We’re continuing our book tour in California, but here’s an event that we didn’t publicly advertise — a gathering at the home of Spanky Taylor with many of the folks we’ve written about over the years, as well as some people we’ve only heard about and hope become our sources for new investigations.
We’ve known Spanky for a long time, well before we appeared with her in Alex Gibney’s documentary, Going Clear. And it isn’t the first time that we’ve attended a gathering at her home. About 15 years ago, she had us over to introduce us to fascinating people who would go on to become sources in our stories, such as former Scientology spy Frank Oliver.
But this time, in a gathering that was also organized by Tory Christman, the surprise visitor was actress Leah Remini, who dropped by to pick up a copy of our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, and also to meet the book’s subject, Paulette Cooper.
We had a nice chat with Leah about her upcoming projects, and we hope we can make some of that public soon. Leah was also thoughtful enough to bring a cake for the celebration — hers was the one on the left…
Like other former members of the Church of Scientology, Remini was declared a “suppressive person” or “SP” by the church, meaning that all of her former Scientology friends had to cut off all ties to her. There were numerous SPs at the gathering, as well as journalists (Allison Hope Weiner and Mark Ebner, who took the cake photo) and others.
Some attendees we can’t name, but among the others were Karen de la Carriere and Jeffrey Augustine, Jesse Prince, Nancy Many, Larry Anderson, Michael Fairman, Travis Piñon, and attorney Graham Berry.
Here’s the host of the party, Spanky, on the left, and two people who are responsible for a lot of entheta in circulation, Paulette Cooper and Karen de la Carriere.
And another photo, with Nancy Many, Graham Berry, Karen de la Carriere, Paulette Cooper and Jeffrey Augustine…
Our favorite TV villain, Adelai Niska!
We’re exhausted after another long day here. We hope you can come out to our Wednesday appearance with Paulette at the Kennedy Community Center in El Cajon!
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Going Clear gets a screening in London next month
Although Alex Gibney’s Scientology documentary Going Clear is still facing challenges getting aired in the United Kingdom, we have learned that the movie will get a theatrical screening in London next month.
On June 12, the Sundance Institute will show the movie at Picturehouse Central in London, and there will be a Q&A afterwards, according to the online flier that we have seen. Who with? It doesn’t say, but we’d guess that Alex will be there. Wish we could go!
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BOOK NOTES
We didn’t get a chance to include photos in our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, so we’re posting them at the Underground Bunker. We’ve created a dedicated page for them, and we hope you go through them all, then come back here and tell us your thoughts!
Copies of the paperback version of ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely’ are on sale at Amazon. The Kindle edition is also available, and shipping instantly. Isn’t technology cool.
Our appearances…
May 20, San Diego: Kennedy Community Center, El Cajon, 7 pm, sponsored by the San Diego Association for Rational Inquiry (with Paulette Cooper) Hey, San Diego readers, help us get the word out on this late addition to our tour!
May 22: San Francisco (with Jamie DeWolf and Paulette Cooper) THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. Aye, Chihuahua.
June 11: New York City (with Paulette Cooper) We’re keeping the venue on the down-low at this point. If you’re interested in coming to this unique event — Paulette in New York talking about Scientology where her story began — drop us a line so we get an idea how many are coming.
June 20: Chicago, The Annoyance Theater, 5pm (with Christian Stolte) This event is free, but reserve your tickets now!
June 22 and 23: Toronto (with Paulette Cooper)
June 27/28: Florida (with Paulette Cooper)
July 12: Washington DC, Center for Inquiry
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Posted by Tony Ortega on May 19, 2015 at 07:00
E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of LA attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill
The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield
