MR. ISAAC TIGRETTMULTI-MILLIONAIREDEVOTEE OF SAI BABA
ISAAC TIGRETT
Interviewed by the BBC in the one-hour documentary 'THE SECRET SWAMI
(Tigrett laughs at this rather wildly, see picture on left)
Isaac Tigrett: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. He could go out and murder someone tomorrow, as I said, it's not going to change my evolution, it's not going to change the good things that have come out of my relationship down there.
Tanya Datta: Does that mean that some part of you believes there could be some truth to the rumours?
Isaac Tigrett:Oh, absolutely I believe there is truth to the rumours.
Tanya Datta: You believe there is truth to the rumours?
Isaac Tigrett:Sure, there probably is, probably is.
BBC interview'The Secret Swami':
Isaac Tigrett:
(See video clip of this: Filesize 1.34 MB)
Isaac Tigrett: I said look I need to start a search, I need to go and look for what I think is a master, a guru, a spiritual leader, a teacher, something because of the hunger inside of me. I searched all over India, I went to ever Ashram, every holy place, I heard about this obscure little guru, decided to go down there and there was a festival day, there was a huge crowd and *he parted the crowd and came right over to me, I was standing at the back and he said; you've come at last, I've been waiting for you. So, he turned and said; we have many things that we're going to do together, you wait right here. He didn't speak to me again for fifteen years.
*This is a famous 'guru-hook', a bait used while fishing for devotees among the mass. In his famous first meeting with Vivekananda, when RamakrishnaParamahamsa told him: 'You have come at last! I have been waiting for you!' and went on to speak of their future association. This has been done by many other Indian Swamis and gurus to newcomers. (eg. Swami Shyam of Kullu). Sai Baba has said the same to various first-time visitors... The European Sai Org. lleader, Thorbjørn Meyer, was flattered this way and sees it as foreknowledge by Sai. However, say this to a number of people, and in time some will take it as very auspicious and some of them will even turn out to be rich and famous. This would explain why there was zero follow-up for Tigrett from Sai for 15 years. Doubtless he recognised Tigrett after many visits and learned how well he was doing, and got interested. Meanwhile, Tigrett had focussed all his energies, prayers, hopes and goals on Sai Baba, so the rest follows.
Tanya Datta: Can you tell me how much you donated to the hospital?
Tanya Datta: Isaac Tigrett did some good works of his own. By the time Sai Baba spoke to him again he'd become an extremely rich man. When the guru told him of his dream for an ultra modern hospital in the heart of Andhra Pradesh, Tigrett donated tens of millions of dollars. Prince Charles's architect Keith Critchlow, who's also a Sai Baba devotee, was hired to design it. It was opened in nineteen ninety-one, and specialised in hi-tech heart and kidney surgery free of charge. Tigrett is convinced that the hospital, built on blood, sweat and burgers was worthy of his generosity. And certainly his guru was grateful.
Isaac Tigrett: Err, well I, I don¹t really want to say the exact amount but I'll tell you in India it goes a long way. A long, long way.
Tanya Datta: I've heard it was over a hundred million dollars.
Isaac Tigrett: No, nothing close to that. Enough to build a five hundred room hospital and equip it and get it started.
Tigrett's donation:
Word has long had it in the Sai movement that Tigrett donated over $100 million, at least. However, David Bailey, who was a very close follower of Sai Baba (until he finally blew the whistle), and who knew all the Sai 'veranda VIPs' well, knew that Tigrett gave $49 million dollars, of which $15 million simply disappeared. unaccountably. (Hear the phone call where he details this). Tigrett wrote an article - published in some Sai magazines - where he told how he was put in charge of the hospital equipping project by Sai Baba, but was frozen out by the ashram and Central Trust and had great problems doing many things due to the huge egos he encountered.1992:
House of Blues opens
Harvard Square
1994:
Hollywood
House of Blues
Foundation RoomHOB Entertainment, Inc. owns or operates several concert venues, with its primary involvements in blues music. The company's core operations are its House of Blues restaurant-concert hall venues in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Chicago; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Orlando, Florida; and Las Vegas.
