This is part of an ongoing lecture series on globalization/cultural globalization and the difference between political structures.

The conversation started with a quote from Bo French, the former Tarrant County GOP chairman, who is currently running for the political position of the Southern Texas Railroad Commission.

Bo French is at it again—this time calling for the deportation of Native Americans

The former Tarrant County GOP Chairman is mired in controversy.

“In the memo, French said, “With Iran and radical Islamists attacking our allies in the Middle East, the Chinese Communist Party pushing its agenda worldwide, and the radical Green New Scam artists waging war on domestic energy production,” Texas needs a “strong leader.”

“Notably, the commission oversees the agency that regulates Texas’s oil and gas industry” (Charon, Feb. 20).

The article presents the comments from Bo French on deporting Native Americans.

“Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French is at it again—this time calling for the deportation of Native Americans” (Charon, Feb. 20).

The social media posts from Bo French and his campaign use his favorite descriptor, “third-world savages.”

“Posts circulating on X and Instagram referenced a February article in Texas Monthly, in which a paragraph read, ‘One of French’s favorite phrases is ‘third world savages,’ which he has applied to Afghan asylum seekers, Muslims and even Native Americans, who he also wants deported.’

“The speculation surrounding the controversial candidate is true.

“In an Oct. 2025 X post, which is still up online, French captioned a photo of four Native Americans, one appearing to be a child, writing, ‘Since we are going to denaturalize and deport all the third world savages, who we conquered, then bizarrely let have a nation inside our nation, to the list’” (Charon, Feb. 20).

The presentation included here deconstructs American capitalism, Socialism, Communism, and Marxist ideology. Attention is drawn to the classist structure in America, and how the American colonial globalization political machine is/has been in motion in a post-2024 election reality.

A short commentary is made on the recent Supreme Court decision, which overturned the implemented tariffs by the current administration.

If The Kids Have Anything To Say About It.

As a bonus to this presentation, the work by the Neighborhood Kids. The work is dedicated to and discusses children who live under oppression and in war-torn countries. However, the narrative relates to the current socio-political fabric of the American cultural experience.

The Neighborhood Kids, KIDS IN THE CAGES [NPR Tiny Desk Contest 2026], Feb. 9, 2026,

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

www.iihhn.wordpress.com

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This is a special Interdisciplinary Indigenous Hip Hop Network podcast on the 45th anniversary of the album Moving Pictures, February 12, 1981, by Rush.

This video podcast presents a short analysis of selected works from Moving Pictures, and personal impressions on the importance of the work to Rock’s history.

Rush, Moving Pictures, 1980/1981

“Moving Pictures is the eighth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released on February 12, 1981, by Anthem Records. After touring to support their previous album, Permanent Waves (1980), the band started to write and record new material in August 1980 with longtime co-producer Terry Brown. They continued to write songs with a more radio-friendly sound, featuring tighter and shorter song structures compared to their earlier albums.

“‘Limelight,’ ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Vital Signs’ were released as singles across 1981, and the instrumental ‘YYZ’ was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Rush supported the album on tour from February to July 1981. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album number 379 on its list of the ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time.’

“Moving Pictures is the fastest-selling album in the band’s catalogue. It was certified Platinum by the RIAA on April 27, 1981, for one million copies sold, just two months after the album’s release. It has since been certified Platinum five times over, for five million copies sold in the United States” (Wiki Creative Commons, 2025/2026).

Rush, Moving Pictures [Full Album] (HQ), February 12, 1981,

Rush, Tom Sawyer,

For more from the Interdisciplinary Indigenous Hip Hop Network, subscribe to the YouTube channel, Facebook page, check out the IIHHN website, and catch all the updates on the IIHHN Substack page.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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Welcome to the next Interdisciplinary Indigenous Hip Hop Network (IIHHN) podcast. This episode features the widely prolific composer/performer/ethnomusicologist Dr. Christopher Adler.

The podcast focuses on how Dr. Adler has worked to achieve international success with the Khaen, a Thai traditional reed/mouth organ instrument. In addition, Dr. Adler shares his other creative projects in and out of the creative music world.

Dr. Adler sheds valuable light on how music works as a critical border-crossing agent. His feature on the IIHHN underscores the importance of intersectionality in music and how the dynamics of Hip Hop ethics and culture straddle more areas than expected.

A bio and photos of Dr. Christopher Adler can be found on his website,

https://christopheradler.com/about/

For work samples, here are some to preview,

Check out Dr. Adler on his social media,

https://www.facebook.com/christopheradler

https://www.instagram.com/christopheradlerdotcom/

https://christopheradler.bandcamp.com/

For more about the IIHHN, follow on YouTube, Substack, Facebook, and the website.

Thanks for reading Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

Welcome to the next Interdisciplinary Indigenous Hip Hop Network podcast. This solo session presents a variety of tracks, reflections from 2025, and a sociolinguistic deconstruction of “hustle culture,” “resistance,” and “surviving,” with an analysis of the vacancy in the terms “essentialism” and “authenticity.”

Selected tracks:

Gavlyn & DJ Hoppa

Headspace

No Backpacks

Reverie

1 Syllable

Give It Time

For more from the IIHHN, subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow on Facebook, and subscribe to the IIHHN website.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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www.iihhn.wordpress.com

#xsitethecall #xsitethechange

“Flippin’ the script on the conversation; Blood, sweat, pray every day; No track left unheard!”

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California Native Feminism In History, Part 2

A second part in this series discusses California Native history, from a female Native perspective. The silencing of these voices to privilege Western anthropological views, which distort Native history, for the desire to “storytell” culture from an outsider interest, deposits a tacit, inferior, and deleted viewpoint and, thus, history.

These conversations work to present the complexities and necessity for contemporary Native/Indigenous female voices to articulate tribal knowledge, culture, customs, expressions, socio-political, environmental, socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical issues.

For more from the series, subscribe to Prof. Lechusza Aquallo’s YouTube channel and follow Alan Lechusza’s website and the Interdisciplinary Indigenous Hip Hop Network YouTube and website.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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This session discusses Middle Eastern Rock. The two bands engage in a cosmopolitan identity of this genre.

Coming from Nigeria, with Ghazal and Arabic influences, and France with Turkish and European art music overtones, these two groups/artists, Orange Blossom and Mdou Moctar respectively, explore culture and articulate a global appropriation of Western (read: American) Rock.

I argue against the label “World Music”, which marginalizes musical expressions, oppresses sonic cultural identity through Western aesthetic hegemony, and institutionalizes a creative colonial discourse. This multicultural, or as I refer to it as a “salad bowl” artistic collection (i.e., take what you want and leave out what you don’t), limits the intersectionality of global cultures with Western (read: American) Rock.

Recognizing these creative, cultural, and dynamic intersectionalities expands Rock as a genre, rather than a subgenre. When labeling global Rock expressions as “World Music,” it privileges Western aesthetic value and “otherizes” cultures working with Rock signifiers. A socio-political sounding insider-outsider binary, substantiated with the label “World Music,” operates to serve the American mass music market industry. Keeping cultures outside of a Western socio-political range affords this mass music market industry to thrive through local-global audio exploitation.

Global Rock music works against Western (read: American) socio-political expressive hegemony. Appropriating Rock signifiers and translating these through cultural realities, a global Rock discourse and identity become visible. In opposition to Western (read: American) socio-political expressive hegemony, a global Rock discourse and identity are spoken from a culturally specific vernacular. “Othering” is dismissed, as is the temptation to read global Rock as a subaltern. Rock music is a highly dynamic and wide-ranging genre. Global Rock music is an extension of Rock expressive discourse, not a subgenre by any means. As with “othering” and the “World Music” label, considering global Rock music as a subgenre is another mechanism installed to segregate and minimize the importance of global Rock bands and artists working through their relevant culturally specific vernacular. Global Rock music is a multifaceted, intersectionally rich aesthetic expression that deserves to be recognized, witnessed, accumulated, and shared on and by its own cultural means.

Musical Examples:

Mdou Moctar, Tarhatazed (Live on KEXP), May 2018,

Guitar virtuoso Mdou Moctar gets political after his home country experiences a coup, PBS News Hour, August 2024,

“Guitarist Mdou Moctar has been bringing a new kind of music to the world, steeped in his cultural heritage. His latest album strikes a decidedly political chord in response to upheaval and a military coup in his home country of Niger. Special correspondent Christopher Booker caught up with Moctar on his tour through the U.S. for our arts and culture series, CANVAS” (PBS News Hour, August 2024).

Mdou Moctar: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, NPR Music, May 2021,

“Get ready for some fiery desert guitar-shredding, Saharan style, with the music of Mdou Moctar. Producer and American bassist Mikey Coltun told me that ‘the concert was filmed outside of the house we were all staying at in Niamey, Niger, in November/December 2020.’ He continued, ‘As with any sort of musical happenings in the region, once some music is blasted, that’s an invitation for anyone to come join, sing, clap, dance, and just come together as a community. We wanted to present the Tiny Desk exactly like this, from when we started playing to finally the energy growing with fans crowded around filming on their cell phones and passing around Tuareg tea.’”The (home) concert starts off with Mahamadou Souleymane, a.k.a. Mdou Moctar, playing a melodic line on acoustic guitar, with Ahmoudou Madassane on rhythm guitar, Souleymane Ibrahim playing percussion on a calabash, and Mikey Coulton on his Fender Mustang bass on the song “Ya Habibti” from the album Afrique Victime. It’s an album of songs dealing with intense subjects close to Mdou Moctar’s heart: colonialism, exploitation, inequality, but also love.”You can hear the real musical fire on the last song, the roughly 7-minute psych-rock title track to Afrique Victime. ‘Africa is a victim of so many crimes,’ Mdou Moctar sings in French. ‘If we stay silent, it will be the end of us.’ Silence is not something in Mdou Moctar’s vocabulary.SET LIST“Ya Habibti”“Tala Tannam”“Afrique Victime”MUSICIANSMahamadou “Mdou Moctar” Souleymane: lead guitar, vocalsAhmoudou Madassane: rhythm guitar, vocalsMikey Coltun: bassSouleymane Ibrahim: calabash (NPR Music, May 2021).

Orange Blossom - HABIBI - Live à fip, October 2014,

“Orange Blossom is a French band ( Nantes) formed in 1995.” Their Arabic, specifically Turkish roots, are prominent in the style and form of their works. The French connection to this global group is illustrated in instrumentation, song form, and musical vernacular.”

“Habibi” from the album “ Everything Must Be Change “ 2005 New album “ Under The Shade Of Violets “ Released November 2014.

Bonus Track:

Jarl Flamar, Medusa, Agafay Live Session, February 2023,

Jarl Flamar, “Medusa,” gives an electronic dance music (EDM) Middle Eastern style perspective. This live example is done in Agafay, Morocco.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

www.iihhn@wordpress.com

#xsitethechange #xsitethecall

Thanks for reading Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

The arguments presented center around the question of Rock music’s diaspora and appropriation of other cultures.

Noting that Rock music has a history of market migration, globalization, and racial appropriation, looking at how these collect in the current, 2025, global fabric presents juxtapositions of identity construction, nationalism, and aesthetic colonialism.

Diasporic motion makes a trajectory in a singular direction, typically. In light of Rock music’s globalized relationship, does its diaspora flow in a dynamic or a singular direction? If there were a dynamic, then one should ask, “Where are the global Rock radio stations, programs, and songs in the regular listening landscape?” Though visible in parts during the mid-1990s, this reality has all but vanished from America’s sonic space. Online platforms have claimed this responsibility of cultural sharing. Still, how many “everyday Americans” review global Rock music? Do the margins subalternatively speak to the masses?

Taking a look at appropriation, how is Western (read: American) Rock identity used and/or recontextualized by non-Western/global communities to represent and narrate a position of nationalism? Appropriation, in this case, is a useful tool for cultural identity in a dialectic dialogue with a globalized, cosmopolitan, transgressive identity. Translating Western (read: American) Rock signifiers through a non-Western identity speaks to a global, pluralized Rock expressive voice operating in a constellation of aesthetic expressions.

Following this point, an aesthetic expression, and noting a Western (read: American) Rock identity, is there a recognized Western (read: American) Rock identity colonialism in play? If so, do non-Western Rock performers/groups who invest in the American Rock discourse work against or in tandem with this aesthetic coloniality? If a counterargument is held, then what is the rationale for non-Western Rock performers/groups to use Western (read: American) Rock signifiers (i.e., the use of English, Western fashion, strong dependence on Western instruments/standard Rock instrumentation, video/media based on Western aesthetic perception, etc.)?

Global Rock does not cross the line between appropriation to assimilation, yet the line is strongly flirted with. The retention of host cultural signifiers and identity references holds firm to the articulation of the original culture. What can be argued is that non-Western cultures that use Western (read: American) Rock signifiers and aesthetic expressions are performing to a globalized audience, making contemporary global Rock a border-crossing agent to develop complex national identity and a complexity of sonic realities. No longer is the sound of the youth limited to localization. Rock is, and has continued to retain, a status of delocalization to bring life to the cultural fabric and sound to the aesthetic discourse of the times.

The YouTube link for this presentation can be found here

Music Examples from:

ONE OK ROCK - Tropical Therapy [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO],

SCANDAL - Harukaze [With English Lyric],

Uuhai - Khar Khulz,

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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The presentation is based on the article

Natalie Avalos. A Veterans' Talking Circle: Urban Indian Peoplehood and Re-Indigenizing Places, Ethnic Studies Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, Taylor & Francis Group, Volume 18, Issue 1, 2022, pp. 92–105.

Framing Spiritual Urbanness

Avalos uses two mini case studies to help define and express Urban Indian Identity, Gregory Gomez (Mescalero and Lipan Apache), and Will “Rockeagle” Naranjo (Santa Clara Pueblo/Diné). Both are veterans who have suffered varying degrees of PTSD, tribal disenfranchisement, depression, and a deep-seated need to reclaim and define their Indianess. Gregory eventually returned to his pottery work for healing, and Will found recovery through becoming a Southern Gourd Dancer. Both became involved in different capacities with their local urban Indian community. This brought each to the point where they were reintroduced to tribal culture, based on an Urban Indian context framed through spirituality, traditional ceremonial practices, and a connection to a reservation identity.

Avalos underscores the “shared religious values” and “religious ethics” as central to this healing process. Avalos works to confirm this Urban Indian identity construction by citing multiple authors, including Vine Deloria Jr., Joan Nagel, and Donald Fixico. In building the case, Avalos aligns the necessity and dependence on Native spirituality with the flexible structure of Urban Indian identity.

