fb ic 02The PopCulteer
November 22, 2013

While your PopCulteer is gearing up for next week’s big PopCult Gift Guide (coming your way on Black Friday), this week we will bring you an expanded list of Stuff To Do this weekend. Folks here in Charleston and the surrounding areas should really be thankful that we have so much quality art, music, theater and comedy performed live for our amusement. So eat some turkey in its honor or something.

Friday

Free music this night includes Julie Adams and Steve Hill at Taylor Books starting at 7:30 PM and Cousin Larry performing at Bruno’s on Leon Sullivan Way, beginning at 9 PM. Also cover-free at Timothy’s, below the Quarrier Diner, Team Trivia starts at 7:30 PM, followed by Jim Snyder and The Castaways.

Our music with a cover charge begins with The Floorboards, a touring band from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The show starts at 9 or 10 PM with a seven-dollar cover charge. The band marries rock & roll and country roots with the sights and sounds of southern mountain towns. Jake and George shake the leaves from the trees. Bob wails like a steam whistle cutting through the pines. Patrick coaxes stringed cries from the hills and hollers. Matt tells the story.

In their first year as a band, The Floorboards quickly have become a staple in Southwest VA and are branching out with purpose. Having co-billed with bands such as Trampled by Turtles and performed at venues and festivals in the southeast along side Drive by Truckers, Jackson Brown, Matisyahu, Allison Krause and Union Station, and many others, the band is picking up steam like the 207.

1381796_562927317112762_1937063613_nAcross town, The Blue Parrot hosts a fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House. Whitechapel District, Hillbilly Hurricanes, Stranger Still and The Diablo Blues Band take the stage to raise money for a good cause. The show kicks off at 10 Pm for what I’m guessing is a five-dollar cover.

Around the corner, The Boulevard Tavern brings us the eclectic line up of Dinosaur Burps, Tribe of The Elk and Project Biscotti at 10 PM. Seven bucks gets you in to witness an evening of folk, hip-hop and punk, all smooshed together on one stage.

If dinner theater is your pick for diversions this weekend, you can head over to The Comedy Zone at the Holiday Inn in South Charleston, where forty dollars buys you a dinner buffet and a murder with the interactive murder mystery, starting at 7 PM both Friday and Saturday.

Venturing outside of the immediate Charleston area, we find stand-up comedy at EZ Street on Winfield Road in St. Albans. From 8 PM to 10 PM, it’s the “Don’t Quit Your Day Job Comedy Tour.” A collection of up and coming comics from the Southern West Virginia area are set to hit the stage and entertain for a night of laughs. Featuring Mz. Hooker, Brittany McComas, Michael White, Thomas Mac, Josh McDonald, and Andy Frampton. There is no cover charge for this, so you can’t ask for your money back if you don’t like it.

1470291_10151878368277605_69139143_nThere are two notable shows in Huntington Friday. First, the Laserbeams, last seen but not credited (because I didn’t know they were using that name yet) on RFC 192, backing up The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque, This teaming of Pepper Fandango, Cat Schrodinger and Leo Tuxedo will perform at The Huntington Ale House, on 4th Avenue. The show kicks off at 9 PM, admission is five dollars and Logan’s Sheldon Vance, who I will eventually feature on Radio Free Charleston, is also on the bill.

Also in the land of green, The Queers, The Copyrights, Kingons and The Connie Dungs will be at The V Club. The show starts at 10 PM, doors open at 8. Admission is fifteen bucks at the door.

Saturday

There is a wealth of free music to choose from Saturday. Justin Steele and Alex Faulkner bring their hillibilly acoustic music to the Bluegrass Kitchen at 7 PM. John Lilly will perform at Taylor Books beginning at 7:30 PM. Danielle Conard with Steve Himes and Chris Allen can be heard at The Wine Valley in Hurricane ((304-760-0927) at 8:30 PM. Crumbpeckers in St. Albans hosts an open mic at 9 PM.

On Saturday at 7PM the Opus Chorale will present their fall concert entitled, “Words of Paradise.” The concert will take place in the Centrum of Christ Church United Methodist, downtown Charleston, WV. This primarily a cappella concert will feature “Words from Paradise” by Dan Forrest, and works by Ola Gjeilo, James Erb, Rene Clausen, Ernani Aguiar and others.

Earlier in the day, there are several other notable events going on. The Art Store is having their big Red Dot Inventory reduction sale. The one-day only event will display works from many of our represented artists. Prices on these works have been significantly reduced. There will be a preview-only of the works November 22, but no pre-sales will be permitted. The sale begins when the doors open at 9AM on November 23rd.

Over at Kanawha Players Theater on Beauregard Street, KP plays host to a Craft Fair. From 10 AM to 3 PM, you can shop for hand crafted items to decorate your home for the holidays. Or you can find that special gift for someone on your list. Items for sale include gift-wrapped homemade foods as well arts and crafts of all kind. Concessions sold will include popcorn, soda, water, baked goods and more. If you’re interested in becoming a vendor? Call (304)343-7529 or email kanawhaplayers@yahoo.com tables are only $20. Admission for shopper is free.

1453278_764757153549853_846585506_nWood Boys Music and ECMC present and all-day, all-ages musical toy drive at The Eagles Club on Charleston’s West Side. Five dollars or a toy gets you in for a killer line-up of bands, including Everpulse, Breedlove, Seven, Pistol Dreams (making their debut), Robbie Good and Johnny C and friends. This show starts at 4 PM and wraps up at 10 PM, when the action moves over to another ECMC Toys For Tots show at The Blue Parrot. Apparently information on this show is a state secret and is not being shared with the general public. You can be sure that it’ll be a rockin’ night and that it’s for a good cause.

Beggar’s Clan will be perform at The Boulevard Tavern at 10 PM Saturday, with a five-dollar cover. Diablo Blues Band will be at The Empty Glass, welcoming Terry Lowry to the band at 10 PM for what I’m guessing will be a five or seven dollar cover charge. Both of these bands are great and well worth your time.

Sunday

Free music includes Marshall Petty and The Groove with Clay Norris and Hightower at The Fifth Quarter from 5:30 PM to 8:30 PM. The amazing George Brackens hosts an open mic at the upstairs lounge at Little India starting at 8:30 PM.

Downstairs at Little India the latest Square Meal micro-grant dinner and pitch session happens from 3 PM to 5. For your $21 dollars (16 if you reserve by midnight Friday) you get a great meal and a vote. You get to decide which project among four finalists gets a micro-grant to help with their endeavors. Four creative projects will be presented for funding–only one shall survive! Among the four finalists this time are people and projects I have supported and mentioned here in PopCult, so you’ll have a tough choice presented to you…with curry.

That’s a pretty loaded up weekend we have heading into Thanksgiving week. Next week we will present a special RFC MINI SHOW devoted to this year’s production of MARY, by Contemporary Youth Arts Company, as well as art, toys, Stuff To Do and on Black Friday, our ninth annual PopCult Gift Guide. The PopCult Bookshelf will skip a week so that we may stuff our gobs with gobbler, but we’ll have something for you to look at on Thanksgiving Day.