Isaac Tigrett's 'Mission from God'
When Isaac Tigrett formulated the House of Blues restaurant and blues club concept, his intention was to bring something authentic to the world. Tigrett had been disappointed with the commercialism that developed as the Hard Rock Cafe, which he co founded with Peter Morton in London in 1971, grew into an international chain of restaurants. Tigrett sold his interest in the company in 1988 and planned to lead a more spiritual life, but his spiritual teacher advised him to remain active in business. He conceived the House of Blues concept as a way to preserve blues music, as an art form with more than 100 years of continuous development, by providing a forum for live performance of traditional and contemporary blues. He also viewed education about the history and social influence of the blues as a way to cultivate multiculturalism, hence the company's slogan,
'Unity in Diversity.'Some of the inspiration and momentum for the House of Blues came from the popular 1980 movie, The Blues Brothers, starring Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues and the late John Belushi as Jake Blues.
Tigrett opened the first House of Blues venue, a 280-seat concert hall and 200-seat restaurant, in Harvard Square in November 1992. The interior design of the restaurant-blues club presented a contemporary variation of the old southern juke joint like the ones Tigrett had enjoyed as a native of Tennessee. Artistic touches included African-American folk art and the plaster relief portraits of 80 renowned blues artists, such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King, embedded in the ceiling panels.
Tigrett's plans for the company included House of Blues venues in New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other major cities.
To fund further projects Tigrett raised $32 million through a private placement of 71 percent interest in the company. Surprisingly, the Harvard University Endowment Fund invested $10 million, commending Tigrett's creative vision and previous success. Other investors included James Belushi, brother of John Belushi, and members of the Aerosmith rock 'n roll band.
Tigrett formed the House of Blues Foundation to develop a curriculum on the history and culture of the blues and blues-based music from the plantation workers of the Mississippi Delta to present times.
The New Orleans House of Blues opened in the French Quarter in January 1994. The 27,000-square-foot facility housed a 1,000-seat concert hall and a 350-seat full-service restaurant. The interior featured a look similar to that of the Cambridge venue, with the plaster relief portraits on the ceiling by local artist Andrew Wood and folk art from the Mississippi Delta region. The grand opening featured renowned New Orleans blues artist Dr. John, and a newly formed Blues Brothers Band with Dan Aykroyd, Andrew Strong, Carla Thomas, and local bailsman Robert Jr. Lockwood.
Aerosmith played the March 1994 grand opening of the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The $9 million project housed 1,000 seats in the concert hall, a $500,000 sound system, a 75-foot bar, and a movable wall on the second floor that could be raised for diner viewing when the concert hall was full.
Tigrett covered the front exterior of the three-story building with corrugated metal from a cotton mill in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where legendary blues singer-guitarist Robert Johnson supposedly gave his soul to the devil so he could play the blues.The venue also housed the Foundation Room, a private club with membership based on a minimum donation of $2,200 to the educational foundation. The club featured a 70-seat luxury dining room and a lounge lushly decorated with East Indian fabrics, wood carvings, and art. Tigrett promoted the club by opening it to the entertainment elite, making the House of Blues the place to see and be seen.
Despite the opening of these new venues, the growth of the company was slower than expected, leading to conflicts between Tigrett and the board of directors. Tigrett wanted slow growth in order to build anticipation, but the board wanted rapid growth. Tigrett stepped down in October at the behest of the board, which also expressed concern about Tigrett's liberal spending habits and the company's poor financial performance. Tigrett remained on the board as emeritus, while COO and President Greg Trojan, who joined the company in 1996, became CEO.
John
Burton
TIGRETTIn the early 1950s John Burton Tigrett, Isaac's father, paid $800 for the Glub-Glub duck, a toy that bobs and appears to drink water, and eventually sold 22 million Glub-Glubs.
