The PopCulteer
February 20, 2026

The International Toy Fair in New York City wrapped up Tuesday, and to be honest, it’s not quite the same animal that it was ten years ago, the last time I was able to attend in person.

Any major industry is bound to change over the course of a decade, and the toy industry is no exception. The ill-thought-out tariffs have played hell with everybody’s supply chain. Kids are still aging out of toys and into screens at a younger and younger age. Adult collectors are still becoming a more important component of the business.

Add to that the changes in social media and crowdfunding, and attending Toy Fair in person is not the big deal that it used to be. Bloggers have given way to influencers, but the toy companies themselves are leaking their own “scoops” early to drive engagement on their own social media sites.

Small toy companies, which are increasingly relying on Kickstarter and similar platforms for financing, are bypassing Toy Fair entirely. It’s just not worth the expense when you can bypass retailers and go directly to the consumer, and get paid in advance to boot. That takes a little fun out of it for a reporter, because the new, tiny companies usually have some of the most exciting products and enthusiastic pitches.

Still, there was plenty of cool news that came out of Toy Fair, and a lot of neat stuff in the announcements that preceded it. I’m going to cover a few items this week, and try to dig up some further information in the coming weeks.

First we need to get the big licensing news out of the way, even though most of it won’t take effect until next year.

Hasbro has become the master toy licensor for Harry Potter and all related movies and TV Shows. We don’t know if this means that all the smaller companies that produce collectibles or niche toy catagories will lose their licenses or not. I do know that Hasbro has been especially stingy about sharing their Marvel license in the past, but they have allowed other companies to get a piece of the Star Wars pie. Hasbro has also acquired the license for the upcoming Street Fighter movie, but the legacy video game toys will still be made by Jada Toys.

Mattel, which will get the DC Comics license in 2027 (news that broke last year), will also be taking over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Playmates, which was the main license holder since the TMNT toy line debuted forty years ago, dropped out of the bidding when Paramount, which owns the property now, jacked up their licensing fees. We can only speculate on what this will mean for what seems like dozens of other companies that make TMNT toys. I do know that Mattel has wanted the full control of the Turtles since at least 2016, when they just had the sub-license to make building toys based on the heroes on a half-shell.

Meanwhile, Playmates, with more time on their hands, will be expanding their Power Rangers line (which they produce under license from Hasbro, who own the property) and have Winx Club and Monsterverse toys on the way. They will also be bringing their Stuntman Stu line (think Super Dave meets Evel Knievel) to the US for the first time. Of note to collectors, Power Rangers will have crossover toy lines with both GI Joe and Godzilla.

LEGO announced upcoming sets based on Bluey, Pokemon, Transformers, KPop Demon Hunters and The Art of Claude Monet.

Right before Toy Fair, Super7 announced eight new licensed collaborations for 2026.  These collaborations will feature all of Super7’s staple collectible lines. New ReAction and ReAction+ collaborations include De La Soul, Law & Order, and Visionaries. Other licenses announced include Invincible, which will be in the Ultimates! format deluxe figures; MTV, which will be getting Super Duper Plush; and Shrek, which will be getting Fun! Fun! Mini figures.

Super 7 also unveiled new entries in their Godzilla, The Iron Giant, Universal Monsters, GI Joe and Micronauts lines.

And finally, in this first batch of news, we have an update on Captain Action (the first toy I really wrote about in PopCult back in 2005). Plans for the deluxe collectible line are still in progress, with announcements expected throughout the year. There’s also a line of enamel pins coming from Pin Force, and NECA will be releasing figures of kids dressed up as Captain Action and Dr. Evil in their Ben Cooper Costume Kids line.

And that’s just a cursory look. Expect more toy news and reviews in the coming weeks, along with more in-depth looks at what to expect from the toy companies I mentioned above.

That is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day and all our regular features.

It’s time for another Flashback post as we plunder the history of this blog to revisit a PopCult post from February 21, 2006. It’s not exactly twenty years, but it’s close enough for government work.

The sad thing about this post is that, now it seems somewhat quaint. I was bemoaning how a beloved retailer had fallen on hard times due to corporate mismanagement. What I didn’t know at the time was that a term wholly appropriate for this would be coined: “enshittification,” first used  by Cody Doctorow in 2022. Wikipedia describes it as this: “a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximize short-term profits for shareholders.” While it seems like a crude term, of late it’s been adopted by The New York Times editorial board, which is a good example of how far society has fallen and how hard it must be to write satire these days.

