Month: March 2015 (Page 4 of 5)

RFCv3 #18

This week Radio Free Charleston streams at New Appalachian Radio with two hours of great local and regional music.

Our second-hour theme this week is all music that was recorded live at The Blue Parrot for the Radio Free Charleston video show.

You can hear this episode now in the Voices of Appalachia Archives HERE.

You can listen to Radio Free Charleston’s streaming radio incarnation at 10 AM and 10 PM on Tuesdays (and again at midnight Thursday) at New Appalachian Radio, part of Voices of Appalachia. If you miss it, check our the archives for previously-aired shows. You can also listen to Radio Free Charleston Saturday at Midnight. Saturday, RFC airs for six hours, starting at The Witching Hour!

We kick off the show with a tune by the subject of last week’s theme hour, Go Van Gogh. After I put last week’s show to bed, I discovered this killer cover of The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus,” recorded live at The Charleston Playhouse, so I made it this week’s show opener.

Go Van Gogh “I Am The Walrus”
Miniature Giant “Dawn”
69 Fingers “Die Happy”
Time And Distance “Copperfield”

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Billy Matheny is a major talent in West Virginia’s singer-songwriter corps, and has been for more than a decade. I’ve been a fan for a long time and have been trying to get him to appear on Radio Free Charleston for years. We originally had him pencilled in for a spot on one of our first ten episodes back in 2006. However, we could never make the schedules work and over the years he made fewer appearances in the Charleston area. When he did, the RFC crew was unavailable. We sort of lost touch. Our last contact was via MySpace.

This all changed on March 7, 2015, when the stars aligned and we were able to record Billy at The Empty Glass. Now we are thrilled to present a couple of great songs by Billy Matheny on The RFC MINI SHOW.

From his Soundcloud bio:

For more than a decade, William Matheny has been a singular presence in West Virginia music. After learning guitar from his bluegrass performing father, Matheny quickly established himself as a trusted side person for some of the region’s most beloved and influential musicians – including Mark Poole, Brian Porterfield and Todd Burge – where he lent his talents on guitar, drums, bass, banjo, mandolin, lap steel, and occasionally, charisma. All the while, he continued to build his own catalog of original tunes, assembled a band and released his first proper solo album, “Born of Frustration.”

After an impressive amount of touring, Matheny found himself in the company of Ohio-based indie/folk-rock group Southeast Engine. He was eventually invited to join the band as their pianist/organist. Matheny appeared with S.E.E. during some of their most notable shows to date, including stops at SXSW and Portland, OR’s Pickathon festival. His multi-instrumental work can be heard on their critically acclaimed album “Canary” and follow-up EP “Canaanville,” both of which were released on the Misra label and distributed via Bloodshot Records.

Today’s art is a semi-abstract digitally-assaulted photograph taken at The Jacob Javits Center a couple of weeks ago when your PopCulteer was in New York City. You didn’t think I was ever going to stop talking about that trip, did you? Our Toy Fair coverage will continue all week long, and then by this weekend it will start getting all mixed in with our coverage of JoeLanta, which happens in Atlanta March 14 and 15.

However, if you’re here for your local music fix, come back to PopCult later Monday morning for the latest RFC MINI SHOW starring Billy Matheny, recorded less than 48 hours ago at The World Famous Empty Glass.

If you want a closer look at today’s art, click on it to see it bigger.

Our Sunday Evening Video this week is a collection of musical montages that attempt to capture the spirit of the 2014 edition of JoeLanta/The Great Atlanta Toy Convention, the huge GI Joe/toy show that we were honored to be a guest of last year.

Next weekend we do it all over again at the 2015 JoeLanta Great Atlanta Toy Convention. So this week we’re showing you this 38 minute clip to get you all hepped up. This year’s show is open to the public March 14 and 15, with special Commander’s Packages available that unlock all sorts of cool top-secret events and activities on Friday night and earlier. Plus the Commander’s Package includes an exclusive figure!

