Sometime in spring or summer of '76, 6th Cork had the famous "meeting that never was". We were sternly threatened not to disclose that the meetings ever took place. Wierwille made dire predictions that the country was "going down the tubes" and y'all get ready cuz it's going down.
Honestly I don't remember much from the meetings. I was glad to get loose for our interim year, f'sure. I wish alfakat were here to post for he was there & has a legendary memory.
Well I posted in the other "eyewitness" thread about my experiences with the alleged overthrow attempt so I won't repost here. I do recall that "America Awakes" was issued that year (1976 or at least I think it was). My initial impression was that it was a pretty good record and I enjoyed most of the songs. I've posted this before and have acknowledged to Socks that I liked the record but the mandatory listenings became too much for me to bear. At first the Twig Leader was playing it everyday which was okay because I'm figuring that since its new , that they were into it. But like 3 and 4 monhts after it came out they were still spinning it before and after Twig. And then we had teachings where someone would analyze the lyrics, and then we were being asked if we had bought copies. And then someone said that it would make a great gift and before you knew it I wound up with multiple copies.
I made the mistake of asking the TC to play someting else (other way music Pressed Down maybe) and boy did I Get the dirty look. She told me that listening to America Awakes was key to understanding how and why God made possible the formation of a country like the US. It was freaky, she was saying that I needed to "work it" else I would
become part of the adversary's plan to undermine the US and what it stood for. Well what could I say. I'd never been ask to "work a record" before. It was too much for me but after that experience I had people come up to me and and thanking me for saying what they had wanted to say. Of course even then you had the suckups who were definitely acting as if listening to America Awakes was a valid substitute for the Bible. I think I still have this album somewhere but I don't have the urge to pull it out and listen to it. No way man. Not even once. I heard that record so much that I can never hear it again.
Also this was about the time that I Was told by several people that witnessing was important to get the word over the world because when that happened, then christ would return. No it wasn't written down anyehere, just like the alleged US government overthrow was never written down, but it did happen and people were thinking that they had to witness like crazy to get WOW so we could hasten the Return. It didn't sound right to me though. I mean that will happen when it does and it saus that no man knows the time so how could we possibly make it happen ? I never heard an explicit retraction of this statement though others told me that "HQ said that was wrong" though I could never get specifics.
Also I remember hearing a great deal about the various deprogramming attempts that were going on. (This could have been 75 ) and how we should protect ourselves by watching out for each other (perhaps an early version of the 80s mandate that you must travel in pairs). We heard some SNS tape about a described deporgramming experience and the Twig leader then told us how it was devil possession that the girl no longer believed 4 crucified and various other way teachings. The TL went on about how risky it was to "be outside the hedge of protection" and that she know of a woman who was raped because she was out of fellowship because she had merely considered that certain way teachings weren't true.
Speaking of the TL, she was this really intense young woman who seemed to pour her all into the WOW and TL experience. It was my first brush with someone so serious about things and prior to that all I had met were mostly laid back hippy types and this woman was not at all in that mold. But the truth was that she wasn't really like that - so serious I mean. It was mostly an act because when I talked to her one one one she dropped the act and was very pleasant to talk to. She wouldn't talk about her life outside of TWI nor did she even openly acknowledge her family life or parents. This was perhaps my first encounter with someone who had cut the ties to her family in favor of TWI. She actually scared a lot of newcomers to Twig to the extent that they never returned and I think in a strange way she was proud of it since she thought she was weeding out the bad ones or something. She was very "spirit" oriented and spoke frequently of possession and how you had to be on the look out for that type of thing.
The weird thing that was in spite of all this I never felt bad towards her. I kind of looked at here as a decent person who was desperately trying to be someone else. I felt sorry for her. Despite all her near fanatic dedication to TWI there was a sadness there she kept trying to hide. I knew what that was like so perhaps thats why I picked up on it. She wound up getting married to a guy who had an equal level of intensity. He claimed to have once witnessed for 48 hours straight and that god and SIT kept him energized enough to go immediately into a PFAL class with no percpetible lack of energy. Of course it didn't really ring true but it was a typical Way story at that time.
I was a wow in 1975-76 in Washington DC, and at some point that year the older couple, G & F Wineg@^ner came to visit as wow rovers, (I think that's what they were called). I believe it was during that same visit that someone else...for some reason I remember it as being one of the guys from Joyful No!se...came and told us all about the upcoming attempt of a government takeover by R@ckafeller (whom vp said was wrong seed) and others. It was all so scary and exciting, and I really did feel privileged to be let in on the heavy revelation.
Joyful Noise came to do an America Awakes concert, and us wows had to dress up (think polyester and garish colors) and visit the congressmen and senator's offices and present them with something...maybe it was the America Awakes album and for sure an invitation to the concert. I don't know if any elected officials attended the concert, but at the time I really did believe we were saving the country.
When July 4th came, all the wows were on the mall...gathered around the Washington monument with a million other people...sit-ing like crazy because that plus witnessing would guard us from the takeover. We were genuinely scared but excited to be such a part of history.
I can't believe I just remembered this, but Pearl Bailey was one of the entertainers at the pre-fireworks show, and somehow she was supposed to be seed too. VP didn't like that song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".
For what it's worth, I really liked the America Awakes album at the time. I remember buying a couple of copies to send to a couple of unbeliever friends back home. (How did I manage that? I was broke the whole year).
On a personal note: I "witnessed" to Betty Ford that year. She was shopping in Georgetown where I worked and I walked up to her and gave her my very own copy of PFAL. That was my 5 minutes of fame.