While Doctorow was describing online software and services, the last part of that definition, about maximizing short-term profits, is pretty much why we can’t have nice brick and mortar retailers in this country anymore. An early example of this was what happened to Radio Shack, where new management came in and did what Private Equity firms tend to do, and sold off many of the company’s profitable assets, fired experienced store managers, and re-focused their efforts away from selling specialized electronics with a large profit margin to selling common products that could easily be purchased cheaper elsewhere.  In other major retailer failings (and I’ve covered way too many of those over the last two decades), a predatory Private Equity Firm will swoop in, buy up a successful retailer (or other business) using loans taken out against the business to pay for it, then they sell off all the most valuable assets, like real estate and famous brand-names, while charging exorbinant “consulting fees” and plunge the company into a crippling debt, from which they never recover. Sometimes they manage to launch an IPO, so they can soak small investors as well.

This is what happened to Kay Bee Toys, Toys R Us, Sears, K Mart, Big Lots, Joann Fabrics, TGI Friday’s and countless others.

Radio Shack was sort of the canary in the coal mine, and this is a time capsule of me bitching about it back before I fully understood exactly how evil Private Equity Firms are:

The Fall Of Radio Shack

News broke over the weekend that venerable electronics retailer, Radio Shack, would be closing between 400 and 700 stores after posting disastrous earnings last year. This came to light after their CEO, David Edmonson, became embroiled in a scandal over padding his credentials. He stepped down Monday. It’s clear that Radio Shack needs a drastic new direction if they want to stay in business.

I’ve got a suggestion: How about actually having stores filled with electronics and the parts needed to repair them, and hiring sales people who care about what they’re doing and have a clue about what they’re selling?

Thirty years ago, Radio Shack was one of the best stores in the country in terms of customer service. You could buy all sorts of tiny and obscure electrical components. The sales people knew what you were asking for without requiring a four-hour explanation. You could join the “Battery Of The Month” club and get a free battery every 30 days. Heck, even their advertisements were fun, with Lewis Kornfeld’s “Flyer Side Chat” and amusing asides in their catalogs.

About twenty years ago, that all began to change. The corporate culture creeped in and, in the name of boosting the bottom line, the informative flyers were cancelled; the Battery Of the Month Club was discontinued; the inventory carried by each store was slashed to a fraction of what it had been; the sales people were replaced with immobile doofi who don’t the difference between a capacitor and ham sandwich.

If you walk into a Radio Shack store now, one of two things will happen: You will either be ignored completely, or you will be harassed about buying a cell phone. Once you make it clear that you’re not there to buy a cell phone, then you will be ignored. If you manage to get the attention of one of their new sales people, and you ask them for something simple like a phono-plug adaptor, they’ll look at you like you just started speaking Chinese. All they seem to care about is pimping their cell phone plans and pushing their tiny little remote-control cars. I would wager that you can probably walk into more than a few Radio Shack stores, ask for a radio, and walk out empty-handed.

The only reason this bothers me is because I liked Radio Shack so much when I was a kid. I hate to see it wind up as just another carcass along the side of the highway that we call “progress.” Sure, you can get any tiny electrical part you need now on the Internet, but who wants to pay five bucks shipping for a transistor that costs a quarter? Maybe, just maybe, the board of directors at Radio Shack will gamble that a return to their roots will be the salvation of the company. Radio Shack should be the place for the electronics do-it-yourselfer. As it is now, they’re just a lame cell phone store with crappy service and lousy prices. They could be so much more. They could sell raw computer components, build-it-yourself DVD players, VCR repair kits. You can buy cell phones anywhere! I miss the old Radio Shack. It’s time for Radio Shack to get back to what made them cool….in a nerdy sort of way.

2026 Update:  Radio Shack still sort of exists as an online retailer (with a paltry assortment of consumer electronics) and a handful of franchisees.  We had one locally in Kanawha City until just a few years ago, but aside from the novelty of being a Radio Shack, it had little to offer and hardly anybody noticed when they closed. Things were bad, especially for employees, when they went through their first bankruptcy in 2015. After a second bankruptcy, the name was purchased by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), a Florida-based company that had previously purchased defunct retailers Pier 1 Imports, Dress Barn, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Linens ‘n Things, along with The Franklin Mint. They are trying to use the Radio Shack name to peddle a Cryptocurrency, which resulted in a fairly hilarious ill-fated social media stunt. 

