A little more than five years ago, your PopCulteer and his wife, Mel Larch, made our way to Chicago for a Summer soiree, and while there we stopped at a charming little bar in the Lincoln Park district called Replay.
Replay is a bar/arcade, with over 65 vintage pinball and videogame attractions, all set up so you can play them for free. It is very cool, and a slice of pop culture heaven, but as your humble blogger and his lovely bride are rather notorious non-drinkers, it takes just a little more than that to get us to go to a bar. Luckily, Replay also converts their bar space into a different pop culture theme every month, and five years ago they converted it into the Salty Spitoon, themed around Mel’s beloved SpongeBob Squarepants. You can see my photo essay of our visit HERE.
Well, five years later we made a return early-anniversary trip to the city of wind, and Replay was once again saluting the little yellow angled fellow with The Bikini Bottom Bar. We were tipped off when Replay teased it on their Facebook page, and since we were going to be in town during the event (which is supposed to wind up on August 25, but may be extended), we hopped the Brown Line to Diversey and dropped in for a return visit.
It was loads of fun. We were in town to see a play at Steppenwolf and another show that you may read about here later, but it was cool to go back and check out the Bikini Bottom vibes at Replay.
We’ve been on the road so many weekends this summer that I’m running behind with my photo essays, so I’m running this now, even though we got back nine or ten days ago. If you want to visit the Bikini Bottom Bar yourself, check the links in the paragraphs above, for special SpongeBob-themed events.
And now I’m ready for photos…
One block over from the L station, and then one more block, and we’re there.
The front door might give you a hint that this is not your average bar
Okay, so I took a lot of photos at the Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo last month, and they came in handy because the SD card in our video camera crapped out on Saturday, so most of our video footage was lost.
I’m picking up the slack with what I thought would be the last batch of photos from this cool annual event in Louisville. While editing these photos, I realized that I can probably squeeze another photo essay out of Kentuckiana, but I’m not going to do it any time soon. It may pop up in a few weeks if I need to prepare something in advance for PopCult to cover a trip out of town, or it might be next July, to promote next year’s event. Hell, it could also be any time between. I guess you’ll have to check PopCult every day for fresh content.
Basically, I’m saying no promises. The fact is, I’m pushing the limits a bit by cramming more than 30 photos in today’s essay. When I put that many pictures in a single post, I run the risk of breaking the template and making the blog look all screwy until I go sort out all the HTML codes and stuff. So bear with me if the blog looks all screwy.
I’m also going to keep the captions to a minimum, and instead group some of the photos together with headers and intros. There’s less chance of stuff going wrong that way.
With all that explaining out of the way, here’s the last batch of Kentuckiana photos…for now…
Super Joe/Adventure Command
As you may know, Steve Stovall, who is the head guy in charge of Kentuckiana, teamed up with White Elephant Toyz to bring back Super Joe as Super Joe Unlimited. You may also know that due to annoying behavior from a certain major toy company, the line is now called Adventure Command/Astro Command. Anyway, I only managed to take these two photos of the new stuff Steve had, and I forgot to go back and buy any, so I’m just going to have to drop a bunch of money with him when we see him at JoeLanta next month.
Giant Cardboard Cobra Ship
I did not get the name of the customizer or of the ship, but this gigantic Cobra vehicle was crafted out of cardboard with plastic detail parts, and it was huge. It’s sitting on an 8-foot banquet table. The final photo shows a figure in it’s “mouth.”
Cindy Scott’s Joe Garage
You may remember Cindy’s awesome custom figures and dioramas from last year. Well, this year Cindy topped herself with this incrediblly detailed and stunning diorama of a GI Joe-sized garage. Even looking at it in person, it seemed like real-life full scale stuff. Her work is amazing!
I know I keep posting photos of Ricky’s Dr. Evil Lab Set, but he always has a great booth stocked with killer vintage gems.
Like this Action Man Lunar Rover.
And Marx and GI Joe guys.
Plus a few random figures, including some of the most rare ever made.
And finally, loose Captain Action pieces, under glass.
Random and Epic Cool Toyness
Mel shot tons of video of this nice young lady dressed exactly as the legendary GI Joe Nurse, and it was all lost with the SD card failure, so all I have is this weird stalkerish photo of her from behind.