Oh Ex, I am truly glad you got a good laugh outta my post. :wub: :wub:
I like to think that my piffle book drove her to drinkin', which resulted in the eventual opening of the Betty Ford clinic. Maybe that was my purpose on this planet.
Socks, I'll bet the rest of the class would like to hear some of your wardrobe stories...
We were told to witness because our move of the Word would save the country, if I recall correctly.
You are correct. Our witnessing that year saved the country. From what I am not sure...
Sometime in spring or summer of '76, 6th Cork had the famous "meeting that never was". We were sternly threatened not to disclose that the meetings ever took place.
Wierwille made dire predictions that the country was "going down the tubes" and y'all get ready cuz it's going down.
Well I posted in the other "eyewitness" thread about my experiences with
the alleged overthrow attempt so I won't repost here. I do recall that "America Awakes" was issued that year (1976 or at least I think it was). My initial impression was that it was a pretty good record and I enjoyed most of the songs. I've posted this before and have acknowledged to Socks that I liked the record but the mandatory listenings became too much for me to bear..... (snip)
It was freaky, she was saying that I needed to "work it" else I would
become part of the adversary's plan to undermine the US and what it stood for. Well what could I say. I'd never been ask to "work a record" before. It was too much for me but after that experience I had people come up to me and and thanking me for saying what they had wanted to say. Of course even then you had the suckups who were definitely acting as if listening to America Awakes was a valid substitute for the Bible. I think I still have this album somewhere but I don't have the urge to pull it out and listen to it. No way man. Not even once. I heard that record so much that I can never hear it again.
Also this was about the time that I Was told by several people that witnessing was important to get the word over the world because when that happened, then christ would return. No it wasn't written down anyehere, just like the alleged US government overthrow was never written down, but it did happen and people were thinking that they had to witness like crazy to get WOW so we could hasten the Return. It didn't sound right to me though. I mean that will happen when it does and it saus that no man knows the time so how could we possibly make it happen ? I never heard an explicit retraction of this statement though others told me that "HQ said that was wrong" though I could never get specifics.
Also I remember hearing a great deal about the various deprogramming attempts that were going on. (This could have been 75 ) and how we should protect ourselves by watching out for each other (perhaps an early version of the 80s mandate that you must travel in pairs). We heard some SNS tape about a described deporgramming experience and the Twig leader then told us how it was devil possession that the girl no longer believed 4 crucified and various other way teachings. The TL went on about how risky it was to "be outside the hedge of protection" and that she know of a woman who was raped because she was out of fellowship because she had merely considered that certain way teachings weren't true.
I was a wow in 1975-76 in Washington DC, and at some point that year the older couple, G & F Wineg@^ner came to visit as wow rovers, (I think that's what they were called). I believe it was during that same visit that someone else...for some reason I remember it as being one of the guys from Joyful No!se...came and told us all about the upcoming attempt of a government takeover by R@ckafeller (whom vp said was wrong seed) and others. It was all so scary and exciting, and I really did feel privileged to be let in on the heavy revelation.
Joyful Noise came to do an America Awakes concert, and us wows had to dress up (think polyester and garish colors) and visit the congressmen and senator's offices and present them with something...maybe it was the America Awakes album and for sure an invitation to the concert. I don't know if any elected officials attended the concert, but at the time I really did believe we were saving the country.
When July 4th came, all the wows were on the mall...gathered around the Washington monument with a million other people...sit-ing like crazy because that plus witnessing would guard us from the takeover. We were genuinely scared but excited to be such a part of history.
I can't believe I just remembered this, but Pearl Bailey was one of the entertainers at the pre-fireworks show, and somehow she was supposed to be seed too. VP didn't like that song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".
I remember that they had all us College WOWs and Advanced Class grads memorize a certain spiel about the country, then they sent us out in pairs in the city where Joyful Noise was going to play to go door-to-door, and take battery-operated tape recorders and a tape with us and ask people if they would let us play the tape for them ... it talked about the US, patriotism, and of course, the Joyful Noise concert.
I LOVED the Joyful Noise concert ... of course, I loved ALL the Joyful Noise stuff. And yes, I felt like an important part of history ... that my efforts were helping keep the country together in the same way that the country's forefathers had made a difference. That wasn't by happenstance, either ... the Way's leaders carefully planned out what they had to to ... and to be honest, I don't think they were faking or using it as an excuse to get people witnessing ... I think they honestly believed that stuff ... in the summer of 1975, I had been a Word Over North Carolina Ambassador, coordinating two families in Shelby, North Carolina. When the "leader" of the other family came back, he told me all sorts of things that had been shared with them at the Advanced Class (I could "handle it," he assumed, since I had taken the AC in 1973 at HQ.) The things had to do with Rockefeller, the Illuminati, international bankers, the Council on Foreign Relations, etc....it seemed to be like one jumbled mess when he described it ... but that's when he told me about the book, NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY. For the next year or two, some people in NC were seen carrying that book around with them with their Bible. We were convinced we were making a difference. Did we? Who knows? It didn't HURT anyone to get them excited about their country ... especially after all Nixon's resignation had done to discourage patriotism ... remember, he resigned in 1974 and that was probably one of the main precipitating events of all this stuff ... and Saigon fell in 1975, signaling the end of the Vietnam War as the only war America had ever lost. Patriotism and love of country were at an all-time low....
Sometime in spring or summer of '76, 6th Cork had the famous "meeting that never was".
I remember when that meeting was...in March...because I picked that time to make a solo spur of the moment visit to HQ...my first visit there...from Indy. HQ of course was pretty quiet...I remember sitting at a one table lunch along with Uncle Harry and the others who were there. I also remember being very well welcomed and not suspected of anything...despite being completely unknown to everyone there. Of course, I wasn't at the meeting...but we had one like it at HQ in the fall of 1979.
