Month: January 2026 (Page 3 of 3)

This video originally appeared in this space ten years and one day ago, but it had since been pulled by YouTube.  Now it has returned, so we can restore this post, updated with new details.

Lili-Marlene Premilovich, better known as Lene Lovich, is a true New Wave pioneer and musical treasure. An artist on the legendary Stiff Records label, Lovich blended her extensive art and dance training with Slavic shtick and New Wave inventivness to create a unique body of work. Quite simply, nobody else has a voice like hers.

Born in Detroit, expatriated to Hull, England when she was thirteen, Lovich, before signing to Stiff Records, rubbed shoulders with such random and diverse people as Salvador Dali, Arthur Brown, and French disco star, Cerrone. Her first appearance on record may have been as an audience member on Chuck Berry’s sing-along live recording of “My Ding-A-Ling.”

It was when Lovich started releasing music made with her musical and life partner, Les Chappell, that ears perked up around the world. With a five-octave range and a voice that could range from delicate and operatic to bombastic and powerful, Lovich made a huge mark on the outsider music scene.

It’s been twenty years since her last new  studio album(my review of Shadows and Dust, written for the Gazz.com‘s now-defunct “New Sounds” blog will be restored to PopCult soon), but she has formed a new touring band and was the opening act on the DEVO/B 52s tour last year, which will continue with select dates in 2026 in Europe. She’s also formed a label to reissue her back catalog. You can learn more about that at her website and on her Bandcamp page. The above concert was recorded at Studio 54 in 1981, and features an embryonic Thomas Dolby as one of her keyboardists.

This week we go back to September, 2012 for the final of our three “Tribute The To The Troops II” episodes of Radio Free Charleston. This wraps up our three-part special devoted to Tribute To The Troops II, an all-ages, all-day musical event held at The Saint Albans City Park amphitheater for the benefit of The West Virginia National Guard Foundation and The Wounded Warrior Project.

This episode brings you music from In The Company of Wolves, Point of Jerus, Deck of Fools and a very special song from HarraH. We also have a short film about The West Virginia National Guard Foundation narrated by Melanie Larch, with video contributions by Steven Allen Adams and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

I want to take a moment to thank Dave McClanahan for his audio superheroics on these three episodes of the show. Dave is a friend, a technical genius and an incredible musician going all the way back to the original radio incarnation of Radio Free Charleston. Dave’s band project, The Mad Scientist Club, was one of the most-requested groups on the radio show, and we’re glad to bring you some of their tunes on the new RFC radio show on The AIR.  It was a surprise and a treat to discover that Dave was recording Tribute To The Troops II and I can’t thank him enough for the high-quality board recordings and the ultra-deluxe twenty-track mixes for In The Company of Wolves and Deck of Fools that he was able to fit into his busy schedule.

Playing us out we have our old friends, HarraH, also returning from episode 166, performing a special song written by Dawn Marie Wood. “Too Late” came from the pen and the heart of the lady who conceived Tribute To The Troops, and with her husband, Brad and Wood Boys Music, they helped to pump a lot of life and excitement into the local music scene. These last three shows would not have been possible without them.

This is a bit of a bittersweet show to look at now, because of the recent passing of Lee Harrah and the many life changes so many of us have had since then. It was a real kick to put these together, and I hope you’ve enjoyed watching them again.

The PopCulteer
January 2, 2026

With the week interrupted by New Year’s Eve and subsequent Day, we have a short column for the first PopCulteer of the new year. There are only two things to tell you about before your humble blogger and his lovely wife depart for a quick trip to Lexington for no particular reason.

Mothman In The Bible Belt

First up, tomorrow night yours truly will be the guest of that Fantastic Buck, Buck Fantastic, on The Mothman In The Bible Belt podcast.

Mothman in the Bible Belt is a West Virginia-based entertainment podcast hosted by charismatic organic farmer and line dance instructor, Buck Fantastic. Sprouted in 2021, the podcast initially focused on social issues, later evolving to encompass the Appalachian music and art scene. New episodes drop every two-weeks.

The wholesome Appalachian podcast is available to stream for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, IHeartRadio, YouTube, Audacy, Deezer, Audible, and Amazon Music.

Buck and I have a rambling conversation about whatever the hell it is I do, and/or have done, for the last four decades or so.

Of note: if my voice sounds a bit off, it’s because I was laying flat on my back on a heating pad during the interview. I’d thrown my back out over Christmas. So it was sort of like laying in a tanning bed and being on a pyschiatrist’s couch at the same time. I had a blast.