Glub-Glub drinking-duck novelty: As the drinking bird tilts over, the liquid is eventually removed from the lower body and the lower portion of the tube. The vapor above the liquid then rushes up the tube which equalizes the pressure in the head and body. With this, the center of gravity returns to the lower body and with one swift motion, the bird swings back up away from the water. Drinking Bird comes wearing a blue hat and red feet. The liquid comes in red or blue. Please let us select the color for you.
*Caution:Besides his sons, Isaac of Los Angeles and Kerr of Memphis and Charlottesville, Tigrett is survived by his wife, Pat Kerr; a brother, Charles Clark of Jackson, Miss., and one grandchild.
If broken, dye will stain!
In his later years, Tigrett wrote a book, Fair & Square (Spiridon Press, Nashville, 1998), about his careers.But he was also an inventor as well as a patent investor. When Isaac's brother John Junior cut himself on a wooden playpen, their father created a new playpen out of plastic mesh.His mother Frances was on the board of the Metropolitan, which later gave him the idea to build opera houses in theatres next to each of the hotels that were part of his House Of Blues chain."I come from an old Southern family, they came over in covered wagons and founded western Tennessee. They were in the plantation, lumber and railroad business. I grew up in a rural area which was 90% black. The first music I ever heard was gospel music."
In 1973 Isaac was so amazed by a book called The Secret Life Of Plants that he bought the movie rights to this best-seller which explored paranormal phenomena. A few months later he sold the rights to Warner Bros. on the condition that he could accompany the scriptwriters for the forthcoming documentary around the world to observe the penomena described in the book. Eating breakfast one morning in the dining-room of a hotel in northern India while on this trip he heard a voice clearly saying, 'You've come at last; I've been waiting for you.' Turning round, he saw a picture on the wall of Sai Baba, whom he had never heard of and knew nothing about.
"He just came right over to me and said, 'You've come at last; I've been waiting for you.' " Baba then 'materialised' vibhuti in Tigrett's hand. "He said, wait here; we have many things that we are going to do together." It would be another 15 years, he said, before Baba spoke to him again.
"I was very cynical and very suspicious. I believe in the inner guru -- following your own heart -- not the outer guru. It had never occurred to me that it would be some sort of outer master that would draw me down the path."
In 1987 Isaac became a father. He had been pursuing Maureen Starkey, the ex-wife of Beatle Ringo Starr, for some years, even giving her three children jobs at the Hard Rock in 1981 so they could learn about business and the value of earning money. Finally Maureen began to return his affections and they eventually married in Monte Carlo on May 27th, 1989 deciding to live both in Los Angeles and Boston. She gave birth to their daughter Augusta King in 1987, and Isaac's friend Dan Ackroyd became the child's godfather. Also in 1987 Isaac became disenchanted with the business side of his Hard Rock dream and decided to sell it.
During meditation he was transported back to his childhood and the spark of an idea which became The House Of Blues was founded.
MORE
TIGRETT STORY
(PRESENTING THE CRAZY GUY AS ALWAYS, WELL, YOU CAN DECIDE)
Isaac Tigrett's experiences and opinions have been known to the Sai movement for decades, at least since they were first aired by R. Lowenberg in one of his several inaccurate and often fanciful hagiographies devoted to Sathya Sai Baba. Tigrett's experiences of 'miracles' he attributed to Sathya Sai Baba were reported there without any critical approach whatever. This is not to say that Tigrett did not experience (i.e. subjectively) what he also has reported in various connections.No one can cogently deny that very little is known by the use of rigorous methods of investigation about the causes of most paranormal experiences, including so-called 'Saki lee las'.. All the reported ''lee las' or alleged 'miracles attributed to Sai Babka have long been recorded in diverse cultures as far back as history goes... and though they differ in detail, they all fall into groups with common features. For example, dealings are reported in countless connections, attributed to countless persons, deities, idols etc. Likewise 'spontaneous' manifestations, coincidences, resynchronizations, thought transferences, bi location... you name it. In no case can the causal factors be traced or adequately explained by anyone.
