Month: April 2017 (Page 2 of 5)

Our internet radio station, The AIR, perseveres on its march through April with fresh shows and a tweaked schedule.  You can tune in at The AIR Website, or just hit the virtual button right here on this embedded radio player…

After a morning and afternoon of new music and encore presentations, the fun starts at 3 PM with a brand-new episode of Prognosis. Herman Linte is back with a special show that brings you a special presentation of the music of Squackett (Chris Squire and Steve Hackett together) and The Keith Emerson Band. Details at the bottom of the post.

At 5 PM we bring you a classic episode of Harrah’s Hard & Heavy. In a couple of weeks we’ll have new shows from this series, but until then, you can rock out with your encore out.

At 6 PM it’s another installment the New Music Show. This is exactly what the title says. It’s new music, a mix of local and non-local, presented in a rotation so that you can see the artist and song title displayed. You’ll get to hear some of the best tracks that we play on our specialty shows here every weekday at 6 PM.

At 6:30 PM it’s The (censored) Crazy Show. Now daily, by popular demand.

7 PM sees a classic episode of That Conversation with Patrick Felton. This week it’s Kevin Pauley and Marcus Ogelby, talking about the state of creativity in West Virginia in 2012.

9 PM brings us another much-requested episode of The Best of The Real with Mark Wolfe. This time Mark reports live from Create WV in Fayetteville.

10 PM revives a lost episode of Six Degrees of Separation. This talk show, hosted at The Empty Glass, presents the world according to Chris Ojeda of Byzantine.

At midnight, settle in for an unpredictable mix of different cool stuff.

Continue reading

We wrap up Monochrome Month with a digital illustration depicting a scene from a science fiction story that I’ll probably never get around to finishing. Without giving away too much (in case I do decide to finish it) the story takes place in a dystopian civilisation on a barren planet where the ruling class trades human lives like commodities. And there’s also pneumatics involved.

On second thought, I probably don’t need to protect the story elements that much. Click to see the image larger.

Above you see a brilliant parody of 1960s anti-drug “educational films.” CATNIP: EGRESS TO OBLIVION? debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and comes to you now here in PopCult. Thanks go out to Mistress Rhonda at Bizarre TV who brought it to my attention. Written and directed by Jason Willis, this short film takes the over-the-top anti-drug propaganda of the 1960s and applies it to catnip. Cat lovers will enjoy it because of the cute kitties. Everyone else will just laugh.

Below you find an actual 1960s anti-drug film, just for reference, or more laughs, depending on your point of view.

This installment of Radio Free Charleston from July 2008 features full songs from Casi Null (singing about the infamous Blue Haze) and Dog Soldier (singing about the infamous Christmas).

We also have parts of songs from then-future RFC guests The Buttonflies (in the 120 Second Art Show) and The Diablo Blues Band (over the end credits).

Our animation was a segment of “Duffy’s Mascot,” and your host is lethargic after eating a wonderful meal at Bluegrass Kitchen. You can read the original production notes HERE.

Friday radio is dominated by The AIR as we hit listeners with the double shot of DJ Betty Rock and Radio Coolsville, and Sydney Fileen with her Big Electric Cat. You can tune in at The AIR Website, or just settle down right here on this embedded radio player…

You may have noticed that, with our new schedule on The AIR, we now have three hours of specialty music programming every weekday, starting at 3 PM. Friday, as before, is where you’ll find the debut of new episodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat at 3 PM. This makes three weeks in a row of new shows from Sydney Fileen courtesy of Haverhsam Recording Institute in London, England.  Check the playlist for this week’s show at the bottom of this post, on the other side of the jump.

Joining Sydney on Friday afternoons, we are proud to have DJ Betty Rock and Radio Coolsville. DJ Betty’s show, which originates out of WMUL in Huntington, has shrunk down to an hour, but is still chock-full of the coolest Alternative-inflected music you’ll find. Radio Coolsville will debut a new episode every Friday at 5 PM, with replays throughout the week.

At 6 PM tonight, it’s another half-hour of The New Music Show, and at 6:30 PM we bring you The Crazy Show. At 7 PM, this week, we’re bringing you a special replay of the Life Speaks Bigfoot Special, and at 8 PM we continue The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy with hour three.

9 PM sees a full hour of The Third Shift with Jay and Jared. Check this show our for the wildest conversations about beer, babes, gadgetry and the latest news from the world of the key demographic. At 10 PM we offer up a replay of this week’s Radio Free Charleston International. Midnight ushers in an overnight marathon of On The Road with Mel, so you can learn about travel stuff.

Continue reading

The PopCulteer
April 21, 2017

About a year ago I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, an auto-immune disorder that weakens my muscles by keeping the nerve signals from being transmitted to them. I wrote about it at the time, and a few times since, but since it’s now a day short of one year since I first told my readers about it, I figured it was time for an update.

First of all, I need to reiterate how lucky I am. I have a very mild case of this disease. It’s so mild that, as the effects of the disease wane from time to time, it sometimes appears as if I’m in a full remission. I’m not. I still have it, but it hasn’t hit me nearly as hard as most people who are diagnosed with this.

I feel lucky because I had already adapted to life with the impairments that this disease brought with it. My fingers were essentially useless. I could not open a bottle of water and had to use both hands to get my car door open. I managed to adapt to this and continue on with my life. In the back of my mind I figured that I was in the early stages of ALS and that I would have to keep making adjustments as the quality of my life declined.

So when I got the diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis, I was actually thrilled. What I had was treatable and not fatal.

