Month: February 2024 (Page 2 of 3)

This one took nearly a month to draw, since I had to work in spurts when my fingers were cooperating, and as a happy coincidence, I have it ready in time for President’s Day. I assure you, this was not planned, and I didn’t even realize it until I started typing the text you’re reading now. The original title was “Memorials in Pencil,” but what the heck, why not be an opportunist?

This was inspired by the view from the Amtrak Cardinal as Mel and I were passing through on our way back from New York last month.  At one point we were stopped for about five minutes, and I snapped a few reference photos from where The Washington Monument and The Jefferson Memorial were perfectly aligned in my point of view.

This was done with my trusty Blackwing Palamino on a new type of sketchbook paper for me that has a little texture to it. I switch back and forth between as many as half a dozen pieces at a time because Myasthenia Gravis affects how well I can grip whatever implement I’m using.  At times I’ll have a couple of paintings and a few pencil drawings in progress at the same time.  Pencils tend to need the most control, so stuff like this is the most frustrating to create, but also the most rewarding to finish. This one I was particular glad to put in the rear-view mirror.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you encores of a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a classic 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. 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. All times listed are Eastern, so if you’re in another timezone, adjust accordingly.

At 8 PM you can hear an hour of alledged bloopers from Kermit Schaffer, on a recent episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM the Monday Marathon presents ten hours to expand your mind with Nigel Pye’s Psychedelic Shack.

Yes, we’re showing our age again this week. Above you see Genesis (the Phil Collins incarnation, of course) performing live in concert almost exactly forty years ago.

This was during the “Mama Tour” when Genesis was beginning to regain some of their prog credibility after a few years of extreme pop success. We see the band at their commercial peak, live at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England.

It’s a fun show that demonstrates their musical chops, and leans a bit more into their proggier music, with many of their hits consided to a show-ending medley.

In this show you’ll hear:

“Intro/Abacab”
Good Evening Chat
“That’s All”
“Mama”
“Illegal Alien’
Audience Participation Time
“Home By The Sea”
“Keep It Dark”
“It’s Gonna Get Better”
In The Cage Medley (“In The Cage/ The Cinema Show/Riding The Scree/ The Cinema Show (reprise)/In That Quiet Earth/The Colony Of Slippermen”)
“Afterglow”
“Drum Duet”
“Turn It On Again” (including popular medley)

Just think…some people who were conceived the night of this concert are grandparents already!

Radio Free Charleston 68, “Axiom Starliner Shirt,” dates from April, 2009, and we bring it to you once again.  This episode of your favorite local music, animation and film show featured music from Jeff Ellis and Marcie Bullock. We also had the first edition of The Radio Free Charleston Financial Report, as well as the debut of the cutest li’l cute cartoon show in the history of cuteness, “Cuticles.” neither of those segments ever appeared in the show again!

Host segments for this show were shot late one Sunday evening in the parking lot at the Nitro Marketplace shopping center. “Why there?” You ask? I honestly have no idea. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The green ball cap seemed like a good idea, too, but it sure looks stupid on screen. The shirt was from the movie, “Wall-E.” This episode also includes the ultimate onscreen URL joke, in case you were wondering which show that one was in. You can find the original production notes HERE.

We recorded Jeff way back in the Autumn of 2007, at the unity open mic. The footage was used in another music program for The Gazz, but by the time 2009 rolled around, we felt it was time to present our mix and edit of Jeff’s song, “In Harm’s Way.” Closing the show is Marcie Bullock, who was from Huntingon but is now living in Memphis and occasionally Disneyworld. Marcie, backed ably by The Steve Himes Connection, treats us to her soulful, bluesy original song, “Can’t Undo,” from her CD.

The PopCulteer
February 16, 2024

We have a hot new episode of MIRRORBALL to tell you about, and a very special encore episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, both being broadcast Friday afternoon on The AIR.

The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch devotes her hour of Disco to club hits of 1978, as MIRRORBALL spins the hits of the dancefloor from right when the underground scene was surfacing and getting national notice.

