You knew The Boss was big but did you know how his story serves as a luanch pad for the politics, philosophy and sociology of pop culture? Joliet-based author David Masciotra plumbs these topics in his first book, Working on a Dream: The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen. In the weird and wacky web woven by pop culture, Masciotra hooked up with Chicago author and Examiner friend Ben Tanzer, who is known for his media empire's promise to change your life (This Zine Will Change Your Life et.al.). Tanzer wrote Lucky Man, the story cycle Repetition Patterns, and most recently, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine. He and Masciotra meet up at The Book Cellar (4738 N Lincoln) on Wednesday, March 10th at 7pm. For an idea of the range of what they'll be covering, I asked them both one question and edited the partial transcript responses below.
EX: How did a guy who dissects political issues through the lens of pop culture hook up with a guy whose characters think pop culture?
DM - I discovered Ben's second novel, Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine, at an exhibit on local authors at the Cultural Center. I was immediately drawn to Ben's book because of the Bob Dylan song title, and the evocative cover. Most Likely... is an insightful, funny, and evocative novel with well-developed characters and nearly flawless dialogue. I emailed Ben to give him my feedback, compliments, and encouragement. We started talking, he seemed very excited about my book, which at the time had just picked up a publisher. I'm thrilled to have his support and friendship. But, I am beginning to regret sharing a stage with the funniest guy in the world. 
BT - David is way too generous, but this is a friendship I have been thrilled to find myself in. It might be enough if he was only good-looking, smart and contrarian, but what’s especially exciting is his passion with progressive politics, the affects of isolation and his desire to be a champion for the downtrodden and oppressed. It’s really powerful stuff and it’s inspiring to be around. I would add, that I also think that we try to use pop culture in a similar fashion and even seek some of the same answers. While it’s true that on the surface, David may be more focused on politics and policy, while I am more focused on people trying to get laid, we are both trying to make sense of how people connect, or don’t; why people turn to drugs, drink or sex to cope or escape; and how hope can sustain us even when nothing else seems to be working.
DM - The reason Ben and I both care deeply about pop culture and attempt to connect it to larger concerns and bigger issues is, I suspect, that we both would like to start where people live. What makes an impact and has an influence on people's lives? It is very often pop culture. Of course theory, policy, and philosophy is extremely important. Working On a Dream contains much of all three. However, unless you want to have a conversation with yourself and very few other people, it is best to go to people's homes and attempt to connect with them.
BT - Ah, David, your response was just what I had hoped for. Why not embrace your looks? Why run from them like Brad Pitt does. It’s not a curse, it’s a gift. There was a piece in the New York Times yesterday about the mainstream embrace of “street art” or “Lowbrow art,” i.e. graffiti-tagging et. al. and a new show in Chelsea celebrating this work and the artists who create it. The artists are in the 30’s and 40’s and “their hearts and minds belong to punk rock and hip-hop, Star Wars and Star Trek, cartoons and tattoos.” I think of these artists as our people, the people we know and grew-up with, the ones we gravitate towards and write for. Jonathan LeVine the gallery owner who curated the show goes on to say, “Unlike Pop Art, which drew on similar sources to comment on art and culture, for this generation…their culture is pop culture.” And so there it is, the audience exists on this plane, and the challenge for us is how to use it to draw them in and get where we want to go and create what we want to create. What David has accomplished then is just tremendous, the utilization of pop culture as both a policy manifesto and a platform for the voiceless, as well as, the development of a product that uses the orientation of the Gen X artists referenced above to not only connect with their peers and supporters, but to the Millenial generation too, a generation already primed to participate in social causes, but still looking for direction. 
DM - More than elevating an art form to a higher level of deserved respect, the artists you mentioned are also claiming territory for the dislocated to lift a voice. Art and culture fills in the hierarchy of historical fact by providing additional narratives or counternarratives to the dominant society's narrow framing of important issues. These street artists understand this concept very well, and their work empowers themselves and others to find the courage necessary to formulate a vision of habitual greatness. Habitual greatness goes far beyond success--it cannot be measured in dollars and cents or trophies on a mantle. It is measured according to the love and service for other people that the work brings to bear. How does it provide insight into truth about the American and human experience? How does it inspire?
Springsteen has built a career out of answering these questions, and he does so by placing poor, working, and suffering people at the front and center of his political and artistic worldview. Therefore, his music offered the perfect predicate for me to reimagine American politics and provide broader political commentary, sociological analysis, cultural criticism, and spiritual meditation.
Tanzer does something very similar by using pop culture as one of many windows to gaze into intimacy and identity. The vulnerability and sacrifice that intimacy requires is rarely given amplification and illumination in a market-driven culture. Therefore, what Ben does is very important, and it is connected to Springsteen, connected to these street artists, and connected to me. In a sense, we are able to build a spiritual community that provides sustenance and reassurance. The question then becomes how does one take the energy from that spiritual community and channel it into physical action.
BT – And it is ultimately about action, how do we activate people and make them care about themselves, their relationships, the communities they live in and those they do not know, but might know better if they weren’t so isolated? One thing we can and should do is make sure people get their hands on David’s book. It’s going to make a difference in people’s lives for a long time and we should be thrilled to play a role in ensuring that occurs.
EX: Stay Posted for question two of the maximiniview: if there's a literary equivalent to "Born To Run".
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