Here on dirty forehead day, we can help you look forward (unless you’ve given up on having fun for Lent) to things you can get into with our trademark cursory list of cool STUFF TO DO all over the state, noted as briefly as possible. Please note that these are events local to WEST VIRGINIA, and not “West Virgina,” whatever the hell that is.

Again, I’m just scratching the surface here. Please don’t think this is all we have to offer. Your humble blogger and his lovely wife will be heading to Clendenin for our featured event this week, but you do you.

Our featured event this week is a new IWA East Coast Wrestling show that is a benefit for Michael Tawney, the guilding light of IWA EC, who is preparing for a kidney transplant and can use all the support we can give him. Thankfully, since Tawn is a beloved member of the region’s wrestling community, that’s a lot. The card will be loaded. Tickets are cheap. T shirts will be on sale. And all proceeds go to the man himself, Fattawn. We told you about his GoFundMe campaign a few weeks ago.

As always, you should remember that THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF EVENTS.  It’s just a starting point, so don’t expect anything comprehensive, and if you feel strongly about me leaving anything out, feel free to mention it in the comments.  Also, if you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future, even if your promotional graphic uses cruddy AI art, contact me via Social Media at Facebook, BlueSky , Spoutible, Instagram or Twitter.  I dont charge for this, so you might as well send me something if you have an event to promote.

We are very happy to remind you that Cristen Michael has created an interactive calendar that is way more comprehensive than this list of STUFF TO DO, and you can find it HERE. Just click on the day and the event and you’ll be whisked away to a page with more details about loads of area events.

Most weekends you can find live music at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 PM.  Many Sunday afternoons at 2 PM they also have live music. This weekend they have Marc Price on Friday, Timothy Courts on Saturday and Ray + Jon on Sunday.

You can find live music in and around town every night of the week. You just have to know where to look.  Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.

Among the notable music venues in town are The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe, Live at The Shop in Dunbar, Louie’s, at Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, In Huntington, there’s local institution, The Loud (formerly The V Club),  The Wandering Wind Meadery is on Charleston’s West Side, Plus there’s music in Charleston at The Blue Parrot, Sam’s Uptown Cafe and Fife Street Brewing.

You might also find cool musical events at Route 60 Music in Barboursville and Folklore Music Exchange in Charleston.

To hear music in an alcohol-free enviroment, see what’s happening at Pumzi’s, on Charleston’s West Side.  This Saturday at 7 PM they have Nashville’s Elijah Cruise and Charleston’s Better From Here.

You can also visit Coal River Coffee in Saint Albans for live music in an alcohol-free environment.

For cutting-edge independent art films, downstairs from Taylor Books you’ll find the Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF. Each week they program several amazing movies in their intimate viewing room that you aren’t likely to see anywhere else.

Please remember that viral illnesses are still a going concern and many people who have very good reasons are still wearing masks, and many of us, understandably, are still nervous about being in crowds, masked or not. Be kind and understanding  while you’re out. And if you’re at an outdoor event, please remember that it’s awfully inconsiderate to smoke or vape around people who become ill when exposed to that stuff. If somebody asks you to refrain, please respect their weishes and don’t be a jerk about it.

Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.

Here we go, roughly in order, it’s graphics for local events happening over the next several days that I was able to scrounge up online…

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With the nasty weather at least temporarily taking a break, Tuesday on The AIR  we bring you a partly-new episode of Radio Free Charleston that’s got tons of great new music packed into its first hour To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.  

You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with boatloads of replays throughout the week.

Radio Free Charleston kicks off with an hour loaded with great local and independent stuff, and the final two hours bring you the second part of a Beatles Tribute from Radio Free Charleston International that hasn’t been heard in more than nine years.

We open our show this week with Massing. It’s their first new original tune in five years, and it’s well worth the wait. Our first hour also includes the RFC debut of the hotly-anticipated Common Ground 304, as well as new tracks from The Paranoid Style, Buzzcocks, Kula Shaker, Nothing To Protect and more.

