PopCult

All this week we’ve been exposing you to marathons of The AIR‘s music specialty programming. Beginning at 7 AM today you will be able to immerse yourself in yet another solid day, that’s twenty-four hours, of one particular program. 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.   

Today our marathon is devoted The Swing Shift. After two very well-received episodes of Radio Free Charleston International devoted to Swing Music, I decided to go all-in and do an all-Swing program. This also tied in with some nice synergy involving our music license, and now The Swing Shift is among our most-listened-to programs.

Not a lot of folks knew that Swing Music, in addition to The Beatles, New Wave, Prog and Ska, is a passion of mine.

The Swing Shift is a weekly one-hour show that mixes together the best swing music from the last century into a concise, swinging, blast of jumpin’ music. We mix Swing hsitory with brand-new music and even some genre-bending experiments…but they all still Swing.

The Swing Shift can normally be heard Tuesdays at 3 PM, with replays throughout the week and overnight marathons Thursday and Sunday beginning at midnight.

All this week we are treating you to marathons of The AIR‘s music specialty programming. Beginning at 7 AM today you will be able to immerse yourself in a solid day, that’s twenty-four hours, of one particular program. 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.   

Mel Larch presents a weekly hour of the best of musical theatre with Curtain Call.  Running the gamut from the early days of Broadway to today, Curtain Call brings you the entire history of the world of musical theatre in weekly one hour doses.

Curtain Call can be heard  every Wednesday at 3:00 PM, with replays throughout the following week. You can also hear an overnight marathon every Wednesday at midnight, and two bonus hours of classic episodes Mondays, beginning at 9 PM.

All this week we are going to treat you to marathons of The AIR‘s music specialty programming. Beginning at 7 AM today you will be able to immerse yourself in a solid day, that’s twenty-four hours, of one particular program. 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.   

Today the honors go to our flagship program, Radio Free Charleston. Hosted by your humble blogger, this show has been around in radio and video form since 1989.  You can expect a wild mix of local, independent and excellent and/or bizarre music, presented in a free-format radio style for three hours of crunchy sonic delightfulness.

Seriously, this show is my baby. Be nice to it, or I’ll kick you.

Normally, RFC premieres Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with replays throughout the week, and a classic episode running every weekday at 5 PM.

As promised, we are still making art based on photos I took on our way back from Chicago recently. It’ was during a slow meander through the South Side of Chicago, which is normally a brief part of the trip where Amtrak’s Cardinal rides on an elevated track, but for that particularly trip it took nearly an hour. .

Like last week’s piece, I used pastel crayons on texutred paper, this time with a light wash on the sky.  Our subject this time is a look at one of the highways we crossed, and the relatively light traffic is a combination of the time of day, and my decision to omit several large semi trucks and a couple of cars from the image as photographed.  I kept the weird Batman TV show angle, just for the hell of it.

If you want to see this image larger click HERE.

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 7 AM on The AIR,  we bring you 24 hours of Herman Linte’s Prognosis. This is day two of our AIR Marathon of Marathons, and you can read all about it in today’s previous post.

For the next week or so, we are going to treat you to marathons of The AIR‘s music specialty programming. Beginning at 7 AM each day, you will be able to immerse yourself in a solid day, that’s twenty-four hours, of one particular program. 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.   

Our second marathon comes from our overseas production partner, the Haversham Recording Institute, Prognosis is two hours of progressive rock, presented by acclaimed recording engineer and musicologist, Herman Linte.  In every episode Herman treats us to “Prog’s greatest hits,” with classic tracks from YES, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, and more classic and new progressive rock titans.

Normally, Prognosis airs every Monday at 3:00 PM, with repeats throughout the week.

