Month: December 2021 (Page 3 of 4)

We lost an unjustly unsung pioneer Friday. Mike Nesmith, most famous as one of The Monkees, a manufactured teen band/TV show of the 1960s who managed to transcend their less-than-pure origins to become influential in many areas.

Nesmith was the de-facto leader of the band, the one who fought for the band’s right to play their own instruments and write their own songs, and he continued to lead after the group’s initial split following the cancellation of the TV Show.

I have to mention here that the TV show was a pretty huge personal influence on a developing PopCulteer, with the blend of music, corny humor and wild surrealism, it was different than anything else on TV. It certainly prepared me for a life of liking really cool weird and funny stuff.

While the band had to fight for their musical automony, they had pure comedic chemistry on screen from the start. Equal parts “A Hard Day’s Night” era Beatles and classic Marx Brothers, The Monkees paved the way for the more experimental television that followed. Everything from Laugh-In to Saturday Night Live to The Young Ones owes a debt to the choreographed anarchy of The Monkees.

Post-Monkees, Nesmith sort of invented country-rock and Americana with The First National Band, realized the commercial potential of music videos and is credited by some as inventing MTV, and produced cult movies like Repo Man and Tapeheads.

Nesmith played his final show with his fellow Monkee, Micky Dolenz, on November 14.

Above you see a video I posted a few years back in this space. It’s the 16mm pilot for The Monkees from 1965. Below we have a random episode of The Monkees, so you can see some of what all the fuss is about.

2021 has seemingly turned into a bad sequel to 2020. Sometimes it feels like the pandemic has slowed the passage of time to a crawl, while other times it feels like  a year passes every ten days. It’s difficult to comprehend that we are just two weeks away from Christmas, but this week and next we will bring you some of the best Radio Free Charleston Christmas specials, to help you try to get in the mood. Above you see our first, from 2006. Below, you’ll find a few from later years. We’ll have more next week.

The PopCulteer
December 10, 2021

Okay, I gotta be honest with you. I try to have fresh content for you every day here in PopCult, but sometimes that means preparing it in advance. See, your humble blogger spent the entire month of November working on The 2021 PopCult Gift Guide.  It was close to 40,000 words this year. Then I had tons of work backlogged that I had to get caught up on.

And then this week, Mrs. PopCulteer, Mel Larch, celebrated her birthday, and while we were too nervous about the pandemic to go to our beloved Chicago (for the second year in a row, dammit), we did manage to work in a safer trip that was closer to home but still loads of fun.

In order to pull this off, I had to write several posts for PopCult in advance, including this one. The problem is, I’m all written out at the moment, so it’s time to just pull out random images that I’ve acquired in different places on the web over the last few weeks, and I’ll just write goofy captions for them.

I promised fresh content every day. I didn’t promise that they’d all be winners.

This may throw you off a bit, but I’m writing this last Monday night at around 9:30 PM, while Bianca Belair is wrestling Doudrop on Monday Night RAW.

And to illustrate the pure randomosity of our selection today, that image up there next to the date is either Willard Scott or Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Now onto the show…

I’m writing this on December 6, 2021. This photo is my lovely wife, singing “Ave Maria” for the very first Radio Free Charleston Christmas show, and it was recorded on the fire escape outside LiveMix Studio on December 6, 2006…fifteen years ago.

The feature image for this post (seen  above the headline for this post at the real version of PopCult) is an airplane taking off, as seen from the stands in the bandshell at Coonskin Park during an IWA East Coast event in the summer of 2009. At that same show, Oderus Urungus from GWAR made his professional wrestling debut.

Who knew Al Hirschfield was a big Beatles fan? This is his take on the Anthology reunion sessions.

Speaking of The Beatles, here’s a look at the short-lived mural they had painted on The Apple Boutique in London.

A couple of weeks ago I ran Tex Avery’s “Jerky Turkey” as a Sunday Evening Video. Here’s a model sheet for the cartoon.

