Rudy Panucci On Pop Culture

ReStore Relics Revisited

The PopCulteer
November 20, 2009

Habitat Restore Relics

A very cool art event took place last Saturday at Habitat Restore. “Restore Relics” presented the work of over 30 local artists, all working with recycled material. The theme of the show was centered on the holidays, and half the proceeds went to Habitat For Humanity.

The show was a real kick, with several very inexpensive pieces that were being snapped up left and right. I was lucky to get there early to take pictures. Most of this week’s PopCulteer is devoted to a photo essay of the show. But that’s not all, so read on.

Our headline photo is Charlie Hamilton, hamming it up with one of the very cool pieces he created for the show using recovered wood.


More of Charlie’s cool stuff, along with a piece of the raw wood, so you can see how these pieces started out.

Part of the crowd at this very well-attended show.

More of the corwd.

Chris Dutch with his giant Nutcracker (it really works).

Rebecca Burch, artist and art teacher.

Rebecca’s hardware nativity.

Artist extraordinaire, Sharon Lyn Stackpole, with her sons, Ted and Benjamin.

One of Sharon’s pieces for the show.

Another of Sharon’s cool glass works.

K.D. Lett’s awesome assemblage of found art.

Neat stuff from Dane Klingaman and Julie Greathouse.

Cool ornaments from a variety of artists adorn the tree.

Christmas Kreeture Komforts from Amy Williams and Mark Wolfe.

A cupboard full of art.

Three wise pieces by Dick Allowatt.

More cool stuff. It was all over the place, seriously.

A great “No” woman by Jamie Miller.

A cool recycled-parts airplane by one of Rebecca Burch’s students at Charleston Catholic High School. It didn’t really fly….I airbrushed out the support chain.

Another piece from the Charleston Catholic kids. A little equal time.

A better view of Chris Dutch’s Nutcracker.

Another angle.

A wide shot, right before the show opened.

An oversized ornament with a tiny PopCulteer inside.

Another shot of the show in full swing.

Our parting shot, the enthusiastic crowd checks out the cool work, with bells on.

Last Friday At The Sound Factory

The Scrap Iron Pickers held their CD release party for Charleston last week (we reviewed the CD here). The Barkoloungers and Bud Carroll provided support. Here’s some images from a great night of music.

The Barkolungers, with Bud Carroll sitting in on drums.

Bud took the lead with his own band.

The Pickers ruled the stage with their progressive metal power.

Cool Comic Of The Week

“The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” by Gilbert Shelton was a classic stoner comic book. One of the pillars of the underground comix scene born out of the 1960’s counterculture revolution, the Freak Brothers told great tales of adventure, starring characters who were essentially the Three Stooges on dope.

In the grand tradition of the classic Sunday comics, Shelton would run a small comic strip at the bottom of each page that would tell the story of Fat Freddy’s Cat (Fat Freddy being one of the Freak Brothers, along withPhineas and Frank). Later, Shelton would explore longer and more complex stories with Fat Freddy’s Cat, who would occasionally be given to flights of fancy.

Fat Freddy’s Cat is one of those rare comic books that crosses cultural barriers. Hippies like it because it’s a drug-soaked underground comic. Fans of traditional comics enjoy it because it’s well crafted and very traditional, despite its counterculture origins. Girls like it because it’s about a cat. Regardless your reasons for liking it, it’s funny as hell.

Now the complete adventures of Fat Freddy’s Cat have been collected by Knockabout Books as the “Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus”.

We will resort to the back cover copy, “Often to be found sleeping on the unfortunate Fat Freddy’s head, this big, fat, ginger tom has his own adventures at the bottom of many Freak Brothers pages. His constant battles with the never-ending army of roaches out for world domination drive him to distraction, as does Fat Freddy’s never-ending failure to feed him or empty his kitty litter box. As a result of this, his main hobbies seem to be shredding Freddy’s water bed and any other items he can sink his claws into, and finding places to leave surprise poop packages for Freddy to discover. This cat has variously gone traveling to Mexico, saved the world from alien invasion, and worked as a government agent in Washington trying to save the world from the ‘He He He’ drug. He has three nephews of unknown origin. He tends to regard the Freak Brothers with a fair bit of contempt, but despite the odd separation, he always seems to hook back up with his inept roomies.”

The “Fat Freddy’s Cat Omnibus” was an easy pick this week. I’ve been a fan for over thirty five years. You should be able to order the book from Taylor Books downtown (ISBN 9780861661619).

Next Week In PopCult

Check back for our regular Sunday and Monday features, plus a special episode of Radio Free Charleston showcasing this year’s production of the Contemporary Youth Arts Company rock opera, “Mary”. Plus, a special mid-week edition of the PopCulteer in advance of the holiday, as well as a Black Friday surprise.

2 Comments

  1. Steve Beckner

    Love me some Fat Freddy’s Cat…

  2. Elvis Capone

    The “Star of Mary” sculpture is very confusing

Leave a Reply to Steve BecknerCancel reply

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