Month: May 2024 (Page 1 of 4)

The PopCulteer
May 31, 2024

It’s fun time for internet radio programming this Friday as we offer up a classic episode of MIRRORBALL and a BRAND NEW 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 found on this very page.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch goes back to September, 2022 for a classic episode of MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a wild collection of classic Disco tracks from the golden era of people dancing in dark rooms on cocaine.

For one hour you can go back to the Golden Age of Disco, where the sideburns were long, the skirts were short and the dancing was endless.

Check out the playlist…

MB 058

Evelyn “Champagne” King “Love Come Down”
Earth Wind & Fire “Boogie Wonderland”
Eruption “One Way Ticket”
The Jacksons “Dancing Machine”
Teri DeSario “Aint Nothing Gonna Keep You From Me”
Jocelyn Brown “Somebody Else’s Guy”
El Debarge “Rhythm of the Night”
Average White Band “Let’s Go Round Again”
Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
Gloria Gaynor “Reach Out I’ll Be There”
Yarbourough & Peoples “Don’t Stop The Music”
Boogie Box High “Jive Talkin'”
Bonnie Pointer “Heaven Must Have Sent You”
Luthor Vandross “Never Too Much”

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, it’s Big Electric Cat time as Sydney Fileen delivers a special mixtape edition of her show that pays tribute to  one Stuart Leslie Goddard…or as you may know him, Adam Ant.

Sydney brings you two hours of Antmusic, spanning from the pre-fame “Dirk Wears White Socks” days to the Burundi-beat hits with Adam & the Ants and his solo days with even more big hit tunes as seen on MTV (back when they played music videos).

You can travel back to a time when cultural appropriation was a fashion statement and folks pledged alliegence to an Insect Nation. Sydney brings you all the hits from 1978 to 1985, plus some great deep album cuts and a few dance mixes and rare recordings.

Check out the Playlist…

BEC 116
Adam Ant/Adam & The Ants

“Cartrouble Parts 1 & 2”
“Physical”
“Dirk Wears White Socks (live)”
“Whip In My Valise”
“Antmusic”
“Kings of the Wild Frontier”
“Los Rancheros”
“Killer In The Home”
“”Stand and Deliver”
“Ant Rap”
“Prince Charming”
“Scorpios”
“Friend or Foe”
“Desperate But Not Serious”
“Goody Two Shoes”
“Hello I Love You”
“A.N.T.S.”
“Saigon”
“Man Called Marco”
“Strip”
“Libertine”
“Puss ‘n’ Boots”
“Horse You Rode In On”
“Vive le Rock”
“Miss Thing”
“Scorpio Rising”
“Apollo 9”
“Doggy Style”
“Steve McQueen”
“Brand New Torso”
“Hampstead”

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

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer.

Check PopCult for all our regular features, with fresh content every day.

We are heading into Pride Month, and yours truly and his lovely wife are heading to Louisville for WonderFest USA, but there is still plenty of STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State and beyond as I angrily re-type this entire post because a WordPress glitch ate the completed first version.

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. I ain’t omnipotent, y’know.

There’s all kinds of Pride events this weekend, but not so many with nice graphics, so if that’s your gig, remember that Google is your friend. It’s also the beginning of outdoor festival and car show season, so be aware of those if they are what floats your boat.

This week’s Live on the Levee features our buddies, Rewind the Walkman, opening for a Bee Gees tribute band. If your PopCulteer weren’t headed down to see Greg Nicotero, William Stout, Daniel Roebuck and hundreds of cool model kits, we’d be there.

Continue reading

As we zoom perilously close to the end of May, on Wednesday afternoon, and The AIR still manages to bring you great new episodes of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast that are both filled with great new cool stuff.  You can tune in at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM (EDT) Beatles Blast brings you an hour of Beatles covers presented mixtape-style, just to warmy the cockles of your Beatles…or something.

These are the classic Beatles tunes performed by everyone from Fats Domino to Emmylou Harris to Frank Sinatra, David Bowie, Otis Redding and more. It just shows how universal the music of the Fab Four is.

