Month: November 2022 (Page 3 of 5)

The PopCulteer
November 18, 2022

It’s Friday and we have a few suggestions for STUFF TO DO in Charleston, and points all over WV for the next few days. That’s pretty much all we have on the agenda again for this week’s PopCulteer because your humble blogger is toiling away on The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.  Later today we’ll have some gift ideas of boxed video sets.

Before we jump into local events, I need to remind you about a really cool online auction that benefits an important cause. I told you about it last week, but the auction still continues.

The Monsters vs Madness auction is the brainchild of author, pop culture expert, producer and co-chair of the Monsterama Convention, Anthony Taylor. Last summer, outraged by the misguided Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case, Taylor decided to do something to help correct this disastrous overstep from the court. He came up with the idea of auctioning off custom-painted reproductions of the Marx Movie Monsters from the 1960s.

Creators from the world of movies, television, comics, literature and more are donating their efforts to raise funds and awareness to help our country cope with the desires of a fanatical minority of radical politicians who have put their personal ambitions ahead of the health of women, and in the process have endangered the medical freedom of every American citizen. In order to bid, you must register at the Auction Page (https://bit.ly/3MS54DT) where you can also donate without bidding, view the auction catalog and learn more about the cause. Bidding began at midnight November 11,  and ends November 27.

Let me take another moment to mention that, if you create a simple graphic that includes the details of your event–what’s happening, where it is, age restrictions and admission fee–then I’m far more likely to include it in a post like this in PopCult. It’s free advertising. Just meet me halfway and put your information where I might find it on social media. Even better, email it directly to me at rudypan@protonmail.com.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Gerald Potts. Saturday sees my old friend Alan Dale Griffith play at Charleston’s beloved Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.  You know he’s serious because he’s using his middle name!

Please remember that the pandemic is not over yet. 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.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few more suggestions for the rest of this week, roughly in order.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

WEDNESDAY

NEXT FRIDAY

I’m giving you a full week’s notice for this annual Charleston tradition, which will also be featured in our Sunday Evening Video this week…

That is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and come back later today and every weekday for the next two weeks as we continue The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide, which returns after this afternoon’s post on Monday.

PopCult is a blog about pop culture, and today The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide gives you five recommendations for books about pop culture. It’s a grand type of synergy.

Britmania: The British Invasion of the Sixties in Pop Culture
by Mark Voger
TwoMorrows Publishing
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1605491158
$43.95

This is another of Mark Voger’s great explorations of pop culture. I’ve recommended his books in the past, but this one is near and dear to my heart, since I’ve been an anglophile from early in my formative years.

Let me quote the publisher’s blurb here:

Remember when long-haired British rock ’n’ rollers made teenage girls swoon ― and their parents go crazy? Britmania plunges into the period when suddenly, America went wild for All Things British.

This profusely illustrated full-color hardback, subtitled “The British Invasion of the Sixties in Pop Culture,” explores the movies (A Hard Day’s Night, Having a Wild Weekend), TV (The Ed Sullivan Show, Magical Mystery Tour), collectibles (toys, games, trading cards, lunch boxes), comics (real-life Brits in the DC and Marvel Universes) and, of course, the music!

Written and designed by Mark Voger (Monster Mash, Groovy, Holly Jolly), Britmania features interviews with members of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, the Kinks, Herman’s Hermits, the Yardbirds, the Animals, the Hollies and more. It’s a gas, gas, gas!

Britmania is just a pure delight, and is the perfect gift for the Brit-inclined person on your holiday shopping list. You can order it direct from the publisher, or from Amazon at a discount.

KELLOGG’S: The Story of America’s Breakfast King
by Christopher Lock
Independently published
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8411749359
$19.95

This book may not be part of a complete breakfast, but it will tell you everything you want to know about the company that made “cereal” a household word. Let’s consult the oracle of the publisher’s blurb:

KELLOGG’S! Just saying that enchanted name conjures up childhood memories of eating breakfast at the family table with a bowl full of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, or Rice Krispies! And if a delicious mouthful of sugary cereal wasn’t enough to excite you as a kid, the boxes branded with Kellogg’s mascots certainly did. Colorful images of Tony the Tiger, Toucan Sam, and Snap Crackle & Pop began your day.

And how many times did you beg your Mom in the grocery store to buy Kellogg’s cereal, especially when the front of the box contained the words “FREE INSIDE”? After it, it could be the highly-coveted Baking Powder Submarine!

But of course, Kellogg’s is more than simply a cereal enterprise. Since its beginnings in 1906 in Battle Creek, Michigan, the Kellogg Company has provided quality convenience foods for families and individuals around the world. To this day, Kellogg’s continues to innovate and purchase companies in order to provide us with some of the world’s best-known brands such as Corn Flakes, Pringles, Eggos, and Cheese-Its to name a few.

More than just an international food company whose origins were based on nutrition, Kellogg’s made eating fun, especially for us kids who couldn’t wait to sink our spoons into a bowl of tasty cereal while staring at the vibrant box in front of us. Even today, enjoying Kellogg’s cereals is like spending time with an old friend; one who starts your day with amusement and imagination, be it a spirited Tiger or a colorful British Toucan.

This book covers the in-depth history of the Kellogg Company; its foundation, products, and motivations for commercial growth. It explores the riveting biography of the Kellogg brothers; their background, personal life, and business interactions – both successful and volatile.

