This is the first episode of Radio Free Charleston that was produced and posted independently of The Charleston Gazette. When it first went live in August, 2009, it was posted directly to MySpace. Unfortunately, posting video to MySpace turned out to be a more temporary situation than anybody thought, and so this episode was MIA for a few years until I could remaster it and upload it to YouTube about ten years ago.
This RFC extravaganza features music by two bands who are no longer with us, Universes and OVADA. We captured both bands at The Empty Glass, and we also toss in a snippet of The Contemporary Youth Arts Company’s 2008 production, Jack The Ripper, featuring Ryan Hardiman and the now Mrs. PopCulteer, Mel Larch.
Our title shirt was from the band, Joy Division. Our location was on the East End of Charleston, and our “Fake Rudy” at the end was the one I was asked not to use when the show was hosted on the Gazette servers. The original production notes can be found HERE.
Bring your dancing shoes! The AIR is going four decades in the past for a dance party on our music specialty shows Friday afternoon.
When the world looks bleak, that’s when it’s time to dance, so this week’s PopCulteer will fire up the lighted dancefloor as we bring you the playlists for today’s beat-filled new episodes of MIRRORBALL and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, on The AIR. The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.
Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch devotes a full hour to intricately curated classics of the late Disco era, post-1980.
Every song on this week’s show is making its MIRRORBALL debut, which is getting really tricky to pull off as Mel prepares to hit her 100th episode, which will coincide with her fourth anniversary in just a couple of weeks. The show this week revisits the big club hits from the very early 1980s, when Disco had hit it’s commercial peak, but still had way more life in it than anybody seems to remember.Rumors of its demise had been greatly exagerrated.
It’s a cool collection of dance classics from the end of the Golden Age of Disco, and it’s part of three hours of 1980s Dance music debuting on The AIR Friday
Check out the playlist…
MIRRORBALL 098
Richie Havens “Going Back To My Roots”
Rose Royce “R.R Express”
Womack & Womack “Love Wars”
Hot Chocolate “Are You Getting Enough of What Makes You Happy”
Mass Production “Shanté”
Dee Dee Bridgewater “Lonely Disco Dancer”
Kleer “Get Tough”
Al Jarreau “Boogie Down”
Slave “Feel My Love”
Chic “Rebels Are We”
You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a mini-marathon Saturday nights at 9 PM
At 3 PM, Sydney Fileen graces us with a terrific new episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat that coincidentally turned out to be the seventh Big Electric Cat mixtape of New Wave 12″ extended remixes.
Combined with MIRRORBALL, that makes three solid hours of 1980s dance music, so if you see folks approaching retirement age getting their boogie down, you know why.
This time Sydney decided to dig out some more bizarre mixes from some of the bigger names in New Wave, so you might recognize some of the songs, but not the way you’ll hear them here.
Check out the playlist (all extended remixes)…
BEC 115
Billy Idol “Cradle of Love”
Pretenders “Room Full of Mirrors”
The Alarm “Strength”
Timelords “Doctorin’ The Tardis”
Simple Minds “Sanctify Yourself”
Cyndi Lauper “Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough”
Killing Joke “Wardance”
Big Audio Dynamite “Medicine Show”
The The “Infected”
The Vapors “Turning Japanese”
The Ramones “I Wanna Be Sedated”
Elvis Costello & The Attractions “Pump It Up”
Go-Go’s “Head Over Heels”
Fun Boy Three “Our Lips Are Sealed”
Style Council “My Ever Changing Moods”
Pete Shelley “Homosapien”
The Police “Walking On The Moon”
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. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday morning at 10 AM.
That’s what’s new on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features every day.
Early this year we lost a legendary Charleston musician, Kai Haynes.
Kai musical accomplishments, from being a key part of the early Mountain Stage band to performing with too many local musical acts to list here, as well as his expertise in audiophile sound systems and his partnership in LiveMix Studio are only part of a life well-lived.
Kai was a great friend, a devoted father, a man who was extraordinarily kind and generous with his knowledge and just an overall quality human being. Kai was one of the three partners in LiveMix Studio, without whom the 2006 revival of Radio Free Charleston never would have happened. Kai appeared on several episodes, and ran camera on several early episodes of the video show.
Kai’s family is hosting a Celebration of Life memorial concert for Kai Haynes, on Friday April 19th at the Embassy Suites Ballroom in Charleston WV. They will celebrate his life with one of his favorite passions, music. Performing will be Bob Thompson Unit, Voodoo Katz and The New Old Souls…all bands that Kai performed with. This will be followed by an all-star jam. Doors open at 7 PM. There will be snacks and a cash bar. There is a $15 suggested donation (proceeds to help with final expenses and music scholarship in Kai’s name).
