It was when I married Melanie Larch, eleven years ago, today.

Only a small number of people knew this was going to happen.  We snuck off to Chicago, and got married at 11 AM on stage at the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Then we rode the L back to our hotel, got online at the hotel’s business center, and blew up the internet when we updated our statuses on Facebook.

I had written a week’s worth of PopCult in advance. On the day after the big event, this is what my loyal readers saw…

Just Married

Hey, y’know that top secret project I’ve been talking about all week?

Well, if all goes according to plan, by the time you read this, Melanie Larch and I will have become a married couple. And to think, it only took 24 years for us to tie the knot. With all our elder-care commitments fulfilled and no other obstacles in our path, we can finally be together.

The ceremony is to have taken place Tuesday morning on the Stage of the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. We wanted a quiet ceremony in a special place, and that fit the bill perfectly. Every PopCult post that has been published since last week was written on Wednesday, August 20. That’s why the tense is all wonky.

If you’re wondering why we decided to get married in Chicago, there are many reasons. First of all, I hate cermonies. I just can’t stand the pomp and circumstance and other related BS that fuels the Wedding Industrial Complex. I just want to be with the woman I love. I don’t want to go through the Spanish Inquisition.

On top of that, Melanie and I didn’t feel right getting married in a state that does not allow all of our friends the same right. I know it’s inevitable that marriage equality will come to the Mountain State, but we didn’t want to wait any longer.

Add to that the moronic law passed a couple of years ago that coerces people, even people who have been together more than two decades, into undergoing religious and/or psychological counseling before they can tie the knot, and it was clear that, as far as getting married goes, West Virginia is not open for our business.

We were planning to go to Chicago anyway, and Melanie holds Steppenwolf in very high regard, so I suggested she ask if we could get married there. She did. And they said yes. And we said “I Do.”

We’re hoping that none of our friends feel slighted that we did this out of town. In the event that anyone reading this really feels the need for us to have a huge reception with tons of guests, please, feel free to throw one for us. We’ll be there… as long as we don’t have to do any planning or pay for it.

_________________

Eleven years later there are no regrets, and I am the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.

I just wish I’d been paying more attention to how the anniversaries would fall. Our Wedding Anniversary is 13 days after my birthday, and two days before the anniversary of PopCult.

We probably should’ve gotten married a little earlier…like, maybe in 1990.

Both of The AIR Music Specialty programs will be brand-new Tuesday, which is once again “New Show Day” on The AIR.  Even in the midst of PopCult‘s 20th Anniversary week, 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.

This week Radio Free Charleston kicks off with a new track from Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess, which is off their just-released new album (You can find it HERE), and after that sparkling new music, we jump back to the RFC Video Archives and bring you THREE HOURS (almost) of music originally recorded for Volume Two of Radio Free Charleston, which is more commonly known as “The Video Version of RFC.”

Probably half of these tracks were recorded at the late, lamented LiveMix Studio. Others were recorded at The Empty Glass, The Blue Parrot and various other local venues. We also have a few studio creations in the mix, but everything you hear in this program (after the first song) appeared originally in the first 76 video episodes of Radio Free Charleston, between 2006 and 2009. Hopefully this will cut through the hazy memories and show everyone how vital the music scene in Charleston is.

I tired to go for a wide variety of musical styles, and bring back some tunes that haven’t been heard on this incarnation of the radio show before.

Because so many of the artists in this week’s show do not currently have websites (and also because PopCult isn’t my only big anniversary this week)  there are no links in the playlists.

Check out this impressive playlist what’s got no links in it…

RFC V5 238

hour one
Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess “Chasing You”
Whistlepunk “Spy Song”
Stephen Beckner “Falling Star”
Sean Richardson, Jay Lukens, Deron Sodaro “Story of the Coyote People”
Raymond Wallace “Champagne Charlie”
Under The Radar “Me, The Boys and Jack”
Appalachian Celtic Consort “Johnny Jump Up/Monaghan’s Jig”
Two Watts of Power “World”
Professor Mike “Greater Good”
Martyranny’s Collective Pulse “Breathing Banshee”
The Concept “Guitar Pick In My Kool Aid”
John Radcliff “Something’s Gotta Give”
Ghosts of Now “Deathburn”
Whistlepunk 2.0 “Satellite”
Feast of Stephen “No Vaccination”
Doctor Senator “Jesus Fish”