KELLOGG’S: The Story of America’s Breakfast King then covers the products that made Kellogg’s a household word . . . from nutritional convenience food to the cereals enjoyed by generations of kids, including the brands, the mascots, the marketing & advertising, and the merriment that Kellogg’s brings each day.  This book is more than a historical account of Kellogg’s – it’s a literary trip down memory lane of the great convenience foods and fun cereals we grew up with and continue to enjoy.

KELLOGG’S: The Story of America’s Breakfast King is a great gift idea for anybody who has an interest in the fascinating history of breakfast cereal, or the growth of the packaged-food industry. And it’s way more substantial than reading the back of a cornflakes box over and over. Available from Amazon.

I Pity the Dolls
by Greg Rivera Quang Le, Mike Essl
Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764357244
$34.99

It may not have crossed your mind, but somewhere in the world, some people worship Mr. T. The man born as Laurence Tureaud is a pop culture icon. Part of this is due to his role in the “Rocky” movies. Some of it’s because of his starring turn in The A Team. A portion of the reason has to do with his time in the WWF or as the star of a Saturday morning cartoon.

It might be hard to figure out, but people love the big guy.

This book features the largest collection of Mr. T memorabilia in the world, including over 150 homemade soft sculpture dolls collected and documented over the past 25 years.

The dolls were made from a pattern book by Miss Martha Originals from Gadsden, Alabama, that in 1983 could be bought at thousands of craft stores in the country, including Walmart.

Inspired by the Cabbage Patch Kid craze of the 1980s, the dolls were made in an unknown amount but probably exist in the thousands. Each doll is a labor of love and represents the skill level of each artisan.

As modern-day folk art they have been recognized as such by the American Folk Art Museum in NYC, and they have toured the world in art exhibitions, including in NYC, San Francisco, Toronto, and Paris, France.

I Pity the Dolls is a hardcover document of this strange phenomenon, with over 300 color images and the complete story of merchandising of a pop culture icon. You can order it direct from the publisher, or from Amazon at a discount.

Knock-Offs : Totally Unauthorized Action Figures
by Brian Heiler
PlaidStallions Press
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0991692262
$24.99

Knock-offs, in case you don’t know, are those cheap, unlicensed toys you find in discount stores, flea markets and other “off the grid” retailers that are inexpensive imitations of popular toy franchises. You’ve probably seen “Spider-Hero,” “Space Wars,” or “Ranger Powers” at some point.

I love this outlaw segment of the toy industry. It’s usually hilarious, often borders on parody, and it’s ultimately validation that the original toy was successful enough to imitate. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, and some of that flattery is absolutely hysterical. When you find a knock-off of a toy, that almost always means the original toy was a huge success.

Heiler has wisely chosen to let the pictures do most of the talking here. In most cases, there is little to offer in terms of background information as the makers of the toys operate in the shadows. Oftentimes the manufacturers are anonymous Chinese toy factories who sell their product to distributors who may, or may not, sell them under a particular brand. Brian does a great job of introducing the chapters, and usually says everything there is to say about the toys in the captions. The photos are big, clear, well-lit and make for a great-looking book.

Heiler does a great job covering different eras, too. There are knock-offs in the book dating back to the 1960s, and much more recent things, like the multi-figure packs that combine heroes from Marvel, DC Comics, Pixar and The Power Rangers. Different chapters cover different topics: superheroes; monsters; space toys; movie knock-offs. He devotes the last chapter to “art” knockoffs made by people like Sucklord and Mr. Dan, who make small-runs of bootleg toys, usually for a higher artistic purpose (or parody).

Highly recommended for the toy collector with a healthy sense of humor on your shopping list.You can order Knock-Offs : Totally Unauthorized Action Figures directly from the publisher, from Amazon, or from any bookseller by using the ISBN code.

Calendar Girls, Sex Goddesses, and Pin-Up Queens of the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s
Jon Ortner
Schiffer Publishing
ISBN: 9780764357886
PRICE:
$50.00

For the sophisticated aficionado of the female form your shopping list, we have a lovely coffee tabe book that collects and amazing array of some of the most beautiful women ever photographed.

Jon Ortner is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning photographer and author, with six books in worldwide distribution. An avid collector of ephemera, he has spent more than three decades assembling one of the world’s largest collections of photographic pin-up calendars.

From that collections comes a stunning showcase of more than 350 commercial pin-up images, many never before seen, from the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s. Reproduced with meticulous attention to detail, the evocative images include some of the most alluring and spellbinding women of the 20th century. From playful “girls next door” to Marilyn Monroe’s first pin-up, this is a must-have for any collector and is a classic tribute to the legendary pin-up queen.

Calendar Girls, Sex Goddesses, and Pin-Up Queens of the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s may not seem like your typical Christmas gift, but there are plenty of people out there who wouldn’t mind finding these beauties in their stocking.

Available from any bookseller or direct from the publisher.

The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide continues tomorrow withour picks for video boxed sets.

November 16th is a very important day in the history of The Beatles. It was on this day, sixty years ago, that George Martin met with the band and gave them the greenlight to record their first album.

With that as our excuse, The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide devotes this day to the Fab Four, with a three of our gifts devoted to the era of the Revolver Album. These gift suggestions, naturally, are for the devoted Beatles fan on your shopping list.

The Beatles Revolver Special Edition Super Deluxe
Available where ever boxed sets are sold on CD and Vinyl

In the grand tradition of The Beatles’ “Super Deluxe” boxed sets comes a special edition of Revolver, one of the most beloved albums by the group.

