PopCult

The PopCulteer
July 17, 2026

We’ve got a short and locally-focused PopCulteer this week as your humble blogger heads out of town for the third consecutive weekend (I’m getting too old for this, but I don’t intend to stop). Today our topic is the new Kaiju-Kroger in South Charleston, and the surrounding Park Place shopping center. I’ve touched on both of these things before, HERE and HERE.

Super King Kamehameha Kroger

First…I’ve been to the new Kroger a few times now, and it’s pretty much what I expected. The grocery section is a wee bit larger than the Teays Valley Kroger. It’s nice, with a very impressive fancy-ass cheese counter, a gigantic liquor section that’s totally useless to me, and a layout that will take me months to get used to. It’s a grocery store. It’s where you go to buy fud and fud accessories. It’s fine and a little exciting because of the newness of it all.

More booze than you can shake a stick at

As for the much-anticipated clothing, toys, hardware and other previously-alien-to-Kroger sections. They are decidedly meh. That’s also not a surprise.

This store basically exists because Kroger does not want Meijer to gain a foothold in another state. Meijer is a regional chain, with over 500 stores in six (soon to be seven) states, and they pretty much do what Kroger is trying to do with this Markeplace concept. Half of each store is grocery and half is a department store.

Meijer stores are usually the size of Walmart, but the quality of merchandise is a little higher than Target. It’s a nice mix. Mel and I like to shop there when we’re on road trips. They have a great toy department.

Miejer had shown interest in Park Place years ago, but Kroger, knowing that it would devastate their local market share in what is an already economically-challenged region, jumped at the chance to get some nice tax credits, consolidate two of their older stores, and block a competitor from entering another market.

Kroger doesn’t feel threatened by Meijer…if they did, they’d just buy them outright like they’re doing with Giant Eagle, but when you take the tax credits depreciation and write-offs into account, they’ll come out ahead with this move.

The problem with Kroger’s plan is that they do not have an experienced team of retail buyers for the new departments, and they don’t have the supply chains in place for those yet, so for now, the selection is underwhelming and the prices are high, and they have to battle the public perception that Kroger is not the place to go to buy pants, power tools and playthings.

How can you be mad at CAKES?

What I’m finding amusing is the online hostility. People seem to be flocking to the new Kroger just to bitch about it. Folks are calling it the “Swamp Kroger.” Others are saying that the Rich People Kroger at Ashton Place is much better (it isn’t). It’s another example of Charleston’s grand tradition of tearing down something new simply because it’s new.

It’s really not that bad. The upgraded deli alone is way more impressive than anything I’ve seen in a Trader Joe’s. It’s also nice to rediscover all the items that they stopped selling in the Dunbar Kroger over the last five years as they downgraded that store to make sure the regular customers missed it less.

Yes, it’s big and takes longer to get through. That should be expected when you have a bigger store with more stuff in it.

It’s nice to have new carts that have four rolling wheels and don’t go missing as easily. As someone who never drank, stopped eating read meat over a year ago and couldn’t care less about a sushi bar, I really appreciate the fancy-ass cheese department. I do miss the cheese bread that they used to sell in Dunbar. I think there was only one person who knew how to make that the right way, and they don’t seem to have made the move to the new store.

This is just a small part of the fancy-ass cheese department

Dude…Olive Bar, I mean…

In general, I like the selection at the new Kroger, and even though their toy section is anemic at best, I still appreciate that it’s there.

I also like being able to get a dollar a gallon discount on gas, now more than ever.

For me, the new Kroger is just an example of life going on.

Park Place: A Large Open-Air Food Court ?

I do wonder what the hell is going on with Park Place, the shopping center now anchored by this shiny new Kroger behemoth.

We were originally promised an “upscale” mall, which I realize was asking a lot for an area that doesn’t really have a very upscale demographic.

But I was expecting there to at least be a few retail establishments of some sort.

Right now, aside from Kroger, the only retailer announced is Skechers. It’s not a bad addition. I wear Skechers. I also only buy a new pair of shoes once every three or five years. We’re not exactly talking about a high-traffic destination retailer here.

The whole idea of a shopping center is that you have tons of retail establishments to bring in a wide variety of eager shoppers. Once you have that foot traffic, then restaurants will jump into the fray to pluck some of that foot traffic as they go by and plant their butts at the table for a meal.

Right now, and I admit this is very early in the process, the mix of retail to restaurant is way, way unbalanced. It’s like they put the food cart before the horse.  Park Place desperately needs more stores that sell goods, rather than adding restaurant after restaurant.

