Month: July 2018 (Page 2 of 4)

This week’s splashy, colorful entry into our month-long series of semi-abstract digital paintings is Tennessee Sky, yet another severely digitally-assaulted photograph that bears little resemblance to its source photo. This one is actually titled close to what the original photo was. By that, I mean it was a picture taken on my phone while looking at the Sky from the porch of the Hard Rock Cafe in Pigeon Forge.  As always, click the image to see a larger version.

Monday on our sister internet radio station, The AIR, the Monday Marathon presents 24 hours of Radio Free Charleston International.  You can listen to a full day of your PopCulteer playing whatever music he wants to, beginning at 7 AM and running through Tuesday morning. Tune in at the website, or listen on this handy embedded player…

Technical issues (power outages) mean that today’s planned Sunday Evening Video of the saga of Big Loo at the Marx Toy Museum will be delayed for a day or two. Sorry about that. In the meantime, you can watch this video that we premiered last month that sets the stage for the video in progress.

This week we go back to September, 2011 for Radio Free Charleston 144, “Mission Coalition Shirt.”  This special episode of the show was devoted to a big two-day metal fest, which was held at The Sound Factory on the weekend of September 9 and 10, 2011. This was a really big deal that we wrote extensively about in the PopCulteer leading up to the event.

On this edition of RFC you will find music videos by the Friday and Saturday night headliners, Karma To Burn and The Suede Brothers, plus a great video from Tomorrow Burns, and live performances from HarraH and The Scrap Iron Pickers.

Mission Coalition, Charleston’s first two-day metal fest, featured twelve bands spread over two nights. Fans heard major acts like Karma to Brun and The Suede Brothers, plus local legends The Scrap Iron Pickers, Linework, HarraH, Saprogen, Tower of the Elephant, John Lancaster, Tomorrow Burns, The Number Six, Deadface Down and Nuns on Fire.  It was hoped that this would be the first of many Mission Coalition shows, but to date, it was the only one.

As a bonus this week, down below you’ll find our 14-minute PopCult Instant Video, showing off raw video and audio highlights from the Mission Coalition show, and below that, the poster for the show.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and the concept can be revived at The Bakery, now that Charleston has a venue capable of handling an audience big enough to make such a show viable.

The PopCulteer
July 20, 2018

Okay, originally this PopCulteer was going to be a long travelogue, complete with photos, about my trip through Tennessee last month to go to the last official GI Joe Convention. Unfortunately, other projects piled up and I don’t have time to to get that piece finished in time to post today, so you can expect it next week. It’s long and funny and has cool photos.

Also, because of those aforementioned projects piling up, most of this week’s programming on The AIR was made up of encores of our most popular shows (AKA reruns). Saturday, instead of the usual repeats of all the week’s new music shows, The AIR will run a bonus 12-hour marathon of The Swing Shift from 7AM to 7 PM, which brings you the best Swing Music from the last 100 years. This is sort of in honor of tonight’s guests on Live on the Levee, and it’s also our show with the biggest international listenership.  That news only takes up one paragraph, so I still need to come up with something besides my unfinished piece on the Tennesee trip to fill up this PopCulteer.

I thought about just vamping it.

Instead, I’m going to mention a couple of things I’ll be going to soon, starting with tonight’s Live on the Levee with the Voodoo Katz and The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. For medical reasons I’m supposed to stay out of the heat and avoid exposure to the sun. However, CPD is one of my favorite bands and this is their first time playing Charleston, and The Voodoo Katz always put on a killer show, so I’m going to risk it and go.

You can go too. Details are in this graphic, and it’s FREE.

Next weekend I’m heading out to yet another GI Joe convention. This one isn’t official, but it is really cool. Just look at these two graphics for The Kentuckiana GI Joe Show, and then watch the video I made for last year’s show.

And that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check PopCult all weekend long because there will be more toy news from SDCC, along with the RFC Flashback, video from The Marx Toy Museum and possibly extra bits and pieces.

The MEGO revival is running full steam ahead into Comic Con International in San Diego. Above you see a photo (conveniently swiped from a MEGO Facebook page) of their booth at the convention. Marty Abrams, the legendary head of the original MEGO and the presenter of this reincarnated version is standing in front of the booth, while Dr. Mego himself, Paul Clarke is in the background.

On the table you can see some of the figures that have just been unveiled, and are being sold for the first time at SDCC. In the TV Favorites series so far we’ve learned of Peggy Bundy from Married With Children, Norm from Cheers, Tootie from Facts of Life, Alice from The Brady Bunch, Kelly from Charlie’s Angels, The Fonz from Happy Days, and Bela Lugosi as Dracula. That’s in addition to the previously-announced I Dream of Jeannie two-figure set of Jeannie and Major Nelson.

It’s an interesting and clever approach, releasing figures based on the most popular characters from classic TV shows, instead of pouring all their resources into producing the entire casts. I mean, back in the day, every kid wanted the Fonz, but nobody wanted Potsie or Ralph Malph.

