Month: August 2017 (Page 3 of 4)

The rest of the week looks astoundingly swell on The AIR.  Gazillions of people worldwide are tuning in and you can hear why at the website, or on this nifty embedded radio machine doohickey…

You can see the schedules for the rest of the week in the accompanying graphics, but let’s run down the highlights for ye, shall we?

Wednesday at 1:30 PM Life Speaks to Michele Zirkle presents part two of Michele’s incredible interview with the Psychic Hairdresser from Columbus, Amanda Walters. The show replays at 7 PM.

Beatles Blast presents an hour of Beatletastic music at 2 PM, and at 3 PM Mel Larch brings you two hours of the best of musical theater on Curtain Call. Marking Out with Betty Rock discusses the previous week in professional wrestling at 10 PM.

Thursday we bring you great music all day, with a replay of this week’s Radio Free Charleston at 2 PM and a special encore of Radio Free Charleston International at 3 PM.  New episodes of RFCI will return after I get back from my vacation.

Live From The Empty Glass brings you live recordings from The Scrap Iron Pickers and more at 10 PM, and after that you can swing all night with a marathon of The Swing Shift.

Friday sees a brand new episode of Radio Coolsville with DJ Betty Rock at 2 PM, followed by a classic edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat at 3PM. The Haversham Recording Institute crew are gearing up to deliver brand new episodes of Prognosis, Sydney’s Big Electric Cat and Ska Madness very soon.

At 9 PM tune in for all-new man talk with Jay and Jarod on The Third Shift.  After a 10 PM replay of Radio Free Charleston International, you can snuggle in bed and listen to The (BS) Crazy Show all night long.

The PopCult Toybox

Cryptozoic Entertainment has released the first of two games based on Adult Swim’s hit cartoon, Rick and Morty, and fans of the show will really get into this one.

Rick and Morty: Anatomy Park — The Game is a tile-Laying Game based on one of the key episodes of the Rick and Morty TV Series that lets players build a theme park inside a human body

Released about a month ago, the game is based on the “Anatomy Park” episode of Adult Swim’s popular cult animated TV series, the theme park-building, tile-laying game sends 2-4 players into the body of Ruben, a homeless department store Santa, in order to save the microscopic amusement park built from his organs. Players must design the best park possible by placing Tiles while simultaneously avoiding and fighting Diseases.

“We have all the fan-favorite rides and attractions from the episode, plus a host of new ones as well,” said Matt Hyra, Lead Game Designer at Cryptozoic. “Every Tile, whether from the show or a new creation, features original art by Robb Mommaerts. It’s a grossly beautiful game!”

In Rick and Morty: Anatomy Park — The Game, players become characters from the episode—choosing from Rick, Morty, Dr. Xenon Bloom, Annie, Poncho, and Roger—as they try to build Anatomy Park. Most of a player’s turn is devoted to the Move and Action Phases, which consist of one Move and one Action each turn. During the Move Phase, a player can move his or her Character, a Tile, or all Diseases. Every time a player moves a Tile, he or she must draw a Bodily Reaction Card to reflect that Ruben’s internal organs are being shifted around. A Bodily Reaction Card can force the player to act out the (usually embarrassing) title of the card and result in various immediate or short-term ongoing effects, or it can cause a new Disease—such as Tuberculosis and Hepatitis A—to show up inside Ruben.

During the Action Phase, there are five Actions that can be chosen: Draw, Place a Tile, Play a Focus Group, Shoot a Disease, or Exit. Each Tile (types include Attraction, Food, and Ride) will score a certain number of Victory Points when placed in the park, with some Tiles scoring more points if placed next to specific other Tiles.

The winner is the player who scores the most Victory Points at the end of the game, which occurs when one of three conditions is met: drawing the first Heart Attack from the Bodily Reaction deck (giving players two rounds until the game ends), drawing the second Heart Attack, or running out of Tiles twice.

Rick and Morty: Anatomy Park — The Game is available now at hobby and gaming retailers, with a list price of $30.

Number of Players: 2-4
Ages: 18+
Playtime: 30-45 minutes
Contents Summary:
46 Park Tiles
9 Focus Group Tiles
24 Bodily Reaction Cards
3 Dice
6 Oversized Character Cards
6 Character Standees
6 Disease Standees
6 Master Plan Cards
30 Control Cubes
Lots of Victory Point Tokens
Rulebook

Later this year Cryptozoic will release another game based on an episode of Rick and Morty. Rick and Morty: Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind Deck-Building Game is based on the Season 1 episode “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind,” in which a group of Ricks from alternate realities arrive and accuse the show’s Rick of murdering other Ricks.