hour two
Comparsa “La Buena Comparsa”
Seven Minutes ‘Til Midnight “Hey John, I did Imagine”
Go Van Gogh “Requiem For Pepperland”
The Synergy Collective “Looking For Heaven”
Blue Million “I’m Gonna Catch You”
Lady D “Go Higher”
Spurgie Hankins Band “Bullets and Fire”
Quick and Dirty “Jack Daniels and Razor Blades”
T.J. King “Good People”
Dog Soldier “A Christmas Song”
Casi Null “Blue Haze”
The Button Flies “Butch Bottom”
The Hellblinki Sextet “Bella Ciao”
Brain Trauma “Rock It”
The Underdog Blues Revue “What You Say”
Diablo Blues Band “The Price of a Broken Heart”

hour three
Mark Bates & The Vacancies “Michelle”
Elemental Devices “Spirit Molecule”
Punk Jazz “Little Star”
Tofujitsu “Clap On, Clap Off”
The Bible Beaters “Praise Jesus”
A Place of Solace “You Will”
WATT 4 “Empty”
The Scrap Iron Pickers “William S. Burroughs/Coal Bucket”
White Chapel District “How Heavy Is Thy Crown”
Ovada “Church of Paranoia”
The Limbs “Razor Game”
J Marinelli “Pilgrim’s Progress”
Option 22 “Soul song”

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, Sunday at 8 PM 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 new episode of The Swing Shift that does not have a playlist because I need to get this post written before I head out for a brief Wedding Anniversary mini-adventure.

However, you lucky listeners will be treated to an hour of the amazing voice of Anita O’Day, an incredible vocalist and a strong-willed woman who butted heads with some of the top figures in Big Band Swing before establishing herself as a Jazz artiste in her own right.

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 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 Thursdays and Sundays.

You can expect more posts here in PopCult today, even though it’s my eleventh Wedding Anniversary. Apparently the gift for eleven years is “more work.”

As promised and/or threatened, here are twenty of my favorite pieces of art that I’ve created for PopCult over the last twenty years.  You will see a variety of styles and techniques and media. I have not yet, as an artist, decided to pick a lane and stay in it.

Keep in mind that these selections represent a little less than 2% of my output over the last two decades. If I had to pick them on another day, it’s possible I may choose twenty different pieces.

From August, 2019, this digital painting was my first attempt at imitating the work of Edward Hopper. I wanted to learn how he painted light and shadow so I could apply it to surrealist works. Someday I will take this to canvas.

A digitial abstract called “Krome.” Sometimes when you’re just messing around, you can come up with the coolest-looking stuff. This is from November, 2017.

This was a digital abstract that I called “Scape.” For reasons lost to me, I did endless variations on this thing. It’s here because it was created the day before I started PopCult.

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First of all, yes, I’ve recycled the feature image from last year’s 19th anniversary post.

As I mentioned in today’s Monday Morning Art, this is a bit of a big week for PopCult.  Thursday marks twenty years since the start of this blog. The illustration at the right is my self-portrait that I supplied to Douglas Imbrogno way back in August, 2005, when I started this blog at The Charleston Gazette.

Doug asked me for a photo, but…and in retrospect, this is incredibly hilarious…I thought I might be able to keep photos of myself off the internet.

You can take a moment to howl at that thought. This was before I revived Radio Free Charleston as a video show and smeared my face all over PopCult like a toddler with poo.

This week I’m loading up the blog with some special content, including retrospective articles, brand-new reviews and at least a couple of fun photo essays.

Later today you can expect a “Monday Morning Art Gallery,” looking back at 20 of my favorite pieces that I’ve created over the years. Tomorrow we’ll have notes on our AIR programming, plus a history of Radio Free Charleston and a look back at the most important thing I’ve done in the last twenty years.

Wednesday you can expect STUFF TO DO, plus a toy review and notes on that day’s new programs on The AIR.

Thursday is our actual anniversary, so I’ll write about that. Extra posts that day will include a book review and a fun photo essay.

