Archive for the News Category

On Tyranny: Jesus Lizard Vocalist David Yow Ditches US for Portugal

Posted in Essays, Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , on 09/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

As our nation rapidly transforms into Authoritarian America, artists – who are typically among the first to be targeted when a dictatorship takes control of a country – are relocating to countries where their right to free speech is still protected.

One of the more prominent indie-rock artists to make the move is Jesus Lizard frontman David Yow, who relocated to Portugal earlier this year, according to multiple sources who recently confirmed the news to The Bad Penny. None of the sources said outright that Trump’s reclaiming of the presidency was their motivating factor for Yow fleeing the U.S., however.

When yours truly interviewed Yow and Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison last year for a feature on FLOOD, the vocalist whose lyrics were historically apolitical admitted that he felt boxed in by the inexorable partisan strife in America and said he was compelled to address current events on the band’s comeback record, Rack.

“A larger percentage of the lyrics than I wished were based on the political climate in the U.S. for the last seven or eight years,” he confided in a video conference call.

Continue reading

On Tyranny: Morrissey Cancels US Shows Due to ‘Credible Threat’

Posted in News, On Tyranny with tags on 09/19/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Go to The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny hub for more installments in this series.

On Tyranny: Russia Sentences 5 Members of Pussy Riot to Prison

Posted in Features, News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , on 09/15/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Five members of exiled feminist protest punk-rockers Pussy Riot are facing lengthy prison sentences after a Moscow court ruled them guilty for staging anti-war performances that criticized Russia’s military actions, the performance-art group’s website, Mediazona, reported Wednesday.

Moscow’s Basmanny District Court handed down the ruling in absentia for Maria Alyokhina, Diana Burkot, Taso Pletner, Olga Borisova and Alina Petrova, who could face eight to 13 years apiece in prison, according to the website.

Continue reading

On Tyranny: Bad Bunny Bypasses US on Tour Due to ICE Raids

Posted in News, On Tyranny with tags on 09/10/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

From i-d.com:

You said you wouldn’t be giving any concerts in the United States. Was this out of concern about [the mass deportations of] Latinos in the United States?

Man, honestly, yes. There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate – I’ve performed there many times. All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the US But specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the US… People from the US could come here to see the show. Latinos and Puerto Ricans of the United States could also travel here, or to any part of the world. But there was the issue of – like, fucking ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.

Go to The Bad Penny’s On Tyranny hub for more installments in this series.

On Tyranny: Eugene S. Robinson (Buñuel, Ex-Oxbow) Leaving US for Spain, Says ‘I’ve Had It’

Posted in Features, Interviews, News, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , on 09/07/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

My attitude used to be like, I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country.
And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why?’
-Eugene S. Robinson

During a lengthy conversation I recently had with Eugene S. Robinson, one of the most uncompromising, forthright and no-bullshit rock musicians around, he revealed that he has joined a slew of other American artists exiting the United States to live in other countries.

“I don’t live in America anymore,” he told me in an interview last month. “I’m in Poland at this very moment, on my way to Spain, where I bought a house, and that’s where I’ll be moving and living.”

He added: “My attitude used to be like, ‘I built this country, I’m going to fight for the soul of this country. And then, finally, in the last decade, I was like, ‘Why? Why? Why? [There are] lots of places to live in the world. Why [should I continue to live] here?'”

Continue reading

At Boise Gig, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst Recalls Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch Doing Him a Solid

Posted in Concert Reviews, News, Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , on 09/01/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Bright Eyes commander Conor Oberst shared a heartfelt and formative memory with the crowd that packed the Treefort Music Hall to see his ensemble perform tonight.

About halfway through Bright Eyes‘ 20-song set, Oberst recalled that his prior band Commander Venus opened for their idols, Built to Spill, when the latter band performed in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. He noted that he was only 14 years old at the time.

Oberst then recounted that when Bright Eyes played to an empty Neurolux in Boise when they were starting out, he received a note from that city’s hometown hero, Built to Spill leader Doug Martsch, on which he had written his home phone number an invitation for Oberst’s band to crash at his house for the night.

Continue reading

Thanks, Mudvayne, for Making This Week Even Shittier

Posted in Comedy, News with tags , on 08/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

This week alone:

• RFK Jr. effectively sentenced millions of Americans to potentially die thanks to his contested decision to roll back critical, effective vaccines that (sigh) do not have microchips or tiny aliens in them.

• Trump announced plans to expand the U.S. military presence (i.e. martial law) into Seattle and Portland, in addition to L.A., Chicago and D.C.

• Another preventable school shooting resulted in the deaths of Catholic children in Minnesota and inflicted trauma on an indeterminate number of kids and families.

• ICE unlawfully arrested a bunch of firefighters in Washington while they battled a blaze.

• ICE detained Kilmar Abrego Garcia again, apparently with plans to send him to human-rights-abuse-lovin’ Uganda instead of a gulag in El Salvador this time.

• Israel killed five more journalists in yet another bombing in Gaza.

And to cap it all off, now we have to tolerate the return of Mudvayne. That’s right: fucking Mudvayne.

Continue reading

RIP Brent Hinds of Mastodon (and, for a Fleeting Moment, ‘Game of Thrones’

Posted in News with tags , , on 08/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Poll: Can Punk-Rock Fans Back ICE Detentions?

Posted in News, Polls with tags , , , on 07/29/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
Opinion | What do masked ICE agents have to hide?

RIP Ozzy Osbourne, Voice of Heavy Metal, Prince of Darkness, Biter of Bat Heads, Cooker of Eggs

Posted in News, Videos with tags on 07/22/2025 by Kurt Orzeck