“Native studies scholars and tribal origin stories note complex histories of migration, the birth of new traditions, as well as their dynamic survival over the millennia (Crawford O’Brien 2008). Native people living in cities like Albuquerque may travel home to reservations for ceremonies, even if raised in the city, but they often develop religious community in the city as well (Carpio 2011)” (Avalos, pp 8).

Avalos continues with a quote from Donal Fixico (2000).

“During the postwar years, the pressures of the urban mainstream forced many Indians to rely on survival skills and basic traditional values. Like their ancestors who had learned to function in communities on the plains, in the woodlands, and other environments, Indians formed enclaves in the cities…. Survival schools, church activities, dance clubs, arts and crafts associations, and athletic teams exemplified urban Indian organizations that fostered a form of pan-Indianism (Fixico 2000, pp 5-6 in Avalos, pp 5).

What stands out is Avalos’s interest in situating spirituality as an essential point for securing Urban Indian identity. The Fixico quote correctly outlines the flexibility and dynamic involvement of tribal identity. When recognized in the Urban environment, an Urban Indian identity is subject to supratribal (Steven Cornell 1998), pan-Indian (Fixico 2000 and Nagel 1995) identity constructions. These are not fixed models, as Avalos fails to address. Rather, Avalos involves the majority of the work on outlining an essentialist “authentic” reference of Urban Indian identity.

Following Cornell, Fixico, Nagel, and Deloria, I have written extensively elsewhere about Urban tribal identity being fluidly expressed through the inter-relations of a tribal, inter-tribal, and multi-tribal identity. These allow a Native Person to identify their tribal identity from a singular position (tribal), to a more complicated binary (inter-tribal), and the more dynamic cross-cultural involvement (multi-tribal).

These are not a continuum, an essentialist or “authentic” identity construction. Rather, these positions operate at an individual level, with the dynamic signifier inclusions of culture, customs, traditions, knowledge, expressions, environmental, socio-political, socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical elements. These incorporate an insider-outsider representation, where Urban Indianness occupies space-place.

Space-Place As Identity

My theories of space-place influence the argument presented. Native identity captures “space” to supplant identity construction, while advancing to occupy the ambivalent areas afforded in a “place.” Urban Indian identity is an active agent, expressing a translation of “space-place” by way of Gerald Vizenor’s survivance theory, or what I have written about, defined, and coined as an Unbound Decolonial TransNative/Indigenous (UDTN/I) identity and ideology. The UDTN/I theory includes the active contemporary movement of an Urban Indian identity contextualized on a global-local (glocal), globalized, cosmopolitan stage. While Avalos’s article places an emphasis on essentializing Urban Indian identity on spirituality, my theory translates Urban Indian identity in a lived contemporary context, recognizing the dynamic inclusion of external (read: other, non-Native) influences, references, and signifiers.

I argue against American Pop Cultural Psychology’s necessity to essentialize and frame an “authentic” witness and understanding of Native American identity based on the triad of spirituality, ceremonial practice, and a connection to a reservation land base. This liminal identity reading gives privilege and supremacy to a non-Native discourse. If American Pop Cultural Psychology does not witness an essentialized and “authentic” Indian identity, it (mis)understands, then the American Pop Cultural Psychology applies a composite racist stereotype identity on the Native man/woman. Such an application retains a position of power for the American Pop Cultural Psychology socio-political discourse. It’s incumbent, then, for contemporary Urban Natives to engage and express a tribal decolonial identity. Utilizing the UDTN/I identity and ideological theory gives the requisite leverage for tribal culture, customs, traditions, knowledge, expressions, environmental, socio-political, socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical elements to exist in a current, lived experience reality.

For more from this mini-series, subscribe to the YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@professoralanlechusza.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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#xsitethecall #xsitethechange

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As a bonus, I have included an article I wrote in 2024, which offers a critical Native/Indigenous reading of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Is that any way to smell an Indian? A Native critical reading of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

What do grunge music, Nirvana, and American Indian culture have to do with each other? Good question; let’s talk about it.

The year was 1991. September 24, 1991, proved to be an unexpected turning point in pop culture. Seattle had become the underground hotbed for the new second wave of post-punk in America. A little band named “Nirvana” was to release an album that, on that proverbial date, would change the course of American pop culture for years to come - and remains as such. Nevermind was released on September 24, 1991, and the aesthetic and culture of the world have never been the same.

The lead singer, Kurt Cobain, was to help push the sounds of grunge forward, from the shadows of teenage bedrooms and back alley run-down pubs and theatres, into the eyes and ears of America and the unexpected world. If you could understand what Cobain was saying, you were “in the know.” If you didn’t, you were not alone. Despite this aesthetic divide, both halves of these once-cultural wars found common ground; they had to face the fact that teenage angst does, indeed, exist, change over the years, and help establish the foundations for the coming generations. No longer could one simply state, “I just don’t get it.” Each generation now had to comply with the “what to get” from these (not new) sounds. Jimi Hendrix was not rolling in his grave; he was only tuning his guitar to add to the Seattle sound in a reunion of sonic pleasure, discourse, and critical evaluation of the American popular culture.

Fast forward to the early 21st century. In applying a critical Indian review of the anthem, Smells Like Teen Spirit, three points are consistent with challenging Indian stereotypes and helping align Native identity with the currency of our time.

At the critical point in this song, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the words,

Hello, hello, hello/

How Low?

are repeated.

This invitation, by Cobain, when reviewed through an Indian critique, initiates the large non-Native population into a conversation with the (sub)cultural Native communities. The tagline to this echoed invitation - “...How Low?” - justifies the limits of knowledge that the non-Native population has about and toward Native Peoples. In other words, just “How low?” is the knowledge base of the non-Native population about the realities of Native tribes and cultures? Just “How low?” is the socio-political bar for equity in representation, identity formation, and sovereignty for Native Peoples, in these contemporary times? Cobain places the onus of equity, socio-political justice, and sovereign identity recognition on the large non-Native population if we read this chorus through an Indian perspective and critique.

The following phrase,

...with the lights out/

establishes that when applying an Indian critique to these lyrics, the “lights,” as it were, can be read as knowledgeable reference points, cultural understanding, and socio-political equity about Native Peoples. The limits maintained and accepted by the non-Native population glare in abundance, pointing toward the concrete structure of Indian stereotypes that proliferate contemporary pop culture. The “lights out” is the proverbial turning of the back on issues of sovereignty and identity representation for Native Peoples in the current climate.

The next line establishes the importance and necessity of an Indian critique and response to/from this pop cultural anthem.

...Here we are now...imitators.../ (emphasis added)

This phrase is the lynchpin for the chorus. Through an Indian reading of this song, the recognition of how Indian cultures have become stereotyped, in repetition, without cultural, equitable concern, and turned into an appropriated, misguided economic structure. Cobain notes - applying an Indian reading of this song - that “we,” as a dominant society, have limited the Indian icon/image to a repeatable figure, racialized and projected as a liminal individual character - male (warrior), female (treasure) - that can be sold as a commodity to a populist (read: non-Native) willing to spend money for the immediate gratification of “owning the Indian.” Cobain’s “imitators,” then, note those who misrepresent, judge by a socio-political status, and stereotype through American colonial rhetoric the figure, meaning, and sovereign rights of Native Peoples. The “imitators” are - dare it to be stated - those who absorb, repeat, codify, and accept the singular Indian man and Indian woman racist constructions and reference these as accurate, even in and from a neo-post-modern dominant society view.

The lyrics of the song continue into the second verse, where Cobain recites,

...it always [has] been, and always will until the end... /

(emphasis added)

Cobain takes a step further in utilizing a term that one should steer clear of when making an argument: “always.” Placing this overarching and reductive term here, in alignment with the Indian critique that we are applying to the lyrics/song, Cobain is afforded an accurate escape from essentialism. Advancing the Indian critique, Cobain is calling for accurate, contemporary attention to the Indian issues. Cobain is recognizing the limitations of Indian cultures in a neo-post-modern global-local (glocal) society. Cobain is providing the necessary turning point for the large non-Native community to remove the limited image/icon of the Indian from the vacant structures of colonial American history and establish an updated, accurate space/place for the Native Voice(s) to be heard. Cobain, here, is not speaking toward the Native communities. Rather, Cobain is speaking - or yelling - to the non-Native local-global (glocal) audiences: to listen, see, understand, and witness what has, and continues to be done “always” to Indian identity, sovereignty, and tribal communities. Cobain is at the whisper of a breath begging – on the verge of demanding - for Native representation from, though, and by Native Peoples.

The closing lyrics of the song remind the non-Native population - continuing to apply an Indian critique - that it is “hard,” when Cobain states,

...I found it hard,...it’s hard to find the will...whatever...never mind.../

(emphasis added)

Cobain recognizes that it’s difficult to move the lines of racism against Indian Peoples beyond the boundaries of the cultural and physical reservation. If Cobain had left this point out, he would have limited the value and possibility that fair, equitable conversations and contemporary references between Native and non-Native Peoples are possible. If Cobain did not point to how difficult or “hard” it is to move beyond the metaphorical and physical borders of the reservation (please note that a line divides one sphere into two halves. Therefore, in all fairness, Native Peoples need to equally reference and update themselves, as noted by this critique. It is equally “hard” for Native Peoples to allow for their equality through these necessary actions; he would have left the valuable educational agency of this reading and Indian reading to fall on silent ears. The discarded “never mind” that Cobain articulates is not a proverbial throw-in-the-towel perspective. This is a generous nudge for all, Indian and non-Native alike, to work in collaboration, in tandem, towards socio-political equity and justice for the betterment of the local-global (glocal) communities at large.

Smells Like Teen Spirit certainly does embrace the Native spirit of community, activism, shared ideas, collaboration, and fairness, with a voice for one and all. It’s up to us, those in the audience, to listen to the words as they are spoken, or, in the case of Kurt Cobain, yelled out loud...gently.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

#xsitethechange #xsitethecall

Thanks for reading Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!"! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

The analysis takes a look at the images in the video, discussing the juxtaposition of the black and white against the color.

The black and white references in the video are consistently in motion. Truncated, dislocated, enclosed by negative space, and fixed in time by the use of the coloring, black and white, these representations are coupled with the sounds of the band without any voice/lyrics.

The band is shown in full profile, color, and with sound. In addition, the band is performing the dijectic sound. This outlines a binary between past and present. The band performs against a static black and white wall, further speaking to the distance in space illustrated in the mobile images throughout the video. The band provides a “living” voice when seen, further positioning the black and white image representations in a subaltern location. Each of these points expands the divide in space, place, and time.

The song centers around questions and the acknowledgement of history.

“So I made a big mistake/ Try to see it once my way…”

This simple phrase underscores the tension of the sound and youthful angst that gave rise to the Grunge experience. The phrase recognizes the past with the potential of the future. Yet, the closing point is left unaddressed. This works lyrically with the narrative arch of the song.

The unanswered questions hold center stage at the song’s core.

“Am I wrong?/ Have I run too far to get home?/ Have I gone?/ And left you here alone?”

Questions breed questions, looking for an answer from a missing voice. This recontextualizes the dialectic between the black and white and color environments. The black and white representations have movement, which the colored band does not; the black and white re[representations have no voice, which the band does. Yet, it is the band which is, presumably, asking the black and white representations (read: the past) to answer these questions. The questions are rhetorical, building the tension recognized in Grunge vernacular.

From a youth perspective, which may emotionally self-define as being oppressed, unheard, truncated, removed, absent, subaltern, and historic (read: living in a black and white experience), these questions speak from these locations for a generation to an “other,” older, socio-politically dominant generation.

The closing question strives to secure a resolution.

“If I would, could you?”

An offer to reconcile? A request for representation and currency? A plea to be heard? These and similar questions are encapsulated in this closing point, an unanswered question, and equally as rhetorical as the others.

Centering and ending a Grunge song, at the peak of Grunge’s popularity, is a strong point. In doing so, Alice in Chains asks the culture at large, not only the growing and firming Grunge culture, to hear what the contemporary voice of the generation is. Leaving the song on a looming unanswered question situates the relevance of the generation, speaking from the proverbial subaltern position to the elder socio-political dominant identity, the closing question challenges the dominant society to step beyond privilege to entertain the possibility of equity, relevance, and constructed identity of the young generation, which is using Grunge to (politely) yell to be heard.

Lyrics:Know me broken by my masterTeach thee on child, love of hereafterInto the flood againSame old trip it was back thenSo I made a big mistakeTry to see it once my wayDrifting body, it’s sole desertionFlying not yet, quite the notionInto the flood againSame old trip it was back thenSo I made a big mistakeTry to see it once my wayInto the flood againSame old trip it was back thenSo I made a big mistakeTry to see it once my wayAm I wrong?Have I run too far to get home?Have I gone?And left you here alone?Am I wrong?Have I run too far to get home? YeahHave I gone?And left you here alone?If I would, could you?

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

#xsitethechange #xsitethecall

Check out more on the YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@professoralanlechusza

Thanks for reading Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!"! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

The article referenced in the video is by Joanna Hearne. John Wayne’s Teeth: Speech, Sound and Representation in “Smoke Signals” and “Imagining Indians,” Western Folklore, Summer - Fall, 2005, Vol. 64, No. 3/4, Film and Folklore (Summer - Fall, 2005), pp. 189-208.

The opening paragraph from the article presents issues that need to be addressed from a critical Indigenous/Native perspective.

“The emergence of independent indigenous film and video raises important questions about the relationship between folklore and film and between indigenous minority filmmaking and dominant (especially Hollywood) systems, representations, and genres. How do films that contain folklore differ from films in which oral narratives structure or organize not only the dramatic content but also film production? How do Native-controlled films and videos re-invent the idea of tradition, and in the process re-frame discourses about authenticity in popular culture? How do acts of telling, recording, and dramatizing oral narratives on film relate mutually to the project of cultural revitalization through the work of stories and storytelling?” (pg 2).

The use of “folklore” in relation to Native identity is problematic. “Folk” is from, by “the people” or “a people.” “Lore” relates to a myth, fantasy, or legend. Combined, “folklore” represents a myth, fantasy, or legend of a people. Applying this to the term, noting the cultural etymology of the word, to Indigenous/Native identity positions the complexities, lived realities, and history/histories of Indigenous/Native identity under socio-political and cultural Western hegemony.