Word is that the locally-owned Pizzas and Cream, with the curious mix of pizza and ice cream, had its soft opening a couple of days ago, and that’s great. I just worry that cramming a ton of restaurants all together with nothing else to drive traffic will be a commercial disaster.

Menards is supposed to be the other anchor store, but there are rumblings that they’re not happy with the giant Kroger moving right next door, since Menards is basically a big box hardware store that added toys, clothing, groceries and other stuff to their mix. There may be nothing to those rumblings, but Menards is also notoriously unpredictable when it comes around to finally building their stores after they’ve been announced. Their Parkersburg-area store at Emerson Commons was supposed to have been the first in West Viginia when it was announced ten years ago.

They have not yet begun construction. Since then we’ve had four Menards stores built and opened in the state.

Meanwhile Park Place has Kroger, a shoe store, a hair salon, a nail salon, and close to a dozen restaurants expected to open by the end of the year.

A year and a half ago I listed a few “dream picks” for retailers who I think would be a good fit for Park Place, and I’m hoping that some of them are still able to elbow their way in between all the restaurants.

These included reasonable choices like Old Navy, Barnes & Noble (or Half-Price Books), Lush, Miniso and Box Lunch. And if they have to add even more restaurants, Potbelly, Panda Express and Denny’s were on my list.

I’d love to see Park Place become a vital, thriving economic engine in our region. I suspect that there are several other retailers on deck who just haven’t been announced yet, but I would hate to see this project flounder due to an over-reliance on food establishments. Aside from hurting all the local restaurants, I just don’t see a giant food court being that much of a draw.

All kidding aside, I see plenty of room for Old Navy, Barnes & Noble, one of those new Toys R Us stores, Miniso, Hot Topic, Torrid, Box Lunch, Lush, a Gashapon place. I could go on…

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

STUFF TO DO is PopCult‘s weekly guide to events happening in Charleston, Huntington and a few other points here in West Virginia, and sometimes a little beyond our borders.

This feature is a remnant of our days operating under the auspices of The Charleston Gazette, initially as one of the “Gazzblogs.”

I’ve always had a bit of an identity crisis about the mission of PopCult because of this. My goal is to cover a wide variety of pop culture themes, including music, toys, TV, movies, live theatre, comic books and even some far-fetched pop culture flotsam and jetsam like cereal and Temu.  However, I also want to support the local scene, and STUFF TO DO is one way I can do that without breaking my back. Some folks are still confused about whether PopCult is a local interest or mainstream blog.

The answer is that PopCult is a mainstream blog with an international readership, but with a slight local focus. Since I am the sole author of the blog, and I’ve spent my entire life here in West Virginia, it definitely shapes my perspective and is relevant to the rest of what I write.

Lately we upgraded some of the workings under the hood here at PopCult. If everything worked out properly, our comments should be operational again. A side benefit of this upgrade is that I have way more detailed reader statistics than I ever had before.

That is not really a big deal since I’ve never bothered to try to monetize this blog, but it has revealed some fascinating trends, and confirmed some of my long-held suspicions.

Last year, for reasons I still have not figured out, our readership more than doubled what it was the year before. So far this year, we are on pace to triple last year’s number.  However, that growth has largely been fueled by our posts devoted to our music specialty shows on The AIR, as well as our book, toy, movie and other reviews.  STUFF TO DO lags far behind in terms of reader interest. I’m talking 90 percent behind. Our daily readership dips from thousands to hundreds…sometimes only dozens.

You may notice in the coming weeks that on days when I run STUFF TO DO, I will probably have a second post, usually a short review of one of the books, toys or movies that I have piled up on my desk.  Once again, my solution to a problem is to make more work for myself.

I am not about to drop this feature, but going forward I plan to streamline it, shrink the boilerplate even more than I have in recent weeks, and instead of cramming it with as many graphics as I can find, I’m going to be much more selective, and try to keeep the number of graphics below ten or a dozen. I have gotten complaints about the page loading too slowly because of all the images. Being more selective means that I have to either really like the event, or really be impressed by the digital flyer. AI flyers that bore me and look like everything else probably won’t make the cut.

I also question the value of using this space to tell you about huge events which are heavily-promoted elsewhere. I seriously doubt anybody went to The Regatta or FestivALL because they read about them here. This week I will remind you that ArtWalk in Downtown Charleston happens tonight, and I’ve got a big ole graphic to explain it right here…

Most weeks I will try to tell you in detail 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.

