Archive for the Features Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

On Tyranny: Inspired Musician Audrey Keelin of Artists United for a Free Palestine Discusses Relief Efforts

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/06/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Amid the rise of dictatorships across the globe, which is the focus of The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny series, there are some signs of hope and remarkable individuals rising to the occasion to fight for justice, democracy and peace. One of those people is Audrey Keelin, guitarist and vocalist for Brooklyn band Hiding Places, who has helped create two music compilations benefiting the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

The most recent one, Merciless Accelerating Rhythms – Artists United for a Free Palestine – Vol II, came out Friday via Brooklyn-based label HATETOQUIT and features contributions from an astonishing 64 artists, including Andy Boay (Tonstartssbandht), Colin Miller (MJ Lenderman), Landon George (MJ Lenderman), Prith/ The Coke Dares (members of Magnolia Electric Co.), villagerrr, Hiding Places, Andy Loebs, Renny Conti and more.

Watch the above video to learn about what motivated Keelin to undertake the ambitious endeavor, what inspires the Hiding Places captain during these dark times – and how you can create a project that, like the compilation albums, have the potential to make a major difference.

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Bobby Conn Doesn’t Mince Words About ‘Con Man’ Donald Trump

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , on 09/05/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“The goal of fascism is control and power. That’s the whole thing. That’s it. There’s no ideology beyond that. … Maybe we’ll make it through this. But I don’t know for sure.”
-Bobby Conn

Chicago’s own Bobby Conn is a king among troubadours, a musician’s musician, and yet also a musician who fights for the people, á la Billy Bragg. His last name is perfectly ironic, as Conn is best known for speaking truth to power and dutifully serving as a protest musician since he started playing music in 1989 with the avant-garde group Conducent. Five years later, that band broke up and Conn embarked upon his journey as a solo artist, which resulted in eight studio albums.

His ninth, Bobby’s Place, just arrived in late August. It’s pretty far out there, dubbed a “split-personality” record in which the first half tells a fantastical story about him living on an astral plane, while the second half imagines him as the star of an alternative-reality workplace sitcom named “Bobby’s Place.” The project captures and sustains the eccentric personality that Conn has embraced throughout his career, which has showcased him as a performance artist, glam-rock devotee and unabashedly outspoken critic of American politics and culture.

When The Bad Penny interviewed Conn via video before the release of Bobby’s Place, he noted that it is his least political record to date. That said, he told Splendid Magazine in 2008 that “All the records that I’ve done are a critique of what’s going on in contemporary America.” And with that in mind, Bobby’s Place can’t be considered detached from reality, even if some of the storylines he tells take place in an alternate reality.

That debate aside, we invited the highly politically opinionated legend to participate in our ongoing series On Tyranny, and he graciously and enthusiastically obliged.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Canada’s Theo Vandenhoff Wonders If Touring Authoritarian America Is ‘Even Worth It’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags on 09/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Hearing stories of other bands paying for their visas and still being unceremoniously detained at the [U.S.] border and denied entry makes us wonder if it’s even worth it. As a band with leftist political affiliations, we’re becoming increasingly wary of the risks.”
-Theo Vandenhoff

The news reports are piling up. ICE agents arresting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal U.S. resident without any criminal record or allegations in any country, and sending him to a Venezuelan gulag for months without due process.

An Australian woman held in federal prison and deported simply for visiting her husband, a U.S. Army officer, at the base where he is stationed in Hawaii.

A U.S. citizen detained at the border after trying to return to the States after visiting Canada.

If you’re ignoring the news or looking the other way, you might want to refresh yourself on the definition of “Stockholm Syndrome.” Or admit you’re a lousy citizen and bad American unwilling to fight to preserve democracy. Or under the delusion that it’s not just alleged criminals who are losing their freedoms, when in fact all Americans are (with the potential exception of the super-rich).

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Pet Sounds #61: Jeromes Dream, Deadguy Give Rescue Dogs ‘Hope’ on Iodine Benefit Comp

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/04/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Everyone involved in this effort isn’t making a penny. It’s so humbling, it’s hard for me to get over it, to be honest. It makes up for the times when the record industry and the music industry are an absolute shit show. It restores my faith in it a bit.”
–The Dogs of Hope compilation creator Tom Bejgrowicz

Punk-rock can save human lives, providing catharsis and community to young people in particular who struggle with being ostracized, anger issues and mental health problems. But just last month, Boston’s Iodine Recordings – which Casey Horrigan founded 30 years ago and is one of the most legendary indie labels in the Northeast – demonstrated that punk can save the lives of dogs too.