I always have to get a shot of The Mauraders Toys gang at work
I think I wound up back at Ace Allgood’s booth.
Oh…and MEGOs were there.
With our last photo, and at the risk of being banned from all future GI Joe shows, I have to reveal the dirty little secret. See…the whole “GI Joe collector” thing is just a cover…a “beard.” Our real passion remains hidden. Underneath every table at every GI Joe show, there is a huge tub of our real passion…Care Bears! I mean, people think collecting action figures is weird enough. Imagine if they knew the truth! It could upset the whole order of the universe!
That last caption is a joke…really. I mean, I wouldn’t really publicly reveal something like that…would I?
It’s hot. Really hot. There’s lots of STUFF TO DO this week, but it’s hot. I just stepped out on my porch to get the mail and my shoes melted. So, remember, if you are attending an outdoor event, stay hydrated and please don’t smoke or vape around any humans who might find the associated stank to be offensive. Be mindful of your health and of those near you. Look for and offer to aid people who might seem frail, look like they’re about to pass out, or have spontaneously combusted With that bit of a caveat, let me tell you about plenty of STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State and way beyond as we jump headfirst into the devil-dog days of August.
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. I won’t be offended if you volunteer to do the work I was too worn out from the heat to do.
Our featured show this week happens at Folklore Music Exchange, at their new location on Summers Street, and it’s a mix of comedy and the Blues, which might seem to be strange bedfellows, but could be loads of fun…
Far, far afield of the Mountain State, in Atlanta, Georgia, to be exact, Monsterama will be going on, and if you want to do that road trip, or conveniently live nearby anyway, check out the details HERE.
Also, this week, the West Virginia State Fair happens in Lewisburg. If that’s your cup of tea, read more about it HERE.
Live Music is on tap at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Bug Kinder-Schyler. Saturday Minor Swing takes the stage at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery.
The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week to tell you about. Thursday at 5:30 PM Swingstein and Robin return with music for a cause (this week it’s Manna Meal). Friday Tim Courts and friends will fill the Happy Hour with music starting at 5:30 PM. Later Friday, at 10 PM, Duck City Music brings Charleston’s homegrown Hip Hop to The Empty Glass. Sunday evening at 9:30 PM, The Holy Smokes, AKA James V Brown, holds down the fort at the Glass. Next Tuesday Spurgie Hankins Band returns to The Empty Glass! Check the graphics below for more weekend shows.
Please remember that the pandemic is still not entirely over yet. It’s a going concern with the ‘rona still lurking about all robust and reinvigorated. And now there are nasty seasonal allergies, worm-brained galoots defiling bear cub corpses, HouseRoys attempting to steal credits, bears and tigers fighting in the streets 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.
You guys know the drill. Tuesday is once again “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.
While we have some great new local music to share this week, we also have a bit of a cloud hanging over RFC this week. Lynne Sandy, a friend and a Charleston music legend passed away over the weekend, and all of her friends are taking the news pretty hard. This week in our third hour, with many thanks to my friend Mark Wolfe (you may know him as Mark Blackwell these days), we bring you an episode of The Real with Mark and Steven Allen Adams interviewing Lynne from, I think, 2016. She tells some stories of her time as the lead singer of The Defectors, and you’ll also hear some classic Defectors tracks.
The first two hours of our show mixes great new local music from John Radcliff, Deni Bonet, Mediogres, Gardenn and more with some great female-lead bands in honor of Lynne, as well as songs I’d personally discussed with her and a set of tunes that The Defectors covered in their live shows. It’s part tribute to Lynne, part listening party. Along the way I explain some of the connections of the songs and artists to Lynne.
We are all really going to miss her. I hope our hastily-assembled tribute comes close to explaining how special Lynne was.
The links in the playlist will take you to the pages for the local and independent artists in this week’s show…
hour two Cherry Poppin’ Daddues “Take It Off Stella” The Settlement “Blindman Parts 1 & 2” David Synn “Purple Eclipse” Dr. Curmudgeon “Pregnant Pause”
Tranvision Vamp “Baby I Don’t Care” X “Smoke & Fiction”
Romeo void “Never Say Never”
Holly & The Italians “Tell That Girl To Shut Up”
Gang of Four “What We All Want”
The Pretenders “Message of Love”
Elvis Costello “Love For Tender”
Pete Shelley “Homosapien”
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 special new episode of The Swing Shift that offers up double shots of tunes by a variety of Swing artists from all over the last century, starting off with two brand-new tunes from Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.
