PopCult

For the entire month of November, STUFF TO DO went on hiatus so that your humble blogger could bring you The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide.  With that excuse no longer valid, it seems I have run out of reasons to not write this post.  Besides, there’s still  tons of STUFF TO DO in Charleston and the rest of the Mountain State over the next few days so you can just read below and find out all about it. To make up for my slacking off, you can even expect a holiday-themed bonus edition tomorrow.

Even with our newly-arctic weather, there are still outdoor events happening, so I will continue to implore you to not be a dick and vape or smoke around other humans who may not share your addictions. Lots of folks get really sick when exposed to that garbage and it would’ve been really nice to to to Light The Night without having to smell nasty tobacco and weed odors.

As I have been copying and pasting for some time now, this a good time to remind you 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. And if you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future, contact me via Social Media at Facebook or Twitter.

Live Music is on tap at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  This week’s shows are not yet announced.  Last week they didn’t put up FB event pages until the day of, so think of it as “blind box” musical entertainment.

As  always, The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about. Thursday at 5:30 PM, Swingstein & Robin return with Hot Cub stylings for a good cause.  Friday Tim Courts holds down the forts for Happy Hour.  Check the graphics dump below for more upcoming events at The Empty Glass.

Please remember that viral illlnesses are still a going concern with the ‘rona still lurking about all robust and reinvigorated and now with Fahrvergnügen™. Plus there are nasty seasonal ailents, Pumpkin Spice Farts, excited deplorables, flying reindeer droppings and other damned good reasons to be careful. 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.

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

Here we go, roughly in order…

Continue reading

We travel through time this week as we reach back to the spring of 2015, while simultaneously looking forward one week on Radio Free Charleston!

Tuesday means a new RFC on The AIR.  And this week  Radio Free Charleston presents three hours of listenting enjoyment for you. 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.

We open with an all-new first hour this week because your humble blogger and radio Svengali is leaving for a week in Chicago, and doesn’t want to deprive his listeners, so I recorded two episodes of the show back-to-back on December 2.  Our second and third hours this week are a tribute to Tommy Medvick, the late drummer for The Swivels and Feast of Stephen, who passed away shortly before this show originally aired in April, 2015.

That first hour features new music from Bad Keys of the Mountain, Dinosaur Burps, The Spackles, Wendy James, The Polkamaniacs,  SPACE FREQ, The Heavy Hitters and more. It’s over-loaded with local and indie musical wonderfulness.

The remainder of the show revives a tribute to Tommy that was originally an episode of Radio Free Charleston Volume Three, on Voices of Appalachia radio, the predecessor to The AIR.

Tommy was a great guy and one of the most powerful drummers I’d ever seen. Always upbeat and hilarious. He was a frequent guest on the original Radio Free Charleston broadcasts and he was not just a good friend, but a great friend. I am going to miss him terribly, and I’m hoping that this tribute can help his friends remember him, and let those who didn’t know him understand what a wonderful person he was.

Over the course of two hours you will hear music from The Swivels and The Feast of Stephen, two of the major musical projects Tommy worked with. You may also remember, if you are elderly enough, that The Swivels started out as The Swivel Rockers, then shortened their name late in 1989.He was also the lead figure in Tommy Spear and The Mints, but sadly I don’t have any of their music in my archives.

What we do have is pretty incredible. Tommy was an amazing musician and I hope that you can get an idea of how fantastic he was in this show. This show includes some rare demos that the Swivels recorded, which come to us courtesy of Tom’s bandmate in both the Swivels and Feast of Stephen, John Radcliff. We also have some excerpts of The Swivels, including Tommy, on one of the original RFC broadcast shows. We also have tracks from Feast of Stephen, which were supplied by the band’s producer, Dave McClanahan, as well as a few tracks from the Feast of Stephen reunion on RFC in 2007.

Links in the first hour of this playlist will take you to the artist’s page, so you can buy their music. Keep in mind that the first Friday of every month is “Bandcamp Friday,” so if you buy their music from Bandcamp on that day, they get to keep all the moolah.

