TR, you just reminded me of something else. There USED to be live music and interesting talks!!
** In the latter 70's the music at Dodger Stadium was live, courtesy of Al Kavelin and his orchestra. My wife was Jewish and we both related well to Jews, and somehow we got to know Al and a son of his. They were Jews who either became JW's or grew up as JW's. So...
** We invited Al to come up to our Hesperia, CA, congo to give the public talk. Talk!!! It was all about Jehovah's people and music, so he and his son mostly played the KH piano and some instruments they brought, giving us samples of what some of the Psalms might have been like if played, plus some other musical selections that I don't remember anymore. The hall was packed and everyone was so amazed at how wonderful that meeting was!!
** Yes, Kingdom Halls did have pianos at one time, and WE SANG TO KINGDOM MELODIES PLAYED ON THE PIANO!!!! Some piano players were inspired and some not so good, but at least the music was LIVE!!! Assembly Halls had live piano also, with a brother waving a baton at us from the platform to help us keep up a good tune.
** A congo we visited once in Tucson not only had a piano, but also a violin and saxophone, and Kingdom Melodies were played by a TRIO, one sister and two brothers, and talk about being astounded at that!!! They made the music come alive!
** Back in 1975 the Public talk was still one hour and we had ten minutes after it to get up and socialize, stretch, get some water, use the restroom, before going into the Watchtower. That really was something that was very nice.
** There were Public Talk outlines, but they did not have to be used in such a rigid way back then. The Kavelins would never be able to pull off a "Talk" like that in this current hostile WTS environment. There was even a brother from Victorville or the San Bernardino area who was a complete act in himself. He looked like a cross between Groucho Marx and Billy DeWolf. His act on the platform was very Danny Kaye-ish. He wiggled his nose and face parts around like Danny Kaye and all he had to do was go to the platform and look out at the audience to have everyone in stitches, especially the kids. He always did a talk about some Bible theme, but he always managed to have evrybody laughing most of the time. Everybody talked about his coming for weeks before and weeks afterwards.
** Also back in '75 there was a Number 5 Talk. Parts were six minutes log then and I especially appreciated the Number 5 because you were given just a one- or two-word theme or a name, such as "Christian Forgiveness" or "Elijah" or "John the Baptist" or "Hebrew Language". You had to develop the whole thing yourself and use scriptures appropriately. It was very stimulating to do that kind of talk.
** Also reminiscing back to 1975: my first District Assembly (used to be called) at Dodger Stadium not only provided live orchestra music, but also LIVE FOOD. There were stands all over the place where JW's sold hot dogs, restaurant-style roast beef that got sliced right there, and every other conceivable type of goodie reminiscent of Renaissance Faires.
I probably will remember other perks from the WT experience in the past, but now that I'm remembering these, I realize just how much freedom, ingenuity, variety, friendliness and FUN there used to be in Jehovah's so-called "Organization," which has now been ELIMINATED or LIQUIDATED from the JW experience as the GB has the Borg march ever onward to its goal of all Witnesses being in subjection to their repressive, unhappy, joyless, boring Orwellian JEHOVAHBORGDOM. So they should realize it's all their own fault that their waters are drying up faster and faster.