Friday brings another photo essay, and maybe a surprise or two.

The weird thing is, I still don’t feel like I’m old enough to be having a twentieth annivesary. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Thanks to everybody for reading PopCult all this time.

This is a bit of a big week for PopCult.  Thursday marks twenty years since the start of this blog. While i was regularly posting my art here for the first year, it wasn’t until a couple of months before our first anniversary that I decided to begin every week with a “Monday Morning Art” post.  Since the beginning of PopCult, I’ve published around a thousand works of art, some digital, some photography and much of it physical paintings or drawings.

This week I’m loading up the blog with some special content, including retrospective articles, brand-new reviews and at least a couple of fun photo essays.

This week’s art is a small Impressionistic “painting” of what I saw at The American Sign Museum in Cinncinnati. If you’re not familiar with this cool place, just be patient. I’m running a photo essay of a recent visit there on Friday.

This painting was me attempting to capture the sheer sensory overload and joyous emotion at seeing so much lovingly restored Americana in one place. This was done on heavy illustration board with some new brush pen/paint markers I’m experimenting with.

To see this week’s art bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a new episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM an also 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.

We do not have full playlists for the shows, but Nigel will present an hour of Vanilla Fudge on Psychedelic Shack, while Herman devotes the entire show to King Crimson, performing live on Prognosis.

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.

At 8 PM you can hear an hour of Fluffy stand-up comedy on a classic episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM for the final edition of Monday Marathon we bring you ten hours of  Mel Larch’s Curtain Call. Starting next week we are shaking up the schedule a little bit following a Labor Day Weekend marathon of Radio Free Charleston. After that, Monday’s will look different, but you can still enjoy The Sunday Marathon after that.

This week’s Sunday Evening Video is a repeat from just over four years ago. There is a fantastic new documentary on Netflix about the band, DEVO, who have been one of my favorite musical entities for nearly fifty years. Now all the spuds are finally realizing what I’ve known all along. You should go watch it right now to find out why I’ve been a Devangelist since 1978.  Here’s the entire text of what I wrote when I first posted this video in May, 2021…

Periodically, I like to run something here in PopCult to remind my readers that DEVO was right about everything, and that fact explains the sorry state of politics and human behavior in the world today. Here they are performing at Lollapalooza in 2003, doing songs from their first two albums. If only more people had done their duty then, for the future…

We are DEVO.

If you need some even more DEVO-y DEVO, check out this post.

From December, 2011, we have a psuedo-holiday episode of Radio Free Charleston. That’s episode 149, “Shredd’s Pizzeria Shirt,” at the top of this post, and it was an early Christmas present, that we loaded with special gifts for our loyal viewers.

We were proud to present a World Premiere music video by Sasha Colette, “Rock of Ages,” plus we had a music video by Huntington’s master of pop music, Jordan Andrew Jefferson, the RFC debut of a  then-new band, Trielement, and we dipped into our archives for a special Christmas tune performed by RFC‘s resident Diva, Melanie Larch and The Diablo Blues Band. We also had two trailers for special projects and we met Hasbro, in a vintage commercial.

You can find the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
August 22, 2025

We have a little more urgency than usual with today’s photo essay.  I’m still playing catch-up from an insanely busy summer, but today I’m going to tell you about an exhibit at The Cinncinnati Museum Center (located in the iconic Cinncinnati Union Terminal) that closes on Sept 1. So you’ll have to hurry if you want to see it.

Barbie™: A Cultural Icon takes visitors on a journey through the six-decade evolution and the making of a global phenomenon.  Mrs. PopCulteer and I saw it earlier this month on my pre-birthday fun trip to Cinncinnati.

This is a pretty epic history of Barbie that presents all the major moments and turning points as the first Fashion Doll made her way through the turbulent 1960s to today, with hair and hemlines changing, the culture diversifying and careers opening up from the classroom to the moon and beyond.

To be honest, we hadn’t even really planned to visit this exhibit. I just wanted to see the incredible Art Deco masterpiece that is The Cinncinnati Union Terminal. I wasn’t even sure if the exhibit would still be going on when we wedged our visit in between two other museum stops on the same day. It was a spur of the moment decision, but we are really glad we decided to go.

