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On Tyranny: Ultra-Rich Corporate CEO Stands With Bad Bunny in Super Bowl Flap

Posted in News, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , on 10/23/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

To most, it will seem incongruous that this website is cover footballing to any extent. Or applaud an American citizen whose net worth hovers in the $250 million range. But because the sport is caught between a pop mega-star and a hard right-wing contingent in the U.S., we find it fitting to salute NFL Commissioner (aka CEO) Roger Goodell for backing up Bad Bunny at a Super Bowl press conference this morning.

That’s not to mention that we previously covered the Latin hip-hop star’s decision to avoid touring the U.S. for fear of ICE raiding his concerts. And the fact that Trump, Kristi Noem and other sycophantic, bigoted trolls in the White House are unabashedly trying to limit free speech or even make it a crime. Ergo, the uproar over Bad Bunny’s scheduled performance at America’s most-watching sporting event should be made aware to musicians of all stripes.

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On Tyranny: Kenny Loggins Says Trump in ‘Danger’ Over ‘No Kings 2’ Poop-Bomb AI Video

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , on 10/20/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Bravo, Kenny Loggins. Three words yours truly never thought he’d put into print. Find out why here.

On Tyranny archive here.

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On Tyranny: Brett Bradford of Scratch Acid, Suckling Hopes MAGA ‘Will Eat Itself’

Posted in Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , , on 09/25/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

“Some who voted for [Trump] are not necessarily bad or gullible people. If that’s the case, they should very well now regret their decision and do what they can to right the wrong. They helped put the fox in the henhouse and should help to get rid of it.”

–Brett Bradford

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Recently, yours truly had the distinct honor of conducting an extraordinarily in-depth and all-encompassing interview with one of the most crucial figures in ’80s underground music and foundational guitarists in noise rock: Brett Bradford, formerly of Scratch Acid and now a member of indie-rock quartet Suckling.

The extensive feature will appear on Post-Trash on October 7, but in the meantime, we’re bringing you, separately, his thoughts on Authoritarian America as part of The Bad Penny‘s increasingly critical series called On Tyranny. Here is that portion of the interview, followed by some additional thoughts that Bradford later shared.

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On Tyranny: Ex-U.S. Navy Captain-Turned-Psych-Rock Musician Jeremy Moore Warns of Fascism

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags , , , , , , , , on 09/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck

Jeremy Moore, originator of Washington, D.C., avant-garde/psychedelic-rock collective Zabus, takes part in The Bad Penny‘s “On Tyranny” series to talk with music journalist Kurt Orzeck about the relationship between authoritarianism and societal inaction, and how his time serving as a U.S. Navy captain gives him a unique perspective on the rise of fascism in the U.S.

Go here for The Bad Penny‘s On Tyranny hub.

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On Tyranny: Metallica Teaches Trump Foe Gavin Newsom a Lesson – Fight Fire With Fire

Posted in Features, On Tyranny, On Tyranny, Videos with tags , , , , , on 09/24/2025 by Kurt Orzeck
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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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.

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