Just in case any of my readers get a wild hair to join us in all the fun, here’s the press release and info for the show. You’ll find it after the jump…

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Episode 49 of Radio Free Charleston, “The Concept Shirt” is our Flashback this week. This episode features eclectic music from Asheville, North Carolina’s The Hellblinki Sextet, and Charleston/Huntington’s The Button-Flies–both of these bands making their RFC debuts on the show–plus more relaxing animation from Frank Panucci and a preview of then-upcoming shows by The Ghosts Of Now, The Concept, and Under The Radar, three bands that are not currently playing together (much).

You can read the original production notes HERE.

Due to technical issues with Suddenlink’s high-speed internet, there may not be a PopCult Toybox tonight, but we will pick up our coverage of Toy Fair again as soon as possible.

The PopCulteer
March 6, 2015

This is not the column I intended to write today.

I had very ambitious plans for today and the remainder of the weekend that would have involved elaborate posts with lots of embedded video and cool photographs. But I can’t bring them to you because Suddenlink is experiencing some kind of slowdown of their service and my current internet speeds are slower that dial-up.

I understand that our area is in the midst of severe weather conditions and that those are most likely the cause of this unexplained internet slowdown. But it would be nice to have some kind of confirmation from Suddenlink that this is actually the case. Their website currently says that there are no outages in the area. Their online tools tell me that my modem is working perfectly. A phone message mentions some non-specific weather-related issues, without any hint of when they may be resolved.

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Due to technical issues with Suddenlink High Speed Internet (which is currently running at less than 1/1000 of its advertised speed), today’s PopCulteer will be delayed, and possibly not make it online at all. We are hopeful that we will be able to bring you our regular features, but until this internet-speed issue can be resolved, we cannot upload photos or video. Two hours spent on hold waiting to speak to a Suddenlink customer support representative has thus far proven to be unproductive.

We will do our best to get PopCult back to normal as soon as possible. The PopCult Bookshelf post scheduled for yesterday will be seen next Thursday…we hope.

Stay in. Watch TV. Surf the Internet. Read comic books. For God’s sake, don’t go out in this crap.

The PopCult Toybox: Toy Fair 2015 Report

Your PopCulteer and his lovely wife/assistant, Melanie Larch, attended the New York International Toy Fair week before last in New York City and we continue to bring you video, photos, and reports from this huge and overwhelming event.

Today we chronicle our visit to the Diamond Select Toys booth. Diamond Select Toys is the toy arm of Diamond Comic Distributors and they create action figures and other toys aimed at the collector’s market. You can find Diamond Select Toys in comic book and hobby shops across the nation, as well as at Toys R Us and national book chains.

Diamond Select Toys Director of Marketing, Zach Oat, gave us a personal tour of their jam-packed exhibit and you can follow along in the video below:

While it was great having our own personal guided tour to share with you via video, we know you want some closeups. So what follows is a photo essay combining pictures we took at the Diamond Select Toys booth with courtesy photos they provided for us. Needless to say, a lot of collectors are going to be hurting in the wallet in the coming year, thanks to the good folks at Diamond.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder Vinyl Bust Bank
A Diamond Select Toys release! The next vinyl bank based on the hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series is here, and it’s gonna give the Turtles some trouble! Oroku Saki, a.k.a. The Shredder, makes his vinyl bank debut, standing approximately 8 inches tall with a coin slot in the back, an access door in the base, and the detailed sculpting of a collectable bust! Where the Shredder goes, can the Foot Clan be far behind? Packaged in a clear polybag.

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A couple of months ago a new group devoted to West Virginia writers started up and I’m happy to be part of it. We meet monthly and it’s a fairly informal gathering where we have a presentation, followed by a workshop where ideas and critiques can be exchanged. Writers of all kinds are welcome. The first two meetings were held at DigiSo.

Next Wednesday night (rescheduled due to the weather) we have our third meeting, and the presentation will be about blogging. This presentation will be by your PopCulteer and Bill Gardner, and it should be a lot of fun because we’re winging it with no preperation. I can guarantee that our presentation will either be enlightening or a train wreck.

This month’s meeting happens March 11 at 5:30 PM in the community room at Black Sheep Burrito @ The Brewery (The former Capitol Roasters) 720 Quarrier Street. The presentation will be followed by a small group workshop, so if you want feedback on a piece please bring 4 hard copies.