The label proved as such by teaming with Tom Bejgrowicz, an industry vet who worked on projects for artists ranging from Quicksand to Johnny Cash, for a uniquely laudable compilation called The Dogs of Hope. Consisting almost entirely of previously unreleased songs exclusive to the collection, participants include Jeromes Dream, Deadguy, Killswitch Engage, Snapcase, Enforced, Walter Schreifels of Quicksand, and other bands Iodine devotees would eat up. All proceeds from sales of the collection support the Randolph County Animal Shelter in rural Alabama.

Bejgrowicz started volunteering for the no-kill, privately run facility five years ago and decided to pursue his Dogs of Hope project as a way to offset the total lack of funding the shelter receives from the public or Randolph County region. To make matters worse, the county has zero public animal control or spay/neuter programs, and the shelter is four years into being at full capacity.

When The Bad Penny caught wind about The Dogs of Hope project, we immediately got in touch with Iodine and Bejgrowicz, as it appeared to be – and, it turns out, certainly is – supremely fitting for our ongoing Pet Sounds series. Here’s what Bejgrowicz had to say about the impact volunteering at the shelter has had on his life, his motivations for making the compilation and the tsunami of support Bejgrowicz didn’t expect to receive for giving a hand to man’s best friend.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Pet Sounds #60: Nick Oliveri of QOTSA, Kyuss, Dwarves Finds Peace With His Cats

Posted in Features, Interviews, Pet Sounds with tags , , , , , on 09/03/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Frisky” is a mild way to describe, Nick Oliveri, one of the most prominent rock bassists of the past 30 years. “Feral” or “untamed” would be much more accurate. The eminently talented Oliveri, who was the bottom-heavy-playing backbone of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age, and now Dwarves and his own Mondo Generator project, would likely react to even the wildest stories of John Bonham, Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe with a shrug – and his trademark laugh and smile.

Indeed, there is a tender side to the 53-year-old, Palm Desert-based musician who sometimes goes by the aliases Rex Everything, Pierre Pressure, the Great French Manipulator, Rock & Roll Komodo Dragon and Nikolai Svetlana. Don’t take our word for it: Hear about his deep affinity for felines and check out these photos he sent us for proof.

The Bad Penny recently caught up with Oliveri via video to talk not about the times he played gigs in his birthday suit, his still-intact friendships with QOTSA’s Josh Homme and Kyuss vocalist John Garcia, or how he won over Dwarves’ Blag Dahlia by smashing a vase, but rather about his love for cats.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Orchestra Gold’s Erich Huffaker Talks Impacts of Authoritarianism on Artists

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , on 09/02/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

For more on The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny series, go to this hub.

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: Meatwound’s Mantra Is ‘Fuck the Cops – and the Government Too’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , on 09/01/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Acerbic. Snotty. Sarcastic. Ruthless. Hard-hitting. There are a lot of adjectives that could be applied more gently to the ear than the name of the band in question, Meatwound. Spawned 10 years ago ago in one of the crappiest cities in the country, Tampa, Florida, The Bad Penny has wanted to catch up with this band since the release of their 2015 debut, Addio.

The skronky, snarky, snarly – have we exhausted our cache of descriptors yet? – crew immediately drew comparisons to a lot of our favorite bands. But we’re gonna show Meatwound some respect by saying they are a uniquely awesome slab of protein-rich noise-rock and encourage you to listen to the many songs of theirs embedded in this post. Most are housed on their latest record, Macho, which they coughed up in mid-July.

The Bad Penny talked with Meatwound vocalist Daniel Wallace in mid-May, just two months after the detention of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and before shit got even crazier – you know, the deployment of the U.S. Marines to the streets of L.A., Trump bombing Iran, Mahmoud Khalil was finally freed, the U.S. blocked global agreements for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, all that good stuff.

And yet, Wallace’s remarks, stances and predictions all still, terrifyingly, hold up as true for the most part.

