The John Denver Issue, vote now.

by londoner 76 Replies latest jw friends

  • steve2
    steve2
    And whether he hit a mountain at 215 mph or did a nose dive into the ocean maybe 300+ mph it's still pretty damn quick!

    What we do know is that, when John died he was "Leaving on a jet plane/Don't know when I'll be back again/Oh babe, I hate to go". - Possibly his best song, a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary, if I'm not mistaken. And a prescient piece of writing.

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    I very much would like to know the truth about this because I've disliked him all my life and thought of him as a hateful person when it all may well have been an urban legend or a misunderstanding. I think it would be terrible to have had such an attitude towards him on a false basis. Even now I still feel revulsion towards him... :(( Funny how deeply attitudes inculcated in childhood may remain.

  • HappyDad
    HappyDad
    My flight instructor was a FAA crash examiner and he said that in many small plane crashes suicide is suspected. THink about it if you know that your dying get in a small plane, load that bugger up with high-test, get good and ripped and fly straight into a mountain...

    Sorry to admit it......... but in one of my earliest posts as a Newby.....I talked about this........the question was asked about suicide..........and considering my state of mind at one time..........and after I got my private pilot license........a year after my wife died............and my daughter was going through a nasty divorce from an abusing JW asshole husband.......and I was totally fed up with the "brotherhood"......before I took the steps to investigate the bOrg.........and I was more confused than ever........I would ACTUALLY try to figure out a way to crash the Cessna I was flying and make it look like an accident so my daugher could get all of my insurance. But I'm glad I never carried it out.

    So if JD might have had the same thoughts and flew that homebrew aircraft.............with some thoughts of ending it.......then so be it.........it happened..........and he died doing what he loved. All the money and fame does not bring happiness at all. He had his own personal demons.............and so do I.........and so do all of you.

    God Bless You John Denver..............I loved your music.

    Scroll to the present...............I sure am glad it never happened. My daughter is happier than ever...............and so am I........in spite of a recently failed romance ( the lady is still wonderful in my eyes......I am to blame) I am a VERY happy man.

    Life is very precious and I'm glad to be alive and can now look at the challenges of life in new light (not JW light)

    A very.......VERY..... HappyDad

  • Incense_and_Peppermints
    Incense_and_Peppermints

    well...let's just say that there was a gigantic event hosted by the jehovahs witnesses, and you had to pay 20 bucks or so to get in...and it was clear to them that sitting in Row 12 Seats A-H were a whole bunch of apostates - do you think they would let them stay, or would they order them to leave?

    and what were elders and other jws for that matter doing at such a worldy event to see a worldy performer? i wonder if they told any of the younger crowd hey we were at a john denver concert last weekend...

    anyway, the grandmasters of shunning get shunned and they get themselves in a tizzy over it... pardon me if i'm not sympathetic.

    You fill up my senses, like a night in the forest
    Like the mountains in springtime,
    Like a walk in the rain,
    Like a storm on the desert,
    Like a sleepy blue ocean,
    You fill up my senses
    Come fill me again

    Come, let me love you
    Let me give my life to you
    Let me drown in your laughter,
    Let me die in your arms
    Let me lay down beside you,
    Let me always be with you
    Come let me love you,
    Come love me again

    You fill up my senses, like a night in the forest
    Like the mountains in springtime,
    Like a walk in the rain,
    Like a storm on the desert,
    Like a sleepy blue ocean,
    You fill up my senses
    Come fill me again

    "Rocky Mountain High" was one of the first songs my son learned to play on the guitar... he's a child of a new generation that appreciates musicians from days gone by, and so do i...

  • Tigerman
    Tigerman

    Thank you Incense . . .Denver spoke from the heart when he sang. That's what singing IS . . .or don't some of you understand ?

  • freedom96
    freedom96

    From what I recall from the airplane crash, Denver had no alcohol or drugs in his system, though his pilot license was suspended.

  • fairchild
    fairchild
    (londoner) And to clear up another thing that a lot of ex JW's from the states seem to be comenting on. The JW's in Europe are not so tight about that sort of thing.

    Yes, I can definitely confirm that. Having spent many years in Europe, as well as in the USA, I have definitely seen many differences amongst JW's of the two continents.

  • hillary_step
    hillary_step

    Londoner,

    I have trouble believing that this actually happened, though I have indeed heard the tale. I have heard it applied as happening in the following locations : San Diego, Vancouver, Boston, New Jersey, London but never Birmingham.

    I have little time for John Denver or most of his songs, anybody who starts a song with the line, 'Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy", is asking for trouble, but like him or not he was a consumate professional and I doubt very much that he would have offended any of his fans, or run the risk of compromising his performance contracts by taking the action you describe.

    Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy
    Sunshine in my eyes can make me cry
    Sunshine on the water looks so lovely
    Sunshine almost always makes me high

    Yes, he actually wrote those words, Lord help us.

    HS

  • steve2
    steve2
    let's just say that there was a gigantic event hosted by the jehovahs witnesses, and you had to pay 20 bucks or so to get in...and it was clear to them that sitting in Row 12 Seats A-H were a whole bunch of apostates - do you think they would let them stay, or would they order them to leave?

    At first glance this is a persuasive point of view: Giving the JWs a taste of their own medicine.Then again, let's credit Denver with having been capable of taking responsibility for the expression of his own prejudices. I would not mwant to reduce the impact of his bigotry by stating that, if the tables were turned, the targets of his bigotry (the JWs) would more than likely treat others with similar contempt. A lame justification indeed.

  • jws
    jws
    And then a very good friend told us that JD did not dislike JWs. He said that after
    a JW district convention in Denver, CO, a JD concert was scheduled for that
    evening. The concert had nothing to do with the convention earlier that day. As
    the stage crew began to setup things, curious Jehovahs Witnesses lingered after the
    convention
    Apparently JD noticed the problem of having people without tickets not leaving the
    arena and on mike, asked 'all Jehovahs Witnesses to vacate their seats and leave
    the facility'. Something to the effect of, 'Are there any JWs in the audience?
    Would you please stand? Now would you please leave?'

    I admit that it sounds like urban legend to me too, but this explanation sounds even more unbelievable. Whenever I worked concert security, the "talent" is usually not present during setup. That's all done by roadies. In some of the bigger shows, they may even have more than one crew. While one concert is going on, the next crew is already setting up the next one. The "talent" usually shows up right before the concert. Very few of the people that are around during setup would be sitting down. There's a lot of work to be done and people sitting would stand out. You wouldn't ask if there were any JWs in the audience because none of the audience would belong there if they weren't working. If any lingering JWs were there, I would suspect any competent manager of the setup crew would have cleared them out. It wouldn't be up to John Denver himself to do it.

    The only possible way I could see him doing it himself is if they were still there after doors opened. But I can't see why they'd even open doors before clearing out the arena. And he'd more likely ask anybody without a ticket to leave.

    In a gregarious organization, I can easily see how this statement by JD could being
    misconstrued. I can also understand why those who were sitting down just before the
    concert was beginning would share the exact facts. It goes to show you that telling
    stories that are rumored or 2nd- or 3rd-hand about anything is simply wrong and
    misleading.

    londoner claims to have been at the concert and witnessed it first hand.

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