PopCult

Above you see a lovely video tribute to the late Pittsburgh artist, Jerry Caplan, put together, and with music by, my friend, the Maestro, Chuck Biel.

Jerry Caplan is known for creating experimental multimedia sculptures utilizing clay, industrial ceramic pipes, metal hardware, and more.  He is celebrated and studied for his invention of techniques and processes and passed on his knowledge during an extensive teaching career. His drawings and paintings are equally impressive.

Caplan served in the 84^th Engineer Battalion, where he helped manufacture and photograph dummy boats, tanks, and other military machinery as part of the Ghost Army project, which I have written about in PopCult before.

 His work as an artist was innovative and inspiring, and he deserves to be more well-known outside of Pittsburgh.

Among his notable achievements, he developed many processes for working with clay, one he named “reduction stenciling.” Utilizing the potential of the raku firing’s reduction process, he developed a stencil technique to control the black patterning on a clay surface. Also, as the son of Ukrainian Jewish Immigrants, Caplan was also recognized for his creative work with in the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

He is also known for the delightful Pittsburgh People fountain tryptich (which apparently doesn’t include water anymore), which is a wonderful installation in Downtown Pittsburgh.

This week we go back to December, 2012, for our big Christmas extravaganza. Radio Free Charleston 176 was our 2012 Christmas Special. Filmed at and named after the Marx Toy Museum, this show featured music from the Charleston Gay Mens Chorale, a duet from Lee Harrah and Pepper Fandango, a special “double trio” from the cast of MARY: A Rock Opera, and Prank Monkey. Also in this episode, we have the Ghost of Animation Past, a holiday message from Razor Sharp Studios and Burt Fleming, and a quick musical tour of The Marx Toy Museum in Moundsville, WV.

The host segments for this episode were recorded at The Marx Toy Museum in Moundsville, WV before it closed down, and then found fame on American Pickers.

It’s a very bittersweet episode with Lee being featured in a musical segment and also in one of the host segments and this post dropping on the day of his memorial show at The Blue Parrot. That’s on top of his birthday being earlier in the week.

It’s been weird how, running these shows in strictly chronological order they seem to randomly hit at relevant times more often than not. Must be fate.

For now, sit back and let this Christmas special put you in the mood for Easter! You can find the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
February 27, 2026

Last Saturday your humble blogger and his lovely wife made our way to Clendenin for the IWA East Coast show, Fight For Fattawn. This was the benefit for our friend, Michael Tawney (AKA “Fattawn”), who is dealing with health issues and preparing for a kidney transplant.

Tawn (I hate to call him “Fattawn” even though he embraces the name) was at the show and looked great. He’s dealing with dialysis, and sharing his journey on Facebook, and I have to say he’s facing it with dignity, grace and humor.

And everybody at the show volunteered their time and merch proceeds to help him out. In addition to being a fantastic evening of independent wrestling, it was also an amazing outpouring of love for a beloved local icon.

I’m going to bring you photos from the event today. These are a combination of pictures I took and a few that Mel took, but we were there as friends and fans, so these are just phone photos. This is a fun throwback, because back in the day when IWA EC ran shows more often, I would often cover them with photo essays here in PopCult.

I am not going to spoil any of the results for you. This show will be available soon, streaming and on DVD, and I’ll tell you about that when it’s available. I am going out of my way to avoid photos that spoil the match endings.

But I will run down the card here:

A little mayhem from the opening match, an over the top-rope battle royal.

The show opened with an Unholy Battle Royal that featured DD Kass, Gen Z, Papa Razzi, AJ Evans, James Maxson, Victor Krause, El Drunko, Paul Kilpis, DD Vice. El Drunko’s appearance was a surprise and the crowd loved it.

We were then treated to a great tag match that saw the team of Layne Kali & Anthony Rucker face Corey Sparks & Chase Bennett.

The women got into the action with a match featuring Lexus Synn against Mika.

Longtime IWA EC fans got a treat with an epic triple-threat match featuring IWA veterans Aaron Draven, Vance Desmond and Trik Nasty,

Smokey C and Crowza in a Singapore Cane match that people will be talking about for years.

We then got to see an even more epic Singapore Cane Match with Smokey C facing Ed Crowza in what is likely Crowza’s final match.

