Month: October 2014 (Page 4 of 5)

Some of the Velvet Brothers (it’s so hard to get them all in one shot)

The legendary Velvet Brothers, reunited in September, 2014 at Bruno’s on Leon Sullivan Way in Charleston. In this edition of The RFC MINI SHOW you can hear them perform “Savannah Rose” and “De Do Do Do, De Dah Dah Dah.”Yes, that latter song is a cover of the old Police tune, rendered in a velvety-smooth lounge version.

The full Velvet

The Velvet Brothers were the first full band that I featured performing live on the Radio Free Charleston radio show way back in 1989. We’d had some acoustic performances on the show, but never a full band. The studio wasn’t big enough to hold the entire band, so we ran cables all over the building with the drummer in the hallway, the bass player in the production studio, and the keyboard player in the newsroom. With the guitarist and vocalist in the FM studio with me, the band managed to create a magic moment, even though it was three in the morning and they’d just played a full set at The Charleston Playhouse earlier in the evening.

This shoot, about a month ago, was a blast. Bruno’s was packed. I was straddling a potted palm tree in what turned out to be a lounge/mosh pit. At one point I think I rode the tree into the keyboard player, “C.R. Smoothee.” We got some great music and now you can enjoy a little more of The Velvet Brothers.

Remember that big car show we had on Kanawha Boulevard here in Charleston over the weekend? I took a bunch of pictures and today’s art is a digital painting over one of them. You’ll probably see a bunch more, eventually. I also put together a music video based on the photos I took on Thursday. It’s posted below.

Later today I will post the new RFC MINI SHOW, starring The Velvet Brothers. The Velvets aren’t seen driving any cars in the MINI SHOW, but if they were, it’d probably be something smooth and cool, like maybe a convertible 1961 Impala. Click the image to see it bigger. Watch the video below.

Astroblast, the new cartoon that debuted on NBC yesterday morning

Okay, since this week’s big manufactured and not necessarily true internet story is about how yesterday was the first Saturday in more than 50 years with no cartoons, tonight we’ll look at a cool and cheesy compilation of Saturday morning cartoons and commercials from 1964 to 1976.

But we have to be clear about something first. NBC still has a block of children’s programming on Saturday mornings. They carry programming from the PBS channel, Sprout, which is currently being discovered by and disappointing millions of Suddenlink customers who just lost three Nickelodeon channels.  Four of these shows are cartoons. So even though it seems like every blogger, web “expert” and click-bait site has jumped all over this story, it simply isn’t true. Continue reading

RFC 88: "Popeye Shirt" from RFC Archives on Myspace.

Flare Baroshi

This week we go back to early December, 2009, for episode 88 of Radio Free Charleston. This show features music by  The Riff Raff Players and Flare Baroshi, plus we have the trailer for Eamon Hardiman’s then-new movie, “Porkchop,” and some more DEVO-inspired animation from Frank Panucci. Host segments were shot inside at Taylor Books, after the weather took a turn for the nasty. The RiffRaff Players bring us “Appalachian Round,” while Flare Baroshi appears in the alternate black-and-white version of “Vampire Mafia.”

You can read the original productions notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
October 3, 2014

After a week where your PopCulteer posted a record amount of video, we slide into the weekend with a variety of topics, plus just one more video (or five).

This week we will address the Suddenlink stink, toss plugs your way for a night of animation, a local filmmaker’s bid to work for Motorhead, plus a rundown of local shows, and we’ll also bring you a mini photo essay from the subject of this freshly-made video of the 2014 Charleston Rod Run Doo Wop Car Show…

At the end of this week’s PopCulteer we’ll show you some bonus car show photos, but first let’s dive into the other topics…

Suddenlink Stink

So Suddenlink has undertaken the Kamikaze tactic of dropping 24 Viacom channels, right at the start of the fall television season. Amy Robinson has a good rundown of what this means for Suddenlink customers. Basically it means that Suddenlink customers lost access to The Daily Show, South Park, SpongeBob SquarePants and all the Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and other Viacom channels, most importantly among them, Comedy Cental.

Suddenlink has replaced these channels with an assortment of channels moved down from their digital tier and a rag-tag bunch of obscure channels scraped from the bottom of the television barrel.

Continue reading

Ronn Smith leads a discussion about the fan following of everybody’s favorite Timelord. With appearances from Rose Winland, David The Ghostbuster and Dalek Gan. This was recorded last Saturday at ShockaCon, with camerawork by Melanie Larch.  Stick around after the end of the panel for bonus footage showing some fun with Daleks.

You may remember Ronn as the instigator and star of “Doctor Who Regenerated, which I wrote about back in August. You can see a clip I produced about Ronn’s project below.

Learn the basics of survival prep for the upcoming zombie apocalypse from Melanie Larch, not only an RFC Big Shot and our Resident Diva, but also an emergency preparedness expert. This seminar instructs you on the basics you’ll need to survive the breakdown of our civilization and what you’ll need to know to cope with life after electricity, clean water and commercially-available food. There’s an emphasis on the harsh realities of finding food, shelter, water and sanitary conditions, all of which are neccessary if you’re going to be able to defend yourself against the zombie hordes.

Even more ShockaCon video is on the way. Keep checking PopCult to relive last weekend’s horror/sci fi convention.

The PopCult Bookshelf

Classic Hot Rods and Racing Car Comics
Written and Illustrated by Jack Keller
Edited by Mort Todd
Published by Ace Comics
Available from www.morttodd.com
$6.99 each, plus shipping

In honor of Charleston’s Rod Run and Doo Wop car show which starts today, we’re going to look at two great collections of overlooked classics that were originally published by Charlton Comics in the 1960’s. These are great comic book stories about hot rods and auto racing. These volumes present the adventures of Clint Curtis, the star of Charlton’s Hot Rods and Racing Cars. These reprints are part of the Charlton Neo movement, which I have raved about previously in my reviews of the Charlton Arrow.

These are terrific racing adventure strips, written and drawn by a cartoonist who knew cars inside and out. Jack Keller got his start in comics working as an assistant for Will Eisner on The Spirit. In the 1950’s he made his mark working at Atlas Comics (later to become Marvel) where he drew horror comics as well as the western series Kid Colt, Outlaw. In the mid 50’s Keller started working regularly for Charlton Comics, primarily drawing war and western comics. By the 60’s, he started specializing in automotive comics such as Drag ‘n’ Wheels, Grand Prix, Teenage Hotrodders, Surf ‘n’ Wheels, World of Wheels and Hot Rods and Racing Cars. Keller retired from comics in the early 70’s but continued his love affair with cars as a salesman at a Chevrolet dealer in Redding, Pennsylvania and at a hobby shop specializing in automotive collectibles. Continue reading

The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque put on a “PG” performance at ShockaCon, with a guest dance from The Charlie Town Hellcats. This was recorded last Friday night, right before a performance by The Jasons. We still have a lot more ShockaCon footage to bring you, but we’re going to be sharing space with our regular PopCult features starting Thursday.

Alongside The PopCult Bookshelf and The PopCulteer, expect panels on Dr. Who, Vernon Wells, Taso Stavrakis, Zombie prep and more.

One of the highlights of last weekend’s ShockaCon horror convention was the costume parade, which marched from The Beni Kedem Shrine Center to the Charleston Town Center.

In this clip, we bring you footage of the parade, set to music by The Renfields, who released their new album, “GO!” at ShockaCon. You can buy a copy HERE. It rocks.

Camera work was by the lovely Mrs. PopCulteer, Melanie Larch, with editing by yours truly. We still have more video of panels and performances and other cool stuff coming your way here in PopCult.