Unlike the later-era Beatles albums, Revolver did not have a wealth of multi-track recordings available, so this new mix (by Giles Martin) was created using sonic isolation technology developed by WETA during the production of last year’s Get Back documentary mini series. The results are amazing, while still respecting the original released version.

Bonus tracks are revelatory, showing us that history was not correct about who wrote which song and showing that The Beatles were much more of a collaborative than people realized.

This Special Edition of The Beatles’ REVOLVER features a new mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, plus the original mono mix, a 4-track EP, 28 session takes and home demos, a 100-page book with a foreword by Paul McCartney, an essay by Questlove, detailed track notes, photos and ephemera including handwritten lyrics, tape boxes and extracts from Klaus Voormann’s graphic novel on the making of the cover art. On 5 CDs or 4 LPs  in a 12.56” x 12.36” slipcase.

Prices vary, but expect to pay over a hundred dollars for the CD version, and over $170 for vinyl.

ICONIC – The Graphic Novel of The Beatles Revolver Cover Artwork
by Klaus Voorman
Pre Sale Price: 33 Euro, plus shipping
Regular Price: 38 Euro, plus shipping
This is a limited edition, on sale November 25, available directly from Klaus Voorman.

This hardcover edition is limited worldwide to 1000 books, each handsigned by Klaus Voormann.

Klaus Voormanns’ graphic novel about the cover artwork of the Beatles’ legendary album REVOLVER first appeared as key chapter in his book, Birth of an icon REVOLVER 50, released in 2016.

Excerpts of the graphic novel (7 pages) are also included in the hardcover book of the new The Beatles Revolver Super Deluxe Boxset. In response to many requests, for the first time, the graphic novel will be released as a limited hardcover book (English language) under the title ICONIC. In addition to the complete graphic novel, the book contains two more text stories, illustrations and photos.

Quote from Paul McCartney:

“His skills as an artist were first explored by our band for the cover of the Revolver album. His work was spot on and fitted precisely with what we were doing at the time“.
-Paul McCartney, October 2022

Quote from Ringo Starr:

„… I would like to thank my friend for the cover of Revolver. Incredible! And now he‘s doing a book that will show us the many moves he made to end up with that great cover…I can only say I love you man. It‘s always great when we get together in LA…Take care my friend. I send you Peace and Love,
Ringo, yeah Ringo.“
Ringo Starr, October 2022

This is a pre-order, but the book may sell out before its scheduled November 25 release.

The Beatles Rubber Soul to Revolver (Beatles Album Series)
by Bruce Spizer
498 Productions, LLC
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0983295792
$39.99 (discounted at Amazon)

The Beatles Rubber Soul to Revolver is the latest installment in Bruce Spizer’s Beatles Album Series, covering two of the Beatles most important albums, Rubber Soul and Revolver, as well as Capitol’s Yesterday And Today LP and the singles associated with these albums.

I just discovered Spizer’s incredible work last year, and I became an instant fan. I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to books about The Beatles, and unless it’s a book by Mark Lewisohn I tend to pick up a new Beatles book, flip through it and find a dozen mistakes. That’s not the case with Bruce Spizer, whose books are meticulously researched, and who presents the material like an updated and vastly expanded version of The Beatles, An Illustrated Record, one of the most fun books about The Beatles every written (back in the 70s).

Rubber Soul and Revolver set new standards for pop and rock records, and presented a maturing and evolving Beatles to the world. The 16 tracks recorded during the Rubber Soul sessions are among the group’s finest.

With Revolver, the Beatles were looking for more color in their recordings, trying new instruments and techniques. But they were not using studio wizardry to cover weaknesses; they were looking for new sounds to enhance their already brilliant songs.

The book contains chapters on the British, American, and Canadian perspectives, an extensive treatment on the infamous Butcher Cover (featuring all of the significant images from the photo sessions and the true story behind the controversial cover). There are also chapters on the recording sessions and album covers, as well as on the news, music, and films of the era to place these albums in their proper context. And, of course, dozens of fan recollections.

This one is a must-have for the die-hard Beatles fan.

Joy and Fear
The Beatles, Chicago and the 1960s
By John F. Lyons
Permuted Press
ISBN13: 9781682619322
$19.99

Published last year, this intriguing book escaped my notice until about a month ago, and it’s a fascinating time capsule how Beatlemania played in Chicago. As the blurb says, it’s “A riveting look at the polarizing nature of the Beatles phenomenon, and how it transformed a generation, through the lens of a singular city in the center of America.”

For many, the Beatles offered a delightful alternative to the dull and the staid, while for others, the mop-top haircuts, the unsettling music, and the hysterical girls that greeted the British imports wherever they went were a symbol of unwelcome social and cultural change. This opposition to the group—more widespread and deeper rooted in Chicago than in any other major American city—increased as the decade wore on, especially when the Beatles adopted more extreme countercultural values.

At the center of this book is a cast of characters engulfed by the whirlwind of Beatlemania, including the unyielding figure of Mayor Richard J. Daley who deemed the Beatles a threat to the well-being of his city; the Chicago Tribune editor who first warned the nation about the Beatle menace; George Harrison’s sister, Louise, who became a regular presence on Chicago radio; the socialist revolutionary who staged all of the Beatles’ concerts in the city and used much of the profits from the shows to fund left-wing causes; the African-American girl who braved an intimidating environment to see the Beatles in concert; a fan club founder who disbelievingly found herself occupying a room opposite her heroes when they stayed at her father’s hotel; the University of Chicago medical student who spent his summer vacation playing in a group that opened for the Beatles’ on their last tour; and the suburban record store owner who opened a teen club modeled on the Cavern in Liverpool that hosted some of the biggest bands in the world.

