We enter into the first weekend of August (also known as “Too Many Anniversaries Month” here at PopCult) with a whole bunch of suggestions for things you can get into this weekend in and around Charleston and a few points more distant.

The big thing happening this weekend is Multifest, which actually begins Thursday. Charleston’s multi-cultural celebration packs loads of entertainment and events and 33 headliners into four days. You can find all all about it HERE, plus I’ll have graphics with the daily line-ups for it below.

You still have one weekend to catch The Blob, the musical by Mark Scarpelli and Dan Kehde, which is being revived at The Elk City Playhouse by CYAC.   The 1958 Horror Classic comes to life on the musical stage with music, dancing, romance, and DooWop fun, in one amazing evening of entertainment! Featuring performances by Nik Tidquist, Julia Carriger, Mattie Connelly, Austin Susman, Caroline Chamness and a supporting ensemble of singers, dancers and musicians. You can catch it at 7 PM Friday August 4, Saturday August 5.

Tickets $15.00 Adults, $10.00 Students/Seniors. Available online or at the door, at The Elk City Playhouse, 218 Washington St. W. Charleston, WV.

Also, last week because I was in a hurry and didn’t see a FB event page, I missed out on telling you about the Charleston Light Opera Guild’s production of Grease. You can see it this weekend, too, with the details in the graphic below.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  Friday we actually have a graphic that you’ll see in with our other show images. Saturday Julien Aklei entertains the crowd at Charleston’s beloved Bookstore/Coffee Shop/Art Gallery.

The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this weekend to tell you about. Thursday at 5:30 PM, Swingstein and Robin return with Swing for a good cause. Later Thursday evening you need to check out this extremely cool show…

Other shows at the Empty Glass include: Friday Tim Courts plays during happy hour.  Later on Friday Jeff Ellis pulls in to the Glass at 10 PM for the first of two area CD release shows. Saturday at 10 PM, Katie Curley brings her country originals and covers to The Empty Glass stage. Sunday, Christopher Carter plays at The Glass at 9 PM. Next Monday it’s Open Mic Night at 9 PM and on Tuesday Jen Howard plays at the Glass at 9 PM.

Saturday night, Jeff Ellis will perform “Live At The Shop” in Dunbar, for the second CD release party for his new album, Vacancy Hearts, which I’ve been previewing on RFC for over a month now. This is a full band show, with Bud Carroll handling lead guitar duties. You can find more details HERE.

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, more Canadian wildfire haze, serially indicted disgraced former presidents, screaming neighborhood kids, prehistoric jellyfish fossils 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.

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