(Meatwound also features guitarist Ari Barros, bassist/programmer Mariano Iglesias and drummer Dimitri Stoyanov.)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Doppelgängers: Louis CK’s and David Cross’ Nearly Identical Jokes on Male Rollerbladers

Posted in Comedy, Doppelgängers, Essays, Features with tags , on 08/31/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Louis C.K. and David Cross were roommates in the ’90s, so it’s not shocking that they came up with nearly the exact same bit on men with mustaches rollerblading in public with a sense of superiority to those they passed on the sidewalk.

From David Cross’ comedy album Shut Up, You Fucking Baby (2002):

From Louis C.K.’s first full-length broadcast special, Shameless (2007):

This post is dedicated to Dan Stevenson.

1 Comment »

On Tyranny: ‘You’re Telling My Kids They Can’t Read This Book?’ Author Andrew Laties Rails Against Book Bans

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, What You Readin' For? with tags , , , , , , , on 08/31/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“The majority of Americans are angry about this idiocy. There will come a tipping point.
The majority will fight back and win.”
-Andrew Laties

Andrew Laties isn’t your typical free-speech advocate. The decorated author co-founded the annual Easton Book Festival in Pennsylvania, The Children’s Bookstore in Chicago, the Chicago Children’s Museum Store and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art Bookstore in Massachusetts. In some respects, he is Donald Trump’s greatest nemesis: He is omnipresent thanks to the aforementioned institutions he established across the country, he won’t be bullied (as he was in the past), he doesn’t mince words or self-censor but rather speaks from the heart with unfiltered ferocity, he is an outspoken champion of free-speech who refuses to be silenced, and he is prepared to battle the Trump administration’s book bans to the bitter end.

In other words, Laties is one of us. Even if you don’t place censorship and book bans high on your list of priorities, whether you deem the issues to be political or not, he’s fighting for your rights too. His previously detailed his crusade in the book Rebel Bookseller: Why Indie Businesses Represent Everything You Want to Fight For – From Free Speech to Buying Local to Building Communities. Last month, he unveiled his latest work, the very timely You’re Telling My Kids They Can’t Read This Book? Our Hundred-Year Children’s-Literature Revolution and How We’ll Keep Fighting to Support Our Families’ Right to Read.

When Laties reached out to The Bad Penny, it was a no-brainer to invite him to participate in our ongoing series On Tyranny, inspired by the Timothy Snyder handbook of the same name. Here is the exchange in which we thoroughly enjoyed partaking today with Laties, a hero in the sickening, unbelievable and yet very real battle to save democracy for us all, and not just the livelihoods of artists and dissenters, but their right to exist in American society.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

On Tyranny: John Lennon and Yoko Ono Were Wrong; Karma Does Not Exist

Posted in Essays, Features, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , , on 08/30/2025 by Kurt Orzeck


Today marks the 53rd anniversary of “Power to the People,” a performance by John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band. As a nation, we are thirsting for our own contemporary music megastars (Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Drake, Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, etc.) to re-create such an event at a time even more perilous than when the peace activists of yore performed at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Side note: The whole “karma” concept that Lennon and Ono preached? Yeah, that’s proven to be a fallacy. No amount of suffering that could befall Donald Trump from here on out would be commensurate with the amount of damage he’s done to our country, which will take many decades to repair.

Fortunately, Lennon isn’t around to bear witness to the atrocities that are occurring every day in the U.S.

Check out these previous installments of The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny series:

• Poll: Are You Afraid of Attending Concerts as the Military Patrols US Cities?
• Haggus Frontman Blasts Punk Bands’ Silence on Gaza, ICE
• As US Citizens Get Disappeared and Terrorized, Chile’s Mawiza Reflects
• Punk Legends UK Subs Denied Entry Into US Due to Alleged Trump Criticism
• Kuwaiti Metal Artist Abzy Calls Hate ‘A Black Hole’
• Hungarian Black-Metallers Sear Bliss Lost ‘Freedom’ In Orbán’s Autocracy
• Necrofier Frontman Wonders ‘Is It Going to Be Like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’?’
• ‘People in America Have Blinders On,’ Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe Says
• Musicians Living Under Authoritarian Rule Speak Out
• Mark Mallman Says ‘Suffering Artists’ Are a Myth, Making Art Isn’t a ‘Job’
• Cellista: ‘Creating and Existing Under Trump’s America Is My Act of Radical Resistance’

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »