Author: Rudy Panucci (Page 1 of 133)

The PopCulteer
November 28, 2025

Dammit, Lee.

That’s not your typical opening line for an obituary, but he would love it.

Lee Harrah, one of my and Melanie’s closest friends, passed away suddenly yesterday, after years of serious health issues. PopCult fans should remember Lee as the host of Harrah’s Hard & Heavy and my co-host on Word Association with Lee & Rudy on The AIR, as well as his many appearances in a several different bands on Radio Free Charleston, and his many cameos in some of our toy show photo essays.

He was part of our family.

Lee in his element, wearing a Hulk shirt at a toy show.

Lee was a powerful singer, an artist, an avid comic book and action figure fan and collector. He was also like a little brother to me. Mel and I loved the guy. He’s practically the only person we’ve ever taken with us on our travels. We’d dragged him along to Wheeling for toy shows many times and even took him on a road trip to JoeLanta once. It’s wrecking me that we never got to take him to New York City.

Oh, and aside from singing with some great bands, Lee was also a Ghostbuster. He touched so many lives, and despite a gruff exterior, he could be one of the most loving, caring, and at times infuriating people you’d ever want to meet.

Aside from being in front of the camera on RFC, Lee was a trusted production assistant, running camera on several segments and appearing on the show many times in non-singing roles. Lee and I even appeared in Eamon Hardiman’s horror movie, Porkchops, together.

Life had not treated Lee well for the last decade or so. To be honest, neither did Lee. He fell into a trap that I was all-too-familiar with of being a caregiver and not taking care of himself.

When his mother, Mikki, passed away, just about everything that could go wrong for Lee did. He lost his house, his job, people he trusted ripped him off, and his health deteriorated.

Impersonating Ozzy, with Kenny Booth

When he became homeless, his friend, Brian “Bearclaw” Woods gave him a place to stay, and tried to get Lee to take care of himself. Bearclaw’s incredible generosity and kindness, along with Lee’s beloved cat, Bobo, were all that kept him going at times.

Things had improved a little bit for Lee recently.  After several months of really being on the verge of death from congestive heart failure, he recuperated enough to join us on a trip to Wheeling for the ‘Berto Memorial Show in 2024 and then last summer we took him back for the first KrugerFest toy show.

Lee was a talented toy customizer, writer and artist, and I hate that we won’t see some of the projects he was working on fully realized.

Mostly I hate that I won’t get to see my friend again, and take him out to eat and then try to get a word in while he dominated the conversation with bizarre tirades about Conan, Popeye, M*A*S*H, Iron Maiden. zombie movies, the Ramones and of course, the Incredible Hulk.

If you knew Lee, you knew about his love of The Hulk.

Showing off custom toy creations by his friend, Tony DiTrapano at MEGO Meet

Lee and I had actually talked about this obituary back when our friend Johnny Rock died. I was hoping to never have to write it. He’d say to keep it short, but also to be sure and mention that Johnny Ramone was an asshole.

He had a much longer list than that, but I don’t have all weekend to write this. I’m trying to keep this light and funny, like Lee requested.

It’s not easy. He knew how much I hate writing obituaries for the people I care about.

I hope that, in whatever afterlife Lee made it to, he’s getting to hang out with Joey Ramone, Jack Kirby, George Romero, Lemmy, Ozzy, Peter Steele and his other heroes. Lee could be pretty heroic himself at times, and he was a good friend who would always have your back.

Mel and I are really going to miss him. We’d gone through a lot together over the last eighteen years. We had actually planned to get together today, but we did not get to do that.

Next month, the annual video episode of Radio Free Charleston will be devoted to Lee. Arrangements are still pending.

With his band, HARRAH, at The Sound Factory

Another Sound Factory show

Ad-libbing a host segment on Radio Free Charleston

That is this week’s PopCulteer. The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide will resume Monday. I’m not really in the mood to crank out any entries today.

I’m really going to miss hanging out with my friend. My friend who made me promise to run this photo with that caption.

Today is Turkey Day, and that means…well…hardly anybody is reading this blog or The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide right now. Seriously, yesterday so many people across the country got half a day off that our readership plummetted right around noon.

So, as we have done in previous years, to honor the holiday and also so we don’t squander any good gift suggestions, today we’re going to offer up our own style of Turkey–god-awfully goofy gifts that could be gag gifts, or white elephant gifts, or even gifts that might gag a white elephant.