Check out the playlist…

Beatles Blast 111

Wet Wet Wet “With A Little Help From My Friends”
Fats Domino “Lady Madonna”
Joe Cocker “I’ll Cry Instead”
Deep Purple “Help”
Billy Preston “Blackbird”
Emmylous Harris “For No One”
The Nylons “This Boy”
Bryan Ferry “You Won’t See Me”
Esther Phillips “And I Love Him”
Mamas and The Papas “I Call Your Name”
Otis Redding “Day Tripper”
Frank Sinatra “Yesterday”
David Bowie “Across The Universe”
Brad Melhdau “She Said, She Said”
Mina “Oh Darling”
Leo Sayer “Strawberry Fields Forever”
Judy Collins “In My Life”
The Flamin’ Groovies “Please Please Me”
Cliff Bennnett And The Rebel Rousers “Got to Get You Into My Life

Beatles Blast can be heard every Wednesday at 2 PM, with replays Thursday at 11 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday afternoon.

At 3 PM (EDT) on Curtain Call, Mel Larch serves up a slate of songs from  a bunch of different shows: two that closed in January; one that’s nominated for a Tony Award as a play instead of a musical; one that is on tour in the UK; ad one that’s only a concept album.

Two of the shows Mel profiles on this week’s show are what we went to see back in January when we went to New York. Gutenberg and Here We Are were both great, and we’re really glad we got to see them before their limited runs ended. Mel talks a bit about all the shows featured in this episode.

Check out the playlist…

Curtain Call 145

From Sterophonic “Drive”
From Gutenberg “Welcome to Gutenberg” “Schlimmer” “I Can’t Read” “Tomorrow Is Tonight”
From Here We Are “Cafe Everything” “Waiter’s Song” “The Road 2” “The Soldier’s Dream”
From Unfortunate-The Untold Story of Ursula The Sea Witch-The Musical Parody “Suckin’ On You” “Unfortunate” “Ask The Girl” “I’m That Witch”
From The Death of the Living Club “Brand New Day” “Letters” “Gotta Go Fast”

Curtain Call can be heard on The AIR Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM, Saturday at 8 PM and Monday at 9 AM. A marathon of classic episodes can be heard Sunday evening starting at 6 PM, and an all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

Also on The AIR, Wednesday at 11 PM,  The Comedy Vault brings you classic episode that celebrates Halloween, because, it is almost June, after all.

Tuesday is once again “New Show Day” on The AIR.  As such, we have new episodes of  Radio Free Charleston and The Swing Shift for you. 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 boatloads of replays throughout the week.

Radio Free Charleston opens with a rare live track from newly-announced WV Music Hall of Fame inductee, Daniel Johnston, then offers up a killer first hour with new music from Clownhole, Ginger Wixx,  Paul Weller, Massing, Ringo Star, Lenny Kravitz and more, plus some great stuff from the RFC archives.

The new Clownhole track, “Get A Grip” is out now on all major streaming services and will be on their long-awaited album when it comes out on June 25.

Also in our first hour is a track from Bongwater, the Psychedelic band from the 1980s that featured Charleston’s own, Ann Magnuson. Ann recently appeared on the Mothman In The Bible Belt podcast, which is a wonderful thing to hear. You can listen to Ann’s episode below, and be sure to subscribe on YouTube on on whatever podcast streamer you prefer. Buck Fantastic does a great job and he looks a lot like a guy who was in a music video with Mel and me last year.

Our second and third hours revive a very old episode of RFC Volume Three, from January 2015, back when we were on Voices of Appalachia Radio.  This show is loaded with mini-themes and is loaded with great local and regional music.