RFC V5 204

hour one
Bad Keys of the Mountain “I’ll Get By”
Dinosaur Burps “Interstellar Dust”
The Spackles “Spy In The House of Frankenstein”
Wendy James “The Crack And The Boom Of The Creeps And The Goons”
Rat Ship “The Roots of Our Teeth, Intertwined”
Tim Heidecker “Bows and Arrows”
Father John Misty “She Cleans Up”
The Polkamaniacs “Dream Water Wheel”
SPACE FREQ “Spacetripper”
The Heavy Hitters Band “Ornithology (The Story of Icarus) live”
Astral Magic “Over The Edge”
Propaganda “Vicious Circle”
The Settlement “Be Yourself”
Skafish “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone”

hour two
The Swivels

“On My Own”
“Redemption Song”
“I’m Me”
‘Chemical City”
‘Panama”
“Cinnamon Girl”
‘No Vaccination”
“Chemical City”

Feast of Stephen

“Forbidden Dance”
“Bank Robber”
“Scratch Out The Belly”
“Tired of Sinking”
“Superfund”
“No Vaccination”
“Battle With The Sun”
“Falling”
“Gas”

hour three

Feast of Stephen

“Coal Tattoo”
“Watch Me Plow”
“Urge To Care”
“Blinded Baby In A Cage”
“Revolution (World’s On Fire Tonight)”
“Mighty Gomec
“Season of the Wizard
“Escape The Man
“Sound 9
“Mystery Hole

Feast of Stephen 2007 Reunion

“Tired of Sinking”
“Bank Robber”
“Mystery Hole”
“No Vaccination”

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 we give you an encore of two classic episodes of The Swing Shift.

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 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 Thursday and Sunday evenings.

This week’s art is a bit of a sequel to last week’s.  Like last week, it’s a small  mixed media painting  based on photos I took the week before last during a return trip from a secret mission that you will learn about in a few days.

On thick illustration board, this painting was created using acrylic paint, watercolor, Winsor Newton ink, white-out, razor blades and X-acto knives, a variety of brushes and straight edges. For this one I actually used an old-school GI Joe hand–the one with the pointy fingers, to get a solidly thick line.  This idyllic winter scene is another based on a series of photos I took on the drive back home down I-79, after Mel took over driving.

This one was actually taken at a rest area before I turned over the wheel. I made the creative choice to omit some of the scenary, since I wasn’t in the mood to paint signs instructing people where to take their dogs to poop.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM an also recent edition 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.

At 8 PM you can hear an hour of the legendary and exquisite silliness of Spike Jones on last week’s new episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM for the Monday Marathon we devote ten hours to five more episodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  For the rest of this year we will be alternating between Prognosis and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, because we’re going to be pulling the early episodes of those shows from the server soon to make room for newer programs. After they’ve been offline for a year or so, we’ll bring them back into rotation but for now, you can hear them Monday evening into Tuesday morning, and then those episode will go on hiatus.

We lost Jules Huffman almost ten years ago at the age of 91. The retired WSAZ weatherman was better known to generations of kids as “Mr. Cartoon,” the host of a daily (later weekly) cartoon show on WSAZ that for most of its run aired at 4 PM, right after school.

The outstanding thing about Huffman was that he was a genuinely nice man. I met him a couple of times as an adult working in the television business, and he treated everyone, from a major TV executive to a lowly production assistant, with respect.  I’ve heard dirt on almost every local broadcaster, and he’s one of the few people that had no dirt to tell. He was just the same nice guy that you saw on TV.

Now West Virginia Public Broadcasting has produced a wonderful documentary remembering Huffman, and since they’ve posted it to YouTube, I’m sharing it here for my readers who might have missed it or live outside the broadcast area.

This week we go back to September, 2010 for an episode of Radio Free Charleston that originated from The Empty Glass, the legendary music venue on Charleston East End.

The show this week featured music from Andy Park, Stephen Beckner and Stone Soup, plus some offbeat animation and a public service announcement for Covenant House that starred Ann Magnuson.

Most of this episode was shot at The Empty Glass on Thursday, September 16, during a benefit for Empty Glass Records, a project that allowed Charleston’s most celebrated bar to install recording equipment so that they can preserve the magic moments that still happen there on a regular basis.

The PopCulteer
November 29, 2024

It took the entire month of November, but we have finally arrived at The Master List of every single thing I recommended in The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide. I decided to change up what I’d told you I was going to do in the intro post, and run the Master List on Black Friday instead of making you wait a week. It seemed like I really lightened my workload, but there are still fifty-five items here.