These gifts are either amusing or disturbing, and you might want to think long and hard before actually wrapping any of these and putting them under the tree. Either make sure that the recipient has a great sense of humor, or is at least somebody you won’t mind antagonizing. Some are annoying. Some are disgusting. Some look edible but are still gross. To be honest, this year’s gift ideas are actually pretty cool, aside from being goofy.

My descriptions will be short and brutally honest. Also, there are five picks today. This is the only entry in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide today. We will be back tomorrow with a PopCulteer devoted to Small Business Day, plus an entry that will recommend a couple of great local restaurants. If you’ve been scoring at home, note that this year I decided to extend the Gift Guide by four days, with our Master List hitting a week from tomorrow.

In each item there will also be a link to the website from which you can find these memorable and offbeat gift ideas. .

Happy Turkey Day, everybody. Maybe be thankful that you don’t get any gifts like this. Unless they look really cool to you. Then make sure to forward a link to this post to everybody you know.

The first pick in this year’s Turkey Day gift suggestions is, I have to admit, actually pretty cool. This would be a great gift for any die-hard fan of John Waters, but for people who are maybe not fans of his work, this could be the ultimate prank gift.

It’s the John Waters action figure!

It’s costs $29.99, plus shipping from Good Taste Toys (of course) and you can order it in two styles, one of which seems to come and go from the website. So stick with the pink suit version.

This was the inaugural product from Good Taste Toys, and here’s what they have to say abou it:

Good Taste Toys launches with a bang, and the most perfect subject to show what this line is all about – JOHN WATERS!

With his rightful star on the Hollywood walk of fame, the legendary purveyor of all things trashy on the silver screen has been “zapped” down to a “teensy” size for you to display.

Complete with packaging reminiscent of his classic film Pink Flamingos – but for those new to JSD figures, he can be taken out of and returned to the packaging.

Celebrate this filthy genius with your own JOHN WATERS, and thank you for getting on board with GOOD TASTE TOYS!

13.5cm tall soft vinyl figure with posable arms.

Be advised, these are shipping from Australia, so you want to order soon.

Next up is a gift for the opera fan, but they might find it a little corny.

Opera Corn, from Archie McPhee, is just that. It’s an ear of corn that sings opera!

This is a 6-1/4″ tall, plastic ear of corn (batteries included)that sings opera at the push of a button. It comes pre-shucked and has a voice that can fill a hall.

As the experts at Archie McPhee say:

THAT CORN SINGS OPERA

Opera Corn is the starch that can sing. In fact, it creams the competition! When it comes to an a-maize-ing aria, we’re all ears! This electronic Opera Corn sings when you press the button! Figaro! Figaro! It’s a hard vinyl ear of corn that is 6-1/4″ tall that produces one of five ear-resistable operatic sounds at the push of a button. It’s a regular Luciano Cobarotti. You wouldn’t expect such highbrow music from corn, but we went against the grain.

With such a beautiful voice, your giftee will think you spent weeks finding this lovely Aria of Corn, instead of just cobbling together a gift without a kernal of effort.

It’s $12.95 (plus shipping) at Archie McPhee.

Check out the video…

So the opera wasn’t fancy enough for you, huh? Well, if you want to give a gift that absolutely screams “CLASS,” you can’t go wrong by pulling something out of Uranus!

A longtime PopCult Favorite, Uranus, Missouri is world famous for their fudge factory, nuts, Putt-Pirate Mini Golf and other attractions, but this gift idea is for a piece of apparel that you can wear anywhere.

Seriously, your giftee can wear the Uranus Liquors shirt to university lectures, formal weddings, church and super-dignified White House functions. People will take one look at this shirt and know that the person wearing it is an ultra-sophisticated man (or woman) about town who can hobknob with ambassadors, senators, presidents and popes.

You can order the Uranus Liquors T Shirt directly from Uranus, Missouri.

Next up we have a cookbook. Now, everybody loves chicken, so this really shouldn’t be controversial at all.

100 Ways To Eat Cock
by Modern Classics
Independently Published
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8424797279
$9.99

Who wouldn’t love to have 100 pages of great poultry recipes?

Well…that’s not what your giftee will get. This is a blank book. It’s a journal.

However, it has a very memorable cover and title, and nobody says that you can’t fill it with your own recipes.

