Van Halen. Dreams. 5150, 1986. Diaspora – A Tragedy of Circumstance for Liberal Existence I have come to realize that we all live, reside, and participate in our own diasporic trajectory. The act of a diaspora is defined by vocabulary.com as: The term diaspora comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “to scatter about.” And that’s exactly what the people of a diaspora do — they scatter from their homeland to places across the globe, spreading their culture as they go…But... Read more
Classified, Song Kick, 2023. Let the People Speak After watching the video People (Classified, People 2023), and assessing the reactions that immediately follow, this track just begs to be reviewed and given critical inquiry. After the first review of the track, it’s easy to come away with a negative sense of this work. But that’s where the excitement begins. Listen again; watch again; then remember that the track holds a proper position of “People” – use of... Read more
“Hey Mr.!…Mister! What’s that song?” – An apologetic deconstruction of Broken Wings by Mr. Mister Mr. Mister. Broken Wings. Welcome to the Real World, June 1985, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhN1t_7PEY. It all started in the 1980s with a sense of trying to feel good The year was 1985. It’s the middle of the proverbial, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” era (Bobby McFerrin, Don’t Worry Be Happy (1988). Primetime comedy shows are all the rage. Mullet haircuts are everywhere (you remember, “business in the front,... Read more
“Sheena Had Faith In Being A Pop Punk Rocker – Can Pop Punk Be Positive? A Discursive Reading” Alan Lechusza November 22, 2023 Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Fandom, https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Sheena,_Queen_of_the_Jungle The Ramones, “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” (official video), Rocket To Russia,1977. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCW7Aw8ugOI It’s that season, Comic-Con. I continue to get email advertisements seeking my attendance to this iconic subcultural event. I’m not even a fan of comics, fantasy, or other relations within this cultural sphere. Yet, my limited... Read more
In 1993, George Ritzer published a groundbreaking book, “The McDonaldization of Society”. This work drew critical attention through the academic centers, and from those socially aware. Yet, a populist majority remained blind to this analysis of economy, work/labor, sociology, and – ironically – consumption. Applying an apologetic deconstruction analysis with this [paradigm shifting] work, a post pop culture question lingers, from a faith-based perspective, “is there a phony populist perspective in practice?” George Ritzer, book cover, 2007. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_McDonaldization_of_Society Yeah,... Read more
The application of a faith-based apologetic dialectic and deconstructive critique of the work Protect the Land by the Armenian band System of a Down sheds a different light and direction toward understanding the intersections of religious and spiritual fundamentals, music, socio-politic intolerance, and activism. Protect the Land, speaks about the second Nagorno-Karabakh War in Artsakh and Armenia that started in September 2020. System of a Down took this moment in history to draw attention to the plight of their country... Read more
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