After being taken to the Council of Ricks, Rick and Morty escape to track down the evil Rick who appears to be the one behind the murders and the kidnapping of numerous Mortys. However, the true motivations and identity of the villain turn out to be much more complicated.

The deck-building game uses Cryptozoic’s popular Cerberus Engine as various versions of Rick serve as both players’ oversized Hero cards and the Villainous Council of Ricks. Each player’s deck starts with the following cards: seven Genius Waves cards that give you Power, one Beth, one Jerry, and one Summer. The Beth, Jerry, and Summer cards do nothing, but can activate other cards. The “Kick” stack in other Cerberus games is now the Portal Gun stack. The Portal Gun activates the Portal deck, which transports a player’s Hero to a random Location from the episode or other popular places from the series. That player may then utilize that Location during his or her turn and has the option of paying the cost of the Location to put it into his/her deck.

Rick and Morty: Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind Deck-Building Game is due out in a couple of months, just in time for holiday gift-giving. With season three of Rick and Morty currently running on Adult Swim, these games are the perfect way for fans to live the adventure.

Once again we’re bringing you Monday and Tuesday’s schedules together this week so that you can plan your entire life around our cool line up of fine programming on our little internet radio station, The AIR. On these days and all this week you can tune in to hear Go Van Gogh: Live In The 90s, our tribute to the late GVG drummer, Johnny Rock. You can listen at the website, or on this embedded radio player…

In addition to our usual excellent line up of shows on Monday, we will present Go Van Gogh: Live In The 90s at 9 AM and 7 PM, so that you have plenty of changes to hear it. Plus we have a brand-new edition of Marking Out with Betty Rock and a mystery partner discussing professional wrestling. Marking Out can be heard at 5 PM Monday, with replays Wednesday and Sunday.

Of course, we have cool stuff all Monday long on The AIR. The morning sees our Go Van Gogh special followed by afternoon replays of the previous week’s episodes of On The Road with Mel and Life Speaks to Michele Zirkle Marcum.

Monday afternoon music pairs Harrah’s Hard & Heavy with Herman Linte’s Prognosis.  At 7 PM we replay Go Van Gogh again. In the evening it’s time for talk with Mark Wolfe and the gang from The Empty Glass. Finally we offer up a marathon of show tunes with Curtain Call, starring Mel Larch, at Midnight.

Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM we offer up tons of great local tunes on Radio Free Charleston. Following a brand-new episode of RFC at 10 AM, we will replay last week’s tribute to Johnny Rock, immediately followed by Go Van Gogh: Live In The 90s.

In the afternoon you can hear Ska and Swing in full bloom. While the evening presents Sydney’s Big Electric Cat at 8 PM, to fill your hearts with New Wave cheer. Following the 10 PM airing of Radio Free Charleston this week, we will give you another chance to hear Go Van Gogh: Live In The 90s at 11 PM.

Overnight Tuesday, Prognosis kicks in at 1 AM and runs until 7 AM Wednesday.

That’s just part of our early-week schedule. We have The New Music Show, The (BS) Crazy Show, Radio Coolsville and more.

Just check the accompanying graphics for our full schedule.

Today’s Monday Morning Art is my digital painting impression of the Chicago skyline, as seen from the corner of Dearborn and Superior. This one is informed by photographic reference, but is not simply a photo that was fed through filters. As for why I’m thinking about The Windy City…well, I’ll be heading back that way for a quick anniversary jaunt soon.

As always, click to enlarge.

Tonight for our Sunday Evening Videos we are going to take one more look at the work of our friend, Johnny Rock, who passed away August 4. At Johnny’s memorial service I spoke with his bandmates in Go Van Gogh and they gave me permission to post their videos from back in the day. Go Van Gogh was the most-requested band on the original radio incarnation of Radio Free Charleston, back in 1989/90, and in tonight’s videos you can probably see why. They had great songwriting, charismatic performances and one hell of a sense of humor.

Above you see a compilation of nearly two-and-a-half hours of primo Go Van Gogh. Included are:

“All Over The Road” A document of their tour to Morgantown, WV.
“The Sad Truth” (Excerpt) Part of their mockumentary.
“Live At The Levee: 1991” Half an hour of the band in concert at The Levee (now known as The Boulevard Tavern).
“Coalfinger” What happens with a Southern West Virginia community college Drama department makes a James Bond Movie?
“Live At WVSU” Performing the song, “Stripes with Stains” at West Virginia State University.
“Make The Money” A Comedic Short Film.
“Roll” Music Video.
“Planet of Psychotic Women.” Music Video

Go Van Gogh were: Johnny Rock, Tim Rock, Stephen Beckner and Mark Beckner. Occasionally the band is augmented by Mark Mingrone, Jason Ashworth and Bain Ashworth. The above videos were directed by Tim Rock, Johnny Rock, Stephen Beckner, Melissa Beezley and yours truly.