The other term problematic in this opening statement by Joanna Hearne is “storytelling.” A “story” is, again, a fantastical expression founded on distortions, hyperbole, and supernatural references. The sensationalism of a “story” is the captivating element when expressed. Indigenous/Native identity is not a “story.” These are complex lived realities and history/histories central to a specific tribal entity. Western assumptions of power include “storytelling” as a subdominant understanding of tribal identity and a process to subtextually secure supremacy. In tribal-specific centers, the use of “storytelling” is appropriate, as these expressions are founded on history/histories, socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical agents. Outside of these tribal-specific centers, the persistent use of “storytelling” marginalizes these tribal-specific realities, history/histories under surveillance, understanding, and political relationship with Western colonialism.

“Storytelling,” I argue, is an inadequate term to be applied and used when discussing tribal knowledge, culture, customs, traditions, socio-political, environmental, socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical agents. “Storytelling,” through this reading, undermines the investment of tribal self-determination and sovereignty. Exchanging “storytelling” with history/histories localizes tribal identity and the constellation of expressions in a localized space-place articulating Indigenous/Native decoloniality.

This paradigm shift is important to witness, acknowledge, and engage. Decoloniality is not an academic exercise recluse to textbooks. Indigenous/Native decoloniality is a lived experience and reality coupled with the dynamic complexities of tribal history/histories to articulate contemporary socio-political issues and tribal identity expressions.

The content below is supportive material used in the presentation to help frame these critical Indigenous/Native epistemologies.

John Wayne’s Teeth, from “Smoke Signals” (1998),

SMOKE SIGNALS, FILM DESCRIPTION: This dramatic feature was written, directed, and co-produced by Native Americans. Native American writer Sherman Alexie scripted this adaptation of his 1993 short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Director Chris Eyre’s previous short, Someone Kept Saying Powwow, is incorporated into the 88-minute feature. Developed at the Sundance Lab in 1995, the film was a winner of both the Audience Award and the Filmmakers’ Trophy at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. In 1976, an infant survives a fire that kills his parents. In a flash forward to the present day, the infant has grown up to become the skinny, nerdy adult Thomas (Evan Adams). At Idaho’s desolate Coeur d’Alene Indian reservation, the overeager youth is mostly ignored by others, including stoic athletic Victor Joseph (Adam Beach), even though it was Victor’s father, alcoholic Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), who saved the infant Thomas’ life in the fire. A drunken Arnold later abandoned his family, and Victor hasn’t seen his father in a decade. When Victor learns of Arnold’s death in Phoenix, Thomas offers to pay for the trip to Phoenix if he can accompany Victor. They make an odd couple since Victor is embarrassed by Thomas’s geekiness. In Phoenix, they find that Arnold lived in a small trailer in the desert, and they meet Arnold’s friend Suzy Song (Irene Bedard), who provides disturbing truths about Arnold that impact on Victor. (YouTube, posted 2025).

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This is an excerpt from an ongoing series on NAGPRA (Native American Graves and Repatriation Act), where I discuss how NAGPRA should be used as a “tool” and avoid “storytelling.”

The article discussed in the presentation is,

Alisa M. Pappas and Sarah A. Buchanan. Native American and land-grant collection praxis since NAGPRA, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA, 2021.

The authors situate NAGPRA through the lens and actions of student and Native community members at the University of Missouri (MU). The work tracks the progress of NAGPRA requirements on the campus, as recognized in the college’s museum and anthropology department, from the early 1990s to 2016. The inclusion of tribal community members and activists came into the issue once the inventory of Native remains and funerary objects disclosed those removed (illegally) from tribal territories without the consent or knowledge of the tribe. National Native activist, college administrators, and department chairs were involved in the ongoing debate of repatriation and protection of the tribal remains. Eventually, from the exchange of leadership, the college, the Native student activist, and the tribal communities came to reach agreements on how to repatriate, protect, and accurately identify tribal remains and funerary objects. This decades-long controversy gave way to multiple student-led journalistic publications, scholarly articles, and advanced degree theses on the issue.

Traditional Knowledge As A Call: Past, Present, Future

Giving an Indigenous critical reading of the article, the call to action from the tribal student alliance, From the Four Directions (FT4D), formed in 1987, situates the argument: “Pride in the past, Action in the present, Vision for the future” (pp 11).

This point articulates a pan-Indian socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical reference that whatever a tribal member does in the present is based on their traditional knowledge (TK) of the past and operates to support the future, seven generations forward. This pan-Indian socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical reference is more than an ideological principle; it’s a cornerstone of tribal identity. Given this, the statement from FT4D defines the importance of reading NAGPRA on a larger level than legislation assumed to protect Native/Indigenous communities, sacred territories, burial remains, and funerary objects. This tribal identity re-contextualized NAGPRA as a tool to support and articulate tribal Traditional Knowledge (TK): culture, customs, knowledge, expressions, socio-political relations, environmental, socio-religious, spiritual, and philosophical elements.

Tribes have the burden of identity qualification. At a protest on the University campus in 1995, American Indian Movement (AIM) founder and leader Dennis Banks stated that “Native Americans had been treated by American archaeologists as abandoned property. ‘It should never be a case of trying to prove we’re related to them. We are Native people. That in itself proves those are our relations. Always will be,’” (pp 10). This statement by Banks underscores the political necessity for Native People to identify by legal qualification, tribal recognition. This is a political strategy employed by the federal government to retain control, checks, and balances of Native People throughout the country. A relic of the early colonial era yet to be revoked and replaced by tribal means of representation, this political mandate points to the ongoing institutionalized colonial discourse in the American socio-political ideology.

Beyond Story-Telling

For Native People to equitably identify themselves as functioning, accurate, and involved tribal member, the necessity of storytelling is employed. This level of storytelling is centered on unfolding and teaching non-Natives about specific or general Native history. This is a different manner of “storytelling” that tribes share internally to teach and pass on TK. This manner of “storytelling,” politically, is assumed to contextualize contemporary tribal identity, but, in fact, it compounds stereotypes and America’s fantastic knowledge and faux relationship with accurate, contemporary, and lived realities of tribes.

“Storytelling,” in this political process, is centered on the preface “story,” a supernatural, surreal, fictional, fantasy representation of a person(s). This maintained fallacy of the “i/Indian” (read: using Gerald Vizenor’s theory that the “i/Indian” is a hologram, a fictional representation constructed for America’s pop cultural satisfaction) is understood by the involvement of a fantasy, a fictionalized “story” of times long gone, yet desired.

“Story” is itself a negative representation of tribal culture. Removing the prefix, “story,” what is left is the action, “telling.” By itself, this works from a tribal decolonial understanding. However, for non-Natives, the idea of being told anything from an imaginary identity is not allowed, accepted, or will it be given credibility. Replacing the inaccurate term “story” with other defining terms, “relevance,” “current,” “living,” “resilient,” “present,” or the most useful “history/histories” aligns tribal identity with the present environmental status.

The necessary importance of accurate instruction of Native history(s) will remain, but not as the singular, static starting point in the conversation. “History/histories-telling” is less damaging than the continued limited racist “story-telling” as it is understood by the large American non-Native community. “History"/histories-telling” as a discursive tool begins with the current position, articulates the past while outlining the future through TK.

Contextualizing History/Histories

Communities engage history/histories continually and phenomenologically. The dynamics of history/histories, through the communicative process, share a past from a contemporary perspective with the agenda to influence the future. Cultural knowledge is the guiding agent in how history/histories are expressed. “Story,” therefore, compartmentalizes the conversation as one based on fantasy; a surreal telling of a theme.

Engaging history/histories as a mechanism to express past-present-future analysis employs a vernacular of credibility, vitalization, and currency. There is a cultural economy from which to draw when stating, not simply re-telling, history/histories. “Story” is an immovable dream. “History/histories” is a culturally founded reality.

Histories can be reframed as a negative, counter-reality, fake representation. However, in this example, the knowledge of what is to be extracted, replaced, deleted, or re-narrated is to be known a priori. To know what to terminate, one must know the history/histories without disturbance and, in reality, first (a priori). This manipulation of history/histories has been, and continues to be, used for political purposes. What this counterfeit reading does is open the door for accurate presentations of history/histories to surface and be repeated. The irony of negative historical operation is the critical involvement of accurate historical narratives.

NAGPRA: A Critical Native/Indigenous Tool

NAGPRA is a tool for tribal identity, not a mechanism to quarantine Native/Indigenous identity.

To move beyond the responsibility to teach Native history in non-Native socio-political contexts, Native people need to hold, balance, and utilize contradiction. Native People rely on a position of victimization when speaking about tribal culture, history, and politics.

Positioning tribal realities in a context of “rightness” articulates a subtext of victimhood. Native historical realities are presented as subdominant, oppressed, and defeated realities. This gives further liberty and privilege to Western colonialism. The argument for an anti-colonial viewpoint still supports colonialism; there cannot be an “anti” without the recognition and engagement of what is being contested. Native self-determination and recapturing, re-reading, and framing “sovereignty” through tribal TK seeks to activate a decolonial identity and ideology.

To engage this level, a Native socio-political voice needs to shed a subaltern origin, expressed through a victimized presentation of a defeated past. Starting with a position of currency and listening to where a colonial objection is stated provides the entry level to define Native history/histories specifically, and align this point with the contemporary moment. This discipline precludes that Native discourse must recognize, understand, and balance contradictions, coming from a Western hegemonic identity.

The consistency of Western/American engagement with Native tribes has proven that this viewpoint is not willing, able, or desirous to dialogue with contradictions or a misunderstanding of Native/Indigenous history/histories. Yet, it is this exact point that needs to be actively engaged for Native/Indigenous decoloniality to exist. Falling back on a victimizing review of Native defeated history, or unfolding “stories” to satisfy a colonial fantasy of i/Indians situates the lived realities and contemporarneousness of Native/Indigenous identity and ideology in a controlled, colonial, container under the surveillance and operation of Western privilege. Advancing from this point, Native discourse must take on the responsibility to recognize, understand, balance, and reframe contradictions. This allows Native history/histories to be specifically addressed, without overwhelming a complete unfolding of tribal history/histories, and align these points of the past with the realities of the present to underscore the value and importance for the future.

NAGPRA reads tribal remains, bones, and funerary objects as relics of a past, an antiquated history to be narrated by the right of anthropological discovery. A Native/Indigenous critical reading and application of NAGPRA as a tool removes colonial narratives, disregards the temptation to “story-tell” a reductive, essentialist tribal history/histories, recognizes, understands, balances, and reframes Western contradictions of tribal history/histories to articulate the existence, credibility, value, and foundations of Native/Indigenous decoloniality. NAGPRA is a useful tool for Native/Indigenous decolonialism following this strategy of resilience, agency, and activism. Contradictions become a viable mechanism in the structure to dismantle the complexities of Western hegemony. It starts with Native/Indigenous discourse recognizing, understanding, balancing, and reframing Western privilege as a location for tribal history/histories’ specific investment, pointing to a present location of culture reading toward a decolonial identity and ideology of the future.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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#xsitethecall #xsitethechange

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The aesthetics of Rock: Is there such a thing?

The article discussed in this presentation excerpt is the following,

Jason Miller. What Makes Heavy Metal ‘Heavy’?, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 80, 70–82, 25 November 2021/2022.

Sections from the article discussed:

Critics of this view argue that the distinction is not so simple. James Young (1995), for example, claims that any of the material, nonformal features that Baugh appeals to as distinct to rock music can also be found in classical music. Similarly, Stephen Davies disputes the need for a distinct aesthetics of rock music because, on the one hand, the visceral expressions of rock music are a constitutive feature of classical music as well, and on the other, the formal elements of classical music are often also an expressive medium of rock. A clean separation between rock and classical music aesthetics seems complicated by the simple fact that rock draws extensively on the structural elements of classical music. At the same time, rock music emerges in large part as an explicit rejection of musical traditions (including classical), so it is equally difficult to dispense with the intuition that rock music should be evaluated by different aesthetic standards. Rock music integrates, appropriates, and reinterprets elements of classical music in a way that suggests we need not abandon formalist aesthetics entirely for an aesthetics of rock. Perhaps what is required is not an altogether different set of criteria for evaluating rock music, but a way of evaluating common musical elements differently. Overlap between rock and classical music should not foreclose on the need for new ontological and aesthetic categories specific to rock, and vice versa. But is there perhaps some kind of Gestalt switch between the evaluation of classical and rock music? And if so, does this apply only to differences in classical and rock music, or is there a broad range of listening modes to consider?

In Rhythm and Noise, Gracyk develops an account of rock music’s aesthetic distinctiveness along these lines. The underlying claim is that rock musicians employ technological innovations in instrumentation and production in such a way that the recording, rather than the performance, becomes the “primary medium” of rock music (Gracyk 1996, 13). Here, I want to focus on the aesthetic implications of Gracyk’s ontology. According to Gracyk, the ability to manipulate musical sounds using amplification, guitar effects, and the recording studio affords rock musicians a distinct set of tools for musical expression, and rock fans have a distinct set of criteria for aesthetic evaluation. In this way, the so-called “noise” of rock music is converted from “an epithet of disdain into one of achievement” (99). Rock music, that is, gives us a way of appreciating music differently.

The thrust of Gracyk’s argument is that this “noise” is an aesthetically expressive quality of rock music. For example, rock music is loud. But loudness is more than just volume, as amplification affects the timbral quality of instruments, adding brightness and tonal variations to guitars, bass, and thickness to percussion, and so on. Thus, loudness “is employed as a means to an expressive end” (114). Similarly, the rhythm of rock music is not just a matter of keeping time; rhythm lends aesthetic qualities. “Rock drummers,” Gracyk explains, “try to bring out the expressive character and drama of the music” (147). Much the way screen size contributes to the visual experience of film, loudness and rhythm contribute to the auditory experience of rock music. The sensuous and emotionally expressive elements of music, though certainly present in classical music, are in rock music the primary aesthetic ideals, and thus should be the primary basis on which rock music is evaluated aesthetically—as expressive “noise.” (pp 75).

Music examples presented and discussed: “Eruption” by Eddie Van Halen and “Hard Rock Medley” by The Ruins.

Eddie Van Halen, Eruption (1978) -

The Ruins, Hard Rock Medley (2007) -

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Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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#xsitethecall #xsitethechange

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This is an excerpt from an ongoing lecture series I’m hosting on NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 1990/2016).

