Shooting Stars

[afaceinthecrowd]

Thanks MAB and Rog.

MAB...Sometimes I get too caught up in the moment (and my second glass of Pinot Grigo) to fully articulate my thoughts.

Rog...You got my drift, Mate. I've seen it as a personal act of purging my soul, laying down my burden, one last attempt to help my fellow "Group Members" so to speak. I don't mean to shove your kind and respectful words back down your throat...coming from you they give me great pause and solace...but, to me Armstrong, Mayo et al were of true courage. The primary reason I didn't speak up sooner was my Children; I was not about to subject them to Scns usurping the attention and focus of their Father, the financial neglect that surely would have resulted and de facto forcing the Cof$, as I knew it to truly be, upon their Childhoods. I spent many a night robbed of sleep and woken by nightmares from what I saw, did, knew and could/would not say.

Face

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

DELETED - wrong thread

oops wrong thread...

 

[Mark A. Baker]

Well, reading Face's post you cite again; while you are right, the old-timers doing their honest and best endeavor to do what was right based on what they at the time knew and were confronted with did do a lot of good for their fellows. And they did create something decent . . . Face is also very right.

Face is writing on the facts of what were only available to those who worked closely with Hubbard and could witness the actuality of his madness as it developed.

And it was then, when the deceit and self-serving basis of the whole endeavor by Hubbard became evident, that Face could see that, even though we had done good by and for our fellows in our early endeavors, the truth had become apparent that it was all an exercise in deceit and destined to do harm to many.

Yes, many also have benefited from what the old-timers did and from their involvement in $cn; and it is also true many are of the view they only suffered harm . . . and so that is true in their case.

Face's revelations are of tremendous importance because it reveals that the good works of the old-timers was in truth an exercise of polishing a turd and that we in fact built an organization that ended up being used destructively and in furtherance of a fraud.

I read Face's charming word usage to understand that what he is saying does not negate the good we did but that what we also did was built what the youngsters now have "to beat the Beast to Death with a Devine Hammer…and Delicious Humor" because it is in fact carrying out Hubbard's original deceitful destructive intend that we did not see.

I for one, like Toady and many others, am very grateful to Face for putting out the truth such that we could come to a resolution of what the hell really had happened.

It has been an act of both courage and integrity as well as one of great service to his fellows to have put it all out there as Face has done. For now we can fully comprehend the magnitude of the two faced monster that was Hubbard and is his creation.

RogerB

All very true, Rog. Still, the difference I see is that old timers like Face, Mayo, Walters, McMaster, etc. were not intent on defrauding, exploiting, or abusing others. They directed their efforts towards benefiting their fellows and accomplished much by doing so.

Hubbard routinely misused & misdirected the efforts of others. Acting principally through his sycophants he diverted the efforts of more constructive people to his own advancement & personal profit.

In early days the community was still being built. The monstrosity of the abusive church had not been fully created. There was still valid reason to hope that the individual efforts being applied could support a common community intent on the welfare of scientologists and others. Much of the turmoil & confusion of the early period was readily understood as the sort of mistakes characteristic of 'early days' since there was no 'base line' with which to compare.

Bit by bit the process of building a new group was corrupted through hubbard's direction, but that was a process that took decades to accomplish. By the time of the destruction of the Mission Network in the '80s a clear pattern had emerged and it was not a pretty picture. THAT is the 'why' that old timers such as Face & others made one last stand to change the institution into one which served the needs of the membership, and failing in that subsequently left the church for other endeavors.

I understand why some old timers like Face may feel in some way responsible for the mess of the church. But the truth remains that they are also the ones who in their efforts actively sought to prevent the development of the institution in a perverse direction. That they failed in this I see as largely due to the sycophancy of others rather than their own shortcomings.


Mark A. Baker

 

[Auditor's Toad]

Face, yes my good man I have gone back and read every post of yours in this thread and every link you made available. I read it all.

It is the story I lived through while only knowing a piece here or a tip there.

As I've said before, while I was not in direct persoanl contact with the old man I did audit those who had spent too much time too close to the lightening and needing patched up.....some left as shards of their former lives.

Got to stand in the field of rapidly evaporating field auditors gerring no mercy.
The day before we were important to doing ( gratis ) reviews for the HGCs and the next we were viewed as " taking people off the Bridge ". Crazy days.

The only way to not get hit by the FP was to disappear as a field audiotor.