This show is filled with regional and club favorites that didn’t quite light up the national charts, but which influenced dance music for the next few years.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 091

Amant ‘Hazy Shades of Love’
Bill Summers “Straight To The Bank”
C.K.B. “Superman”
Gene Chandler “Get Down”
Dee D Jackson “Meteor Man”
Gibson Brothers “Cuba”
Karen Young “Hot Shot”
Terry Scott “Funky Music”
Miquel Brown “Symphony of Love”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a mini-marathon Saturday nights at 9 PM

At 3 PM we bring you an encore of an early episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, which originally aired on February 3, 2017.

Sydney Fileen presented two hours of terrific New Wave-era music in this classic episode. There may even be a subtle theme to this show, inspired by then-recent electoral tragedies that are still reverberating around the globe.

Check out the playlist…

BEC 017

The Clash  “Know Your rights”
M  “Official Secrets”
Elvis Costello  “Two Little Hitlers”
Theatre of Hate  “Do You Believe in the Westworld”
The Plugz  “Mindless Contentment”
Hazel O’Connor  “Big Brother”
The The  “The Beaten Generation”
New Model Army  “No Rest”
Joe Jackson  “Right And Wrong”
Laibach  “Sympathy For The Devil”
The Sex Pistols  “Holiday In The Sun”
Stiff Little Fingers  “Guilty As Sin”
Talking Heads  “Burning Down The House”
Boomtown Rats  “Banana Republic”
DEVO  “Freedom of Choice”
Depeche Mode  “People Are People”
Spear of Destiny  “Never Take Me Alive”
Kate Bush  “Army Dreamers”
The Buggles  “Living In The Plastic Age”
The Beat  “Whine and Grind/Stand Down Margaret”
The Specials  “Racist Friend”
Gang of Four  “To Hell With Poverty”
The Stranglers  “No More Heroes”
Funboy Three “The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum”
Tom Robinson Band  “Up Against The Wall”
The Vapors  “Cold War”
The Dead Kennedys  “Kill The Poor”
The Dickies  “Paranoid”
The Police  “When The World Is Running Down”

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. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday morning at 10 AM.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features every day.

Valentine’s Day is in the rear-view mirror and some folks have a long weekend coming up, so how about we smack you upside the head with a new batch of STUFF TO DO in and around the Charleston/Huntington WV area (and beyond) this weekend?

As I have been copying and pasting of late, this a good time to remind you that THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF EVENTS.  It’s just a starting point, so don’t expect anything comprehensive, and if you feel strongly about me leaving anything out, feel free to mention it in the comments.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  Friday it’s Sandy Sowell & Gerry Collyard. Saturday Swingstein & Robin take the stage at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery.

Sunday at 4 PM Lady D brings her tribute show to Bessie Smith, The Lady and The Empress, to The West Edge Factory, at 1040 Vernon St, in Huntington. This is the 20th year that Lady D has been doing this show, and it’s one of our state’s artistic treasures.  Admission is free, but it’s suggested that you reserve a spot via Eventbrite.

The Lady and the Empress is a stage play; a one-woman show written and performed by Doris Fields (Lady D). It is based on the life and music of blues legend, Bessie Smith who was also known as the Empress of the Blues. The performance runs approximately 90 – 100 minutes including a 15-minute intermission and features many of Smith’s most popular songs such as “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.”

The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about. Thursday at 5:30 PM it’s the Helping Hour with Swingstein & Robin.   At 9 PM, Thursday, Evie Schaffer takes over with more live music.  Friday Tim Courts plays during happy hour.    Sunday at 9 PM, Andrew Pauley strolls to the other end of town to play at The Glass. You can check below for the graphics for other cool weekend shows at The Empty Glass.

Please remember that the pandemic is not over yet. It’s still a going concern with the ‘rona surging again. And now there are seasonal allergies, the flu, flash floods caused by flowing MAGA tears, Tony Romo still blathering about a play that happened in the third quarter, more Orweilian bills being introduced in the legislature and other damned good reasons to be careful. 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.

Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few suggestions for the weekend, roughly in order…

Wednesday we dip into The AIR archives to bring you some Valentine’s Day treats. You can tune into on our sister internet radio station The AIR, as Beatles Blast and Curtain Call fill the air with love with love-themed encores, and later we have special airings of romantic episodes of MIRRORBALL, Prognosis and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. You can listen at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

Wednesday at 2 PM on Beatles Blast yours truly presents a love-themed mixtape, as we bring you nearly an hour of loves songs by The Beatles as a group and solo, along with some terrific covers of the Fab Four’s romantic classics.