This conversation applies the core intent of NAGPRA through a critical Native epistemology, engaging the ideology of NAGPRA. The argument applies NAGPRA’s ideology to situate a decolonial identity for tribal entities. A further interrogation of “sovereignty” is included, positioning this term as colonial language, which was not included in Native linguistics, socio-political realities, or tribal negotiations until the onslaught of colonial assimilation and the North American genocide.

The conversation involves the article,

Alisa M. Pappas and Sarah A. Buchanan. Native American and land-grant collection praxis since NAGPRA: University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA. Education for Information 37 (2021): 69–95.

More from this lecture series can be found on my YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/@professoralanlechusza

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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This is an excerpt from a series I presented on Heavy Metal. The conversation discusses the Gestalt of Metal, aesthetics, and the analytical concepts presented by Jason Miller, What Makes Heavy Metal ‘Heavy’?, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2022, 80, 70–82, 25 November 2021.

A useful quote from the article is the following:

“So, if correct application of the term ‘heavy’ to a work of music depends on the perception of that work belonging to the category of heavy metal, then heaviness will be gauged in accordance with the Gestalt properties of that category—energy, intensity, speed, vigor, and so on. Understood as a genre concept, “heaviness” is thus judged relative to a particular perception of heavy metal as expressing a particular conception of power. And it is worth noting, moreover, that the Gestalt of heavy metal is further defined by a heavily gendered notion of power expressed in heavy metal, since, as Deena Weinstein observes, “Power, the essential inherent and delineated meaning of heavy metal, is culturally coded as a masculine trait” (2000, 67)” (Jason Miller, pp 74).

Compare/Contrast Metallica, “Fade to Black” with Iron Maiden, “Run to the Hills”

Metallica, Fade to Black -

Iron Maiden, Run to the Hills -

More from this series can be seen on my YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/@professoralanlechusza

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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The article discussed is

Funk

James Brown, “Get Up Offa That Thing,”

James Brown, “How James Brown Invented Funk,” Sound Field, PBS,

Sly & The Family Stone Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) HQ Audio, 1970,

Additional videos:

Bootsy Collins explains the concept of “the One“,

D’Angelo talks funk and plays a P-Funk tune, Nelson George,

RUFUS THOMAS, “Breakdown’ & ‘Funky Chicken’ LIVE @ WATTSTAX 1973,

BOOTSY COLLINS REHEARSAL 1993,

Prince, “Thank You Falletin Me Be Mice Elf” (Today Show),

“Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions, focusing instead on a strong rhythmic groove created by a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than those found in other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a “hypnotic” and “danceable” feel. The funk of James Brown fused jazz and blues.

“Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown’s development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure (”The One”), and the application of swung 16th notes and syncopation on all basslines, drum patterns, and guitar riffs. Rock- and psychedelia-influenced musicians Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic fostered more eclectic examples of the genre beginning in the late 1960s. Other musical groups developed Brown’s innovations during the 1970s and the 1980s, including Kool and the Gang, Ohio Players, Fatback Band, Jimmy Castor Bunch, Bootsy Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, B.T. Express, Hamilton Bohannon One Way, Lakeside, Dazz Band, The Gap Band, Slave, Aurra, Roger Troutman & Zapp, Con Funk Shun, Cameo, Bar-Kays and Chic” (Wikimedia Creative Commons, accessed, Nov. 5).

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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This is a video excerpt from a larger series I produced through November 2025 on Gospel, R&B, Soul/Neo Soul, and Funk. The conversation was offered to college music students studying the History of Rock. This presentation provides an analysis of “I Feel Good” by James Brown.

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This is part of an ongoing series presented at Saddleback College discussing the work of Native/Indigenous identity, with particular focus on the work of Gerald Vizenor. The points made come from the article,

“You’re Always More Famous When You Are Banished”: Gerald Vizenor on Citizenship, War, and Continental Liberty Author(s): Colleen Eils, Emily Lederman, and Andrew Uzendoski Source: American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Spring 2015), pp. 213-227 Published by: University of Nebraska Press.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

Prof. Ethnic Studies, American Indian Studies

Music Example: The Runaways

The Runaways - Cherry Bomb lyrics,

The Runaways - School Days (1977),

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Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love (Official Audio), Led Zeppelin II,

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“I Heard It Through The Grapevine” Marvin Gaye/The Slits

Marvin Gaye, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” Motown Records, 1968,

The Slits, “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” (HQ),

The discussion presented in this video post comes from the article, Christine Feldman-Barrett. “From Beatles Fans to Beat Groups: A historiography of the 1960s all-girl rock band,” Feminist Media Studies, Routledge, December 19, 2013/2014.

The work of female Rock bands comes from a counterargument to American pop cultural ideals of the 1950s. Females who saw the arrival of the Beatles in the U.S., 1964 were equally as moved as their male sexual counterparts. Where teenage boys took an inspiration from this musical export, the media elected to profile teenage girls as nothing more than screaming fans. Reality contests this evaluation and marketing profile.

Teenage girls were dissatisfied with the expected arch of their lives from girl to marriage (Betty Friedan, “The Feminine Mystique,” 1963). Teenage girls grasped the same British invasion inspiration as teenage boys, forming all-girl bands. The challenge presented to these girl bands was multifaceted.

Performing in a masculine music market and cultural credibility in their style, technique, and sound proved to be the main issues. These girl bands took active control of space-place when they performed. In doing so, these girl bands recontextualized these spaces sexually, securing a body politic as a fluid, flexible, and relevant place of identity construction. Utilizing the fashion of the times and transposing sonic assumptions, these girl bands framed a visceral and expressive space-place vernacular discourse which predated Punk’s Do It Yourself (DIY) attitude and ideology.

Girl bands from the mid-1960s were seen to have a limited tenure of time, 1963-1967 (Christine Feldman-Barrett, pg. 5). However, the work from these foundational girl bands set the stage for the coming Punk movement, which enlisted multiple all-girl bands. Expressive works from girl bands operated in concert against the male-centered, male-dominated Rock profile. Not necessarily the archetype of the 1960s girl bands, a response against presumed, indoctrinated male-centered cultural norms, these bands illustrated that a counter-narrative in Rock’s expressive vernacular is possible.

Operating at the epicenter of a DIY ethic, yet multiple years before this agency was recognized and used fluently in America, girl Rock bands of the mid to late 1960s and early 1970s engaged stereotypes and sexual bias not by performing “girlhood” or “womanhood,” nor by active sexual erasure or sexual exchange, but on the lines of dislocating institutionalized sexually exploited signs, symbols, and expectations to the activation of a current feminist discourse, the embodied second wave of feminist theory (c. 1960-70s).

The Slits’ choice in covering Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” illustrates these points. Retaining a male-centered narrative, the Slits open the context to discuss gender bending and LGBTQ+ issues, which were still young at the time of this recording, the early 1970s. Female identity is framed as a dominant voice through this retention.

The evolved transposition of the orchestral and female backing vocals in the original track by Marvin Gaye is expressed through a Rock band quartet and the use of early studio echo effects. These invert the dominant masculine grip on pop music and the narrative of Marvin Gaye’s work. The falsetto of Marin Gaye is surpassed by the hyper-tremolo falsetto of the Slit’s lead singer.

The cover by the Slits is less a replication of the original, but more of a functioning identity of critical feminist discourse, through an active transposition of pop music into a Rock medium where a masculine perspective is inverted, highlighting the relevant identity of a woman in the cultural fabric. The backing female vocals in Marvin Gaye’s original version are removed by pushing a female voice to the foreground. The amplified, echoing of this voice broadcasts a multiplied collective female voice, in unity, not as a backing voice but a visceral, prominent voice.

The Slits recontextualize space-place, here pop and soul music, through a fast-paced Rock medium troping on the edgy, machismo attitude of Rock music in the 1970s, which stretches itself toward the coming Punk genre. The Slits model a DIY identity as a female critical discourse, an active vernacular discourse in Rock, overriding an essentialist pop music profile, yet hosting the importance of soul music and the spirit of this genre to speak to and from culturally relevant issues of an assumed marginalized, disenfranchised, oppressed community (read: African American, Hispanic, Asian, Native, Native Hawaiian, et al).

This reading of the Slits only scratches the surface of the importance of women in Rock and the female critical discursive vernacular. Accessing pop/soul music, the Slits promote the dynamics and border-crossing flexibility of the female Rock identity. Discrediting an assumed limitation of female musicians to a general pop music category, the Slits foreshadow the coming Punk wave in America, utilizing a DIY ethic, dismantling cultural signifiers of femininity, challenging male-dominated music hegemony, and systematically expressing a critical feminist discourse current with their second wave of feminism and pointing toward the next, third wave of feminism.

The Slits provide a rich, gutsy catalogue of original works that are equally difficult to read as they are entertaining, without sacrificing a hardcore sound.

Watch the full analysis here and on my YouTube channel. Subscribe for free to the YouTube channel for near-daily posts, lecture analysis, and the podcast “Tracks 4 D Day.”

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Selected Works:

Ace Frehley, Ozone, from his solo debut, the self-titled album, 1978.

Ace Frehley, I’m in need of love, from his solo debut, the self-titled album, 1978.

Ace Frehley, best solos (part 1), samples from live performances.

Ace Frehley, best solos (part 2), samples from live performances.

Accolades and memories, from AP Entertainment, October 16, 2025.

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons

“We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley. He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy. Our thoughts are with Jeanette, Monique and all those who loved him, including our fans around the world.” — the founding members of Kiss said in a statement.

Pearl Jam

“I heard about Ace Frehley‘s passing from Rick Friel who I played with in a band called Shadow. Rick was also the first guy on the bus in 1977 with a KISS lunchbox to tell me about Ace…just changed my life. I got a guitar in 1978 to join Rick‘s band Warrior which turned into Shadow. We covered “C’mon and Love Me”. All my friends have spent untold hours talking about KISS and buying KISS stuff. Ace was a hero of mine and also I would consider a friend. I studied his solos endlessly over the years… I would not have picked up a guitar without Ace and KISS’s influence. RIP it out Ace, you changed my life.” — Mike McCready, founding member and lead guitarist on X.

Tom Morello

“My first guitar hero, Ace Frehley, has passed away. The legendary Space Ace Frehley inspired generations to love rock n roll and love rock n roll guitar playing. His timeless riffs and solos, the billowing smoke coming from his Les Paul, the rockets shooting from his headstock, his cool spacey onstage wobble and his unforgettable crazy laugh will be missed but will never be forgotten. Thank you, Ace for a lifetime of great music and memories.” — on Instagram.

The Kennedy Center

“The Kennedy Center is saddened to hear of the passing of one of this year’s Kennedy Center Honorees, Ace Frehley of the band KISS. ... We will be paying tribute to this “rock soldier”, his work, and his legacy at our ceremony in December.” — on X.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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Analyzing Soul

The work of D’Angelo frames the tenets of neo soul. Along with the other three of the “founding four,” D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell, the sonic profile shares similarities to those of Hip Hop foundations.

As stated elsewhere and well documented, the foundations of Hip Hop sound profile are noted as,

* The Message (meaning and intent; social-political identity)

* Community (association, collective engagement)

* Consciousness (expressed knowledge)

* Vocality (dynamic lexicon and historic-contemporary voice)

* Text (environment, space-place)

* Activism (agency)

Each of these is seen and manipulated in the works of D’Angelo through the neo soul genre. It is the balance of these sonic elements that gives liberty to D’Angelo’s style, where he, then, creatively maneuvers his compositions and covers without losing the connection to these foundations.

D’Angelo states his Message as one that inverts the stereotypes of the dominant, fearing Black male. Utilizing his body politic, D’Angleo profiles his Blackness in style, fashion, and near nakedness to invert cultural stereotypes of the weakening male and the feared Black body. D’Angelo promotes a Message situated in contemporary discourse that hosts cultural pride, balanced masculinity, and the illustration of self-security. Working as a measure of self-determination, this Message speaks to audiences (read: Black males) as one to be present in the culture, not the absent stereotype.

The Community for D’Angelo can be seen as a multi-ethnic context that favors Afrocentrism. Extending his application of Message, Community, for D’Angelo relates to a current Afro-plurality. D’Angelo operates to support the Black/African-American community, exemplified in drumming references to West African style and the closing track on the album Voodoo, “Africa.” These point to his valued interest in speaking to, not necessarily for, his Community, the expansive pan-African, contemporary diasporic, marginalized, racially troped Black/African/African-American lived realities.

D’Angelo’s Consciousness is widely expressed in his compositions, cover arrangements, and lyrics. Though building on the history of R&B, soul, funk, and Hip Hop, D’Angleo involves these elements without essentializing. The incorporation of historic-contemporary sonic elements, D’Angelo speaks to a broad range of socio-political issues simultaneously. This process makes his work sound fresh and current, long after the years of production.

In the area of Vocality, D’Angelo populates a span of styles from those he holds as his music heroes, Sly Stone, James Brown, Prince, and Marvin Gaye, to name a notable few. At times prolific, others subtle; clearly and rhythmically, then introspective and poised. Writers and musicologists speaking about neo soul qualify the soft, inner voice of the genre. D’Anglo embraces this aspect, while also enlisting sermonizing and paimfully joy-inspired mellisma. Positioning his lyrics before, on, and behind the beat, D’Angelo moves the reviewer from a passive to an active listener. Such a technique localizes his singing and rap style in alignment with his noted musical heroes and others who captured this ability — Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, Black Knowledge, Mos Def, et al.

The Text of D’Angelo’s work challenges reviewers. His stage presence follows that of the great funk and R&B artists, while playing equally in a singular space hyper-focused on the individual.

The minimal use of the narrative music video, D’Angleo, has some selections that are only a cover image. This works to position the reviewer in a space-place to holistically engage the work rather than rely on a visually suggestive prompt. In other situations, D’Angelo will expose his physique to challenge the reviewer to remain connected with the sonic landscape while being visually stimulated.

As stated earlier, D’Angelo positions his body politic as one challenging cultural and racial stereotypes. D’Angelo explores both visually active and static texts, keeping the reviewer engaged in the totality of his work, a technique which writers and musicologists discussing neo soul have noted as the archetype of the album as a composite text. Through this process, D’Angelo works on both the macro and micro levels. He scripts the arc of his albums to embrace active and static moments. The narrative of his works, then, functions either as a single track or a full document. A listener will not be left absent of any intent, meaning, involvement, or silent voice throughout the balance of the text.