Let me quote from the exhibit’s official description:

More than a doll. A cultural icon.

Today, Barbie is the most diverse doll line in the world, inspiring girls to imagine everything they can become. A role model, a muse, a best friend – Barbie means something to everyone. Step back into your childhood and join us on this exhibition of a six-decade evolution, and the making of a global icon.

Barbie™: A Cultural Icon takes you from 1959 to present day, examining how pop culture and fashion trends have shaped this global phenomenon. The exhibition celebrates Barbie as a reflection of culture, featuring a priceless collection of over 300 artifacts from the 66-year history of Barbie, including the very first 1959 doll, an original Barbie™ Dreamhouse, behind the scenes prototypes, as well as some of the most infamous Barbie dolls throughout history. You’ll also find numerous photo ops throughout the exhibition for shareable moments.

Curated and toured by Illusion Projects Inc., curated by Karan Feder, in partnership with Mattel Inc.

This is a really amazing show that pretty much uses Barbie to cover the last seven decades of pop culture. We had a blast, and we were so impressed by The Cinncinnati Museum Center that we are planning a return trip…or three.

The photos here just scratch the surface of this expansive exhibit…

Why not start at the beginning? It’s the first Barbie!

And her loyal sidekick, Ken.

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The PopCult Toybox

It’s been a while since I’ve written about Zuru Toys’ popular Mini Brands here in the blog, but they continue to be one of the most successful items in the toy department, with a huge and loyal following among kids and adult collectors.

They’ve expanded their line of tiny brand-name replicas of consumer products into nostalgia, with their Retro line, retailer-specific lines for KFC, Disney and Ulta, plus they’ve introduced Mini Brands of books, home furnishings and other themes.  They’ve also released a line of Mini Brand Create sets, that allow kids to make their own clay miniatures of food and other items that can be cured with UV light to hold their shape permanently.

Mini Brands have been a dioramist’s dream. Whether you’re creating dollhouses, gag photos and memes or action-figure photo stories, these have been a godsend.

Cindy Scott uses a lot of Mini Brands items (particularly the Retro line) in her spectacular dioramas.

Their latest expansion is the Fill The Fridge series, which is anchored by a very cool looking tiny refrigerator.  Not only is this real metal fridge, with a terrific  Mid-Century design, a nifty miniature in its own right, but it also serves a function with its interior light, which can be switched to UV so that kids and hobbyists can safely cure their Create minis without risking exposure to the UV light.

In UV mode, the light stays on when the fridge is closed. In regular light mode, it only  lights up when the fridge is opened.

It’s not only a functional tool, but it’s also a great way to display your collection of Mini Brands.

Accompanying this fridge is a new line of Mini Brands called, natually, Fill The Fridge. This line is exclusive devoted to products that you’d keep in the fridge or freezer, and it includes a lot of stuff that hasn’t been seen before in previous Mini Brand assortments, like fresh meat and produce, and those again are going to be welcomed heavily by dioramists and dollhouse curators.

Oh…and people who play with their large-scale GI Joes and Barbies, too.  They’ll eat up this stuff. This fridge will be right at home in any Dream House or Adventure Team Headquarters, and it’s even workable with MEGO sized figures.

It’s a high-quality toy and collectible, with solid construction and a cool retro design. The only drawback is the demand.  Fueled by viral videos, this toy has sold out locally at Walmart and Target, and is gone from Amazon. I was lucky to snag one when I did. It’s expected that these will be back in stock in the coming weeks, but they’re expected to be one of the hottest toys this Christmas.

I’ll comment more in the photos below.

a bigger look at the Fridge, in it’s double-wrapped packaging. Be careful when peeling the printed film off around the handles.

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On this August occasion it’s still hot and Summer is still very much in full swing despite the marketing entities declaring it over. Once again this weekend there are all sorts of mini-festivals and fairs and outdoor events all around the state.

We also have other cool things happening, so let’s go for a quick tour of STUFF TO DO around the state and beyond, shall we?