Socks wrote: I'd like to hear what Betty Ford was like? And did the polyester suit increase the receptivity?
I worked at a boutique and about the time my shift was ending, a limosine pulled right in front of our store. Betty Ford and her entourage got out of the limo and walked just up the block. I had my piffle book with me that day so I boonsquick wrote my name and address inside the front cover (just in case she wanted to attend a twig...I swear I thought this). I walked out of our shop and down a couple of doors until I saw folks buzzing around. I looked in the door, and there she was...sitting in the shoe section of an upscale Georgetown boutique, with the secret service guys in the shop, but not right next to her. There was a reporter sitting with her...from Time magazine, I believe. I walked up to her and excused myself for interrupting and told her I wanted to give her my copy of this book that had blessed my life and maybe it would bless her too. She was lovely and gracious... she thanked me and I quickly stepped away because the spooks were moving toward me. The reporter was in a huff because I had dared to interrupt her interview. I later saw a copy of that magazine and there was a blurb which mentioned that an impetuous young girl came up to Mrs. Ford...blah de blah.
Oh, and I remembered who from way productions spilled the beans about the government takeover stuff...K*n McC@w. You're busted, K*n, wherever you are.
Cool, Ya got moxie, tonto. :) Nice that Mrs. Ford accepted your offer graciously, too. And you made Time Mag! as "the impetuous young girl"! ;)
I always felt she was one cool First Lady, in fact most of the Pres's wives seem to have more on the ball than their husbands. Maybe that should be an option - if the Mr. gets too weird, the Mrs. steps in. Dunno. Her husband Gerald Ford seemed a good man too, who responded to the challenge of his duties with dignity and intelligence.
Thanks, I appreciate that tonto. Here's a short bio on Better Ford if anyone's interested. HERE.
I think it was in 76 that VP came to Knoxville to the UT campus. I'm not real sure about the date, so forgive me if I'm off. Berry Hill had gotten kidnapped for deprogramming and he brought her to Knoxville for a meeting. It was right after she came back. My boyfriend at the time had parents who were friends of Barry's parents.
It got real ugly, real fast. VP did a meeting and my boyfriends dad was there. He challenged what VP was saying, and VP actually threw some punches. Howard Allen was there, and actually had to hold VP back from getting in a fight with my boyfriends father. It got real ugly real fast.
Afterwards, Howard smoothed it over and apologized for VP, and my boyfriends father had the grace to back off and aplogize and agree to meet with VP late to discuss differences of opinion. VP never showed up, and the meeting and the whole ordeal was forgotten, sorta.
But not really. Long story, but the whole thing never really got resolved. And, dumb me and boyfriend, stayed with the way. And actually went into the way corps. sheesh.........
On July 4, 1976, there was a Calfiornia limb meeting at some hotel in Fresno. I was on a summer outreach thing with about 10 others, traveling from town to town, staying for a couple of weeks, camping out, witnessing, trying to get classes together. I remember going to Visalia, Monterey, Yuba City, San luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and some other places. It was a miserable failure but we had a good time, right up to the point when the limb leader took off with one of the girls in our group, leaving his wife and child behind. But that's another story. Back to the Bicentennial stuff in Fresno.
The featured speaker was LCM. This was the occasion when I started questioning his sanity. He went on and on about all the conspiracy stuff from "None Dare Call it Conspiracy", including the fact that the CFR, Bilderbergers, Commies, Trilateral Commission, Rockefellers, Warburgs, Colonel House, Woodrow Wilson, the Federal Reserve with their paper money, etc., had fiendishly plotted to complete the overthrow of the United States on that very day, our 200th anniversary, by replacing the U.S constitution with...I don't remember what. Perhaps the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? And if it wasn't for the Way Ministry blah blah blah.
Anyway, I remember being very thankful that none of our outreach group had actually talked anyone into coming to this meeting. It was the first time I had seen Craig in 'classic' form. It was highly entertainig of course, but he was completely off his rocker. Silly me. I had gone expecting a Bible teaching.
Earlier that year I had gone on one of John Sommerville's wilderness survival things (I don't know if it was called LEAD yet) a three day cross-country skiing trek somewhere in Yosemite. This was just plain miserable with no redeeming qualities. Three days freezing our asses off, eating lousy food, listening to a bunch of crazies talking about how the commies were going to kill us all. I think I actually gave them some money for this.
Anyway, those are some of my memories of that patriotic year. Hadn't thought about those things in a long time.
Most of my involvement was with the America Awakes release by Joyful Noise, and the travel we did around the country. I appreciate that people enjoyed it and got something out of it and I do understand anyone who didn't, for reasons musical, message or otherwise. Music is a personal choice and I'm sorry anyone was pressured to listen to it to that didn't want to or more than they wanted to. I mean, enough's enough after awhile. Nothing's that good. :blink: :D
From my view, America Awakes was a continuation of a theme that we'd worked on the year before that was titled "God in America". One of the center pieces of that period was a spoken word composition that Ted F. wrote titled "The White House Across the Street", with Ken Mac's piano composition accompanying. him. The house was the White House in D.C. of course and it was probably Ted at his best, IMO. It also contained a composition by Mary A. D. on piano, and a song by Stevie K, "Chosen Gems". The chorus went "We are chosen gems, polished by God and His Word...we are beautiful in God's sight". I remember lighting candles we each carried and went into the audiences with and passed along to people.
Between those two productions I think I remember it as J.N. at their best. When we weren't fighting like cats and dogs over some minor detail to make our work better we were - there's really no other way to say it, the people in Way Productions were the greatest people, among the best I've ever known or worked with. It's a time I wouldn't have missed for the world and I was glad to be a part of it. I'd left another musical life entirely to be there and while we were all very different people we were I think all the same in that we were excited to have a chance to build something.
