Month: December 2015 (Page 3 of 5)

Get into the holiday spirit with Krampus!

In recent years, with the Halloween Season and the Christmas season blending into one long holiday clustermuck, the macabre influence on Christmas has caused a resurgence in an old character that had nearly been forgotten. In Alpine folklore, Krampus is a horned, demonic-looking fellow who, during the Christmas season, punishes children who have misbehaved. He’s the Yang to Saint Nicholas’ Yin.  Krampus is one of a number of strange companions of Saint Nicholas in regions of Europe.

Krampus is one scary dude. While he is a compadre of Saint Nick, he looks a little like Dave Grohl in the Tenacious D movie. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, he was the subject of a holiday-themed horror movie.

Dave Grohl in “The Pick of Destiny.” See the resemblance?

Our final pick in the PopCult Gift Guide this year is your chance to get a photo with Krampus, courtesy of Mike and Rose Winland, the masterminds behind ShockaCon.

You will have one last chance on December 20, making this truly a “last-minute” gift, to have your photo taken with Krampus. You can have your photo, your child’s, your pet, or your recently-deceased and cremated loved ones (as long as their remains are kept properly within a legal container) taken with a festively-adorned creature who looks like he just stepped off of a Heavy Metal album cover.

While you wait to have your photo taken with Krampus, you can check out The Fright Before Christmas Art Show. This all happens Sunday December 20, from  1:00 PM to 4:00 PM and again 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Mike Winland Studios, 5306 Maccorkle Ave SE in Kanawha City.

That is it for our tenth anniversary PopCult Gift Guide. This has been our biggest ever, clocking in at over 25,000 words. Late tonight, I will post a master index of all 100 items that we put forth for you this year. Then, if all goes according to plan, Monday will see the Christmas episode of Radio Free Charleston. Thanks for reading, and please have a wondeful holiday.

Frank Zappa’s concerts at the Roxy Theatre in Holywood in December 1973 are legendary. Frank and the Mothers played three nights on December 8th, 9th & 10th and these shows formed the basis of the ‘Roxy & Elsewhere’ album that was released in 1974.

However the performances were also filmed in 16mm and this footage has been sitting in the Zappa vault ever since. Now fully restored by the Zappa Family Trust this live concert film is being made available for the first time. It captures Frank and the Mothers at the height of their powers and includes material that is unique to these performances. This is a highly anticipated release for Zappa fans who have waited many years for the concert footage to finally be released. This is one of the Zappa “Holy Grails.”

Available on Blu Ray and DVD, this is not exactly material that is suitable for children, but it is the perfect gift for the Zappa-lover on your gift list, or for anyone who appreciates irreverent virtuosity. This is your chance to see one of the greatest composers of our time leading a band at the height of his powers.  It’s well worth the 42-year wait.

Each version includes the concert on video, and a bonus CD.

The video contains:

1) Cosmik Debris
2) Medley: Penguin In Bondage / T’Mershi Duween / The Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat / RDNZL
3) Inca Roads
4) Medley: Echidna’s Arf (Of You) / Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing / Cheepnis – Percussion
5) Cheepnis
6) Medley: I’m The Slime / Big Swifty
7) Be-Bop Tango (Of The Old Jazzman’s Church)
8) Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow
9) Father O’Blivion

The CD Tracklisting:
1) Something Terrible Has Happened…
2) Cosmik Debris
3) Medley: Penguin In Bondage / T’Mershi Duween / The Dog Breath Variations / Uncle Meat / RDNZL
4) Medley: Echidna’s Arf (Of You) / Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing / Cheepnis – Percussion
5) Cheepnis
6) Be-Bop Tango (Of The Old Jazzman’s Church)

This should be available where ever music videos are sold, or you can order it from Amazon.

Forget Hershey’s, Godiva, Ghiardelli, Lindt and all the other pretenders to the throne, Albert’s Chocolate Ice Cubes are hands-down the most delicious chocolate ever concocted on this planet or any other.