Two things have convinced me that I can lighten my load a bit.  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.

I also need to point out that 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…

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Last weekend your humble blogger attended the second Krugerfest Action Figure and Collectors show at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum in Wheeling, and I did so as a civilian. Sort of.

I mean, I am writing about it, and I have a few photos, but I didn’t shoot video, and to be honest, I wanted to enjoy this show as more of a private affair.

Krugerfest grew out of a 2024 memorial for avid Mego collector and customizer, Roberto Ligotti, who passed away suddenly that May.  His death shook the collector communities and his fellow MEGO collectors and customizers wanted to do do something in honor of the man who sometimes called himself, “The Blue Meanie.”

On very short notice a small gathering of friends was organized at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum in Wheeling, which was the site of the first ten MEGO Meet fan conventions. The “Friends of ‘Berto” gathering was small, intimate, bittersweet, but ultimately fun, helping some fans put aside differences and get together to honor the memory of a fallen comrade.

Chad Gordy was the primary instigator of this fun gathering and the show was such a great, if small, event, that it was decided to create an annual event to capture the sheer fun and friendship of the early days of MEGO Meet at Kruger Street.

Mel and I took Lee Harrah to the Friends of ‘Berto show, and last year we returned with Lee to the first Krugerfest. It was the last time we had a chance to spend a substantial amount of time with Lee.

We lost Lee last Thanksgiving, and this year’s Krugerfest was almost like an Irish wake, only with action figures instead of whiskey. Lee was on everybody’s mind, but it was not a sad gathering. We remembered our friend, told stories, and paid a fitting tribute to him, much as he did with ‘Berto at the first show. There was a lot of laughter and fond memories, because Lee would not have wanted his friends to be bummed out at a toy show.

Lee was at the show in spirit, and in action figure form, as his close friend, Tony DiTrapino, had a “self portrait” zombie figure that Lee made a few years ago, who watched over the proceedings with a couple of his Hulk buddies. It was almost like having Lee there, except other people were able to get a word in edgewise.

I’m not great at memorial services, but I can’t think of a better way to have celebrated my friend’s life than to have spent some time doing what he loved doing at a place that he loved with people who mattered to him.

Here’s a few photos…

Zombie Lee, flanked by a couple of Hulky stand-ins. Lee would have loved attending a pseudo memorial service for himself in zombie form.

Lee also would’ve wanted this action figure of Bub the zombie from Day of the Dead. He was Lee’s favorite, and he even had a tattoo of him.

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Just about every Tuesday I tell you how great it is to tune into The AIR  and today we prove it once again with a new episode of Radio Free Charleston! 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 open the show with a track from Chicago’s Kerosene Stars.  This is one of our Chicago pipeline bands, and Kerosene Stars, is crowdfunding their next album. The campaign has 9 days left,I first told you about this project two weeks ago, but you can still go check out their music HERE, and if you like what you hear, go support the campaign HERE.

That’s not all the cool stuff we have this week, though. We play a song about Bulletman to plug this weekend’s Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo in Louisville, courtesy of Stitch Jones & His Bionic Marines, and we have new music from The Polkamaniacs, The Rolliing Stones, Cricketman, Duck City Music, Naked Brunch, William Matheny, Stephen Kohler, Jeff Ellis, Sasha Colette & The Magnolias, Tim Bowness, Nothing To Protect, Matt Berry Trio, Magic Sands, Ghoulbox and more, spread out across all three hours of this week’s all-new program.

It’s a wild mix of local, independent and cult artists, proving that free-format radio is still not dead yet.

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

RFC V5 277

hour one
Kerosene Stars “Don’t Follow Me”
Stitch Jones & His Bionic Marines “Bullet man”
The Polkamaniacs “The Big Lebowski Polka”
Hardy Mums “Cuttin’ Sage”
The Rolling Stones “Rough And Twisted”
Whippers “Hoosier Daddy (live)”
Payback’s A Bitch “Stop The World, I Wanna Get Off”
Cricketman “Too Many Bosses”
The Aquabats “Anti-Matter”
Red Audio “Girl From Outer Space”
Wendy James “Bad Intentions And A Bit of Cruelty”
Amazing Heeby Jeebies “White Light, White Heat”
Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess “Unravelling”
Duck Cty Music “Windows Down”
Naked Brunch “Kiddie Pool”