Check out the playlist…
The Swing Shift 162
Cherry Poppin’ Daddies “Kings of Swing” “Hey Goombah”
Dutch Swing College Band “Wolverine Blues” “Ice Cream”
Billie Holiday “Swing Brother Swing” “Them There Eyes”
Swiss Dixie Stompers “Black and Blue” “Basin Street Blues”
Oliver Nelson “Soul Street” “Blues at the Five Spot”
Shelly Manne & His Men “Stop, Look and Listen” “Dearly Beloved”
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.
Sometimes, when I set aside time to do my artwork, I find that I got nuthin’. I mean, I just don’t really feel like creating anything meaningful. The smart thing to do in this case would be to walk away and do something more productive. However, since I have the added glitch of not having fingers that work consistently, when they are working, I feel sort of obligated to at least make an attempt.
Usually, these don’t come out great, and get tossed in the reject pile, never to be seen again by hoomin eyes.
Once in a while, I’ll go through the reject pile and find something that I sort of like. That’s what this week’s art is. It’s a sloppy thick-acrylic work on a smallish cheap-o canvas, using a lot of bright primary colors. I just threw down a few lines using a Sharpie, then painted over it. At the time, I felt that I had reached peak “meh.” Like it landed somewhere between Kandinksy and Mondrian…with a thud.
Now, it doesn’t look completely worthless to me. Reminds me of a 1950s/60s jazz album cover or something.
Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you encores of a classic episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a recent 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.
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.
At 8 PM you can hear a second hour of classic stand up comedy from the late Bob Newhart on last week’s encore episode of TheComedy Vault. We’ll run another hour of Newhart this Wednesday.
Tonight at 9 PM for the Monday Marathon We bring you ten hours of our music specialty shows that have some kind of music in them related to the word, “blue.” I’m sorta running out of gimmicks for the marathon.
Sometimes a subject for Sunday Evening Video just appears in some kind of kismet.
Six days ago your humble blogger and his wife were in Chicago, at The House of Blues, to see Thompson Twins Tom Bailey (with Thomas Dolby opening) as an early anniversary trip. It was just about a month shy of the tenth anniversary of Mel and I sneaking off to Chicago to get married. We went early so we could see this show, and another at Steppenwolf, and also so that we wouldn’t be travelling into the Windy City in the immediate aftermath of the Democratic National Convention (when hotel rooms are still sky-high).
So with the music of the Thompson Twins still fresh in my mind, yesterday I got an email from Sydney Fileen, telling me that the next episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat (dropping sometime in the next two weeks on The AIR) will focus on The Thompson Twins’ early 80s music.
And with a different video surprise up my sleeve for next week, I thought that this might be a good time to present the 1984 concert/documentary film, Into The Gap, starring my wife’s favorite New Wave band.
From February 2010 comes Radio Free Charleston 94, “Star Wars Shirt.” This very special episode featured music from Byzantine, The Pistol Whippers and Adrian DeQuiros. There were also promotional announcements for The East End Pet Food Pantry and The Chemical Valley Rollergirls. Lastly we had animation by your humble PopCulteer.
Coincidentally, each of the musical performances on this show were shot with a single camera. I only mention this because it’s possible that you might not have noticed otherwise.
Normally we’ve done multiple-camera shoots on RFC, but this time we just happened to have three great one-camera clips.
We have even more photos from a big toy show this week. The wild thing is, this gigantic, largely captionless, photo essay is not the last of it. You can expect another twenty or so pictures from the weekend before last’s 2024 Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo next week.
Your PopCulteer is still a little train-lagged from our quick trip to Chicago earlier this week, and has to ease back into the blogging routine while getting ready for his first non-travel weekend in four weeks. Since running huge photo essays makes our blog template cranky, we are about at out limit for this post anyway. Next week we have even more pics of custom figures, rare toys and a few shots of cool Super Joe, Adventure Command and Astro Command figures.
We had a great time at the 2024 Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo, and this is our second photo essay. You can see the first one HERE, and the music video, featuring a tune by Sgt. Van & The Highway Dogs can be seen HERE.
