Our next pick in the Gift Guide is a cool litle patch designed by Charleston Actor/Musician/Artist Ann Magnuson, inspired by her conversation with David Scott, one of the Astronauts who walked on the moon. It comes with a download of her song, “I Met An Astronaut.” The patch reads “Endlessly Fulfilling,” which was his description of what it was like to walk on the moon.
Ann also asked me to pass this along, “Tell Folks I’m also working on some special handmade “hillbilly stash bags” for the Xmas shopping season. They will feature the patch and other homemade sewing touches my grandmother taught me -when I was a kid spending summers in Morgantown (where she lived.) A good stocking stuffer and perfect for stashing whatever it is that makes one feel Endlessly Fullfiled’”
You can order the patch and song, and eventually find the “hillbilly stash bags” at her Bandcamp page, where the price is very reasonable for a cool memento from our space program. You can also find some of her other solo albums there as physical copies or downloads.
You can hear the song in this week’s episode of Radio Free Charleston (It’s the first track), and you can follow an Instagram account for #endlesslyfulfilling that shows the patch in various nature settings.
It’s a great gift for fans of Ann, or fans of Astronauts and the space program.
While The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide is in full swing (posts begin Tuesday after noon), we’ve also got a full slate of our specialty music programs today on The AIR. One of them even ties in to a Gift Guide suggestion.
Tuesday on The AIR we deliver new episodes of Radio Free Charleston, Psychedelic Shack and The Swing Shift to our loyal listeners. You may point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay on this page, and listen to this happy little embedded radio player…
It all kicks off at 10 AM (with a replay at 10 PM– all times EDT) with a brand-new edition of Radio Free Charleston.
A very special Radio Free Charleston opens with a new track from Ann Magnuson, which you will read more about later today in the Gift Guide. It wraps up with two rare live tracks from Tyler Childers, recorded at The Empty Glass. In between we have our usual impressive selection of great local music.
Check the playlist…
RFCv4123
Ann Magnuson “I Met An Astronaut”
Time And Distance “On My Own”
David Synn “Picasso’s Disembodiment”
Fletcher’s Grove “She”
Mediogres “Lady Goldenhair”
Emmalea Deal “Ghost (Robby B Remix)”
The Mucklebuck “Miles”
Karma To Burn “Patty Hearst’s Closet Mantra”
Mark Beckner “Exit Our Hero Stage Right”
Tom Rader “Angels”
Ovada “Blood of the Sun”
Tyler Childers “Grinning In Your Face” “Whitehouse Road”
Radio Free Charleston can be heard Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM, with replays Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM and 7 PM, Saturday at 11 AM and Midnight, Sunday at 1 PM and the next Monday at 8PM, exclusively on The AIR.
If you can’t listen to the stream on The AIR, we are now uploading the RFC radio show to YouTube (by popular demand). So you can listen to it here…
Back in 2011 I recommended the Criterion Collection 4K Blu Ray/DVD combo of the classic Beatles movie, A Hard Day’s Night. That 3-disc set is still available, and has tons of extras that will thrill and delight any fan of The Beatles or the film’s director, Richard Lester. It will run you around forty bucks. Now we’re going to recommend it again at a lower price.
A Hard Day’s Night is, of course, the first movie starring The Beatles. It was much-imitated, never equalled and is considered one of the classic, if not THE classic Rock and Roll movie. If someobdy says they don’t see the appeal of The Beatles, and you show them this, and they still don’t, then they are beyond hope.
However, if you’re looking for a gift for under fifteen bucks, you can go with the DVD-only version of the film, which still has the incredible transfer and the soundtrack remixed by Giles Martin, along with the following extra features:
New 4K digital film restoration, approved by director Richard Lester, with two audio options, a monaural soundtrack and a new 5.1 surround soundtrack made by Apple Records
In Their Own Voices, a new piece combining interviews with the Beatles from 1964 with behind-the-scenes footage and photos
You Can’t Do That: The Making of “A Hard Day’s Night,” a 1994 documentary program by producer Walter Shenson
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by critic Howard Hampton
It’s a bit odd that there are so many different versions of this movie available, some expensive, some not, but this particular edition has the lowest price and best transfer, combined with a healthy dose of bonus materials, and the music and comedy of The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania is something that should not be missed.