Not to mention all the Way folks. Wayfers, gotta love 'em. I can't recall the numbers of great people I met that year as we travelled. You guys're alright. :) Mostly it was for you, your music. It was on your dime and it honored the music that people like you heard it.
From my view the message of what we were doing was a positive one, coming out of God in America to America Awakes. Recognizing that our country was a wonderful place, with a history that spoke to the best and the worst men and women could do. Given our Constitution, our freedoms and our prosperity, we were in a very blessed spot in the planet's history. What were we going to do with that? We felt we had something to offer each and every person and in J.N. I think we saw it that way. Night after night, person by person, a chance to reach out and remember the good, look honestly at the bad and declare a new day and a new way. Well, we were young, maybe that explains it. B)
I remember all the stuff about impending doom, but - I'd have to say honestly I couldn't get much traction on that. I believed most of what was coming out, but I've always been a get-up-tomorrow-and-do-it-again person. Maybe more stupid than anything else, that's all I know to do, get busy, get creative, move-it-on-down-the-road one more time and keep at it.
I wrote a song that didn't last long in performance, titled "Where Did It Go" with the chorus "let's forget all our tomorrows and yesterdays and walk on in the light..." I think when I looked at our American history I felt if we took the best of our past we could invent a new future based on fairness and equity, and less greed and more meet-the-need. Well, I was young.
I took the whole thing personally, as I know many of us did. I remember that year Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" was out, won a grammy that year. He opened the 2 disk album with the song "Love's In Need of Love" and it really reached me...."Love....Don't delay, send yours in right away...hate's going round breaking many hearts...stop it please, before it's gone too far...." I think that and "Isn't She Lovely" were bookends for me. Get busy loving, get busy making love and life. I experienced some mis steps that year but I felt the efforts of good people everywhere to take even the smallest of steps towards making our country a better place wasn't wasted time or effort.
socks i love you and i read your WHOLE post. you're such a good man and joyful noise music touched my heart and brought tears to me and made me realize there was a god who loved me. thank you
billy clyde is it ? welcome
fiendishly plotted to complete the overthrow of the United States on that very day, our 200th anniversary, by replacing the U.S constitution with...I don't remember what. Perhaps the Protocols of the Elders of Zion?
I was on a summer outreach thing with about 10 others, traveling from town to town, staying for a couple of weeks, camping out, witnessing, trying to get classes together. I remember going to Visalia, Monterey, Yuba City, San luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and some other places.
Hi Billy You all stayed at our house in San Luis Obispo. There were a number of us college WOWs from Cal Poly living together. I remember some of the folks in that summer outreach group and the infamous incident with said LC.
Yeah, I haven't thought about that time period in a long time...
Yeah, God in America. I was trying to remember the year and a distinction from when America Awakes came out and you put it together for me, tyvm.
We were WOWs in 1974-75 (yes, Wordwolf; I realize this goes in the other section) in Bethleham, PA (I was with K*tie F*owle's group - - one of your 4th Corps gals) and one of our rarely allowed drives out of the confines of said city limits was to drive to White Plains, NY for the God in America concert. We were all tingly with excitement to see Joyful Noise live and in person. That was the year they had sent branches of WOWs out to select city and a number of us who post here at GSC have figured out we were all in PA that year - - Scranton, Bethleham, Allantown, College Town - - I think there were 7-8 cities; can't remember them all.
The Joyful Noise 1, 2 and 3 had come out just before we went WOW (if I remember correctly, or maybe that year), but I remember that was our "twig music" - - and played them to death. I personally loved them. Not being much of an acid head prior to joining twi, the blaring of "Born again - - - of in-cor-rupt-ible- - - - - - seeeeeeeeeeeeeeed - - I'm born again" by Pressed Down (????) wasn't my kinda music - - so Joyful Noise was a nice healing change of music for me personally.
The concert was great. VP and HA were doing their "here Howard - - take my jacket" thing on stage (don't know why that sticks in my mind). I think Vince F. was the emcee - - one of the first times I heard him speak. We sat in the first row and I musta caught Br*an Bl*ss' eye, cuz he asked me out for coffee after the concert, but we had to drive in snow all the way back to PA. Another missed opportunity (sigh).
I remember Socks and all the gang so vividly. And you're right about Ted's "The White House Across the Street" was definitely Ted at his best. I remember his performance as though it was yesterday. Gives me goosebumps still thinking about it.
Boy, seems like so very, very long ago (yeah, I know, it was!) and at the time we were full of life, "moving" God's Word and eating this stuff up like crazy. But, it truly was one of the highlights of our year.
Yes we did have some good times almost thirty yeras ago..My JN family always gave their all in all and forever they will have a special place in my heart .
I would like to share with you an update about The White House Across The Street.
About two years ago Chatty Kathy and I were doing some recording work together and Kathy had wriitten a song poem about a mother that had a son in the army overseas and the mother had just received a letter saying he was coming home for Thanksgiving I wish you all could hear it cause your Chatty did a super rendition.
Chatty Kathy and I got to talking how we should send her song along with The White House Across The Street to President Bush .I made up a CD and Kathy mailed it to the President.I told her most likely we will not get a reply .But at least we sent it.