This week we are bringing you a music video by an artist you will be hearing on Radio Free Charleston in the coming weeks, Rocco Deluca & His Brothers.
Let me quote the PR:

Recorded live (in one evening) by Marc Urselli, multi-Grammy Award-winning music producer, audio engineer and mixer, in one of LA’s hidden studio gems, “Studio A Session” strips DeLuca’s music down to its elemental core. The record is a meditative journey that highlights the dulcet voices of the artist and his Sho-Bud 12-string pedal steel, allowing DeLuca’s spiritual songwriting and the pairs’ unmistakable tones to take center stage. Surrounded by his Brothers, Seth Ford-Young, Lucas Guerin, Dylan Day and Ben Lecourt, the team painted a tender musical landscape that will make you feel you are enveloped by a warm desert breeze.

Known for his soulful compositions, Rocco DeLuca, has worked alongside legendary figures such as Robbie Robertson on his soundtrack for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” He has also written with an impressive array of artists including D’Angelo, Daniel Lanois, Leonard Cohen, The Hallelujah Train, and Slash. His eclectic portfolio also includes compositions for the critically acclaimed video game “Red Dead Redemption 2” and contributions to the soundtrack for Fox Studio’s “21 Days Under the Sky.”

What sets DeLuca apart is his ability to channel raw emotions, pairing haunting steel guitar riffs with captivating vocals and melodies.

Coming soon to RFC.  Just an extra treat as we post from our road trip.

Today we begin up our eight days of marathons of The AIR‘s music specialty programming. Beginning at 7 AM today you will be able to immerse yourself in a solid day, that’s twenty-four hours, of one particular program. 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.

Today we bring you one of our programs produced by Haversham Recording Institute in London, with Nigel Pye’s Psychedelic Shack.  Nigel is the lead engineer at Haversham and had never presented a radio show before he jumped in to share his love of mind-expanding music with The AIR’s listeners. Not confined to one era, Nigel mines the weirdest and most psychedelic music he can get his hands on.

You can hear Psychedelic Shack every Monday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the week, and a couple of classic episodes Sundays in the early evening.

This week we go back to October, 2014, for a Radio Free Charleston video show featuring music from WATT4 and Super Heavy Duty, plus animation from Third Mind Incarnation and a short film by Frank Panucci. It’s a killer episode, and you can find the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
August 21, 2026

Author’s note:  The two parts of this blog post were not written on the same day. I had prepared the second part of today’s PopCulteer a few days ago, then I felt that I had to acknowledge the sudden loss of a friend, no matter how hastily-written it was. This note is here to explain the discrepency in tone.

Remembering Eliska

Like all her friends, I was stunned by the news of the sudden passing of Eliska Hahn Diller last weekend. When her husband, Brian, shared the news on social media, it was a punch to the gut…one with which I have become all too familiar over the past year.

Eliska was known to many as an actress or a radio personality or an ice-skating coach, but if you met her, you knew her as a friend. She was a vibrant, special person who could restore your faith in mankind and shine a light that melted away your cynicism.  Eliska and Brian Diller connected late in life, but it seemed to be a match that was almost destined to happen.  These are two of the nicest people I’ve ever encountered, and my heart is broken for Brian.  He is living my worst nightmare right now.

Two years ago my wife, Melanie, had a health crisis that, to be frank, was considerably more serious than we’d hinted about at the time. If I’d lost her, I don’t know how I could have gone on, but I know she would want me to. I hope Brian knows that he has the love and support of all of his friends, and all he has to do is reach out.

I am normally more verbose than this when lamenting the loss of a friend, but this has left me a little speechless. My universe of special people keeps getting smaller. Eliska was having a hard time dealing with the death of Danny Boyd earlier this year, and his death, on the heels of the loss of Lee Harrah, Brian Young and Ken Davis left me feeling more than a bit rudderless. To see Eliska’s light extinguished too soon is another sign that the worst part of life is the fragility of it all.

It doesn’t seem fair that Eliska and Brian didn’t have more time together, but it should give us all hope that they did find each other and cherish the moments they did get to share.

You can find a full obituary for Eliska HERE.

I’m hoping Rafael Barker doesn’t mind that I used a photo he took. It was one of her favorites.

