The PopCulteer
July 31, 2020

2020 has proven to be the year of interesting times, and it’s hard to believe that we’re already at the end of July. We  have a handful of short items this week, so let’s dive in…

The Stars Go Clubbing On MIRRORBALL

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already up to our seventh edition of MIRRORBALL  Friday afternoon on The AIR. and that’s followed by two great encore epsodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  You can hear all this good stuff on The AIR website, or just click on this embedded radio player…

MIRRORBALL returns as Mel Larch takes you back to the days when everybody wanted to get in on the Disco act. In this episode The Stars Go Clubbing as we hear Disco tunes from such non-Disco artists as The Rolling Stones, Barbara Streisand, KISS, Paul McCartney, Blondie and more.

Check out the VIP playlist for this exclusive Disco party…

MIRRORBALL 007

Rod Stewart “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”
Blondie “Heart of Glass”
Paul McCartney & Wings “Goodnight Tonight”
Ringo Starr “Drowning In A Sea of Love”
Diana Ross “Upside Down”
ELO “Shine A Little Love”
Rolling Stones “Miss You”
Barbara Streisand/Donna Summer “No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)”
Johnny Mathis “Gone, Gone, Gone”
Leo Sayer “Thunder In My Heart”
The Jacksons “Shake Your Body”
KISS “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”
Cher “Take Me Home”

You can tune in at 2 PM and hear the latest edition of MIRRORBALL. The plan is to drop a new episode roughly every other Friday afternoon, until Mel gets tired of doing it, or people stop listening. Later today, it will go up in the Podcast section of The AIR website, so you can listen on demand.  MIRRORBALL will also be replayed Friday night at Midnight, Saturday at 6 PM (part of a marathon), Sunday at 11 PM and Tuesday at 1 PM. We’ll probably sneak in a few more airings during the week.

Still No Stuff To Do

The pandemic, ensuing shutdown and continuing seriousness of the situation have combined to pretty much wipe out local events. There are a few things happening, but your PopCulteer does not feel comfortable recommending them to anyone. I can’t really suggest that anybody attend any in-person event, and there are so many virtual online events that I can’t possibly keep track of them all. So my advice for Stuff To Do remains…stay safe, use common sense, and don’t fall for any crazy conspiracy theories that say this whole thing is a hoax. Herman Cain didn’t take COVID-19 seriously, and look what happened to him.

Wrestling With Ratings

WWE, the dominant wrestling company in the world had a secret that’s been hidden in plain sight for over 19 years. Their television ratings have been in a slow, steady decline, even as their television rights fees have exploded to new heights The current viewership, in the midst of the pandemic, is about one-eighth the size it was at WWE’s peak, twenty years ago. The average age of a WWE viewer now is in the upper 50s, as the wrestling company has failed to attract younger viewers to begin watching their programming. It’s been like this since WWE bought their rival WCW, and went into a non-stop victory lap. While the company has soared to its greatest financial heights, it’s happened with a steadily eroding fanbase.

Variety has finally noticed this and called attention to it yesterday.

They Still Got The Beat

Showtime is debuting a new documentary devoted to The GoGos this weekend. “The GoGos” gives the band the chance to tell their own story for the first time. It’s getting rave reviews, and Rolling Stone has a great interview with the director and members of the band. NPR offers up a review of the documentary HERE.

To get you in the mood, you can hear “Club Zero,” the band’s first new song in 19 years right here…

With that we shall beat it for the week. Check PopCult for fresh content every day and all our regular features.