Drawing on historical and contemporary accounts, Joy and Fear brings to life the frenzied excitement of Beatlemania in 1960s Chicago, while also illustrating the deep-seated hostility from the establishment toward the Beatles.

Joy and Fear: The Beatles, Chicago and the 1960s should be available from any bookseller, using the ISBN code.

Ringo Starr – EP3
Available on CD, Vinyl and cassette from Ringo, himself.

Ready for shipping later this week, you’re safe getting Ringo’s new EP in any physical formate, in plenty of time for holiday gift-giving.

Ringo Starr’s newest EP, cleverly named “EP3,” features 4 brand new tracks featuring longtime collaborators Steve Lukather, Linda Perry, Dave Koz, José Antonio Rodriguez, and Bruce Sugar. With Ringo’s instantly recognizable vocals, feel-good lyrics, and easy-breezy melodies, EP3 is now available on CD.

The four songs included are:
World Go Round
Everyone and Everything
Let’s Be Friends
Free Your Soul (feat. Dave Koz and José Antonio Rodriguez)

If you’re a fan of Ringo, you need this. Now that he’s sworn off albums for annual 4-track EPs, Sir Ringo has been treating his fans to a steady supply of great, fun new tracks, recorded in his home studio with a rotating crew of guest musicians.

It’s the music of Peace and Love, so sit back and enjoy.

Tomorrow The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide will recommend pop culture books.

Yesterday in The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide we offered up five “Retro Cool” ideas, and today we’re still in a retro mood, only with board games.

Back in the dark days of the pandemic, board games had a surge in popularity as folks decided that staying in was better than dying of a horrible disease. As people ordered the classic board games they remembered from their youths, some of them were distraught to discover that they had been changed, some quite dramatically.

This has actually been going on for some time. As such a market developed for retro versions of the classic board games that stripped away decades of “updates” and “improvements” and presented these games just as they were back when they were introduced.

Today we have five board games that are all retro-d out the wazoo, with vintage graphics and packaging and more nostalgic button-pushing than you shake a vintage stick at. The cool thing is that you can share these games with your kids or grandkids, and they’ll like them too, because the games play pretty much the same. These are all great gift for anybody who enjoys playing board games.

You can find some of these games at a wide variety of retailers, but I’ll be providing links to either Target or Amazon, because they have the best price as I write this. Be aware that they might change their prices several times a day, so it won’t hurt to shop around if you’re not in a hurry.

Retro Series Sorry! 1958 Edition
Available from Amazon for just under $32

Fondly remembered by people of a certain age who grew up watching The Carol Burnett Show, this game figured prominently in one of “The Family” sketches as Mama, Eunice and Ed play Sorry! until civility breaks down.

This Retro Series Sorry! game looks like the 1958 edition, with bold vintage graphics and classic wooden pawns.

The packaging mimics the orginal 1958 design, with a big “RETRO” logo there to make sure nobody tries to pass it off as original on the collector’s market.

This set Includes full-sized gameboard based on the 1958 edition, SORRY! card deck with retro graphics, 16 classic wooden pawns, and instructions

Classic Battleship game Retro 1967 edition
Available from Target for under $16.

Since 1967, the Battleship game has been thrilling would-be naval commanders. This retro edition is inspired by the original favorite game where 2 players try to sink each other’s hidden ships. It’s full speed ahead to hunt, hit, sink, and win! The first player to sink all 5 ships in the enemy fleet wins. The average playing time is 20 minutes per game.

Plus you’ll get the fun of picking up all those pegs when you forget to close the game all the way and then pick it up.

Includes 2 self-contained game kits (each has an ocean grid, barrier lid, and storage compartments), 2 fleets of ships (each has a Carrier, a Battleship, a Cruiser, a Submarine, and a Destroyer), and 2 sets of marker pegs (white and red). Ages 7 years and up.

Classic Yahtzee, An Exciting Game Of Skill And Chance
Available from Amazon for under $13.

Yahtzee has been one of the most popular dice games in the world since its introduction in the 1950s, with Over 50 million games sold each year. This speical edition “Classic Yahtzee” features the same styling as the original.

The name of the game is also the name of the best hand. The odds of rolling a “Yahtzee” (5 OF A KIND) on your first roll are 1295 to 1, so you won’t see that happen very often!
While luck plays a big role in Yahtzee, strategy makes a huge difference. You score each combination just once, and the number of different combinations you can score is equal to the number of turns in the game.

The game ends after each player has 13 turns and has filled every box in the column with a score or a zero. The Player or Team with the highest total score for all games (up to six) wins.

The game includes five white dice, a score pad, eight bonus chips (four red, four yellow), and a storage tray and instruction sheet. Plus this retro dice cup has the original aluminum rim. All in a package featuring the original graphics from the first edition, which was released almost 70 years ago.

Pressman Retro Mastermind
Available from Target for under $15.

One of the best-selling games of all time now features a great retro look that goes all the way back to 1989. Return to an old favorite with Retro Mastermind, the classic game that brings together a Codemaker and a Codebreaker with a great retro look.

Break the hidden code in this game of cunning and logic where players take turns setting and solving secret codes. The Codemaker will give clues to the Codebreaker, who will need to use logic, deduction, and maybe even a little luck to break the code.