The evening wrapped up with an incredible Table Ladders and Chairs that determined the new IWA EC Champion! The action was a mix of carnage and mayhem as Troy Parker, Elkview Adam, Colton Collins, Casey King, Shane Kryzak and Chance Prophet put their bodies on the line for the biggest prize in IWA East Coast.

At the end of the night, the crowd was both exhausted and exhilierated as they’d witnessed an evening filled with love and brothership…and broken tables, crushed chairs, flying ladders, thumbtacks, Singapore canes, low blows, bodies flying over the top rope and hugging.

Here’s just some of the action…

Brian Hatcher with Fattawn and hiding in the corner, Cindy Sarkany.

The view from our seats

Your ring announcer, Kevin Pauley!

From the opening Battle Royal. I did warn you that there’d be hugging.

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This week we have a couple of memorial events to kick off our weeklyish list of cool STUFF TO DO all over and just beyond the borders of the state, noted as briefly as possible.

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

Saturday we have two events devoted to the memories of two of my close friends who passed recently. Sadly, I’m not sure if I can make it to either of these. I’m still a bit numb from losing both of my friends, and other committments may keep me away.

There will be a celebration of life for Danny Boyd on Saturday February 28th at 3 PM in The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame located in The Charleston Town Center Mall. Everyone is welcome. I wrote about Danny HERE.

Also on Saturday, later in the evening, the memorial concert for Lee Harrah, which was snowed out a few weeks ago, will happen. We lost my friend, Lee Harrah Thanksgiving night, and this Saturday at The Blue Parrot Larry Shockley will MC an evening of Lee’s friends paying tribute to our fallen comrade.

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.

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 they have our old friends Sean Richardson and Brooke Brown on Friday and Three Piece Suit on Saturday.

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.  This Saturday at 6:30 PM they’re holding an open mic and poetry night, which looks like loads of fun.

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…

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IWA East Coast’s Fight For Fattawn, a benefit for IWA EC owner, Michael Tawney, happened last Saturday at the Koontz Gym in Clendenin, and the plan was for me to present a long photo essay documenting the evening here today.

Unfortunately, a convergence of wind-induced power flickers, sportty internet (thanks, Optimum) and an onslaught of phone calls (not entirely telemarketers), has mucked things up to the point where we are well into the afternoon, and I’m just getting this stopgap post written and posted.

The extra-long photo essay, with pics taken by yours truly AND his lovely wife, Mel Larch, will run Friday as this week’s PopCulteer.

In the meantime, I have just a taste of the images coming your way. That’s the man himself, Michael Tawney, with your humble blogger somewhere above this text.

Below we have three random images of the action. I’ll have more details and captions and stuff Friday. I’m a bit frazzled today.

Don’t forget that you can still chip in on my friend’s GoFundMe page, and if you have a spare kidney, maybe hit him up. In case you haven’t heard, let me repeat this…

Michael Tawney, who is known and loved by many in Charleston from his time as the manager of The GameStop in The Charleston Town Center and even moreso as the manage of the Park Place Cinema, as well as his role as the promoter for IWA East Coast(where he is known as “Fattawn”), is currently in end-stage renal failure and is waiting on a kidney transplant.

He’s getting dialysis treatment and carefully being monitored while he awaits a donor kidney, and he could use some financial help.

His brother has organized a GoFundMe to help cover his living expenses, since he can’t work while he’s dealing with this situation, so if you know Michael from IWA EC or Park Place (or GameStop), please consider donating for one of the coolest people I know.

A little mayhem from the opening match, an over the top-rope battle royal.

Smokey C and Crowza in a Singapore Cane match that people will be talking about for years.

A wee taste of the action from the six-man ladder match main event, which saw a new IWA East Coast champion crowned!

Tomorrow I’ll be running our weekly list of STUFF TO DO, and then we’ll do the photo essay for IWA East Coast up properly on Friday.

Tuesday is always a great day to tune into The AIR  and today we prove it with a new episode of Radio Free Charleston to excite and delight you and yours.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.

Radio Free Charleston brings you a new show with three full hours of newly-assembled music. Our first two hours are our usual mix of great local, independent and cult music, and our third hour is a mixtape of covers, some of which are goofy as hell.