One of the drugs used to treat MG has been a bit of an adventure. Also, my optimism at my double-vision going away completely has now been tempered with the realization that 12 years of atrophy in my eye muscles is going to take a long, long time to repair, if that can ever happen.

The problem drug has been Prednisone. It’s a wonder drug of sorts that can be used to treat all kinds of ailments, usually more effectively than any other drug on the market. Unfortunately, it comes with a laundry list of side effects that provide a whole new set of challenges.

Continue reading

You know the drill. Here are some graphics with just  a few of the cool shows you can get out to in town this weekend. There’s more than this if you’re willing to look. There is no excuse to say that there isn’t anything to do.

Thursday

Continue reading

Radio Free Charleston International puts the randomizer back in action at 3 PM Thursday on The AIR. Tune in at the website, or on this handy embedded radio player…

After another morning and afternoon filled with special encores of Curtain Call, Radio Coolsville, Sydney’s Big Electric Cat and Ska Madness, we make the world safe for eclecticism on Radio Free Charleston International at 3 PM with a show that revisits a ton of great music that we originally presented one year ago. This show was bumped off the server last summer, but it was so good we decided to bring it back for your listening pleasure.

Listeners will be treated to then-brand-new music by Steve Vai, The Monkees, Ultravox, Anderson/Stoldt, The storkes, ABC, The Avett Brothers and more.

You can hear Radio Free Charleston International on The AIR Thursday at 3 PM, with replays Friday at 9 AM and 10 PM, Saturday at 11 AM and Sunday at 1 AM and 10 PM.

Following RFC International on Thursday,you can listen to this week’s new Radio Free Charleston, with Fabulous Head and more at 5 PM, and The New Music Show at 6 PM , The Crazy Show at 6:30 PM. In prime-time, it’s this week’s episodes of The Swing Shift and Curtain Call, followed at 10 PM by Live From The Empty Glass (this week with  Travis Stephens and Matt McGuire). All night long after that, it’s a marathon of The Swing Shift.

Continue reading

It’s yet another thrilling Wednesday filled with new programming on The AIR as we offer up a special hour-long episode of  Life Speaks with Michele Zirkle Marcum and new editions of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast.  You can tune in at The AIR Website, or just flip the switch right here on this embedded radio player…

The morning kicks off with a replay of this week’s The Swing Shift at 7 AM, followed by a two-hour version of The NEW MUSIC SHOW, featuring Save Ferris, Brian May, Claypool Lennon Delirum, Speedsuit, HARRAH, Everlast and more at 9 AM and a replay of last week’s Curtain Call at noon. All times, EDT, by the way.

At 1 PM  Michele Zirkle Marcum brings us a special one-hour compilation of her lengthy interview with local Bigfoot scholar, Russ Jones on Life Speaks. We’d brought you parts of this interview in the two prior weeks, but there was so much left and it’s such a facinating interview that we decided to combine them into a one-hour special.

The Best of The Real with Mark Wolfe re-presents Mark’s talk with your PopCulteer, Rudy Panucci, at 2 PM.

It’s a new Curtain Call at 3 PM, as Mel Larch brings you a collection of some of the greatest overtures in Broadway history. This show has everything from Gypsy, to Oklahoma to Starlight Express.  You’ll find the playlist later in this post.

At 5 PM Beatles Blast is back with a brand-new episode, hosted by your humble PopCulteer. We have plenty of tracks from the Fab Four, together and solo, plus plenty of interesting covers. The full playlist can be found below.

6 PM sees The NEW MUSIC SHOW, followed at 6:30 PM by The now-daily Crazy Show.

At 7 PM we have a replay of the Life Speaks Bigfoot Special with Michele Zirkle Marcum.

We maintain our prime-time Wednesday line-up of this week’s Prognosis at 8 PM, followed by The Comedy Vault at 10 PM. Then at midnight we dive into the Radio Free Charleston archives for seven hours of classic episodes from the last year. Nobody brings you as much local music as The AIR.

The interruption-free programming continues as The AIR continues being an actual radio station, despite what some people think.

Continue reading

Our internet radio station, The AIR, is making Tuesdays bigger than ever with three specialty music programs.  Today, Radio Free Charleston opens with Fabulous Head, The Swing Shift brings you an hour of great Wing Music and Dexter Checkers returns with the first hour-long edition of Ska Madness.  You can tune in at The AIR Website, or just settle down right here on this embedded radio player…

A t 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday join us for a new hour of great local music on Radio Free Charleston. This week we open the show with a new track from Fabulous Head, then launch into a trek through the RFC archives. The playlist is below the jump.

At noon we offer up a bonus hour of Radio Free Charleston from just a few weeks ago, so you can overdose on great local music. 1 PM sees two hours of mystery music that you’ll have to hear to believe.

3 PM sees a brand-new episode of The Swing Shift, featuring Big Bad VooDoo Daddy, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Royal Crown Revue and more. You’ll find the playlist for this week’s show below the RFC playlist.

5 PM sees the return of Dexter Checkers and Ska Madness. This is the first hour-long edition of the program, and in it Dexter brings you the entire debut album, “I Just Can’t Stop It,” by The English Beat.

At 6 PM our daily New Music Show continues, while at 6:30 PM, by Popular Demand, it’s The Crazy Show. At 7 PM we offer up a replay of The RFC Interview with Mark Wolfe, and at 8 PM it’s a replay of last weeks Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.

10 PM is when Radio Free Charleston is heard again, followed by last week’s Radio Free Charleston International, and an all-night marathon of Radio Coolsville with DJ Betty Rock. 

The AIR is the place to go for interruption-free music. Below the jump you’ll find the playlists I promised you:

Continue reading