PopCult

The PopCult Toybox

So, last year I wrote about how disappointing the annual Holiday HESS Truck was. You may remember it. It’s one of my most-read posts from the last ten months, and it seems like thousands of folks who read it have stuck around to keep reading PopCult.

I am very happy to report that the folks who do the HESS Trucks have had a major rebound, at least with a new bonus, limited-edition two-truck set.

When I say “limited-edition,” I’m not kidding. This set went on sale Monday morning, and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t sell out by next week, if not earlier, even at double the usual price of their holiday truck.

That’s why I’m devoting a whole post to it today. I know it’ll be long gone before The PopCult Gift Guide begins in November (and to clarify, this is a special bonus set, there will be another holiday truck unveiled sometime in October).

To save myself some typing, I’m just going to quote most of the press release here:

A New Chapter in the Hess Toy Truck Story:

The special 2026 Hess Collector’s Edition Tanker Trucks marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Hess Toy Truck as a Hess family business. Created in extremely limited quantities, this newest Hess Toy Truck Collector’s Edition commemorates more than 60 years of a proud and beloved heritage and affirms the tradition’s future for generations to come. Carried forth on a foundation of unmatched quality, superb craftsmanship, innovation, and an endless determination to be ‘better than ever’, this new Hess Toy Truck is the most impressive vehicle ever created by Hess, with a look unlike anything before.

The larger, free-rolling, triaxle Modern Tanker pairs the first-ever matte-green body finish with a stunning, chrome-colored reflective finish that sparkles from every angle, enhanced by a remarkable array of multicolor lights that flash in 6 unique patterns. Realistic sound effects bring this already impressive toy to life, along with a cargo tank rear door and slide out loading ramp that allows for easy deployment of the Vintage Tanker.

The Vintage Tanker creates a powerful connection between the Company’s origins and its future. Inspired by the early Hess fuel delivery trucks, it features the premium matte green finish and yellow accents that ring true to the original Hess vehicles. It’s accented with sparkling chrome-look embellishments, lights, and a pull-back motor that propels it into classic action play.

The 2026 Collector’s Edition Tanker Trucks sets a new illumination record for a single Hess Toy release, with an incredible 137 lights and 6 unique animated lighting patterns; and it includes 5 individually activated sound effects.

Each set is carefully packaged in a specially crafted display box which includes a removable display base, a Certificate of Authenticity, and a special printed message from John B. Hess commemorating this milestone release, making it an ideal gift and coveted collectible.

MODERN TANKER

Sparkling chrome-colored reflective coating on all surfaces traditionally finished in white—a first for any Hess vehicle

Premium matte green finish on the cab and body—a distinctive non-gloss, premium surface treatment.

109 working lights with steady and flashing modes—the most lights ever on a single Hess vehicle.

6 unique flashing light patterns – the most ever on a single Hess vehicle

5 realistic sound effects, including 4 cab-top activated sounds (engine start/idle, horn, back up alert, fuel pump) plus a ramp-activated hydraulic sound

Rear door opens to deploy an internal loading ramp for the Vintage Tanker

6 free-rolling wheels on 3 axles

3 AAA Energizer® batteries included

Approx. size: 13.625” L x 4.5” W x 4.875” H

VINTAGE TANKER

Inspired by early Hess fuel delivery trucks

Premium Matte green finish – with yellow accents that are true to early Hess fuel delivery trucks

Highly reflective chrome-look embellishments

28 bright, steady-on lights

‘Pull-back and release’ motor for classic action play

6 wheels on 3 axles

Designed to load into and deploy from the Modern Tanker

3 A76 (LR44) Energizer® button cell batteries included

Approx. size: 5.75″ L x 2.125″ W x 2.0″ H

COLLECTOR-GRADE PRESENTATION
137 total lights across both vehicles—the most ever in any Hess release

Certificate of Authenticity

Premium display-ready packaging with silver reflective foil detailing and removable display backdrop featuring the New York City skyline as seen from the shores of New Jersey, where the Hess Toy Truck story began

Printed message from John B. Hess commemorating this milestone

The 2026 Hess Collector’s Edition Tanker Trucks is sold exclusively at HessToyTruck.com for $69.99 plus tax, which includes Energizer® batteries and free standard shipping.*

To be fair, following last year’s dud, the race car set, HESS has released another nice fun plush car (a monster truck), as well as the already-sold-out HESS Minis, which came and went earlier in the summer, and both of those were really well-done.