We open the show with a brand-new track from Blue Twisted Steel, and we also bring you new tracks from The Paranoid Style, Lucy Kurger & The Lost Boys, Velvet Two Steps, June Swoon and more.

We also bring you a mid-show set of adventurous and ponderous music.

Our third hour is a mixtape of cover tunes, including three from local artists. The mixtape format is popular with our listeners, and it’s also a great way to do less announcing when the plow is scraping by my office window ever ten minutes. This theme is here because I just love unusual cover tunes, and am not above inflicting them on anybody within listening distance.

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

RFC V5 260

hour one
Blue Twisted Steel “Lowlight”
Samuel S.C. “Another Good Lie”
The Paranoid Style “White Wine Whatever”
Frenchy & The Punk “War On War”
Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess “Thankful”
Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys “Ghosts”
Velvet Two Stripes “Fire 2.0”
U2 “American Obituary”
Tape Age “The Dossier”
June Swoon “Someone Else’s Dream”
Heavy Set Paw Paws “Telephone Gangs”
The Other Timelines featuring The 4D Man “Drones”
Gogol Bordello “We Did Good With The Good We Did”
Buzzcocks “Queen Of The Scene”
Nervous Twitch “Knitting With Anger”
The Polkamaniacs “Roll Out The Barrel (Psychotribe Remix)”

hour two
Ghoulbox “Juju Bag”
Parry Casto “It’s A Beautiful Day”
The Myth of Logic “An Empath In Exile”
Parenthèse “Nosferatu”
The Settlement “Cycles”
Massing “Soup Blanket”
They Might Be Giants “Eyeball”
Custard Flux “The Oblivion Capsule”
CHUM “Headhunter”
The Residents “Beet War”

hour three
Payback’s A Bitch “Saturday Night”
The Heavy Hitters Band “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”
Michael White, Rick Wakeman, Billy Sherwood, Vinnie Colaiuta “Fool In The Rain”
Bruce Woolley & The Camera Club “Video Killed The Radio Star”
Telex “Rock Around The Clock”
Suggs “Cecilia”
Models “Blue Moon”
Kyle Gass “Kiss You All Over”
Big Daddy “Every Breath You Take”
The Damned “See Emily Play”
Byzantine “Sirens”
Me First & The Gimme Gimmes “Nothing Compares To You”
The Bad Shepherds “Making Plans For Nigel”
Pink Turtle “Nothing From Nothing”
Postmodern Jukebox “Just Dance”
Richard Cheese “Super Freak”
Lillian Briggs “Blues In The Night”
The Dickies “Banana Splits Theme”
Joss Stone “Under Pressure”

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 two recent episodes of The Swing Shift. If you missed them the first time, then they’re NEW TO YOU!

 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.

We are back in Chicago for this week’s art, which is a watercolor rough based on a photo I took last June of the famed Cloudgate sculpture in Chicago’s Millenium Park. I took the photo from a different angle than usual, from one end of the “Bean,” so that you don’t see the curvature in the middle.  It makes for a more symetrical panoramic distortion. Maybe a little less funhouse-mirror-y.

This started out as an ambitious watercolor on cold press paper (thank you Blick Art) but as it neared completion, after spending way too much time painting with watercolors while using a straight-edge, I got frustrated and decided that I will revisit the image in acrylics on canvas at a later time. So I filed this attempt away as a color rough. However, since the weather has my MG flaring up a bit and I had other things going on to keep me from spending any time on art for the last few days, I decided to go ahead and share this one with you.

I think it really needs a much higher level of ultra-detail to achieve what I wanted.  But this version is passable.

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

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR,  we bring you a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis. New shows are on the way this month. 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 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 another mix of all three of our shows from our friends in the UK.

Sometimes when the world seems totally messed-up and overwhelming, you need a reminder of the absurdity of it all.

So here’s one.  It’s two minutes of mind-hurting weirdness. Don’t try to understand it.

From December, 2012 comes Radio Free Charleston 175, “Dunbar Lanes Shirt,” which was a sampler of just a tiny amount of the great local music that we brought you in that year. We revisited songs from Red Audio, In The Company of Wolves, Godmode Broadway, and The Charleston Light Opera Guild production of “The Color Purple.”