As in previous years, I made some changes to The Gift Guide. This year I did two posts a day, only on weekdays, with some containing multiple items. All of them have some kind of pop culture angle, and I hope all of them help to inspire somebody’s gift giving. This year our readership has exceeded any previous year’s PopCult Gift Guide, even with fewer entries.  For that, I thank you folks for sharing the links and spreading the word.

This is the first year in my memory where I didn’t once have to wake up early and crank out that day’s Gift Guide entries. Even though my writing schedule was interrupted by some family health issues, a magazine deadline and two out-of-town road trips, I managed to get this whole thing written ahead of time. In fact, I’m compiling this Master List post before Thanksgiving.  It’s just a few hours before Thanksgiving, but that counts.

Because of the nature of how I did the gift guide this year, some of the links will take you to the post that includes the items listed, but you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact item you’re looking for.  Due to popular demand, this year I will incorporate the Turkey Day gag gifts into the regular list.

With that said, let’s dive into the Master List…

TOYS

The 2024 HESS Fire Truck

2024 Holiday Barbie

The Svengoolie Collector’s Box

Prehistoric Scenes Model Kits by Atlantis

Animal Warriors of the Kingdom

Stuffed Cokey The Bear

Beginner Train Sets from Menards

The Lincoln Monsters Action Figures

Wicked The Game

Wicked Monopoly

LEGO Wicked Welcome To Emerald City

Wolfman Figure Set by Cotswold Collectibles

The Great Garloo In Blue

Bootleg Coke Bottle Transformer

Salad Fingers Plush

BOOKS/MAGAZINES/COMICS

Bearclaw’s Realms of Fantasy Volume 1

CLOAKED CRUSADER GEORGE WASHINGTON IN COMICS & POP CULTURE

Blessed Be by Rick Altergott

The Time Tummlers by Frank Conniff

The Beatles A Hard Days Night (And More) by Bruce Spizer

The Closest Thing To Crazy by Mike Batt

Prehistoric Times Magazine

Broadway Poster Art : 1945–1969 By Nicholas van Hoogstraten

Aging Your Best Until You Stop: What To Expect And What To Do by Danny Kuhn

G.H.O.S.T. Agents Treasury Comics

Dwellings by Jay Stephens

Famous Monsters of Filmland

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Woman & Man + by Craig Yoe

Prevailing Wind by Thomas Dolby

MUSIC

King Crimson “Red” 50th Anniversary

“Crooked Boy” by Ringo Starr

“One Hand Clapping” by Paul McCartney & Wings

“Mind Games” Super Deluxe by John Lennon

“Living In The Material World” Super Deluxe by George Harrison

The Beatles 1964: US Albums In Mono

“Midnight Garden” by Frenchy & The Punk

“Easy as Pie” by The Surfrajettes

“Wicked” Original Soundtrack Album

Music From Local and Independent Artists, as heard on RFC

“Into The Gap” Deluxe Anniversary Edition by Thompson Twins

VIDEO

A Fat Wreck: The Punkumentary

SpongeBob Squarepants on DVD and Blu Ray

CLOTHING

Overlook Hotel Swag

Fleischer Animation Stuff at Rockin’ Pins

Mitch O’Connell T Shirts

EVERYTHING ELSE

The Zerostreet Store featuring the art of Robert Jimenez

Wicked Ozpresso Cups

Cruddy Christmas by Retro-A-Go-Go

Tiki Mugs

Darth Vader PopCorn Popper

Pizza Area Rugs

Gifts from Uranus

MARY: A Rock Opera

And with that we wrap up The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide and also give you this week’s PopCulteer.  It is truly a relief to have this behind me. However, there is no rest for the haven’t-yet-seen-Wicked, as next week, part of our return to semi-normalcy will see us continue to provide fresh content every day along with a few very special holiday video treats.

We interrupt The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide posts right before the final one, just so I can tell you about this afternoon’s new music specialty shows on The AIR.

Even in the midst of the Gift Guide, we do have some radio shows to tell you about Friday on The AIR. This afternoon we serve up a new episode of MIRRORBALL and a brand-new episode of 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.

