Month: March 2022 (Page 3 of 4)

The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon is happening now on The AIR. To hear this epic, 240-hour RFC extravaganza you simply have to 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).

Due to a perfect storm of your PopCulteer taking a little trip, and awareness of Radio Free Charleston reaching a new peak of interest, we are taking ten days to present eighty episodes of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five, the latest internet radio version of our show, all in one huge programming block on The AIR.

The marathon began Monday, March 14 at 7 AM. The plan is to run eight episodes of our three-hour show that mixes local music with cool, independent and rare music, each day, for ten days. You mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to the entire thing. The marathon will conclusde March 24, at 7 AM.

Here is Friday’s line up of RFC V5 on The AIR, and links that will take you to a post that includes each episode’s full playlist.

7 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 33

10 AM: RFC V5 Episode 34

1 PM: RFC V5 Episode 35

4 PM: RFC V5 Episode 36

7 PM: RFC V5 Episode 37

10 PM: RFC V5 Episode 38

1 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 39

4 AM: RFC V5 Episode 40

We are posting reminders every day here in PopCult, along with our regular features, so you’ll have even more fresh content every day!

The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon is happening now on The AIR. To hear this epic, 240-hour RFC extravaganza you simply have to 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).

Due to a perfect storm of your PopCulteer taking a little trip, and awareness of Radio Free Charleston reaching a new peak of interest, we are taking ten days to present eighty episodes of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five, the latest internet radio version of our show, all in one huge programming block on The AIR.

The marathon began Monday, March 14 at 7 AM. The plan is to run eight episodes of our three-hour show that mixes local music with cool, independent and rare music, each day, for ten days. You mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to the entire thing. The marathon will conclusde March 24, at 7 AM.

Here is Thursday’s line up of RFC V5 on The AIR, and links that will take you to a post that includes each episode’s full playlist.

7 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 25

10 AM: RFC V5 Episode 26

1 PM: RFC V5 Episode 27

4 PM: RFC V5 Episode 28

7 PM: RFC V5 Episode 29

10 PM: RFC V5 Episode 30

1 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 31

4 AM: RFC V5 Episode 32

We are posting reminders every day here in PopCult, along with our regular features, so you’ll have even more fresh content every day!

The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon is happening now on The AIR. To hear this epic, 240-hour RFC extravaganza you simply have to 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).

Due to a perfect storm of your PopCulteer taking a little trip, and awareness of Radio Free Charleston reaching a new peak of interest, we are taking ten days to present eighty episodes of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five, the latest internet radio version of our show, all in one huge programming block on The AIR.

The marathon began Monday, March 14 at 7 AM. The plan is to run eight episodes of our three-hour show that mixes local music with cool, independent and rare music, each day, for ten days. You mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to the entire thing. The marathon will conclusde March 24, at 7 AM.

Here is Wednesday’s line up of RFC V5 on The AIR, and links that will take you to a post that includes each episode’s full playlist.

7 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 17

10 AM: RFC V5 Episode 18

1 PM: RFC V5 Episode 19

4 PM: RFC V5 Episode 20

7 PM: RFC V5 Episode 21

10 PM: RFC V5 Episode 22

1 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 23

4 AM: RFC V5 Episode 24

We are posting reminders every day here in PopCult, along with our regular features, so you’ll have even more fresh content every day!

The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon is happening now on The AIR. To hear this epic, 240-hour RFC extravaganza you simply have to 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).

Due to a perfect storm of your PopCulteer taking a little trip, and awareness of Radio Free Charleston reaching a new peak of interest, we are taking ten days to present eighty episodes of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five, the latest internet radio version of our show, all in one huge programming block on The AIR.

The marathon began Monday, March 14 at 7 AM. The plan is to run eight episodes of our three-hour show that mixes local music with cool, independent and rare music, each day, for ten days. You mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to the entire thing. The marathon will conclusde March 24, at 7 AM.

Here is Tuesday’s line up of RFC V5 on The AIR, and links that will take you to a post that includes each episode’s full playlist.

7 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 9

10 AM: RFC V5 Episode 10

1 PM: RFC V5 Episode 11

4 PM: RFC V5 Episode 12

7 PM: RFC V5 Episode 13

10 PM: RFC V5 Episode 14

1 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 15

4 AM: RFC V5 Episode 16

We are posting reminders every day here in PopCult, along with our regular features, so you’ll have even more fresh content every day!

This week our art is a quickly-done small-scale acrylic semi-doodle on illustration board piece called “Purple Lady.”

It’s been some time since I’ve done any life-drawing classes, and when artists don’t draw from life, and are painting a picture of a pretty lady, sometimes they make parts of them larger than they might appear in real life.

Also I had a lot of purple paint I’d mixed up, in different shades.

Click the image to see it bigger.

Today The AIR is just starting The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon. You can find a post about today’s shows in the post just below this one, on the main page.

The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon is happening now on The AIR. To hear this epic, 240-hour RFC extravaganza you simply have to 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).

Due to a perfect storm of your PopCulteer taking a little trip, and awareness of Radio Free Charleston reaching a new peak of interest, we are taking ten days to present eighty episodes of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five, the latest internet radio version of our show, all in one huge programming block on The AIR.

Beginning Monday, March 14 at 7 AM, the plan is to run eight episodes of our three-hour show that mixes local music with cool, independent and rare music, each day, for ten days. The marathon will conclusde March 24, at 7 AM.

Here is Monday’s line up of RFC V5 on The AIR, and links that will take you to a post that includes each episode’s full playlist.

7 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 1

10 AM: RFC V5 Episode 2

1 PM: RFC V5 Episode 3

4 PM: RFC V5 Episode 4

7 PM: RFC V5 Episode 5

10 PM: RFC V5 Episode 6

1 AM:  RFC V5 Episode 7

4 AM: RFC V5 Episode 8

We will post a reminder every day here in PopCult, along with our regular features, so you’ll have even more fresh content every day!

