Posts by Band on the Run

47

what was the best gig you ever attended and why ?

by the max in

my own was ac/dc at the hamersmith odoen london 1980, the highway to hell tour with bonn scott, they were at their creative peak with their best line up with there best album, you had to be there to understand !!

!.

Band on the Run

Both Paul McCartney and the WHO gave me complimentary tickets to NY shows. I was disabled and a great fan, who spent thousands of dollars on them over my life. When the WHO was doing Tommy at Radio City for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame my mom went to get me a ticket. I had no idea how many young kids were into the WHO. She was too old to compete. The box office told her to write to the WHO's concert management and ask if they could do anything. The WHO wrote back that b/c it was a charity event, I could not have a ticket but they were performing over in Jersey at the Jimmy Hoffa memorial stadium. My brother came in b/c I was so ill. I figured we'd be up in heaven. We had fourth row center between Roger and Peter. I needed smelling salts.

I was at Woodstock and Bangladesh but the experience is so different so close. Paul McCartney gave me comp tickets that were decent, too. Now I see fewer concerts but I go for much better seats. It is night and day.

I had to leave NY temporarily. The only music around here is tribute bands. Tribunte bands make you appreciate the artistry of the true artist.

I also noticed that my concerts go back the furthest so far.

I've been to awesome NY Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera concerts and much ballet. Pavarotti for free in Central Park was a thrill. I love the spirit of the crowds. What I don't like is the beer drinking which leads to conflicts that would not otherwise happen. It seems men love drinking kegs of beer and that it is what they serve in stadiums.

I

26

More details of the bible students blending into Rutherford's empire

by Terry in

charlie taze russell had money, good looks, privately tutored education and a lot of personal charisma.

from his devout mother he got a healthy dose of hellfire and come to jesus instruction.

the family was presbyterian in a time when central authority was viewed with deep suspicion.

Band on the Run

Everyone paints Rutherford as the heavy. From what I heard, he was. There was a Board and key followers who should have stepped forward and challenged him. I'd paint them as equal heavies with Rutherford.

Does anyone know what opposition was to Rutherford at the onset of the power grab? The story of his control of the organization is so incredulous. I believe it happened but maybe some elements are left out. Not one person could challenge him in court under NY or PA law? Hitler may have been evil but he never could have come to power by himself. If the reverse direction were true, a flow from totalitarian to autonomous, I could better understand it. How did people who enjoyed autonomy and studied their Bibles give that precious freedom up to one person?

My family was active at this time. Half stayed with Russell people for a while. Half became Witnesses. It split the family acrimonously. Brother never spoke with brother again. I never heard the whys of how they made their choices.

My next item is why I find this so fascinating after about 45 years away from the Witnesses.

6

Menlo Park Cong.

by exwhyzee in

i recently got in touch with an old jw friend of mine (now of the annointed) who lives near menlo park ca.

i asked him about that congreagation there that got closed down or had some sort of uprising.

he didn't know anything about it and even sounded like he didn't believe it ever happened.

Band on the Run

Menlo Park is a place in NJ, too. I always found the name curious. So far I've only had time to read a portion. If I have not posted this comment before, I was very impressed with the hard labor on a primarily local topic but one that sheds much light on the Witnesses internationally. The formatting on the web site is also impressive.

I was in utter shock as a teen ager when my parents told me that JW congregations in the South were segregated. When the DO visited us, I asked very politely, stating that it did not seem to be what Jesus preached. He replied that it was concern for local customs, not to be a stumbling block. Well, the flag salute and blood transfusion are stumbling blocks. No one cared about what I went through as a little kid not saluting the flag, etc.

Northern Jersey was very segregated. Looking back, there was overt gerrymandering of KHs. I disliked being working class and visiting a poverty ridden KH with all sorts of social ills. My aunt and uncle would take me to their suburban hell. I actually volunteered to go to a meeting with them. It was night and day. Without gerrymandering, the suburban KH would have had more livelihood with younger people. The positive could have been combined for a gestalt experience and the problems of poverty could have been lessened. Looking back it is striking as only very few people ever discussed this system. Of course, Jesus taught the social gospel, in part. If Witnesses just helped other Witnesses, the way churches sometimes do, it would have been a starting point. If we are Christ's body, one person's pain should be shared by others.

28

Pres. Obama's Bin Laden Speech

by charlie brown jr. in

i liked it!.

