Rudy Panucci On Pop Culture

Month: August 2008 (Page 1 of 2)

Sunday Evening Video: The World’s Strongest Man

With the World’s Strongest Man competition coming to Charleston next weekend, I thought it’d be cool to bring you video of the world’s strongest man.

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There you go. Take a bow, Artie. Check out the schedule of the actual event here. And while you’re checking the schedule, ask yourself this, “Do we have to shut down the Boulevard EVERY TIME somebody brings an event to town?”

Seriously, couldn’t they do this stuff at the airport or at Laidley Field? And wouldn’t it be more impressive to watch these guys pull a tractor-trailer up Bridge Road? Artie could do it. You can see more of him after the jump.

Continue reading

PopCult Turns Three!

On this date three years ago, PopCult began with a rather silly post which you can read here.  Yesterday I was alerted to the fact that today marks three years that I’ve been bringing you notes and news from the fringes of Pop Culture.  I think that might make PopCult the longest-running single-author Gazzblog.  After last week’s 50th episode of Radio Free Charleston, I’m afraid I’m all milestoned out.  I even reused the cake photo from my first anniversary post even though there’s a much cooler-looking cake here.

So I’ll just thank you for reading and remind you to check back for our regular features–Sunday Evening Videos, Monday Morning Art, and production notes for Radio Free Charleston, along with news on Comic books, animation, toys, wrestling and whatever else strikes my fancy.

Later today I’ll be back with a detailed stats about the first 50 episodes of the PopCult webcast version of Radio Free Charleston.

Monday Morning Art: RFC 50

Today’s Monday Morning Art is a T-shirt design that you should be seeing on musicians and filmmakers around town in the coming weeks.  Click the image to enlarge it. This one won’t be available from the Cafepress store, but anyone who appeared on the first fifty episodes of Radio Free Charleston will be eligible to receive one.  It’s sort of a “Thank You” for being part of the show. 

Later this week we’re still going to bask in the glow of our fiftieth episode with factoids from the production of the show, and a list of everyone who’s been on RFC.  Check back, it’ll be completely self-indulgent.  Oh, don’t forget to watch episode 50.  You don’t want to feel left out.

Sunday Evening Videos: Split Enz

One of my favorite new wave bands of the early 80s, Split Enz eventually evolved into Crowded House and started having hit songs.  Before that, lead by brothers Tim and Neil Finn, Split Enz scored a few minor hits in America, but they were one of the coolest “weird” bands of the era.  Here’s one of their coolest weird songs, “Dirty Creatures.” 

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You’ll find more tunes by Split Enz On the other side of the jump. Continue reading

Help O’Kay’s Be “OK”

Word comes from Rich Ireland’s “Beers To You” Gazzblog that Charleston’s O’Kays, located near the Clay Center, is in dire straits due to a number of circumstances beyond their control.  O’Kay’s is one of Charleston’s unique bar experiences, and it’d be a shame to lose it.  If we can rally the troops so that they have a good weekend, we might get to see them stick around and serve as Charleston’s special pub for years to come. 

Rich tells us that Buckstone will be there tonight, so Mel and I will be heading there for pizza after checking out Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen at Taylor Books earlier in the evening. Radio Free Charleston fans should come out in full force (both of you) so that we can carry through with our plans to record Anthony Hoey for RFC at O’Kay’s next month. Steve Himes will perform at O’Kay’s Saturday night.

Okay’s Pub is Located at 222 Leon Sullivan Way in downtown Charleston.

Two Degrees Of Separation: Inside Obama’s Pick

Jonny Fairplay with Rudy Panucci–August 7, 2008. Dunbar, WV.

Barack Obama with Jonny Fairplay–August 21, Danville, Va

Basically, I told Jonny (a guest on Radio Free Charleston 50, by the way) to tell Barack that I wasn’t interested in the Veep spot unless I could still continue to do RFC.  Sorry folks.  It’s a deal-breaker.  The Charleston music scene comes first.

You guys knew Jonny Fairplay was head of the V.P. search committee, right?

The Golden Show: Radio Free Charleston Episode 50 with Hasil Adkins, The Concept, Jonny Fairplay, Kitty Killton, Mad Man Pondo and more!

 

It’s finally here…..the fiftieth episode of RADIO FREE CHARLESTON! We pulled out all the stops for this one. Our musical guests are The Late, Great Master of the Hunch, Hasil Adkins (courtesy of the award-winning documentary “My Blue Star“) and The Concept, who debut their new guitarist, Brian Flowers, on this show.

We also have a wild short film from Scott Elkins, starring RFC’s official Barista Chelsea Cook. Frank Panucci brings us a sneak peek at some test footage from his long-gestating feature film, “Repurkussionz.” And we have some cameo appearances by the star of “Repurkussionz,” Mad Man Pondo, along with Survivor’s Jonny Fairply and Unknown Hinson.

Kevin Pauley from IWA East Coast, The No Pants Players and The American Heart Association takes umbrage at one of our end-credit gags from episode 59. Wrapping it all up, RFC Big Shot and Resident Diva Melanie Larch is shown singing the National Anthem at Appalachian Power Park over the end credits. Continue reading

Sunday Evening Video: NOT Automaton (updated with DEVO Hats!)

A few weeks back I wrote about “Automaton,” the award winning short film from Red Fortess Entertainment for which my brother Frank did the animation. Well, it’s coming out on a deluxe DVD soon, but you can watch it on YouTube right now.  See, that’s it right below this text.

Tuesday afternoon note from Rudy: The limited YouTube engagement of “Automaton” has ended. In its place, here are some dancing DEVO hats.

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Also, the Monday updates have not yet been posted because my computer spent part of yesterday imitating a brick.  Things will be back on track by Wednesday, when you get to see Radio Free Charleston’s fiftieth episode. Now back to the original post:

Pretty darned nifty, eh?  Makes you want to go order the DVD as soon as it becomes available, doesn’t it? Keep checking PopCult and I’ll let you know where you can do that.

Monday Morning Art will be late tomorrow, but it’ll include photos and video of the cool weekend happenings along with it.  Be sure to check back by 4 PM Monday.

Monday Morning Art on Wednesday, Plus Weekend Pictures

Okay, I admit it, I’m slacking off this week.  First I decided to delay Radio Free Charleston episode 50 for a week, then I kept putting off this post.  In my defense, it’s my birthday today, so I get to be lazy for a change.  So lazy that I’m not going to update the Monday Morning Art Store until next week.  So don’t bother looking for the above image on a shirt or anything yet.  You can click to enlarge it, though.

Carrying on the general theme of self-indulgence, today’s art is a self-portrait. It’s a digitally-assaulted photograph/digital painting of a test shot from a short film that will probably never get made.  It was supposed to be a Film Noir detective story.  Feel free to leave any “Dick” jokes in the comments section.

Following the jump, you can check out some photos of the bands I caught last weekend, which you probably already sampled via the PopCult instant video that I posted Sunday evening.  If you didn’t, scroll down and watch and listen. Continue reading

Sunday Evening Video: PopCult Instant Video with Under The Radar, The Ghosts Of Now and The Synergy Collective

Crushing deadlines and a slow computer mean that you get to see a video showing the three bands I caught live this weekend.  

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All three bands were great, and I’ll write more about them tomorrow here in PopCult.  Also of note: Radio Free Charleston 50 has been pushed back a week so I can make it extra-tasty, and tomorrow’s Monday Morning Art will probably show up late in the afternoon.

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