Lo and behold a couple of months later we received an official document from The White House signed personaly by Pres.Bush thanking us for our thoughtfulness.The doucument has the offical White House gold seal and was sent in a flat envolpe made for framing. It now hangs in my recording studio Kathy also has a copy This blessed us a lot that The President Of The United States responded to our heart felt efforts .
exraydio, I love ya too. I'm thinking of reading it myself now, but no promises. But don't call me good. You haven't seen my office, which right now is "clean", which would sound like the word "heard", as in when the disciples heard Jesus curse the fig tree....they heard it. I had to finally hang 3 of my guitars on the wall as their complaints were so loud concerning their personal safety. And Donald the cat - don't get me started.
That be Good Seed, of the booooo-rn again! tune jardinero. When you listened to America Awaits (no cd's Dave and Jim, sorry) you got to hear Pressed Down music though. Grave and the Glory was a Downer tune.
Katie Fowle-boy. Katie. She was so funny, her take on things sometimes and an expression that could say "you gotta be kidding me" perfectly. Very nice woman.
76 was an active year, I think signifiant in that we/the Wayfers, focused on our communities, country, politics, etc. There was a surge of development that came together that year in business, commerce, politics, other stuff. It brought out a lot because it had some focus on -how- we could "move the Word", as part of society. In a certain way it took the focus from inward to outward, for some people.
But Protocols of the Elders of Zion???? Counterfeits abound. The Order of the Sock has long battled these enemies of the True Path!!! Read the only true and viable plan for world domination in the "Protocols of So Crates, soon to be published in all it's glory!!! Sure to thrill, it will be available soon.
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WHAT HAPPENED HERE?
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outandabout
I remember the albun, "American Awakes" came out by Joyful Noise and we listened to it a lot when I was on the field as a Fellow Laborerer.
We were told to witness because our move of the Word would save the country, if I recall correctly.
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tomtuttle1
You are correct. Our witnessing that year saved the country. From what I am not sure...
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RottieGrrrl
WordWolf I sent you a message, I hope you got it. If not let me know
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TheEvan
Sometime in spring or summer of '76, 6th Cork had the famous "meeting that never was". We were sternly threatened not to disclose that the meetings ever took place. Wierwille made dire predictions that the country was "going down the tubes" and y'all get ready cuz it's going down.
Honestly I don't remember much from the meetings. I was glad to get loose for our interim year, f'sure. I wish alfakat were here to post for he was there & has a legendary memory.
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diazbro
Well I posted in the other "eyewitness" thread about my experiences with the alleged overthrow attempt so I won't repost here. I do recall that "America Awakes" was issued that year (1976 or at least I think it was). My initial impression was that it was a pretty good record and I enjoyed most of the songs. I've posted this before and have acknowledged to Socks that I liked the record but the mandatory listenings became too much for me to bear. At first the Twig Leader was playing it everyday which was okay because I'm figuring that since its new , that they were into it. But like 3 and 4 monhts after it came out they were still spinning it before and after Twig. And then we had teachings where someone would analyze the lyrics, and then we were being asked if we had bought copies. And then someone said that it would make a great gift and before you knew it I wound up with multiple copies.
I made the mistake of asking the TC to play someting else (other way music Pressed Down maybe) and boy did I Get the dirty look. She told me that listening to America Awakes was key to understanding how and why God made possible the formation of a country like the US. It was freaky, she was saying that I needed to "work it" else I would
become part of the adversary's plan to undermine the US and what it stood for. Well what could I say. I'd never been ask to "work a record" before. It was too much for me but after that experience I had people come up to me and and thanking me for saying what they had wanted to say. Of course even then you had the suckups who were definitely acting as if listening to America Awakes was a valid substitute for the Bible. I think I still have this album somewhere but I don't have the urge to pull it out and listen to it. No way man. Not even once. I heard that record so much that I can never hear it again.
Also this was about the time that I Was told by several people that witnessing was important to get the word over the world because when that happened, then christ would return. No it wasn't written down anyehere, just like the alleged US government overthrow was never written down, but it did happen and people were thinking that they had to witness like crazy to get WOW so we could hasten the Return. It didn't sound right to me though. I mean that will happen when it does and it saus that no man knows the time so how could we possibly make it happen ? I never heard an explicit retraction of this statement though others told me that "HQ said that was wrong" though I could never get specifics.
Also I remember hearing a great deal about the various deprogramming attempts that were going on. (This could have been 75 ) and how we should protect ourselves by watching out for each other (perhaps an early version of the 80s mandate that you must travel in pairs). We heard some SNS tape about a described deporgramming experience and the Twig leader then told us how it was devil possession that the girl no longer believed 4 crucified and various other way teachings. The TL went on about how risky it was to "be outside the hedge of protection" and that she know of a woman who was raped because she was out of fellowship because she had merely considered that certain way teachings weren't true.
Speaking of the TL, she was this really intense young woman who seemed to pour her all into the WOW and TL experience. It was my first brush with someone so serious about things and prior to that all I had met were mostly laid back hippy types and this woman was not at all in that mold. But the truth was that she wasn't really like that - so serious I mean. It was mostly an act because when I talked to her one one one she dropped the act and was very pleasant to talk to. She wouldn't talk about her life outside of TWI nor did she even openly acknowledge her family life or parents. This was perhaps my first encounter with someone who had cut the ties to her family in favor of TWI. She actually scared a lot of newcomers to Twig to the extent that they never returned and I think in a strange way she was proud of it since she thought she was weeding out the bad ones or something. She was very "spirit" oriented and spoke frequently of possession and how you had to be on the look out for that type of thing.
The weird thing that was in spite of all this I never felt bad towards her. I kind of looked at here as a decent person who was desperately trying to be someone else. I felt sorry for her. Despite all her near fanatic dedication to TWI there was a sadness there she kept trying to hide. I knew what that was like so perhaps thats why I picked up on it. She wound up getting married to a guy who had an equal level of intensity. He claimed to have once witnessed for 48 hours straight and that god and SIT kept him energized enough to go immediately into a PFAL class with no percpetible lack of energy. Of course it didn't really ring true but it was a typical Way story at that time.