Our second and third hours revive episode six of Radio Free Charleston International, from March, 2016. This was the second of two shows devoted to The Beatles, and it led to the creation of Beatles Blast, my show devoted to the Fab Four. While chunks of this show were recycled into the first four episodes of Beatles Blast, it has not been heard intact in more than nine years. It is loaded with rarities and curiosities from the Beatles canon, as well as some unusual covers. We even reconstruct the famed “Abbey Road Medley” with unique covers.

Check out this playlist, with links to the artist’s page in the first hour, where available…

Radio Free Charleston V5 259

hour one
Massing “Chemicals”
The Paranoid Style “Badges and Wages”
The Heavy Hitters Band “Superstition”
Nothing To Protect “Step By Step”
Emtidi “Saat”
Gogol Bordello “No Time For Idiots”
Payback’s A Bitch “Election Day”
Common Ground 304 “We Ain’t In The Prisoner Takin’ Business”
POHGOH “I’m A Fan”
Golden “Gotta Let It Go”
Moron Police “Waiting Around For You”
Kula Shaker “Broke as Folk”
Buzzcocks “Heavy Streets”
The Other Timelines “dronesBHM”

hour two
Beatles “Free As A Bird”
John Lennon “Yer Blues”
Paul McCartney “Blackbird”
George Harrison “If I Needed Someone”
Ringo Starr “With A Little Help From My Friends”
Dawn Penn “Here Comes The Sun”
Vanessa Mae “Because”
Hamilton de Holanda you never give me your money
Beatles “Sun King”
Frankie Howerd “Mean Mr. Mustard”
Roy Wood “Polythene Pam”
Joe Cocker “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”
Ben Folds “Golden Slumbers”
Phil Collins “Carry That Weight/The End”
Chumbawumba “Her Majesty”
The Smithereens “All My Loving”
Harry Nillsson “You Can’t Do That”
Lemmy “Back In The USSR”

hour three
Under The Radar “Eleanor Rigby”
Dons of Quixote “Savoy Truffle”
The Marlowes “Old Brown Show”
The Blue Cartoon “I Want To Tell You” The Sarah Vaughn version I mention in the show was not complete)
Jamie Hoover “Only A Northern Song”
Eytain Mirsky “Don’t Bother Me”
Journey “It’s All Too Much”
Frank Zappa “I Am The Walrus”
The Vines “I’m Only Sleeping”
Yes “Every Little Thing”
Robert Palmer “Not A Second Time”
Eddie Vedder “Hey, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”
Heather Nova “We Can Work It Out”
The Donnas “Drive My Car”
Sweet “Paperback Writer”
Sparks “I Want To Hold Your Hand”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM,  Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different classic episode of RFC every weekday at 5 PM, and we bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I’m also going to  embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand.

After RFC, stick around for encores of last week’s episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM  The Swing Shift is an encore of two recent episodes of our Swing Music extravaganza.

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM,  Friday at 10 AM and 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursdays and Sundays.

Today’s art is another small color rough of a possible high-detail painting I may do as a high-detail Hopperesque piece later. This time I went back to a pencil rough that I did six years ago, and fleshed it out a bit in pastel crayon to try to get the colors looking like I remembered from a January, 2020 trip to Chicago, right before the world shut down for a while. It’s a look at the famed skyline as seen from Navy Pier, which was delightfully nearly deserted because we were there in the dead of Winter.

At the time I just did the pencil version on textured paper, then set it aside. This time I went in and worked it over with pastel crayons because it’s Sunday and I spent the weekend with my lovely wife celebrating Valentine’s Day, and this post is due to go live in about six hours.

So…quick ‘n’ sloppy it is!

Someday, when I have all the time and money in the world and my Myasthenia Gravis lets up for more than a day or two, I’ll get around to doing all these canvas paintings I keep talking about.

If you want to see this image larger, click HERE.

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR,  we bring you a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis. New shows are on the way this month. You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM. You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.

Tonight at 9 PM we bring you our Monday night line-up featuring two hours each of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, plus six hours overnight with an assortment of our programming from Haversham Recording Institute. The Haversham stuff starts at 1 AM and tonight it’s a mix of all three of our shows from our friends in the UK.

This week we bring you photos and video from January 23, 2026 at the Friday session of the weather-truncated Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Show Winterfest.  This show happened back when our new ice age was just beginning. I had planned to bring you this stuff last Sunday, but it was delayed so that I could post my memories of the late Danny Boyd.