I like to try to get the photo essays and video of toy shows online in a timelier manner, but spending consecutive weekends in Wheeling, Louisville and Chicago sorta throws a blogger off their game. That’s why this post is still being written the morning of the day it’ll be posted.
So…without any further blathering, here are tons more photos, with only a few captions…
Many of these photos are from the preview night event, while vendors were still setting up, so don’t freak out over the occasional empty table. By showtime Saturday all the vendor spots were filled.
Your humble blogger is just off the train, back from Chicago right in time to tell you about STUFF TO DO in and and around Charleston this weekend. The big thing is MultiFest, but there’s more.
Again, remember, if you are attending an outdoor event, stay hydrated and please don’t smoke or vape around any humans who might find the associated stank to be offensive. With that bit of preachery, let me tell you about plenty of STUFF TO DO in Charleston and all over the Mountain State and beyond as we jump headfirst into August.
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. I won’t be offended if you volunteer to do the work I was too busy having fun in the Windy City to finish.
As I said, the big thing in Charleston this week is MultiFest. Beginning August 1, MultiFest brings together various cultural and ethnic communities in an atmosphere of tolerance and goodwill through art, music, education, cultural programs and cuisine at Haddad Riverfront Park. This is the 34th year for what started out as a diverse and inclusive alternative to Charleston’s Sternwheel Regatta, and it’s grown into a top-notch event of its own.
The Multi-Cultural Festival of West Virginia, Inc., aka Multifest, is a non-profit organization that seeks to enrich, develop & enhance multiculturalism in the lives of those they serve in the community. This is done by providing a friendly, family-oriented environment, non-violent tolerance & safe venue to celebrate diversity for all citizens through art, music, education, ethnic cuisine, health & wellness and cultural programming. You can see select events listed below, or check out the full schedule HERE.
Live Music is on tap at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Danielle & Steve. Saturday Emmy of the Mountaints takes the stage at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery.
The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week to tell you about. Thursday at 5:30 PM Swingstein and Robin return with music for a cause. Later that evening, Mike Pushkin & The Loyal Opposition, featuring Alasha Al Qudwah, celebrate Jerry Garcia’s birthday. Friday Tim Courts and friends will fill the Happy Hour with music starting at 5:30 PM. Sunday evening at 8 PM, The Liquid Canvas–John Vernon Acoustic, holds down the fort at the Glass. Check the graphics below for more weekend shows.
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, Weird people who aren’t fun like Weird people used to be, giant balloons, susbstitute postmen 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.
As we mark the last day of July on Wednesday afternoon on The AIR , we still manage to bring you a fresh new episode of Beatles Blast 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 takes an hour to enjoy what is a great year to be a fan of the Beatles. We bring you tracks from the John Lennon Mind Games Box Set, Paul McCartney’s One Hand Clapping, Ringo Starr’s Crooked Boy and we spice things up with some rarities from George and an encore listen to “Now and Then.”
Mind Games sounds like a whole new album with its updated remix. One Hand Clapping sounds great in its first official release after decades of being bootlegged. Ringo’s latest EP is another gem, and the rest of the show flows, mixtape-style, like a lost Beatles album.
Check out the playlist…
Beatles Blast 113
John Lennon “Out The Blue”
Wings “Maybe I’m Amazed”
Ringo Starr “Adeline”
George Harrison “Miss O’Dell”
The Beatles “Now and Then”
George Harrison “Writings On The Wall”
Paul McCartney “Let Me Roll It”
John Lennon “Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)”
Ringo Starr & Paul McCartney “Grow Old Along With Me”
Wings “Live and Let Die”
Ringo Starr “Crooked Boy”
George Harrison “Lay His Head”
Paul McCartney & Wings “Soily”
John Lennon “Mind Games”
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 couple of recent encore episodes, just to keep you on your twinkle-toes.
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 morning starting at 9 AM, 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 presents a totally different hour from last week’s show, made up of classic stand-up from Bob Newhart.
The PopCulteer
Well, five years later we made a return early-anniversary trip to the city of wind, and Replay was once again saluting the little yellow angled fellow with The Bikini Bottom Bar. We were tipped off when Replay teased it on their Facebook page, and since we were going to be in town during the event (which is supposed to wind up on August 25, but may be extended), we hopped the Brown Line to Diversey and dropped in for a return visit.
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