Back then I used to wonder how long in years it would take to replace the fiels auditors? 4 to 6 years of training and how long to get 4,000 or so hours in the chair ? Didn't matter. Poof. Gone.

Someone in this thread - or somewhere - mentioned there are now more X scn than there are scns. Damn. I once believed "we" were saving this whole planet!

Somewhere along the line I came to believe all we were doing was deluding one another by not paying enough attention to what we were really doing.

It has been a long road with many layers to my onion - and, yes, peeling my onion has produced more tears than I thought I had in me - and my friend Face has most certainly helped show me the way to help peel up many many layers than had been sort of stuck. He helped shake 'em loose - and for that I'll always be thankful !

And I do want MOAR !

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Face, yes my good man I have gone back and read every post of yours in this thread and every link you made available. I read it all.

It is the story I lived through while only knowing a piece here or a tip there.

As I've said before, while I was not in direct persoanl contact with the old man I did audit those who had spent too much time too close to the lightening and needing patched up.....some left as shards of their former lives.

Got to stand in the field of rapidly evaporating field auditors gerring no mercy.
The day before we were important to doing ( gratis ) reviews for the HGCs and the next we were viewed as " taking people off the Bridge ". Crazy days.

The only way to not get hit by the FP was to disappear as a field audiotor.

Back then I used to wonder how long in years it would take to replace the fiels auditors? 4 to 6 years of training and how long to get 4,000 or so hours in the chair ? Didn't matter. Poof. Gone.

Someone in this thread - or somewhere - mentioned there are now more X scn than there are scns. Damn. I once believed "we" were saving this whole planet!

Somewhere along the line I came to believe all we were doing was deluding one another by not paying enough attention to what we were really doing.

It has been a long road with many layers to my onion - and, yes, peeling my onion has produced more tears than I thought I had in me - and my friend Face has most certainly helped show me the way to help peel up many many layers than had been sort of stuck. He helped shake 'em loose - and for that I'll always be thankful !

And I do want MOAR !

WOW!

Damn, Toady, just plain Damn!!!

Moar is breathin' hard and and, eventually, comin'.

Face

 

[Terril park]

WOW!

Damn, Toady, just plain Damn!!!

Moar is breathin' hard and and, eventually, comin'.

Face

Well oldies can be goodies, and nice guys come last.

However in your case I believe we all want you coming quicker

 

[Boomima]

Thank you for spending the time and dealing with the memories, Face. When the current Scn kiddies leave Scientology, they will be able to use what you have written to help figure out what the hell happened to them.


(I agree with Mimsey about wanting to hear more about MSH.)

 

[RogerB]

Well oldies can be goodies, and nice guys come last.

However in your case I believe we all want you coming quicker

WOT ?!? "nice guys come last." ???

Is this more of Terril idiot think??

In my observation, while nice guys might appear to be last in line, they are, in the end, the true winners. And this based on the fact that, at least, they are true to themselves and non-destructive to others.

But then, T., were you referring here to the instance of the fact that gentlemen reserve themselves to the end and with charm and good manners deliver what really matters?

Face and Toady have each demonstrated themselves to be both class acts and gentlemen . . . and so, the finalé, apart from the "thank you's" do deservedly belong to them.

R

 

[Terril park]

WOT ?!? "nice guys come last." ???

Is this more of Terril idiot think??

In my observation, while nice guys might appear to be last in line, they are, in the end, the true winners. And this based on the fact that, at least, they are true to themselves and non-destructive to others.

But then, T., were you referring here to the instance of the fact that gentlemen reserve themselves to the end and with charm and good manners deliver what really matters?

Face and Toady have each demonstrated themselves to be both class acts and gentlemen . . . and so, the finalé, apart from the "thank you's" do deservedly belong to them.

R

OK! Its cool for me that Face not only comes quicker but also last.

There is no issue of him being a gentleman with charm and manners

 

[John P.]

Shooting Stars -- Worse Than Other Artists Who Are So Bad They're Good

Obviously, I'm stumbling into this thread a few years after all the real "action." That said, I'd like to add my compliments to A Face In the Crowd for writing up and posting a record of this particular part of the trajectory of cult craziness. It provides a real glimpse into Hubbard's mindset, particularly his contempt for the rest of the human race.

Underlying the whole Power of Source project is the theme running throughout LRH's life that everyone in the world held up as being talented and good at their jobs is fundamentally stupid and a charlatan. Hubbard thought those recording engineers don't really do anything special; anyone could read the instructions for a tape recorder and do better. Just like those psychiatrists don't really know anything about how the mind works; a $3.00 electric circuit will tell you more about how the mind works than years spent in medical school. Etcetera. And of course, when that sort of naive arrogance comes home to roost, the result is just disastrous.