MIRRORBALL

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch brings you classic Disco with a little bit of an international flair. There are some huge chart hits here, as well as some club classics, but don’t be shocked if you find a track or two from another country.  It’s all part of the big Disco melting pot.

Check out this very danceable playlist…

MIRRORBALL 108

The Dooley’s “Think I’m Gonna Fall In Love With You”
Regalado “Pinoy Funk”
Ashford & Simpson with Chaka Khan “Stuff Like That”
Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band “I’ll Play the Fool”
Patsy Gallant “From New York to L.A.”
Van McCoy “The Shuffle”
Emotions “I Should Be Dancing”
Hot Chocolate “So You Win Again”
Three Degrees “The Runner”
Moments “Jack In The Box”
Belle Epoque “Black Is Black”
David Soul “Silver Lady”
Odyssey “Use It Up and Wear It Out”
Amanda Lear “I Don’t Like Disco”

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

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat Visits A Big Country

Also on The AIR  at 3 PM (EDT), Sydney Fileen graces us with a brand-new special mixtape-style new episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. This time Sydney looks North to the Scottish highlands as she brings you music by Big Country.

Once the pride of Scotland, Big Country was formed when Stuart Adamson, formerly the guitarist for the band, Skids, left that band and teamed up with guitarist Bruce Watson to form a new band. Once they recruited Tony Butler and Mark Brezicki–who were session musicians known as “Rhythm for Hire,” the band was complete, and they became mainstays of the New Wave scene for the remainder of the eighties.

Sydney has assembled two hours in which you will hear the best of Big Country from 1983 to the end of the decade. It’s a great way to relive those incredible bagpipe-sounding guitars.

Check out the playlist…

BEC 122

Big Country

“In A Big Country”
“Harvest Home”
“Inwards”
“Chance”
“1,000 Stars”
“The Storm”
“Lost Patrol”
“Close Action”
“Fields of Fire”
“Pooroh Man”
“Wonderland”
“All Fall Together”
“Angle Park”
“East of Eden”
“Steeltown”
“Tall Ships Go”
“Just A Shadow”
“The Seer” with Kate Bush
“The Teacher”
“Look Away (12″ mix)”
“One Great Thing”
“Hold The Heart”
“Peace In Our Time”
“”King of Emotion”

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.

Check PopCult later today for The Master List of The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide.

Our final entry in The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide harkens back to the summer, when we dropped Radio Free Chicago featuring Thompson Twins Tom Bailey and Thomas Dolby. For fans of great 1980s New Wave music, we have a deluxe anniversary reissue of one of the great Thompson Twins albums, plus we have a new book written by Thomas Dolby.

Before we get to those, let me remind you what I’m talking about with a little recap.

What you see above is Radio Free Chicago, wherein your humble blogger and his lovely wife, who were in the midst of one of our periodic trips to the City of Wind, went to see Thomas Dolby and Tom Bailey (of Thompson Twins fame)  performing at The House of Blues.

The Thompson Twins are Mel’s favorite New Wave band. She even used to trade letters with Alannah Currie. She never got to see them perform live. Tom Bailey was actually set to perform in Chicago a day or two after we got married, but we didn’t find out until it was too late to make it to that show.

On top of that, I’ve been a fan of Thomas Dolby since he was in Bruce Wooly & The Camera Club, plus I’ve always enjoyed the Twins’ music, too. This would not be like going to see Steely Dan. It was a no-brainer to jump the gun and hop on the Cardinal Westward a month before our planned Anniversary trip.

When we got to the House of Blues we wisely upgraded our tickets to the VIP section so we didn’t have to stand for the entire show, and then we witnessed a wonderful night of music. It was the last night of their tour, and everybody was loose and having fun. Thomas Dolby, performing solo behind a bank of keyboards and Linn drums was a kick, performing not only his hits, but also weaving in fun snippets of Gary Numan’s “Cars” and The Cure’s “Love Song” into “One of Our Submarines.” He opened with a vocoder cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday,” which you will get a tiny bit of in this show.

I was armed with my Kodak Zi8 and my cellphone, and while I wanted to enjoy the show as a civilian, I did shoot some video, including one full song by each artist, and you’ll see those above, along with a few fun little bits, like Dolby joining Bailey for a verse of a cover of The Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.”  I also got the complete life cycle of the giant balloon during “You Take Me Up.”

