Mrs Beasley
Patron
I have been asked to post this:
From his interviews, I had the impression that Mark Janicello left Scientology mostly because it hurt his business, which is why I didn't buy the book when it came out, I didn't want to pay the full price.
I have bought the book by Mark Janicello as "used" (seemed unread to me) for 10 Euros on amazon. There are some blatant falsehoods about critics.
Page 339 claims that many critics with SCIENTOLOGY KILLS T-Shirts had bought almost the complete first row of the theatre (which was a small off-off-theatre). Truth: This is a plan of the theatre:
http://www.akzent.at/media/file/356_Akzent.pdf
The front row has 9+9 seats. There were just 4 critics, and only 2 of them had "The T-Shirt". They were wearing jackets so that the T-Shirt wasn't seen in the first half. They opened the jackets at the beginning of the second half. Unlike as shown in the book, they didn't scream, and behaved well. They did distribute flyers, but then left quickly.
Page 341 claims that the critics were held for the police. The truth is that only one critic stayed there until the police came. His name was written down. The criminal complaint against him was later withdrawn!!
Page 344 claims that this was the last time that Janicello had a show without security. Well, 8 months later he was on a street show without any security. 4 critics (partly the same as from the theatre protest) attended with 4 SCIENTOLOGY KILLS T-Shirts (one person also had a XENU basecap) and distributed flyers. There was no security, although police was called after maybe an hour and noted the names of all, and Janicello filed a criminal complaint, claiming that he couldn't sing because of the disturbance, which wasn't true (nobody approached the stage, and he kept singing even while it was raining). All criminal cases except one (person missed a filing deadline because of illness) were dropped. All this was "forgotten" in the book. I was at that protest, I wasn't at the theatre protest, but I know the people involved and trust them.
So the critics are presented in the book as a bunch of fanatic nutcases. Janicello also mentions death threats. Nobody I know ever did this.
The point is that Janicello is being dishonest in the book. This may be excused with the possibility that he was so surprised (enturbulated ) of "being protested" that the protest event grew bigger and bigger over time. There is a danger that cult supporters will use these allegations as "facts".
Janicello makes it appear that he's a talented guy who never had a chance because of the Scientology critics. Everyone can look at youtube to decide. I'm an opera fan, and IMHO at the top, there was Pavarotti. Close to him there are the other top professionals. Then there's Paul Potts, as a *very* good amateur with some slight flaws but people love him for what he represents. Janicello is several steps below these people. He's a good Elvis-type singer, he has an Elvis voice, and he's a very good looking guy, but that's it.
Janicello is a PR guy. The long "interview" (his german is excellent) with him was produced by himself, i.e. by LaRaven productions. The book is a also a PR thing, i.e. sell a book, but also make it clear that he's no longer in the cult.
All the critics involved have sortof semi-retired, so I'm not mentioning the names, although it isn't a real secret.
Despite the falsehoods in the book, there are no plans for further protests
From his interviews, I had the impression that Mark Janicello left Scientology mostly because it hurt his business, which is why I didn't buy the book when it came out, I didn't want to pay the full price.
I have bought the book by Mark Janicello as "used" (seemed unread to me) for 10 Euros on amazon. There are some blatant falsehoods about critics.
Page 339 claims that many critics with SCIENTOLOGY KILLS T-Shirts had bought almost the complete first row of the theatre (which was a small off-off-theatre). Truth: This is a plan of the theatre:
http://www.akzent.at/media/file/356_Akzent.pdf
The front row has 9+9 seats. There were just 4 critics, and only 2 of them had "The T-Shirt". They were wearing jackets so that the T-Shirt wasn't seen in the first half. They opened the jackets at the beginning of the second half. Unlike as shown in the book, they didn't scream, and behaved well. They did distribute flyers, but then left quickly.
Page 341 claims that the critics were held for the police. The truth is that only one critic stayed there until the police came. His name was written down. The criminal complaint against him was later withdrawn!!
Page 344 claims that this was the last time that Janicello had a show without security. Well, 8 months later he was on a street show without any security. 4 critics (partly the same as from the theatre protest) attended with 4 SCIENTOLOGY KILLS T-Shirts (one person also had a XENU basecap) and distributed flyers. There was no security, although police was called after maybe an hour and noted the names of all, and Janicello filed a criminal complaint, claiming that he couldn't sing because of the disturbance, which wasn't true (nobody approached the stage, and he kept singing even while it was raining). All criminal cases except one (person missed a filing deadline because of illness) were dropped. All this was "forgotten" in the book. I was at that protest, I wasn't at the theatre protest, but I know the people involved and trust them.
So the critics are presented in the book as a bunch of fanatic nutcases. Janicello also mentions death threats. Nobody I know ever did this.
The point is that Janicello is being dishonest in the book. This may be excused with the possibility that he was so surprised (enturbulated ) of "being protested" that the protest event grew bigger and bigger over time. There is a danger that cult supporters will use these allegations as "facts".
Janicello makes it appear that he's a talented guy who never had a chance because of the Scientology critics. Everyone can look at youtube to decide. I'm an opera fan, and IMHO at the top, there was Pavarotti. Close to him there are the other top professionals. Then there's Paul Potts, as a *very* good amateur with some slight flaws but people love him for what he represents. Janicello is several steps below these people. He's a good Elvis-type singer, he has an Elvis voice, and he's a very good looking guy, but that's it.
Janicello is a PR guy. The long "interview" (his german is excellent) with him was produced by himself, i.e. by LaRaven productions. The book is a also a PR thing, i.e. sell a book, but also make it clear that he's no longer in the cult.
All the critics involved have sortof semi-retired, so I'm not mentioning the names, although it isn't a real secret.
Despite the falsehoods in the book, there are no plans for further protests
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