How disastrous? I managed to download a couple tracks off "Power of Source," though, alas the Mediafire link elsewhere in this thread containing the whole album is no longer functional. It sounds like a junior high school band performance, recorded by a trio of zit-faced teenagers who spent too much time in the A/V club. It is difficult to believe that the musicians playing on this record are as good as you say they are -- but I have no reason to doubt your assessment. Whatever talent they had was completely trampled by the arrangement and the engineering.

There have been a few acts who are "so bad they're good." This is definitely not one of them. One "bad music" act that comes to mind is Mrs. Elva Miller, whose early 1960s off-key renditions of big band classics of the day continue to have admirers; she was financed by a wealthy and devoted husband who was apparently as tone deaf as she was. But she, at least, had competent audio engineering so the recordings are merely bad, and don't actually cause damage to the auditory nerves. And the tunes she attempted were proven classics with decent arrangements. See Elva Miller's story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Elva_Miller.

But perhaps the most relevant example of "outsider music" with a story similar to LRH's pathetic effort is the saga of The Shaggs, a group formed in 1968 in New Hampshire, of four daughters of a father who had a religious vision that his girls would become major music stars. The story of this family group is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shaggs. The parallels between a deluded father figure who has no clue just how hard it is to make it in the music business and the naivete of LRH, who thinks he can make it because the "pros" are all idiots, is somewhat relevant.

And the results are just as painful to listen to. Apparently, the Shaggs really didn't care much for existing musical convention, and developed their own approach to style. The only difference was that LRH had competent musicians that he pushed into a disaster; the Shaggs apparently just didn't know any better.

Anyone who is considering joining the cult should be forced to listen to this record in its entirety, so they can see just what the cult and the "tech" can do to people who had real talent before they walked in the door.

 

[Auditor's Toad]

Re: Shooting Stars -- Worse Than Other Artists Who Are So Bad They're Good

<snip> when that sort of naive arrogance comes home to roost, the result is just disastrous.

<snip> It is difficult to believe that the musicians playing on this record are as good as you say they are -- but I have no reason to doubt your assessment. Whatever talent they had was completely trampled by the arrangement and the engineering.

<snip> LRH's pathetic effort

<snip>
And the results are just as painful to listen to.

<snip>
Anyone who is considering joining the cult should be forced to listen to this record in its entirety, so they can see just what the cult and the "tech" can do to people who had real talent before they walked in the door.

naive arrogance covers hisself precisely.

 

[PirateAndBum]

Oh come on now you all!

Let me clue you in on the facts of the matter right from www.ronthemusicmaker.org

As Musical Director aboard the Apollo, LRH inevitably addressed every aspect of composition, performance and arrangement. Typical of his acuity was his solution to the perennial problem of instrumental cancellation. That is, when working such big bands as the Apollo Stars it often happens that one instrument tends to “wipe out” another regardless of volume. Although professionals have devised various remedies, Ron was factually the first to both dissect the problem and define its solution.

So, now you know that the Apollo Stars were a BIG BAND and LRH was a master. I've bolded the relevant portions so you don't miss them!

Also another fact I learned while reading the back cover of the Power of Source album was that good old hisself was a professional singer back in the day (which day that was I'm not quite sure, perhaps it was a late evening?)

Wow o Wow

I must say that the cover art photo is amazingly BAD. How he ever thought that was good is beyond me. I mean seriously - a beach towel? unevenly draped over the table and equipment setup on TV trays? They all look so VVGI's don't they? That guy on the right has that, "Oh shit, I hope I don't get shot from guns" look to him

Inevitably indeed!

 

[PirateAndBum]

I've found some backing dox on the pro singer part - also from the same site!

Appropriately, ship’s officers fondly recall Ron singing sea chanteys from memory, usually self-accompanied with ukulele.

The chantey had long been an LRH favorite. As early as 1932, he had entertained crews of vessels with such songs, and was factually somewhat of an expert on piratical lore - the leader of a nautical expedition to explore Caribbean pirate haunts ... The point being, he brought that fabulous world of sea dogs to life with an authority few balladeers could manage, and even kept a nautical tradition of music alive for the Sea Organization crew.

Ah yes, a true pirate himself was. Indeedy do. Inspiration of me nic, well actually no, my nic comes from PDC Lecture 1.