Or it can be filled with re-written lyrics to Paul Simon’s “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.”

Just imagine walking into church, proudly wearing your Uranus Liquors shirt, and handing this to the Pastor as a gift.

People will shower you with admiration. Or they may pelt you with rocks and garbage. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
You can order this from Amazon. .

Finally we have another action figure. This time it’s the super fighting figure that every kid today wants to have.

I’m talking of course, about the Lenny Bruce action figure from Nacelle.

What could wouldn’t want to have the influential stand-up comedian from the 1960s offer up biting satirical comments that will shock their other action figures with their sharp edge and daring language?

Here’s the quick history, from Nacelle’s website:

Lenny Bruce’s open, free-style and critical form of comedy catapulted him into legendary status as a comedic pioneer that showcased satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity in his act. Lenny’s 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon, the first in New York State history, by then-Governor George Pataki in 2003. He paved the way for future outspoken counterculture-era comedians, and his trial for obscenity is seen as a landmark for freedom of speech in the United States. On February 3, 1961, in the midst of a severe blizzard, he gave a famous performance at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was recorded and later released as a three-disc set, titled The Carnegie Hall Concert.

Kids can have Lenny onstage, using words that society in general does not like, and then they can send Batman and Spider-man in to arrest him!

You can order the Lenny Bruce action figure directly from Nacelle, where it is currently on sale for a mere eighteen bucks. Or you can get a bundle that includes the figure plus a vinyl LP.

And those are our Turkey Day gift ideas.

Now go back to the kitchen. Your stove top stuffing is burning.

Both of our entries today in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide are tied to today’s new music specialty programs that debut this afternoon on our sister internet radio station, The AIR. With The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide in mind, we managed to cook up new episodes that debut on Wednesday afternoon, as The AIR brings you new installments of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, each of get right into the gift-giving spirit. 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.

Our second entry today in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is for two very different books about Stephen Sondheim and will likely be the perfect gift for the fan of Broadway musicals on your holiday shopping list.

Hirschfeld’s Sondheim: A Poster Book
by David Leopold (Author), Al Hirschfeld (Illustrator), Bernadette Peters (Introduction), Ben Brantley (Foreword)
Harry N. Abrams
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419784156
$29.99 (discounted at Amazon)

The first of our two Sondheim books is a gorgeous art book. I already got a copy for Mel and she absolutely loves it. It’s a poster book and is just stunning to look at.

Let’s go to the publisher’s blurb for the details:

This handsome volume presents 25 favorite Al Hirschfeld portraits drawn from Stephen Sondheim’s musicals. The art prints in this oversize poster book can be easily removed and framed, making it an ideal gift for Sondheim fans.

This first volume in a series of deluxe Hirschfeld poster books contains art drawn from life before the opening night of each of Sondheim’s productions. On the reverse side are rare, ancillary images from the archives, as well as an introduction by Bernadette Peters, an essay by Ben Brantley, and text by David Leopold, Hirschfeld’s archivist and creative director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation.

Hirschfeld’s images capture the essence of the performances even better than the photographs of the shows. All of Sondheim’s best-known plays are included—West Side Story, Follies, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, and Sunday in the Park with George.

Al Hirschfeld drew his first Sondheim show in 1957—West Side Story. In his iconic, illustrative style, Hirschfeld captured almost all of Sondheim’s Broadway shows and several films featuring the composer’s songs and scripts.

Sondheim was a Hirschfeld collector, acquiring drawings directly from the artist and through his friends and collaborators like Hal Prince. In his last interview just five days before his death on November 26, 2021, the New York Times ran a photo of Sondheim in his home with an image of Hirschfeld’s Putting it Together in the background.

All images for this book have been scanned from the archives of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, ensuring the highest possible quality.

That pretty much speaks for itself. This book is the work of a master cartoonist, one of the most acclaimed in the world, and his subject matter is the work of another master, acclaimed around the world.

It’s perfect for any fan of cartooning, musical theater, Hirschfeld or Sondheim. Hirschfeld’s Sondheim: A Poster Book can be ordered from any bookseller by using the ISBN code.

Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend
by Barry Joseph (Author)
Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1493085835
$35.00 (discounted at Amazon)

Coming from a completely different direction, this book looks at Sondheim, not so much as a brilliant songwriter and composer, but as a gifted creator of puzzles and games.