Collectors can also look forward to Jimi Hendrix, in the Music Icons line, Action Jackson in the Classics line and from Star Trek, a single figure of Mr. Sulu, and a two-figure set of the Mirror Universe Kirk and Spock.

There will also be 14″ tall figures based on DC Comics characters. The first four announced are Harley Quinn, Batman, General Zod and Wonder Woman. At SDCC MEGO is also selling a very limited edition of Joe Namath, and the football legend will be on hand to sign the figures.

For those of us not in San Diego, these figures (with the exception of Joe Namath) will go on sale at Target stores nationwide weekend after next, with the single 8 “figures selling for $14.99, the 14” figures selling for $19.99 and the two-packs selling for $29.99.

Excitement is running high in the MEGO collecting community, as Target is expected to launch the line with endcaps that show off the whole line and the new distinctive packaging, and folks are adjusting their household budgets so they can grab their favorite figures for their collection.

And this is just the first wave. Another assortment of figures will be coming to Target stores in October, ready to take on the holiday season with fourteen points of articulation.

For much more detailed news and larger images, please visit MegoMuseum, where Brian Heiler has been doing a bang-up job posting the latest news on Marty Abrams presents MEGO for the last two days. He’s been updating the sight often, and is the major source for news on the return of this beloved brand.

Last month we told you about the new Captain Action uniform sets being released later this year. Now we know more about them.

The big reveal from San Diego is that the new Captain Action space mission outfit will allow him to fight the Martians from Mars Attacks, who will be represented by an outfit set for Dr. Evil. We have these images below from Joe Ahearn of Captain Action Enterprises, and we’ll have more details tomorrow.

Also check back for news on the MEGO revival later this afternoon.

UPDATE: Thursday evening, Ed Catto posted this additional Captain Action uniform. Details on where these will be sold have not been released yet, and we may have to wait until after SDCC, but Dave Steven’s The Rocketeer is a must-have for collectors.

It’s time to play catch up here in PopCult. It’s been six weeks since the Marx Toy Convention happened at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum in Wheeling, and while I posted a video last Sunday, I still need to get this photo essay up for your enjoyment.

And be advised that I’m putting this together while there is a ton of breaking news out of SDCC about both Captain Action and Marty Abrams’ revival of MEGO. We’ll post about those later today, after some dust settles. But now, it’s Marx Time.

Also note that, during the Marx Toy Convention, Francis Turner held an open house at the now-closed Marx Toy Museum in nearby Moundsville. We’ll tell you about that side-trip and post some video this Sunday. Today we’re going to look at the Marx Toy Convention.

It was a fun trip. Mel and I left Thursday afternoon and arrived at our hotel (after a depressing final visit to the Toys R Us in St. Clairsville, Ohio) and found our way to Dave Roth’s room to mingle with our fellow die-hard Johnny West collectors. I hadn’t planned to shoot video or take many photos this time around, but so many folks asked about it that I changed my mind and that eventually became the video I posted last weekend. The Johnny West collecting community is such a fun group of people from diverse walks, and socializing is as much of an attraction at this convention as the toys are.

While hanging out in the makeshift hanging-out area (the hotel was undergoing renovations, and our normal courtyard with the firepit was unavailable), I was able to pick up my “Ghost” Chief Cherokee (seen left), which was part of a very limited run produced by Terry Ryder and Buck Maas. That’s going to have a special place in my collection. Less than a dozen were made.

Terry and Buck created a new mold off of a vintage (first issue) Chief Cherokee, and cast him in clear material. He’s done in the spirit of Buck’s earlier “Ghost” Johnny West, which I am also lucky enough to have. With these new molds, Terry and Buck plan to make some more Chiefs, using body colors that haven’t been used before. You’ll see one of them later in this batch of photos.

While editing the photos, it hit me that I have enough images for at least one bonus photo essay sometime in the future, so stay tuned. This was all I could fit in here today due to the new image limitations here at the blog. And apologies for the odd layout. Those same limitations make the site glitch a bit when I post more than five images, so some of them aren’t quite centered and the spacing is a tad askew.

The really cool news at this show, which I have mentioned here in PopCult previously, is that Scott Stewart of Stewart’s Attic, teamed up with James Wozniak of Classic Recasts and Dave Johnson to create a new line of Johnny West action figures using newly recast and vintage bodies, plus a mix of recast and custom heads. We will have our long-delayed reviews of those next week, along with reviews of some very limited figures that Scott produced with Tom Heaton of The Vintage Toy Room.

Thse reviews will be in PopCult next week. Right now, let’s dive in to the photos…

People happily paying to get in and see the wonders of the Marx Toy Convention.

Mrs. and Mr. PopCulteer, on the main floor of the Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum, in front of the running train exhibit. Mel is actually responsible for a lot of the images you see here because she shot much of the video, and I used a lot of screen grabs. So, hooray for my beautiful wife!