Inspired by our summer concert fun and the resulting video, I saved the last two picks in The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide for the Thompson Twins and Thomas Dolby.

Into The Gap Deluxe 40th Anniversary Edition
by Thompson Twins
3 CD set or colored vinyl available where music is sold or at Amazon

In the 1980s the Thompson Twins rose from squat-based free-form indie anarchy – with 1981’s Set and ‘82’s A Product Of… – to world domination, with a set at Live Aid backed by Nile Rodgers and Madonna. They had 7 top 40 hits in the US and 10 in the UK with another 4 top 40 hits in the US Dance Chart including 2 No1’s with ‘Lies’ and ‘Hold Me Now’ and over 10 million album sales worldwide.

Into The Gap by Thompson Twins is an era-defining album of the `80s. This 40th Anniversary Edition is the most comprehensive reissue of this album ever, remastered at Abbey Road Studios and compiled with the full blessing of all three band members from the classic line-up.

This Deluxe 3 CD set includes 30 bonus tracks, 12 of which are previously unreleased. Featuring digitally restored artwork and a 24-page booklet with new liner notes written by John Earls and contributions from all three band members. It’s also available on red vinyl, as a straight reissue of the original album. You can find it whereever music is sold, or follow the links above to Amazon.

Prevailing Wind
by Thomas Dolby
Archway Publishing
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1665758317
$24.99 (softcover) $32.19 (hardcover) from Amazon or other booksellers.

Thomas Morgan Robertson, known by his stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur, and teacher, renowned for his innovative contributions to music and technology. Born on October 14, 1958, in London, Dolby rose to prominence in the 1980s with his hit singles “She Blinded Me with Science” and “Hyperactive!”. His distinctive blend of electronic music and inventive compositions made him a key figure in the new wave movement, though his work spans a wide array of musical styles beyond the high-energy pop sound.

An author as well, Dolby’s memoir “The Speed of Sound” chronicles his adventures in the music industry and beyond, offering readers a glimpse into his multifaceted career. With his novel “Prevailing Wind” released in June 2024, Dolby continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation, inspiring audiences worldwide with his endless passion for music and technology.

Here’s the description:

On the eve of WW1, amidst the turbulence of the Ludlow Massacre and the Triangle Shirt Factory fire, the young Haskell brothers Davey (16) and Jacob (21) dream of escaping the poverty of their lobsterman life in Deer Isle, Maine. Their sailing talents catch the eye of the powerful New York Yacht Club, with a chance for glory in the prestigious America’s Cup race series.

The brothers’ bond is tested as they both fall for Edith, a captivating Irish maid. Family loyalty is at stake, and now, the pursuit of sporting fame threatens to drive them apart. Complicating matters further, someone must stay behind to care for their ailing parents.

When a near-fatal accident leaves one brother hospitalized and consumed by the need for revenge, a compassionate Latina nurse helps him heal, showing him a path beyond bitterness.

Meanwhile, the millionaire yachtsmen harbor dark secrets. A glamorous concubine is hidden away on a luxury yacht, leading to blackmail and scandal.

As the bachelor heir to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune grapples with his future, preferring the freedom of the sea over his family’s wealth, the Haskell brothers must navigate their own choices between love, family, and ambition.

Can they overcome the trials that threaten to tear them apart, or will the winds of change leave them stranded in the past?

Fans of Dolby’s musical storytelling will likely enjoy his prose work as well. Prevailing Wind is available from any bookseller using the ISBN code above, or follow those links to Amazon.

The Master List for The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide will be posted later today.

Our second entry on Thanksgiving Day is for an experience…one we recommend each year for people in the Charleston, WV area.  Mark Scarpelli and Dan Kehde’s rock opera, MARY, a Charleston tradition, opens the day after Thanksgiving.

The Contemporary Youth Arts Company will present the 28th annual production of the Mark Scarpelli-Dan Kehde rock opera MARY at 7 PM November 29 & 30 and December 5, 6, and 7 with additional 2 PM matinees on December 1st and 8th at the Elk City Playhouse, 218 Washington St. W, Charleston. Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $8.00 for students and seniors and are available online at cyaccharleston.ticketleap.com. Early online ticket purchases are highly recommended.