Band on the Run

I am history buff. Mostly, I follow Revolutionary War and the early Federalist period to get a feel for the U.S. Consti'n. Next, I do Civil War. Lincoln was not the featured speaker at Gettysburg. Some very famous orator was invited. People flocked to see him, not Lincoln. This explains why Lincoln's speech was so short. He was window dressing. Unlike today, people loved oratory. This notable went on for nearly two hours. Lincoln spoke and then sat down. He garnered perfunctory applause. People went ape over the main speaker. It was a mildly interesting day. If I recall correctly, newspapers picked up Lincoln's remarks and then the speech became legendary. I can't recall details off the top of my head.

I had no idea who Obama was until his speech about the audacity of the GOP right to claim that they were the only legitimate Christians. He traced how deep the roots of Dems were in churches. The civil rights movement was a church movement. He struck just the right tone. It seemed perfect to me. The substance of what he said hit me in the gut as true. The wimpiness of the Dems in allowing the GOP to frame the religion question sickened me. Yet he had respect for the Establishment Clause, did not say everyone had to be Christian. His oratory I had not heard since JFK,RFK and MLK.

I'd love to know where he learned his skill. Law school does not teach it. Columbia has no wondrous debating team. He must have inate talent but it had to be polished. Anyway, that one speech convinced me to view him as a very senior DEm. Since he was only in his first or second year in the Senate, his speech was extraordinary.

Bush tried hard. I admired most of what he said , including God Bless America. We could have done without the bravado and machismo. I wonder if last night White House aides did cartwheels the way the vicar did in Westminster Abbey.

I'd lov

29

How much do you truly believe you would enjoy living in a perfect world? Paradise...

by stillstuckcruz in

what sort of conversations could you have in a perfect world?

i have a hard enough time creating conversation in this world.

when i need a conversation topic, i might mention a news story, or some problem such as the price of gas.

Band on the Run

The Witnesses paradise would have me doing anything, including prostitution, to go to hell. Cool people will be in hell. Oh, there is no hell. Hell, figuratively. This was an obsession for me during junior high school. The Cold War made a nuclear holocaust a possibility every second. Propaganda convicned me it was a realtiy every second. After all these years, I still believed that if the Soviets did not back down, total war would break out. Death was ever present. It was very different than today. I was taught you were never good enough for the Witnesses whatever you did. My father, a Bethelite, lingered between going and not going. We were never accepted. Our KH was hell. My other JW relatives had other KHs and it was not fun but tolerable.

Walking to and from school, I fretted that every person I cared about would perish at Armageddon, including me. My meek, perfect JW relatives were so faithful but always felt they could not pass judgment. There is a word for this. Anomie. more descriptive words come to mind. the 20th century, in general, fostered these feelings. I slowly made peace with nuclear war and Armageddon. Nothing I can do about it. Enjoy now.

During this time, the WT became very descriptive what the Great Crowd would do in paradise. Cleaning up all the bodies. We would live in hovels. Armageddon would make a nuclear holocaust seem like a garden party.

283

Osama bin Laden is Dead

by jamiebowers in

on abc special news bulletin now..

Band on the Run

I feel in such a celebratory mood that I am ashamed. But I will celebrate anyway. His death may make things worse for the US in the short term. At the risk of repeating myself, I lived in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 and worked one block from the World Trade Center. It saddens me when people who are decent people want to ban Islam. It is the very fact that Moslems are as much Americans as anyone else that differtiates our Western culture from most Middle Eastern Culture. I don't see anyway Al=Qaeda could defeat us militarily. Yes, they certainly hurt us deep in our national psyche. A psyche I thought did not exist anymore. Al-Qaeda's strategy is to make us turn on our most sacred values as Americans. When habeus corpus and other rights do not exist for certain people, they win.

I knew many Moslems from living in an urban area. Every taxi driver was Middle Eastern. If I had a nonMiddle Eastern driver, it was a day of note. There were some Africans, too. Sometimes I fantasied about immigration being tougher when they almost killed me for being female and telling where to drive me. When I was hospitalized, my roommate was a Black Muslim. I was utterly terrified from what I saw as a child. They were so nice, so basically decent and treated me very well.