A late addition to this, as posted to Facebook by Brian: 

Celebration of Life for Eliska Hahn Diller.
Please join us as we gather to celebrate the life of Eliska Hahn Diller. Together, we’ll share memories, stories, laughter and the love she brought to so many lives. Saturday, September 26. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fireside Grill 439 State Route 34. Hurricane, West Virginia, 25526. “Celebrating a life well lived, and the memories that will always remain in our hearts.” We hope you can join us.

A Marathon of Marathons On The AIR

Your humble blogger is on the road.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Hershey, Pennsylvania for the Hershey Action Figure and Toy Show (read about it HERE), and that begins what is scheduled to be over a week-long trip that will include such cool things as a visit to a mall in Akron, The Fiestaware Factory Tour, Shopping at Ikea and Vinegar Syndrome in Pittsburgh, a trip to The Warhol Museum with my sister and our big 12th anniversary day. Not exactly in that order.

I am leaving open the possiblity of updating PopCult from the road…but I’m not promising anything. I got hit with a less-than-happy gut predicament this week, and decided to leave myself an out in case I’m not up to both traveling all over and writing tons of stuff for the blog.

That’s where it comes in handy to have a radio station as part of PopCult.

Starting Sunday, and for the following eight days, we are going to treat you to marathons of The AIR‘s music specialty programming. Beginning at 7 AM each day, you will be able to immerse yourself in a solid day, that’s twenty-four hours, of one particular program.

You’ll be able to come to PopCult every day to see which show gets the honors that day. We will have full days devoted to Prognosis, Radio Free Charleston, Curtain Call, The Swing Shift, Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, MIRRORBALL, Beatles Blast and Psychedelic Shack.

Keep in mind that this is a great way to introduce new listeners to all of our programming while also engaging in some Olympic-level slacking.

However, that’s not to dismiss our programs as mere filler or fluff. These are TOP-NOTCH internet radio programs and thousands of folks tune in each week to hear them.

It’s not like I’m leaving you with dry cat food set to be dispensed on a timer.

But that is our PopCulteer this week, because I still need to pack and maybe paint the beard. Check PopCult for freshish content every day, and most of our regular features.

So I’ve been promising tons more photos from last month’s Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo for weeks now, and I’m hitting the road in the morning to go to another fun action figure show in Hershey, Pennsylvania and I still haven’t posted all my photos from the last show yet.

What gives?

Well, let me try to be blunt without being crude.  Salmonella poisoning is what gives. In fact, it’s the gift that keeps giving for days. It takes a lot out of you…literally.  I mean, when you have your first normal trip to the bathroom in six days, and in your head you hear Maureen McGovern singing “There’s Got To Be A Morning After,” you know you had it bad.

I was a wee bit surprised at how many people didn’t get the visual pun in yesterday’s STUFF TO DO header image.

I am definitely feeling much better now, but I still have to pack, pick up a rental car, schedule The AIR for the next ten days, and drop in a few more PopCult posts.  So, I’m gonna need to punt.

Today we have a half-dozen photos of cool toys I saw at Kentuckiana, and I will have to save the really cool pics of custom figures and dioramas for after my return from the anniversary trip.  That anniversary trip is going to include The Hershey Toy and Action Figure Show, The FiestaWare Factory Tour, a trip to The Warhol Museum and more, so as soon as I’m back, PopCult will be overflowing with beaucoup primo content.

For today, though, here’s a few more photos of the cool toys we saw about a month ago in Louisville, Kentucky…

One of AT Mechanic’s incredible modified Adventure Team vehicles.

Fans of the RAH, 3 3/4″ Joe weren’t hurting for cool vehicles, either.

I’m not sure if I ran this photo earlier, but geez….just look at it. If I did, it’s definitely worth a second look.

Just a couple of Marx Vikings, hanging out. Nice to see Odin in one piece.

Big Earl has, probably, the most complete selection of Six Million Dollar Man (and Bionic Woman) toys on the planet. We’ve been fans since we met him at ToyLanta years ago.

We leave you with the bittersweet photo. I caught myself reaching for this, thinking, “Well, Lee has to have this.” and then remembered that Mr. Harrah is in a place where he has all the action figures he could ever want now. So I left it for another collector.