Month: July 2022 (Page 2 of 4)

The PopCult Bookshelf

Memories of Marx Toys: Glen Dale
by Gary Rider and Roseanna Dakan Keller
Independently published
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8801403045
$25 (Paperback)
$34.99 (Hardcover)

I picked this book up from the authors last month at an event held in conjunction with the Marx Toy Convention, and it’s an absolute gem. Anyone interested in toy manufacturing, Northern West Virginia history or post-war industrial America should seek out Memories of Marx Toys: Glen Dale.

Gary Rider and Roseanna Dakan Keller have crafted an exhaustive history of the Marx Toys Glen Dale, West Virginia plant, pre-dating Marx toys and going all the way to the days of the Marx Toy Museum. They do this by weaving deep research with a stirring oral history provided by dozens of Marx Factory employees and their families. The book is also generously illustrated with photos and images from the factory.

It’s a trip to find out that, before Marx Toys took over, the factory built Fokker Aircraft.  Memories of Marx Toys: Glen Dale opens with a detailed look at the fall of the fabled airplane maker, and how that left an opening for Marx Toys to choose Glen Dale for one of their manufacturing plants.  It’s a wild to discover that the legendary Fokker Triplane was made in the same building as Big Wheels and Johnny West.

Memories of Marx Toys: Glen Dale is a fascinating look at how toys were made in the days before OSHA, before outsourcing to other countries, and before Marx Toys themselves shut down operations.  We learn how life was for an every day worker at the factory, including some downright frightening tales of dangerous incidents at the plant and the aftermath of chemical exposure. However, the overwhelming aura of this book is that of a fond rememberance of a factory that provided employment for hundreds, if not thousands of households in the Glen Dale/Moundsville area for decades.

The book winds up with a profile of Francis Turner and a history of The Marx Toy Museum, which is one of my favorite places in the world. It follows the opening of the museum, the closing and even the visit by American Pickers a few years ago. I think Francis deserves a book of his own someday, but this is a great start and taught me a lot of new facts about my friend.

While Memories of Marx Toys: Glen Dale is obviously a must-have book for any fan or collector of Marx Toys, it will also appeal to anybody who would like a well-crafted story about a small factory town and the people who lived there.

To quote the PR blurb:

Founded in August 1919 in New York City by Louis Marx and his brother David, the company’s aim was to “give customers more toy for less money.” They were so successful in this venture, that at one time Marx Toys was the largest toy manufacturer in the world. The Glen Dale facility, in its’ heyday, employed more than 2,000 workers and had multiple buildings in Glen Dale and McMechen.

But this story is about the people that made the toys that children around the world loved to have on Christmas morning. Their lives were dedicated to bringing that job and happiness to youngsters that opened those presents on that day and had happiness delivered to their doors.

You can order Memories of Marx Toys: Glen Dale from Amazon in Hardback or Paperback editions, and I hope that it turns up in museum gift shops all around the state. You might also be able to order it from your local bookseller using the ISBN number above.

Okay, it’s time once again for your guide to things you can do in and around Charleston, Fairplain and other places nearby during this sweltering July week in our latest edition of STUFF TO DO.

Wednesday evening it’s BridgeFest, a family-friendly community block party and fundraising event hosted by the Bridge Road Neighborhood Association from 6 PM to 9:30. Join family, friends, and neighbors and enjoy an evening full of live music, delicious food by various Bridge Road vendors, children’s activities, and more! Get out and enjoy it if that’s your thing, otherwise avoid South Hills like the plague. Unless you’re going there, the traffic is murder. The event page can be found HERE.

Also of note, ArtWalk happens again in Charleston Thursday from 5 PM to 8 PM.  This free event is open to the public as art lovers can walk to all the usual suspects and take in the majesty of the art. Some galleries will have music and/or munchies as well. It’s a really cheap way to support the local scene and get out and mingle a bit…if you are so inclined.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s our old friends, The Madison 2. Saturday sees Minor Swing at Charleston’s Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.

Saturday at 5 PM at Madison City Park, more old friends, The Swivels, will be performing as part of Madison Riverfest. I’d share a graphic if there was one, but you can check out the event page on Facebook.

At this point, there are no vaccination or mask mandates for any of the events listed this week. However, we all need to remember that the pandemic is not over yet, and everybody should be vaccinated by now. Many people who have very good reasons are still wearing masks, and many of us, understandably, are still nervous about being in crowds, masked or not. Be kind and understanding  while you’re out. After the super-spreader potential of recent weeks, and rising case numbers locally, let’s all try to be smart and kind about this.

If you wanna hear something funny,  tune in to The AIR Wednesday night at 11 PM where we will offer up a new episode of The Comedy Vault, this time featuring an hour of the comedy of  Eddie Griffin.