Host segments were shot at Joplin Park in South Charleston early on a Sunday morning, just moments before gloomy clouds and rain blew through.

We’d decided to do something with this episode that we hadn’t done since our very first year, and that meant taking a quick look back at some of the memorable performances that we’ve been lucky enough to have on our show in the calendar year, 2012. Of course, with us re-presenting these shows every week, now it’s more like the best of the previous six or seven months. But still, it’s a great batch of terrific local music, so enjoy. You can find the original production notes HERE.

Next week it’s Christmas in March.

The PopCulteer
February 20, 2026

The International Toy Fair in New York City wrapped up Tuesday, and to be honest, it’s not quite the same animal that it was ten years ago, the last time I was able to attend in person.

Any major industry is bound to change over the course of a decade, and the toy industry is no exception. The ill-thought-out tariffs have played hell with everybody’s supply chain. Kids are still aging out of toys and into screens at a younger and younger age. Adult collectors are still becoming a more important component of the business.

Add to that the changes in social media and crowdfunding, and attending Toy Fair in person is not the big deal that it used to be. Bloggers have given way to influencers, but the toy companies themselves are leaking their own “scoops” early to drive engagement on their own social media sites.

Small toy companies, which are increasingly relying on Kickstarter and similar platforms for financing, are bypassing Toy Fair entirely. It’s just not worth the expense when you can bypass retailers and go directly to the consumer, and get paid in advance to boot. That takes a little fun out of it for a reporter, because the new, tiny companies usually have some of the most exciting products and enthusiastic pitches.

Still, there was plenty of cool news that came out of Toy Fair, and a lot of neat stuff in the announcements that preceded it. I’m going to cover a few items this week, and try to dig up some further information in the coming weeks.

First we need to get the big licensing news out of the way, even though most of it won’t take effect until next year.

Hasbro has become the master toy licensor for Harry Potter and all related movies and TV Shows. We don’t know if this means that all the smaller companies that produce collectibles or niche toy catagories will lose their licenses or not. I do know that Hasbro has been especially stingy about sharing their Marvel license in the past, but they have allowed other companies to get a piece of the Star Wars pie. Hasbro has also acquired the license for the upcoming Street Fighter movie, but the legacy video game toys will still be made by Jada Toys.

Mattel, which will get the DC Comics license in 2027 (news that broke last year), will also be taking over Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Playmates, which was the main license holder since the TMNT toy line debuted forty years ago, dropped out of the bidding when Paramount, which owns the property now, jacked up their licensing fees. We can only speculate on what this will mean for what seems like dozens of other companies that make TMNT toys. I do know that Mattel has wanted the full control of the Turtles since at least 2016, when they just had the sub-license to make building toys based on the heroes on a half-shell.

Meanwhile, Playmates, with more time on their hands, will be expanding their Power Rangers line (which they produce under license from Hasbro, who own the property) and have Winx Club and Monsterverse toys on the way. They will also be bringing their Stuntman Stu line (think Super Dave meets Evel Knievel) to the US for the first time. Of note to collectors, Power Rangers will have crossover toy lines with both GI Joe and Godzilla.

LEGO announced upcoming sets based on Bluey, Pokemon, Transformers, KPop Demon Hunters and The Art of Claude Monet.

Right before Toy Fair, Super7 announced eight new licensed collaborations for 2026.  These collaborations will feature all of Super7’s staple collectible lines. New ReAction and ReAction+ collaborations include De La Soul, Law & Order, and Visionaries. Other licenses announced include Invincible, which will be in the Ultimates! format deluxe figures; MTV, which will be getting Super Duper Plush; and Shrek, which will be getting Fun! Fun! Mini figures.

Super 7 also unveiled new entries in their Godzilla, The Iron Giant, Universal Monsters, GI Joe and Micronauts lines.

And finally, in this first batch of news, we have an update on Captain Action (the first toy I really wrote about in PopCult back in 2005). Plans for the deluxe collectible line are still in progress, with announcements expected throughout the year. There’s also a line of enamel pins coming from Pin Force, and NECA will be releasing figures of kids dressed up as Captain Action and Dr. Evil in their Ben Cooper Costume Kids line.

And that’s just a cursory look. Expect more toy news and reviews in the coming weeks, along with more in-depth looks at what to expect from the toy companies I mentioned above.

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