With more than 2,000 possible codes, every game is guaranteed to be a brainteaser. This retro version is complete with built-in storage trays for pegs and a flip-top code shield that stays securely in place. For 2 players, ages 8 and up.

RACK-O, Retro package Card Game
Available from Amazon for under $12

Rack-o was originally released in 1956, and since then families have enjoyed this Rack’Em & score fun-filled card game. This retro edition, featuring fine quality cards with bold numbers, will delight players young and old. Rack-o is timeless fun.

The game play is sort of like Rook or Gin Rummy, only with completey different rules and the addition of neat little plastic racks into the process. Who doesn’t like neat little plastic racks?

Players randomly slot 10 cards on their rack. The race then begins to draw and discard until one player positions 10 cards in numerical sequence from low to high. Sound simple? it is – but you will need skillful play, concentration and just a little luck to win. We include a deck of (60) playing cards, (4) plastic rack-o racks and instructions. Recommended for ages 8+, 2-4 players.

Those are today’s five picks for The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide. Check back tomorrow for five more fresh gift ideas!

Day Six of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide offers up five suggestions for “Retro Cool” gift ideas, which range from stocking-stuffer cheap to major-appliance pricey.  These gifts are for those folks on your holiday shopping list who, perhaps, wish to glance back to the middle of the previous century to appreciate the style, culture and counter-culture of a an earlier era.

Victrola 50’s Retro Bluetooth Record Player & Multimedia Center
Available from Amazon, starting at $75.50.

Vinyl is back and in order to listen to LPs you, you need a turntable. This perfectly serviceable turntable looks freaking awesome, like a giant radio ripped out of a Tri-Five Chevy or something. On top of that, it’s loaded with features.

First off, it’s more than just a record player. Don’t let the 50s retro looks fool you. This giant chunk of coolness is loaded with modern features: The turntable plays & records your Vinyl to MP3 (Mac/PC software & USB cable included); It has a CD player; AM/FM radio; Bluetooth; Aux & headphone jack; plus stereo speakers.

It’s all-in-one unit, with no need for external receivers or speakers. Get it up and running in minutes. Retro looks combined with the convenience of modern technology make this record player a great value – ideal for beginners & vintage enthusiasts alike

It features a volume and FM tuner knob, input select (function) button and a complete set of buttons for the CD player. The screen comes on in blue LED light, buttons have a nice feel to them, and the whole look is trendy 50s

Right now it’s available in four colors, but the prices seem to change daily, except for the black one. It’s cool, it looks like it just landed here from the 1950s and it’ll let you play all that vinyl you’ve been buying lately.

The Pulp Tarot by Todd Alcott
Available from the artist, via Etsy, for $24.95

A deck of Tarot Cards, depicted in Todd Alcott’s irresistable pop culture mashup style is a bit of a no-brainer. This deck of mystical fortune-telling cards looks amazing, and even if you are a Tarot skeptic, you have to admit this stylish deck of cards is drool-worthy.

Alcott, himself, tells us about it, “This project has been a very long time aborning. I’ve been interested in the Tarot as both an oracle and as a piece of design for decades. Back in the 1980s, I started to design a new deck, painting huge new images based on the artistic trends of the day. Soon, the enormity of the task overwhelmed me and I abandoned it. More recently, my visual art has been centered around creating new work based on midcentury designs, incorporating and manipulating existing images from 20th-century pop culture with an emphasis on the startling, dynamic paintings of classic pulp fiction covers. The Pulp Tarot expands upon that work, taking 70 years of pop-culture ephemera and putting it into a Photoshop Cuisinart to create a new Tarot deck that approaches the classic images of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck from the point of view of this modern cultural blender.”

Inspiration for the cards is drawn from everything from late 19th-century dime novels to 1970s exploitation movie posters, creating a rich, complex conversation between the arcane symbols of the Tarot and the sensationalist world of the pulps. This is a COMPLETE DECK, all 78 cards, plus a booklet describing my choices and process.

Mad For Kicks
A Tokey Wedge Swinger
by Jack Lynn
published by Grizzly Pulp
$9.95

This is Grizzly Pulp #2, the long-awaited follow-up to Nympho Lodge, which I reviewed in PopCult last year. It’s another classic pulp adventure starring Tokey Wedge.

Tokey Wedge was the star of about 20 cheap pulp novels that were originally published back in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Cranked out by proflic “Men’s Adventure” writer Max van derVeer under his “Jack Lynn” psuedonym, these were originally put out by Novel Books of Chicago and they are now being resurrected by the folks at Grizzly Pulp, featuring terrific new covers by Jim Silke, just in time to warp the minds of a new generation of readers. As with their first release, the book comes with a tasteful dust cover to protect the book from prying eyes.

While filled with gritty, politically-incorrect, controversial subject matter, the books are well-crafted “crime noir.” Aside from the prologue, the book is written in the first person, as Tokey. The dialogue is crisp and clever, and the characterization of Tokey is very solid. Since we meet everyone else through his perceptions, it makes for a very consistent narrative.

Just as last time, Grizzly Pulp has done an amazing job here, recreating the look and feel of a cheap pulp novel, with thin cover stock and grayish pulp paper. The book is in the traditional cheap “pocket book” size around 4″ by 7″. Jim Silke provides another exquisite cover, which is hidden behind a plain black dust cover, so you aren’t seen reading such scandalous material in public. You can order Mad For Kicks at their website. You can also pick up the first volume in this series, Nympho Lodge.

