I've been writing down some of my memories to try and recall stuff abut my own past and, slowly but surely, a few things are coming back to me.
One memory popped up today - not an ancient memory, but one I had totally forgotten about. It made me chuckle and I wanted to post it.
In the early 90s I got into a band and it turned out that one of our members was a scientologist (I remember being surprised he was so open and happy about it - as a Scn kid I hid the fact from everyone I knew who wasn't 'in'). I hadn't been involved for a good 6 or 7 years by this time, and I don't think I ever brought up the subject with him as I knew it would cause problems and I really liked him. (He's out of Scn now and has a wonderful new life in another country).
Anyway, because of his connections he booked us for several gigs in the Great Hall at Saint Hill! This was the first time I'd been back there since the early 80s and a lot had changed - the whole place was a lot swankier and new buildings had been built. The first time we went we were given a little tour and, though we didn't get the hard-sell, we were definitely invited to learn more if we wanted to. All the time I was worried someone might recognise me, but nothing ever came up.
The three of us in the band who weren't Scns (none of the others knew of my ex-status) were very bemused and knew exactly what we thought: WEIRDNESS! We played the gig and it went well (I have it recorded, I think I even have photos of us on stage with giant LRH portraits looking down upon us - I can't believe I'd forgotten all this).
The next time we played we hatched a plan. During our set we held up signs and repeated bizarre phrases into the mics to the audience. The signs and phrases were all about mind control, but they were really obscure because we didn't want to upset our Scn bandmate, and we didn't want to get thrown out - but it was our own little protest so we felt better about doing a gig on behalf of the Scn organisation.
The only sign I can clearly recall was 'SIT ON YOUR PLANKS!'. This wasn't about mind control, but was in reference to the the Saint Hill security guard who seemed to walk around with a plank of wood which he sometimes sat on at the main entrance. One of us batted a shuttlecock into the audience after each song (I think the only meaning of this was "we can be weird too" - a bit childish perhaps, but it was therapeutic). Our Scn band member didn't have a clue what was going on - he was in heaven that were playing for 'his people'. And 'his people' probably just thought we were some kind of avant-garde musical act.
I've just dug out my old gig diary - we played four times at St. Hill and once at Greenfields School. On all of them I see I hated our sound - it was "dead" - this despite the scientology 'sound experts' that were on hand to mic us up and control the mixing board.
Well, not much - but a bit of fun
One memory popped up today - not an ancient memory, but one I had totally forgotten about. It made me chuckle and I wanted to post it.
In the early 90s I got into a band and it turned out that one of our members was a scientologist (I remember being surprised he was so open and happy about it - as a Scn kid I hid the fact from everyone I knew who wasn't 'in'). I hadn't been involved for a good 6 or 7 years by this time, and I don't think I ever brought up the subject with him as I knew it would cause problems and I really liked him. (He's out of Scn now and has a wonderful new life in another country).
Anyway, because of his connections he booked us for several gigs in the Great Hall at Saint Hill! This was the first time I'd been back there since the early 80s and a lot had changed - the whole place was a lot swankier and new buildings had been built. The first time we went we were given a little tour and, though we didn't get the hard-sell, we were definitely invited to learn more if we wanted to. All the time I was worried someone might recognise me, but nothing ever came up.
The three of us in the band who weren't Scns (none of the others knew of my ex-status) were very bemused and knew exactly what we thought: WEIRDNESS! We played the gig and it went well (I have it recorded, I think I even have photos of us on stage with giant LRH portraits looking down upon us - I can't believe I'd forgotten all this).
The next time we played we hatched a plan. During our set we held up signs and repeated bizarre phrases into the mics to the audience. The signs and phrases were all about mind control, but they were really obscure because we didn't want to upset our Scn bandmate, and we didn't want to get thrown out - but it was our own little protest so we felt better about doing a gig on behalf of the Scn organisation.
The only sign I can clearly recall was 'SIT ON YOUR PLANKS!'. This wasn't about mind control, but was in reference to the the Saint Hill security guard who seemed to walk around with a plank of wood which he sometimes sat on at the main entrance. One of us batted a shuttlecock into the audience after each song (I think the only meaning of this was "we can be weird too" - a bit childish perhaps, but it was therapeutic). Our Scn band member didn't have a clue what was going on - he was in heaven that were playing for 'his people'. And 'his people' probably just thought we were some kind of avant-garde musical act.
I've just dug out my old gig diary - we played four times at St. Hill and once at Greenfields School. On all of them I see I hated our sound - it was "dead" - this despite the scientology 'sound experts' that were on hand to mic us up and control the mixing board.
Well, not much - but a bit of fun
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