I hate it when you have to call in the cat electrician.

Back in the day, drunk babies were seen as a viable alternative to crying babies.

Okay, Christmas is coming up. You all can get me this stuff. Wait…I already got most of this stuff. Make a donation to Manna Meal instead.

With that, we wrap up this half-assed PopCulteer. Check back for fresh (or maybe frozen) content every day. I’m actually due back today, so tomorrow’s post will be hot out of the oven.

The PopCult Toybox

A few weeks ago I recommended Fresh Dolls in The 2021 PopCult Gift Guide, and three years earlier I’d recommended the diverse fashion doll line, along with their male counterparts, The Fresh Squad, and I thought it might be good to take a post to elaborate on why this is such a cool line of dolls, and also tell you about why the company is so special.

It all comes down to Dr. Lisa Williams (right) , internationally recognized as an academic trailblazer, founder of a multi-million-dollar company, an award-winning speaker and author. Through hard work and perseverance Dr. Lisa attained unprecedented success by becoming the first female professor to receive a multi-million dollar endowed chair, the first African American professor to earn tenure at Penn State University, and the first African American to receive a doctorate in Logistics from The Ohio State University.

Then, at the height of her career, Dr. Lisa did the unthinkable when she left the academic life to blaze a new trail as an entrepreneur. In 2003, she founded the World of Entertainment, Publishing and Inspiration (World of EPI), LLC. Less than two decades later, EPI is a leading multicultural toy manufacturing and design firm with a global supply chain that crisscrosses the world from the US to China and other worldwide destinations. EPI is an industry innovator having created both the Positively Perfect, Simply Fresh, Fresh and Fresh Squad Doll Collections. The doll collections represent African American, LatinX, Asian, Caucasian, and other ethnicities.

Dr. Lisa Williams was inspired to change how African American children viewed themselves through dolls, and what started as a side hustle, turned into an extraordinary, black-owned doll company.    Intentional, and mission-driven, Dr. Lisa set out to give young girls of color something they didn’t have – dolls who reflected their beauty and brilliance.

It’s an inspirational story, and it brings us to the toys themselves, which are high-quality, distinctive and are now being widely imitated by the larger fashion doll companies. Let’s take a look at the World of EPI toy lines:

THE FRESH DOLLS: DIVERSE LINE OF FASHION DOLLS
REFLECT ETHNICITIES AROUND THE GLOBE

Created so all children could see their beauty, brilliance, and power reflected back to them, The Fresh Dolls is a one-of-a-kind diverse line of fashion dolls reflecting ethnicities found around the world – African American, Afro-Latina, Latino/Hispanic, Caucasian, and Mixed-Race/Bi-Racial. They are designed with custom blended skin tones, authentic facial features including beautiful full lips, noses and gorgeous eyes, a variety of hair textures and styles, and uniquely designed bodies more representative with fuller hips and thighs.

Fresh Dolls Career Collection

The Fresh Dolls Career Collection celebrates women of color with three fashion dolls who mean business.

Meet Mia – one of the world’s finest surgeons. Navaeh – President of the United States heading to a security briefing. And Luna is a beloved teacher preparing to inspire bright minds with next week’s lesson plans. As Black and Brown girls come in all shades, Fresh Dolls feature custom blended skin tones that represent multicultural people around the world.

These relatable dolls are sure to inspire the next generation of professional leaders, healers, educators, and more to Dream Big and they were featured in Target’s Project Dream endcap beginning in November. Standing 11.5 inches tall, these three Fresh Dolls are packaged together, ready for anything! Ages 3+, SRP $29.99, Available at Target.

The Fresh Dolls

Standing approx 11.5 inches tall, Fresh Dolls are bendable and articulated to foster imagination during positive play. They also feature soft washable hair, stunning wardrobe and accessories. Age 3+. $17.99. The Fresh Dolls are available at Target, Walmart, Amazon and other retailers.

