PopCult

The PopCulteer
March 27, 2026

Last year during the holiday season, I brought you photos and video that I took at Kraynak’s Santa’s Christmasland in Hermitage, Pennsylvania. This was a load of fun, and a couple of weeks ago we decided to make a return visit to see what their Easter display was like.

It did not disappoint. Easter Bunny Lane is equal parts adorable and psychotronic.

Just like the Christmas display, we got to see dozens of animatronic figures, with plenty of visual treats, both secular and religious.

Kryanak’s is a Western Pennsylvania institution, located roughly an hour Northwest of Pittsburgh. For most of the year it’s a a huge store filled with floral supplies, seasonal items and toys and general retail items of a particularly cool nature. At Christmas and Easter, a 300 foot long corridor on the side of the building is transformed into a holiday wonderland, filled with lights, trees, decorations and animatronics.

Let me quote from their website:

Kraynak’s was established 1949 in Hermitage, Pa. There are three divisions of the Kraynak business. The first is the main retail store which is the home of Santa’s Christmasland and Easter Bunny Lane. These walk through displays have become a tradition for many families. This location sells Christmas and Easter decorations, toys, gifts, potted plants from the greenhouse and fresh cut flowers from the floral department.

The second division is the Kraynak’s Lawn and Garden center, located 1000ft behind the original store. At this location you may purchase trees, shrubs, garden supplies, and outdoor furniture.

The third division comprises of six nurseries where trees and shrubs are grown for retail and wholesale sales.

Kraynak’s is a family owned business that promotes fair pricing and quality products. Many families over the years have made Kraynak’s their store for all seasons.

That humble description does not do justice to the elaborate and delightfully bizarre holiday displays, which are fully dismantled each year, with completely-new attractions designed and built the next year. Easter Bunny Lane is open to the public every day they’re open until the Monday after Easter. It’s a real treat for young children or adult stoners.

You can see videos of their displays from this year and many previous years HERE.

Here are my photos, presented partly without captions so you can just take in the wonderful visuals. Sunday, I will have some kind of video put together out of what Mel and I shot at Easter Bunny Lane.

The first section is just Easter Bunny Overload, with an earworm jingle that will haunt you for days. We will not include that in the video.

Continue reading

It’s yet another big weekend filled with STUFF TO DO all around the state of moun-taynes, so let us dig in, shall we?  Remember, I’m just scratching the surface here. Please don’t think this is all there is to offer.

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

Our featured event happens this Sunday, and it’s the Closing Reception for Good Business: Andy Warhol’s Screenprints at the Clay Center. You can expect cocktails, sparkly photo ops, and a night of pop art exploration. At 5 PM, the night kicks off with a screening of Inside Pop Art in the Planetarium. Next, Ann Magnuson will share stories from her New York pop art era and Warhol-world experiences. Then the galleries will open up for after-hours exploring. Free Tickets have to be reserved, and for some reason that involves Google Docs (?), but you can follow THIS LINK to sign up.

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

Most weekends you can find live music at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 PM.  Many Sunday afternoons at 2 PM they also have live music. This weekend you can hear Two Roommates on Friday and County Fair, Savs, Max Gall and J.P. Burr on Saturday. Sunday afternoon stop in for Emmalea Deal.

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

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

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

To hear music in an alcohol-free enviroment, see what’s happening at Pumzi’s, on Charleston’s West Side. March 28th at 7PM come by for an evening with music from Makenna Hope, Chris Sutton, Sasha Colette, Tai Ray, and Sean Richardson.

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

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

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

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

Here we go, roughly in order, it’s graphics for local events happening over the next several days that I was able to scrounge up online. Apologies if some of these graphics contain crappy AI art. I don’t condone it, but I’m not going to leave out an event because of the poor judgment of the promoters…

Continue reading

Wednesday afternoon, The AIR brings you new installments of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, each of which offer their own distinctly different topic.  You can tune in at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM (EDT) Beatles Blast brings you a solid hour of very rarely-heard extended mixes of songs from The Beatles as a group, and solo.

You will hear some wild studio outtakes, rare alternate releases and extended dance mixes. With such long songs, the playlist may look a little short, but rest assured, it’s jam-packed with pure Beatle-y goodness.