In Activism, D’Angleo did so in an unorthodox manner; he took his time working on an album. This process is his activism. In doing so, D’Angleo was able to speak to important socio-political issues and prompt dialogue about these issues. Activism is the culmination of all the founding elements of Hip Hop analysis. In the artistry of D’Angelo, his activism expands all areas where he situates his work.

Being comfortable with promoting quality over quantity is a lost technique in the current fast-paced, market-saturated, globally exploitive music industry complex. This speaks to the activism of D’Angelo; he operated outside of the global music industrial complex’s definitions. Few artists in any genre had the ethos, financial sustainability, or record company backing to conduct such a process. Those who elect to follow this agenda normally do so at the sacrifice of their record deal, monetary loss, and sometimes fade into obscurity.

D’Angelo was able to work beyond these limitations to produce a short catalogue, but one drenched with activism, from the individual tracks to the recording process and market release. This underscores D’Angelo’s activist bone, which he was not afraid to hold steady. The short-term agency may be less secure. The long-term agency brings an additional level of attention to the work of an artist.

For D’Angelo, his consciousness of the current socio-political environment may/may not be ready for new challenging work. Still, D’Angelo, as a musical agent (read: energizing component to advance the work of the unspoken), was able to speak for multiple levels of change. D’Angleo’s activism could be seen in his simple appearance through a full-length work or recording. D’Angelo’s complete corpus is his activist profile. The agency of his work is the investment in culture to engage his work once exposed. He need not conduct any other means of activism beyond his recordings, cameo stage presence, and efforts as a cultural communicator and educator.

D’Angelo, Untitled (How Does It Feel) (Official Music Video), Posted February 2009.

D’Angelo, Playa Playa, links to the full album, Voodoo.

Lauryn Hill, Nothing Even Matters feat. D’Angelo, posted March 2010.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

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The article used for this conversation is,

Matthew Valnes, Janelle Monáe and Afro-Sonic Feminist Funk, Duke University, 2017.

Janelle Monae, Tightrope -

Janelle Monae, Q.U.E.E.N. -

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

Thanks for reading Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!"! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

Here are some of the notes that I used for the discussion, along with two versions of the song and the cover by Van Halen (1978).

The Kinks, “You Really Got Me”

The Kinks - You Really Got Me (Official Audio),

The Kinks- You Really Got Me (live),

Van Halen, You Really Got Me (2015 Remaster)

Van Halen, You Really Got Me (Official Music Video)

“You Really Got Me” was written by Kinks singer and guitarist, Ray Davies, who was also the group’s chief songwriter. Two versions were recorded, the final being the one fans know and love today, a result of the band following their intuition. “You Really Got Me” became the band’s breakthrough hit, crossing over into the U.S. as one of the British Invasion acts that became popular in the U.S. amongst the pandemonium around the Beatles. The song catapulted to the top of the U.K. charts and reached the top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100” (American Songwriter, January 2023).

“When I came up with ‘[You Really Got Me]’ I hadn’t been writing songs very long at all,” Ray said about the song’s origins. “It was one of the first five I ever came up with. I wanted it to be a jazzy-type tune, because that’s what I liked at the time.”

“Dave elaborated on Ray’s love of jazz, noting that his brother was a fan of American jazz musician Gerry Mulligan and that the tune “You Really Got Me” was inspired by Mulligan’s playing. Ray also said that the song was originally written around a saxophone hook and that it took several months for the record label to lend the song its ears” (American Songwriter, January 2023).

“Ray [Davies] shared with Q magazine in 2016 that the song’s lyrics were inspired by a woman he saw dancing in the crowd at his show at a club in Piccadilly, a neighborhood in London. He compared her look to that of French singer Françoise Hardy.

“There was a young girl in the audience who I really liked,” he reminisced. “She had beautiful lips. Thin, but not skinny. A bit similar to Françoise Hardy. Not long hair, but down to [her shoulders]. Long enough to put your hands through…long enough to hold. I wrote ‘You Really Got Me’ for her, even though I never met her.”

“He [Ray Davies] reinforced this sentiment in a Rolling Stone interview. “I just remembered this one girl dancing,” he recalled. “Sometimes you’re so overwhelmed by the presence of another person and you can’t put two words together.” Though his brother is the one who wrote it, fellow guitarist Dave interprets the song as a message of love for “street kids.” “‘You Really Got Me’ [is] such a pure record, really,” he said in The Story of the Kinks. “It’s a love song for street kids. They’re not going to wine and dine you, even if they knew how to chat you up. [They say] ‘I want you—come here” (American Songwriter, January 2023).

The inner struggles between the band and the record label forced the song to undergo multiple versions. The final push from the band led to the one release that became a hit.

“Responding to Talmy’s assessment [record producer], Ray says the unreleased demo was “overproduced,” yet done with “good intention” by Talmy, but ultimately wasn’t the right fit. “He gave it this big sound and it lost the character of the group,” Ray remarked, adding that he wanted it to have a “raw sound” (American Songwriter, January 2023).

“You Really Got Me” is a song by the English rock band the Kinks, written by frontman Ray Davies and released as their third single in 1964. The song was the Kinks’ breakthrough hit, establishing them as one of the top British Invasion acts in the United States. The song’s novel use of power chords and distortion heavily influenced later rock musicians, particularly in the heavy metal and punk rock genres” (Wikimedia, Creative Commons, accessed and revised October 7).

Lyrics:

Girl, you really got me goingYou got me so I don’t know what I’m doingYeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I can’t sleep at nightYeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I don’t know what I’m doing, nowOh, yeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I can’t sleep at nightYou really got meYou really got meYou really got me

See, don’t ever set me freeI always wanna be by your sideGirl, you really got me nowYou got me so I can’t sleep at nightYeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I don’t know what I’m doing, nowOh, yeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I can’t sleep at nightYou really got meYou really got meYou really got me(F**k off!) Oh, no!

See, don’t ever set me freeI always wanna be by your sideGirl, you really got me nowYou got me so I can’t sleep at nightYeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I don’t know what I’m doing, nowOh, yeah, you really got me nowYou got me so I can’t sleep at nightYou really got meYou really got meYou really got me

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

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This episode of the Tracks 4 D Day podcast is dedicated to honoring and respecting California Indian Day, observed on September 27. We’ll explore California Bird Songs and provide some personal insight into the importance of this music for Southern California tribes.

Music Examples:

Wikimallem Taxmuatem Song 1 | Cahuilla Bird Singers | 2025 Pechanga Pow Wow.

“This group of Cahuilla Bird Singers are Indigenous people to the local area near Pechanga Reservation Temecula, CA. They are our neighbors to the north of Luiseño Aboriginal Territory. Birds songs nearly died out, around 30 years ago a man named Robert Levi took the initiative to gather a small group of men to learn the songs, the timing of the rattles, the meaning of the songs. Year by year Bird Songs grew stronger. Now, nearly every reservation here in Southern California has a Bird Singing group. With this re-birth, connections to our brothers and sisters from the desert tribes were made. A quote by Robert Levi, ‘Bird Songs never really died, it just went to sleep’” (Noxiumm, YouTube, January 2025).

Pala Rez Bird Singers, posted February 2009.

Closing Night Reception - Chumash Intertribal Bird Singers, LA Skins Fest, 2011.

Alvino Siva Los Coyotes Indian Reservation Bird Singer, “We Are Birds” (music excerpt from the documentary), posted February 2017.

Frankie Morreo: TM Cahuilla Bird Singer “We Are Birds” (excerpt from the documentary), posted June 2014.

Don’t forget to subscribe and share with others.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

www.ihhba.org

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All the other IHHBA podcasts can be found on Substack and on the IHHBA website.

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Welcome to the Tracks 4 D Day podcast, episode 5. In this session, I’ll talk about the value and importance of Native Punk Rock. A focus will be on the band 1876.

I wrote an article on this topic, which can be found here on Medium and on Substack. It’s also reposted at alanlechusza.com.

Music samples from 1876, which were used in the article, are included below.

(An excerpt from the full article)

Yelling Back And Speaking To

1876 follows the “Tribal Yell” epistemology. Their work “yells” back to racial stereotypes, bias, racist ideology, and termination psychology. 1876 speaks to a contemporary Native identity regardless of location, rural/reservation or urban. The band projects an activist discourse founded on decolonial application of Native/Indigenous conscious representations. Employing a non-Native music genre, punk, 1876 collects tribal history, culture, customs, knowledge, expressions, traditions, environmental support, and socio-religious/spiritual elements, 1876 yells across cultural divides while speaking to Native/Indigenous contemporary identity. Punk discourse is contextualized through a Native/Indigenous reading. The application of punk, by 1876, is a “Tribal Yell” that welcomes voices to scream against hegemony to build and sustain the dynamic power of decolonization.

Selected Works

1876, We Will Remain (Official Video), posted April 2023.

1876, Tribes and Tribulations, posted October 2020.

1876, Great Escape (Official Video), posted March 2022.

1876, We Don’t Run, posted October 2020.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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Guess Who, American Woman (1970), posted April 2008.

Guess Who, “American Woman” (album version), posted February 2017.

Check out all the other Track 4 D Day podcasts on alanlechusza.com and on Alan Lechusza’s Substack. Don’t forget to subscribe, share, follow, and comment.

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This is a short lecture I conducted where I was asked to deconstruct “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry (1956/58).

I’m including the resources I compiled for those interested.

The opening is a “housekeeping” with the course materials. The analysis starts about 5 minutes into the video. The remainder of the time is spent listening to and analyzing this critical work.

Thanks for attending the virtual class and checking out this “Special” Tracks 4 D Day podcast. The past podcasts can be found on Substack and alanlechusza.com.

Course Lecture Notes:

CHUCK BERRY: Johnny B. Goode (1958) HD, posted March 2017.

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode (Live 1958), posted February 2012.

"Well, here's one of the greatest Rock n' Roll tunes ever written. Originally released in 1958 and then re-released on Chuck's 1962 album 'Twist', Johnny B. Goode arguably upped the level for Rock music and solidified Chuck Berry's status as a pioneer. Keith Richards later said that Chuck succeeded in releasing effectively the same song over and over again after this one -- but the question must be posed, when it's this great, why not?" Gaslight Records (2012).

Chuck Berry & Julian Lennon - Johnny B Goode (1986), posted February 2009.

Jimi Hendrix: Johnny B Goode live, posted April 2024.

"Back to the Future," Marty McFly Plays "Johnny B. Goode" and "Earth Angel," posted September 2019.

Commentary:

This track raised the bar on the Blues form, the forerunner to R&B (rhythm and blues), and what Rock would eventually use as a skeleton for future works. The exploration of a simple Blues form, with an ear-capturing introduction, the work Johnny B. Goode continues to riddle pop music today (2025). Rock is indebted to this work for its simplicity, structure, narrative style ("poetry" as one commentator noted), and the heightened, electrifying performing character of the work. A timeless classic founded on these elements, Johnny B. Goode is also a commentary on the social climate of the late 1950s. A black musician topping the charts with wide audience appeal, crossing racial lines, Chuck Berry pushed the envelope in counterpoint to what Elvis Presley did for White audiences. Where Elvis brought to light works by African American artists, Chuck Berry fronted his racial profile with a lyrical work not limited to race or age. The attention brought to the work illustrates the foundations of rhythm and blues: pulsating rhythm and the use of a blues structure. The simple guitar solo works as a bridge to the song form, while the introduction recontextualizes the "hook" of the work. These combined elements are simple in structure, audibly apparent in listening, and remain the core fabric of the work. Though released in the 1950s, Johnny B. Goode could easily have been released later, but not earlier in Rock's history.

Further supplemental materials.

Politico, "The Politics of Being Chuck Berry," 2017, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/the-politics-of-being-chuck-berry-214934/

"The shift from “colored boy” to “country boy” indicates the unfortunate realities of white supremacy in a country where a less racially specific term, such as “country” can become a universal trope covertly signaling whiteness and white values" (qtd. in Pop Matters, May 2022).

"As Berry wrote in his Autobiography, he originally wrote the lyrics as “a colored boy named Johnny B. Goode”, but he “thought it would seem biased to white fans to say ‘colored boy’ and changed it to ‘country boy'” (157). This decision reflected African American artists’ growing awareness of the white teen market and its salience: it was clear by the ’50s that the capital African American artists craved was often supplied by a lucrative white consumer base, growing with the economic prosperity following World War II" (qtd. in Pop Matters, May 2022).

"When Berry made the lyric change, he recognized that the dominant methods for interpreting music involve not recognizing race, and “country boy” fits within this paradigm. [I should note that “country” does have white connotations, perhaps including the historical nostalgia that scholar Geoff Mann says marks country music as “sounding white”.]" (qtd. in Pop Matters, May 2022).

"...the decades following the further whitewashing of rock in the ’60s, “Johnny B. Goode” increasingly became a symbol of whiteness. The best example of this trend is seen in the 1985 movie, Back to the Future, in which actor Michael J. Fox travels in time to play “Johnny B. Goode” at a dance in the ’50s with an African American band (Movieclips). As blogger Justin Peniston writes, the scene seems to project the fantasy that white Americans could have created rock ‘n’ roll, as Marty McFly (Fox’s character) plays this supposedly new song for an unsuspecting white audience as if he created that song and style. So Marty McFly serves as a stand-in for Elvis Presley, a white figure who takes African American music and brings it to a bigger audience. McFly even uses Berry’s stage moves, including the famous “duck walk”, before playing a guitar riff reminiscent of surf rock, a style heavily influenced by Berry. He then devolves (from the perspective of the audience) into a series of theatrics recalling later guitarists like Jimi Hendrix (playing behind his back), and ends the clip by saying, 'I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet'" (qtd. in Pop Matters, May 2022).

Shmoop, "Johnny B. Goode Meaning," n.d.

This article presents an analysis along similar lines, with slight differences that protect a White privilege position of the song's narrative.

Beyond Pop Culture, "Rock and Roll Classic: Chuck Berry’s Epic Hit ‘Johnny B. Goode’ – A Must-Listen!", August 2024.

This article is short and gives some context to Rock's history before discussing, albeit briefly, the depth and importance of the work Johnny B. Goode.

Genius, Complete Lyrics, Johnny B. Goode, Chuck Berry, March 31, 1958.