The smooth, creamy chocolate melts at body temperature, and it is divine. I don’t know what they put in this stuff, but it must be the chocolatier’s equivelent to crack. Not only are these little squares of chocolate delicious, they’re also addictive. This is not organic chocolate. They work some kind of food-engineering voodoo mojo on these to make them so damned tasty, but it works and nobody’s grown any extraneous limbs or anything yet.

Albert’s Ice Cubes are about 65 calories each, so four of them will match the caloric intake of a single Snickers bar. If you order a bunch of these, eat them in moderation, or you might be asking for trouble. I’m mentioning the standard milk chocolate variety here, but there is also a much-harder to find dark-chocolate version, which I’m sure also tastes great, if you want to pretend that you’re eating healthy because it’s dark chocolate.

These are available all over the place, in convenience stores and drug stores, but if you go with mail order you can buy in bulk and save a lot of money.  In some stores these sell for fifty cents each, or more, but if you buy in bulk you can get the price down below 30 cents. The only risk is that, if the weather is unseasonably warm (like it is at the moment), you might wind up with a box of melted chocolates–delicious, melted chocolates.

Occasionally Fruth Pharmacy has these for a quarter apiece, but your best bet might be to hit up Amazon. Just don’t get suckered. Some Amazon sellers charge a price that comes out to more than a dollar per piece. Read the fine print before you buy.

I’ve suggested a few sets of Green Army Men-style figure sets in the Gift Guide, but I don’t want to pass over this cool bucket of astronauts. Space toys are a passion of mine, and this cool bucket holds sixty pieces of space toy coolness.

Included are Space Shuttles, Lunar Modules, Lunar Rovers, Rockets, Satellites, flags and over three dozen astronauts. This is a great way to get a kid interested in science and space exploration and the history of NASA.

It’s also a great way for kids who grew up during the glory days of our Space Program to relive the thrill of living in a time when science was respected and exploration of outer space made people into heroes.

Best of all, it’s not too pricy, at less than twenty bucks for the set from Amazon. The play value is tremendous. You can stage your own moon landing, or mix these figures with your Green Army Men for an interplanetary battle, or have them encounter plastic dinosaurs for a time-travel adventure. The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination.

The Complete Beatles Songs: The Stories Behind Every Track Written by the Fab Four  
by Steve Turner
Dey Street Books
ISBN-13: 978-0062447340
$40.00

This is a lavishly illustrated, fully updated and revised version of a the Beatle’s book, “A Hard Day’s Write,” by music journalist Steve Turner. That book was plagued by typos and citation controversies, but this new volume seems to have fixed most of the problems with the earlier edition, and it’s now the only volume that contains a complete set of printed lyrics to all of the Beatles’ songs.

Arranged chronologically by album, The Complete Beatles Songs examines the inspiration behind the group’s writing and discusses every song created by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Turner has exhaustively researched the stories behind the Beatle’s songs, and manages to shoot down a few myths and uncover a few new stories.

As with any book on The Beatles, it has to go a long way to impress the die-hard fan, and in this new updated form, Turner has created a wonderful guide for a trip through the Beatles’ catalong of songs, and with the addition of lyrics, an invaluable research tool for your Bealte library.

Recommended for old-school and newbie Beatlefans alike, this book retails for $40, but can be found heavily-discounted online.

Mountain Mysts: Myths and Fantasies of the Appalachians
edited by P. Ray Lewis and Danny Kuhn
Headline Books
ISBN-13: 978-1882658466
$19.95

The ancient Appalachian Mountains offer panoramic views on a clear day. Their rugged beauty highlights simple, heartwarming stories of hearth and home. But then, the Mysts roll in…

These sixteen stories cover the breadth of central Appalachian fantasy and mythology, from modern day fables to ancient creatures, laugh-out-loud teenage hijinks to 19th-century mysteries that refuse to remain unsolved. There are Ghent-le Giants and coal mining dwarves, confused cemetery flower deliveries and slick-haired evangelists, all adding to the lore of the region.