Mad For Kicks is $9.95 plus shipping, and when the books will likely come loaded with extras like stickers, coasters and stuff that plug other pulp novel reprints. It’s a guilty pleasure, to be sure, but it’s good sleazy fun, the kind men like.

Retro Frigidaire Refrigerators
Available from a variety of retailers in a variety of sizes, for a variety of prices ranging from $120 to $800

Regular reader of PopCult probably know that your humble blogger has been on the hunt for a new refrigerator of late. While I’m not considering one of these for myself (my kitchen’s design is not really compatible) I was struck by how cool this line of retro-styled refrigerators look.

You can find these everywhere from Amazon to Lowe’s, and they come in many sizes and colors, but they all have the look of a mid-century plasticized Art Deco style to them.

Some are big enough to serve as your main fridge for a retro-kitchen. Others are small enough for an office or dorm room. Colors range from glossy back to powder blue to flaming red, with a few other options along the way. Smaller units have a handy bottle-opener on the side.

I am recommending the Frigidaire brand. Other companies make retro fridges, but I’m not hearing great things about their durability.

It might seem strange to give a refrigerator as a gift, but it shows a gargantuan level of commitment, especially if you wrap it.

RETRO STYLE TRANSISTOR RADIO
From American Science and Suplus
$7,95

Our final pick today, and the cheapest on our list, is a really cool-looking, retro-styled transistor radio that runs on 2 AA batteries and lets you listen to broadcast radio off the grid.

And since it’s from American Science & Surplus (“Please don’t abbreviate our name), that means that the description in their catalog and on their website is pretty entertaining by itself:

In 1958, Buddy Holly came out of radios like these. This retro version of the first transistor radios measures 4-1/4″ x 2-1/2″ x 1″ in dark blue with a wire handle that doubles as an antenna. AM works better than the FM, but who listened to FM in 1958? Plenty loud (guaranteed to not fade away) with classic thumb-wheel tuning and volume. You add a pair of “AAA” batteries. To make things even more like 1958, carry the radio in your shirt pocket.

It’s a perfect stocking stuffer for the music-lover in your life who isn’t online all the time.

Tomorrow The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide will stick with our retro theme as we bring you five retro board game gift ideas!

This week’s art is purely digital. Between my fingers acting up from MG and some looming deadlines (AKA “Paying Work”), I had to do something quick and easy this week. So I drew a city skyline with the mouse, and did some digital fibbutzing with it (new word alert). Then I dropped in a simple gradiant for the background.

It didn’t take long to do, but it looks pretty cool.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM 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.

On Psychedelic Shack, Nigel Pye offers up an hour-long mixtape of Psychedelic Music that, on this show,  kicks off with The Turtles.

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.

On a classic Prognosis, Herman Linte presents a live concert from Tangerine Dream.

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 classic stand up from Steven Wright on The Comedy Vault. Wednesday evening at 10 PM, we’ll likely have another rerun this week because we’ve hit fifty episodes and need to take a little break. .

Then, at 9 PM we bring you an overnight marathon of Beatles Blast, with a sprinkling of random episodes from the last six years.

And check back around noon. That’s when we plan to post Day Six of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide! Today we have five retro cool gift ideas.

Also, because of that major magazine deadline this week, Radio Free Charleston will not be new Tuesday. Instead we’ll re-present our 100th episode, from a couple of months ago. We’ll be back with a new show next week.

Over the past several years I’ve posted a lot of original videos in this blog.  In fact, I’ve posted so many that, to be honest, a few seemed to fall through the cracks and went virtually unnoticed.

To help remedy that, we’re going to re-present three short videos from recent years that nobdy seemed to watch the first time around.

First up we have video I shot in 2018 while riding Amtrak’s The Pennsylvanian into New York. It’s a fun trip that takes us through the famous Horseshoe Curve in Blair County, Pennsylvania.  It’s a cool railroad curiosity, so if you missed it then, here it is again…

From that same trip, here’s three and a half minutes of random NYC images…

A few months later your PopCulteer and his wife, Mel Larch, visited The Willis Tower in Chicago, one of the tallest buildings in the world, and rather than ascend to the famous SkyDeck, we immediately went to the second-sub-basement for the arcade near the gift shop. There we beheld two MOLD-A-RAMA machines. This video captures that experience…

There you have it, three random examples of original PopCult videos! Enjoy the hell out of them and share them with your friends!

Let us take you back to late November, 2007 for an episode of Radio Free Charleston hosted from the La Belle Theater in South Charleston that features music from Raymond Wallace and Doctor Senator, plus animation from Frank Panucci and news about then upcoming events in South Charleston, which are now many years in the past. .

This episode of RFC is loaded with promos for upcoming events that, of course, already happened. You’ll see your host (and blogger), Rudy Panucci, give heartfelt plugs for The No Pants Players annual Christmas Show and IWA East Coast’s double-show, where they ran a high-flyer’s tournament and the first Masters of Pain show on the same day. This show also includes a promo clip for the “Best of Radio Free Charleston Night” at the LaBelle and a brief appearence by Kitty Killton before she was Kitty Killton. We never did get around to doing “Mad Man Pondo’s Celebrity Run-in” though, but it was a great promo.

Our musical acts were Raymond Wallace, recorded in the lobby at LiveMix Studio, and Doctor Senator, recorded at The Sound Factory. Those two venues, sadly, are no longer with us. You can read the original production notes for this show HERE.

Today’s five picks for The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide are all music. I am suggesting physical formats for music because 1) I’m old and 2) You can’t wrap a download.

