Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
A powerful new book by author and trans activist Josephine Riesman makes the case that you can’t understand the life and career of the musician Beck without understanding his involvement in — and abuse by — the Church of Scientology.
The Last Temptation of Beck is set to hit bookstores on October 6, and today there’s an adapted excerpt of it coming out in the print version of New York magazine.
We obtained a review copy, and we can tell you that the book is a compelling read, told in dramatic fashion by Riesman, who grew up a Beck fan and brings a fan’s sensibility to the complex career of an artist who has been hailed as a pop messiah.
But what we especially appreciate in Riesman’s telling is how Beck’s career can’t be understood without tracing the way the artist grew up in Scientology, pushed it away, was drawn back in after his fame exploded, and then ultimately walked away from it.
Riesman has clearly spent considerable time researching Scientology, and she dives into its origins and history without slowing down the book, helping a reader understand how founder L. Ron Hubbard created a controlling, paranoid organization that believes we have all lived for trillions of years. The goal of Scientology counseling, called auditing, is to retrieve your memories of those countless lifetimes (your “Whole Track”), and one consequence of that is Scientology’s belief that children are really ancient beings in small packages — and must be treated like adults.
It was in Scientology that Los Angeles musician David Campbell met Bibbe Hansen, the free-spirited daughter of Al Hansen, a legendary Germany-based performance artist. David and Bibbe named the baby boy they welcomed in 1970 “Bek,” and the youngster only later acquired the additional “c”.
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tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
A powerful new book by author and trans activist Josephine Riesman makes the case that you can’t understand the life and career of the musician Beck without understanding his involvement in — and abuse by — the Church of Scientology.
The Last Temptation of Beck is set to hit bookstores on October 6, and today there’s an adapted excerpt of it coming out in the print version of New York magazine.
We obtained a review copy, and we can tell you that the book is a compelling read, told in dramatic fashion by Riesman, who grew up a Beck fan and brings a fan’s sensibility to the complex career of an artist who has been hailed as a pop messiah.
But what we especially appreciate in Riesman’s telling is how Beck’s career can’t be understood without tracing the way the artist grew up in Scientology, pushed it away, was drawn back in after his fame exploded, and then ultimately walked away from it.
Riesman has clearly spent considerable time researching Scientology, and she dives into its origins and history without slowing down the book, helping a reader understand how founder L. Ron Hubbard created a controlling, paranoid organization that believes we have all lived for trillions of years. The goal of Scientology counseling, called auditing, is to retrieve your memories of those countless lifetimes (your “Whole Track”), and one consequence of that is Scientology’s belief that children are really ancient beings in small packages — and must be treated like adults.
It was in Scientology that Los Angeles musician David Campbell met Bibbe Hansen, the free-spirited daughter of Al Hansen, a legendary Germany-based performance artist. David and Bibbe named the baby boy they welcomed in 1970 “Bek,” and the youngster only later acquired the additional “c”.
READ MORE
New book on Beck details his involvement in — and abuse by — the Church of Scientology
A powerful new book by author and trans activist Josephine Riesman makes the case that you can’t understand the life and career of the musician Beck without understanding his involvement in — and abuse by — the Church of Scientology.