Mia -Mia has big beautiful brown natural curls, big bold dreams, and a big voice that hits the notes pitch perfect every time. She hits all the right notes in her purple and black lace outfit with matching black shoes. She is Curtain Call Ready!

Marisol – Marisol is wearing a shimmery gold dress with matching gold shoes. Combine that with her fiery red hair, and she is Golden Glam!

Lexis – Lexis has beautiful brown hair that frames a warm smiling face and heart full of love for dance, the one thing she adores as much as the animals. Lexi is wearing a lovely dress with white “heart” skirt bottom and red shoes to match!

Sylar -Just like the sky her favorite color is blue and her hair is too. A gamer, gadgets for her are a no-brainer! Skylar sports denim shorts with a “Fresh” sunshine yellow crop top and comfy pink kicks.

Lynette – Lynette shows originality in her look and loves transforming her hair into colorful works of art. She rocks pink and purple, a sparkling pink top, white jeans, and purple shoes!

Mia – African Romper -Wearing a trendy ethnic print romper paired with a cute black jacket, a matching pair of black wedge heel shoes and a cute pair of gold studded earrings Mia wears her hair in a beautiful natural style.

Ebony – Ebony and her beautiful brown natural curls are always looking for ways to reduce the carbon footprint and do her part to save the earth. She wears denim jeans and a marine aqua-blue halter top, a reflective mirage of the ocean she adores, along with blue wedge heels.

SIMPLY FRESH, DIVERSE LINE OF FASHION DOLLS AT AFFORDABLE PRICE

The Simply Fresh Dolls™ Collection is designed with the same tender loving care and intricate detail as The Fresh Dolls™ so all children can see their beauty, brilliance, and power reflected back to them. The sculpts are one-of-a-kind pieces of art with custom blended skin tones, authentic facial features including beautiful full lips, noses and gorgeous eyes, a variety of hair textures and styles, and uniquely designed bodies more representative with fuller hips and thighs. The diverse line is reflective of ethnicities found around the world – African American, Afro-Latina, Latino/Hispanic, Caucasian, and Mixed-Race/Bi-Racial.

Standing approx 11.5 inches tall, The Simply Fresh Doll™ bodies are bendable and articulated to foster imagination during positive play. Age 3+. $13.99

KACEY Simply Fresh Dolls™ – Kacey is dressed in a beautiful butterfly design white bodice with a bluish-purple shimmery skirt and matching shoes. Kacey has two cute afro-puffs.

KYLIE Simply Fresh Dolls™ – Kylie is dressed in a delicately detailed beautiful black bodice with a red rose skirt and matching shoes. Kylie has beautiful long brown hair.

KYA Simply Fresh Dolls™ – Kya is dressed in a beautifully detailed pink bodice with a fuchsia skirt and matching shoes. She has big beautiful brown curly hair.

While we’re looking at the Fresh Dolls in the popular fashion doll scale, we also need to mention that Fresh Dolls Fashion Packs are available at many retailers, and the male counterparts, The Fresh Squad, and their own fashions, can be found as an online exclusive.

POSITIVELY PERFECT HUGGABLE DOLLS REFLECT
TRUE REPRESENTATION OF EVERY YOUNG GIRL

Positively Perfect lets every little girl see their beauty and friends reflect ed through their dolls. These soft huggable dolls are made with an authentic variety of skin tones and physical features, that encourage little girls to love their beautiful skin, hair and physical features. Promoting self-love by mirroring family and friends during playtime, while reinforcing true #RepresentationMatters, Positively Perfect dolls also teach children to be more caring and compassionate.

Available in two sizes, 12” (Toddler) and 18” (DIVAH), all Positively Perfect dolls have soft torso bodies, vinyl limbs and washable hair – which allows for styling fun! – Ages 3+. $39.99 The line is available at Amazon, Walmart, Target among other retailers.

Zair – Featuring beautiful shades of Brown skin toned Multicultural girls around the world, from African American, Asians to Afro-Latino girls.