Again, I will let the publisher explain:

By near-universal consensus, Stephen Sondheim was the greatest musical theater composer of his generation-celebrated, among other things, for the wit, sophistication, and intricacy of shows from West Side Story to Sunday in the Park with George. But a less well-known avenue for his brilliance was his lifelong fascination with designing and constructing intricate puzzles and games, from treasure hunts to crosswords to parlor and board games.

Matching Minds with Sondheim is a journey into this rich but largely unmapped aspect of the composer’s creative life, illuminating how Sondheim’s playful designs delivered moments of clarity and connection for friends, colleagues, and anyone who’s ever been captivated by his genius. This book opens, for the first time, the door into what Sondheim called his “puzzler’s mind,” helping readers to better understand the man, his work, and-if they accept the challenge-themselves. Gaming expert Barry Joseph draws from over eighty years of Sondheim’s activities, including extremely rare and never-publicly-seen puzzles and game designs, scores of original interviews with the celebrity friends who played them, archival deep dives, and illuminating analysis from both puzzle designers and theater professionals from around the world. Packed with illustrations and insights, this book does more than describe Sondheim’s life in puzzles: It allows readers to match minds with the maestro by attempting to solve his puzzles and bring Sondheimian games into their own homes.

Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend is a great gift for the Sondheim fan who may have already devoured the other books devoted to the man who gave us Sweeny Tood, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum and Into The Woods. It’s also a pretty swell gift idea for the gamer or cryptologist on your holiday shopping list.

Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend can be ordered from any bookseller by using the ISBN code.

Since it doesn’t take a lot to get Mel Larch to pay tribute to Sondheim, we had a pretty easy time putting together a new Curtain Call to tie into the above books.

At 3 PM (EDT) on Curtain Call, Mel had great time assembling a mixtape show dedicated to the late Broadway legend, who coincidentally passed away four years ago, today.

Drawing tracks from productions of “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” Sunday In The Park with George, Sweeny Todd and other classic shows, Mel brings you a fitting salute.

Check out the playlist:

Curtain Call 162

“Old Friends” sung by Stephen Sondheim
“Losing My Mind” sung by Bernadette Peters
“I’m Still Here” sung by Petula Clark
“Everything’s Coming Up Roses” sung by Imelda Staunton
“The Worst Pies in London” sung by Michael Ball and Maria Friedman
“Comedy Tonight” sung by Rob Brydon
“You Gotta Get A Gimmick” sung by Anna Jane Casey
“Send In The Clowns” sung by Judi Dench
“Side by Side” sung by Jack Cassidy and Chita Rivera
“Putting It Together” sung by Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters and company
“Marry Me A Little” sung by Lauren Molina
“Bishop’s Song” sung by David Hyde Pierce”
“Sunday In The Park With George” sung by Bernadette Peters
“My Friends” sung by Michael Ball
“Old Friends” by the company of Old Friends

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 two-hour mini-marathon of classic episodes can be heard Mndays, starting at 9 PM, and an all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

Both of our entries today in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide are tied to today’s new music specialty programs that debut this afternoon on our sister internet radio station, The AIR. With The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide in mind, we managed to cook up new episodes that debut on Wednesday afternoon, as The AIR brings you new installments of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, each of get right into the gift-giving spirit. 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.

Our first pick is a crossover collectible that will be the perfect gift for the die-hard Beatles fan who is also an avid collector of die-cast cars.

For years Corgi Model Company has been making die-cast Double Decker Buses and London Taxis covered with graphics taken from album and single sleeves from The Beatles more notable releases.

These are high-quality die cast models with wonderful depictions of the sleeve designs for The Beatles vinyl releases, some from different countries, and they make for a really cool and distinctive collection.

There are several from which to choose, and you can find them at a variety of online retailers and hobby shops, or at The Beatles Store or Amazon. Prices range from twenty dollars to a little over thirty, depending on the model and the retailer.

To tie into this gift suggestion, yours truly decided to dedicate today’s new episode of Beatles Blast to songs The Beatles sang about cars. It seemed like a great idea, except when it came time to put the show together, I discovered that they didn’t really write that many songs about cars.  At 2 PM (EST) on The AIR Beatles Blast brings you a musical collage of automotive songs and dialogue produced by The Beatles, together and solo, with a few covers tossed in.