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tonto
I was a wow in 1975-76 in Washington DC, and at some point that year the older couple, G & F Wineg@^ner came to visit as wow rovers, (I think that's what they were called). I believe it was during that same visit that someone else...for some reason I remember it as being one of the guys from Joyful No!se...came and told us all about the upcoming attempt of a government takeover by R@ckafeller (whom vp said was wrong seed) and others. It was all so scary and exciting, and I really did feel privileged to be let in on the heavy revelation.
Joyful Noise came to do an America Awakes concert, and us wows had to dress up (think polyester and garish colors) and visit the congressmen and senator's offices and present them with something...maybe it was the America Awakes album and for sure an invitation to the concert. I don't know if any elected officials attended the concert, but at the time I really did believe we were saving the country.
When July 4th came, all the wows were on the mall...gathered around the Washington monument with a million other people...sit-ing like crazy because that plus witnessing would guard us from the takeover. We were genuinely scared but excited to be such a part of history.
I can't believe I just remembered this, but Pearl Bailey was one of the entertainers at the pre-fireworks show, and somehow she was supposed to be seed too. VP didn't like that song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands".
For what it's worth, I really liked the America Awakes album at the time. I remember buying a couple of copies to send to a couple of unbeliever friends back home. (How did I manage that? I was broke the whole year).
On a personal note: I "witnessed" to Betty Ford that year. She was shopping in Georgetown where I worked and I walked up to her and gave her my very own copy of PFAL. That was my 5 minutes of fame.
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socks
oh the stow reez I could tell...
the...horror......the horror....
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excathedra
great post, tonto
and you witnessed to betty ford !!!!!!!!!
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha well now that's the best laugh i've had in a long timeLink to comment
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tonto
Oh Ex, I am truly glad you got a good laugh outta my post. :wub: :wub:
I like to think that my piffle book drove her to drinkin', which resulted in the eventual opening of the Betty Ford clinic. Maybe that was my purpose on this planet.
Socks, I'll bet the rest of the class would like to hear some of your wardrobe stories...
:D
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socks
I'd like to hear what Betty Ford was like? And did the polyester suit increase the receptivity? :D :D
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WordWolf
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ToadFriend
I remember that they had all us College WOWs and Advanced Class grads memorize a certain spiel about the country, then they sent us out in pairs in the city where Joyful Noise was going to play to go door-to-door, and take battery-operated tape recorders and a tape with us and ask people if they would let us play the tape for them ... it talked about the US, patriotism, and of course, the Joyful Noise concert.
I LOVED the Joyful Noise concert ... of course, I loved ALL the Joyful Noise stuff. And yes, I felt like an important part of history ... that my efforts were helping keep the country together in the same way that the country's forefathers had made a difference. That wasn't by happenstance, either ... the Way's leaders carefully planned out what they had to to ... and to be honest, I don't think they were faking or using it as an excuse to get people witnessing ... I think they honestly believed that stuff ... in the summer of 1975, I had been a Word Over North Carolina Ambassador, coordinating two families in Shelby, North Carolina. When the "leader" of the other family came back, he told me all sorts of things that had been shared with them at the Advanced Class (I could "handle it," he assumed, since I had taken the AC in 1973 at HQ.) The things had to do with Rockefeller, the Illuminati, international bankers, the Council on Foreign Relations, etc....it seemed to be like one jumbled mess when he described it ... but that's when he told me about the book, NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY. For the next year or two, some people in NC were seen carrying that book around with them with their Bible. We were convinced we were making a difference. Did we? Who knows? It didn't HURT anyone to get them excited about their country ... especially after all Nixon's resignation had done to discourage patriotism ... remember, he resigned in 1974 and that was probably one of the main precipitating events of all this stuff ... and Saigon fell in 1975, signaling the end of the Vietnam War as the only war America had ever lost. Patriotism and love of country were at an all-time low....
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Lifted Up
I remember when that meeting was...in March...because I picked that time to make a solo spur of the moment visit to HQ...my first visit there...from Indy. HQ of course was pretty quiet...I remember sitting at a one table lunch along with Uncle Harry and the others who were there. I also remember being very well welcomed and not suspected of anything...despite being completely unknown to everyone there. Of course, I wasn't at the meeting...but we had one like it at HQ in the fall of 1979.
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tonto
Socks wrote: I'd like to hear what Betty Ford was like? And did the polyester suit increase the receptivity?
I worked at a boutique and about the time my shift was ending, a limosine pulled right in front of our store. Betty Ford and her entourage got out of the limo and walked just up the block. I had my piffle book with me that day so I boonsquick wrote my name and address inside the front cover (just in case she wanted to attend a twig...I swear I thought this). I walked out of our shop and down a couple of doors until I saw folks buzzing around. I looked in the door, and there she was...sitting in the shoe section of an upscale Georgetown boutique, with the secret service guys in the shop, but not right next to her. There was a reporter sitting with her...from Time magazine, I believe. I walked up to her and excused myself for interrupting and told her I wanted to give her my copy of this book that had blessed my life and maybe it would bless her too. She was lovely and gracious... she thanked me and I quickly stepped away because the spooks were moving toward me. The reporter was in a huff because I had dared to interrupt her interview. I later saw a copy of that magazine and there was a blurb which mentioned that an impetuous young girl came up to Mrs. Ford...blah de blah.
Oh, and I remembered who from way productions spilled the beans about the government takeover stuff...K*n McC@w. You're busted, K*n, wherever you are.