Just check out the playlist…

Beatles Blast 130

George Harrison “Got My Mind Set On You”
John Lennon “Well Well Well”
Paul McCartney “Pretty Little Head”
Ringo Starr “Six O’Clock”
The Beatles “You Know My Name”
Paul McCartney “No More Lonely Nights (Playout Version)”
John Lennon “Gimme Some Truth”
Traveling Wilburys “End of the Line”
The Beatles “Revolution 1”

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 brings you the second of two episodes devoted to The Book of Mormon, which celebrates fifteen years since its Broadway debut this year.  Written by South Park creators Trey Paker and Matt Stone, with music by Robert Lopez, who went on to compose the music for Disney’s Frozen, The Book of Mormon still plays to sellout crowds, and has an ongoing national and international tour. The show is so popular that it played in Charleston twice already.

For these two mixtape/mashup shows, Mel presents the composer demos of some songs right before the version from the original Broadway cast album. You’ll get to see some of the changes made during the creation of the show, with trunk songs, major lyrical changes and different arrangements.  Originally the show took place in Somalia instead of Uganda. That’s why it takes two episodes for the full immersive and not-safe-for-work experience. In this second part, you’ll get to hear even more drastic changes, as some entire songs were jettisoned and replaced with other compostions.

The musical tells the story of two very different Mormon missionaries who find themselves sent to Uganda to spread the word of their holy book. Elder Price and Elder Cunningham find themselves reversing roles as the earnest leader and the perineal screw-up, and they wind up putting a whole new spin on their own unique interpretation of the gospel.

Like I said last week, The Book of Mormon is one of Mel’s absolute favorite shows.

Next Monday at 9 PM you can hear both of these special Book of Mormon episodes of Curtain Call, back to back, on The AIR.

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.

Tuesday is always a great day to tune into The AIR  and today we prove it 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.  

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

 This week we open with a full hour of the best local aind independent music that we can get our grubby little fingers on, and then we present a ten-year-old episode of Radio Free Charleston International that’s filled to the brim with unusual cover tunes.

But back to that first hour…we open with a brand-new single from Vinto Van Go, one of the bands that came to our attention via the Chicago pipeline. Then we have Best Dressed Ghost, whom we got to enjoy in person at the WV Punk Rock Flea Market last Saturday.

The rest of our first hour is filled with new music from Tape Age, The Paranoid Style, Nothing To Protect, Garden and more. And we close out the hour with a great tune by The Settlement, who are currently recording (and raising money for) their next album. Follow that link in the playlist and throw some money their way.

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

Radio Free Charleston V5 263

hour one
Vinto Van Go “Ziggy Is An Alien”
Best Dressed Ghost“Sorry”
Tape Age “General Strike”
The Paranoid Style “Elegant Bachelors”
Free Whenever “Bank Robbery”
J Marinelli “Put Some Blood In It”
Payback’s A Bitch “Burning Love”
Nothing To Protect “Amanda Blue”
Gardenn “Who Knew”
Corduroy Brown “Doin’ My Best (EDM Mix)”
The Heavy Hitters Band “Ornithology (The Story of Icarus)”
Golden “Just A Ghost”
Samuel S.C. . “Another Good Lie”
The Settlement “Days Go By (Live)”

hour two
Ben Folds “Video Killed The Radio Star”
Kate Bush “Sexual Healing”
Flaming Lips “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Dave Stewart and Colin Blunstone “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted”
Men Without Hats “S.O.S.”
DEVO “Are You Experienced”
Reel Big Fish “Brown Eyed Girl”
Save Ferris “Come On Eileen”
Buck-O-Nine “Pass The Dutchie”
Goldfinger “99 Red Balloons”
Klaus Nomi “Lightning Strikes”
Keith Emerson “I’m A Man”
Joe Lynn Turner, Tony Kaye & Steve Cropper “Riders On The Storm”
Todd Rundgren “Good Vibrations”

hour three
Dave Gregory “Frankenstein”
Tin Machine “Working Class Hero”
Tim Curry “I Will”
Adrian Belew “Free As A Bird”
Dave Edmonds, “Lady Madonna”
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes “On The Radio”
The Clash “Police On My Back”
Rabbit “Locomotive Breath”
GWAR “School’s Out”
Rammstein “Pet Semetary”
The Rock Lobsters “Stairway To Heaven”
Pseudo Echo “Funkytown”
Robert Palmer “Bad Case of Lovin’ You”
Keith Moon “The Kids Are All Right”

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 get ready for a new edition of The Swing Shift. This episode kicks off with Sam Robinson who comes to us via the RFC Chicago Pipeline, and continues with a nearly-random assortment of top-notch Swing from the last 110 years!