The authors include: Jordan Elizabeth Mierek, Annette Kraus, Jack Deskins, Danny Kuhn, Frank Larnerd, Joan O. Scharf, Lee Keene, Douglas O’Hara, P. Ray Lewis, T. Allen Winn, Jonetta Bennett, Kent L. Reed, Livingston Grooms,
Ryan Smith,TR Sullivan and Juanita Richmond. Of note to PopCult readers, two of the authors, Deskins and Lanerd, have appeared on Radio Free Charleston.

This is a great collection for fans of fantasy and science fiction, and it’s filled with great regional authors. You can order it from the publisher or from Amazon, or ask your local bookseller to get you a copy.

The Passenger is Ian Bode’s “Everyman” creation who simply appears anywhere that he goes.  Ian brings a strong sense of cartooning to the world of fine art with his paintings which vary in size from tiny canvases and drawings to gigantic murals.

With The Passenger as his featureless muse, Ian portrays a simplified and positive world that is bound to put a smile on your face.  His Chaplinesque star is an empathetic magnet that causes Ian’s drawings and paintings to connect in a unique way with the viewer. There’s a reason that you can find Ian’s art all over Charleston, even on the occasional debit card.

Ian’s work can be found at Art Emporium and at the Boulevard Tavern and Saturday December 12th, he will have a table at the East End Holiday Bazaar at the Clay Center from 10 AM to 3 PM. Drop by and by some of his art. You’ll be happy you did.

Brenda Pinnell is an accomplished graphic designer who has branched off and become an entrepreneur with her creations, Hepcatz, including the main Hepcat, Mr. Fluffy Butt. Hepcatz promises “Cool Cats, Swell Design,” and I can verify that this is a case of truth in advertising. Her cat cartoons are cute, funny, clever and…well…swell.

Hepcatz brings us clever and hilarious cartoons featuring Brenda’s cast of feline interlopers having their way with the world at large. And you can find them on all kinds of Hepcatz swag.

You can find Hepcatz at Tamarack and at the Hepcatz website, where you may make last minute purchases guaranteed to thrill and delight the cat lover in your life.  In addition, Brenda will be at the Clay Center for the East End Holiday Bazaar December 19th (10 AM to 3 PM) with the complete array of Hepcatz merchandise including prints, notecards, t-shirts, printed pillows, and even more.

Glen Brogan is the type of artist that makes his fellow artists want to give up and pack it in.  His art is so good that it’s hard to imagine anybody topping it.  With a sleek style and a strong appreciation of the coolest elements of pop culture, Glen has made a name for himself with exhibits in New York and Los Angeles and work commissioned by Disney, King Features Syndicate, and most recently, Marvel Comics (that’s his depiction of Captain Marvel for the Mondo Gallery seen at the right).

Glen will be at the Nitro Antique Mall/Third Floor Comics Christmas Open House tomorrow from 5 PM to 9 PM, selling and signing his artwork but you can also find his art on prints and t-shirts at the following links: You can buy Glen’s “Love That Joker” pin HERE; TeePublic has dozens of Glen’s designs on T-Shirts; a huge assortment of prints are available from the 1988 Gallery; you can find even more at The Hero Complex Gallery.

Glen’s artwork appeals to all ages and would be a wonderful gift for any fan of pop culture. A quick trip to Nitro can pay off with some of his fantastic art.

Tonight, the PopCult Gift Guide shifts into last-minute mode as we start in on our final ten (or so) gift suggestions.  We’re bringing you three suggestions tonight and I need to run a bit of a disclaimer here:  All three are local artists.  All three are friends of mine.  And I have personally purchased art from all three of our suggested artists in the past few weeks.

The reason we’re running these all three tonight, aside from the fact that it’s cool to have three similarly-themed posts together, is that all three artists will be appearing either this weekend or next at one last event before Christmas to sell you their artwork.  And so, in just a few moments, let the art pimping begin.