Thanks to WTSQ for the graphic below. Mel and I are planning to attend, but I may not last too long into the evening. This week’s heat has caused a Mysthenia Gravis flare up. You can listen to Radio Free Charleston‘s tribute to Kai HERE.
Record store Day is happening this Saturday, and I’m sure that Sullivan’s Records and Orbits will be packed. Keep those things in mind as launch into this week’s list of STUFF TO DO. There’s plenty of STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State as we try to figure out what the weather will be for the next fifteen minutes.
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.
Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Sequoia Rose. Saturday That High Country Revival takes the stage at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery, possibly all at once.
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 & Robin makes the world a better place with music(details below). Friday, Tim Courts plays during happy hour. Friday at 10 PM, The Great Indoors bring their pop/rock to the glass, with support from The Band Light. Saturday at 10 PM its Outlaw Counry time with The Zakk Grandahl Band.
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, falling shares of Truth Social stock, totally unhinged primary campaign ads, angry ballerinas in steel-toed boots 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.
If you’re up for going out, here are a few suggestions for the weekend, roughly in order…
Spring is here and we have hit Wednesday afternoon, and The AIR still manages to bring you 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 music from the band, from one solo member, from four offspring of the Fab Four, as well as two themed sets of cover tunes.
We open the show with a new song from James McCartney, and a really cool thing about is that it’s co-written with Sean Ono Lennon. That tune, and Ringo’s latest single, just came out last week. We also have recent releases from Dhani Harrison and Julian Lennon.
After that we bring you a set of covers of early Beatles tunes from the likes of The Rezillos and Marshall Crenshaw. That’s followed by a set of Beatle covers sung by female singers. We wrap up the show with a couple of songs from Let It Be, to call notice to the scheduling (finally) of a restored version of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary of the same name, which will be available, in fully-restored form, on Disney +. starting May 8.
Check out the playlist…
Beatles Blast 109
James McCartney “Primrose Hill”
Ringo Starr “February Sky”
Julian Lennon “Every Little Moment (Lo Fi)”
Dhani Harrison “Damn That Frequency”
The Rezillos “I Wanna Be Your Man”
The Big Three “Some Other Guy”
Grafite “Ask Me Why”
Sonia Evans “She Loves You”
Marshall Crenshaw “Love Me Do”
Michael Carpenter “I’ll Get You”
Cilla Black “Yesterday”
The Corrs “The Long and Winding Road”
Shirley Bassey “The Fool On The Hill”
Nina Simone “Here Comes The Sun”
Natalie Merchant “Nowhere Man”
Nana Mouskouri “Let It Be”
The Beatles “Let It Be”and “I Me Mine”
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 some of the many new shows that have opened (or will soon open) on Broadway this Spring.
She brings you music from Hell’s Kitchen, 42 Balloons, The Outsiders, Teeth, The Notebook and The Gardens of Anuncia. Mel will tell you a little bit about each show, some of which may very well wind up with Tony nominations in the coming weeks.
There’s a ton of new musicals opening right now, and several long-awaited cast albums are due out soon, so expect a couple more shows like this from Mel coming up soon.
Check out the playlist…
Curtain Call 142
“Kaleidoscope” from Hell’s Kitchen (by Alicia Keys)
“Prologue” “Somebody’s Story” “42 Balloons and a Lawn Chair” from 42 Balloons
“Soda’s Letter” “Stay Gold” “Great Expectations” from The Outsiders
“Teeth” “Modest Is Hottest” “Precious Gift”
“If This Is Love” “Leave The Light On” from The Notebook
“Opening” “Listen To The Music” from The Gardens of Anuncia
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 I haven’t chosen yet, as I write this.
As I mention almost every week, Tuesday is “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.
Our first hour is our usual collection of cool local, independent and brand-new music. We open with brand new music from no less than Novo Combo, the legendary New Wave band that featured West Virginia’s own Jack Griffith on lead guitar. Last week Jack contacted me and offered me a new song, and it wasn’t until he sent it to me that I realized it was not a solo track, but was instead new music from Novo Combo.
A new album, collecting new tracks with previously-unreleased demos, is due out later this year, and you can follow the band and get the latest news at their website, or their Facebook page. It’s a real treat to see these guys back in action.
The single, “Don’t Throw Your Love Away,” is available now on all streaming services. When I recorded today’s show, I wasn’t sure if their website was live yet, but rest assured, it is and they are gearing up for a big release with all four original members this Fall.
The rest of our new first hour is loaded with sets of music featuring female artists like Sierra Ferrell, Unmanned and Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess, and another set featuring new surf music from five bands on House of Tabu Records plus our old buddy, Guitarmy of One.