Just check out the playlist…

The Swing shift 179

Sam Robinson “Sam’s Dig”
Paul Carrack “Sticks and Stones”
Squirrel Nut Zippers “Fat City”
Joe Newman “Dream A Little Dream Of Me”
Billie Holiday “Twenty Four Hours a Day”
June Christy “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby”
Bunny Berigan “Jelly Roll Blues”
Brian Lynch Big Band “Crucible In Crisis”
The Boswell Sisters “River Stay Away From My Door”
Count Basie & Frank Sinatra “Fly Me To The Moon”
Benny Carter Swinging The Blues”
The Dutch Swing College Band “You Made Me Love You”
Red Nichols & His Five Pennies “Davenport Blues”
Rod Stewart & Jools Holland “Night Train”

 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 inspired by a photo I took out of a parking building on Court Street in Charleston, probably about sixteen or seventeen years ago. It shows both the original Kanawha County Courthouse, and the newer Judicial Annex (plus a truck that I’ll probably leave out when I do a full-size painting of this-or maybe not).

This is a color rough done on illustration board using acryllcs, and for some reason I must’ve put more effort into this than I usually do on a rough, because I think it looks pretty good.

I applied some of the techniques I’ve learned studying Hopper, to an image that is not remotely close to his style in terms of composition. To be honest, this was my main goal in studying Hopper so much. I wanted to take his approach to light and shadow and apply it to more surreal ideas and composition.

Composition-wise, this is closer to the 1966 Batman TV show.

I came across the original photo a couple of weeks ago while sorting out old files, and decided to take a shot at transferring this to paint, since I can’t remember the last time I painted an image based on my hometown of Charleston instead of almost any other city I’ve visited in the last decade.

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 new episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM, Nigel Pye brings us a Valentine-ish episode of Psychedelic Shack, with his usual mix of great psychedelic rock. For reasons unrevealed to me, every other song this week has the word “Freedom” in the title. Check out the playlist…

Psychedelic Shack 109

Syd Barrett “No Man’s Land”
Wizard “Freedom”
The Dream Machine “The First Bird”
Blue Cheer “Saturday Freedom”
Vanilla Fudge “Some Velvet Morning”
Ancient Grease “Freedom Train”
Deep Purple “Until Tomorrow”
Uriah Heap “Sweet Freedom”
Gary Brooker & Tribute Ensemble “A Whiter Shade of Pale”
Jimi Hendrix “Freedom”

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, Herman Linte brings you another two-hour mixtape of proggy live recordings on Prognosis…

Prognosis 136

Steven Wilson “Objects Outlive Us”
YES ” Ritual (Nous Sommes Du Soleil)”
Nektar “1-2-3-4”
Jan Akkerman “Spiritual Privacy”
Jethro Tull “Locomotive Breath”
Big Big Train “Beneath the Masts”
Peter Gabriel “The Rhythm of the Heat”
Renaissance “Mother Russia”
John Wetton “Only Time Will Tell”

You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.

Tonight at 9 PM we bring you our Monday night line-up featuring two hours each of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, plus six hours overnight with an assortment of our programming from Haversham Recording Institute. The Haversham stuff starts at 1 AM and tonight it’s a six mind-expanding editions of Psychedelic Shack.

So…I have to admit something.

I hate basketball.

I didn’t always. And to be fair, I will on a rare occasion shoot some baskets (or try to, anyway). I was never more than indifferent to it as a spectator sport, but then life experiences took place that made it intolerable to me.

I  just can’t watch that crap. It’s torture to me.

This goes back about four decades to when I was working for Public Broadcasting, and because, at that time, they couldn’t give away the rights to cover college sports, the state legislature mandated that we had to cover Marshall University’s basketball and football.