The links in the playlist will take you to the pages for some of the artists in this week’s show. A tight deadline is keeping me from getting everybody in the second and third hours, and the national artists in the first hour are Googled easily enough…

RFC V5 179

hour one
Daniel Johnston “The Marching Guitars”
Clownhole “Get A Grip”
DEVO “Clockout”
Feast of Stpehen “No Vaccination”
Payback’s a Bitch “STFU”
The Dickies “Shadow Man”
Nina Hagen Band “Boom”
Ginger Wixx “Will I See You Again”
The Settlement “Midnight Train”
Novelty Island “Railwayaway”
Chuck Biel “A Light About You”
Moonage Daydream “Life On Mars”
Bongwater “Psychedelic Sewing Room”
Paul Weller “Ship of Fools”
Lenny Kravitz “Blue Electric Light”
Massing “Kickball (Rejuiced)”
Ringo Starr “February Sky”

hour two
John Lancaster “Jeruselum syndrome”
David Synn “The Future Is History”
Farnsworth “Friend To Man”
Joe Vallina “To The Phonomatic”
David Mayfield Parade “Blue Skies Again”
Buggaboo “Nola Bean”
John The Conqueror “She Said”
Todd Burge “My Kinda Town (Ghost Town)”
John Radcliff “My So Called Life”
William Matheny “Friday Night Alienation”
Joseph Hale “Time”
Derek Thompson “I Could Run”

hour three
Donny Iris and The Cruisers “The Rapper”
DEVO “Fountain of Filth”
Pere Ubu “Road To Utah”
Crack The Sky “I Don’t Have A Tie”
The Feast of Stephen “Bankrobber”
Miniature Giant “Too Soon”
69 fingers “Captain Fear”
Appalachian Celtic Consort “Johnny Jump Up”
Dave Roberts Neostra Music “Synaptic Fusion”
Jeff Ellis “In Harm’s Way”
Motion Theater “Devils”
Eva Elution “I Don’t Wanna Die”
Radio Cult “Seven Nation Army”
The Renfields “Porkshop”
Wolfgang Parker “I Could Be You”

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 special  show that chrnicles the life and times of Thomas “Fats” Waller told by Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Mildred Bailey, James P. Johnson, Count Basie, Red Norvo, Una Mae Carlisle, Red McKenzie, the original Fats Waller Orchestra – and Fats himself.

This is a special presentation of The Second Annual American Swing Festival: A composite broadcast heard on WNEW, New York between February 4 and February 11, 1945 (a little over 1 year after his death). His life story is dramatized, his music played and his friends and fellow musicians are heard in musical tributes. With the original Fats Waller Orchestra ( Pat Flowers substituting for Fats on The piano and playing in remarkably similar style).

We decided to bring this to you a week after what would have been his 120th birthday.

 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.

We wrap up our month of digital abstracts with the final piece in the “Dimensions” series. As I mentioned in previous weeks, with my Myasthenia Gravis flaring up, I had to step back from producing physical art for the time being. At the moment, I’m not sure if next week’s art will be real-world, or digital, but I’ve run out of dimensions to explore, so it will at least be a different theme.

This week’s piece is another exercise in distorting refracted and reflected images and playing with color compostion.  I recylced elements of my pieces from the previous three weeks and combined it with a minimalistic and surreal background. With this entry I think the ship with that dead horse on it has sailed.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a new episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a new 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. As I write this, I have no idea what will be featured on these shows. I can assure it, it will be really cool stuff. (Update: Prognosis will feature UK Progressive Jazz, while Psychedelic Shack will open with Jimi Hendrix)

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 supposedly real bloopers from Kermit Shafer on a recent episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM for the Monday Marathon We bring you ten hours of Psychedelic Shack, because we forgot to acknowledge Nigel Pye’s birthday last week. Hope it was a good one, buddy!

Next weekend is the weekend after Memorial Day, and that means that it’s time for WonderFest USA in Louisville. Mr. and Mrs PopCulteer are planning to attend for the first time in three years, and to get ready we’re going to re-share videos from 2021 and 2015. It’ll be fun to check out (and photograph) all the cool model kit builds, and it’ll be cool to see William Stout and Greg Nicotero again.

Other guests include the daughter of Ray Harryhausen, plus effects crew and performers from Silent Running, Space: 1999, Star Trek, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and more. It’s loads of fun for Monster kids of all ages, and it’s just a four-hour drive down I-64 from Charleston.

You can read  more about this year’s show HERE, and check out our videos above and below.

