I am writing to you in regards to Ron Miscavige and his “book.” I do not know you nor do you know me. But I do know Ron Miscavige.

 

I am a musician and an arranger and sound restoration engineer and I have also had the misfortune of having been Ron Miscavige’s boss during my tenure in the Church. I headed up the Audio Division of Golden Era Productions for a number of years and the band that Ron played in was in a music department in that division. Golden Era Productions is a branch of the Scientology Church that produces Audio Visual products for the Church. The band also did live performances and community events as well as international events and tours sponsored by the Church, and as a member of the band I also stood next to Ron in the brass section as a Saxophone player for many years. Ron played third trumpet in that band. He MC’d for the band for a while until his distasteful and crass remarks caused so much PR trouble for the band, the Church and the establishments where we performed, that Ron was banned from talking on the mic unless what he said had been scripted.

Ron continued to act like he was conducting the band so as to make it look like he was doing something of import. As time went on, no one in the band paid attention to him. His “conducting” cues were often incorrect and we could not follow him besides the fact that they were in the main, not needed. Due to his refusal to practice he couldn’t cut it on a lot of the parts and so he had made himself into a shill on stage. Really, he was just a crass carnie standing in front of the band often playing his trumpet out of tune. His channel on the mixboard would even get muted by the sound engineers so his playing would not degrade the horn section. But he was, out of respect for his son (the leader of the Church), tolerated.

Beside the fact that the contents I have seen covered in Ron Miscavige’s book are delusionary lies, I hope you understand it is a con as much as an attempt to use the Church of Scientology and its leader (Mr. David Miscavige) as a carrier for press and publicity so Ron Miscavige can make a buck.

Truth be told, Ron Miscavige made his way within Golden Era Productions off of the merits of his son and ran a con using the fact that he was the father of the leader of the Church to make his way around the studio. On his own he could not be relied upon to produce and he certainly did not have a clue about Church matters, strategy or planning. He was in the music department. His administrative skills were pretty much relegated to managing his daytimer and most of his “administrative concentration” was on his own special food shipments or exercise equipment. Real high level stuff and certainly not matters of concern regarding the studio let alone the Church.

You being a publisher of course want to print a book that will draw interest and sell. But I can tell you, you are about to take a bad drug called Ron Miscavige and I thought it only fair to give you a “black box warning.” In short you are about to be a vehicle for Ron Miscavige and with that, all you will find yourself in is trouble. I know, I have been there with Ron Miscavige and have personally seen him in operation—having had to deal with Ron in day to day affairs. It was miserable and consisted of lots of babysitting and dealing with his personal foibles. I would not want to wish this on anyone.

I do not know any specifics of your dealings with him or any arrangements. But I can tell you he used the fact that he was Mr. David Miscavige’s father to try to manipulate people he worked with at the studio when I ran it and now he is using that same association to manipulate you to publish his trash. Don’t do it, you will be sorry.

Ron Miscavige lived a constant life of con games and dishonesty while putting on a façade. For instance, he once offered me $25 to do his community service work. He had been bailed out of jail by the studio after he was arrested for speeding and unruly behavior with a law enforcement officer that chased him down and pulled him over (the only staff member in the history of the studio to be arrested). Subsequently, the Church worked out his community service for him and rather than do the service himself he tried this stunt with me. This is the level of integrity of Ron. Attempts to buy people off and con people are his methods and the way he operates.

Ron Miscavige lived a constant life of con games and dishonesty while putting on a façade. For instance, he once offered me $25 to do his community service work.

Ron set himself up to live a life of leisure. Unfortunately most of the work that he profited from was done by others who were on the job while Ron was at home or exercising or sitting by those who were redoing and fixing Ron’s subpar melodies that were simply trite or unworkable.

Nevertheless, and much in addition to the perks Ron generated by making sure one and all knew he was the father of Mr. Miscavige, Ron simply lived well at Golden Era—like all the staff at Golden Era do. I ate at the same table he did for years and dined on the same 5 star meals. I attended all the same “after gig parties” that were especially catered for the band. However, it never occurred to me that all the service I was receiving—my laundry being done for me, all my medical paid for and the beautiful studio environment and grounds—were like a North Korea concentration camp… really it just never crossed my mind. His claims of discontent are personally insulting. Our studio facility and the service and support of the staff and executives are top notch.

So, Ron says that he never wanted to really work at the studio and had plans to depart for 5 years. So why didn’t he? The answer is simple. He had his con game going on. Ron Miscavige was living for free. He had his own scoring room which he really never used as he refused to stay current and never developed the skills required for his job. Instead, he wrote outdated melodies that had to be redone or fixed by other composers and arrangers. 20 feet away was a practice room that he never used, to the point that his trumpet playing became so poor, myself and other arrangers for the band had to write simple parts for him or figure out what to do with him as he had become an appendage and antiquated. 100 feet away was a full blown state-of-the-art Music Recording Production facility that is beyond imagination and is touted with the utmost respect by any and all pros that I ever toured through it or who used it. Ron Miscavige however couldn’t set up his own mic or even use the studio gear, much less use his own music scoring equipment that was given to him. He literally told me to my face that he refused to learn the scoring software as using it and scoring with modern electronic and computer generated sound is not real music—yet at the same time he could not orchestrate or score competently using traditional means either.