Below you’ll find the entire half-hour version of “Go Van Gogh: The Sad Truth.” This mockumentary was the brainchild of Tim Rock, and you’ll see the band and friends (including yours truly) perpetrating a mythical history of the rise and fall of Go Van Gogh.

Enjoy the fun times with Go Van Gogh, and learn why Johnny was a real rock star.

From March, 2009, Radio Free Charleston 63 is “Bauhaus Shirt.” This was yet another music-packed episode, featuring then-new tunes from Stephen Beckner, The Buttonflies, and returning for a second week in a row Tofujitsu. We also have a five-second appearance from now-retired Indianapolis Colt (with a Super Bowl Ring) Pat McAfee, and by popular demand, the return of vintage beer commercial animation.

Host segments were shot in an undisclosed location in the hills surrounding Charleston. There are reports that this undisclosed location bears an uncanny resemblance to the deck behind the house where Sean and Karen from Tofujitsu lived, but we are sworn to secrecy. Also, it was raining that day.

This episode picks up my major SNAFU from the previous week, where I ran the wrong song by Tofujitsu. This episode really does have “Clap On, Clap Off” in it, and we milked the situation for some humor. Original production notes are here.

The PopCulteer
August 11 , 2017

I’m always going to have a warm spot in my heart for legendary Charleston band, Stark Raven. The last time I saw the band perform live, January 19, 1990, was the night I met Melanie Larch, who many, many years later became my wife (we’d been together since 1990, but we didn’t actually get married until a little less than three years ago).

Stark Raven was Ron Sowell, Julie Adams, Bob Webb, Ammed Solomon, John Kessler and Deni Bonet, and together they were an unstoppable combination of virtuosity and sheer fun, the happiest maestros on the planet. Whenever I can, I drop vintage Stark Raven tracks into Radio Free Charleston.

Thursday night Stark Raven reunited and performed together for the first time in 26 years. It was a magic night. There was no perceivable rustiness. To be honest, while they were performing the band didn’t seem like they had aged any in the last 26 years.  I was thrilled to be among the audience, sitting on the big stage at the Meier Performance Hall at the Clay Center, watching the band perform on a smaller stage.

The reason I’m mentioning this is that they are doing this one more time, Friday Evening at Live On The Levee. You can see a band that left a major mark on Charleston’s music scene for free, and you should do it. There’s no telling when or if this will happen again. Ron, Julie and Ammed are all still local and can be heard as part of the Mountain Stage band, but Bob is in Oregon, John’s in Seattle, and Deni is based in New York but winds up all over the world.

I’m not even going to try to objectively review the show. I’m too emotionally invested. It was just spectacular. If you saw Stark Raven back in the day, you’ll want to relive the glory, because they certainly live up to it. If you never had the chance to see them live, you will absolutely regret missing them.

Meanwhile, Back In Louisville…

Last weekend your PopCulteer shuffled down to Louisville for the Fourth Annual Kentuckiana GI Joe EXPO, and I posted a video last Sunday. However, I promised photos, and here’s the first batch, presented without many captions because our blogging interface is still infested with gremlins.

Continue reading

This week our Stuff To Do is sort of skimpy, but there are at least two events that your PopCulteer is going to try to make it out to and I wanted to be sure to tell you about those.

The reason for the skimpiness has a lot to do with folks who have events, but can’t be bothered to create eye-catching graphics that include the date, time, venue and whatever’s happening. I’ll be glad to run cool graphics of your shows here in PopCult, but I’m not going to hunt your events down and write long-winded plugs for them. I tried that and the pay is the same as if I do it this way (which is for nothing, in case you wondered). Meet me halfway, folks, please.

So if you want your show plugged here in PopCult, please make a graphic for me. I even had to add the venue name to one of this week’s graphics.  I’ll even make graphics for you, if you ask me more than a week in advance.

The big deal for me is the Stark Raven Reunion shows. I’m going to try to snag tickets to the Woody Hawley concert Thursday night at the Walker Theater at The Clay Center. Live at the Levee will be a fun show, but being an outdoor show, it just doesn’t jibe with my medical situation.

Saturday night your PopCulteer plans to spend his last night in a certain demographic at The Capteron Planetarium at The Clay Center, catching Rubber Soul play The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper” in its entirety.

There’s way more than this happening in town, so if none of this catches your fancy, seek out those cool events that are too cool to make handy graphics.