This limited edition is really a home-run of a collectible. The very first HESS Truck was a tanker, in white, green and yellow, and the vintage tanker in this set is a really nice homage, updated with matte green and chrome.

The larger tanker is more modern and very impressive. This is an extremely nice addition to any HESS collection, and you can order it HERE.

This year’s releases leave me very optimistic about what HESS has in store for the holidays, and make me think that they may regain their spot opening up The PopCult Gift Guide.

Tuesday is always a great day to tune into The AIR  and today we prove it again with a new episode of Radio Free Charleston AND a new edition of The Swing Shift, too!

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. That’s particularly significant this week because we are wrapping up our week-long celebration of ten years since The AIR officially became the internet radio station of PopCult!

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

Radio Free Charleston offers up a great new hour of local and independent music in its first hour, then we bring you what might be the last episode of Radio Free Charleston International that we haven’t recycled into Volume Five of our show yet.

The show opens with the one-two punch of brand-new singles by The Dread Crew of Oddwood and Sierra Ferrell.  The Dread Crew are a gang of Pirates who play “Heavy Mahogany” music, which is sort of like Heavy Metal, only played on wooden instruments. Sierra, of course, is Charleston’s multiple Grammy-winning pride and joy, currently wowing audiences all around the world.

The Dread Crew of Oddwood, who are based in California, sailed into The Empty Glass thirteen years ago, and I’ve been a fan ever since.  We recorded them for the RFC video show then, and it’s always great to have new music from them.  Interestingly enough, “Rust & Glory,” the new single (from an upcoming EP) is not on their 2024 album, which was called…”Rust & Glory.”

I first met Sierra seventeen years ago, when we recorded her at an open mic at Sam’s Uptown Cafe and brought you video from that in PopCult and on RFC. Sierra’s new single will be released in November as a Zoetrope single, which you can pre-order at the link in our playlist.

Our first hour includes a set of Country-leaning music and also a set of songs about Zombies, so you know we’re still flying that Free Format flag.

For our second and third hours we go back more than eight years for what, I think, is the last episode of RFC International that hasn’t been recycled yet. It’s a wild mix of some of my favorite music with no discernable theme.

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

RFC V5 285

hour one
The Dread Crew of Oddwood “Rust & Glory”
Sierra Ferrell “Pair of Dice”
Ringo Starr “Long Long Road”
Todd Burge & Larry Groce “Things Are Mighty Different (outtake demo)”
The BrotherSisters “Days They Go”
Hardy Mums “Pitching Woo”
William Matheny “If I Were A River”
Messer Chups “Electric Zombierella”
Guy Parker, Dirt Reynolds, Mark Shambles, Sea Monster, Steve Sleaze “Zombies”
The Renfields “Ramones Zombie Massacre”
mediogres “Zombie Activist”
The Dollyrots “Rather Be A Zombie”
Hellblinki “Zombie Jamboree”
Corduroy Brown “Familiar Faces”
Aaron Fisher “Rolling Stone”

hour two
Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello “The Lovers That Never Were”
Gary Brooker “No More Fear of Flying”
DEVO “Somewhere With DEVO”
The Aquabats “Sequence Erase/Giant Robot-Birdhead”
Polysics “Code 4”
The Dickies “My Pop The Cop”
The Units “High Pressure Days”
Oingo Boingo “Insanity”
The Stranglers “Unbroken”

hour three
Procol Harum “Conquistador”
Wall of Voodoo “This Business Of Love”
Ultravox “The Voice”
Transvision Vamp “The Only One (extended mix)”
King Crimson “21st Century Schizoid Man”
Madness “Can’t Touch Us Now”
Thomas Dolby “Evil Twin Brother”
Lo Faber “Those Damn Kids”
The Beat “Twist and Crawl”
Postmodern Jukebox “Who Can It Be Now”
Slade “Look Wot You Dun”
The The “Angels of Deception”

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 this week The Swing Shift brings you the first of two episodes featuring the music of Raymond Scott, both with his Quintette and with his Orchestra.  Scott, of course, composed many of the melodies that were adapted by Carl Stalling for use in the classic Looney Tunes shorts, but he was also one of the most successful bandleaders of the late Big Band era.

