Did John Denver hate the Witnesses?

That's what we heard 'downunder'.

Ozzie

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=john+denver+jws&sourceid=opera&num=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

That rumor (that he hated Witnesses) was alive in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Also, we were always told that Earth, Wind, and Fire were demonic and that they would ask all the JW's to leave their show because they (E,W, & F) couldn't levitate (float around) and perform their magic tricks (because Jehovah's spirit took away their power to perform their tricks).

And ACDC: Antichrist/Devil's Child

And Roy Rogers and Dale Evens.............(hehehehehe)

The way I heard that one was that he would ask all JWs to identify themselfs before starting a concert. As they did, he would ask them leave and refund their money. I was told he would not perform if he thought any JWs were still there.

Personally, I always took it as an urban legend, myself.

Don't forget all those druggie songs, though. Like, Puff The Magic Dragon

Lew W

There was some folks who actually went to a John Denver concert and he did no such thing.

If you stop and think about it, it is a little unlikely a performer could do that in the US and not have a well-known (or, at least, known outside the JWs) scandal around it.

I never heard that about E, W, & F, but regularly regarding witches and fortune tellers.  You know, the group of friends go to get their fortune read on a lark, the fortune reader can't get a reading, and asks if their is a witness among them for her to leave.

Yup, that's right.  Jah's loving spirit at work.  He'll let you be raped and murdered, but if you try and have your fortune read, he'll stop that right cold.

A funny and true point!

This is what really happened to John Denver, according to Monty Python:

http://sounds.wavcentral.com/movies/monty/denver_strangle.wav

Englishman.

Yes little Johnny Denver Hated witness's. He admitted it on the Johnny Carson Show one night when Johnny Carson was on one of his many nights off.

He said he wished all JWs would be rounded up and put on a island somewhere out in the Pacific he was tired of sharing his country with them so and so's.

Johnny Carson invited little Johnny Denver back to the show and asked him to repeat what he said. Then Johnny Carson asked Little Johnny Denver to leave the show in front of millions of viewers.

This was not an urban ledgend. 

The reason he did that was because when Johnny Carson was still running the Tonight Show 50% or more of his staff were JWs

Not only that but Bob Hope also had a soft spot for JWs

I remember when that happened my dad had a John Denver album. He got up went to the stereo pulled out the album and threw it in the trash.He was really pissed to. I don't know if he was more upset over what JD said or that he really liked that album.

Edited by - plmkrzy on 19 July 2002 10:29:14

One of the sister's cousins attended JD's concert- said he asked all JWs to stand, played the national anthem, then asked to leave. Just asked them, not forced them.

That IS an urban legend, just found the probable source of it:

And, from USENET:

I remember John on a "Tonight Show."  He sang an impressive redition of  "It's About Time."  There was nothing out of line on this show!!!

I agree, that was the finest rendition that I've ever heard. Afterward,  the audience gave him a STANDING ovation for about two minutes.

LMAO!

Maggie Newman < smnewman@gsbfac.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>josh hull < josh@mediumone.com> writes:
>>
>>>john denver is on the johnny carson show.. johnny carson asks him, is it
>>>true you kick out all jw's at your concert? john denver replies, yup.
>>>johnny says, well my grandmother is a witness, i think you're horrible
>>>and boots him off the show.
>
>It's an interesting UL on many levels.  We don't often get to hear these
>closed-community stories that persist in somewhat isolated groups like
>the JWs.  The story has elements from the "evil performer" genre (Marilyn
>Manson asks for dead puppies before a concert) and the "validation by
>talk show host" that has become so popular nowadays. 

The most interesting part to me is its datedness.  Most of the "validation
by talk show host" stories that we hear have been updated to reflect current
personalities -- e.g., P&G/Donahue becomes Liz Claiborne/Oprah becomes Tommy
Hilfiger/Jerry Springer.  But here's this story still being told about John
Denver and Johnny Carson, of all people.  And it didn't just turn up on AFU
after 20 years in total limbo--I did a web search and found this debunking
from 1997, which portrays the John Denver aspect, at least, as a common rumor
within the JW community:

http://www.witnesses.about.com/religion/witnesses/library/weekly/aa102797.htm

You could argue that it hasn't been updated because of the JWs' isolation
from pop culture, but in that case why would the story have gained currency
in the first place?  There are logic gaps either way.  In any case, a
comeuppance story like this loses a lot of its juice when the talk show host
is long-since retired and the antihero guest is dead.

Emily "Death:  the real comeuppance" Kelly
--
Emily Harrison Kelly"This group is probably one of the best (top ten!)
ekelly@world.std.comin the world when it comes to conciousness..."
--einst speaking about AFU
For the AFU FAQ:  http://www.urbanlegends.com/afu.faq/

******************************************************************************************************

This is hysterical. I haven't even heard these.

What really cracks me up is all of these so-called experts about it are probably

And no doubt not even old enough to remember back that far since they only traced

it back to 1997. LMAO!

What has happened is the same thing that happens to and with gossip historiclly.

It just grew and grew and grew.

These stories these people are talking about are way out in left field with regards to what actually happened.

 Not only that but it happened in the late 60's or the very first part of the 70's. not sure.

 But it actually did happen just not the way these idiots think it happened. LMAO! ROTF!

Johnny Carson is still alive. Just write him a letter and ASK....duh.........

Edited by - plmkrzy on 19 July 2002 11:30:11

I heard that about John Denver, but at other times, I also heard the same story about Don Ho and Frank Sinatra.

Definitely urban legend material, IMHO.

Well if your hearing the same rumors Xander is hearing then they are urban ledgend for sure.

It's amazing how the cleaning department and various other staff members

 (some of which were friends of my parents)

turned into Johnny's grandmother. and it only took 20 years. WOW..LMAO!  ALL DAY!!

I got to e-mail my dad about this and find out if he has heard the news.

 and to think he was friends with Johnny's grandmother all these years and didn't know it. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

Well, my ambition was always to go to a John Denver concert and shout out, "Is John Denver here?"....Will he please leave..."...lol He once recorded a song that a friend of mine had written and managed to turn it from Robert Frost to Hallmark, then suggested to him that he had vastly improved it....lol

HS

I remember all the talk about John Denver and the Johnny Carson story...don't know if it's true or not...but I will date myself now.  How many of you remember a similar story about Merv Griffin when he had his old daytime talk show.  According to the story, he hated Dubs but one day he had Charleton Heston on his show and remarked about how he didn't like Dubs.  Supposedly Heston claimed his cleaning lady was one and he thought she was great and walked off the show.  Anyone old enough to remember that one?

-BONEZZ