Rick Cruzen is a professional musician, composer and sound engineer. He has been based at Golden Era Productions for 38 years, where he worked with Ron Miscavige for over two decades. These are his views on Ron’s so-called “memoir.”

 

I am aware of fraudulent claims made by Ron Miscavige Sr. regarding his tenure as a staff member. You should know that placing your faith in this individual is a great risk. He says what he says to manipulate people for his own ends, nothing more. I say this from long personal experience.

I and other musicians were his friends for decades and we earnestly tried to help him despite his coarse nature. We tried to get him to practice, to learn music, to become a credit to himself and the band. He never did. The end result? He turned on us without warning and ran for the hills (as if he had to run—what a joke) and now he writes nasty lies about our Church (and about his own son). The only card he had left to play was a scandalous betrayal against everything he had supposedly valued (all, of course, for a profit).

  We tried to get him to practice, to learn music, to become a credit to himself and the band. He never did. The end result? He turned on us without warning and ran for the hills (as if he had to run—what a joke)...  

Decent people just do not do things like that. So if you think that after flying the coop, Ron Miscavige has perhaps now “escaped” all his “tormenters” or has “come to his senses” and is suddenly “letting the truth be known,” think again. It is all the same ongoing agenda.

Unfortunately for all of us, Ron Miscavige is an excellent con man, the very best. He can appear oh so convincing, quite likable.

SEE THE VIDEO: RICK CRUZEN GIVES HIS FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE REAL RON MISCAVIGE.

Beginning in the mid 1980s, I worked with Ron Miscavige daily. I was head of the Church band at that time and he was in it. Being in a band with someone, you get to know them well, and Ron was the most crass, offensive individual I have known. Part of his personal philosophy is that “the squeaky wheel gets the oil.” He always said that if you complain often enough and loud enough, you’ll get your way. This piece of wisdom hallmarked his self-serving career, and because he was conveniently unimpeded by scruples, he actually did in most cases get what he wanted. Normal people do sometimes holler or complain if they hear a harmful lie or see a friend shortchanged at the market, but Ron Miscavige hollered and complained simply because, no matter how nice his living arrangements, he just always had a problem with something. A perfect example is when we were in Paris for a concert. After our first night, Ron made a horrible row about how bad our hotel was and so got the whole band moved to another hotel called the Continental. After staying there for a night, we awoke to Ron screaming at the hotel staff for stealing one of his shoes. We were detained from leaving for rehearsal as he just knew they had stabbed him in the back and he wasn’t going to sit still for it. After finally calming him down, we found his shoe where he had put it, under his bed, and finally left for rehearsals.

Ron was a trumpet player. And by the way, trumpet was my first instrument so I know a bit about it. And I can say with certainty that Ron is at best a 3^rd chair player. Yet unbelievably, in the 30 years he was here, he never improved one iota. I don’t know if he was satisfied with mediocrity or not, but I do know he was shiftless and would never practice, despite urgings, pleadings and good example. He just would not work at it, so he never got good. Notwithstanding his musical incompetence, he worked his way into being the “band spokesman” for live performances, the “frontman.” He further tried to act like the “band leader” during performances by starting songs and “conducting” the endings. This was mostly ignored by the performers, most of whom were towering musical giants compared to Ron, but because he was the father of our Church leader, they tolerated him. To add to this, Ron was a crude person and had a base sense of humor, so his stage patter led to some embarrassing situations. He humiliated performers and audiences into blushes and cringes more than once. Ron was a thorn to the Golden Era Musicians and eventually had to be sworn to pre-scripted statements to reduce the damage.

Ron was a crude person and had a base sense of humor, so his stage patter led to some embarrassing situations. He humiliated performers and audiences into blushes and cringes more than once… Ron was a thorn to the Golden Era Musicians and eventually had to be sworn to pre-scripted statements to reduce the damage.

As a composer, Ron probably could have learned to write music, but again, he just would not work at it. Although his job was composition and arranging (for decades), and although he loudly claimed to be hot stuff, the number of useful melodies or arrangements he actually produced in that time can be counted on one hand. His main modus operandi was to “work with” someone who was actually producing music. When an executive came around to check on music production he would jump up and report the status of the music as though he was “all over it.” In this way he received recognition and awards for work he did not do. This failed to bother him morally; in fact he felt he deserved it. In later years, he became an increasingly surly old curmudgeon, constantly finger-pointing about being wronged and shortchanged and frequently indulging in unrestrained hissy fits, even at 70+ years of age. He bitterly accused other staff of “mistreating” him because of his father status, whereas for decades he had in actual fact been treated like a VIP for that very reason and no other.

The fact is that the greatest glory Ron Miscavige can envision is getting something for nothing. Sad but true. He’s doing the same thing all over again. He conned people for everything he could get and he claimed he was being “oppressed” the whole time, getting louder and louder until he finally “fled” his “tormenters.” And he apparently thought that everyone else had a sick grudge like his. Fortunately, that is not true. In fact it is the most blatant fraud. 

  …what kind of parent would sell his own son or daughter for a few lousy bucks?    

So when considering Ron Miscavige, particularly when considering him as an associate, please be sure to ask these questions: What kind of person would hate and revile a humanitarian movement and its leader? What kind of person would disown his own flesh and blood, or for that matter, what kind of parent would sell his own son or daughter for a few lousy bucks?

Rick Cruzen
Composer, Musician, Sound Engineer