Continue reading

The rest of the week looks great on The AIR. Thousands of people worldwide are tuning in and you can hear why at the website, or on this nifty embedded radio machine doohickey…

You can see the schedules for the rest of the week in the accompanying graphics, but let’s run down the highlights for ye, shall we?

Wednesday at 1:30 PM we run the first part of a wild interview on Life Speaks To Michele Zirkle, Michele’s guest, Amanda Walter, is a spiritualist hairdresser from Columbus who shares a lot of new and different ideas. . The show replays at 7 PM.

Beatles Blast presents an hour of Beatletastic music at 2 PM, and at 3 PM Mel Larch brings you two hours of the best of musical theater on Curtain Call. Marking Out with Betty Rock discusses the previous week in professional wrestling at 10 PM.

Thursday we bring you great music all day, with a replay of this week’s Radio Free Charleston at 2 PM and a special encore of Radio Free Charleston International at 3 PM. This two-hour tribute to progressive rock has not been heard for over a year. See the playlist HERE.

Live From The Empty Glass brings you live recordings from Christopher “Qiet” Vincent and more at 10 PM, and after that you can swing all night with a marathon of The Swing Shift.

Friday sees a brand new episode of Radio Coolsville with DJ Betty Rock at 2 PM, followed by a classic edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat at 3PM. The Haversham Recording Institute crew are gearing up to deliver brand new episodes of Prognosis, Sydney’s Big Electric Cat and Ska Madness very soon.

At 9 PM tune in for all-new man talk with Jay and Jarod on The Third Shift. After a 10 PM replay of Radio Free Charleston International, you can snuggle in bed and listen to The (BS) Crazy Show all night long.

Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM, The AIR will present a special episode of Radio Free Charleston devoted to the music of Johnny Rock and Go Van Gogh. You can tune in at the website, or on this cool little embedded player…

If you read PopCult yesterday, you know that we lost Johnny Rock last week. In addition to being a good friend to me and many others, Johnny is responsible for most of my social circle. If he hadn’t beckoned me to come to The Charleston Playhouse back in 1989 I would never have met most of my closest friends, and I would probably never have met my wife, Mel Larch.

I will be honest with you. I was still not quite in the mood to record a new episode of Radio Free Charleston, so this week I just did one new segment and the rest of the show is a partial rebroadcast of an episode of RFC that I produced for Voices of Appalachia Radio over two years ago.

This show was an attempt at doing a “Rock Family Tree,” this time focusing on one of the hottest bands from the original RFC, Go Van Gogh. Stephen and Mark Beckner and Tim and Johnny Rock made up this four-piece, and you will them in action below with a couple of episodes of the RFC video shows.

In addition to bringing you some Go Van Gogh classics, we’re going to check out music from the pre-Go Van Gogh and post-Go Van Gogh bands that feature the brothers Beckner and Rock, and we’re going to catch up with solo material by The Beckners and tunes from their band, The Nanker Phelge.

The Go Van Gogh Rock Family Tree

Go Van Gogh  “Shut Up, I Love You”

Songs from the bands that the Rock brothers and the Beckner brothers were in prior to forming Go Van Gogh.

True Rumor “River Beyond”
Meadow Blasters “Da Da Da, I Love You”
Meadow Blasters “She Doesn’t Want My Love”

Go Van Gogh “Planet Freedom”
Go Van Gogh “I Don’t Like Trains”

The Tunesmiths were a side project by Mark Beckner.

The Tunesmiths “Ballet Dancer”
Tunesmiths “For Your Love”

The core of The Tunesmiths moved to Nashville and became Hitchcock Circus

Hitchcock Circus “Telescope”
Hitchcock Circus “Song For A Friend”

Meanwhile, Stephen Beckner released a great solo album, “Apples.”

Stephen Beckner “Those Eyes”
Stephen Beckner “Scream”

Mark returned from Nashville, and formed a new band with Stephen, The Nanker Phelge.

The Nanker Phelge “Johnny’s Got A Problem”
The Nanker Phelge “That’s What She Said”
The Nanker Phelge “The Nanker Stomp”

We managed to squeeze in one of Mark’s solo tunes, too.

Mark Beckner “Habitual Preoccupation with Self”

I will probably do another Go Van Gogh Tribute Show in a few weeks.

I’m also posting a couple of shows below that feature Johnny and Go Van Gogh:

This is Johnny’s college film, “Coalfinger,” presented as an April Fool’s Day episode of Radio Free Charleston. The bogus production notes were a collaboration between Johnny and me.

We also have vintage footage of Go Van Gogh on The RFC MINI SHOW, in an expanded form, shot at The Levee, in 1991. The Levee is better known today as The Boulevard Tavern.

PopCult will continue to pay tribute to Johnny over the next week.