In the meantime, if you’re up for going out, here are some suggestions for Wednesday through Saturday…

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Tuesday on The AIR  it’s Radio Free Charleston time, and we’re back on track with a new three-hour episode of Radio Free Charleston. You simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay on this page, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

We have three full hours of music, much of it new, local and not, at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday.   This week our latest Radio Free Charleston has killer new tunes from Deni Bonet, The Company Stores, Three’s Company Blues, Porcupine Tree, Neil Young, Bottle and Bride, Blue Twisted Steel and more.

We also have a few artists making their RFC debuts this week,  including Dropcoat, Mirage, The Boppers, Ribbons of Euphoria and more.

The music ranges from pure pop to prog-rock to country-inflected mellowness to electronica and more. We like to mix things up a bit on RFC, you know.

Throughout the show we continue our mix of local, independent and major-label artists, just to keep you on your toes.

Check out the playlist below to see all the goodies we have in store. Live links where available will take you to the artist’s page…

RFC V5 096

Deni Bonet “Why Not You”
The Company Stores “Ways”
Mirage “Flowers For Algernon”
Porcupine Tree “Herd Culling”
Pink Floyd “A Great Day For Freedom”
The 69 Eyes “Call Me Snake”
Three’s Company Blues “Pray For The Thunder”
Bottle and Bride “Brighter”
Corduroy Brown featuring Massing “On and On”
Stevie Nicks “Cotton Candy Land”
Bane Star“The Thrall”
Alan Parsons “Uroboros”
Ribbons of Euphoria “Hold On To My Gun”

hour two
Three’s Company Blues “Misty Mountain Hop”
Dropcoat “Black Metal Parade”
The Boppers “Teddyboys Are Back”
The Heavy Editors “Time Travel”
Neil Young & Crazy Horse “Standing In The Light of Love”
Nirvana “Pay To Play”
Cassius At Best “Narrow Margin”
Tim Heidecker “What Did We Do With Our Time”
Aaron Fisher “Matters of The Heart”
Annie Neely “Past and Gone”
The New Relics “Run Away”
Hello June “I Wish I Could Fly”
Paul Callicoat “Sometimes This Old World Breaks My Heart”
Dream Theater “The Prisoner”

hour three
Blue Twisted Steel “The Carpenter”
Speedsuit “Seven Days”
Sheldon Vance “Logan County Rejects”
Poor Man’s Gravy “Dear Old Friend”
Jonathan Mason “You’re Not Asking”
Jason Barnhouse the Wounded  “I Feel You”
In The Company of Wolves “Shadow Valley”
Elvis Costello, Rusty “Everybody Knows This/Dance Dance Dance”
Jordan Andrew Jefferson “Ruler of the World”
Buggaboo “Nola Bean”
Safetybelt “I Do This To Myself”
Muse “Compliance”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM,  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 two episodes of MIRRORBALL at 1 PM.  At 3 PM we have two recent episodes of The Swing Shift.

We are delving into the world of mixed media this week. The above art, titled “Eye See” combines a watercolor abstract, used here as the background, with an older digital piece that I may have used for Monday Morning Art before, but I don’t really remember.

The digital piece is a self-portrait of my eye, set against a negative dot pattern. The background piece is just me playing with trying to create subtle moiré pattern with lengthy brushstrokes and shades of blue.

I wasn’t really happy with either piece until I thought of digitally compositing one over top of the other, and that’s what you see above. It’s a bit Pop Artsy, which is appropriate for this blog.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent episode of  Psychedelic Shack, followed at 3 PM by a recent edition 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 elsewhere on this page.

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.

Tonight at 8 PM you can hear an hour of hilarious comedy from Beyond The Fringe on The Comedy Vault. Wednesday evening at 10 PM, we’ll have another new episode of The Comedy Vault.

Then, at 9 PM we bring you an overnight marathon of MIRRORBALL, our weekly Disco showcase hosted by my lovely wife, Mel Larch.  This batch of shows kicks off with the big Studio 54 special, with introductions recorded at the legendary Disco hot spot in New York City.

This week we are restoring a video that was presented in this blog 13 years ago, which had all its links and embeds broken sometime in the ensuing years during the many times PopCult was ported around cyberspace for various reasons.

