About

Thanks for visiting the writing and brain-fart hub for Kurt Orzeck, a rock journalist, writer, critic, class instructor and entertainment historian who refuses to use hyphens in this description because he is not a “multi-hyphenate.” You’re hearing directly from me, so I’ll drop the third-person charade for the rest of this introduction.

I started writing about rock (and, to a much lesser extent, roll) in 1998. Oh man, those were the halcyon days. Then technology came along and ruined everything. Thanks a lot, guy who invented the typewriter. I currently content myself by adding content to this website; writing artist bios; and contributing to Music Connection, Project FARE, New Noise and other outlets.

My credits include RollingStone.com, MTV.com, Reuters, Yahoo, Alternative Press, Filter, Flood, BBC.com, Thrasher, Soma, Venice, Royal Flush, Devil in the Woods, Rockpile, Mean Street, Harp, Edible Idaho, Greenbelt Magazine, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Idaho Family Magazine, Idaho Business Review, Magnetic, The Big Takeover, lotsa other mags and websites that went bust, and surely a few more I’m forgetting.

I also worked as the youngest and longest-serving managing editor of ICE in the magazine’s 25-year history, managing editor of Buzznet, editor of The Big Takeover and editor/copy editor/columnist at MTV News. NPR, USA Today and other outlets have featured me as a source in some of their reports. Additionally, I moderated a panel discussion about the early days of The Daily Show at Politicon, where I saw Van Jones and Ann Coulter yucking it up together in the guest lounge.

If you would like to contact me to discuss opportunities such as writing bios, articles or reviews; interviewing artists; or editing any type of material, email me at KOrzeck@gmail.com. I’d also be happy to geek out with you over Queens of the Stone Age, Big Trouble in Little China, the Jesus Lizard and/or MacGyver.

Please do not contact me to ask why this website is called The Bad Penny. It’s a phrase used by two of my heroes, Steve Albini and Indiana Jones, as evidenced here:

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© Kurt Orzeck and The Bad Penny Blog, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kurt Orzeck and The Bad Penny Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.