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Comment by SkyMarshal | Hacker News Reader

Fyi, ScriptSafe is showing that one of the blocked domains on this site is scientology.tv. Apparently Chick was a Scientologist.

https://www.scientology.tv/series/staywell-concert/artists/c...

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He was, and quite a prominent one as well. While it low-key bugs me, I decided I won’t let it destroy the beauty of his art for me.

In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks. John Lennon, for example, beat his first wife.

Seconded. Scientology is pretty good at corrupting people, and has quite a few prominent people in their ranks. John Travolta, Chick Corea, Tom Cruise, Isaac Hayes. Pretty sad in a way.

Corea's touring group was all sourced from Scientologists. It allowed him and the church to manipulate his staff. A colleague of mine helped on an overseas tour and accidentally incurred a $18,000 cell phone bill (international roaming charges out the wazoo.)

They dumped her when she complained, and found another church member to fill in. An actual tour manager would have cost more money and would have had a contract to get expenses like that paid.

What a pity that such a talent should have a shadow hanging over him.

Like most Scientology celebs, he was carefully taken care of by the church. I doubt he was ever aware of how shitty they treated his staff.

Next to impossible, but maybe.

>In general, it’s better not to dig into the personal lives of people you look up to, because chances are we’re attributing all sorts of virtues to them based on their work, while they’re - just like all of us - humans with flaws and dark nooks.

I'm actually an advocate of doing just that. Less idolization, less focus on the person, and more focus on learning from their work and results.

I don’t know. An (not well known) artist took his life and allegations about child abuse came up. I now have a hard time enjoying his music.

Chick Corea was not only a Scientologist, but he recorded albums that were meant to be tributes to L. Ron Hubbard [0] [1]. That is a whole different level of cringe than an artist simply being affiliated with Scientology. To go from those classic 1970s ECM recordings to this raised many eyebrows at the time.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Stars_(album) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Adventure

Looking at the futuristic themes in his work, it seems to have been a major creative inspiration to him. Having grown up with church music of my own, I can recognize and appreciate that. Rarely does his music hit you over the head with it.

Yes he was, but if you like jazz, his music is amazing and he did many collaborations. Mark Isham is another jazz musician (and film composer) I like and he is also a Scientologist.

I met Mark as an undergrad when I was trying to get a career in music started. I asked him if he had any advice about getting my foot in the door of tv or film scoring, and his advice was... Scientology.

Joke's on me. I never tried Scientology and consequently never made it as a film composer.

I mean, in a way, scientology is like any other affinity group [1]. If many members of a particular affinity group are prominent in an industry, joining it is a way to get connected with those members and that industry. Scientology is also a lot more hands on, and tries to manage staffing for their most prominent members, which means positions may be open only for members (which may be illegal), so it probably is pretty effective at getting your foot in the door in the industry.

The questions are really can you get out of Scientology and stay in the industry, and is getting into the industry worth the strife of getting into and out of Scientology and of association with Scientology in general.

[1] Most affinity groups aren't abusive or dehumanizing, or at least aren't to anywhere near the same degree.

> The questions are really can you get out of Scientology and stay in the industry.

Yes, you can, at least in the last decade. Lots of celebrities who were once vocal Scientologists have now left the church, though they might not make a big fuss about it. Blogs like Tony Ortega's have written on how Scientology's membership is imploding, though it still has some committed donors that it squeezes for money to keep up appearances.

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