You may not recognize his song titles, but you’ll definitely recognize the tunes.  Check out the playlist…

The Swing Shift 184

Raymond Scott Part One

Raymond Scott, His Quintette and His Orchestra
“Power House”
“Huckleberry Duck”
“Caterpillar Creep”
“The Quintette Plays Carmen”
“Four Beat Shuffle”
“The Girl At The Typewriter”
“Tallahassee”
“Copyright 1950”
“Eagle Beak”
“Business Men’s Bounce”
“Siberian Sleigh Ride”
“Just a Gigolo”
“Keep Cool Fool”
“Two Guitars”
“When The Cootie Left The Duke”
“On The Jersey Side”
“Blues My Girl Friends Taught”
“Manhattan Minuet”
“Three Little Words”

 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.

Surprise! This week we have a pastel crayon piece that, for the first time in weeks, is NOT inspired by a photo I took from The Amtrak Cardinal on the way out of Chicago last July.

This one is, well to be honest, just a glorified doodle. It began life as a potential abstract (and it’s not a big piece–this is pastel crayon with ink drawing on a small sheet of cold press paper, maybe a little bigger than 8″ x 10″), but when I realized how green it was, I made it into trees. I hope they’re sorta surreal, since that was what I was going for, but I realize that they do just look like trees, with a little bit of sky in the corner.

Honestly, this was basically an exercise in limbering up the fingers, then it came out looking better than expected, so it made its way here.

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

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR,  our internet radio station brings you new episodes of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM, Prognosis, Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM, Nigel Pye presents an hour of Pyschedelic Rock from all over the map…although a lot of that map seems to be based in France for some reason.

Check out the playlist…

Psychedelic Shack 113

Gillian Hills “Tut Tut Tut Tut”
Les 5 Gentlemen “Si Tu Reviens Chez Moi”
Babe Rainbow “Dream Gasoline”
Klaatu “Sub-Rosa Subway”
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band “The Road To Babylon”
The Gentrys “Sunshine”
People “The Epic”
Strawberry Alarm Clock “The World’s On Fire”
Storybook “The Pretty Song From Pysch-Out”
Brigitte Bardot “Harley Davidson”
Air “Don’t Be Light”
The Limiñanas “Migas 2000”

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.

At 3 PM, for the second episode in a row, Herman Linte brings you a two-hour mixtape of BRAND NEW Progressive Rock, all released in 2026, on Prognosis.  It’s a wild mix of veteran acts and new and barely-known artists.

Check out this cool playlist…

Prognosis 140

Muse “Hexagons”
Rolf Zero “The Medley”
Marco Ragni “The Radical Act”
Darrel Treece Birch’s Atlantea “Begin Again”
7keys “Chaos et Divinitas”
Harmony Bytes “Digital Shadows V2”
Gong “Dream of Mine”
Devin Townsend “Orion”
The Necks “Causeway”
The Anchoress “She Knows Her Place”
Plantoid “Daisy Chains”
YES “Countermovement (alternate mix)”

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.

As an aside, I’m not sure, but to me it sounds like Nigel and Herman are imitating each other’s voices and ghost-hosting each other’s show, but they’re denying it vehemently. Listen in and let me know what you think.

Tonight at 8 PM, tune in for a classic edition of The Comedy Vault. That’s followed by two-hour blocks of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast at 9 PM and 11 PM, and then an overnight assortment of our Haversham Recording Institute programs at 1 AM.