The video you see above is an edited compilation of highlights from a live show by Group 87, recorded at the Savoy Tivoli and The Stone in San Francisco in 1980. Group 87 consisted of Mark Isham, Peter Maunu, Patrick O’Hearn , and Terry Bozzio. Isham went on to an acclaimed career as a film composer. O’Hearn and Bozzio, both veterans of Frank Zappa’s band, both went on to join Missing Persons and Duran Duran. Manau is an acclaimed session musicians with dozens of credits under his belt. This video captures Group 87 in all their instrumental, progressive glory. The video features effects that were “performed” live by Denise Gallant and Rob Schafer using the Synopsis Video System, which must have been state-of-the-art 42 years ago.

RFC 112 "Toxic Soup Shirt" from Rudy Panucci on Vimeo.

This week we go back to October, 2010 for Radio Free Charelston 112, “Toxic Soup Shirt.”  On this show we had three bands making their RFC debuts–Crossroads, Doctor Curmudgeon and Happy Minor.  We also had a movie trailer for the documentary, “Toxic Soup,” and one for “Jazz From Hell,” which never quite got finished.

This was an overlooked gem of a show, and we beat Charleston’s baseball team to the Canary in the Coalmine joke by a dozen years. And that epic sight gag was provided by Stefani Andrews, who was also behind the camera for our host segments.

The PopCulteer
July 15, 2022

Today’s PopCulteer is a bit of an unusual one. I’m actually writing it on Friday morning, for one thing, and for another, it’s going to ramble a bit because I haven’t planned everything out that I want to say in it.

Today, my father would have turned 100 years old. Frank Florio Panucci was born on July 15, 1922, in Shinnston, West Virginia.

It’s a bit mind-boggling to consider. As I’ve gotten older, the only thing that really seems to have changed drastically in my thought processes has been the perception of time.

When I was a kid, a month seemed to take forever. As the years have passed, the percentage of my life that each unit of time represents has shrunken dramatically. Now a month flies by in no time. Here we are in the middle of July, and if I still wrote checks, I’d probably still be writing “2011” on them.

Still, the idea that Pop (who obviously was a major influence in my life along with Mom and my siblings) was born a century ago is a wild concept to grasp. My folks were older when they met and started our family, and when I was in school it seemed like my parents were the age of most of my classmate’s grandparents, but looking back, it’s a real trip to consider how things have changed since my dad was born.

Hell, things have changed dramatically since he passed away, nineteen years ago. In 2003 the smartphone hadn’t been invented yet. All thinking people thought we’d never see a worse president than George W. Bush. People could still write outrageous political satire without seeing it become reality almost instantly. Hell, flat screen TVs were even few and far between.

In about four weeks I hit my own milestone birthday, and it’s strange to think about. Milestone birthdays have never really meant much to me because I still feel pretty much like the same person I’ve always been.

I have a fantastic life right now, living happily with my lovely wife, Mel Larch, and free to travel and do more things than I ever could, but I’m still the same person I always was.

People may have viewed me differently at different times in my life, but I’m still the same person inside.

I still get a kick out of finding cool new stuff and telling people about it. That’s most of what PopCult is all about. In the early days, before Douglas Imbrogno christened it “PopCult,” I wanted to call this blog “Cool Stuff,” which in retrospect is not nearly as catchy.

I still love toys. In that respect I think I’ve mastered the art of getting older without necessarily growing up.  I can sit in my living room and have three things I got for Christmas, 1976, in my line of sight.  Pop was my primarily enabler in my toy hoarding when I was a kid. I always offered to go grocery shopping when he’d go because he never said “no” when I showed up with a rack toy I wanted.

I do have a chronic illness with which to contend, Myasthenia Gravis, but to be honest, most of the time it isn’t too bad. Summer heat is a problem, but folks who’ve known me my whole life know that I always hated summer heat. Considering that for some time before I was diagnosed I feared my MG was the early stages of ALS, I’ll gladly take what I have and be happy.

Pop didn’t live long enough to see PopCult. However, he was very proud of the writing I did before he passed. He savored every article in The Charleston Gazette, Non Sport Update, Toy Trader and other magazines I’d contributed to. Heck, he even showed off Cracked Magazine that one time I got a byline there.

I know he’d love that I’m still kicking in my own little corner of the internet. He’d be thrilled that I’m doing radio again. Hell, if he were still with us he’d probaby be co-hosting The Swing Shift on The AIR.

I wanted to thank him for helping make me who I am and mark his milestone birthday with a column, so thanks for indulging me.

Check back for fresh content every day, and all our regular features.

Friday on The AIR we offer up a brand-new episode of MIRRORBALL, followed by an encore 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 elsewhere on this page.

Friday at 2 PM The AIR once again transports you back to the Golden Age of Disco, onlly this time we have a record-correcting twist.  Mel Larch’s Disco showcase, MIRRORBALL, brings you the best of the classic Disco era of the 1970s, but the truth is, there were still classic Disco tunes hitting the charts for a few years beyond that. To prove her point, Mel has assembled an all-star line-up of Disco songs that hit the charts in 1980.