I have so many vignettes from those days. One that I like is that I had to go to Bellevue for medical treatment which terrorized me. The construction walls around Bellevue were completely covered with thousands of flyers of the missing. All had color photos smiling. They were so young. The contrast with the tragedy was enormous. Votive candles were going. Initially, it was called the Wall of Hope. Later, it had to be renamed to the Wall of Prayer. Museums have archived those walls. Bellelvue is like a 42nd St. subway stop, teeming with poor people. As I walked through the main lobby about a week after 9/11. a woman was there in heavy purdah. Could not see her at all. It was right out of Afghanistan. No one paid her much mind.

Let me also note that there was racial or class difference to how stricken one was by grief. Many poor patients told me that we had it coming for supporting the Israelites. They could not see anyone in the financial district as human. It was sad.

As Obama said, Al-Qaeda has murdered and terrorized more Moslems in the Middle East than here. Many Moslems were in the towers.

For today, though, I am celebrating--with some wonder.

37

Obama Offs Osama

by snowbird in

campaign promise fulfilled.. i just love the way obama pronounces pakistan: (pahk-ee-stohn).. syl.

Band on the Run

I can't believe how happy I am. Focusing on Bin Laden is a distraction. Nothing is going to change in terms of security. Christiane Amanpour had a very good point on CNN. The recent turmoil in the Middle EAst has been a repudiation of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda was losing its credibility on the Arab street. Their message is not as resonant with Arabs as it once was.

I'm afraid they will say it is someone else's body. They said they have the body and DNA tests have proved conclusive. I saw Obama deliver a comic address at the White House Correspondent's dinner. His delivery was perfect. He was as funny as Seth Meyers. I can't begin to imagine what it was like to do that, knowing this was in the works. He should win an Academy Award.

28

Pres. Obama's Bin Laden Speech

by charlie brown jr. in

i liked it!.

Band on the Run

I'm afraid that with all the cheering that it will still end up like the aftermath of the U.S. win over the Soviets at the Olympics. Bin Laden could not function in a vacuum. There are so many groups that despise the US and can do harm. It may be worse for the US in the short term. I see this as a temporary time out to feel that we can do things -- given enough time. Perhaps they just did without telling Pakistan.

Martha Raddatz of ABC did not say anything overtly about Pakisan giving aid and shelter to Bin Laden. Her voice was not dispassionate. She was having trouble restraining her anger. Imagine, a mansion in a city, near a world city. We should all live so poorly. It wasn't too bad when I imagined him shaking in a cave.

I am very happy he did not have a natural death. It would have been nice to take him into custody and try him for war crimes. I'm also glad it wasn't suicide as a response to the U.S. coming in to get him.

28

Pres. Obama's Bin Laden Speech

by charlie brown jr. in

i liked it!.

Band on the Run

I'm still in shock. Watching CNN, I was a bit shocket how Wollf Blitzer had to recap the basic story of September 11th and explain Al-Qaeda. Obama is quite an orator. I was very conscious that a lot of speech writers,etc. had to vet it. Part of me wonders if Obama just has better speaking skills-word pronounciation, lingering on certain words, etc. than Bush.

This may not be Jesus-like but I'm celebrating. I wish I could join the celebrations in Manhattan and DC. Maybe we'll have celebrations here. This is far more important than Hussein being captured. I don't care how grisly it looks. His body should be on public display. I worry about retaliation. So I'm also glad I'm no longer in NY.

I knew something was up when the royal honeymoon was cancelled. Knew it in my gut. It was too last minute for such a planned monarchy. No one was ill, etc.

I wonder what Jesus' reaction would be if He were here in the flesh.

51

Osama Bin Laden is dead !

by troubled mind in

Band on the Run

The NY Times only has one paragraph up. It is impossible to leave a comment. I suspect it crashed with so many Americans and others reacting. Thank you so much for posting this. Never did I ever think I would find out Bin Laden was dead from Jehovah's Witnesses.net. I am not Jesus. Working at the World Trade Center, dating, dry cleaning my clothes there, eating there, drinking there, sheltered from the weather--it hurt me to my soul. If I were still in Ny tonight, I'd race down to Ground Zero or Times Square.

Manhattan must be in a total frenzy.

Jesus forgive me but I cannot forgive. I am elated. It is temporary, though. It might actually hurt us in the long run. Al-Qaeda will retaliate. I have not seen such a boost in this country since the Soviet /US hockey team and Obama's election.

Obama is so delayed. I'm worried the reports will turn out to be false. I'd like his body on display.