So I’m recommending it again. This Criterion DVD is most affordable from Amazon.
As has become tradition, our first entry in the 2019 PopCult Gift Guide is the new Hess Truck. Even though they got out of the retail petroleum industry a few years ago, the Hess Oil Company has continued to offer up their annual Christmas Truck for die-hard collectors. We also suggest this first because you can only order it through their website, and most years it’s sold out long before our Gift Guide wraps up.
Not only is this a great toy, but it’s also a collectible with well over fifty years of history behind it. These are toys that will be cherished for years to come, and it’s really cool that the HESS Truck is still being made, years after the HESS Oil stations were sold to Speedway.
This year we get a double dose of Tow Trucks, as Hess brings back the sound features that were missing last year, and offers an impressive Rescue Team set. Hess Trucks are always solidly-built, sturdy and very cool playthings for kids and collectibles for adults. Check out the description:
With the 2019 Hess Tow Truck Rescue Team, help is just a click away this holiday season! This powerful pair of roadside-assist vehicles is an extraordinary, multi-purpose duo, packed with rich features: triple towing action, 4 realistic sounds, over 60 brilliant LED lights, and a speedy push-friction motor. This first-of-its-kind Hess toy is designed for infinite imaginary play and unmatched versatility that will handle the toughest towing challenges!
The big rig is a mighty flatbed carrier that transforms into a heavy-duty wrecker outfitted with 2 different towing options! Embedded in the carrier bed is a rugged, 2-tier extending tow arm with a double-hook tough enough to manage the biggest recovery jobs! A separate, wheel-lift tow extends out from the rear chassis. Roof mounted buttons activate 3 realistic sounds (engine, horn, and backup alert), and a there’s a hidden, pull-out ramp that triggers an additional authentic hydraulic sound. This, innovative, multi-function tow truck is strikingly styled in a white and green color palette and sparkles with brilliant chrome-look accessories and 45 LED lights that work in flash or steady mode.
The nimble towing partner is powered by a speedy, rev-up, friction motor and is equipped with a 3-tier telescoping tow arm with double-hook end. In coordinating white and green colors, the compact, cab-forward designed tow truck also has 21 LED lights that work in steady mode, multi-terrain tires, and shiny chrome-look accessories.
The 2019 Hess Tow Truck Rescue Team is sold exclusively at HessToyTruck.com, for $35.99 plus tax. 6 Energizer® batteries and free standard shipping are included.
Features:
Heavy-Duty Tow:
Transforms from flatbed carrier into integrated tow truck
Two distinct tow features:
2-tier extending tow lift with jointed swing-out tow arm
Pull-out t-style wheel lift tow bar
3 button-activated realistic sounds: Engine Run, Horn, Backup Alert
Pull-out ramp with realistic hydraulic sound
45 lights that work in flash or steady mode
Chrome-look accents
Measures 11.3″ long x 4.5″ wide x 4.5″ high
3 Energizer ‘AA’ Batteries included and pre-installed
Light-Duty Tow:
3-tier telescoping tow arm with swing-out tow hook
Rev-up, push friction motor
21 lights that work in steady mode
Chrome-look accents
Measures 6″ long x 2.75″ wide x 3″ high
3 Energizer ‘A76’ Batteries included and pre-installed
Like I said before, this is pretty much the coolest toy truck you can put under the Christmas tree. This year you get double the fun with two tow truck with working tow arms, and plenty of light and sound features. Check out the commercial…
The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide begins today. This year, due to the shortened holiday shopping season (there are only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas) we’re going to wrap up the Gift Guide on Thanksgiving, with our master list appearing on Black Friday. We’re also just going to call it “Gift Guide” in the headlines because long headlines don’t look great in the “Recent Posts” log at the right of this blog.
We’re also shaking up the format a bit. You can expect between two and five Gift Guide posts each day from now until November 26. Some posts will be detailed reviews, while some will include multiple gift ideas in a capsule format. We’re also going to mix in a few “Gift Guide Flashback” posts, where we remind you of some of ideas we suggested during the previous fourteen or so PopCult Gift Guides.
Today we’re just giving you our first gift suggestion, and a Flashback idea. Tuesday we’ll kick into high gear.
As usual, you can expect us to suggest music, movies, toys, small appliances, local eateries and other cool things that can be tangentially related to pop culture.