Kennedy – With a full hair of beautiful bouncy curls, Kennedy has a custom blended deep chocolate complexion, made to show true representation of all shades, when it comes to children around the world.

Charlotte – As rare as a unicorn, with her beautiful smile, golden locks and custom blended vanilla complexion.

POSITIVELY PERFECT DIVAH DOLLS™
Ages 3+. $39.99 Available at Target and Walmart

Stella – Made for all the Mixed Race, Latina, Hawaiian, Filipino, Indian and other Brown cuties around the world, Stella has a custom blended light caramel complexion, made to show true representation of all shades, when it comes to children around the world.

Ava – Ava is cute and cuddly as a bunny, with her long beautiful braided hair. Our Mixed Race Ava baby doll has a custom blended cashew complexion, made to show true representation of all shades, when it comes to children around the world.

Kiara – Boasting lovely full curly hair for hours of styling fun for any toddler, Kiara also has a custom blended almond complexion.

Aaliyah – A beautiful star with soft curly afro puffs, Aaliyah also has a custom blended dark chocolate complexion.

This is a really impressive toy line, and you can find it all more retailers every day.

The PopCult Comics Bookshelf

Forbidden Gallery #5
edited by William Mull
Writers: Ed Devore, Nicola Cuti, Don Glut, Dan Johnson, William Mull
Artists: Mike Montgomery, Dan Day, Jeff Austin, Tim Holtrop, Rene Maniquis, Karl Comendador, and Steven Butler
Published by ACP Comics
Pre-order now from ACP Comics

Once again, it’s been more than a year and a half since the last issue of Forbidden Gallery, a great independent horror comics anthology, and I’m happy to report that the fifth issue is available to pre-order right now. William Mull and ACP Comics continue in the tradition of short-form horror/sci-fi anthologies of the past, telling new tales of mystery and suspense with a fresh perspective. William was kind enough to send me a review copy, via .pdf, and that puts me in a bit of a conundrum.

I love reading Forbidden Gallery, but I am not crazy about reading digital comics. So I will selfishly be reviewing this book without reading all of each story, because I want to save the shock or twist endings for when I have a physical copy in my hands. That means slamming the brakes with one or two pages left in each story so I can enjoy reading them all at once when I’m not in front of my work computer.

In this latest installment, readers are treated to five great stories that cover a wide variety of settings and eras, but they all do their bit to illustrate the follies of man in the face of forces that he does not understand. One of the difficulties of reviewing this comic is trying to describe the stories without giving away too much of the plot, and in this case, since I’m trying to avoid reading the endings, I may be a little more vague than I usually am.

As with the previous issues of Forbidden Gallery, each story is preceded by a pin-up/splash page which acts as an introduction by the book’s host, Archimedes, and gives the presentation a cool Night Gallery vibe. I have to say that this may be the most solid issue yet, with terrific storytelling and spectacular artwork on every story. I highly recommend this for any fan of horror comics in the classic EC Comics mode.

The first story, Just Below The Surface, by Dan Johnson with art by Mike Montgomery and Jeff Austin, tells the story of a life-long rivalry between two fishing buddies. Sea creatures are involved.  You know it’s going to be good. Next up we have Retribution, a tale of never-ending Hell in the old West, by the late Nicola Cuti, with art by Tim Holtrop. Speciman, by Don Glut, with art by Dan Day and Jeff Austin is a clever spin on a Black Lagoonesque creature. Two Kingdoms: Crown of the Slave King is a really cool-looking sword and sorcery story, written by William Mull, with art by Rene Maniquis, and it was very hard to keep from reading this one to the end, but I did manage. The final story, Tik-Tik, by Ed Devore, with art by Karl Comendador manages to mix a little WWII action with a little romance and just a hint of lyncanthropy to create a compelling short and entertaining story.

All this is wrapped in a gorgeous front cover by Dan Day and Jeff Austin, and a beautiful back cover by Steven Butler.