House of Tabu, who publish Exotica Moderne Magazine, have launched a new magazine, Reverb International, that covers surf music. I’ve had my copy of the first issue for a few weeks, but haven’t had a chance to crack it open yet. I know it’s going to be great.
We wrap up our first hour with a new song from The Dread Crew of Oddwood, and a classic track from Feast of Steven.
For our second and third hours, we go back to an episode of Radio Free Charleston International from 2016. This one hasn’t been heard for over seven years, so it’ll be new to most of you. It’s loaded with a wild and eclectic collection of tracks by national and international artists. This file had been mislabelled, and it was MIA for many years.
The links in the first hour of the playlist will take you to the pages where you can learn more about each artist and buy their music or find out where to see them (where available)…
hour two
Steve Vai (featuring Mohini Dey) “Bop!”
Ultravox “Some of Them”
Jerry Lee Lewis “Lewis Boogie”
The Incorruptibles “Lowdown and Dirty”
Laura Mvula “Show Me Love”
Anderson Stolt “Chase and Harmony”
Emily Kinney “Molly”
Paul McCartney “Jenny Wren”
The Shelters “The Ghost is Gone”
Roger Daltry and Wilco Johnson “Ice on the Motorway”
Paul Weller “Instant Karma”
Product of Piracy “In The Land of the Dead, the Living Man is King”
The Last Shadow Puppets “Sweet Dreams TN”
hour three
Sky Technology “Crazy Machines”
The Strokes “Drag Queen”
Leland Sundries “Apocalypse Love Song”
Tim Nielson “Dark Age Dancin’”
Link Wray and the Raymen “Jack The Ripper”
The Avett Brothers “Satan Pulls The Strings”
ABC “I Believe In Love”
The Shift “Moon Boots”
Volbeat “Marie Laveau”
The Monkees “You Bring Me Summer”
Paul Simon “Cool Papa Bell”
Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals “Pink Balloon”
Viv Stanshall “The Young Ones”
Jo-Ann Campbell “Let Me Do My Twist”
Oingo Boingo “Goodbye, Goodbye”
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 brand-new episode of The Swing Shift that, as I write this, does not yet exist.
Normally I record RFC and The Swing Shift on Mondays, but things got hectic that day, and rather than skip another week, I plan to record this week’s episode first thing Tuesday morning, about fifteen hours after I’m writing these words. .
I will tell you that it will open with a track from the new Rod Stewart/Jools Holland Swing album, and it will include the complete version of “Keely’s Boogie,” by Keely Smith, which I had to truncate last time. I’ll also toss in a bunch of stuff, and if possible, insert the full playlist right here…
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.
Our art this week is a detailed pencil drawing (using the trusty Blackwing Palamino) on paper for pens. It was drawn over the course of a week, and is just an exercise in playing with textures.
Basically, I used a ruler to draw angled boxes with White-Out, then filled them in with the goal of making it look like pavement or marbled tile…or a cross between the two.
I used a little White-Out after the fact to add more fake detail to the drawing and to pop part of the seams. This was just me playing with textures and light and shadow and putting in more effort than thought.
Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM and 3 PM on The AIR, we bring you brand-new episodes of both Psychedelic Shack 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.
Unfortunately, as I write this, I have, once again, not received the playlist info for the programs, or the programs themselves. Herman tells me that Prognosis brings us highlights of a new boxed set devoted to Emerson Lake and Powell (not Palmer), while Nigel Pye says that Psychedelic Shack opens with Traffic, and then continues with “really trippy music, man.”
PsychedelicShack 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 musical numbers from The Simpsons, on a recent episode of TheComedy Vault. This is a replay of the show we ran last Wednesday and is not a commentary on any recently-deceased murderers who can’t sue us for calling them that now that they’re dead.
Tonight at 9 PM the Monday Marathon it’s time to boogie all night with ten hours of randomly-chosen episodes of our music specialty shows, because it’s tax day…why stress out over anything else?
From July, 2009, Radio Free Charleston’s 76th episode, “Peace Sign Shirt,” was the last episode of the show hosted on the Charleston Gazette servers, and it features cool videos of two particularly long songs by Option 22 and Suburban Graffiti. Those are punctuated by a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and a couple of important announcements. I get all serious and stuff over what was essentially no big deal. It seemed huge at the time.
After this episode of RFC, we began posting the show directly to MySpace, which eventually turned out to be a disaster when they unceremoniously dumped all their video uploads, then brought them back, then disabled a ton of them again. That’s why we find ourselves remastering and re-uploading the older episodes of the show to YouTube to this day, and it’s why four episodes are missing in action.
We lost one of the great comic book writer/artist/editors and historians Wednesday.
Trina Robbins passed away after suffering a stroke in February.