This new hour of classic Disco hits shows that the era of polyester, lighted dancefloors and mirrorballs was not quite dead yet in the “Me Decade.”

Check out the hit-laden playlist…

MIRRORBALL 055

Dona Summer “On The Radio”
The Spinners “Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl”
Crown Heights Affair “You Gave Me Love”
Teena Marie “Behind The Groove”
The Whispers “And The Beat Goes On”
Jermaine Jackson “Let’s Get Serious”
The Nolans “I’m In The Mood For Dancing”
Liquid Gold “Dance Yourself Dizzy”
Stacy Lattisaw “Jump To The Beat”
Kool And The Gang “Celebration”
Kelly Marie “Feels Like I’m In Love”
Odyssey “Use It Up and Wear It Out”
Lipps Inc. “Funkytown”
Diana Ross “My Old Piano”
The Gap Band “I Don’t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops Upside Your Head)”

Not only do you get an hour of classic Disco music, you also get a historical clarification.

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at  9 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 presents the alphabet of New Wave Music. You can find the full 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.  Look for The PopCulteer later today.

There’s a lot happening in Charleston this weekend and it’s time for PopCult to provide a cursory guide to Charleston and its surrounding cities and towns and take one more quick look at just a few of the cool things going on in and around town this weekend. However, as I slap this post together, there is a paucity of graphics, so I’m going to have to write stuff, darn it.

CharCon, our city’s homegrown gaming convention happens at the Clay Center Friday through Sunday.  The weekend includes tons of gaming tables, vendors, cosplayers and D&D type stuff. There will also be panels, costume contests and other activities. Weekend badges are $45 for adults and youth 13 to 17, and $20 for children 6 to 12. Children 5 and under are free with an adult. For full details visit charcon.org.

There’s also the BrickUniverse LEGO event at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center, but if you’re interested in that, chances are you already know all about it.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Brandon Costello. Saturday sees Swingstein and Robin, who will donate tips to the “Choice Fund” of the Women’s Health Center of WV, which helps pregnant people get the care they need, even if out of state.  That’s this weekend at Taylor Books, Charleston’s Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.

At this point, there are no vaccination or mask mandates for any of the events listed this week. However, we all need to remember that the pandemic is not over yet, and everybody should be vaccinated by now. Many people who have very good reasons are still wearing masks, and many of us, understandably, are still nervous about being in crowds, masked or not. Be kind and understanding  while you’re out. After the super-spreader potential of recent weeks, and rising case numbers locally, let’s all try to be smart and kind about this.

In the meantime, if you’re up for going out, here are some suggestions for Thursday through Saturday…

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

First off, apologies to my readers and to the folks behind this Kickstarter campaign.  I meant to plug this fun project the week before last, but power outages, technical issues and summer Myasthenia Gravis doldrums prevented me from doing so until now. This campagin has about a week left to run, and is only about half-way to its goal, so please consider supporting it, and do it quick.

Christmas Eve In The Mountain State

Due to be out in time for the holidays is Christmas Eve In The Mountain State, a pun-filled storybook about West Virginia, written by Marly Hazen Ynigues, The Pun Poet of West Virginia, and illustrated by Emily Prentice. The book promises playful puns for all 55 counties plus dozens of cities and towns, big and small.

As a life-long West Virginian, and a fan of truly bad puns, this storybook is right up my alley. Our state certainly has enough strange place names to work with, and Marly Hazen Ynigues really makes the most of them. This is one of those books that fun for kids, but probably just as much fun for adults to read to kids.

Check out the video…

As it says on the Kickstarter page:

Join West Virginians and expats drawn home for the holidays. Young mountaineers and recent transplants have opportunities to learn while family and friends invite them to participate in what makes the Mountain State charming, welcoming, and unforgettable. Welcoming illustrations depict rural and urban Mountain State scenes and West Virginian diversity of ages, races, ability, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

This is the first storybook by pun poet Marly Hazen Ynigues of Morgantown, joyfully illustrated by Emily Prentice of Elkins, with an audiobook artfully narrated by Joshua Singleton of Grafton. Marly and Emily were two of the cofounders of 304 Day in 2018, an annual holiday celebrating West Virginia DIY arts and the idea that every mountaineer can create. 304 Day’s slogan: “March Forth, West Virginia!” 

You can learn more about the project on FACEBOOK .  Rewards for this campaign include the audiobook, the print copy of the storybook, the chance to donate a copy to a library and  book plus a crochet Braxxie, the famed Braxton County Monster, as seen in the book (photo below).  Find the campaign HERE.