The PopCult Gift Guide is one of the most popular features of this blog, and readership more than doubles during the time we post these, so I hope we live up to our reputation. Look for our first post within half an hour of this one going live.
I wanted to do an ersatz Cubist work to see if that much ink would curl the paper (it didn’t), and I chose to copy a pose from one of Alfred Cheny Johnston‘s infamous nude photos of girls from the Ziegfield Follies.
It’s Cubism, so you can’t really make out any of the good parts. This was basically an exercise in hand stamina and pen control, as I slowly get used to making real world art again.
If you wish, you can click this image to see it bigger.
Meanwhile, over in radio-land, Monday on The AIR, our Monday Marathon presents eight hours of Psychedeclic Shack starting at 7 AM. At 3 PM we are expecting to bring you a brand-new episode of Prognosis. Herman Linte promises us a new two-hour thrill ride of great progressive music, but as we write this we do not yet have the show in our hands, nor do we have a playlist. We do however, have faith than Herman will come through for us.
You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on this embedded radio player…
Also, some time after noon today you can expect the first entry in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide. We’ll be making a big deal out of that for most of the month.
Over the past two or three years I’ve become a huge fan of British Actor/Writer/Musician Matt Berry. I discovered his show, “Toast of London” on Netflix, then caught up with his work on “The IT Crowd,” which was one of the shows in my “get around to watching because I know it’s really good but don’t have the time” pile.
Since becomeing a fan Berry has had star turns in “What We Do In The Shadows” on FX, and “Year of the Rabbit,” which has aired on Channel 4 in the UK, and will debut on IFC at some yet-unspecified date in the future. The above clip is a probably NSFW sampling of clips from several of Berry’s appearances in a variety of shows, including what we’ve mentioned and other shows like “Snuff Box, “Garth Merenghi’s Dark Place” and more.
This week we have the episode of The RFC MINI SHOW where I realized that I had accidentally numbered two episodes as “seven.” That meant that this episode would be episode 12, if I stuck with the mistaken numbering, or episode 13, if I fixed the mistake. Because I didn’t really want to give the unlucky thirteenth number to anyone, I left the number off of this edition of the show. The next episode, which you will see next week, is numbered “fourteen.”
This edtion of The RFC MINI SHOW featured Chad Foss and Sean Sydnor of Professor Mike fame, captured live at The Blue Parrot during an open mic night in 2011, three years before this MINI SHOW debuted. Chad and Sean take on Tom Petty’s “Don’t Fade On Me” and Keb Mo’s “Professional Blues Machine” in this great archival footage.
Your PopCulteer is dodging power outages as he writes this week’s column, so it’s not going to be a long one.
Basically, we’re doing some special programming stunts on The AIR over the weekend, so that we can tear down the Halloween stuff and get ready for the new month. So Friday all day you can listen to Radio Free Charleston International. Saturday it’s Radio Free Charleston. And Sunday we’ll bring you Beatles Blast from 9 AM to 6 PM, before we launch into our regularly-scheduled marathons for Curtain Call and The Swing Shift.
Then on Monday we’ll have Psychedelic Shack until 3 PM, when we hope we have new episode of Prognosis for you.
You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on this handy-dandy embedded radio player…
Also on Monday we plan to begin The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide. This will be our fifteenth go-around with the gift guide, and as usual we’re going to try a whole new format. This year the plan is to run the Gift Guide from November 4 to Thanksgiving, with between four to six suggestions every day.
Some of our suggestions will be presented as detailed reviews (the plan is for one of those each day) and some will see three or four gift ideas combined into a single post. Since this is our fifteenth year, we’ll also be sprinkling in a few “Gift Guide Flashbacks” where we go back and revisit a gift idea from a previous year.
As always, our gift ideas will be pop culture oriented. You can expect this year’s gift guide to have a lot of books, comics and music.
And with that, and our flickery power, we’re going to call it a PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and get ready for lots of great stuff next week.
Our next pick in the Gift Guide is a cool litle patch designed by Charleston Actor/Musician/Artist Ann Magnuson, inspired by her conversation with David Scott, one of the Astronauts who walked on the moon. It comes with a download of her song, “I Met An Astronaut.” The patch reads “Endlessly Fulfilling,” which was his description of what it was like to walk on the moon.
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