But, people at the studio knew Ron Miscavige was the father of the leader of the Church. So he was accordingly given that respect and a lot of effort was put into trying to find something, anything, that he possibly could do. I even offered him a band manager job that was not a music performance type job thinking I might be able to somehow use him for something within my division. I was already doing part of the job I offered him plus three others at the same time and I needed a hand. He flat out refused as it would have required he learn some basic administrative skills and he was not interested in lifting a finger on that either. Ron claiming any kind of knowledge about Church management is beyond insulting to me. Ron was so far removed and disinterested in any Church matters that it is not even funny, so any other job besides his third trumpet player function in music was not an option.

I mean, as his boss I could not even get him to clean up after himself when he used the studio kitchenette let alone get him to learn the basic dispatch system used in the Church or to even follow the procedures within the church to do a simple proposal for the purchase of his own work supplies. People “cleaned up after him” in all senses of that phrase.

Ron had no sense of any Church policy. He did not understand policy and he did not use policy. The only policy he knew and used was his own con game. His claim to have insight into the strategies of the Church is ludicrous and fictional. I never once saw him at any meetings that took up even the most simple planning or production at the studio. Ron did not want to be anywhere near a meeting as he might end up with some work to do that might threaten his lax lifestyle.

In short, over time Ron Miscavige became more and more useless still living off of the Church and producing absolutely nothing. In the scheme of things he was a nut running around the grounds at the studio getting in people’s way, wasting their time with demands for attention and amusing himself with some senseless rude, crass or racial remark that were at the expense of the actual productive people who were doing work and factually making the money that was paying for his very livelihood. For example, one of this guy’s favorite lines was to sing and chant “There is a n - - - - - in the alley with a hard-on, spread the lard on, rub it in.” He would sing this to the tune of the National Emblem march. He had another version of this that he did, which was “Oh, the monkey wrapped his tail around a flagpole, to see his a - - - - - -, and he did.” He would do this while stomping his feet in a 2-beat and clapping his hands —literally like a crazy person. He did this on numerous occasions in front of me, when a black friend of mine, Cliff Thomas, was about to go on stage to DJ dance music after one of our concerts. He also would refer to black performers we worked with as “N - - - - -.” To make matters worse, and add insult to injury, Cliff Thomas had a nickname that he went by, which was “Skeeter.” Ron called him “The geeter with the heater, it’s Skeeter!” Cliff hated this, so Ron of course took every opportunity to bring Cliff on stage with this stupid, insulting rhyme that played off his nickname. So, when I say he was running around the studio like a madman, I’m not joking.

We tried to help Ron—he refused it—of course behind our backs he really was intending to betray.  

Is that the story Ron is telling in his book? No. He is telling a story that has nothing to do with reality, in order to make a buck. If he were writing his story, the story of his life in Scientology, it would be the above and if he was talking about his son, it would be about the gifts his son showered him with, the pleasure he had in being able to tell others he was his father, how proud he was of his son and how much he respected Mr. Miscavige and all he accomplished. That is what Ron used to tell me all the time. He would say that his son was “the greatest religious leader on the planet.” The above is his story. Now he is peddling lies to end off his life. It is pathetic.

We tried to help Ron—he refused it—of course behind our backs he really was intending to betray. Not only was he was just hanging out around the studio for free, all the while (for 5 years per his book) he was planning to take off without a word to us and scheming his next con—“this memoir book”—just another way to suck off the Church and leech off of his son. What sort of a human being would use betrayal as a means to survive? I say only the worst.

And, what kind of a memoir are you being presented to publish? Well, having been a part of Ron’s life for many years, knowing what his lifestyle was really like, having traveled many miles around the world with him, having lived next to him for many years, having listened to him insult my wife (singer and the original Mary Magdalene from the Broadway show Jesus Christ Superstar) about her weight, and having had to look after him like a babysitter, I would say it is not a memoir about his life at all. In fact, it has nothing to do with the life he led at the studio and in the band. I would say that a fraudulent fictitious, deluded fantasy would be a very, very polite description.

Pretty sick, but this is what you are signing up for. My prediction, should you continue with this guy, is that you will lose on his latest “deal” aka con and shortly will also feel like you are losing your sanity and peace of mind dealing with this guy. I thought out of human decency you should know the score.

That is my “blackbox” warning to you. If you think you are just going to make a buck for yourself anyway, I think you are sorely mistaken. I have been there in trusting him. He cannot be trusted. That is the character of Ron Miscavige in his “my memoir book.”

Sincerely,

Russ Greilich
Manager