To get you in the mood for this production by Charleston Youth Arts Company, you can sample a Radio Free Charleston playlist of clips from previous  productions in the video at the bottom of this post. This year MARY happens at the Elk City Playhouse at 218 W Washington St, Charleston, on the city’s historic West Side.

I’m going to quote from CYAC’s press releases for the rest of this post, but if you haven’t seen MARY: A Rock Opera, you really should…

The story of the nine months prior to the birth of Jesus Christ seen through the eyes of a young girl destined to be the most important woman in the Christian tradition, MARY has become a family friendly holiday tradition throughout the greater Charleston area.

Drawing talent from all over the greater Kanawha Valley, this year’s cast includes Maddie Wright in the title role, with Nik Tidquist as Joseph, Julia Carriger as the Archangel Gabriel, Erin Martin as Elizabeth, Rob Cleland as Zechariah, and Matty Connelly as Herod, along with a chorus of angels, and live accompaniment led by Lisa Peery.

The annual production began rehearsals in early October for the traditional opening night the day after Thanksgiving. A driving score and an ageless story continue to give audiences new insight to the days and months leading up to the first Christmas.

You might want to keep in mind that MARY is a wonderful experience that can make for a very nice early Christmas present for the theatre-lover on your shopping list.

Today is Turkey Day, and that means…well…hardly anybody is reading this blog or The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide right now.

Once again to honor the holiday and also so we don’t squander any good gift suggestions, today we’re going to offer up our own style of Turkey–god-awfully goofy gifts that could be gag gifts, or white elephant gifts, or even gifts that might gag a white elephant.

These gifts are either amusing or disturbing, and you might want to think long and hard before actually wrapping any of these and putting them under the tree. Either make sure that the recipient has a great sense of humor, or is at least somebody you won’t mind antagonizing. Some are annoying. Some are disgusting. Some look edible but are still gross.

My descriptions will be short and brutally honest. Also, there are five picks today. I didn’t want to put enough time into this to whittle it down to three. Be glad I’m not in a dark mood. There were almost Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy gift ideas.

Under each headline there will also be a link to the website from which you can find these monstrosities.

Happy Turkey Day, everybody. Maybe be thankful that you don’t get any gifts like this.

Bootleg Coke-Bottle Transformer
$8.99 from Amazon

Our first awful gift idea is a knockoff Transformer, that converts from a robot samurai into a sort of Coca-Cola bottle. Not only is it a fake Transformer, it’s also a bootleg Coke item!

And how can you beat this official listing title?

2024 New Beverage Bottles Transformer Robot Toys, Soda Can Transforming Robot Toys for Kids Gift, Creative Soda Deformation Figures for Boys, Birthday Christmas Choice for Boyfriend (red)

We have to quote from the description, too:

❤️【2024 New Beverage Bottles Transformer Robot Toys】Unleash the imagination of your little ones with the Cyninesm 2024 New Beverage Bottles Transformer Robot Toys! These aren’t your ordinary robots; they’re disguised as everyday beverage bottles, ready to surprise and delight your child with their innovative transformation feature.
❤️【Versatile Design】Perfect for boys and robot enthusiasts of all ages, these transformer toys offer a unique play experience that combines the familiarity of a beverage bottle with the excitement of a robot transformation. With easy-to-follow steps, kids can transform their bottle into a robot and back again, encouraging fine motor skills and problem-solving abilities.
❤️【Beverage Bottles Transformer Robot】Looks like a soda can but turns into a cool robot toy with simple steps, sparking endless imagination and fun for kids.
❤️【Safety Comes First】This funny robot toy set is made with premium quality, highly durable ABS, a heavy-duty plastic which is 100% safe, non-toxic and guaranteed to withstand kids’ daily energetic handling.

You gotta love a bootleg toy, folks. Making it even cheesier, it might not arrive in time for Christmas, and the product photo has a giant baby looking on, so you know it’s cool.

Star Wars Darth Vader Popcorn Maker
$48.93 from Hot Topic

A little-known fact from Star Wars lore is that in the original script for the legendary space epic, Darth Vader would take a break oce in a while and use his head to make popcorn for the Stormtroopers.

