Denver achieves guru status

Insight on the News, Dec 24, 2002 by John Elvin

If you're looking for a way to gather a little cult of adoring followers around you, become a dead pop singer. The latest to join the ranks of those worshipped in their absence is John Denver, the "Almost Heaven" warbler who checked out when his ultralight aircraft crashed into the Pacific five years ago. A "semi-religious" Denver sect has "sprung up in a half-dozen countries, notably Germany, Japan, Britain, Australia and New Zealand," according to a report in Australia's The Age newspaper. One prominent figure in the Denver guru movement is Christine Smith, a Colorado writer (A Mountain in the Wind: An Exploration of the Spirituality of John Denver), and hostess of an annual celebration drawing Denver disciples from far and wide.

Asking around among those giving testimonials to the departed "saint John" at the celebration, the reporter from The Age could find none who actually had known Denver. That could be because the singer of syrupy songs was considered by some in his immediate circle to be a drug- and booze-addled skinflint who hadn't a kind word for anyone. The reporter did in fact eventually find someone who had known Denver: a sound technician who formerly had been a member of the singer's road crew. In response to a question, the roadie characterized his former boss as "a real [anal orifice]."