Author: Rudy Panucci (Page 126 of 581)

This week we go back to late November, 2013 for an early edition of The RFC MINI SHOW featuring music from the annual CYAC tradition, MARY A Rock Opera, Dan Kehde and Mark Scarpelli’s musical which has become a Charleston holiday institution. We brought you three songs from the show’s 2013 rehearsals, starring Rowan Maher as the titular mother of Christ. The RFC crew recorded these three songs, “Spin and Grow,” “Hear Us O Lord,” and “Child, My Child” before the set was finished or the full orchestra was available. It’s still a stunning work and we are happy to share it with you.

We will keep you posted about this year’s production of MARY, which I’m guessing will be at CYAC’s new home, the Elk City Playhouse. The show usually opens the day after Thanksgiving, and is well worth experiencing.

Also of note is that this is the first of two “episode sevens” for The RFC MINI SHOW. Months after posting these, I realized that I’d numbered two of the shows as “seven,” I don’t recall if I ever skipped a number later to make up for it, but next week you can look forward to The RFC MINI SHOW number 7.2.

The PopCult Toybox

Action Man is the British version of GI Joe. Hasbro debuted GI Joe as the first-ever action figure (seriously, they invented the term just for him–if someone says different, they don’t know what they’re talking about) in 1964, and America’s Movable Fighting Man proved to be so popular that Hasbro was approached by toy companies in other countries who wanted to license the hit toy.

In the UK, Palitoy secured the license, and changed the name to “Action Man,” mainly because “GI” was a meaningless term in the British Military. Also, having “action” in the name reinforced that he was an action figure, and not a doll.

There is a ton of history that comes after that, but for the purposes of this review, we’re going to jump forward about fifty years. In 2014 GI Joe hit his 50th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, Hasbro did almost nothing. They did slap an anniversary logo on some 3 3/4″ GI Joe toys that had been delayed from the previous year, but outside of offerings from the Official GI Joe Club, there was no 12″ GI Joe product.

However, two years later, when the 50th Anniversary of Action Man came about, a small company called Art + Science International Ltd licensed the rights to produce 50th Anniversary Action Man sets from Hasbro (who bought Palitoy back in the 1980s).

These were well-done sets that included nearly exact replicas of the original figures with great accessories and they were priced with the adult collector in mind.

After having a decent level of success with the collectors figures, last year Art + Science decided to shoot for a more mainstream, children’s market, and came up with a new, less expensive, body design. Apparently inspired by Marvel’s Titan Hero series of figures, of which I am on record as not being particulary fond, the new Action Figures are aimed at ages 3 and up.

These figures were released in the UK in time for Christmas last year, but I just now got my hands on one of the basic models (more deluxe sets have weapons, but I believe they have the same body).

These may well work as toys for kids, but I think even kids would be disappointed. The figure itself sports a great headsculpt–a perfect likeness of the GI Joe/Action Man head that we all know and love. Unfortunately that head is poised atop a body that can best be described as that of a knockoff of Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend.

There are eight points of articulation, and half of of those points have limited range. The nead has the neck built-in, and plugs into the body, which makes it incompatible with most other action figure bodies without serious modifications.

The figure comes with no weapons. The uniforms have no real pockets and close with velcro-type closures. You get a shirt, pants, boots (molded with a distinction between left and right), very cool scale dog tags and a nice beret. The basic model has no other weapons or accessories. This is a budget-line action figure.

There is more articulation than a Titan Hero and a cloth uniform that can be removed, but aside from that, it fits right in with the cheap-o standard 12″ figures that dominate the mass market today.

We’ll address the positives: The headsculpt is perfect. This is GI Joe (or Action Man), down to the scar. The scale dog tags (seen right) are terrific, although I can’t figure out how they got around the choking hazard standard to get this marked safe for ages 3 and up. The beret is very nice, pliable vinyl-like material. The boots are well-sculpted military boots, and seem to be big enough, and soft enough to use with a vintage 12″ action figure.

There are plenty of negatives too: The body sucks. Articulation is poor. The head can twist, at the base of the neck, but can’t move up or down.

The hip joints are very loose. The legs are neoprene and the plastic click-joints within can only hold three positions. Ankles are not jointed. The waist joint is a simple swivel.

The arms are way too short. The hands will not grip anything and are posed open, like he’s waving. There is no articulation in the arms, other than the ball-and-socket joint where they attach to the torso. Elbows do not bend and the wrists are not articulated.

All told, there are eight points of articulation, but that’s being a bit generous.