Above you see about thirteen minutes of the raw footage, shakiness and all, that Mel and I shot at Winterfest. In order to cover up any accidentally-recorded conversation, the audio has been replaced with some instrumental music that might seem familiar to folks with great taste. Below you will find a very short photo essay.   To see our first photo essay from the event, click HERE. For the music video I made out of the above footage, click HERE.

Now, on with the photos…

This was the convention set, a uniform for Adventure Command that recalls a classic Adventure Team GI Joe set. of course I got one.

The Marauders line of 3 3/4″ figures. One of these days I’m gonna have to interview these guys.

This brought back memories. My sister had one of these.

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From November, 2012 you see Radio Free Charleston 174 “Mark Wolfe Design Shirt.”

This week’s episode of Radio Free Charleston featured music from Qiet and Farnsworth, plus a special performance from the Dan Khede/Mark Scarpelli rock opera, MARY. We also have some fresh DEVO hat animation and part of a complete breakfast. Host segments were shot on the river side of our beautiful State Capitol Building. Our titular shirt comes to us from our good friend, Mark Wolfe, and plugs Mark Wolfe Design, which is still pretty much the hippest design firm in town.

We started the show with something childish and hysterical and we’re still not going to say anything more about it.

Original production notes can be found HERE.

The PopCulteer
February 13, 2026

Valentine’s Eve On The AIR FRIDAY!

So people are either dreading the 13th, or they’re gearing up for a marathon session of Love on Saturday, but Friday afternoon both of our Friday music specialty shows devote themselves to special themes that some folks might find similar. Mel Larch’s MIRRORBALL and Sydney Fileen’s Sydney’s Big Electric Cat return with new episodes.  The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM we present a brand-new edition of Mel larch’s Disco Music Showcase.  This time Mel devotes her show to the Disco sounds of love.

It’s a lovefest on the dancefllor as Mel assembles a mixtape of the romantic danceable songs you can legally find in one place.  Some of the selections may not seem love-soaked on the surface, but romance is at the heart of every single tune.

Just check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 123

Candi Staton “Young Hearts Run Free”
Odyssey “Use It Up and Wear It Out”
The Real Thing “Can You Feel The Force”
Crown Heights Affair “Galaxy of Love”
Liquid Gold “Dance Yourself Dizzy”
Shalamar “Take That To The Bank”
Eruption “I Can’t Stand The Rain”
Tina Charles “I Love To Love”
Elton John “Are You Ready For Love”
Loleatta Holloway “Love Sensation”
Stepanie Mills “Never Knew Love Like This Before”
Kelly Marie “Feels Like I’m In Love”
The Emotions “Best of My Love”
Donna Summer “Love’s About To Change”
Dee D. Jackson “Automatic Lover”
Barry White “You See The Trouble With Me”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Sunday night at 11 PM and throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM plus there’s a mini-marathon that includes the latest episode Saturday nights at 9 PM.

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with a new episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat that salutes The Ska/Pop brilliance of Madness, who managed to transcend their Stiff Records/Two Tone roots and become one of Britain’s biggest New Wave hitmakers.

Unfortunately, Sydney’s been having some computer issues and was not able to get a playlist to us in time to include it here, but she wants me to assure you that the show will include all their biggest hits from the New Wave era, along with a smattering of ultra-rare cuts, deep-album tracks and a surprise or three.

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays  Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Classic episodes can be heard Overnight late Monday/early Tuesday.

Your PopCulteer and his wife intend to observe Valentine’s Day in our own manner, which is none of your diddly-damn business.

Check back for fresh content in this blog every day, along with all our regular features.

It’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday, the wretched winter weather has subsided and people are making lots of plans. As such, there’s still things you can get into, so here we are with our trademark cursory list of cool STUFF TO DO all over the state, noted as briefly as possible. Please note that these are events local to WEST VIRGINIA, and not “West Virgina,” whatever the hell that is.

There are tons of smaller events that are escaping my radar, and a lot of couples are heading out of town to take advantage of the long weekend, or have other plans that don’t involve being in public, but if you want to get out and mingle in the local scene, here’s how you can do it.

Last week’s featured event was postponed due to frigid weather, and it will be rescheduled for a later date. I’ll keep you posted on that. This week our featured event happens on Saturday and Sunday, and it’s an annual event for Model Railroad hobbyists all over West Virginia.