The football I didn’t mind so much. We mainly covered road games, and I didn’t already have a semi-sour attitude toward the sport. Basketball, on the other hand, was not anything I would ever choose to watch. I associate it with school, and that’s a pretty negative association.

But covering it for Public Broadcasting meant 18-hour days of back-breaking labor, loading in and out, pulling cables, having to sit next to John Dickensheets, being forced to be nice to Marshall Athletic Boosters (an unsavory lot at best back then), and then coming home to a bi-polar wife in the waning months of an emotionally grueling, abusive marriage.

Seeing basketball on TV brings back all those memories.

So, while I am always a huge proponent of folks doing what makes them happy, I really resent the non-stop coverage and obsessive talk about the annual NCAA basketball tournament. I’d really rather never have to hear about it again.  If you enjoy basketball, go right ahead. You don’t need my permission or participation. Aside from that, no offense, folks, but you all can take that college basketball and shove it up your collective asses.

Seriously, don’t ask me about brackets unless you’re putting up some freaking shelves.

When March rolls around, there’s only one Madness I care about. You can see a cool documentary about them up at the top of this post.

This week we go back to February, 2013, for one of the most-watched episodes of Radio Free Charleston.  We brought you a music video by Byzantine, and presented a simulated cartoon of The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque, set to a musical collaboration between Radiohead and Frank Panucci. Not content with that, we also have Douglas Imbrogno and Albert Perrone from Third Eye Cabaret, and animation from Andrew Benjamin, of Hellblinki. There’s even a cameo by Linda Blair and Penn Jillette.

The music video for “Soul Eraser” by Byzantine was directed by Matt Maloney and was shot right here, in West Virginia. It’s always a blast to have Byzantine on the show to lend us a little legitimacy.  “Nude,” the Radiohead song remixed by Frank Panucci provided the soundtrack for our film of the debut perofrmance by The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque. The video footage was digitally manipulated by yours truly, who spent hours doing what can now be done by the flip of a button on most phones. Albert and Douglas play us out with Albert’s song, “Twenty Thousand Days.”

You can find the original production notes for this show HERE.

The PopCulteer
March 20, 2026

We have some radio notes for you today as we prepare for a day of Punk Rock in Huntington with the Punk Rock Flea Market, our radio station brings you classic Disco and cool, moody New Wave on The AIR. This afternoon 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.

MIRRORBALL

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch devotes a full hour to classic Disco tracks, This week it’s a collection of massive hits that reached the upper echelon of music charts all around the world. She kicks off the show with a song from the recently departed Disco Tex with his Sex-O-Lettes, and continues with huge hits from The Three Degrees, George McRae, The O’Jays, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Sylvester, Marvin Gaye and more.

It’s another classic collection of dance tunes fron the days when polyester ruled the fashion world and the lights on the floor were the brightest in the room.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 124

Disco Tex & The Sex-O-Lettes “Get Dancin'”
Sheila & B. Devotion “Singin’ In The Rain”
The Three Degress “Givin’ Up, Givin’ In”
George McRae “Look At You”
Patsy Gallant “From New York To L.A.”
The O’Jays “I Love Music”
Gladys Knight & The Pips “Don’t Change Your Mind”
Earth, Wind and Fire “Fantasy”
Amanda Lear “Follow Me”
Sister Sledge “Lost In Music”
Sylvester “Dance (Disco Heat)”
Jean Carne “Was That All It Was”
Yvonne Elliman “If I Can’t Have You”
Marvin Gaye “Got To Give It Up”

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.

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat Salutes The The

Also on The AIR  at 3 PM (EDT), Sydney Fileen graces us with special mixtape-style new episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. This week Sydney salutes the New Wave era music of Matt Johnson, AKA The The.

Essentially a solo act with an impressive assortment of guest musicians like Jools Holland, Neneh Cherry, J.G. Thirwell and Johnny Marr, The The continues to this day as Johnsons musical vehicle.

With his distinctive vocals and solitary artistic vision, Johnson and The The were considered “Synth Noir” by the music critic wags of the day. Looking back, we can see that he is simply a unique and outstanding talent.