Below you’ll find a mix of cool music with new releases, reissues, archival collections, live performances and top-level musicians. You won’t find local musicians here today. I’m saving those for later in The PopCult Gift Guide. While the prices range from cheap to the low three-figures, I’m not including anything with a ridiculous price, like Paul McCartney’s $700 crate of 80 singles. These are all reasonably priced gift ideas.

Unless I provide a link, you ought to be able to buy or order these from any retailer who sells CDS or Vinyl. I strongly suggest that you support your local music retailer, but some of these are harder to find in person.

Todd Rundgren Space Force
Cleopatra Records
Available anywhere physical music is sold on CD and Vinyl.

This brand-new release is the thrilling 2022 studio album from rock legend Todd Rundgren collaborating with several peers and acolytes to create one of the his most diverse albums of his stellar career. Includes guest performances by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, hip hop stars The Roots, indie rock duo The Lemon Twigs, outsider theatrical act Sparks, electronic icon Thomas Dolby, guitar maestro Steve Vai, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and lots more.

That’s the advertising blurb above, and this album is so loaded that they didn’t feel the need to mention that Adrian Belew and Neil Finn are also among the musical guests.

Be warned that “Down With The Ship,” Rundgren’s collaboration with Cuomo, based on a sample from The Skatalites, is one of the most infectous earworms you are ever likely to hear. It’ll stick in your head for weeks, if not longer.

Space Force is recommended for fans of Rundgren, his collaborators or anybody who likes adventurous rock music.

Paul Weller Will of The People
Universal UK
Available from retailers who carry imports, or Amazon

This is another three CD set of rarities from the former leader of The Jam and The Style Council.

Back in the autumn of 2003, the Fly On the Wall collection brought together a wealth of Paul Weller solo recordings that stretched back to 1991. The B-sides, 12-inch EP tracks, single remixes and ‘live’ recordings featured all had one thing in common, namely that they hadn’t been included on any of his hugely successful solo albums. Furthermore, in many instances, they’d become highly sought after as the original 7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch and CD singles and promos that first aired them were fetching significant sums from fans and collectors.

Will of the People follows up Fly On the Wall and takes the listener through a similar mix of rarities, this time spanning the period 2002 to 2021. Like it’s predecessor not only does it make for some great listening but it’s a superb way to hear all those hard to get solo tracks that haven’t been featured on an album before.

This collection has been compiled by Paul Weller himself and Paul has provided artwork ideas and sketches for the design. Alongside this Paul has written track-by-track sleeve notes. The release includes additional sleeve notes from writer and broadcaster John Wilson.

Will of The People is a must-have for fans of Paul Weller. It’s a treasure-trove of gems.

Robert Berry’s 3.2 Alive at ProgStock Double CD and DVD
Self-released. Order it from his website for $20 ($25 autographed)

Robert Berry is sort of the Zelig of progressive rock. He was to have taken over as the lead singer of the Steve Howe/Steve Hackett band, GTR, in the mid-1980s, but that band dissolved before he could make his debut. He then formed the band 3 with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, but after one album and tour, those two reunited with Greg Lake, leaving Berry on his own.

Following that he spearheaded several Prog-rock tribute albums, released three holiday albums as the leader of The December People and is currently in a band with members of Saxon and Saga called “Six By Six.”

Before his current project he recorded and toured as “Robert Berry’s 3.2,” playing songs he’d written with Keith Emerson prior to Emerson’s death, as well as tunes from the original 3 project and other prog-rock classics.

From Robert’s triumphant 3.2 band’s 29 cities North American tour, this two-CD plus DVD set captures the band at the 2019 International ProgStock Festival. This 2-hour program encompasses Robert’s 30-year history of progressive rock and features 15 tracks, including Robert’s work with Steve Howe (YES), Geoff Downes (GTR), the Magna Carta Tribute album series, and more.

Featured along with Robert Berry is guitarist Paul Keller from the original “3” touring band on guitar/vocals, Jimmy Keegan (Spock’s Beard) on drums/vocals, and Andrew Colyer (Circuline) doing the difficult keyboards and vocals parts with ease.

Any prog-rock fan should love this. He has long stories about his legendary collaborators between the songs, and in addition to his own music, his band takes on tunes from YES, Jethro Tull and ELP. You get the whole show on two CDs, plus on DVD. And for five bucks more, he’ll sign it for you.

TOYAH Anthem Super Deluxe Edition
Cherry Red
This is another import, so you may have to resort to Amazon

During the pandemic Toyah Wilcox and her husband, Robert Fripp, have kept the shut-in masses entertained with their bizarre and delightful Sunday Lunch videos that feature the pair doing their own unique versions of some of the most unlikely songs you could imagine.

This higher profile has remined the public of Toyah’s career as a hit UK new-wave chanteuse and now we are being treated to deluxe reissues of her four-decade-old work with her namesake band. The latest album to get this treatment is 1981’s Anthem.

This super deluxe edition includes two CDs, an NTSC/Region 0 DVD, a vinyl picture disc LP, a 12″ splatter colored single, and a transparent orange 7″ vinyl single. Plus there’s a 44 page book, a 12″x12″ signed print, and four postcards.

The meat of the package is a digitally remastered and expanded edition of Toyah’s 1981 Gold-selling album Anthem. This release presents the full album complemented by 25 bonus tracks.

Among the bonus materials is the standalone hit single ‘Thunder In The Mountains’. Produced by Nick Tauber, with arrangements by the band and Toyah, the album features a line- up that saw Wilcox and Joel Bogen joined by Nigel Glockler, Phil Spalding and Adrian Lee.