Deep down in Louisiana, close to New OrleansWay back up in the woods among the evergreensThere stood a log cabin made of earth and woodWhere lived a country boy named Johnny B. GoodeWho never ever learned to read or write so wellBut he could play the guitar just a-ringin' a bell

Go, goGo, Johnny, go, goGo, Johnny, go, goGo, Johnny, go, goGo, Johnny, go, goJohnny B. Goode

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sackGo sit beneath the trees by the railroad trackOh, the engineers would see him sittin' in the shadeStrummin' with the rhythm that the drivers madePeople passing by, they would stop and say"Oh my, but that little country boy could play"

Go, goGo, Johnny, go, goGo, Johnny, go, goGo, Johnny, go, goGo, Johnny, go, goJohnny B. Goode

His mother told him, "Someday you will be a manAnd you will be the leader of a big ol' bandMany people coming from miles aroundTo hear you play your music when the sun go downMaybe someday your name will be in lightsSaying Johnny B. Goode tonight"

Go, goGo, Johnny, goGo, go, go, Johnny, goGo, go, go, Johnny, goGo, go, go, Johnny, goGoJohnny B. Goode

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Welcome to the Tracks 4 D Day podcast, episode 3. This episode will discuss the importance of Hip Hop. Noting the birthday of Hip Hop, August 11, this episode takes a personal look at the genre and explores how the genre has influenced culture and activism.

Track 4 D Day

Dead Prez, Hip Hop, Lets Get Free, 2000.

dead prez - Hip Hop (Digital Video), postd July 2016

Let’s Get Free full album playlist can be found at,

Bonus Track 4 D Day

Dead Prez, I'm A African, Let’s Get Free, 2000.

A nice, easy-to-read, short history of Hip Hop can be found at Hot New Hip Hop, Why August 11 Is Considered Hip-Hop's Birthday?https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/682446-august-11-hip-hop-explained

Some facts to keep in mind.

“On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc, born Clive Campbell, threw the famous "back to school jam" block party on 1520 Sedgwick Ave” (Hot New Hip Hop 2021).

“During an interview with Nardwuar, Universal Zulu Nation leader Afrika Bambaataa argued that the birthday of hip-hop was Nov. 12, 1974. "When we decided to call this whole culture hip-hop. Hip-hop even goes further than that, but we decided to name it hip-hop as a culture, meaning with the b-boys, the b-girls, the MCs, the aerosol writers, graffiti writers and the DJs and that fifth element that holds it all together. That's the date that I decided we should name this as a whole culture and start moving from there," Bambaataa stated” (Hot New Hip Hop 2021).

“August 11, 1973 became an official holiday for hip-hop back in 2021. The senate chambers made history by unanimously voting to officially designate the day as Hip-Hop's Celebration Day. “By unanimous consent, the Senate passed S.Res.331,” the United States Senate Periodical Press Gallery confirmed via Twitter. The Senate elaborated further on the topic, saying that it is “a resolution designating August 11, 2021, as ‘Hip Hop Celebration Day,’ designating August 2021 as ‘’Hip Hop Recognition Month’, and designating November 2021 as ‘Hip Hop History Month’” (Hot New Hip Hop 2021).

Check out more at alanlechusza.com

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This is the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA) podcast, episode 12. In this episode, the co-founders, Richie Leadreagle and Alan Lechusza Aquallo, discuss Native culture and humor.

All the past IHHBA podcasts can be found at www.ihhba.substack.com. Check out the IHHBA website to see what else is going on with Native Hip Hop and culture.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

www.alanlechusza.com

www.ihhb.org

Thanks for reading, Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!"! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

It’s the Tracks 4 D Day podcast, episode 2. In this episode, some old school works are examined to see how these work to articulate the current cultural landscape. A socio-political reading is applied to the different tracks.

Tracks 4 D Day - Old School Style

Eric B. & Rakim - I Ain't No Joke (Cut #1), posted June 2009.

Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full, posted December 2009.

Be sure to check out the website, www.alanlechusza.com. Articles, the first Tracks 4 D Day podcast, and other content are available.

My other contributions are on the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association Substack and my YouTube channel.

Thanks for reading, Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!"! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

Welcome to the start of my Tracks 4 D Day podcast! These are still part of my work with the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA), but will take on an extended purpose and use.

Originally, Tracks 4 D Day simply presented work and artists I was reviewing during my work week. That portion will remain, with a step further.

In my Tracks 4 D Day podcast, I’ll begin to expand on the shared works and contextualize these in the cultural landscape of the day. Discussing how these works articulate, critique, or contest the socio-political issues we are enduring will be an added element. Taking advantage of both video and audio podcasts, Tracks 4 D Day will engage both as available. Further, I look forward to having different guest artists present their works and conversation. These added components raise the bar on the original scope of the Tracks 4 D Day, making this podcast a bit more dynamic.

Tracks 4 D Day

Barrio Christian Hip Hop

Lordside G - God Bless the Barrio, posted June 2012, ThaLordsideGangsta

A testament from a man who has seen hard times. The lyrics say it all. The context does not candy-coat the issue. This work presents the core elements of Christian Hip Hop directly. Opening with a soft acoustic guitar riff, the culture of the street/hood comes through as much as his conviction and faith.

LordSide Gangster - LordSiders, posted October 2009, OfficialChristianTV

Getting past the odd introduction, this work follows the common theme from the artist. Testimony, faith, and conviction are stated and balanced. The environment again is in the barrio/hood. The reality of the experience comes through with no softening.

Lordside Gangsta - Blood In Blood Out, posted April 2011, Thalordsidegangsta.

The opening bilingual dialogue is a refreshing way to set up the work. The following short script pushes the envelope on how to present the gospel to a brother. Having both of these at the start of the track frames the necessity of faith, testimony, and belief coming from a rough barrio/hood. The stereotypes of Mexican gangsta culture are not diminished. These are signified to articulate the realities of the barrio/hood experience. It’s not a complex track. The narrative makes the work stand on two firm feet.

All the past Tracks 4 D Day episodes can be found on my Substack, alanlechusza.substack.com, on my YouTube channel, and the IHHBA YouTube channel.

Don’t forget to check out my new website, alanlechusza.com. It’s slick, user-friendly, and gets to the core of what I do. No more bells and whistles. I’m going straight to the content and providing what is central to my work, research, and progress as an academic, researcher, and scholar.

Let’s talk about it! Blood, sweat, and pray every day; no track left unheard.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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The Tracks 4 D Day is taking a trip to the Polynesian/Australian/New Zealand area. Māori Hip Hop came across my thoughts today—perfect timing for the next Tracks 4 D Day post.

It’s been years since I spent quality time in this area of Hip Hop. When I was a tenured professor, I taught a large number of Maori athletes in my classes. Funny, they were mostly related. They asked me about different artists in the NZ Hip Hop collective. Research took off, and I found myself going down the proverbial rabbit hole.

Fast forward, I hadn’t given a serious review of this style. For whatever reason, I gave a serious listen and study once again to Maori Hip Hop. The afternoon was spent listening, studying, researching, and slipping down that old rabbit hole again.

Here are some notable Maori Hip Hop artists to enjoy.

Shane Walker, Natives of Aotearoa (official video)

Tipene, Tu

Damn Native, Behold My Kool Style

Here’s an online NZ magazine dedicated to NZ Hip Hop culture. Warning, there is some strong language used throughout. If you can get past the langague, the content is insightful.

NZ Hip Hop Stand Up - Damn Native, “Behold My Kool Style” (see more at RNZ TV on YouTube).

This should be fun! Here we go.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechcusza.org

www.ihhba.org

“Blood, sweat, pray, every day! No track left unheard.”

Thanks for reading, Alan Lechusza, Tracks 4 D Day on "Let's Talk About It!"! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

Here we go! No beat left unheard! The formal “Tracks 4 D Day” is set.

How did all this come about? It was over a year ago, while working late in another office space, that I wanted to share the tracks I was listening to with others. I had already dissolved my earlier attempts at a podcast and was not in the mood, or space, to start it up again. But I was listening to some “dope” tracks and wanted to share. Hence the birth of “Tracks 4 D Day.” I took the name seriously, and quite literally. I held onto sharing a different track every day for quite some time. Eventually, time and weariness got the best of me, and this idea fell aside.

It wasn’t until my colleague, Richard Luis Ragudo Jr., (IHHBA Business and Marketing Specialist) shared his “Wordplay of the Day” that I began to regain interest in starting my formal podcast once again.

Since I explore multiple genres of Hip Hop culture, this podcast will engage a variety of topics, works, artists, and issues. Holding no limits to the scope of the work to be shared, what you can expect is to get a handfull of content from across the intersetions of Hip Hop culture.

To read more about my work at the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association, check out the website, www.ihhba.org.

To read about my exclusive work on Christian Hip Hop culture, check out my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” That site is free to subscribe to, and a different article is posted nearly every week. Get involved in a different take on Hip Hop. As a tease, the last article was on Christian breakdancing.

This episode will discuss the work of DJ Shub, from the formidable Tribe Called Red fame. The specific track is “Indomitable” featuring Northern Cree. It’s a kicker. Released in 2017, the track’s narrative intertwines powwow culture with electronic DJ style. The pulse is intoxicating. You can listen to the full track here.

Let’s get into it!

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" and “Track 4 D Day” are reader-supported publications. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

Alan Lechusza Aquallo, IHHBA Co-founder, Managing Editor

“Blood, sweat, pray every day!” No track left unheard.

Let’s talk about it! The week is coming to a close, and there are still smaller projects to complete. Where does the time go?

The start of the week was running. Meetings, posts, lectures, and articles to write daily. The research is fun. Albeit, for lectures, the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA), or personal work, it’s all exciting to engage. I have to be careful. The hours can pass while I’m deep reading and taking notes on multiple items. I’ll admit, I’m addicted to reading academic journal articles. Guilty!

“Why is Native/Indigenous Hip Hop taking all my time?” Good question; let’s talk about it.

By now, most realize I’m the co-founder of the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA). This is a big calling, as there’s no other organization, collective, or association dealing exclusively with supporting positive and conscious Native/Indigenous Hip Hop. This includes all levels of Hip Hop culture for Native/Indigenous academics, business entrepreneurs, and artists. As the managing editor, my duties include nearly every element of the business. My partner, Richard Luis Ragudo, Jr. (aka “Richie Leadreagle”), handles the finances and business elements. Still, I have my hand directly in those areas as well. It’s a high calling, but one that fits the bill for me perfectly! The IHHBA, along with my teaching, balances my days, as odd as they are. This is also why my commitment to writing more about critical Native/Indigenous theory and discourse has begun to influence my daily article posts. It’s a commitment I’ve made and one I’m not going to compromise. It’s here to stay, so enjoy.

The next Patheos article should be posted by the end of the weekend. I don’t want to drop the theme of this new article. I’ll tease it by saying that there has not been enough visibility on female Christian Hip Hop artists. I missed this post for Mother’s Day, but it still has value and needs to be published. Keep an eye out on my Patheos site and subscribe, it’s free.

Starting in June, I’ll be doing a weekly Substack podcast for the IHHBA. This is in addition to the bi-weekly YouTube posts on the IHHBA channel. This will be fun to take on. What day the podcast will run is still being negotiated. I do know that by June 1, the first episodes will be up on the IHHBA Substack site.

That’s about all of the happenings at the moment. Time for another cup of tea and back to more research. Don’t forget to subscribe. The prices listed for paid subscriptions are at the lowest Substack will allow. I also deleted the Founders Subscription. It was useless anyway. The important thing is for more readers and subscribers to the my work. Free followers is perfectly fine. I only ask that readers share with others and encourage them to catch the fire so we can all talk about it.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

www.ihhba.org

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

There are several changes taking place.

First, I made changes to the paid subscriptions for this site. When I got started, I was star-struck by those who were able to make a very lucrative living through their Substack account. History has proven that’s not going to be me. I elected to drop the prices across the board incredibly. I realized my drive is to share the content, research, and write more so that stress and wait for paid subscribers to come onboard. It’s only been a couple of days since this change, but the change does feel better overall. Does this reduce the overall stress of how to pay the bills? Anything could be farther from the truth. The stress there remains strong and brewing daily. Regardless, the time and commitment to have the writing support the research is a dedication, and the money need not be the focus. That said, check out the new subscription options and, if so moved, subscribe. Sharing, following, and reading are more important. Please indulge those options if nothing else.

The Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association has a Substack site! This is a wonderful opportunity to see what other things complete my days and long nights. Take a moment to review, share, follow, and comment on that site. Good sounds, informative articles, and a pleasure to contribute.

Following that point, readers will see changes to my articles as well. To this point, I have been trying to find my groove. What do readers like to hear? I wear so many hats, what’s a niche? The topics I enjoy writing on - culture, Hip Hop, socio-political realities, Native/Indigenous issues - may not be of interest to most. The research conducted led to the model of the work I was writing. Seeing the changes overall, the content I’ll be writing will now follow more along the lines of my interests, research, and progress as an academic writer. I was not being honest to my core, and, honestly, it took a toll on my work overall. This is another change I’m making, which I’ve slowly begun to incorporate. Hang on, it won’t be drastic, but the content will be wide-ranging and follow my direction as an academic writer.

One ghost I had to say “Goodbye” to right away was the secret desire to be a poet. Let’s face it, that’s not even in the cards. Enjoying fine poetry is one thing. Seeing such a direction as a life-calling is another. The weight of “thanks, but no thanks” from journals, publishers, and reviewers on what I was submitting became too much to bear. A couple of days wrestling with, and coming to grasp the point, I’m not a poet. Some may have noticed this change. It’s worth stating to get the matter out of the way and clear the air for what I do want to write and share.

Don’t forget, May 5 is not only Cinco De Mayo (aka, Mexican Independance Day), but also the National Day of Recognition for MMIWG. If you don’t know what MMIWG is about, read my most recent article. It provides a lot of valuable information. Wear red and show your solidarity!

That’s it for now. More will come. Don’t forget to subscribe, follow, share, and comment. Thanks!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

www.ihba.org

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The week came to a rapid-fire close. Research, meetings, reading, and more research took over the days. Finding time to get a second cup of tea became complicated. Where does the time go?

The new Patheos article is still under construction. There was a snafu with the images, so I had to contact the assigned editor for assistance to resolve this matter. It should be completed and published shortly. This puts that work schedule off by one day. It happens (I guess).

The Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA) is ongoing and on fire. There was a big meeting over the weekend. The results promise to be good for all those included. I’m not privileged to share the information, just yet. Once the final legal matters are settled, I’ll share. In the meantime, check out the website for the IHHBA, www.ihba.org. There’s a lot of content on the website and opportunities to get involved. “Tag Responsibly” is the ongoing campaign at the moment. The IHHBA website has all the information. Links to social media are there as well. Follow! Also, look for the IHHBA Substack to start in May. That will be fun to manage and produce.