I mean it’s a little strange. George was an avid driver and palled around with Formula 1 drivers. Paul was known to enjoy a good drive now and then. Ringo seemed comfortable behind the wheel. And John enjoyed custom painting and crashing a variety of expensive vehicles.

Still, I was able to cobble together a decent mixtape show using songs by the group, covers of “Drive My Car” by Dion and The Donnas, and solo tracks about cars or driving.

Check out the playlist:

Beatles Blast 127

The Beatles “Drive My Car”
George Harrison “Faster”
John Lennon “You Can’t Catch Me”
Wings “Helen Wheels”
Ringo Starr “In My Car”
Dion “Drive My Car”
The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour”
Paul & Linda McCartney “Back Seat of My Car”
Yoko Ono “Coffin Car”
Beatles vs. G-Dragon “Missing My Car”
The Beatles “The Bus”
The Beatles “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road”
George Harrison “Any Road”
Ringo Starr “Don’t Go Where The Road Don’t Go”
Paul McCartney “Driving Rain/Motor of Love”
The Donnas “Drive My Car”

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

The second entry today in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is for a slot car racing set, but unlike in previous years, this time I’m recommending a set with larger cars. This is a great gift idea for a kid who loves car, or for a family who love cars and like to play together.

The Scalextric Speed Supreme GT vs. LMP 1:32 Slot Car Race Track Set is a quality starter set, available for under a hundred dollars at some online retailers, and it gives you everything you need to turn your flor or tabletop into a motor speedway.

There’s a power selector on the hand controllers to adjust the speed of the cars, which is perfect for beginners but also gives you the option to crank it up to full speed for more challenging races. It’s perfect for all levels or racing. Each hand controller has a four-position selector switch which allows the driver to choose slow or fast speed settings to reflect the driver’s experience.

The race set includes 14′ 4″ of track and you can change the layout in a matter of minutes with the easy to connect track. Among the special features of this race set: easy change pick-ups, magnatraction and super tough cars.

Let’s look at the manufacturer’s PR:

When the going gets tough, the Scalextric Super Resistant series is more than up to the challenge, with the added reassurance that they are built to be resilient, the slot car race is most certainly on!

This Scalextric Endurance set sees a GT and LMP car in a bold color scheme. These two cars are built to be resilient against bashing and crashing. This slot car set has everything you need to get started, including complete track, 2 cars and 2 hand controllers

Race from day into night in the driver’s seat with Speed Supreme challenging these two endurance racers with either the LMP or the GT. Fast performance and durable design that won’t leave you sitting in the pitlane. These cars are designed for beginning drivers focused on durability and keeping the action on the track. Cars are light weight with sticky tires and magnatraction magnets and the adjustable hand controllers allow younger racers to master the speed of these cars as they fly around the track without flying off and allowing more experienced racers to be more competetive. Lots of fun for the entire family!

This is a great larger scale slot car set. The cars, at 1/32 scale, are twice as long, twice as wide and twice as tall as a Hot Wheels car (or AutoWorld and AFX cars). This makes them great for smaller hands AND older eyes. As your giftee’s interest in the hobby grows, you can find expansion track sets and extra cars. The cars are durable and Scalextric makes a wide range of additional cars, such as the Classic Batmobile, the Blues Brothers’ Bluesmobile and Lady Penelope’s FAB 1, from Thunderbirds.

It’s a really nice “big gift” for the young and young at heart on your holiday shopping list.

Today’s first pick in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is a returning favorite, an online retailer where you can get just about everything you need to pay tribute to our fighting forces in 1/6 Scale and more.

I’m talking about Cotswold Collectibles, who have over 30 years’ experience in supporting the action figure hobbyist.

Full disclosure: I’m friends with Greg Brown, who now owns the company. I mean, who wouldn’t be?  Greg’s a great guy and I buy tons of their GI Joe-compatible figures, toys and equipment from him every year. Cotswold Collectibles carries a great assortment of vintage GI Joe and Action Man items, ranging from the 1960s to the revival toys in the 1990s and beyond, and they also make their own Elite Brigade items that bring back the glory days of The Adventure Team and also veer into the military side of things.

This is pretty much the coolest action figure shopping site on the planet. It’s a clearing house for all things 1/6 scale, but they’ve also branched out into other popular scales of figures, and they have a wide range of items available to fit any budget. This is where you go for replacement body or uniform parts, or newly-created pieces that you can kitbash into something creative and unique.

