Month: August 2014 (Page 4 of 5)

The PopCult Bookshelf

This week the PopCult Bookshelf will update three subjects that we’ve addressed previously.

Another Bullseye

The Charlton Arrow (reviewed HERE) was successful enough that a second issue has been released, and future issues, as well as a spin-off title, will continue to celebrate the legacy of Charlton Comics, the Roger Corman/New World Pictures of the world of comics. Once again, ComicFix does the publishing honors.

A labor of love, with a mix of new contributions from Charlton veterans, fans of the original comics and even a couple of vintage stories, The Charlton Arrow #2 is another fun package of comics by creators run wild. The appeal of the original Charlton comics was that the writers and artists were afforded creative freedom in lieu of decent pay. This new comic capturs that spirit very well. The “creative freedom” part, at least. I don’t know about the pay.  Continue reading

Earlier this week PopCult brought you two brand-new videos, and to make it easier for you to find them, just in case you read about them in the Charleston Gazette, here they are again, bumped back up to the top of this here blog.

First, here’s our exclusive first-look at Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated. You can find out more about it HERE.

We also have a great edition of The RFC MINI SHOW, this week starring legendary Charleston rockers, Blue Million. Read more about it HERE.

Dan Kehde

The Contemporary Youth Arts Company will present the premier performances of the new Dan Kehde play Joseph, Mother of Jesus starting Thursday at 8 PM at The WVSU Capitol Center Theater, 123 Summers Street. Dan is an amazing playwright who never fails to entertain while raising salient points in a distinctive manner. From what I hear, this new play tackles religious conventions via the emergence of a pregnant boy. 

According to the CYAC event page on Facebook, Joseph, Mother of Jesus is the story of a fourteen year old boy’s challenge to bring salvation to a misguided world, the comedy/drama features several young actors new to the CYAC stage including Jakob Spruce in the title character and Gage Snodgrass as his snarky companion, Sollie. Molly Means takes on the role of Hanna, Joseph’s mother, Caitlin Moore plays Mary, and Nik Tidquist plays the archangel, Gabriel. Other cast members include Nick Curnutte, Alex Barlus, Matt Connelly, Austin Susman, Austin Lowe, Angel Gandee, Lisa Gandee, Leon Alexander, and Mandy Harper.

You can see the play August 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16 at 8 PM at The WVSU Capitol Center Theater. Tickets are $8.00 for student, $15.00 for adults and can be purchased at the door the evenings of the performances. Call 342-6522 for additional information and advanced reservations.

All Star Wrestling returns to Boone County with SUMMER HEAT, featuring Buff Bagwell, Rob Conway and Chance Prophet, among other great professional wrestlers.  Bell time is 7 PM and admission is twelve bucks. Check out the poster for more details.

It’s another week where the PopCult Toybox has taken a hit due to a toy company changing their shipping date, so instead of a new toy review this week we’re just going to look at videos of classic Slot Car layouts. The top video shows off the new Carrera 1/24 scale layout that you can visit in Wheeling at The Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum. Below you’ll find some cool collector-made videos of AFX-style layouts. We’ll cover this topic in depth in a couple of weeks. For now, just look at the coolness.

Ronn Smith as The Doctor

PopCult is proud to present the first look at Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated. This is a locally-produced fan-film tribute to the long-running BBC science fiction series, particularly the era of the Fourth Doctor, who was portrayed by Tom Baker. You can check out the Facebook page for this project HERE.

Just last weekend, scenes for Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated were shot at The Clay Center, Spring Hill Cemetary, Dunbar’s Wine Cellar Park and other locations around the area.

The Dcotor and Sara Jane at Dunbar’s Wine Cellar Park, photo by Mark Wolfe Design

Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated is the brainchild and labor of love of Ronn Smith, a life-long fan of The Doctor. In fact, the first time I met Ronn, several years ago at one of Dale Morton’s Halloween parties, he was dressed as The Fourth Doctor. You may have noticed our sneak peek at Ronn as The Doctor in this week’s Monday Morning Art. The plan is to recreate the look and feel of the original series while telling new adventures of The Fourth Doctor and Sara Jane, his companion.

Rose Winland as Sara Jane

Rose Winland will be portraying Sara Jane, while Smith will be portraying The Doctor (as well as executive-producing). Several other local creative folks are lending their talent in front of and behind the camera.

During the shooting of a trailer for this project last weekend, Mark Wolfe, Bethany Cline, Dennis Strom, Jamie Dunbar, Ginger Workman, Rob Werhle, Todd Carpenter, Eric Lilly and many others were all involved on the set, and some of the props and costumes were the work of Dale Morton Studios. It’s really cool to watch our local talents come together to help create something this special. The roster of talent for this project is a real “Who’s Who” of Charleston’s creative community.

The trailer that the crew was shooting this weekend will be used as part of a Kickstarter campaign to help raise money to film a full-blown pilot episode in the spring, with the goal being the launch of a series later in 2015. Keep checking PopCult for all the lastest news on Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated.

Photo by Mike Winland Studios

This week The RFC MINI SHOW stars Charleston Rock Institutions, Blue Million. This is footage of Alan, Andy and Gary that we recorded in April, 2011 at The Empty Glass. Our crew that night included Johnny Rock, the drummer for the legendary RFC band, Go Van Gogh. You’ll see him in a couple of shots.

Blue Million was one of the original local bands featured on the radio version of Radio Free Charleston, and they are still going strong 25 years later. They still perform locally, most recently in June at Bruno’s, and we will keep you posted on their next shows in PopCult.

This episode of The RFC MINI SHOW features two songs from the band’s night at the Glass back in 2011, one of which has never been seen before.

Today’s Monday Morning Art is a quick digital painting of Ronn Smith, decked out as The Fourth Doctor from Doctor Who. Why would he be dressed that way, and why is Doctor Who standing in the lobby of the Clay Center, you ask?  Check PopCult tomorrow for a sneak preview of a very cool project that’s in the works. Click to enlarge.

Just as the death of music on vinyl was greatly exaggerated, so too, it seems, has been the death of music video. This little gem by James, created by Ainslie Henderson, is as cool as any video from the heyday of the music video. Henderson has created a lovely metaphor for the circle of life, using animated yarn .

This is the first single of their new album, ” La Petite Mort,” which was released a few months ago. Elderly fans of the Radio Free Charleston radio program may remember the band as one of the mainstays of the show back then. After their college-rock stardom in the late 1980s and early 90s, the band broke up, reuniting in 2007 with their classic line-up. Since then they’ve been producing great albums again…and this great music video. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a channel that showed nothing but videos so that more cool clips like this would be made?

We go back to November, 2007, for a show that features the Radio Free Charleston debut of Mark Cline Bates, who will be performing Friday, August 8, at Live on the Levee at Haddad Riverfront Park, starting at 6:30 PM. For that show Mark will be backed by The Carpenter Ants. In this classic show, he’s heard solo, recorded at the old Unity Church, during one of Ron Sowell’s open mic nights. It should be a great evening of music as Mark is sharing the bill with Hybrid Soul Project.

Our other musical guests are most of The Voo Doo Katz, recorded live at the La Belle Theater in South Charleston, and RFC regular John Radcliff, performing in the kitchen at LiveMix Studio. We also feature animation and the first installment of “The Android Family.”

You can read the original production notes for this episode HERE.