Month: January 2011 (Page 2 of 2)

The PopCulteer
January 14, 2011

Charleston United

There is a very exciting new music project afoot in Charleston. Charleston United is the brainchild of Jake Ong, who along with Ian McNealy and Rhyme Rock Records is bringing this project to life.

Basically, this is a CD project that will also include live shows over the next few months. Team Captains will be responsible for instigating four original songs, and assembling an all-star line-up out of all the participating musicians for each song. The goal is to cross genres and mix up all the great talent we have in this town to create some unique and exciting new music, and possibly cross-pollinate the music scene while bringing all the different factions together. Continue reading

The first Radio Free Charleston of 2011 is a very special show. As you can see above, it’s a “fly on the wall” preview of Charleston’s own Beatles tribute band, Rubber Soul, as they prepare for this weekend’s performance of “The Beatles (The White Album)” in St. Albans.

This weekend’s shows are benefit performances for Ronald McDonald House, and will take place at The Alban Arts and Conference Center at 65 Olde Main in St. Albans. Show time is 8 PM, and tickets are ten dollars.

We shot all of the performances in this show Monday night at Greg Hunt’s studio on Bigley Avenue, right when the tractor-trailer flipped over on the I 64/77 split, spilling parts of the cab just down the street. This is the first episode of the show entirely shot, edited and uploaded in less than 24 hours. Continue reading

Today’s art is a digital painting based on a cell phone photo snapped Saturday while waiting for friends to hang out at Capitol Roasters.  The cold and snow outside was alleviated by the hot chocolate and good company inside. Click to see a larger image.

This coming weekend at the Alban Theater, in St. Albans, Charleston’s own Beatles tribute Band, Rubber Soul, will perform the legendary Beatles White Album in its entirety. To get you warmed up for that tonight, we’re bringing you four songs from “The Beatles” performed by some notable musicians…John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and, on piano, Ringo Starr.

Radio Free Charleston will present a special episode this Tuesday that will show how Rubber Soul is preparing for this weekend’s shows, and we’ll have full details and ticket information in the production notes.

Today we bring you John Lennon (With Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell) , Paul McCartney from 2010 The Isle Of Wight Festival, George Harrison from The Concert For Bangla Desh and Ringo Starr with his All-Starr Band from 2003. Lennon kicks it off above. Follow the “read more” link to see the other three.

At the end, there’s an extra video treat for Beatles fans.

The PopCulteer
January 7, 2011

It’s that time of the year again. Time for our annual look back at the year that hasn’t happened yet. 2011 was a real roller coaster ride, with strange phenomena, political hijinks, and truly great individual achievements. Let’s look back, month-by-month, at the year 2011.

January

During the Legislative Session, the infamous party tent on the State Capitol grounds is burned down. An exhaustive search and investigation fails to narrow the list of suspects to less than 50,000 people. A commemorative plaque is erected, honoring “The Unknown Arsonist.”

Continue reading

“The Walking Dead” made the leap from cult comic book to mainstream phenomenon last fall when the TV adaptation debuted on AMC.  With this gritty take on the concept of what happens to the world after most zombie movies end, writer Robert Kirkman has crafted a compelling and realistic tale with believable characters and lots of interesting twists.

Kirkman is aided in this by artists Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard, who bring his scripts to life with great layouts and very effective and moody black-and-white art.

The central Character in “The Walking Dead” is Rick Grimes, a small-town police officer who wakes out of a coma in the hospital having missed the big zombie apocolyptic event. Disoriented and alone, he sets out to try and find his family.  As the series progresses, we meet other survivors of the zombie onslaught, and learn more about their pre-zombie attack lives.

Continue reading

We start off the new year of Monday Morning Art with a digital painting based on several photographs I took of the trees behind my sister’s house on Christmas day.  Though the scene is beautiful, I hope the snow will leave us for the remainder of the season. This is an exercise in light play and contrast, with some subtle, yet playful textures tossed in for no particular reason.  Click the image to see a bigger version.

Dinosaurs are pretty freakin’ cool.  Dinsoaurs fighting other dinosaurs, people or even giant monkeys are even more cool.  We’re kicking off the new year with a collection of video clips of dinosaurs in combat. That’s it above.  Click to watch it, then sit back and bask in the coolness that is dinosaur fights!