Check out the playlist…

BEC 136

The The

“Red Cinders In The Sand”
“Song Without An Ending”
“Icing Up”
“Like A Sun Risin’ Thru My Garden”
“Uncertain Smile”
“Giant”
“Soul Mining”
“I’ve Been Waiting For Tomorrow (All My Life)”
“Perfect (New York Mix)”
“Infected”
“Out of the Blue (Into The Fire)”
“Angels of Deception”
“Sweet Bird of Truth”
“Slow Train To Dawn”
“The Mercy Beat”
“Good Morning Beautiful”
“Amageddon Days (Are Here Again)”
“Beyond Love”
“This Is The Day”
“The Beat(en) Generation”

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. Also, tune in for our Halloween block programming on The AIR beginning Sunday morning.

We have a jam-packed weekend with STUFF TO DO all over the place. Charleston’s ArtWalk resumes this evening. The first WV Punk Rock Flea Market happens in Huntington on Saturday, and there’s tons of other cool things happening.

Again, I’m just scratching the surface here. Please don’t think this is there is to offer.

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

Our featured event, which I told you about on Radio Free Charleston two days ago, is the WV Punk Rock Flea Market…

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

Most weekends you can find live music at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and Friday and Saturday shows start at 7:30 PM.  Many Sunday afternoons at 2 PM they also have live music. This weekend you can hear Travis Vandal on Friday and Minor Swing on Saturday. Sunday afternoon stop in for Roy Bush.

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

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

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

To hear music in an alcohol-free enviroment, see what’s happening at Pumzi’s, on Charleston’s West Side. Friday at 7:30 PM Pumzi’s welcomes Crawford & Ashby and Wound Tight.

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

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

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

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

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

Continue reading

It’s the day after a big drinking holiday, but also on Wednesday afternoon, The AIR brings you new installments of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, each of which offer their own distinctly different topic.  You can tune in at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM (EDT) Beatles Blast brings you a solid hour of very rare archival recordings of The Quarrymen, the group that evolved into The Silver Beatles, and then simply, The Beatles.

You will hear recordings that the band (pre-Ringo) made around 1960 at Paul’s Dad’s house. We also bring you both sides of an acetate that the band cut in a recording booth at NEMS in Liverpool.

You will hear early compositions by the band, as well as cover tunes that they later recorded (and some they didn’t) and a couple of longer jam sessions.

Just check out the playlist…

Beatles Blast 129

The Quarrymen

“I Lost My Little Girl”
“I’ll Follow The Sun”
“Hello Little Girl”
“I’ll Always Be In Love With You”
“Wildcat”
“Some Days”
“You Must Write Everyday”
“Cayenne”
“Well Darling”
“The One After 909 (Acoustic Version)”
“The One After 909 (Electric Version)”
“Hallelujah I Love Her So”
“Matchbox”
“Movin’ And Groovin'”
“You’ll Be Mine”
“That’s When Your Heartaches Begin”
“Untitled Instrumental Jam ”
“The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise”
“Come On People (And Important Number)”
“That’ll Be The Day”
“In Spite Of All Danger ”

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

At 3 PM (EDT) on Curtain Call, Mel Larch brings you the first of two episodes devoted to The Book of Mormon, which celebrates fifteen years since its Broadway debut this June.  Written by South Park creators Trey Paker and Matt Stone, with music by Robert Lopez, who went on to compose the music for Disney’s Frozen, The Book of Mormon still plays to sellout crowds, and has an ongoing national and international tour. The show is so popular that it played in Charleston twice already.

For these two mixtape/mashup shows, Mel will present the composer demos of some songs right before the version from the original Broadway cast album. You’ll get to see some of the changes made during the creation of the show, with trunk songs, major lyrical changes and different arrangements.  Originally the show took place in Somalia instead of Uganda. That’s why it takes two episodes for the full immersive and not-safe-for-work experience.

The musical tells the story of two very different Mormon missionaries who find themselves sent to Uganda to spread the word of their holy book. Elder Price and Elder Cunningham find themselves reversing roles as the earnest leader and the perineal screw-up, and they wind up putting a whole new spin on their own unique interpretation of the gospel.

The Book of Mormon is one of Mel’s absolute favorite shows. In fact, the first song you’ll hear this week is the very first song Mel played on the very first episode of Curtain Call, almost ten years ago.

We will bring you the rest of this salute to The Book of Mormon next week.

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