An eyewitness report from Scientology’s LRH Birthday Event Saturday in Los Angeles

 
Once again our correspondent attended a Scientology event in Los Angeles. In this case, it was the LRH Birthday Event that was held on Saturday. The week before, on March 9, the actual live event with David Miscavige was held in Clearwater, Florida. So on Saturday video of that celebration was played for the members at other facilities around the world. In the case of Los Angeles, the video was seen by members at the Dolby Theater…

Joy Villa attended the event. She sat in the reserved seating in the front. I did not see Tony Muhammad or any other members of the Nation of Islam. I suspect they attended the event at the Inglewood Org. Unlike the New Year’s event held at the Shrine Auditorium, the LRH Birthday Event at the Dolby Theater is only for PAC Base and the Celebrity Centre. The other Orgs (e.g., Inglewood, Pasadena, Valley) hold their own events.

The crowd shots in the video of the event held in Florida the week before included Erika Christensen on multiple occasions. There were no shots of John Travolta or Tom Cruise.

Even compared with past LRH Birthday Events, the LRH biographical presentation by Official LRH Biographer Dan Sherman was uninspired. It was disjointed, jumped back and forth in time mindlessly, and was without any particular theme or point. It continued last year’s practice of including several testimonials from non-Scientologists who had supposedly benefited from meeting Hubbard sometime during their lives. Even these were not especially powerful. It seemed like the people giving these testimonials were trying really hard to please, but couldn’t quite come up with anything sufficiently fantastic. One gets the impression that Sherman may be running out of things to say about Hubbard.

The biographical presentation did, however, include a surprise for serious Scientology watchers. While discussing Hubbard’s travels in his Bluebird motorhome in 1983, there was a reference to his “caretakers.” It was likely of no significance to 99 percent of the audience, but to me that one word was striking. It was the first time I had ever heard any Scientologist even suggest that Hubbard ever had or required “caretakers.”

There was a change in how the Birthday Game trophies were presented. Recently, the trophies were presented by Chairman of the Board David Miscavige. The standard practice was Miscavige would stand to the side while the Executive Director of Captain of the winning Mission, Class V Org, Sea Org Service Org, or Sea Org Continental Liaison Office delivered their speech. The winner would thank Miscavige second to last. Miscavige would then humbly acknowledge the thanks with a slight head bow and a hand gesture. The winner would then thank Hubbard, and everyone would stand and applaud LRH.

Miscavige did not present the Birthday Game winners this year. Instead, the Birthday Game trophies were presented by Nicholas Banks from the International Management Public Relations Office. As always, each winner thanked Miscavige second to last, before Hubbard. However, Miscavige was not on stage to acknowledge the thanks. Banks was standing on the side of the stage, ignored.

The winners were:

Mission: Ulm, Germany. (Ideal Mission opened in October 2018).

Class V: Stuttgart, Germany. (Ideal Org opened six months ago.)

Sea Org Service Org: Saint Hill, England.

Sea Org Continental Liason Office: Europe

It probably was not a coincidence that the winners for Mission and Class V Org were both from Germany. A point was made. The fact that the winners in those categories had recently had Ideal Org openings is consistent with the results of recent Birthday Games. Every year, it appears the winners in these categories are Missions and Orgs that recently had their “Ideal” opening.

The largest part of the event was devoted to the opening of the Advanced Organization Saint Hill of Africa. (Indeed, the Birthday Game portion of the event seemed somewhat rushed.) Not only was a video of the opening shown, but video of the grounds, various facilities, and a week of post-opening events was also shown. To me, most impressive was the video of the very nice exterior of Sea Org housing and, even more so, the interior of a bedroom. The bedroom looked like an up-scale hotel room.

AOSH Africa was officially acknowledged for achieving Saint Hill size. That was extraordinary. It has been many years since an Org has been recognized for achieving Saint Hill Size. The importance of AOSH Africa achieving Saint Hill size was emphasized by the fact that, unlike the Birthday Game trophies this year, the award for achieving Saint Hill size was presented by Miscavige.

The importance of the opening of AOSH Africa was also emphasized by: (1) the issuance of a free special, 114-page edition of Advance magazine devoted entirely to AOSH Africa: and (2) the sale for $10 of a commemorative music CD “Africa – The Winds of Change” containing ten songs.

The importance of the opening of AOSH Africa is further emphasized by the fact that the next two Saturdays on L. Ron Hubbard Way are devoted to the opening. The Grand Opening is going to be presented on Saturday, March 23, 2019, at 7:30 pm, despite the fact that we have just seen it. The Premiere Winds of Change Concert featuring music from the CD will be held on Saturday, March 30, 2019, at 7:30 pm.

Season 2 of Scientology TV premiers on Monday, April 8, 2019. There will a Premier Party on L. Ron Hubbard Way on that date. While there was no official announcement, from the coming attractions montage, I expect we will finally get a Freedom Magazine show, as well as at least a segment on the Writers of the Future. One wonders how the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America will react to the latter.

Finally, despite the sale of the CD, there was no regging. None. While several tables sold the CD, nobody approached any of the public to sell the CD or anything else.

 
Thanks for that eyewitness report, correspondent!

 
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HowdyCon 2019 in Los Angeles

This year’s HowdyCon is in Los Angeles. People tend to come in starting on Thursday, and that evening we will have a casual get-together at a watering hole. We have something in mind, but for now we’re not giving out information about it.

Friday night we will be having an event in a theater (like we did on Saturday night last year in Chicago). There will not be a charge to attend this event, but if you want to attend, you need to RSVP with your proprietor at tonyo94 AT gmail.

On Saturday, we are joining forces with Janis Gillham Grady, who is having a reunion in honor of the late Bill Franks. Originally, we thought this event might take place in Riverside, but instead it’s in the Los Angeles area. If you wish to attend the reunion, you will need to RSVP with Janis (janisgrady AT gmail), and there will be a small contribution she’s asking for in order to help cover her costs.

HOTEL: Janis tells us she’s worked out a deal with Hampton Inn and Suites, at 7501 North Glenoaks Blvd, Burbank, (818) 768-1106. We have a $159 nightly rate for June 19 to 22.

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Ginger Sugerman is facing enormous challenges — and here’s how you can help
[TWO years ago] Judge: Testimony about Scientology’s abuses so bad, it should get kicked out of the country
[THREE years ago] Got a war wound? Scientology can help you with that, and more in our social media review
[FOUR years ago] ‘Going Clear’: Jason Beghe, the actor who left Scientology and made a stink about it
[FIVE years ago] What will you do with your Scientology E-meter tchotchkes?
[SIX years ago] Scientology Ordered to Turn Over Confidential Files in Forced-Abortion Lawsuit
[SEVEN years ago] Jonny Jacobsen: A Q&A with Europe’s Premier Scientology Blogger

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 20, 2019 at 07:00

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