As always, you should remember that THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF EVENTS.  It’s just a starting point, so don’t expect anything comprehensive, and if you feel strongly about me leaving anything out, feel free to mention it in the comments.  Also, if you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future, even if your promotional graphic uses cruddy AI art, contact me via Social Media at Facebook, BlueSky , Spoutible, Instagram or Twitter.  I dont charge for this, so you might as well send me something if you have an event to promote.

We are very happy to remind you that Cristen Michael has created an interactive calendar that is way more comprehensive than this list of STUFF TO DO, and you can find it HERE. Just click on the day and the event and you’ll be whisked away to a page with more details about loads of area events.

Most weekends you can find live music at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 PM.  Many Sunday afternoons at 2 PM they also have live music. This weekend they have Steve Himes on Friday, Pete Kosky on Saturday and Jordan Dyer on Sunday.

You can find live music in and around town every night of the week. You just have to know where to look.  Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.

Among the notable music venues in town are The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe, Live at The Shop in Dunbar, Louie’s, at Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, In Huntington, there’s local institution, The Loud (formerly The V Club),  The Wandering Wind Meadery is on Charleston’s West Side, Plus there’s music in Charleston at The Blue Parrot, Sam’s Uptown Cafe and Fife Street Brewing.

You might also find cool musical events at Route 60 Music in Barboursville and Folklore Music Exchange in Charleston.

To hear music in an alcohol-free enviroment, see what’s happening at Pumzi’s, on Charleston’s West Side.  You can also visit Coal River Coffee in Saint Albans for live music in an alcohol-free environment.

For cutting-edge independent art films, downstairs from Taylor Books you’ll find the Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF. Each week they program several amazing movies in their intimate viewing room that you aren’t likely to see anywhere else.

Please remember that viral illnesses are still a going concern and many people who have very good reasons are still wearing masks, and many of us, understandably, are still nervous about being in crowds, masked or not. Be kind and understanding  while you’re out. And if you’re at an outdoor event, please remember that it’s awfully inconsiderate to smoke or vape around people who become ill when exposed to that stuff. If somebody asks you to refrain, please respect their weishes and don’t be a jerk about it. Besides, it’s too freaking cold for outdoor events now anyway.

Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.

Here we go, roughly in order, it’s graphics for local events happening over the next several days that I was able to scrounge up online…

Continue reading

In observation of Valentine’s Day, which happens this coming Saturday, we offer up new lovey-dovey episodes of our shows that debut on Wednesday afternoon, as The AIR brings you new installments of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, each of which offer their own slant on love.  You can tune in at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM (EDT) Beatles Blast brings you a solid hour of different artists performing the Beatles song, “All You Need Is Love.” Aside from it being my catchphrase on the show, and damned great song, our reason for this is pretty freaking obvious.

You will hear the song in question performed by a dazzling array of artists, as you will see listed below:

Beatles Blast 128

“All You Need Is Love”
by
New Musik
John Bayless
Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker
Neri Per Caso
Nada Surf
Jason Lytle
Daryl Hall
Jamie Lancaster
Yusef Islam and Paul McCartney
Echo & The Bunnymen
String Quartet
Elvis Costello
James Last
John Wetton and Robby Krieger
The Beatles

Beatles Blast can be heard every Wednesday at 2 PM, with replays Thursday at 11 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday afternoon.

At 3 PM (EDT) on Curtain Call, Mel Larch brings you a mixtape comprised of three versions of the musical, She Loves Me.

You will hear songs from The Original Broadway Cast Album from 1963, the London Cast Album from 1964 and the 2016 Broadway Revival, which was the first-ever Broadway show to be streamed live. Listeners will be treated to performances by Gavin Creel, Rita Moreno, Jack Cassidy, Laura Benanti and more.

She Loves Me is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock, and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. The original Broadway run was directed by the legendary Hal Prince.

This is the third English-language adaptation of the 1937 play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklós László.

The first adaptation was the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner and the second was the 1949 musical version, In the Good Old Summertime. The plot revolves around Budapest shop employees Georg and Amalia, who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other’s secret pen pal met through lonely-hearts ads.

Later, this same story was adapted into the movie You’ve Got Mail.

Curtain Call can be heard on The AIR Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM, Saturday at 8 PM and Monday at 9 AM. A six-hour marathon of classic episodes can be heard Sunday evening starting at 6 PM, and an all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.