Month: July 2014 (Page 3 of 4)

This week The RFC MINI SHOW dives into the vault for two songs by the terrific local band, InFormation. One of these performances has never been seen before. These were recorded in May, 2011 at The Blue Parrot.

InFormation is Curtis Chittendon, Shane Durham and Roy Graley, and we first had them on Radio Free Charleston (with an early line-up) seven years ago. They continue to impress the hell out of RFC host Rudy Panucci with their progressive alternative energy and great lyrics.

We will now quote freely from their website…

“InFormation is a 3 piece Rock ‘N’ Roll group from Charleston, WV. If you think that Rock ‘N’ Roll music may be dying off, you need to see an InFormation show and have your Rock ‘N’ Roll spirits re-lifted!

InFormation brings everything you need for a Rock ‘N’ Roll show; mind melting guitar solos, killer guitar riffs, 9 string basses, 7 string basses, drum solos, catchy lyrics, and most of all a real good time.”

You can next catch the band Friday, July 18, at The Blue Parrot (where we recorded these tunes) with Deck of Fools (another great band that we’ve had on RFC). The show starts at 10 PM and the cover charge is only five bucks.

So I was in a meeting at Mark Wolfe Design last week, getting ready for serious talk about important issues (The Adventure Team was needed in Africa), and Mark was called away for a few minutes, so I passed the time hanging out with his cat, Moz. I have a remarkably crappy camera built into my non-smart phone, but I took a couple of shots and decided to do digital paintings over them. So now, for the first time ever on the internet, I bring you pictures of cats! Click to enlarge.

Jack Kirby was a font of creativity, from whose mind sprang forth most of the Marvel Universe and a huge chunk of DC Comics’ heroes. Kirby is often overlooked for his role in creating Marvel’s Fantastic Four, Thor, X Men, Iron Man, Avengers, Nick Fury and The Hulk.

While Stan Lee was the public face of his uncle, Martin Goodman’s company, the division of labor between Kirby and Lee is still a topic for debate.  Lee must be credited with pointing Kirby in a direction and then getting out of his way, but it’s well-documented that many of their “co-creations” were a complete suprise to Lee, who didn’t see the pages until Kirby went off on his own and crafted penciled pages based (or not) on Lee’s suggestions.

For instance, Lee himself has often admitted that he had no idea who The Silver Surfer was before Kirby drew him into an issue of Fantastic Four. Kirby’s career pre-dated his work with Lee.  As a partner to Joe Simon, Kirby co-created Captain America, The Newsboy Legion, The Guardian, Manhunter as well as the very first romance and horror comic books. After leaving Marvel and Lee in 1970, Kirby created The New Gods Saga, Kamandi, The Demon, The Eternals, Machine Man, Devil Dinosaur and Captain Victory on his own.

We lost Jack Kirby over twenty years ago, but we’ll never forget him. Above you will see a documentary about Kirby. Below you will see a half-hour of Jack Kirby, speaking frankly and unedited, at a comic book store appearance in 1993.

This week’s RFC Flashback is a special episode for a couple of reasons. We feature fantastic music by an early line-up of InFormation and Seven Minutes Til Midnight, and we have a really cool piece of animation by Frank Panucci. But what makes this show so notable is that it is the only episode of Radio Free Charleston to be rejected and censored by The Charleston Gazette, and it is one of two shows in which your host, Rudy Panucci, does not wear a hat.

Those two matters, by the way, are unrelated. It’s not like the sight of my un-hatted head is so hideous as to border on obscene.

The problem content in this episode is a segment called “Cooking With The Atrocity,” a comedy cooking segment brought to us by the fine folks at IWA East Coast Wrestling and the 108 Dragons. The humor in the original piece was that it turned into a disaster, with much unexpurgated cursing along the way. In these early days, Radio Free Charleston was hosted on the Gazette servers and as such, we didn’t want to push the envelope too far for fear that it would be returned containing a pink slip.

So when I included “Cooking With The Atrocity” in the show, I bleeped the crap out of it. The odd thing was that the bleeping made the already hilarious bit even funnier. Unfortunately, my editor, Douglas Imbrogno, felt that too many remnants of cursing remained, so for the only time, I withdrew the show for further editing.

It turned out that adding even more bleeps made the bit even funnier, so it all worked out well in the end. Sadly, the official, heavily-bleeped version is one of my “missing” shows, so we are bringing you the original cut, which has a bit less bleeping of the words that lip-readers could have figured out anyway.

As for me not wearing a hat…people were asking, so I complied. I have no excuse for the silver shirt, though. You can read the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
July 11, 2014

Somewhat lost in the short week between the end of FestivALL and the Fourth of July was the news that Kanawha Players has been saved. An anonymous “White Knight” stepped forward with a generous $7,000 donation to honor the memory of Kanawha Players past Secretary Betsy Stewart and her husband Studs Stewart.

