Who would’ve thought that Radio Free Charleston would ever land a Beatle? Well, in the latest episode of RFC, we not only managed to lure Sir Paul McCartney to LiveMix Studio, but we also snared R.E.M’s axeman, Peter Buck, and animation from Pixar Studios, plugging their upcoming summer blockbuster, “Up.”

Radio Free Charleston 64 is ONLINE NOW!  Follow the jump for all the dirt on what has to be our biggest show ever!

It turns out that the Former Beatle has discovered the YouTube, and became a fan of the show after he saw the video I created for our Beatles tribute episode in the Fall of 2007. This was for the song “Requiem For Pepperland” by Stephen Beckner and Go Van Gogh.  Now, it also turns out that while Sir Paul was gracious enough to fly in and perform for RFC at his own expense, he would not allow us to use any of his songs, since he has to protect his publishing rights.  Instead, as a way of returning the favor to Stephen Beckner, he agreed to perform a cover of Stephen’s old Go Van Gogh hit, “Shut Up, I Love You.”

Needless to say, Stephen would have been deeply honored, had I remembered to invite him to the taping. Paul was an incrediblly humble down-to-Earth guy, and he promised to come back to the show as soon as he learns the words to the Whistlepunk song, “Knee Deep In Wine.”

John Lasseter at PIXAR has apparently been following PopCult since the days when Melanie Larch and I were the animation critics for The Charleston Gazette. I was floored a few weeks ago when he called and offered us two minutes of never-before-seen footage from the upcoming Disney/Pixar film, “Up.”  You can tell this is going to be a huge hit, and yes, that is Lady GaGa introducing our animation this time.  Who else would go out in public dressed like that?

Opening up the show is Peter Buck, guitarist extraordinaire for R.E.M. and a famed music producer, too.  One little known fact about Peter is that he is a huge fan of Baroque Ukelele music from sixteenth-century Britain.  We have him here on RFC, playing a rare seven-string Balsamic Ukelele, performing the madrigal, “Whistle O’er The Epistle In Yon Thistle.”  Who knew Peter had such a lovely falsetto?

Over the end credits, Peter pulls out his regular guitar and treats us to a rousing version of “Jimmy Crack Corn.”

That’s it for episode 64 of Radio Free Charleston. While it’s our biggest show yet, we know we’re going to keep topping it!