You’ll find diorama pieces, uniforms, complete dressed figures, vehicles, and anything that you might need to help you get down to the serious business of playing with your toys.

They also have an impressive selection of cool items made right here in the USA by a collection of customizers and 3D-printing geniuses.

Cotswold also sells Greg Autore’s inflatable Ghost Tank, which is on sale this week for Thanksgiving.

Recently they added a slew of Lanard’s “Corps” figures in 1/18 and 1/6 scale, and they’ll be offering even more in the future. The “Primal Clash” line, with soliders vs. dinosaurs, is particularly cool-lookinng.

Soon Cotswold will have exclusive Adventure Command sets, showing their support for the revived Super Joe line that’s been very popular with PopCult readers.

If you want to find high-quality photos of their most recent offerings, check out their website and their Facebook Page.

Over the years Cotswold Collectibles has also reached out to import terrific new 1/6 scale items from Spain, Brazil and France and they also offer a great selection of products from Dragon Models, Sideshow Toys, Hot Toys, Threezero and many other top 1/6 high-end companies. Even with the current tariff uncertainty, they deliver the best prices posible.

If you have a collector of the original 12-inch GI Joe action figure, or a dioramist or action figure fan of any scale on your holiday shopping list, you need to shop at Cotswold Collectibles.

Your humble blogger is still hard at work on The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide, which is now going to run an extra week, and that’s not really why, but we are going to tinker with the Radio Free Charleston  that you can hear today on The AIR.  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.

Today’s show is the first of three “Best of 2025” episodes. I open the show with a new song, plus a new set of six tunes, and then we go back to earlier this year for chunks of previous shows–the best chunks–I’m talking USDA Grade A chunks of internet radio–so you can revisit the vital and thriving local and independent music scene that our free-format show brings you each week. Also, I’m going to be out of town and this keeps me from having to just schedule reruns.

We open our show with the opening track from the newly-released and highly-anticipated debut album by Charleston’s own Gardenn, and then we mix in six more new tracks from Jim And The Sea Dragons, Corduroy Brown, The Capenter Ants, Cheap Trick and more.

And then we check out some of the best segments from Radio Free Charleston from the first two months of 2025. We don’t do the hourly breaks clean at the top of the hour, so the playlist is just one long stream.

Check out the playlist. Links will take you to pages for the artists…

RFC V5 249

hour one
Gardenn “Hello Gardenn”
Corduroy Brown “Hit Me Baby (One More Time)”
Jim And The Sea Dragons “Whale Shark”
Ed-g-Mary-A “Still Hurting”
The Carpenter Ants “Sending My Love”
Custard Flux “Opportunity Knocks”
Cheap Trick “The Riff That Won’t Quit”
Novo Combo “E-Train Revisited”
Shining Glass “Three Died”
The Polkamaniacs “Dream Water Wheel (Death Deluxe Remix)”
Hellaphant “In Between Days”
SPACE FREQ  “Open Your Mind”
Lene Lovich “Cats Away”
Tonto’s Expanding Headband “Timewhys”
Kate Fagan “Go Faster”
Ringo Starr “Rosetta”
Blue Million “No Man’s Land”
Deni Bonet  “Red Dog”
Raymond Scott “Powerhouse”
The Bible Beaters “Can’t Get To Heaven”
Ghoulbox “Rats In The Morgue”
Tony Levin “Turn It Over”
The Settlement “Rainbow”
Mogwai “Fact Boy”
Marillion “Forgotten Sons”
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel “Red is a Mean, Mean Color”
Hello June “Dance (M.Walker Remix)”
The Heavy Editors “Same Ole Way”
The Subjunctives “We’re Not Friends Anymore”
Camouflage “Laughing”
Annie Lennox “Train In Vain”
Brian Diller “Sooner or Later”
Scott Collins & The Sovereignty “Lament for the Loss”
Saycouth “Magic”
The Heavy Hitters Band“Come Dance With Me”
Madeline Peyroux “Dance Me To The End Of Love”
Massing with Shelem “Shabby”
Gyasi  “23”

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  The Swing Shift is an encore of two recent episodes.

 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.