:D :D
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socks
Cool, Ya got moxie, tonto. :) Nice that Mrs. Ford accepted your offer graciously, too. And you made Time Mag!
as "the impetuous young girl"! ;)
I always felt she was one cool First Lady, in fact most of the Pres's wives seem to have more on the ball than their husbands. Maybe that should be an option - if the Mr. gets too weird, the Mrs. steps in. Dunno.
Her husband Gerald Ford seemed a good man too, who responded to the challenge of his duties with dignity and intelligence.
Thanks, I appreciate that tonto. Here's a short bio on Better Ford if anyone's interested. HERE.
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ex10
I think it was in 76 that VP came to Knoxville to the UT campus. I'm not real sure about the date, so forgive me if I'm off. Berry Hill had gotten kidnapped for deprogramming and he brought her to Knoxville for a meeting. It was right after she came back. My boyfriend at the time had parents who were friends of Barry's parents.
It got real ugly, real fast. VP did a meeting and my boyfriends dad was there. He challenged what VP was saying, and VP actually threw some punches. Howard Allen was there, and actually had to hold VP back from getting in a fight with my boyfriends father. It got real ugly real fast.
Afterwards, Howard smoothed it over and apologized for VP, and my boyfriends father had the grace to back off and aplogize and agree to meet with VP late to discuss differences of opinion. VP never showed up, and the meeting and the whole ordeal was forgotten, sorta.
But not really. Long story, but the whole thing never really got resolved. And, dumb me and boyfriend, stayed with the way. And actually went into the way corps. sheesh.........
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billy clyde
On July 4, 1976, there was a Calfiornia limb meeting at some hotel in Fresno. I was on a summer outreach thing with about 10 others, traveling from town to town, staying for a couple of weeks, camping out, witnessing, trying to get classes together. I remember going to Visalia, Monterey, Yuba City, San luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and some other places. It was a miserable failure but we had a good time, right up to the point when the limb leader took off with one of the girls in our group, leaving his wife and child behind. But that's another story. Back to the Bicentennial stuff in Fresno.
The featured speaker was LCM. This was the occasion when I started questioning his sanity. He went on and on about all the conspiracy stuff from "None Dare Call it Conspiracy", including the fact that the CFR, Bilderbergers, Commies, Trilateral Commission, Rockefellers, Warburgs, Colonel House, Woodrow Wilson, the Federal Reserve with their paper money, etc., had fiendishly plotted to complete the overthrow of the United States on that very day, our 200th anniversary, by replacing the U.S constitution with...I don't remember what. Perhaps the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? And if it wasn't for the Way Ministry blah blah blah.
Anyway, I remember being very thankful that none of our outreach group had actually talked anyone into coming to this meeting. It was the first time I had seen Craig in 'classic' form. It was highly entertainig of course, but he was completely off his rocker. Silly me. I had gone expecting a Bible teaching.
Earlier that year I had gone on one of John Sommerville's wilderness survival things (I don't know if it was called LEAD yet) a three day cross-country skiing trek somewhere in Yosemite. This was just plain miserable with no redeeming qualities. Three days freezing our asses off, eating lousy food, listening to a bunch of crazies talking about how the commies were going to kill us all. I think I actually gave them some money for this.
Anyway, those are some of my memories of that patriotic year. Hadn't thought about those things in a long time.
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socks
Most of my involvement was with the America Awakes release by Joyful Noise, and the travel we did around the country. I appreciate that people enjoyed it and got something out of it and I do understand anyone who didn't, for reasons musical, message or otherwise. Music is a personal choice and I'm sorry anyone was pressured to listen to it to that didn't want to or more than they wanted to. I mean, enough's enough after awhile. Nothing's that good. :blink: :D
From my view, America Awakes was a continuation of a theme that we'd worked on the year before that was titled "God in America". One of the center pieces of that period was a spoken word composition that Ted F. wrote titled "The White House Across the Street", with Ken Mac's piano composition accompanying. him. The house was the White House in D.C. of course and it was probably Ted at his best, IMO. It also contained a composition by Mary A. D. on piano, and a song by Stevie K, "Chosen Gems". The chorus went "We are chosen gems, polished by God and His Word...we are beautiful in God's sight". I remember lighting candles we each carried and went into the audiences with and passed along to people.
Between those two productions I think I remember it as J.N. at their best. When we weren't fighting like cats and dogs over some minor detail to make our work better we were - there's really no other way to say it, the people in Way Productions were the greatest people, among the best I've ever known or worked with. It's a time I wouldn't have missed for the world and I was glad to be a part of it. I'd left another musical life entirely to be there and while we were all very different people we were I think all the same in that we were excited to have a chance to build something.
Not to mention all the Way folks. Wayfers, gotta love 'em. I can't recall the numbers of great people I met that year as we travelled. You guys're alright. :) Mostly it was for you, your music. It was on your dime and it honored the music that people like you heard it.
From my view the message of what we were doing was a positive one, coming out of God in America to America Awakes. Recognizing that our country was a wonderful place, with a history that spoke to the best and the worst men and women could do. Given our Constitution, our freedoms and our prosperity, we were in a very blessed spot in the planet's history. What were we going to do with that? We felt we had something to offer each and every person and in J.N. I think we saw it that way. Night after night, person by person, a chance to reach out and remember the good, look honestly at the bad and declare a new day and a new way. Well, we were young, maybe that explains it. B)
I remember all the stuff about impending doom, but - I'd have to say honestly I couldn't get much traction on that. I believed most of what was coming out, but I've always been a get-up-tomorrow-and-do-it-again person. Maybe more stupid than anything else, that's all I know to do, get busy, get creative, move-it-on-down-the-road one more time and keep at it.