In reviewing previous issues of Forbidden Gallery I’ve said the following, which still stands, and will wrap up this review as well…

It’s clear that Forbidden Gallery is a labor of love. This is one of the most fun comics being published today. It harkens back to the kind of concise, disciplined graphic storytelling that used to be the norm, but is now all too rare.

Forbidden Gallery is great fun for folks who loved horror comics like Creepy, Eerie, House of Mystery or the EC Comics classics. You can order the previous issues, and this newest issue at the ACP Comics website.

Once again we have come to Tuesday on The AIR  and you know what that means. Today we deliver unto you a brand-new, three-hour  episode of Radio Free Charleston.  You simply have to poke your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay on this page, and  listen to the cool embedded player over at the top of the right column (If you’re reading PopCult on a desktop, that is. Phone readers have to go to the website).

We have a  killer new Radio Free Charleston at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday.  This week we open with new music from a David Synn, with guest vocals by Matthew Fitzwater.  “Tattoo” is the title track of David’s upcoming EP. We also pay tribute to the late Mike Lyzinga with a couple of tracks from his band, Big Rock and The Candyass Mountain Boys,

The rest of the show is loaded with new independent music from Charleston, Chicago and The UK, plus some classic tracks and some of our usual off-the-wall rarities. The first hour has a set of country-fied music, while the second hour has a set of 1960s MOD tunes.

Check out the playlist below to see all the goodies we have in store (live links will take you to the artist’s pages)…

RFC V5 071

David Synn w/Matthew Fitzwater “Tattoo”
Big Rock and The Candyass Mountain Boys “Gas On The Fire”
Novelty Island “Cowboy On A Bicycle”
Hello June “Handshakes”
Todd Burge with Joseph Hale “Singing For My Living”
David Mayfield Parade “Blue Skies Again”
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss “My Heart Would Know”
Red Audio “Robotomy”
Static Fur “Eraser”
Frank Zappa “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama”
Lost Decades “Espresso and 7”
Arthur Brown “Sheep”
Violent Femmes “American Music”

hour two
Big Rock and The Candyass Mountain Boys “That’s Why I’m Crying”
The High Numbers “I’m The Face”
Billie Davis “Wasn’t It You”
Harold McNair “The Hipster”
The Nocturnes “Hay, That’s What Horses Eat”
Sharon Tandy “Hold On”
The Sorrows “Take A Heart”
Mediogres “Jean Gary Diablo”
Gruff “Kiss My Ass”
Queen “Liar (live)”
David M. Stowall “Equniox”

hour three
IDKHOW &Tessa Violet “New Invention”
Ringo Starr “Let’s Change The World”
Julian Daniell “Sweet Serene”
Safetybelt “Look Down”
Sierra Ferrell “The Sea”
James Townsend “Call Me Kid”
Roy Orbison “Dream Baby”
Peter Gabriel “I Have The Touch (Remix)”
Cassius At Best “Friends and Counterweights”
Tautologic “Exit Strategy”
The Lickerish Quartet “Sovereignty Blues”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Thursday at 3 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight,  and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different episode of RFC every weekday at 5 PM, and we bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I’m also going to  embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand.

After RFC, stick around for encores of MIRRORBALL at 1 PM, and NOISE BRIGADE at 2 PM. At 3 PM we have two recent episodes of The Swing Shift.

Because Mrs. PopCulteer is a big fan of the work of Georges Seurat, and I hadn’t done this for a while, this week’s art is a star, depicted in Pointillism, with a limited pallet of mostly primary colors, done in acrylics on a cheap canvas board (Thank You, Five Below). After painting it, I scanned it and cropped the digital version heavily because, even when my hands are working well, I’m never happy with my borders.

It’s vaguely Christmas-y, which might be a theme for the next few weeks.

I’ve been working on and off (mostly off) with Pointillism since third or fourth grade, when a travelling art teacher taught my class the technique.