hour two
William Matheny “Everyone Leaves Everyone”
Jeff Ellis “Holding On For Now”
Stephen Kohler “Paintbrush”
Elvis Costello “Pay It Back”
Sasha Colette & The Magnolias “Folklore And Fairytales”
Tim Bowness & Butterfly Mind “Sing To Me”
Option 22 “What Do We Do”
The Settlement “Gotta Have You”
Nothing To Protect “Silver Moon”
Matt Berry Trio “Everything’s Peachy Pt. 7”
Magic Sands “Back door”
Decomposing In Paris “The Way It Is”
Veezy Coffman “Chayil”

hour three
Ghoulbox “Diggin’ You”
Kerosene Stars “Kerosine”
John Radcliff and Bobby Miller “Body”
Julez and the Rollerz “I Don’t Know You”
Samuel S.C. “I Need A Moment”
The Pretty Reckless “For I Am Death”
CHUM “Headhunter”
GRPPLNG “Hellbound”
Mega Ran “Wrestling Is Better Than What You Like”
Tunesmiths “Hands Over Eyes”
Of The Dell “Yes I Will”
June Swoon “Someone Else’s Dream”
The Paranoid Style “Shark Eyes”

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 bring you two classic editions of The Swing Shift, just to get you all Swingy and Stuff.

 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 week’s art is a very small, very rough first attempt at capturing a view from the CTA Brown Line (AKA “The L”) in Chicago.

It’s watercolor on textured paper. My intent is to re-do this in acrylics on canvas.  Rest assured that, when I do, that flaming bright green I used on the one tree will be considerably tamed.

I was knocking this out quick, and didn’t bother mixing the paints to my satisfaction.

The finished piece will feature considerably more detail, and quite a bit of the Edward Hopper flair that I’ve been playing with for a few years now.

If you want to see this image larger and uncropped, 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 the very first 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.

It’s once again time to plug a great toy show that’s within easy driving distance of Charleston,  and your PopCulteer and his wife will be there.

The Twelfth Annual Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo happens next weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. It’s Saturday (with a Friday preview night) and it happens at the Paroquet Springs Conference Centre, at 395 Paroquet Springs Drive, in Shepherdsville, KY, just like last year.  It’s not far at all from the South Louisville Antique Toy Mall, so most veteran toy collectors ought to have an easy time finding it.

This is a great show. I’ve been to several in the past, and above and below you’ll see videos I made to document the visits. Up top it’s our Music Video clip from last year. Below you’ll see several videos from the years preceding.

Of special note this year is the fiftieth anniversary of Bulletman, which will be celebrated in style at the show. That celebration will kick off Tuesday with a special song on Radio Free Charleston.

There will be dozens of dealers with great vintage GI Joes, plus GI Joe from the Real American Hero era and brand-new custom uniform sets and figures for 12″ and 3 3/4″ GI Joes. There will also be a trio of great new Adventure Command figures (plus accessory sets) that will pay tribute to the “Adventures of GI Joe” line of figures from 1969. Plus there will be tons of other action figures and toys for sale. You might find MEGO, Big Jim, Super Joe, Johnny West, Major Matt Mason and many other great toys from the past.

Collectors can expect new convention sets from several cutomizers and independent toymakers . This is some terriic stuff that is keeping the 1/6 scale hobby alive.

Visit the Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo Facebook event page for more information. It should be a great time, and your PopCulteer will be there, so come up and say “howdy” or something.

This week we go back to the first week of February, 2014, for a show jam-packed with great music and cool stuff. Radio Free Charleston 195, “Powdered Toast Man Shirt,” was our first full-length show of 2014, and it’s fairly epic.

We had music from Spencer Elliott, Cemeterry Schultz, Sign of The Fig, WATT 4 and Crystal Bright and The Silver Hands. We also featured two animated shorts by Jake Fertig, and a trailer for a screening of the classic movie, “Metropolis” at the Clay Center Electric Sky Theater. We miss the days when The Clay Center would screen classic movies in the Sky Theater. It’s such a great place for that.

Host segments were shot in front of The Clay Center, while our musical performances were recorded all over town, at Unity Church, Kanawha Players Theater, The Blue Parrot, The Empty Glass and also in an undisclosed Downtown Charleston alley.

You can find fully-detailed production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
July 10, 2026

So, I was out of town last weekend, missing most of the Fourth of July festivities, but I had a good reason.

Mel Larch, my beautiful wife, wanted to see a play at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and it closes this coming Sunday.  I didn’t realize that it was already running when I found out last month that it was happening NOW, so I told Mel to see if she could get tickets for the weekend of July 4th, because it was the only weekend we had free before Catch As Catch Can closed.