I wrote a song that didn't last long in performance, titled "Where Did It Go" with the chorus "let's forget all our tomorrows and yesterdays and walk on in the light..." I think when I looked at our American history I felt if we took the best of our past we could invent a new future based on fairness and equity, and less greed and more meet-the-need. Well, I was young.
I took the whole thing personally, as I know many of us did. I remember that year Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" was out, won a grammy that year. He opened the 2 disk album with the song "Love's In Need of Love" and it really reached me...."Love....Don't delay, send yours in right away...hate's going round breaking many hearts...stop it please, before it's gone too far...." I think that and "Isn't She Lovely" were bookends for me. Get busy loving, get busy making love and life. I experienced some mis steps that year but I felt the efforts of good people everywhere to take even the smallest of steps towards making our country a better place wasn't wasted time or effort.
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excathedra
socks i love you and i read your WHOLE post. you're such a good man and joyful noise music touched my heart and brought tears to me and made me realize there was a god who loved me. thank you
billy clyde is it ? welcome
laughing my head off. i enjoyed your postLink to comment
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jardinero
From Billy Clyde:
Hi Billy
You all stayed at our house in San Luis Obispo. There were a number of us college WOWs from Cal Poly living together. I remember some of the folks in that summer outreach group and the infamous incident with said LC.
Yeah, I haven't thought about that time period in a long time...
J.
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jardinero
Socks:
Yeah, God in America. I was trying to remember the year and a distinction from when America Awakes came out and you put it together for me, tyvm.
We were WOWs in 1974-75 (yes, Wordwolf; I realize this goes in the other section) in Bethleham, PA (I was with K*tie F*owle's group - - one of your 4th Corps gals) and one of our rarely allowed drives out of the confines of said city limits was to drive to White Plains, NY for the God in America concert. We were all tingly with excitement to see Joyful Noise live and in person. That was the year they had sent branches of WOWs out to select city and a number of us who post here at GSC have figured out we were all in PA that year - - Scranton, Bethleham, Allantown, College Town - - I think there were 7-8 cities; can't remember them all.
The Joyful Noise 1, 2 and 3 had come out just before we went WOW (if I remember correctly, or maybe that year), but I remember that was our "twig music" - - and played them to death. I personally loved them. Not being much of an acid head prior to joining twi, the blaring of "Born again - - - of in-cor-rupt-ible- - - - - - seeeeeeeeeeeeeeed - - I'm born again" by Pressed Down (????) wasn't my kinda music - - so Joyful Noise was a nice healing change of music for me personally.
The concert was great. VP and HA were doing their "here Howard - - take my jacket" thing on stage (don't know why that sticks in my mind). I think Vince F. was the emcee - - one of the first times I heard him speak. We sat in the first row and I musta caught Br*an Bl*ss' eye, cuz he asked me out for coffee after the concert, but we had to drive in snow all the way back to PA. Another missed opportunity (sigh).
I remember Socks and all the gang so vividly. And you're right about Ted's "The White House Across the Street" was definitely Ted at his best. I remember his performance as though it was yesterday. Gives me goosebumps still thinking about it.
Boy, seems like so very, very long ago (yeah, I know, it was!) and at the time we were full of life, "moving" God's Word and eating this stuff up like crazy. But, it truly was one of the highlights of our year.
J.
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TED Ferrell
Hi All
Yes we did have some good times almost thirty yeras ago..My JN family always gave their all in all and forever they will have a special place in my heart .
I would like to share with you an update about The White House Across The Street.
About two years ago Chatty Kathy and I were doing some recording work together and Kathy had wriitten a song poem about a mother that had a son in the army overseas and the mother had just received a letter saying he was coming home for Thanksgiving I wish you all could hear it cause your Chatty did a super rendition.
Chatty Kathy and I got to talking how we should send her song along with The White House Across The Street to President Bush .I made up a CD and Kathy mailed it to the President.I told her most likely we will not get a reply .But at least we sent it.
Lo and behold a couple of months later we received an official document from The White House signed personaly by Pres.Bush thanking us for our thoughtfulness.The doucument has the offical White House gold seal and was sent in a flat envolpe made for framing. It now hangs in my recording studio Kathy also has a copy This blessed us a lot that The President Of The United States responded to our heart felt efforts .
God Bless You All And God Bless The USA
Ted F.
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socks
exraydio, I love ya too. I'm thinking of reading it myself now, but no promises. But don't call me good. You haven't seen my office, which right now is "clean", which would sound like the word "heard", as in when the disciples heard Jesus curse the fig tree....they heard it. I had to finally hang 3 of my guitars on the wall as their complaints were so loud concerning their personal safety. And Donald the cat - don't get me started.
That be Good Seed, of the booooo-rn again! tune jardinero. When you listened to America Awaits
(no cd's Dave and Jim, sorry) you got to hear Pressed Down music though. Grave and the Glory was a Downer tune.
Katie Fowle-boy. Katie. She was so funny, her take on things sometimes and an expression that could say "you gotta be kidding me" perfectly. Very nice woman.
76 was an active year, I think signifiant in that we/the Wayfers, focused on our communities, country, politics, etc. There was a surge of development that came together that year in business, commerce, politics, other stuff. It brought out a lot because it had some focus on -how- we could "move the Word", as part of society. In a certain way it took the focus from inward to outward, for some people.
But Protocols of the Elders of Zion???? Counterfeits abound. The Order of the Sock has long battled these enemies of the True Path!!! Read the only true and viable plan for world domination in the "Protocols of So Crates, soon to be published in all it's glory!!! Sure to thrill, it will be available soon.
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