Keith Haring – Dancing Figures
LEGO Art
Around $120

Today’s second entry in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide continues today’s 1980’s theme with the LEGO recreation of the work of Keith Haring, the iconic artist of the decade. It’s the perfect gift for fans of Haring and 80’s pop culture.

With this LEGO set, you can recreate in three dimensions, Haring’s “Dancing Figures.” Once completed, you have one of the art world’s most famous motifs into your home with this frameless LEGO Art Keith Haring – Dancing Figures building set for adults.

This brick-built piece of pop art decor is inspired by Keith Haring’s dancing figures, featuring their instantly recognizable bold lines and vibrant colors. The 5 dancing figures are built as separate models to give you the choice of how to order and display them.

Aftermarket kits by third-party manufacturers, which can be found at Amazon, allow you to add lights or a Haring backdrop to the finished pieces.

Even without those kits, this Keith Haring LEGO Art set can be hung on a wall or displayed on a flat surface.

This is a great home decor gift idea for other art lovers and Keith Haring fans who want to enjoy an immersive arts and crafts activity.

This buildable art set comes with 5 building instruction booklets, 1 for each figure, so you can create your Keith Haring dancing people models with friends or family

LEGO Art’s Keith Haring Dancing Figures has 1,773 pieces and measures over 13 in. (33 cm) high, 34.5 in. (87 cm) wide and 1.5 in. (4 cm) deep.

This LEGO set sells for aroiund $120 at most retailers who carry LEGO’s high-end Art sets, like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and LEGO Stores.

Rewinding The ’80s
By John Malahy
Running Press Adult
ISBN-139780762489664
$25.99

Today’s first entry in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide is our second recommendation from the book division of Turner Classic Movies, and it’s the perfect gift for the film buff, child of the 80s, or Gen X pop culture maven on your holiday shopping list.

Rewinding The ’80s: Cinema Under the Influence of Music Videos, Action Stars, and a Cold War, is an in-depth look at the ultimate collaborative art form during the “Me Decade.” This was when trash was flashy, the mainstream embraced the cheesy and the movie industry was fueled by excess and cocaine.

Readers can take a trip back to their favorite video store with this in-depth journey through the highs and lows of ’​80s cinema—with profiles of hundreds of films—and how Hollywood studios around the globe reflected a period of cultural change.

The movies were flying blind in 1980. “New Hollywood” was over and the era of auteur-driven, personal films that had defined moviemaking since the late ‘60s came to a symbolic end with Heaven’s Gate (1980), replaced by a new world of multiplex blockbusters supported by massive marketing campaigns.

Beyond the high-school comedies and hardbody action films came a new wave of cinematic excitement—an era defined by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Purple Rain, When Harry Met Sally, E.T., and Top Gun, each of which are now classics for a new generation of nostalgic movie lovers.

The decade saw works that uniquely captured an era of cultural and technological change, from new indie auteurs to the highs and lows of animation, an emergent LGBTQ+ cinema, the last days of the Cold War, and the explosive impact of MTV.

With wit and authority, author John Malahy provides fresh insight about the films, filmmakers, and stars who illuminated each of the exciting new facets of Hollywood throughout the decade.

Illustrated with more than 200 full-color photos, Rewinding the ’80s is a lively, intelligent, and immersive look at an indelible moment in modern history.

You can order this from any bookseller, or from the publisher, who has a handy list of other online retailers, who might have the book cheaper, on their info page.

This week we go back to the awesome inspiration of Cinncinnati’s Union Terminal, an Art Deco Mecca that has already inspired a couple of pieces in this space since I visited there for the first time in August.

This time it’s a quick acrylic painting on cheap canvas board, done from memory, using a limited palette of colors because I need to stock up again in a couple of weeks when I go to Blick Art in Chicago.

This was just me limbering up the fingers after slaving away on The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide all month.  And that, by the way, will now run into December, instead of ending this week. More gift suggestions came in over the transom while we were putting it together. Look for two more entries later today.

Actually we don’t really have a transom, but it sure would be cool if we did.

This painting is me trying to be less accurate and more expressive and also less Hopperesque. I don’t want to be nailed down to hyper-realism all the time.

If you want to see this image larger, click HERE.

Later today we continue The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide.

Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with 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.

Tonight at 9 PM we bring you our newish Monday night line-up featuring two hours each of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast, plus six hours overnight with an assortment of our programming from Haversham Recording Institute.