Amtrak terlet selfie, taken at hour 15 of the trip out.

So we hopped on the heat-hampered and delayed Amtrak Cardinal to spend 76 hours in Chicago, where we saw an amazing play, did a little bit of shopping, rode on the L like it was an amusement park ride, and then got to head home on the Cardinal, which was differently-impaired this time. I don’t know what happened, but when we pulled into Charleston, the entire Amtrak train, engine and all, was being pulled by a CSX engine.  We got in four hours late…and it was no big deal. We still had loads of fun.

Since we’re hitting the road again Friday to go to Krugerfest in Wheeling, I’m just going to write a quick review of the play (which is nearly sold out for it’s last three performances, but you can try to get a ticket if you’re in Chicago), and share some photos from the trip.

Catch As Catch Can Is Stunning!

One of the fun things I do when Mel has a play that she really, really wants to see, is to keep myself in the dark about it. I knew nothing about this play going in. I didn’t know if it was a comedy or drama, or what it was about, or even the author’s name. All I knew is that it starred Gary Cole (Office Space, The Brady Bunch Movie, dozens of incredible voices for animation), Tim Hopper (Chicago Fire, Utopia) and Audrey Francis (Empire, ER). All three are Steppenwolf Ensemble members with extensive stage careers, and all three turn in amazing performances in Catch As Catch Can.

Mia Chung is the playwright, and while I didn’t know her work before seeing this play,  after seeing it I will never forget it. She has crafted one of the most brilliantly-structured, mainstream-seeming, works of experimental theatre that I’ve ever witnessed.  It requires a cast of world-class players, each of whom take on two roles, switching back-and-forth often…at one point every few seconds within a long, hectic scene. There are no major costume changes, only the use of a few props. The rest is done by the actor’s mastery of the body language, gestures of voices of each character.

The play begins as a light family comedy, filled with the funny tensions over the holiday season that has been fertile ground for many a comic masterpiece.  Then it suddenly all breaks down. Everything falls apart. Mental illness rips off its mask as one character makes several attempts at suicide. Another has a soul-searing panic attack on stage. What seemed as light, goofy banter turns out to have serious racist and misogynistic roots. The families are put through the ringer and lives are changed forever.

It has the emotional impact of a Loony Tunes cartoon where, halfway through, the TNT starts exploding realistically.

Catch As Catch Can ultimately deals with family dynamics, elder care, mental health issues and stigmas, trauma, “white lies” and self-preservation.

It might be the most provocative play I’ve seen since Downstate, which was also at Steppenwolf.

Each actor plays a parent and a child of the opposite gender. Cole and Hopper begin as the matriarchs of two middle-class families who are gossipping and preparing for a big family gathering. Francis plays the grumpy husband of Cole’s character. Hopper plays a widow.  In the second scene, Cole and Hopper each play the male offspring of their previous characters, as Francis plays the daughter of her previous character. The kids are all dealing with various types of pre-middle age issues.

Having kept myself completely in the dark about the play, I was disoriented at first, but it only took a few moments for the actors to win me over. Then it made perfect sense.

The next scene where the three actors manage to juggle six characters interacting in quick sucession was an acting tour-de-force. Several times the audience couldn’t help but applaud a seamless transition. It was virtuostic.

Also virtuostic is the work of the director, Amy Morton (one of Mel’s acting heroes and also a fantastic director), who brought together this cast with this script and led them to the mind-blowing performances that the play required.

I feel privileged to have seen it.

Meanwhile, Also In The City of Wind

One of the other fun things about this trip was that Mel and I were interviewed by Emilee Tullar for Steppenwolf’s donor newsletter. Longtime readers of PopCult might remember that, about eleven years and eleven months ago, Mel and I snuck off to Chicago and got married…onstage at Steppenwolf, no less.  It’s a very special place for us, and it’s always great to go back. Thanks to Emilee for asking us to talk about how cool it was to get married at Steppenwolf.

When we do go back to Chicago, we love to get into some of the cool things that we can’t do back home, but with just a couple of days to play with, we only indulged in a few Windy City activities….

You know it’s going to be a fun trip when you arrive in Chicago’s Union Terminal, take a wrong turn, and find a row of vending machines filled with Barbies, Hot Wheels and other toys.

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This week STUFF TO DO is attempting to tell you about cool things happening all over this mountainous state and maybe a little bit beyond.

One reason for that is that, this weekend, your humble blogger and his lovely wife are heading to Wheeling, West Virginia for the second (official) KrugerFest, action figure and toy show, which will happen at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum.