The coming week has multiple appointments and meetings. How is it that these have become more of a staple in the week? It’s nice to share time with others. Listening to the thoughts and critical discourse is enlightening.

Articles are ongoing. The work is covering multiple platforms, Christian Hip Hop, a review of the Gathering of Nations Powwow, and the daily socio-political articles here.

I’m curious, is the style of the articles published here of value to anyone? There have been nearly no comments supplied, and the readers fluctuate, making the analytics nerve-wracking and hard to assess. Any input, comments, and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Also, please don’t forget to share my work and become a founding subscriber. I can’t believe I’ve been on this site for so long. Time does run away in a blink.

More updates will be made as the week starts. Right now, it’s good to see the productivity taking place. Look for the new article to be published shortly. Please don’t forget to subscribe and become a founding reader. Sharing the content with others is greatly appreciated.

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

Available on Amazon and the website, www.alanlechusza.org

Welcome to the end of the week Slam!

The past week was turbulent. Two scathing literary scams came, trying to get me to spend an astronomical amount of money. It took almost two days to get each of these to stop. Yes, these things exist in a writer’s world, and with fire.

Near-daily meetings with the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA) covered each afternoon. The meetings were about the structure and direction of the IHHBA. These meetings are invigorating. My partner, Richard Ragudo, is a spitfire and creative wizard. One afternoon, in a meeting with a non-profit organization, it turned out the organization's lead is fluent in the African Hip Hop scene. We spent just under two hours talking about global Hip Hop and the intersectionality of Native Hip Hop. This was the capstone to my week-long lectures on Nigerian Hip Hop. Who knew!

The passing of Pope Francis took us all by surprise. My recent Patheos article was a dedication to the passing of the pontiff. The article can be read on my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” Don’t forget to subscribe to this free site! Articles come out each week. The next one will be dealing with the Christian Hip Hop cipher. There has not been much, if any, writing that my research found on this topic. Subscribe to get notified when it comes out.

May holds the National Day of Mourning for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Girls (MMIW/g) on May 5. It’s also known as “Orange Shirt Day.” Folks throughout North America wear orange shirts to show their support and draw attention to MMIW/g. My lectures in the coming week are focused on this sensitive topic. The IHHBA will be featuring all Native/Indigenous female Hip Hop artists for May. Check out the IHHBA website and get involved.

Speaking of which, the IHHBA will begin its own Substack area in May. This space will talk all things Native/Indigenous Hip Hop, business, academics/education, and life-culture. There will be a variety of written and video posts each week. Consider yourself advised! It’s going to be fun and will allow me to focus this space on the writings I want to share with one and all.

On that note, be sure to subscribe, share, and follow the daily writings. This site is 100% reader-supported. There are multiple levels for subscriptions. The support is greatly appreciated.

The next article for the day will be out soon. It’s in the works. What’s the topic today? Subscribe and follow to find out!

Until the next video blog, thanks for reading, sharing, and, of course, subscribing. It’s a pleasure.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechsuza.org

Go to www.alanlehusza.org for purchases. Also available on Amazon.

The week is coming to a close. It was a bumpy road, but here we are. Happy (early) Easter to one and all! Now, for the updates and the announcement.

This past week, my partner and I officially launched the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association (IHHBA) business. This is the big news I could not share until now.

The IHHBA is dedicated to promoting and supporting positive Native/Indigenous identity in business, academics, and Native life culture. The driving focus tying these all together is their connection with Native Hip Hop. My partner is a prominent Native entrepreneur with decades of successful business experience, all focused on Native culture and business. My work is in academics with a founding discipline in Hip Hop, specializing in Native Hip Hop. As a reminder, I wrote the first full book on Native Hip Hop (2008/2024), “Are You (Still) Ready For WOR?” Togerther, our work spans each of these areas and promises to further progress the visibility and importance of Naitve Hip Hop to the local, state, nationa, and global communities.

The website, ihhba.org, has more information on the first capital campaigns. The flagship of the IHHBA is the Indigenous Hip Hop Business Association Journal. The first issue is set for publication in November 2025. The content will focus on each of these different areas: business, education/academics, and Native life-culture. The publication will be online. Subscriptions are available for any style of reader. In addition, seeing the importance of helping collect Native artists and business affiliates, there is an ongoing database that the IHHBA is compiling. Artist, educators, and business affiliates can subscribe to be included in the database, and with different subscription levels, access to the database is provided.

The IHHBA will have its own Substack Newsletter. This is under construction. The IHHBA is present on all major social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok. Check out the website, ihhba.org, for the links and Featured Artists for the month (April - May).

This is the big news I’ve been waiting to share. Of course, my daily articles will continue here, along with the weekly articles on my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” The next article on that site is planned for publication over the weekend. The most recent discussion was on the work of Lacrae, a “Christian Hip Hop” artist. The article critically analyzes his work and statements about his faith. Research shows, this is a stand-alone work about Lacrae, as most are praise-style writings with little to no critique of his work. Check it out; the reading is rich. The next article is about the Christian cipher (cypher). This has been fun to write, as there is no work discussing this valuable arena bridging Hip Hop with discipleship and evangelism. I’ll announce when it’s published. Until then, subscribe to my free Patheos site - “The Sweatpant Sessions.”

On other fronts, I did a week-long analysis of Asian-American protest poetry. Multiple lecture shorts focusing on a main lecture presented in 2017 at the Smithsonian Museum provided the backdrop for the discussions. It was fun to critically engage Orientalism, decolonization, and the necessity for social justice through the complicated American-Asian socio-political relationship. All of this in addition to the daily articles posted here. It’s never a dull moment.

That’s about it for now. More information and updates will be coming about my work and the IHHBA. These are my focus from here on - enjoy!

Please be sure to become a paid subscriber. This helps support the writings which are 100% reader suppported. Sharing with others is greatly appreciated. Until the next time, let’s talk about it.

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

It’s Slam Time!

What a way to start the day. A slight earthquake started the work week with a “shake.” From there, it was all hands on deck.

Meetings over the past weekend pushed the big project closer to getting formalized with the ability to share it in public. It’s something all will be interested in taking note of and contributing. Once it’s all done, I’ll be able to discuss more freely, which will be a relief.

The new Patheos blog was published. This one tackles Lecrae and his use of the term “Christian Hip Hop.” The work digs deep in his deconstruction opinion and how that is a driving force for his work, not the work itself. Read the article on my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” Subscribe and share, It’s a free site with gripping articles published once a week. The next article is started. These take a while to work through, which is why they are published once a week, or as close as possible.

An article I recently wrote for the Tribal College Journal passed the final stages and is set for the online journal in the June/July issue. I’ll share the link when it’s available. The article interviews three different tribal community/college members and how they integrate Hip Hop in their work. My contribution is very different than what this journal has traditionally published. Thankfully, the editor took a change with my work and was pleased throughout this process. I must admit, this was the most streamlined submission and publication I’ve had in all the years and hundreds of articles published. Of course, I pitched another article to the journal. I’m waiting to see if the editor will go with this second article- fingers crossed!

Focusing on my work was in the back of my mind throughout the day. I had to evaluate where I am and what kind of writing I need to focus on. Up to now, I’ve had the dream of working on my poetry and short stories as well as these highly structured, research-driven works (books, articles, conference submissions). Reality set in about midday, and I realized my space is to focus on the rich research work. It hits on all the sweet spots for me, and, I’ll be the first to admit, I do enjoy the learning process coupled with the writing. Time to turn the page and see where my work is to focus. Maturity? If so, it only took close to 30 years, three books, and hundreds of articles to get to this point.

Track 4 D Day

Lecrae, Still In America -

After reviewing hours of his work, this one settles to be a bit more on point. Yes, it’s qualified as a “Christian Hip Hop” work. However, the faith references are minimal so as not to overbear the listener. It does have a solid force and structure to the work, unlike a majority of Lacrae’s work.

That’s about it for now. Take care, and be sure to check out the updates on my website, which will be finished by midweek.

Subscribe, share, comment, and follow. Thank you all!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

Available on Amazon and wherever books are purchased.

The latest Patheos article was submitted. This one discusses Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” This completed a trilogy of articles deconstructing pop culture through the agency of a faith-based lens. The next article is set for publication later this week. You’ll want to subscribe to this free site, “The Sweatpant Sessions,” and keep updated on the weekly articles. They get into a lot of deep, content-rich conversations about pop culture and Hip Hop all through a faith-based lens.

I’ve been involved with a large project dealing with contemporary Nattive/Indigenous education, business, and Hip Hop. The final structures are just about in place. Once these are complete, I’ll be able to discuss the work with more depth. What I can share is that this is an incredible opportunity for those interested in Hip Hop, Native issues, conscious education, and seriously fun articles to read. It’s fresh, new, and the communities who were pilot tested gave are reviews. Watch out for this; it’s going to be a good one!

The research recently has been on the globalized markets and the history of the Brown Beret/Black Panther Party. Can the week get any more different? Who even discusses these civil rights militant movements anymore? My proverbial hand is being raised. Hours of pouring over the history and evolution of these socio-political community-based organizations and their parallel was a sight for sore eyes. It also sparked the framing for a possible new text. I’ll have to see how that progresses. The rough outline is appealing but will take a lot of extra hours. This, of course, comes with the territory.

The daily posts here (Substack) and on Medium are ongoing. There’s never a dull moment. Slogging through an average of 100 articles per day to get accurate, unbiased content certainly racks up the hours. Don’t forget to check these out and subscribe to one or both. The support is greatly appreciated.

Track 4 D Day

“Aoright”, Supaman -

This newer work by Christian Parrish, aka “Supaman,” plays on what some might see as stereotypes of Indian culture. However, it’s important to recall that Parish is a full-blood Lakota and traditional Southern Fancy Dancer. The language in the video is accurate as Parrish is bilingual (Lakota-English). If a stereotype is to be tokenized, it would be that of the Back To The Future signifier of the Delorian car, the transportation across time, and the intersection of history with contemporary property. Parrish has some fun with this one to underscore the persistence of Native tradition, culture, customs, knowledge, and expressions across time. A nice flip on the tokenization of Native People for that of American pop culture.

That’s about it. There will be more in the next video post. Until that time, please be sure to subscribe, follow, share, and comment. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

It was a busy week. Research, writing, proposals, and the daily grind took over.

There were good meetings for the new big project in which I’m involved. It’s a collaborative partnership with Native Hip Hop artist Richie Ledreagle (Nisenan/Miwok). The work we aim to produce is exciting and will majorly impact Indian Country. I can only share that this project is set to be launched full-bore in November 2025. Once the technicals are secure, I’ll be able to share more. Until then, consider yourself advised on something new, big, and important. You will want to be involved.

I returned to sending out Calls for Papers. This was something I did with more frequency many years ago. As time and life passed, this slipped away from my general work. There was a big call for a summer research institute in Canada that caught my attention. The due date was extended, and allowed me to buckle down and pump out an in-depth research project for a full summer program. It sounds simple in hindsight. The work dissolved a full day. Announcements will be made in May 2025. Fingers crossed!

The research for this week is set on expanding Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic theory and how it can be included for Indigenous activist movements. This includes the Mexican Activist movement as a critical response to the LA Zoot Suit Riots and the value in contemporary Native/Indigenous resistance movements. There’s a nice Master’s thesis I’m nearly finished reading that contextualizes the Black Panthers and Brown Berets in socio-political civic alignment. I see how this work can be used to help structure my analysis for the week along with the Black Atlantic theory. It’s never a dull day when building critical Native/Indigenous discourse.

My new Patheos article was published on Friday, April 4. This one took a deep critical review of the track “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode. There has not been substantial work on this track. Seeing that “Personal Jesus” is included in the top 500 best songs of All Time (Slant Magazine, 2011), I thought there would be more writing and analysis of the work. To my surprise and benefit, there’s not much. Of those published, they are mainly from music reviews with little in the way of useful critical analysis. The door was open, and I walked through. The article can be found on my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” I encourage you to subscribe to this free publication. I produce near-weekly articles on the site (I’m a bit behind as this last one took longer than anticipated). The next is in the work. I’ll update you on that progress.

The Track 4 D Day is a feature on Sevin’s Hog Mob track, “2020 Hog Mob Cypher”. This track gets to the core element of a cypher (a binding agent in Hip Hop culture). The track is one in a series of cypers going back to 2017. The Hog Mob crew takes different points on the mic, testifying and sharing their faith. Hip Hop as a critical location for faith-based testimony is perfect. Many are only aware of the more glamorous artists (which I won’t name or promote). These popular faith Hip Hop artists, to me, fall short on the core elements of Hip Hop and marginalize their faith in their work. It does more to minimize and stereotype faith-based Hip Hop than support the cause. Sevin and his Hog Mob Ministry crew “prop up” faith-based Hip Hop without subjegating the work. They hit hard!

That’s about it for right now. The coming week is set with many more meetings on the big work with Richie and the daily articles here.

Thank you all for supporting the work. This is fully reader-supported. Your attention and subscriptions make a difference. Please share with one and all.

Look out for the next article to be posted later today. Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

A quick update on what’s been going on in the past week.

A big new project has been started this past week. Once it’s available to share, I’ll be broadcasting about it. This, along with the daily posts here, is one area you all will want to be involved with. Yes, it does have that strong of a pull (see my anticipation!).

Otherwise, the Patheos site is closing in on the end of the last article in a series of three. I’ll tease you that this one deals with Depeche Mode. Get ready, the post should be live by mid-week. I’ll update for sure when it’s published for readers and subscribers to my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” That site has free subscriptions. No better time than now to get onboard with the reading! There’s a lot of content available, and the posts are done weekly.

The week ahead looks to be more of the same rushed work and writing. Reading and research are ongoing. I’m tackling critical ideology, feminism, and socio-political institutions of oppression. Can you go wrong with critical discourse?

Until next time, remember to follow, subscribe, share, and comment. Thanks!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

Where did the week go? This past week was filled with reading, research, and presentations on culture, socio-political issues, and Native decoloniality. Yes, it was a dynamic week, to say the least. I was able to share an article I wrote on Charles Eastman. That article explores my theory of “self-importing colonization.” I’m waiting to see the reviews as they are scheduled to arrive later today.