A brief note about today’s post:  The original plan was to bring you a music video look at the 2026 Hershey Action Figure & Toy Show in this space, but while editing the video, some technical issues arose that will delay that project until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. In its place we are re-presenting an original Sunday Evening Video post from roughly fifteen years ago. Because the coding was messed up on the original post, and the video is no longer visible in that post, here it is again, loaded with great, local and regional, Metal Music…

Originally posted September 11, 2011:

Above you see highlights from this weekend’s inagural edition of Mission Coalition.  Eleven bands over two nights brought firey heavy metal thunder to the Capitol City. Concert-goers were treated to performances by HarraH, The Suede Brothers, Linework, The Scrap Iron Pickers, The Number Six, Karma To Burn,  John Lancaster,Tomorrow Burns, Dead Face Down, Nuns On Fire,  and Saprogen with hysterical introductions by Chris Ojeda and Skip Cromer of Byzantine.

This is raw video and audio. Fully-produced versions of entire songs were seen in subsequent episodes of Radio Free Charleston.

This week we go back to November, 2014, for a loaded full-length episode of Radio Free Charleson.

This week Radio Free Charleston presented music from Anthony Hoey, Diablo Blues Band and The Company Stores, plus Third MInd Incarnation and Frank Panucci animation from the RFC vault and more.

This show was called  “Hellblinki Doll Head Shirt.” and you can read the full production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
September 11, 2026

I know it’s an anniversary today, but it’s one I choose not to make a show of observing. Instead, we have radio notes for you.

We have all-new episodes of our music specialty shows this Friday afternoon, as our radio station brings you classic Disco and obscure New Wave Music on The AIR. Tune in as we serve up new episodes of MIRRORBALL and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat! The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

Every Saturday we play catch-up and bring you a marathon of the previous week’s music specialty programming.

MIRRORBALL

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch devotes a full hour of her classic Disco program to massive Disco hits from about half a century ago. These are some of the quintessential Disco hits, and you probably know and either love or hate them (or pretend to hate them while you secretly love them).

Whatever works for you. We’re just here to make people dance.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 128

Kool & The Gang “Celebration”
Candi Staton “Young Hearts Run Free”
Shalamar “A Night To Remember”
The Jackson 5 “Dancing Machine”
Van McCoy “The Hustle”
Dan Hartman “Relight My Fire”
The Isley Brothers “It’s a Disco Night (Rock Don’t Stop)”
McFadden & Whitehead “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”
CHIC “Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)”
Donna Summer “Love’s Unkind”
KC & The Sunshine Band “Get Down Tonight”
Heatwave “Boogie Nights”
The Hues Corporation “Rock The Boat”
Tavares “Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel”
Earth Wind & fire “September”
Peaches & Herb “Shake Your Groove Thing”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays most weeks  Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a four-hour mini-marathon of classic episodes Friday nights at 8 PM.

Power Pops And Fizzles On Big Electric Cat

Friday at 3 PM, Sydney Fileen delivers another show devoted to “New Wave Bands You Never Heard Of Before” with two hours of delightfully obscure UK Power Pop.

Power Pop was the happier offshoot of New Wave and Punk that brought the raw energy of this new music to classic melodies and harmonies.  This episode of BEC is loaded with toe-tapping shoulda-been-hits, by bands who only put out a few singles or maybe an album before falling off the face of the Earth.

Buried among these overlooked gems are bands that include future members of The Alarm and The Truth, as well as future superstar producers Richard Mazda and Steve Lillywhite. These are bands that sprung up in the wake of hitmakers like The Buzzcocks and The Jam, but sadly, despite their energy and enthusiasm, these are groups that didn’t make any hits.

Unless you’re a massive music nerd (not that being one is a bad thing), it’s not likely that you’ve ever heard any of the forty bands Sydney brings you on this program. So consider it a bonus, because even though it’s vintage New Wave Power Pop…it’s probably all new to you!