Continue reading

Another Wednesday has arrived, and with it, more cool programming on The AIR! Tune in to the website, or on the embedded player below for this week’s slate of stimulating programs.

We have a new normal for our midweek. Our new morning line-up on Wednesday’s begins with The Swing Shift at 7 AM, followed by Prognosis at 9 AM, Psychedelic Shack at 11 AM and an encore of a previous week’s Curtain Call at Noon.  We are re-presenting classic episodes of On The Road with Mel at 1 PM.

At 1;30 PM, Life Speaks to Michele Zirkle presents the first part of Michele’s discussion with Pete Yeaple, an advocate and podcaster specializing in the use of medicinal marijuana and alternative healing as a means of replacing the products of Big Pharma. Pete relates his own story about how marijuana and Reiki healing helped him kick an over-reliance on prescription meds. Part two can be heard next week.

Life Speaks to Michele Zirkle (that’s Michele to the right) can be heard Wednesday at 1:30 PM and 7 PM, with replays on The AIR Friday at 9:30 AM and Sunday at 7 PM.

At 2 PM Beatles Blast presents another hour of music by and about the Fab Four. Beatles Blast can be heard Wednesday at 2 PM, Thursday at 11 AM and 9 PM, Friday at 5 PM, and Tuesday at 9 AM.

At 3 PM Wednesday on Curtain Call, because flickering power prevented us from recording a new episode for this week, we present encore broadcasts of the 2017 and 2018 Tony Award Nominees specials.

Curtain Call can be heard Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 7 AM and 8 PM and Saturday at 6 PM. An all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

At 7:30 PM, we have gone into the AIR Archives and unearthed the missing seven episodes of Word Association with Lee and Rudy. These shows were misplaced on a stray hard drive and have not been heard in more than two years. We’ll bring them to you over the next seven weeks, and hopefully follow these with some new shows.

This week you can hear Lee Harrah and Rudy Panucci (left) in the conclusion of a two-part discussion of Saturday Morning Cartoons.  Word Association with Lee and Rudy replays Friday mornings at 9 AM.

Stay tuned all day, every day, for incredible music, thought-provoking talk and gut-busting comedy exclusively on The AIR. And check out the full schedule below, including our revamped evening programming…

Tuesday always brings you local music and other goodies like Swing and Psychedelica on The AIR. This week, due to yesterday’s unpredictable weather, we were prevented from recording new episodes of Radio Free Charleston and The Swing Shift, luckily we do have the first one-hour edition of Psychedelic Shack, which comes to us from our friends at Haversham Recording Institute in London. You can tune in at The AIR website, or listen in on this sweet little embedded radio player…

Today at 10 AM we are bringing you two more episodes of Radio Free Charleston from early 2017. These have been offline for over a year, and we’re glad to bring them out of the mothballs for your listening pleasure.  We had a new episode laid out, with great new music, but then then power began flickering on and off and we had to shut down the computers for the day. We’ll post the playlists at the bottom of this post, after the jump.

Radio Free Charleston can be heard Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM, with replays Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 8 PM and Saturday at 11 AM and Midnight, exclusively on The AIR.

At 2 PM it’s time for Nigel Pye and his psychedelic mixtape program, Psychedelic Shack. This week we get the first new episode of Psychedelic Shack since 2016, and the first one-hour episode as Nigel formally takes over the spot vacated by his colleague, Dexter Checkers and his program, Ska Madness.  Dexter has taken a leave of absence to deal with some lingering health issues, and Nigel has stepped in to fill the void with his weekly hour of mind-blowing psychedelic music, presented as a nearly-hour-long digital mix. In this week’s show you’ll hear Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys Iron Butterfly and Jimi Hendrix mix it up with Prince, The Dukes of the Stratosphear and more.

Psychedelic Shack can be heard Tuesday’s at 2 PM, with replays Wednesday at 11 AM, Thursday at 5 PM and Saturday at 7 AM.

At 3 PM The Swing Shift goes back a couple of months to encore two great episodes that bring you the best swing music from the last century. We’ve been on a roll with this show, and you’ll get a kick out of these recent editions.

You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 7 AM, Thursday at 7 PM and Saturday at 9 AM, only on The AIR. You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursday and Sunday evenings.

Remember, you can tune in to The AIR at all hours of the day and night for a variety and quality of programming that you will not find anywhere else.

Continue reading

Another in this month’s series of semi-abstract works, Corridors of Power is a severely digitally-assaulted photograph that bears little resemblance to its source photo. Basically I just turned it on its side and painted all over it. I like the way it looks, even if that look is not particularly like anything. You can make up your own story about what it is.  As always, click the image to see a larger version.

Monday on our sister internet radio station, The AIR, the Monday Marathon presents 24 hours of Curtain Call, hosted by Mel Larch.  You can tune in for a massive barrage of show tunes representing the best of Broadway and beyond, beginning at 7 AM and running through Tuesday morning. Tune in at the website, or listen on this handy embedded player…