Beatles Blast can be heard every Wednesday at 2 PM, with replays Thursdays at 9 PM, Saturday afternoons, and Sunday at 5 PM, exclusively on The AIR.

Then at 3 PM, we bring you a classic show where Mel Larch rounds up an hour of love songs from the stage for a special romantic edition of Curtain Call.  You’ll hear loves ongs from shows like The Lion King, Fun Home, Aspects of Love, Fiddler on The Roof, Anything Goes and more, and peformances by Linda Rondstadt, Michael Ball, The Beatles, Art Garfunkel, Betty Buckley and Ella Fitzgerald, among many others.  Mel’s introductions explain why these tunes are among her favorite love songs.

Curtain Call can be heard Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 7 AM and 8 PM and Saturday at 6 PM. An all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

At 4 PM, we bring you an episode of Mel’s show, MIRRORBALL that features the music of Barry White and The Love Unlimited Orchestra.

At 8 PM Herman Linte’s Prognosis will bring us two hours of romantic progressive rock, Assembled, relunctantly I might add, by Herman as a Valentine’s Day mixtape two years ago.

At 10 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with a love-themed episode of her own, as Sydney’s Big Electric Cat delivers a Valentine to us from the lockdown in the UK, recorded in 2021.

And, in case you’re one of those folks who hates Valentine’s Day, get out to the Empty Glass tonight at 9 PM for the Un-Valentine’s Day Party…

Tuesday finds yet another partly-new Radio Free Charleston on The AIR.  Our first hour of  Radio Free Charleston is accompanied by a classic two-hour episode of Radio Free Charleston Volume Four, that dates back to April, 2016.

To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.  

You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with tons of replays throughout the week.

Our first hour is a collection of cool new, and newly-acquired music, and as a change of pace, we only feature a handful of local tracks, and a wealth of great indie music from Chicago, Nashville, London, North Carolina and all over the world. We do have new local music from Brian Diller and Jim Lange, though.

Opening our show is Chicago’s Cosmic Bull. “Once the Dust Settles” will appear on the album Band Substances to be released on Friday, March 8 and Cosmic Bull will be celebrating the release with a show that night at Chicago’s Gallery Cabaret. We also have a new song from Brian Diller, who is performing twice in Charleston this weekend: Friday Brian returns to Bridge Road Bistro, while Saturday he opens for Chris Smither (whose name I totally blanked on) at the Clay Center’s Walker Theater as part of the Woody Hawley Concert Series.

Our second and third hours are an early episode of Radio Free Charleston Volume Four, where I play a selection of local music by some of our top bands, along with a deep dive into the video archives of RFC.  I’m hoping my voice recovers enough to do a three-hour show next week. I’ve been scheduling reruns of The Swing Shift lately, too, and I’ve got a three-part series on Boogie Woogie laid out as soon as I feel like recording it.

The links in the first hour of the playlist will take you to the pages where you can learn more about each artist and buy their music or find out where to see them.

RFC V5 163

hour one
Cosmic Bull “Once The Dust Settles”
Brian Diller “Fill My Eyes”
The Paranoid Style “The Ballad of Pertinent Information”
The Broken Relics “Here’s To You Kid”
Skafish “Executive Exhibitionist”
Wall of Voodoo “Room With A View (live)”
The Tom McGees “FCJ”
Carey Ott/Freaks of Nashville “World Gone Crazy”
Novelty Island “Hotspur”
Jim Lange“The Golden Arrows of the Morning”
Chuck Biel “The Morning With You”
Ann Magnuson “L.A. Donut Day”
63 Eyes“Ninth Grade Child”
Velez Manifesto “Just One Touch”

hour two
QIET “Kiss of the Universe”
Blue Million “Next Year”
Diablo Blues Band “Price of a Broken Heart”
Underdog Blues Revue “Back Door Blues”
The Horse Traders “Nothing At All”
The Ruins “Used To Be Friends”
Jordan Andrew Jefferson “One Step At A Time”
Jack Grifftith “With A Girl Like You”
The Buttonflies “Lil’ Birdie”
Go Van Gogh “I Can’t Sleep At Night”
Hellblinki “Bella Ciao”
Joe Vallina “Suzy Said So”
Linnfinity “Seeswa Love”

hour three
Ann Manguson “I Met an Astronaut”
Carpenter Ants “Blessing”
Bob Clay “Fuel For The Fire”
Todd Burge “Hey, Little Christian Girl”
Paul Calicoat “Soul of Stone”
The Pretenders “The Wait”
Casi Null “Blue Haze”
Punk Jazz “Little Star”
Option 22 “Soul Song”
Radio Cult “Saturday Midnight Double Feature”
Stephen Beckner “Come On (We Gotta Get On Home)”
Feast of Stephen “No Vaccination”
Deron Baker “Gravel”
Douglas Imbrogno with Melanie Larch “Bring Sunshine When You Come”