I’ve been a fan of Robbins’ work for at least fifty years, but I had no idea how wild of a life adventure she’d lived until I read her autobiography back in 2017. She was very happy with my review, and we struck up a casual friendship via Facebook. I’d go on to review several more books by her over the years. I’ve remained a fan since I discovered her work in Comix Book back in 1974.
In her book, Robbins tells of her upbringing as a poor Jewish girl during World War II, and her association with early science fiction fandom, before she fell into the world of Hippies, Comix and Rock and Roll. Famous and notable people come and go through her story at a rapid pace. I can’t recall reading another biography that mentions Harlan Ellison, C.C. Beck, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Robert Crumb, Alan Ginsberg and other semi-mythical beasts in the context of real people in the subject’s life.
Her comics career spanned Underground Comix, The National Lampoon, DC’s Wonder Woman, Misty and Barbie for Marvel, and several incredible works for independent publishers in recent years. She also designed the outfit for Vampirella, which Frank Frazetta painted for the cover of the first issue of her magazine back in 1969.
As has has been pointed out in several obituaries this week, she was name-checked in the first verse of the Joni Mitchell song, “The Ladies of the Canyon.”
My interactions with her were always pleasant, and I can’t stress enough how important she was, not just as a cartoonist and a feminist, but also as a historian, preserving the legacies of unjustly overlooked female creators. She was a truly remarkable woman and she will be greatly missed. Condolences to her family and her partner, Steve Leialoha.
New MIRRORBALL On The AIR
Your humble blogger is still a bit gutted by the passing of Trina Robbins, as well as recovering from a day spent doing our taxes, so the rest of this week’s PopCulteer will star the playlist for today’s new episode of MIRRORBALL on The AIR. The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.
Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch devotes her hour of Disco to a well-curated assortment of classic dance tracks from the golden age of Disco. She opens the show with a from Kleer, then mixes big hits from Sister Sledge and The Spinners with hidden classics from Timmy Thomas, The Undisputed Truth and more.
IIt’s a wild assemblege of crafty dancefloor motivationals. Check out the playlist…
MIRRORBALL 097
Kleer “Tonight’s The Night (Good Time)”
Aquarian Dream “You’re A Star”
Foxy “Hot Number”
Timmy Thomas “Touch to Touch”
The Natural Four “Try To Smile”
The Spinners “Rubberband Man”
T Connection “Saturday Night”
Sister Sledge “We Are Family”
“Jimmy Castor Bunch “Space Age”
The Undisputed Truth “Let’s Go Down To The Disco”
Goody Goody “#1 Dee Jay”
Deodato “Whistle Bump”
You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM and a mini-marathon Saturday nights at 9 PM
At 3 PM we bring you an encore of a birthday salute mixtape edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat from the Summer of 2022. Sydney Fileen delivered a special mixtape edition of her show that presents two full hours of the New Wave era music of Siouxsie & The Banshees, including tracks from their first ten studio releases.
Peruse this here playlist for a preview…
BEC 092
Siouxsie’s Birthday Party
“Helter Skelter”
“Jigsaw Feeling”
“Nicotine Stain”
“Premature Burial”
“The Lord’s Prayer”
“Hybrid”
“Spellbound”
“Night Shift”
“She’s A Carnival”
“Painted Bird”
“Dear Prudence”
“Belladonna”
“Red Over White”
“Cities In Dust (Eruption Mix)”
“The Unrest”
“Candyman”
“This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both of Us”
“Hall of Mirrors”
“Strange Fruit”
“The Passenger”
“The Killing Jar”
“Carousel”
“Turn to Stone”
“Peek A Boo”
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. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday morning at 10 AM.
That’s what’s new on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features every day.
Here at Stately Radio Free Charleston Manor your PopCulteer is preparing to enter into the perilous waters of this year’s tax preparation. Since I am a little preoccupied with that, how about we go to a truncated version of our least-read weekly feature? There’s plenty of STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State as we pull out the calculators and slide rules.
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. This is going to be a short one because I don’t have access to my full resources. All of these shows are “weather permitting.”
Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Leslie Brooks. Saturday Minor Swing takes the stage at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery, possibly all at once.
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 & Robin makes the world a better place with music(details below). Friday, Tim Courts plays during happy hour. Next Tuesday Spurgie Hankins Band returns to the Glass. You can check below for the graphics for other cool weekend shows at The Empty Glass.
Please remember that the pandemic is still not entirely over yet. It’s a going concern with the ‘rona surging again. And now there are seasonal allergies, the flu, stray bullets from Republican primary shootouts, liver sports, people who put cucumbers in Greek Salad 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.
If you’re up for going out, here are a few suggestions for the weekend, roughly in order…
And because I’m not sure when STUFF TO Do will land next week, here’s a look at an event for next Wednesday…
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