If you want to see this image larger, just click on it.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a special encore of the first two episodes of Nigel Pye’s Psychedelic Shack, followed at 3 PM by a special encore of the the very first episode of Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player at the top of the right-hand column of this blog.

Our friends at Haversham are still sadly focused on reporting on recent developments with the Omicron COVID variant for their paying clients, so the fun radio stuff had to take a backseat again this week. Because of that, this week we are revisting the first episodes of all of the Haversham shows this week.

Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday at 9 AM as part of our Sunday Haversham Recording Institute collection.

You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM. You can hear two classic episodes of the show Sunday at 2 PM.

At 8 PM, our Monday Marathon is a mix of Psychedelic Shack, Prognosis and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat,  just to let our friends from the UK know that we miss them.

Above you see the bright, shiny, sparkly new Christmas video by Louie Prima Jr. and The Winesses. “Hey Skinny Santa” is a jumping Swing Music novelty song about Kris Kringle and his crash diet to put on pounds.

You can grab this song as a digital download from the only performing son of the legendary Louis Prima HERE. And check out his other music while you’re there. I play him all the time on The Swing Shift on The AIR.  Instead of running and hiding to protect your ears from hearing Wham or Mariah Carey, just embrace the season and cut a rug to this Jump Swing soon-to-be holiday classic.

This week we go back six years for what has been the last Christmas episode of Radio Free Charleston…to date. The funny thing is, it’s not really like a traditional Christmas show. Instead of going all-out, commissioning special performances and taping special songs, instead we took the RFC cameras to The Empty Glass to record a benefit show for the Logan band, Let The Guily Hang, who had lost all their gear in a fire.

You can read all the details about the show HERE.

What we wound up with was a killer show with music from Jeff Ellis, Sheldon Vance, Aaron Fisher (solo and with another band), Speedsuit and Farnsworth. It was a great show, and it was not really the last word on the Holiday season that year as we followed it up with a special RFC MINI SHOW that you’ll see in this space next week.

Friday afternoon we offer up a new episode of MIRRORBALL and encore a recent Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, plus in the evening we replay our Curtain Call Stephen Sondheim marathon. The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player at the top right column of this blog.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch uncorks a new MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a solid hour of Sister Sledge.  The four real-life sisters, really named Sledge, came out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in 1979 took over the Disco world–with a little creative help from the band CHIC.  We present a retrospective of their Disco-era hits It’s a great show, and I’m just going to drop the playlist right here…

MIRRORBALL 038 Sister Sledge
“We Are Family”
“Mama Never Told Me”
“All American Girls”
“Dancing On The Jagged Edge”
“Thinking Of You”
“Lost In Music”
“Got To Love Somebody”
“Frankie”
“Do It To The Max”
“Music Makes Me Feel Good”
“Let’s Go On Vacation”
“He’s The Greatest Dancer”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at  8 PM, Sunday at 11 PM, Tuesday at 1 PM and Wednesday at 7 PM, exclusively on The AIR.  This week’s new MIRRORBALL will kick off our weekly Disco Marathon, which runs Saturday night from 8 PM until Midnight.

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with an encore of an episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat devoted to Swindon’s finest, the legendary New Wave band, XTC.

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Saturday afternoon, Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR.

You can also hear select episodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat as part of the Sunday morning and afternoon Haversham showcases, which begin at 9 AM with Psychedelic Shack, and include double shots of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat and Prognosis.

At 8 PM Friday, we once again bring you, courtesy of  Curtain Call, Mel Larch’s Musical Theatre showcase, by popular demand,  an encore of this week’s marathon of episodes of the show devoted to Stephen Sondheim, who passed away last Friday at the age of 91. The marathon is preceded by an emotional intro from Mel, and over the course of the six hours, you will hear songs from all of Sondheim’s most famous shows. You can read the details HERE, and this encore will also include a tribute to frequent Sondheim collaborator, Hal Prince, at the end.