. I actually figured that Craig would do some sort of scaled down version of dancing. There was just no way a bulky tight end football player could become a graceful dancer and hang with Murphy.
They said part of the reasoning was height. There were a few guys in the cast who could have handled the role easily. They were way too short to partner Murphy. The rehearsals were closed. They only folks who saw Craig prior to the show were the other dancers who trained and rehearsed separately from Murphy & Craig. He actually did a lot of his training/rehearsing away from HQ in Cleveland where Murphy lived. He just Jedi mind tricked us,
"My training is coming along, I've lost __________ much weight."
He was getting slimmer. He had stories about funny things in his training and how he felt about what he called trading in his spikes for the little dancing shoes. It wasn't until it was unveiled when it was like, "What?" Then it was like too late to make any changes. Plus. YOU tell the boss his dancing sucks.
Gee boss, you look like a dancin' bull in china shop!
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GrouchoMarxJr
HCW...That's funny stufff. My Gawd, it must have been awful to be that close to the action and see this obscene spectacle unfold. From a spectators point of view, I recall standing outside the new WOW ambassador auditorium...watching as waves of wayfers lined up and went marching in to see this most spectaculae show....it was finally my turn...I walked in with my group and we sat down with great anticipation...
When Martindale finally came prancing out in his Aquaman uniform I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. As I watched him sashay across the floor like a ruptured chimpanzee, I realized that I was witnessing a man who had deliberately chosen to publically humiliate himself...Did he have a sprit of masochism? Had he snapped from too much pressure...but then I finally realized...no, I was watching Aquaman!
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tonto
You guys are so funny...
You know how when you're driving along and you smell a skunk and it smells so horrible but you just can't quit sniffing? Watching Craig dance was like that. It was so awful that I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
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shazdancer
LOL, tonto! Even seeing the video, years after I'd been out, I couldn't believe it, then I kept waiting for him to move again, so I could laugh again! And he never disappointed me.
As far as telling him he sucked, as a New-York trained dancer, I would not have had a problem with it. I would have been doing him a favor. But I doubt he would've heard me, he had his yes-women all around him.
Regards,
Shaz
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tonto
Hi Shaz,
Believe it or not, I have always wanted to see AOS on tape again just for grins. I guess if anyone has an extra copy I'd be willing to buy it. Shoot, I've been out for almost 19 years but I can still picture one move he did that I can only describe as a little roll of the hands then poofing them up to the right, then another roll with a poof to the left. To this day if I copy that little move, my husband recognizes it as craig and says "get me behind thee, satan".
When we were sent out lightbearers that year we had to use AOS as a "public explanation" kind of tool. I remember thinking that was a real whacked-out decision. I am happy to report that I couldn't convince one person to attend. :lol:
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Kevlar2000
Gee, I'd like to look at it again just to see what I thought was so wonderful about it at the time.
I think I have that tape buried around here somewhere; unfortunately....it's in Betamax format.
Guess I'll just have to visualize it in my mind.
-_-
I remember my wife and I seeing the depiction of "sensual" spirits in that production; she turned to me and said, "They can't get possessed portraying that kind of stuff over and over again, can they?" And I said, "Naw, honey, these folks are the cream of the crop spiritually-speaking. They know what they're doing."
:blink:
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Goey
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markomalley
That is a truly disturbing image, Goey.
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wingnut
The second pig has more grace and charm! :lol:
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V777
ugh.....how well i remember watching AOS. Scared the .... out of me. Drove my car home that night with the dome light on all the way with the rear view mirror focused on the back seat. I was convinced there was a devil spirit there. Had nightmares for weeks. Of course, you know, when I mentioned this fear I was told it was "too much meat for a neophite." Well duh.....
Vickie
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WordWolf
It's been a while since we discussed AOS.
I figured some people missed that lcm ripped it off of Travolta.
And missed the famous "ruptured chimpanzee" review.....
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
said it b4 and i'll say it again what a piece of s..t that farce was
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