Wednesday night (that’s tonight, unless you’re reading this late) FestivALL presents Season 10, Episode 2 of Three Things at the John L. Dickinson Family Homeowner Education & Community Center (ReStore) This episode features Musician/Owner Folklore Music Exchange Justin Puett, Musician/General Manager Fife Street Brewery John Query, and Owner of Cups & Cats Cafe/ DJ at WTSQ Lora Reynolds.  FestivALL’s live monthly speaker series, Three Things, showcases three guests who will share insight into their personal story of where they started, what they love, and where they are going. I actually attended for the first time back in May, and it was a wonderful evening. General Tickets: $10 / Student Tickets: $5 (available day of show).

Friday night the CharlieWest All Stars get to make up their rained-out Live on the Levee show, and this time they have The Carpenter Ants opening for them. The music starts at 6 PM and this is a great chance to see a lot of incredible musicians who have been featured on Radio Free Charleston over the years…including one guy I’ve known since first grade (and that was a long time ago).

As always, you should remember 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. Also, if you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future, contact me via Social Media at Facebook, BlueSky , Spoutible, Instagram or possibly Elon’s beast, if it should ever choose to forgive me.  I dont charge for this, so you might as well send me something if you have an event to promote. Note that some links look like they shouldn’t work because they have lines through them, but that’s just a WordPress glitch, so click on them anyway. They should still work.

We are also very happy to remind you that Cristen Michael has created an interactive calendar that is way more comprehensive than this list of STUFF TO DO, and you can find it HERE. Just click on the day and the event and you’ll be whisked away to a page with more details about loads of area events.

City Center Live at Slack Plaza in Charleston has announced their schedule for the summer.  You can find their schedule HERE.

You can find live music in and around town every night of the week. You just have to know where to look.

Most Fridays and Saturdays you can find live music at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. This weekend they have Evan Wayne on Friday, and Minor Swing on Saturday.

You can find live music every night at The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe. Mondays feature open mic night. The first Tuesday of every month sees the legendary Spurgie Hankins Band perform. There’s both Happy Hour music and local or touring bands on Thursday and Friday, and live bands Saturday nights.  On Sundays when there’s a new Mountain Stage, musicians from the legendary WV Public Radio show migrate to The Glass for the Post-Mountain Stage jam.

Live at The Shop in Dunbar hosts local and touring bands on most weekends, and is a nice break away from the downtown bar scene.

Louie’s, at Mardi Gras Casino & Resort, regularly brings in local bands on weekends.

In Huntington, local institution, The Loud (formerly The V Club), brings in great touring and local acts three or four nights a week.

The Wandering Wind Meadery holds several events each week, from live piano karaoke to bands to comedy to burlesque.

The multitude of breweries and distilleries that have popped up in Charleston of late bring in live musical acts as well. I tend to miss a lot of these because, being a non-drinker, they fly under my radar.

Roger Rablais hosts Songwriter’s stage at different venues around the area, often at 813 Penn, next door to Fret ‘n’ Fiddle in Saint Albans and also at The Empty Glass many Tuesday evenings. You might also find cool musical events at Route 60 Music in Barboursville and Folklore Music Exchange in Charleston.

To hear music in an alcohol-free enviroment, see what’s happening at Pumzi’s, on Charleston’s West Side. Pumzi’s looks to be beefing up their offerings in the coming weeks and months, so be sure to check that link in case we miss something.

You can also visit Coal River Coffee in Saint Albans for live music in an alcohol-free environment. This Friday at 7 PM  Coal River Coffee features Minor SwingI am looking to expand this list, so please contact me through the social media sites above if you know about more alcohol-free performance venues. The Huntington Music Collective has recently started hosting all ages shows at Event Horizon.

For cutting-edge independent art films, downstairs from Taylor Books you’ll find the Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF. Each week they program several amazing movies in their intimate viewing room that you aren’t likely to see anywhere else.

Please remember that viral illlnesses are still a going concern and 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. And if you’re at an outdoor event, please remember that it’s awfully inconsiderate to smoke or vape around people who become ill when exposed to that stuff. If somebody asks you to refrain, don’t be a jerk about it.

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

Here we go, roughly in order, it’s graphics for local events that I was able to scrounge up online…

FESTIVALS

FRIDAY

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