This is a great podcast, and it’s a bit surreal for me to be rubbing podcasterly shoulders with Buck’s previous distinguished guests.

Here’s a trailer…

You can hear The Mothman In The Bible Belt podcast where ever you tune in to such things. For more details, check out the website.

Another Friend of PopCult In Need

Last week I told you about GoFundMe campaigns for Brian Diller and Jon Raider’s mother. I have another friend who could use a hand right now.

Michael Tawney, who is known and loved by many in Charleston from his time as the manager of The GameStop in The Charleston Town Center and even moreso as the manage of the Park Place Cinema, as well as his role as the promoter for IWA East Coast(where he is known as “Fattawn”), is currently in end-stage renal failure and is waiting on a kidney transplant.

He’s getting dialysis treatment and carefully being monitored while he awaits a donor kidney, and he could use some financial help.

His brother has organized a GoFundMe to help cover his living expenses, since he can’t work while he’s dealing with this situation, so if you know Michael from IWA EC or Park Place (or GameStop), please consider donating for one of the coolest people I know.

There will be an IWA East Coast benefit show on February 21, at the Koontz Gym in Clendenin. They are still building the card for what promises to be an amazing night of wrestling and fun. You can keep up with all the latest details and find ticket information at the Facebook Event page.

Tawney has been a friend for over twenty years, and is a fixture on the regional wrestling scene. He’s the guy who booked Pat McAfee for his first pro wrestling gig. They even covered this GoFundMe campaign at Fightful Wrestling, one of the top wrestling news sites in the world.

And with that, we wrap up this week’s PopCulteer. The way the calendar falls this year, I’m gonna have to crank out 52 more of these things for 2026. Check back every day for fresh content and all our regular features.

What say that, since this is one of the least-read days of they year for PopCult, we take a look back at the damnable collection of odd months that was 2025.

It wasn’t all bad, of course, but the loss of several close friends, coupled with the current cancerous political climate definitely put a damper on things.

This was a year when we said goodbye too soon to Brian Young, Lee Harrah, Steve Fesenmaier, Greg Miller, Non Sport Update, American Science & Surplus, BOOP! The Musical, Fruth Pharmacy, Diamond Previews, several amendments and too many other things to list.

Yet, it was a good year for this blog. In 2025, PopCult had 423 posts. Those posts contained over 235,000 words, the most ever (even counting years where we had close to 600 posts). I can be wordy, sometimes.

There were 45 audio episodes of Radio Free Charleston on our sister internet radio station, The AIR.. Plus we had one video episode.

The AIR also featured close to 100 new episodes of our other original internet radio programs.

PopCult posts were viewed millions of times by a record number of unique visitors. Readership was up 110% over 2024. Listenership at The AIR also more than doubled. I’m pretty sure that PopCult now has more readers than our former home, The Charleston Gazette-Mail (I know that’s not a fair comparison, since their content is behind a paywall, but give a guy a chance to enjoy a small victory). It’s nice that, in our twentieth year, we can say that we have millions of readers. If only I weren’t too lazy to monetize this blog.

I am actually writing this in the late morning of January 1, 2026. I just wasn’t in the mood to write yesterday, and this morning my wife and I slept in, and then got mesmerized by the Twilight Zone marathon, so I got a late start.

To round things out and continue a new tradition, here are my ten favorite header images from the last year…

This STUFF TO DO header from February was adapted from a news photo of efforts to extinguish a house that exploded two blocks from where I live a few years ago.

This RFC header is a digitally-altered photo from The Embassy Suites Hotel in Lexington.

This header, swiped from a post by Bad Spit, on Twitter, just looks cool.

I ran this STUFF TO DO header while Charleston was hosting some kind of bicycle event. It amused me.

I just like the way this header for a review of the Gargon action figure looks.

One of the low-key headers based on photos I took at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.

One of several cool headers mutated from photos I took at the American Sign Museum in Cinncinnati.

Another Sign Museum shot for STUFF TO DO

Okay, so the phone number is for The White House. Caller ID is more accurate than ever these days.

And finally, a heartwarming image for STUFF TO DO from just a few weeks ago.

That is our quick and half-assed look back at 2025. Check back tomorrow and every day for fresh content and hardcore reporting on whatever the hell it is that we’re supposed to be writing about here.

Happy New Year!