But I don't recall Face telling us about the lovely times on board listening to ukulele-backed sea chanteys sung by hisself? Wus up wid dat Face? It sounds so amazingly awesome, I mean ukelele really just makes me swoon.

 

[scooter]

Face - I'm waiting with baited breath for when you get your next installments done.

I'm not trying to rush you - I just want you to know that your contribution is something I treasure because you were there and you describe it in a way that conveys the facts and the emotions in a way few others have ever been able to do.

Whenever you get it done, I'm ready to read it.

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Face - I'm waiting with baited breath for when you get your next installments done.

I'm not trying to rush you - I just want you to know that your contribution is something I treasure because you were there and you describe it in a way that conveys the facts and the emotions in a way few others have ever been able to do.

Whenever you get it done, I'm ready to read it.

Man, thanks Scoots...I'm gonna get a bit maudlin here for a minute...your words mean so much to me.

What you have put up on this Board has helped me sooo much, Scoots. Your story, the way you've told it, continue to tell it has more than touched my Heart...it has helped, big time, to open my Mouth.

BTW, re your recent Vid Gig...Y-O-U D-A M-A-N, SCOOTER!!!

Face

PS: Due to the recent Holiday here and a few other worthwhile excuses, the next Installment of Shooting Stars will be posted on July 7 or 8th, at the latest

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Re: Shooting Stars -- Worse Than Other Artists Who Are So Bad They're Good

Obviously, I'm stumbling into this thread a few years after all the real "action." That said, I'd like to add my compliments to A Face In the Crowd for writing up and posting a record of this particular part of the trajectory of cult craziness. It provides a real glimpse into Hubbard's mindset, particularly his contempt for the rest of the human race.

Underlying the whole Power of Source project is the theme running throughout LRH's life that everyone in the world held up as being talented and good at their jobs is fundamentally stupid and a charlatan. Hubbard thought those recording engineers don't really do anything special; anyone could read the instructions for a tape recorder and do better. Just like those psychiatrists don't really know anything about how the mind works; a $3.00 electric circuit will tell you more about how the mind works than years spent in medical school. Etcetera. And of course, when that sort of naive arrogance comes home to roost, the result is just disastrous.

How disastrous? I managed to download a couple tracks off "Power of Source," though, alas the Mediafire link elsewhere in this thread containing the whole album is no longer functional. It sounds like a junior high school band performance, recorded by a trio of zit-faced teenagers who spent too much time in the A/V club. It is difficult to believe that the musicians playing on this record are as good as you say they are -- but I have no reason to doubt your assessment. Whatever talent they had was completely trampled by the arrangement and the engineering.

There have been a few acts who are "so bad they're good." This is definitely not one of them. One "bad music" act that comes to mind is Mrs. Elva Miller, whose early 1960s off-key renditions of big band classics of the day continue to have admirers; she was financed by a wealthy and devoted husband who was apparently as tone deaf as she was. But she, at least, had competent audio engineering so the recordings are merely bad, and don't actually cause damage to the auditory nerves. And the tunes she attempted were proven classics with decent arrangements. See Elva Miller's story here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Elva_Miller.

But perhaps the most relevant example of "outsider music" with a story similar to LRH's pathetic effort is the saga of The Shaggs, a group formed in 1968 in New Hampshire, of four daughters of a father who had a religious vision that his girls would become major music stars. The story of this family group is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shaggs. The parallels between a deluded father figure who has no clue just how hard it is to make it in the music business and the naivete of LRH, who thinks he can make it because the "pros" are all idiots, is somewhat relevant.

And the results are just as painful to listen to. Apparently, the Shaggs really didn't care much for existing musical convention, and developed their own approach to style. The only difference was that LRH had competent musicians that he pushed into a disaster; the Shaggs apparently just didn't know any better.

Anyone who is considering joining the cult should be forced to listen to this record in its entirety, so they can see just what the cult and the "tech" can do to people who had real talent before they walked in the door.

Damn fine post, John P...Thank You.

LUUV the last paragraph.

Like I said in my first post about the Stars, it was an ad hoc group...a few OK to good to real good to damn good musicians (Bill Potter, Alto Sax, Luten Taylor, Tombone).

For anyone that never personally experienced the "Joy of Creating 'Art'" with El Ron, there is just no way to adequately describe how frenetic, stultifying and all around F'd up of an experience it truly could be.

Face

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Thank you for spending the time and dealing with the memories, Face. When the current Scn kiddies leave Scientology, they will be able to use what you have written to help figure out what the hell happened to them.