Further bonus material includes a six-song live session recorded on 1 April, 1981 at BBC’s Paris Theatre in London which is released commercially for the first time ever plus a previously unreleased unfaded version of the flexi-disc track ‘For You’.

The accompanying DVD presents a fascinating new in-depth interview feature with Toyah about the creation of the album plus a track-by-track commentary and exclusive renditions of three Anthem songs, plus for the first time ever classic footage of Toyah’s 1981 BBC performances of ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ and four different appearances on the legendary Top Of The Pops alongside performances originally broadcast on Something Else, Cheggers Plays Pop and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop plus the classic promo videos for ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, both directed by Godley & Creme.

That’s one hell of a lot of Toyah for you. Highly recommended for the New Wave Music fan on your shopping list.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years
Dark Horse Records
Available anywhere physical music is sold on CD and Vinyl.

2022 marks 20 years since the passing of the legendary Joe Strummer. While best known as the frontman for The Clash, between 1999-2002 Strummer produced some of his most exciting work alongside The Mescaleros.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years is the first comprehensive collection highlighting this intense period of creativity and brings together the albums Rock Art and The X-Ray Style (1999), Global A Go-Go (2001), the posthumous Streetcore (2003), and Vibes Compass, a brand-new compilation of 15 B-sides and rarities, including never before heard tracks like ‘Ocean of Dreams’ (featuring Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on guitar) and early demos of some of the Mescaleros best-loved tracks (‘The Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘X-Ray Style’ and more), through to some of the original recordings from Joe’s last ever sessions (‘Coma Girl’, ‘Fantastic’ and ‘Get Down Moses’), all in one complete boxset.

All albums are remastered by Grammy Award winner Paul Hicks (The Beatles / The Rolling Stones / John Lennon / David Bowie) and are packaged in a richly curated boxset, featuring extensive new liner notes and interviews with Joe’s friends, collaborators and The Mescaleros band members, plus never-before-seen handwritten notes, lyrics, and drawings by Joe taken from the Joe Strummer Archive.

Both the 4CD and 7LP boxes include four reproduction lyric sheets and chord charts, and the LP box includes an exclusive 12”x12” art print. Joe Strummer 002 serves as a loving tribute to Strummer’s final musical output, released in celebration of what would have been his 70th birthday year.

This is a must-have album for any fan of Joe Strummer, or his previous band, The Clash. He is a much-missed musical force and it’s nice to have a reminder of his musical brilliance.

The PopCulteer
November 11, 2022

It’s Friday and we have a few suggestions for STUFF TO DO in Charleston, and points all over WV for the next few days. That’s pretty much all we have on the agenda for this week’s PopCulteer because your humble blogger is toiling away on The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.  Later today we’ll have some music gift ideas.

Before we jump into local events, I need to tell you about a really cool online auction that benefits an important cause.

This November monster fans from around the world will have a chance to bid on one-of-a-kind painted figures of the most famous movie monsters ever in an online auction to benefit planned parenthood.

The Monsters vs Madness auction is the brainchild of author, pop culture expert, producer and co-chair of the Monsterama Convention, Anthony Taylor. Last summer, outraged by the misguided Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case, Taylor decided to do something to help correct this disastrous overstep from the court.

Taylor says, “I’ve decided that expressing my dissent of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by preaching to the choir here on social media isn’t enough, so I’ve organized a benefit auction to support Planned Parenthood. Later this year, I’ll be auctioning off movie monster figurines hand-painted by some amazing artists! All funds raised will benefit Planned Parenthood to help them support reproductive rights.”

The figures in question are newly-minted, using the original Marx Toy Company molds, and are being painted all over the world by a dazzling array of notable artists, including Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop, Don Maitz, Howard Berger from KNB Effects, Chris Walas, Mitch O’Connell, David J. Skal, Steve Wang, Joseph Michael Linsner, Tom Taggart, Kirk Thatcher, Ed Repka, Bob Eggleton, David Fisher, Kerry Gammill, and many more!

Creators from the world of movies, television, comics, literature and more are donating their efforts to raise funds and awareness to help our country cope with the desires of a fanatical minority of radical politicians who have put their personal ambitions ahead of the health of women, and in the process have endangered the medical freedom of every American citizen. In order to bid, you must register at the Auction Page (https://bit.ly/3MS54DT) where you can also donate without bidding, view the auction catalog and learn more about the cause. Bidding began at midnight November 11, just a few hours ago, and ends November 27.

Check it out, it’s a cool auction for a very important cause. You can find more details and photos at their Facebook Page.

Let me take another moment to mention that, if you create a simple graphic that includes the details of your event–what’s happening, where it is, age restrictions and admission fee–then I’m far more likely to include it in a post like this in PopCult. It’s free advertising. Just meet me halfway and put your information where I might find it on social media. Even better, email it directly to me at rudypan@protonmail.com.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Shawn Benfield. Saturday sees donations being accepted for Our Future WV as Swingstein and Robin play at Charleston’s beloved Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.  We have a graphic for it below, but I want to mention that Deni Bonet, formerly of the legendary Charleston band, Stark Raven, is returning to her old stomping grounds this Sunday to appear on Mountain Stage.

Please remember that the pandemic is not over yet. 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.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few more suggestions for the rest of this week, roughly in order.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

That is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and come back later today and every weekday for the next three weeks as we continue The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide, which kicks off Monday.