This coming weekend, for the first time since 2019, Mrs. PopCulteer and I will be attending ToyLanta. We are nervous as hell, but we’re going to take precautions and be careful and, for what is really the first time, we’ll be going to the show as civilians.

Every year that I’ve attended JoeLanta, and later ToyLanta, I’ve produced a wrap-up video to try to capture the energy and excitement of the experience. My first show was in 2013, which was at the tail end of my 20-year period as a family caregiver, when I couldn’t really travel for anything that wasn’t health-related.

That first year was a revelation. In the space of about three hours I met over fifty people who had been online-only friends for the better part of two decades. The JoeLanta crowd welcomed me and Melanie (now Mrs. PopCulteer) into the JoeLanta family, and the annual trip to Atlanta has been a big part of our lives ever since.  I’ve made a wrap-up video every year since our first, although in 2016 I didn’t get it finished until November (that was a bit of rough year for your PopCulteer).

When the show transitioned to ToyLanta a few years back we enthusiastically embraced the expansion, since it all goes to benefit the Cody Lane Memorial Toy and Diorama Museum, a dream that we are all still working hard to realize.

This year I am going, but I’m going to be skipping a lot of the events. Being immuno-compromised, I’m not entirely comfortable cramming myself into a tightly-packed room with my fellow collectors. So I won’t be attending any panels or the Saturday evening Radio Cult concert. I plan to visit with friends in small groups away the crowds, and I’ll capture some of the cool customs and dioramas during the quieter moments so I can share them with my readers. Thankfully, we’re getting Commander’s Packages, so that we can get into the dealer room early.

I’ll be doing this all with my mask on. I’d rather be the last person wearing a mask than be the last person to catch COVID.  I hope and believe that we are in the homestretch of the pandemic, but I’m not willing to gamble on that yet.

To give you an idea what I’m talking about, I’m re-posting my wrap-up videos from previous to give you a tiny hint of the cool stuff you can see if you’re vaccinated and can make the trip.

Continue reading

It’s Christmas in March (and I hope to hell we don’t get the weather that goes with that) as we go back to December, 2009, for a Holiday episode of Radio Free Charleston packed with music from Molly Means, Joseph Hale, Todd Burge, and Melanie Larch with The Diablo Blues Band. There’s also some classic animation from the British studio Halas and Batchelor, plus a news flash about a visit from Saint Sputnik.

It’s all Christmas-y and stuff.

The PopCulteer
March 11, 2022

Next week your PopCulteer is going to take a big step toward normalcy…or at least as close as I can get to such a thing.

Mel and I are going to hit the road in a few days, winding up at ToyLanta for next weekend’s big toy convention. It’ll be the first time we’ve been to Atlanta since 2019, and I have to admit, we’re a bit nervous. Excited, but nervous. We are both vaccinated and boosted, and will remain masked the entire time we’re around people, but I’ve lost way too many friends to this pandemic to let my guard down. I’d rather be the last person wearing a mask than be the last person dead from COVID. I’m hoping that my fellow toy collectors understand and respect my situation.

I have been busy finishing up a magazine article, preparing the house for our house-sitter for the first time in over two years, and pre-scheduling programming on The AIR and posts for here in PopCult.

Starting Monday,  The AIR will begin a ten-day marathon of 80 episodes of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five. You can tune in and catch our unique mix of local and non-local music, presented in a free-format radio environment for your enjoyment and edification.

In the meantime, today you get  notes on a new episode of MIRRORBALL on The AIR.

Luckily for you, it’s a great hour of Disco classics courtesy of my lovely wife, Mel Larch,  So please enjoy this bright, shiny new episode of MIRRORBALL which will be followed by a very cool recent edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  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 flled with classic tracks from the golden age of Disco. There is no set theme this week, but there does seem to be an underlying tone of defiantly dancing in the face of danger and a scary world.

Or maybe I’m just projecting.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 046

Sylvester “Dance (Disco Heat)”
Peter Brown “Dance With Me”
Jackie Moore “This Time Baby”
GQ “Disco Nights”
Karen Young “Hot Shot”
La Belle Epoque “Miss Broadway”
The BBQ Band “On The Beat”
The Village People “Macho Man”
Young & Company “Like Whatyer Doin'”
Change “The Glow of Love”
Arpeggio “Love And Desire”
Gloria Gaynor “I Will Survive”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays this Saturday at  8 PM (kicking off a mini-marathon), Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, and Tuesday at 1 PM  exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with an encore episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat that  brings you New Wave music from 1978. You can scroll down and find the playlist HERE.

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.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back because we have a fresh post every day and next week You can expect daily posts with links to the playlists for that day’s chunk of The Radio Free Charleston Spring Break Marathon. We’ll have all our regular features too. I just spent the last two days writing them all in advance. Wish us luck.

West Virginia’s pandemic map is no longer completely red, so even though I’m not quite ready to go out to stuff yet, that doesn’t mean you can’t. In fact, this week while I’m in deadline heck, I’m going to point you to a couple of cool things happening this week.

Thursday night, my old pal, Daniel Boyd will be speaking and signing books at the Goodwill Center, while Larry Groce provides music. Details are in this graphic.

This weekend, The Kanawha Valley Railroad Association’s Model Train and Craft Show takes place from 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday and 10 AM to 3 PM Sunday at the Charleston Convention Center. The KVRA promotes the history of railroads in West Virginia. Admission is $5 for adults $5. Children 12 and younger are admitted free For more details, visit their website.

This is the first time that they’ve been able to hold their annual event since 2020, and I was able to attend that show and made this video…