Carrying on from 2024’s impromptu memorial show for Roberto Ligotti, and continuing in his memory, KrugerFest is, according to the private group page on Facebook, “A group of like-minded toy collector folks who buy/sell/trade vintage toys. A majority of us grew up with GI Joe (Hasbro), Worlds Greatest Superheroes (Mego), and Star Wars (Kenner). There’s a niche of these folks who’ve been action figure customizers for decades. This is an intimate event – not a huge convention. Please be prepared to gain friendships, not a college tuition yielded from sales.” You can read about the Friends of ‘Berto show HERE and HERE.

This is going to be a bit of a bittersweet show for us, because last year was the last time we got to spend a decent amount of time with Lee Harrah, who sadly passed away last Thanksgiving. It’s not going to be the same without Lee, but I’m sure there will be lots of memories of Lee brought up. It’ll be like a memorial service for him at times. Last year I attended the show as a civilian, so I didn’t shoot photos or video. We wanted to spend as much time with Lee as possible.

This is going to be a fun, small, toy show, with several short-run exclusive MEGO-scale action figures and lots of folks who were part of the original MEGO MEET shows, which were held at Kruger Street for the first ten years, before becoming a nomadic show that moves around the country.  KrugerFest happens July 11 from 8 AM to 4 PM.  It’s a toy show open to public. Adult admission is $15.  Dealer events actually start today, but we won’t be there until Saturday when it’s open to the public.

And that is our feature event this week…

Here’s info about some of the figures…

Most weeks I try to tell you in detail about a few cool events all around the state and if you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future 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. Also, I have limited space, and if I have to bump something, graphics using AI will likely be the first to go.

I should also mention that CharCon happens this weekend. While I have been neck-deep in nerd and geek culture my entire life, I have never managed even the slightest bit of interest in the associated gaming, so all I can do is give you THIS LINK and run a graphic…

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.

I also need to point out that 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 this weekend…

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Twenty years ago in PopCult, I ran the following post under the headline, “The Writer’s Best Friend”:

Two years ago, when I was hunkered down in my office bunker working on a particularly grueling deadline and being the main caregiver to my bedridden mother, I had a steady stream of folks knocking on my front door in a two-hour period. There were two kids selling fundraising crap, a seedy-looking guy asking if I wanted my lawn mowed, a hippy chick selling candles and incense, a Jehovah’s Witness, two ladies from a Baptist Church from Nitro (poaching potential parishioners from the Baptist Church two blocks away, I guess), and a young lady selling magazine subscriptions for Jesus who seemed frightened by the rabbit in my yard (the young lady, that is, Jesus fears no rabbits, or so I’m told).

“Does the bunny bite?” she asked me, her voice quivering. Unfortunately, I didn’t think the vicious attack bunny would scare off any other unwanted visitors, and the constant interruptions were driving me nuts, so I did something drastic. I composed a little note and posted it on my front door. I haven’t been bothered since.

Who know those people could read? The bit about not changing our beliefs because a stranger comes to our door was lifted from Mark Evanier, who writes a blog that I visit every day right here. Mark cracked me up yesterday with this suduko post. The solution is here.

Two years of peace, all because of one little piece of paper taped inside my screen door. Sometimes curmudgeonliness pays off.

*************

It’s been twenty years, and I have an update.

I still have this sign on my door. It’s not the original sign. I have to reprint it every few years because normal wear and tear obscures the printing, as does exposure to sunlight and the elements.

Plus, at least once somebody stole it.

I’m going to have to print a new copy of it soon, because aside from political candidates and churches who feel the need to leave their litter on my porch, it really works. With one exception.

When I print the new copy, I’m going to have to put a special notice at the bottom:

IF YOU’RE THAT MORON WHO RIDES AROUND ON A SCOOTER, ACTS REALLY HIGH, AND TRIES TO PULL THE SCAM WHERE YOU SAY YOU’RE FROM DIRECTV, PLEASE DO NOT KNOCK ON THIS DOOR…AGAIN.  I REALIZE YOU PROBABLY DO A LOT OF DRUGS AND DONT KEEP TRACK OF THINGS, BUT YOU SHOW UP EVERY FEW MONTHS AND DON’T SEEM TO REMEMBER THAT YOU’VE ALREADY BEEN HERE BEFORE. 

YOU HAVE. WE WON’T FALL FOR IT, AND THE COPS ARE ALREADY ON THE WAY.