Check out the playlist…

BEC 140

The Invaders “Best Thing I Ever Did”
The Boyfriends “I’m In Love Today”
The Distractions “It Doesn’t Bother Me”
The Last Stands “Just A Number”
Really 3rds “Everyday, Everyway”
Seventeen “Don’t Let Go”
The Donkeys “Don’t go”
Slowguns “TV Movie”
The Stowaways “I Wanna Be Me”
Tonight “Money That’s Your Problem”
The Tours “Tourist Information”
The Keys “I Don’t Wanna Cry”
The Kick “Let’s Get Back Together”
Heroes “Some Kind Of Women”
The Squares “No Fear”
The Gas “Ignore Me”
The Strangeways “Show Her You Care”
The Paranoics “Stupid Guy”
Leyton Buzzard “I’m Hanging Around”
Yeh-Yeh “You Will Pay”
The Quads “There Must Be Thousands”
The Resistance “Survival Kit”
The Telegents “Seen It Before”
The Smirks “O.K, U.K.”
The Gangsters “Best Friend”
The Stilettos “This Is The Way”
Distractions “Something For The Weekend”
The Vipers “I’ve Got You”
Speedometers “Disgrace”
The Moondogs “Who’s Gonna Tell Mary”
The Vandells “Ruby Toot”
Spies “Thinking About The Sun”
Protex “A Place In The Heart”
The Zeroes “Hungry”
The Dazzlers “Lovely Crash”
The Lookalikes “Can I Take You Home”
Banditz “J.C.B.”
The Negatives “Money Talk”
The Monitors “Telegram”
Spys “The Young Ones”

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon,  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 as part of the overnight Haversham Recording Institute marathon Tuesday mornings at 1 AM. .

That’s it for this week’s PopCulteer, check back for all our regular features, with fresh content, every day.

Okay, so it’s not exactly an Earth-shattering revelation, and most people who’ve been to IKEA already knew it, but last month when Mrs. PopCulteer and I were on our anniversary trip, we made our first-ever trip to the legendary Swedish furniture and decor store, and it was news to us that they sold so many plush toys.

I mean, I knew about Punch, the monkey and his longtime companion, Djungelskong, but I didn’t realize that IKEA had so much more in the way of a huggable menagerie than that.

The truth is, we were impressed by the entire store…but we went as civilians, not as representatives of PopCult. I could easily have filled my phone with pictures of the cool, cheap stuff they sell, but I only whipped out the camera when we were looking at the plush toys.

Since we got back from the trip, adulting and the joys of home ownership, along with paying work, have prevented me from promptly sharing other images and video from our anniversary journey. Those are coming your way. Hopefully we’ll have video from The Hershey Action Figure and Toy Show on Sunday, and we have loads more cool things to share in the coming weeks,  once things settle down.

But today, I’m only able to eke out a few photos of the plush at IKEA.

At some point in the future Mel and I will make a return visit, and I’ll have an extensive photo essay here for you. But for now, it’s plushie time…

We resisted the urge to bring Djungelskong home with us. The car was very full by this point in our trip, and to be honest, we’re really not monkey people.

They also had giant plush, like this bear, that was seventeen feet tall (that may be a slight exaggeration).

More jungle critters were available. We were tempted by the elephant.

They had a bin of much more reasonably-sized plush. I think Mel got one of these bundles. I’m not sure because we still haven’t had time to unpack the IKEA bag yet.

Again, space constraints kept us from bringing home this good-sized Octopus.

But he did get to visit with his relative, Traveling Squidward, for the amusement of our friend, Pixie.

That is today’s photo essay. Expect more of these as we finally catch our breath after the anniversary trip.

This week, since we have new episodes of our Wednesday Music Specialty Programs on The AIR, plus we have a bunch of STUFF TO DO this weekend, we’re smushing everything up into one post. Radio notes come first!

Wednesday afternoon, The AIR brings you new installments of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, and they are both fine gems of expertly-crafted internet radio.  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 May, 1980 interview with Sir Paul McCartney, back in his pre-Sir days.  This week we dedicate our entire show to one of the most curious and unexpected LP releases of the Beatles solo canon.

The McCartney Interview is a spoken word album featuring an interview of Paul McCartney by Vic Garbarini, recorded for the magazine Musician in May 1980. Originally done to promote the release of McCartney II early in 1980, this interview, in just under an hour, covers Paul’s entire musical history, from his early days in Liverpool, to the heights of Beatlemania and his time with Wings. He even touches on the “clues” to his death, and the influence that Motown, Skiffle, Stax and even New Wave had on his music.

What was so bizarre about this release is that the interview was so well-received that McCartney’s record label at the time, CBS, decided to give it an official commercial release. In the US it came out on December 4, 1980, making it the last record released by any Beatle before the assassination of John Lennon, just days later.  It’s the last time Paul spoke about John publicly while John was still alive. The interview is a fascinating historical document.