From October 2009, this week’s flashback brings you a show loaded with great music from Shindig and Joseph Hale, some prehistoric animation and the big reveal of who won the Great Guitar Giveaway from Route 60 Music. Our host segments were shot at Route 60 Music in Barboursville, and those segments were shot by none other than Flare Baroshi, who you will see performing in next week’s flashback.

We recorded Shindig at the Labelle, in South Charleston, and the late Mr. Hale was recorded at Taylor Books in Charleston.

For the full story on this show, check out the restored production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
May 24, 2024

Because there’s so much STUFF TO DO with the unofficial first weekend of Summer, we split our weekly feature into two parts. It’s also standing in as this week’s PopCulteer because your humble blogger has had the kind of week that deserves to wind up with a little slacking off.

You can find part one HERE.  The plan was to cover Thursday and Friday in the first part, then do Saturday and Sunday in the second. However, after we put yesterday’s post to bed, more Friday events came to our attention. You’ll find graphics for those below.

Let’s hit the boilerplate because there is so much STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State and beyond this weekend that we needed to do a two-parter, the second part of which you are reading.

Live Music is on tap at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  Saturday Tim Browning, with the Unwanted Saints, plays at Charleston’s beloved coffee shop/bookstore/art gallery.

One of the big events this weekend is The Vandalia Gathering, which we have a graphic about below. You’ll also find a graphic for Friday’s first Live on the Levee of the season.

Please remember that the pandemic is still not entirely over yet. It’s a going concern with the ‘rona still lurking about. And now there are nasty seasonal allergies, hyper-intelligent bees with a mean streak, alien butt-freaks gearing up for probing season, ultra-high readings on the hypocrisy meter 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.

And now, roughly in order, here’s more STUFF TO DO for Memorial Day Weekend…

That is a whole lot of STUFF TO DO and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features every day.

Because of a whole bunch of stuff going on this holiday weekend, we’re splitting up STUFF TO DO and running it over two days. Today we’ll run events that begin on Thrsday or Friday. Tomorrow we’ll cover the rest of the weekend. There is so much STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State and beyond this weekend that we need to do a two-parter.

Live Music is on tap at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  Friday it’s Nolan Collins.

The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about.  Thursday at 5:30 PM the Helping Hour with Swingstein & guest, Stefan Cotter make the world a better place with music for the benefit of the Kanawha-Charleston Animal Shelter. Thursday at 9 PM, Chris Harris takes the stage at The Empty Glass. Friday, Tim Courts plays during happy hour. You can read about their Friday night show below. Sunday night Christopher Carter, from Hurl Brickbat, performs a solo show at 10 PM.

Please remember that the pandemic is still not entirely over yet. It’s a going concern with the ‘rona still lurking about. And now there are nasty seasonal allergies, very grumpy car salesmen, sneks on which you don’t want to step, a strong urge to say “I told you so” 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.

And now, roughly in order, here’s STUFF TO DO for Thursday and Friday…

You know that new regular feature here in PopCult where I dig back into the archives and present a vintage post because I’m buried under other deadlines?

Well, today I’ve got a particularly timely one for you. James Vernon Brown, AKA The Liquid Canvas, has been performing most Wednesday nights at The Empty Glass. In fact, he’s scheduled for tonight and next Wednesday at 9 PM.  Well, 12 years ago today, I debuted a special episode of The Radio Free Charleston video show, where I basically turned the show over to James.  Here it is, complete with the original production notes (lightly edited)…

RFC 158

JVB, himself

Radio Free Charleston‘s 158th episode, “The Liquid Canvas,” is devoted to the work of Charleston filmmaker, musician, and artist James Vernon Brown. I first met James back in 2007, when we recorded the band Doctor Senator. James was playing bass and had also made several cool short films and music videos featuring the band.

James ended up leaving Doctor Senator and, at a jam session at The Blue Parrot one night, I heard him play guitar for the first time and was blown away with his David Gilmore meets Jimi Hendrix six-string pyrotechnics. I remember going up to him after hearing him play and asking “why the hell were you wasting your time playing bass?”

Continue reading