(I agree with Mimsey about wanting to hear more about MSH.)

Thanks a whole bunch, Boomima.

One of my "filling in the gaps" posts I'm planning is gonna be about Mary Sue.

Face

 

[RogerB]

Oh come on now you all!

Let me clue you in on the facts of the matter right from www.ronthemusicmaker.org



So, now you know that the Apollo Stars were a BIG BAND and LRH was a master. I've bolded the relevant portions so you don't miss them!

Also another fact I learned while reading the back cover of the Power of Source album was that good old hisself was a professional singer back in the day (which day that was I'm not quite sure, perhaps it was a late evening?)

Wow o Wow

I must say that the cover art photo is amazingly BAD. How he ever thought that was good is beyond me. I mean seriously - a beach towel? unevenly draped over the table and equipment setup on TV trays? They all look so VVGI's don't they? That guy on the right has that, "Oh shit, I hope I don't get shot from guns" look to him

Inevitably indeed!

As Face says "frenetic, stultifying and all around F'd up of an experience" . . . . this picture on the cover of the record is definitely not a picture of "the way to happiness"

I've never seen such a miserable looking lot of musicians . . .they look like the joy has been sqwished and wrung right out of them.

Hubbard looks like he's being haunted by ghosts!

R

 

[Auditor's Toad]

I missed out on the ukelele serenades.

However, I do have a story about Hisself I'm gonna tell in my next Shooting Stars Installment that, to me, is kinda sorta similar.

Face

Damn ! Here I had these images floating around of Hisself sitting out on the fantail after the evening meal with all hands sitting around smiling as He strummed along pulling tunes off the whole track for the sublime enjoyment of all.

Even His 2 ash catching nubile ones were gleaming as one held the next Kool for Him and the other had the pretested-to-light-on-first-flick lighter at the ready should He so desire.

The costume people were cleverly hidden should He decide to spice up His performance with some Sea Stories of yore.

Up above on the aft deck, out of the crowd below Mary Sue had the family assembled and paying rapt attention to the greatness happening below.

There were many such idyllic settings on the Apollo.

( Now back to my bottle of rum - Ho ho Hum ! )

Toady

PS : Face, I just gotta ask WTF is kinda sorta similar" ? ( Well......Other than yet another delicious revelation from you? )

PPS - for some odd reason this post popped up out of sequence. It is in response to # 682

 

[afaceinthecrowd]

Oh come on now you all!

Let me clue you in on the facts of the matter right from www.ronthemusicmaker.org



So, now you know that the Apollo Stars were a BIG BAND and LRH was a master. I've bolded the relevant portions so you don't miss them!

Also another fact I learned while reading the back cover of the Power of Source album was that good old hisself was a professional singer back in the day (which day that was I'm not quite sure, perhaps it was a late evening?)

Wow o Wow

I must say that the cover art photo is amazingly BAD. How he ever thought that was good is beyond me. I mean seriously - a beach towel? unevenly draped over the table and equipment setup on TV trays? They all look so VVGI's don't they? That guy on the right has that, "Oh shit, I hope I don't get shot from guns" look to him

Inevitably indeed!

When I first saw the El Ron approved pic for the Album cover I F'n couldn't believe it, either...and, by that time, I was well on my was to becoming quite familiar with Hisself's sense (?) of style (schlock). I'd already heard the El Ron approved final test pressings, which I couldn't F'n believe...Honestly folks, the Apollo Stars Live (without Hisself around F'n with 'em) were worth hearing and when some of the real Pro's in the group jammed after hours (Charlie Rush, Drums, Craig Ferierra, Guitar and Potter & Taylor) they made some hot, sweet music.

The Stars are why I started posting on ESMB and about El Ron...I didn't want them to get a bum rap and and I was sick and tired of keepin' my mouth shut about that pirate and bum that I personally saw F over, up and with so many good, sincere and decent folks (with apologies to you Sir, PirateAndBumb, for my choice of descriptive words re Hisself).

Yes, the Picture says a thousand words about just what it was like for those guys in that recording session, nearly 40 years ago. As you gaze upon the continence of El Ron, bear in mind, that you are looking at that singular being that just recently ended the need for Psychiatry by the "Tech Breakthrough", The Introspection Rundown, which the CommodeDoor perfected on a PC, Crew Member, Officer, CL XII aboard the Apollo that had, per El Ron, suffered a "Psychotic Break"...Lt. Quinton Hubbard.


Face