Beatles Blast can be heard every Wednesday at 2 PM, with replays Thursday at 11 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday afternoon. A two-hour mini-marathon of classic episodes runs every Monday evening, starting at 11 PM.

At 3 PM (EDT) on Curtain Call, Mel Larch celebrates  this year’s Tony Award Winner for Best Musical a she continues her tradition of bringing you highlights of the award-winning show, from the cast album for Schmigadoon!

Schmigadoon! is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Cinco Paul. You probably already know that it’s an adaptation of the first season of the musical television Apple TV series of the same name co-created by Paul and Ken Daurio.
The musical includes songs both from the TV series, as well as original songs written by Paul for the stage.

The plot follows two New York City doctors, Melissa Gimble and Josh Skinner, struggling with their romantic relationship, who find themselves trapped in the titular magical town similar to the setting of a Golden Age musical, populated by colorful people who frequently break into song. With sly, affectionate nods to classic musicals, Schmigadoon! quickly became a favorite of “theatre kids” of all ages, and a transition to the stage was inevitable.

The musical premiered at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli, and opened on Broadway in April 2026.

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 two-hour mini-marathon of classic episodes can be heard Monday evening starting at 9 PM, and an all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

Meanwhile, after you listen to these shows, take note that STUFF TO DO is PopCult‘s weekly guide to just a few of the great events happening in Charleston, Huntington and a few other points here in West Virginia, and sometimes a little beyond our borders, in the coming days.

One of our featured events for this weekend is the second HurriCon, just a little drive West on I-64 from Charleston. You can read about it HERE, and gawk at the graphics right here…

Our other featured event is CultureFest, a longer drive South down I-77 from Charleston, in Princeton.  Read about it HERE…

Each week I try to tell you about a few cool events all around the state that you might not know about.  If you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future you can still 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.

I do ask that you send a graphic that includes the date, time and location, of the event, as well as the cost to attend.  I can’t promise that I’ll run it here,  but chances are I will unless it’s something completely offensive or an event happening in South Carolina. If it looks original and charmingly weird, you have a better chance of seeing it here.

Keep in mind that I’ll need this several days in advance, so please don’t send me a graphic on the day of the event and expect it to show up in this feature.

For much more comprehensive guides to things you can get into in our region, check out these two wonderful resources:

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.

Mya Ross at Status Quo does a much better job of compiling a list of local events than I do, and you can find the WTSQ guide to events HERE. Toss ’em a donation while you’re over there.

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. Plus there are free concerts almost every weekend at Taylor Books.

You might also find cool musical events at 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.

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.

Here’s a few select suggestions for STUFF TO DO in and around Charleston and Huntington this weekend…

Continue reading

Radio Free Charleston is ALL-NEW as we welcome our first-ever guest programmer for hour three Tuesday on The AIR!  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.

This week we have a show where the first two hours are jam-packed with great new local and indie music, as well as a few surprises, and then for our third hour, I turn over the programming duties to Jon Raider, an old friend who many folks may know as the drummer for Strawfyssh back in the day, and also as the creator and curator of The Scene group at Facebook.

When Jon’s schedule opens up, we hope to welcome him to The AIR to host his own show, but for now he’s going to pop up every few weeks by programming our third hour. This week he’s given us a Rockabilly goldmine, and it’s an absolute treat for your ears.

Before we get there, we have another killer collection of RFC music. Our first hour opens with a new single from GRPPLNG, the power punk group also known as the acclaimed wrestling tag team, The Motor City Machine Guns.  We also have new tracks from David Synn, Stick Men, Jim Lange, Riffstone, The Surfrajettes, Erik Woods, Messer Chups, William Matheny, Matching Outfits, Red Spot Rhythm Section and more.

Two of the artists giving us new tracks have great new videos to go along with them: Stitch Jones and His Bionic Marines and Schells & Vine. Check those out.

The playlist Jon gave us for our third hour is cram-packed full of Rockabilly greatness. 22 songs by 20 artists that will stir your soul and make you want to move your feet and ass…possibly even in that order.  He’s given us classics from the 1950s to modern times and the artists range from legends like Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins to overlooked masters like Thumper Jones and Pat Capocci.