If you recall, KP needed seven grand to get back to a level playing field. The nation’s second-oldest community theater group had been pummeled by skyrocketing utility costs during a harsh winter, coupled with insane water and sewer rates which came about as a result of the mandated flushing after January’s Freedom Industries MCHM spill. They basically needed seven thousand bucks just to continue into July.

KP’s president, Ginger Basham, wrote a very frank, honest assessment of what all this means, and I am printing that, unedited, at the bottom of this post. Continue reading

Another hot RFC guest is performing tonight. Time And Distance will be at The Empty Glass along with Party or Die and soon-to-be RFC guest, Elephant In The Room.  The show starts at 10 PM. Cover is a mere seven bucks and you can check out Time And Distance right here…

We are proud to see two bands that we helped bring to the public eye years ago on Radio Free Charleston perform at the Haddad Riverfront Park as part of Live on the Levee, QiET and Tofujitsu. The opening act, Tofujitsu, has been a friend of RFC for years. One half of the duo, Sean Richardson, was on episode two of our webshow back in 2006. Karen Allen first turned up as a member of Whistlepunk back in early 2007. We’ve had Tofjuitsu on the show many times, including in this episode from 2011, where we recorded them at The Empty Glass performing their song, “Darjeeling.”

The headliners tonight, QiET, first showed up on Radio Free Charleston over three years ago, and have since gone on to become one of Charleston’s top bands. With an ever-changing line-up, QiET is simply indescribable and must be seen to be believed. They’re also great sports who have always been happy to be on RFC, even when we just chance upon them performing in the street. We’re going back to RFC 123, in 2011, for our first encounter with the masters of eclecticism, QiET.

This is going to be a big night for RFC alumni, and it’s free. The music starts at 6:30 PM at Haddad Riverfront Park. After Live On The Levee ends, you can head across the street to see the same bands at The Boulevard Tavern, with The January Dolls.

I’m just back in after seeing the Appalachian Artists Collective production of Lisa D’Amour’s play, “Detroit,” at the Alban Arts and Conference Center. You only have two more chances to see “Detroit,” and you definitely should. This is a spectacular production.

An incredibly talented cast under the direction of Leah Turley brings to life a dark comedy about what happens when a reckless couple fresh out of rehab moves in next to a straight-laced couple who are at a different sort of crossroads.

Adam Bryan as Ben and Marlette Carter as Mary are note perfect as the married couple mired in ennui as Ben deals with unemployment. Tyler Eldridge as Kenny and Mariah Plante as Sharon perfectly capture the essence of slightly delusional recidivist addicts trying once again to start over with a clean slate. Greg Morris makes a brief, but effective appearance as Kenny’s great uncle, Frank.

This is a very contemporary story that deals with the breakdown of interpersonal relationships in the internet age and the unusual bonds that can develop when real-world contacts become motivated by desperation.

The play opens with Ben and Mary playing host to their new neighbors, the fresh out of rehab Kenny and Sharon. As their friendship grows, the situations devolve into a sort of white trash version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

I cannot stress how terrific this production is. From top to bottom, there is simply nothing to criticize. Some theater-goers may be offended by the very rough language, but it’s all very realistic and absolutely serves the story well. You feel like you are meeting real people. “Detroit” is definitely a strong contender for the most impressive theatre production of the year in West Virginia.

You can catch “Detroit” Friday and Saturday evening at 8 PM at the Alban Arts and Conference Center on Olde Main Street in St. Albans. Tickets are $15 for adults/$10 for students or seniors.

You have three chances to catch this very cool production of the play, “Detroit,” starting tonight at The Albans Art Center in Saint Albans. Your PopCulteer will be there tonight. The Appalachian Artists Collective always puts on high-quality projects and for fans of fine theatre, this is not to be missed. Check out Bill Lynch’s article into today’s Gazz, and scan the graphic below for info on the show.

The PopCult Bookshelf

Bernie Wrightson is one of the greatest comic book artists to come to prominence in the 1970s. His sleek style, influenced by the legendary EC Comics artists Roy Krenkel and Graham “Ghastly” Ingels, came to define modern gothic horror in comics. he co-created Swamp Thing with Len Wein, and went on to do amazing work for Warren Publications like “Creepy” and Eerie, and also created an amazing illustrated version of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

Some folks might also remember his science fiction humor strip, “Captain Sternn,” which ran in Heavy Metal magazine and also turned up as one of the best segments of the 1981 animated film based on the magazine.

Art from “The Ghoul”

Earlier this week Wrightson, 65, suffered a series of small strokes and was hospitalized. The early prognosis is good and he has health insurance that will keep him from taking a huge financial hit, but it’s likely that he will miss several weeks worth of convention appearances and book signings.

With that in mind, and as a way to help one of our favorite artists replace some lost income, today we’re going to recommend a few books and items you can buy to appreciate the genius of his work while helping him make up for being out of action during the busy comic book convention season. Continue reading