This hot air popper is the perfect companion for a Star Wars viewing party. Pour in the kernels and watch through the clear top as hot air pops them for a healthy, delicious snack. Meticulous detailing with easy to clean, removable parts make this popper a little hero. Top cover doubles as a serving bowl; Just remove from the base and flip it over.

Wash the removable popping chute, cup and lid with soap and water and clean the outside of the machine with a damp cloth, if needed.

Turn to the dark side of air-popped corny tastiness by eating right out of the head of Darth Vader! You can pretend you’re eating his brains!

Salad Fingers Plush 11.81″
$7.49 from Walmart

This is a plush toy of dubious legality, but you can buy it through Walmart, so at least it has an air of respectability. If you know what Salad Fingers is, then you might be a little surprised that anybody made a plush toy.

There is the possiblity that this is a bootleg toy, so let’s see the description (complete with weird bullet points) to determine the level of legitimacy.

🧸【Safe Material】Salad Fingers Plush is filled with high-quality plush, elastic PP cotton, soft and comfortable, delicate touch, excellent elasticity, and will not deform when compressed.
🧸【Design Inspiration】This Salad Fingers Plush is made based on the popular TV show. It mades minor changes but perfectly restores the style characteristics, which is cute and popular.
🧸【Size】Salad Fingers Plush measures 11.81 inches, just the right size for kids to carry and play with. You can take it anywhere and it will accompany you like a friend.
🧸【Unique Gift】The Salad Fingers Plush can give kids a warm hug and are the perfect gift for fans, as well as holiday party and cosplay gifts for you and your friends.
🧸【Widely Use】These TV plushies can be used as a soft pillow; can be decorative for living rooms, a bedtime buddy as well as a daytime friend. An ultrasoft hugging bed pillow or waist pillow for bedroom, family, office, home, car, and every place you like.

So, if you like the idea of a plush based on an exceptionally creepy YouTube series from over a decade ago…knock yourself out. It will make for an unforgettable gift, in a “WTF was that” sort of way.

Pizza Area Rug
Various sizes and prices, from Fresh House

Okay, this is goofy and cool. It’s an area rug printed with the image of pepperoni pizza. It can make you hungry just looking at it. Chances are that anybody who gets this as a gift will react with confusion, at the very least.

Aside from that, it’s a pretty mundane rug. Fresh House describes it thusly:

Great for any decor, adds texture to the floor and complements any decor.

Durable and resistant to soiling, stain, and fading. Without even mentioning the design, Fresh House describes it thusly:

Feels soft under your foot and vivid colors won’t fade over time. Your rug will instantly add fashion to any room’s decor. It features trendy colors as well as its design.

Beautiful, blended colors along with clean, easy-to-match designs make your rug perfect for any room, home or office.

The enhanced soft pile keeps dirt out and keeps your rug looking great for years. Easy to clean.

No mention that it looks like a giant pizza. You have to respect that.

Gifts From Uranus

Our last Turkey Gift suggestion is a repeat from six years ago, AND it’s also a place where you can find some really legitimately nice gifts.

But they all center around butt jokes. These are gifts pulled right out of Uranus.

Uranus Missouri, that is. See, down in Uranus, for some reason, the folks found themselves to be the butt of many a joke, and rather than feel sad and wallow in pity, they decided to pick themselves up, and put their money where their Uranus is. They got in on the joke, and created a tourist attraction along the historic Route 66, and now you can take the joy of Uranus and spread it among all your friends.

The gift giving potential is tremendous. You can find T Shirts, Mugs, Magnets, Tin signs, shot glasses, canned goods and more, all emblazoned with greetings from Uranus.

You can even treat yourself to fresh fudge, direct from the famous fudge factory in Uranus.

If you want to keep up with all the happenings so that you can stick your head right up Uranus and be informed, you can subscribe to the local newspaper, The Uranus Examiner. You can keep up with all the news about the world’s largest belt buckle and the Sideshow Museum, along with all poop on what’s happening at the fudge factory.

I’m sure you all have someone on your holiday shopping list who would get a swift kick out of gifts from Uranus. Get off your butt and visit the website for the bottom line on all the cool stuff going on in Uranus!