I don’t have links for the artists in the third hour because, let’s face it, not a lot of folks who recorded seven decades ago are all that web-savvy, but you folks who are curious do know how to use the Google, right?

Bringing in a guest programmer is an exciting new experiment for RFC, and if the first one is any indication, it’s a smash hit.

Check out this playlist, with links to the artist’s page for the first two hours of the show…

RFC V5 284

hour one
GRPPLNG “Sleep”
David Synn “Indulgence of the Flesh”
Stick Men “Thief of the Dice”
Jim Lange “AFI Clip 7”
Riffstone “Mariana”
Tautologic “That’s What I Hear”
Stitch Jones & His Bionic Marines “Greatest Day”
Schells & Vine “Free”
The Surfrajettes “Heart of Glass (live)”
best dressed ghost “Peach Melvin”
Guy Parker, Dirt Reynolds, Mark Shambles, Sea Monster, Steve Sleaze “Ace of Spades (live)”
Jerks “Riptide”
Samuel S.C. “Celestial”
Erik Woods “Winter’s Solstice Solace”
Trio “Out In The Streets”

hour two
Messer Chups “Mad Monster Party”
William Matheny “Fairmont Hair”
The Waterboys “The Man With The Wind At His Heels”
Corduroy Brown “Hold The Line (live at the West Edge Factory)”
Sasha Colette & The Magnolias “Sacred Place”
Rocco DeLuca “Nightingale”
Matching Outfits “Leave It”
Red Spot Rhythm Section “Win For Losing”
Feeders “Back To Indiana”
James McCartney “I’ll Say What I Want To”
Billy Strings “Burn The Other End”
The Holler Hounds “Take Your Shot”
June Swoon “Someone Else’s Dream”
Hello June “Faded Blue”

hour three
Guest-programmer: Jon Raider
“Westside At Midnight”
Buddy Holly “I’m Changing All Those Changes”
Roy Hall “Three Alley Cats”
Kim Lenz & Her Jaguars “Havin’ A Ball”
Gene Maltais “The Raging Sea”
Glen Glenn “Everybody’s Movin'”
Thumper Jones “Rock It”
Rockin’ Ryan and The Real Goners “Please Tease Louise”
Hal Harris “Sixteen Chicks”
Sonny Fisher “Rockin’ Daddy”
Lillian Briggs “I Want You To Be My Baby”
The Blasters “No Other Girl”
Sid King & The Five Strings “Sag Drag and Fall”
Eddie Bond “Flip Flop Mama”
Charlie Feathers & His Musical Warriors “The Wild Side of Life”
Jackie Lee Cochran “Ruby Pearl”
Rockin’ Ryan and The Real Goners “Caged Heat”
Rip Carson and the Twilight Trio “I’m Gonna Drink”
Pat Capocci “Slave For The Beat”
Wanda Jackson “Run Devil Run”
Flat Duo Jets “John Law/You Only Live Twice”
Carl Perkins “Jive After Five”

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. 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 get ready for two classic episodes of The Swing Shift, featuring the best Swing Music from the last century!

 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.

This time our art is a wee bit of a departure from the series of pieces I’ve posted here over the last several weeks based on photos taken from the very slow-moving Amtrak Cardinal as it was leaving Chicago last June.

This time, we are back to watercolor on textured paper, but we are still on the same train. However, we are considerably farther along in our journey. We are in Northern Indiana, and rather than go with the moody twilight in the original photo, I decided to see if I could change the view into an early morning scene.

This move injected some possibly-too-subtle-to-notice surrealism, but it made it more interesting for me to paint. I also went with a less-saturated look.

Some of this was because I’m running low on watercolors at the moment.

Anyway, the end result came out more Hopperesque than I’d intended, but that can’t be a bad thing, can it?

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 an encore of a more recent episode of Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.

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 8 PM, tune in for a classic edition of The Comedy Vault. That’s followed by two-hour blocks of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast at 9 PM and 11 PM, and then an overnight assortment of our Haversham Recording Institute programs at 1 AM.