Add to this the fact that all these experiences are subjective... that is, one person has the experience while others nearby invariably do not. When they seem to be commonly experienced, it is surely often due to a high degree of suggestion, expectation, 'group effect' or even 'mass hypnosis' and many other predisposition factors. Saki devotees often describe seeing him take on different forms, while others present at the same time do not see any difference. This suggest that the phenomenon may well be akin to deep hypnosis, for who has not seen the shows of Raul McKenzie or others where people evidently are convinced of the most unlikely and amusing things... fully believing they see and touch and taste something totally different to what all others can observe them doing.
There are practically no experiences described in spiritual literature that are not also described in the literature of drugs and psychedelics. The experience of LSD 25 is known to open some takers to amazing experiences, both extremely hallucinatory and yet also extremely penetrating awareness of 'normal reality', even with extreme mind-reading facility, complete freedom from mind-created illusions or stresses and other indescribable aspects of the cosmos in which we live. Such psycho-pharmacological agents do usually cause 'total' hallucinations - for example, seeing everything changed into shapes and forms entirely foreign to one's normal perceptions and even one's own identity apparently changed. However, similar hallucinations occur in many other ways...a very high temperature can transform the perceived world beyond normal recognition. There are diverse practices that cause 'transcendental states' from extreme fasting (esp. when the first nourishment is taken afterwards); and extreme bleeding, as practiced in some cultures as part of religious festivals - in Italy, the Philippines. Even a hard fall onto the coccyx of the spine is reported as having brought on so-called 'complete kundalini rising' (for want of a better term).
Now, these considerations were a preamble to considering Tigrett's experiences. He has made no secret of the fact that he was a major drinker and drug taker from the 60s onwards. He also told how he was strongly 'under the influence' of drink when he drove off a cliff and felt that Sai Baba held around him and saved his life. This vision of Sai Baba saving him is still obviously remarkable. However, one cannot leap to conclusions about the cause of this. Apart from being drunk (when consciousness grip on reality is tenuous and hallucination notr far away), he may also have taken drugs... or may have been subject to the common phenomenon among drug-takers of 'flashback', which occurs especially under extreme stress (which he was under when his car took off, we can guess?). Add to the fact that he had been concentrating on the Sai form and meditating etc. etc. for years before that (all his cafés already had a full-length photo of Sai Baba in the entrance) - and many of the prerequisites for such an experience to be generated by the subconscious mind are present.
Tigrett's experiences as well as those of long-term Sai followers people such as Krystal, the truckers, Michael Goldstein, Datum Regathers, Glandular Shah, Paul William Roberts, and many more confirmed Babka-addicts share the same views - is that Sai Baba can rightfully abuse people sexually, preside over their murders, and whatever else he may decide because he is God! Add to this the immoral and near imbecilic rider "because he does everything only for the good of those involved". These people all realize that Sai is a sexual abuser and is an accomplice to murder, and it does not affect their faith in him. So the long-term follower is like a confirmed and self-declared alcoholic... can't stop, can't change, has to break more and more rules so as to keep going. There is an inevitability to their lives due to having become so thoroughly deceived time and again - not least by the occasional siddhi, possibly - so completely absorbed in the Sai connection in all aspects of their lives, that there is no way out. One would be sorry for them... though they turn their backs on conscience and cover up, so helplessly deluded they have gradually become. Without implying the degree of immorality as shown by Hitler, we are nevertheless reminded of his last days as an ultimate example of the pressure of one's past determining one's life fate... he had no other way out than the bunker... it is inconceivable that he could have surrendered or negotiated a truce, of course, for his entire adult life took another direction and there was no turning back. This is the mental life condition to which Tigrett virtually admits.
