Ric Alviso

Musical Aspects of the Corrido, the War on Drugs: and Their Convergence in a Federal Prison Ric Alviso

This is a study about corridos (a type of Mexican narrative song), prisons and drugs. I did not choose this subject. It chose me. I was born into a family and world where I have been fortunate and unfortunate to become intimate with all three of these subjects. I do not pretend that this work represents an exhaustive study of any of these three topics. Volumes have been written about each of these subjects individually and some have been written that touch upon at least two of these topics and their intersection. This study more closely represents and documents my unique journey to a place where all three of these subjects come together, in an ominous and miserable place called Terminal Island Prison.