Along these lines, an article I wrote on the pedagogy of Native Hip Hop has gone through the first draft by the editor. The proverbial ball is in my court now as I have to complete the revisions. It’ll be nice to see this large work in print once it passes the in-house style guidelines. I’ll update everyone on that publication as it advances.

The daily grind continues. Scouring through hundreds of articles daily can get the best of us. Then, there’s been the preparation readings for external presentations, which are on completely different topics. At some point, I’d be interested to see how many hours a day I do read. It comes with the territory.

My second book, “Are You (Still) Ready For WOR?” went through a revision and is reposted on Amazon. It’s the first in my ongoing journey to write and build the canon of Native Hip Hop. Check it out; it’s timeless! Also, the updated version has the original work included as a bonus. It’s two books in one. How could you go wrong?

The coming week has more presentations on similar topics, socio-political issues, and cultural resistance. The research for that should start in a day. At the same time, I’ll be working on the third in my socio-religious deconstruction of pop culture/music on my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions.” This is one site to watch. The content published is on a completely different trajectory than what I write about here. The series starts with a review of George Michael, moves toward a deconstruction of Tori Amos, and finishes with a surprise. The subscriptions to that site are free. Please give it a review and share it with one and all.

That’s about it for now. Don’t forget to subscribe and share with others. The work is wholly reader-supported. The subscriptions are greatly appreciated.

Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

It’s the Sunday Slam!

The past week was full of altered adventures, rushed work late in the day, business meetings for future work, abundant research, and daily writing.

Truth be told, by the end of the week, I was exhausted. I played hooky one afternoon to binge-watch romcoms with my dad. Yes, a personal care afternoon drifted toward the early evening. After some good laughs and time under a cozy blanket, it was back to research.

On the research front, I have been developing critical theory for a series of classes. It’s good reading with hours of research included. The fun never ends. How does the time go? Listening to solid conscious Hip Hop and fine green teas helps. Then, it’s only a matter of inputting the data, writing citations, and drafting the work for publication. Like I said, the fun never ends. Through the whole process, I’ve come to appreciate good citations and their value.

My social media postings have lessened in the days. Posts are still going up daily. They are more tailored to fit the work I’m doing at the time. Maybe the “behind the scenes” views need to return. They help balance all the critical work, which is good. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

The coming week has more in-depth meetings for a new project that is in the fertile stages. It’s good work, with the time commitment now being required. I’ll share more on this once the project has firm lines and is ready for public sharing (how’s that for a tease!).

In the meantime, the daily articles here keep me busy. My Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions” is back in the weekly routine. The second writing in a series was recently posted. Check it out! Share and subscribe. The readers are highly appreciated. It’s a very different direction in my writing than what I submit on Substack. The variety is good for one and all.

Ok, “Let’s Talk About It!” Don’t forget to subscribe and share the writings. All readers and subscribers are greatly appreciated. Until the next, enjoy the articles.

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber

www.alanlechusza.org

It’s midweek and time for a video post.

The start was a bit rough and rushed, even with some time available since a few big projects finished last week. The pressure from before has settled. With spring break taking place out here, there’s a bit of an unexpected slowing. It’s not bad, just unusual.

There are some items on deck that I am interested in seeing progress. The initial discussions are starting with the potential to be good overall. It’s a long haul for projects, in particular when they have originated as a “solo artist.”

The daily articles are ongoing. Be sure to subscribe. Also, my Patheos site, the SweatPant Sessions, is entering a subscriber contest. That space is dedicated to the intersections of pop culture and Christianity. My articles there deal heavily with Christian Hip Hop. Those go up on a weekly schedule. The content is new, raw, and hard-hitting. Check it out, and be sure to subscribe!

I’ll be getting ready for the next round of work and intensity. Focusing back on critical theory, multi-dimensional analysis, progressing new epistemologies and discourse is ramping up. There’s something in the air pushing for more work - again - on Hip Hop. That area has never ceased, but the tinge is to advance the discipline more now. We’ll see; stay tuned.

Let’s Talk About It!

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

It’s Sunday and time for the next Sunday Slam!

The work for the past week was turbulent, to say the least. Keeping up with the news and getting all the other aspects maintained took a toll. Overall, it was a good and busy week.

I looked back on the time when I was posting a Track 4 D Day. These were focused on different Hip Hop selections I came across and shared on my social media. It’s been a while since I’ve sent those selections out. The investigation of Hip Hop never ends. Take a look at my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions” to see what I’ve been writing on Christian/faith-based Hip Hop and pop culture. The work there is ongoing. The latest article deals with George Michael, and that’s all the tease needed!

The coming week looks to involve a bit more in-depth personal work, writing, and research. It’s spring break, so some of my usual tasks are paused while schools indulge in all the gluttony this season brings.

As you all can see, I’ve been modifying he daily posts a bit. I’m working on focusing on a specific analysis, a specific socio-political cultural matter, or, at most, two stories that relate to a single theme. It appeared the daily posts were becoming more of an “in case you missed it,” and less on the content of the work. I’ll have to see what comments come through to provide the necessary feedback - thanks in advance!

I’m going to start writing again on my WordPress site. I started it a while back when I was on the road and needed immediate access to a platform to post stories. The site has been silent for a while. The decision came as I was looking for a place to share my short stories, flash writings, poetry, and other creative works. I did post a few here to start, but the input was “thanks, but no thanks.” Those writings continue, but not with as much attention as I would like. To get the ones out and about, I made the move to post them on the WordPress site. I’ll update on those as they are available. Currently, there are a couple of shorts I’ll be posting. Look for that update.

Track 4 D Day

Starting fresh on this addition. It’ll become a regular installment on the Sunday Slam!

Conscious Hip Hop - Black Star, “Respiration” featuring Common

Let’s start with a tight throw back to the good days when Hip Hop had a conscious tone. Black Star has released a new album after a near 25-year hiatus. The black and white of the video does not cloud the lyrics - which are as tight as they come.

Native Hip Hop - Red Eagle, “Still Here” (official video)

Talk about hitting at the core of the issue. Red Eagle drops some of the controversies front and center. The warped, quasi R&B style of the track is seductive. The lyrics are worth a close listening. The visual place the realities in the eyes of the non-Native communities. Don’t make assumptions, Red Eagle illustrates the contemporary contexts of Native People from the rez to the streets. It’s for real.

Christian Hip Hop - God Over Money (GOM), “Cypher 2016.”

It’s hard hitting, roots-oriented track with a collective on Bizzel’s “God Over Money” label. The backdrop of the basketball court is tight and contextualizes the work perfectly. Street disciples, preaching and rappin’ the Truth. If you’ve never heard Christian Hip Hop, this is a solid entry.

Be sure to send comments and subscribe to one of the different tiers. The support is greatly appreciated!

Don’t forget to check out my books on Amazon.

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

Let’s Talk About It!

Let’s talk about it. The week has been ongoing and at times seemingly unmanageable. We’re here and ready to keep going. .

The daily articles are ongoing. Readers and subscribers are highly encouraged. The tiers offer some healthy freebies. The highest subscribers get all the goods at one time! Check it out and share with others.

I’ll be dropping more articles here and on my other sites. The links are below. If you’re interested in reading about the intersections of Christianity and pop culture, Hip Hop, and music, my PATHEOS blog is the place to go! I delve deep in these areas and write extensively about Christian Hip Hop. The latest article on Young Sheldon is of particular interest. Share this site and don’t forget to subscribe as well. Later this month, there’s a newsletter coming out on that site. It’s all in the works

The new article will be up later. Don’t overlook it, and be sure to share and subscribe. Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

Let’s talk about it! The week was a bit more turbulent than expected. The change in the weather has not been good for my fingers, but that’s a minor point.

The writing persists! Daily submissions are going up and all the comments are welcome. The tribute to International Women’s Day, March 8, gave me a chance to share a book excerpt on Native artists Catherine Nelson Rodriguez. Her work is stunning and haunting. The bold nature of her artistic narrative still holds me breathless. I enjoy the direct and raw aspect of her work. I included only one image, but there are many to be found online. Search her stuff and share with others. She’s a compelling local Native artist who deserves much more attention than she has obtained in her life.

The reading has piled up and it’s time to get through it all. I was assigned a book review earlier, which took not as long, yet, more than enough time needed to set aside. I can’t reveal the title or nature of the book (NDA in place). Safe to say, it was an unexpected adventure in a literary ocean. It’s good to create new epistemological directions when reading historic texts. The contemporary review of such works is necessary from time to time.

My Patheos site is up and going. I posted a new article on Young Sheldon. It’s a socio-religious critique. This is a new post for this site from me. I’ve been focusing on Christian Hip Hop recently. The expansion of work and analysis was a nice direction. There will be many more coming throughout the month. If you’re the kind who likes a good strut through critical socio-religious discourse and analysis of pop culture, this is the space for you!

The newsletter for my site, The Sweatpant Sessions, will be coming out later this month. This will be the first in a bi/monthly newsletter. I’m still settling on the frequency of that newsletter. I’ll update once the schedule is determined.

Don’t forget to subscribe and share the work here. It’s all reader supported and the audience growth is greatly appreciated. Also, there are price tiers and freebies available for all levels.

There’s plenty more in the coming week. I’ll share as the moments unfold. Until then, subscribe, share, comment, and follow. Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

It’s been a crazy week to say the least. The socio-political issues kept us all on the edge to see what would unfold next. Day by day, things changed, and we’re still not out of the woods yet.

On the research side, there’s been an abundant amount taking place. It caught up to me and took its toll. A short break, some warm tea, and the writings resumed. You never know how tired you get until you’re that tired.

My Patheos page - the SweatPant Sessions - is thriving. The agenda is to publish on the page multiple times per month. I encourage everyone to check it out. The writings deal with pop culture and the intersections of faith-based/Christianity. It’s a different take than the writings I post here. It’s got a 2-year history of works ranging from TV show critiques, lots of Christian Hip Hop writings, fashion, and movie reviews. Critical discourse and faith-based pedagogical integrity, who knew!

Don’t forget to subscribe and share my site and comment. The output will not stop and the readers are greatly appreciated. Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

Today was littered with the ongoing news from the past week. It was a turbulent close to the week. The rehashing of stories has been interesting to read. Seeing that I already did a series of those new stories, it’s time to see what else is happening to discuss. Maybe it’s time to tear into the Academy Awards. There is a controversial topic under the radar that sounds useful. Let’s see what happens.

Of interest to all is the interview I did earlier this week on my book, “Are You (Still) Ready For W.O.R.?” It deals exclusively with Native Hip Hop and focuses on the group WithOut Rezervations. The interview and links to all my books are on my website, www.alanlechusza.org

Along those lines, go to my Patheos site, “The Sweatpant Sessions” where I discuss Christian Hip Hop culture, and the intersections of pop culture with Christianity. It’s got a ton of articles. New works are coming out there weekly and there’s a bi-monthly newsletter starting this month. The link is, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thesweatpantsessions/

Subscribers and followers are welcome!

Don’t forget to subscribe to this site. The support that’s put here helps keep the work going. There are different tiers available, each with their perks. Thank you!

Let’s talk about it.

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

I had a long meeting today with a business collaborator who made a good point for my migration away from X/Twitter. I have to admit, since Bluesky started (and I use that as well daily), the input on X/Twitter has fallen short. These will be my last posts today on X./Twitter, then I'm deleting the account. Follow me on Bluesky -https://bsky.app/profile/alanlechusza.bsky.social and I returned to Reddit to share posts exclusively about my writing and daily articles. The profile name is a bit goofy, but it'll work (Reddit provides one without any alteration allowed - bummer). https://www.reddit.com/user/Intelligent_You_563/

Of course, I’m still going to be active here on Substack. My Medium site is still active as well. Along with the other major social media platforms, it puts a good pull across the internet.

Let's Talk About It!#writer #socialmedia #writinglife #culture #criticalthinking

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

It’s that time of the week when I get to do a recap of the events from the past week, share the upcoming work, and any other interesting points.

This week is going to be as dramatic as before. I have an interview scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 27 to discuss my book, “Are You (Still) Ready For W.O.R.?!: Native Identity in the music of WithOut Rezervation.” I’m looking forward to this opportunity to speak about my work. Updates will be provided following the interview.

There’s a creative project I have elected to begin. This one has been teasing my subconscious for a couple of weeks. I started the background writing on the structure. I’m interested to see where this goes. It’s a different approach to my overall work. I gather that the different work will support the ongoing projects I currently entertain.

As the tagline says, “Let’s Talk About It!”

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Here’s the Sunday Slam! I know I would reserve these for my poetry and creative writing, but the followers were not into that area. So, following the few readers on those days, I’ve returned to my original intent for the Sunday Slam! as being a look at what’s going on in the days past and the week ahead.

This is your time to get involved with the conversation. Be sure to

Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

www.alanlechusza.org

The next writings will discuss other topics and interests. Don’t be shy out there. Subscribe and let the comments flow. If there’s a particular point or direction you’d like to see my work take on a piece, I welcome the input and suggestion. The tagline is, “Let’s talk about it.” This is what we’re here to do, talk about the matters at hand.

The writing will continue. Be sure to share with others and get involved. The subscription tiers have something for everyone. Thanks!

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

Check out the books as well!

See No Indian

Are You (Still) Ready for WOR?!

The writing is ongoing daily. The video posts will share the behind the scenes of the writer’s life. Your subscriptions help make all this possible. If you have not subscribed yet, please be sure to do so and share with others. It’s an honor to get into the thick of the discourse with everyone.

There’s more on the way - a lot more! Keep updated with the daily articles, and be sure to subscribe. Let’s talk about it!

Alan Lechusza

www.alanlechusza.org

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

What occurred to me was the value of documenting this journey and revealing how it relates to and affects my writing. Giving the behind-the-scenes of the daily writing and work engages you, the readers, more in the ongoing process and welcomes comments and interest in future writing posts.

Continuing to coin my tagline, “Let’s talk about it.” This is your time to chime back, share the efforts you see unfolding in real time, and get on board with the subscriptions to see how these moments relate to the writing.

Here we go.

Alan Lechusza, "Let's Talk About It!" is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe, share, follow, and comment.

Alan Lechusza

The first video post is up and live! I wanted to give some background on my process as a writer. Sharing the invested nature of my dynamic work, this first post shares a bit about my daily research activity and the trajectory of the work to come. I share my interest in the Sunday Slams! (Poetry) to help encourage the conversation.

I look forward to reading the comments and sharing my work with you as we continue. Let’s talk about it!

Follow, subscribe, share, and comment.

Alan Lechusza

alanlechusza.substack.com