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 2 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 classic 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 last week’s episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM we offer up a classic episode of The Swing Shift.

You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM and 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursday and Sunday evenings.

This week’s art is a detailed pastel crayon drawing on a very large piece of white paper.

Inspired by my recent Amtrak trip, and created using over a dozen photos from said trip for reference, this is a bit of an update of the “Trax” series of digital pieces of artwork I created for this blog over fifteen years ago. This one is a real world piece, and for a change of pace from the small studies I’ve been sharing here lately, this is sort of gigantic. I had to scan it in six parts and then composite them all together digitally. The actual piece is rolled up and tucked away in a large mailing tube for safe-keeping now.

As you might be able to tell, the level of detail varies, as I spent a couple of weeks on this and with MG, some days I had more control than others. This was mainly an excercise in stamina, working on a larger piece and attempting to maintain a consistent style.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you encores of a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a classic 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. 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 you can hear an hour of standup from Steven Wright, by popular demand, on a recent episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM the Monday Marathon presents ten hours of Mel Larche’s salute to the classic Disco era, MIRRORBALL.

Once in a lifetime, you see a work of choreography that is simply so amazing, astounding and astonishing that you simply can’t believe what you’re seeing.

Above, you see such an incredible act of terpischoric virtuosity.

Heather Parisi, a California native who became a major Italian TV star in the 1980s, delivers her version of Michael Sembello’s, song from Flashdance, “Maniac.”  The uncredited choreographer has clearly attained a new level of dance velocity with footwork that clearly lives up to the title of this song. This epic dance number was featured on a Italian variety show in 1984.

Okay…it’s also goofy as freaking hell. I mean, this looks like the kind of choreography that would ensue if you poured half a pound of chocoate-covered espresso beans down the throat of a hyperactive toddler.

This clip has resurfaced and gone viral every few years since it was rediscovered and put on YouTube about a decade ago. Rae Alexandra at KQED even tracked down more videos by the excitable Ms. Parisi, and you can see them HERE. Be warned, if you decide to follow the link in that piece to Ms. Parisi’s website, she’s seems a tad conspiracy and anti-vax minded, so proceed with caution.

But the main point is that this choreography is just hilariously bizarre.  I hadn’t posted it yet, so here’s a forty-year-old nightmare of hyperactivity, presented for your amusement, enlightenment and enjoyment.

After skipping one of our “lost” episodes, from April, 2009, comes “Earth To Eros Shirt,” a show named after John Lancaster’s old band. We never managed to get E2E on the show, but we have had John on a few times. Our host segments were shot at The Convenience Store on Summer’s Street, which is not there anymore.  This show contains our comedy interview with the store’s owner, Scott Shapiro, which illustrates why I hardly ever do interviews on Radio Free Charleston.

Music from Go Van Gogh and A Place Of Solace highlight this episode. We also featured a trailer for the movie “The Bride and Grooms” and the phenomenal young Bradley Wilkerson Sings! Bradley had been on the previous episode, which as I mentioned, is lost, but we re-ran Bradley’s segment from Episode 66 in our latest video episode a few weeks ago.

Actually, a deal to record The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra fell through at the last minute, so I did the first-ever “rerun” of a segment and reused the animated video “Requiem For Pepperland” that I created–in just a couple of days–for a then-twenty-year-old demo by Go Van Gogh. You can consider this our Beatles thing to observe the 60th annivesary of their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, because I didn’t have time to do a new Beatles Blast this week.

Our other musical guest, A Place of Solace, finally appeared fifty episodes after I wore one of their shirts on the show. It all comes around.  It is great to see Bradley Wilkerson at his peak and in his prime. This is how he should be remembered, not his eventual decline and sad end.

Full production notes can be found here.