The uniform is cloth, and not some kind of plastic or vinyl, but the velcro-type closures are clunky (and white on the uniform I got, which makes them more visible). The pants may be useful on other figures as part of a kitbash, but the shirt is hampered by being tailored to fit the unnaturally short arms and might look a tad doofussy on another figure.

At the moment, I’ve only seen these at Amazon. None showed up at any of the toy shows I’ve been to this year, and even ordering from Amazon, they ship from the UK. You’re looking at spending twenty to thirty bucks a pop, depending on the vendor and how elaborate the set you choose is.

I went with the basic desert-camo guy, and he ran just over twenty bucks.

That’s not a great value for the money. The figure, as sold, is not intended for collectors, and once he’s out of the box, he does not display well at all. My guess is that, if these were marketed in the US, at mainstream retailers, they’d sell for ten or twelve bucks, just like most 12″ figures do now.

At that price, these have some good kitbash/custom fodder value. I’ve just popped the head off the body as I’m typing this, and I’m going to extend the neck with Apoxie and see how he works on a Marx 12″ action figure. I’ll find a use for the uniform, boots and beret, and those dog tags will look sharp on a detailed military kitbash.

If Hasbro allows these to be marketed in the US (which does not look to be likely) and the price is what I’m guessing, customizing and kitbashing would be the use for these. They’d be cheap enough to buy in bulk just to get the headsculpts.

However, at the current prices as imports, it’s a bit much to pay for a figure that can’t be enjoyed as-is, out of the box.

The PopCulteer
September 6, 2019

You know what we haven’t done in a long time. We haven’t done a PopCulteer that was made up of random items, assembled hap-hazardly. How about we do that again?

It’s been a bit of a busy week for your PopCulteer, still catching up from the backlog of work that accumulated during his vacation, while working on other projects for the future, reconnecting with old friends and preparing to bring you more cool articles, video and radio.

There’s a lot of cool stuff coming up, so let’s dive in.

Metal Flooring

Well, sort of. I wanted to plug a Kickstarter campaign for Chris Ojeda, the frontman of local Metal Heroes, Byzantine. Chris is also a professional contractor, and has, along with his father, created and developed a tool to align wood flooring, so that the planks are straight and flush against one another.

There’s about a month left to go on this campaign, and it almost looks cool enough to make me want to  take up installing flooring as a hobby. The Floor Cam could be a real game-changer for the flooring industry.

Check out the video…

The Floor Cam can be ordered through the campaign, with an expected delivery date of late next year for the rust-free aluminum installation aid. Click this widget for more details on how you can get your hands on one.

Anticipating Sydney

The previously-announced second part of the special “New Wave In The 21st Century” episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat will run next week on The AIR instead of this Friday. Sydney requested an extra week to put the show together, and you just don’t turn down a request from the legendary Sydney Fileen. Instead, you can tune into The AIR at 3 PM to hear the episode of Big Electric Cat where Sydney turns out not to be a fan of the Royals. Listen at the website, or on this embedded player…

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, Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM and Thursday at Noon, exclusively on The AIR. Every Wednesday at 1 AM, we bring you three classic episodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, just so you can be all New Wave-y overnight.

The Gospel According To Danny and Mark

I’ve known about this for a while, but now it’s official and you can be sure that I’ll tell you more about it as the date grows nearer, but Mark Scarpelli  is turning Daniel Boyd’s cult movie, Invasion of The Space Preachers, into a musical, and they’re going to have a table read open to the public next month. Visit the Facebook page, like it, and stare at this graphic, what I done swiped from there…

A Very Plez-ant Time

Earlier this week, between doctor appointments, I met up with Douglas Imbrogno at Mea Cuppa on Charleston’s West Side. Doug was my editor for years at the Gazette and later The Gazz.com, where was responsible for the creation (and the naming of) this very blog. Doug has since struck out onto new adventures, including The Changing Climate Times Newsletter and podcast, and his personal writing depository, plus some great freelance assignments.

I’ve always been very fond of Doug, and when he said he wanted to meet up and gift me with some cool Pez dispensers, I was very happy to catch up and add more toys to what will soon be the revamped “Wall of Coolness” in Stately Radio Free Charleston Manor.

I took Doug some candy selections from our recent foray to the Boyer Candy Company, and accepted a very cool batch of Pez dispensers into the fold. We caught up on what each other has been up to lately. Doug told me about his life post-Gazette, and his upcoming projects and I filled him in on my recent travels and dealing with Myasthenia Gravis. What was a really cool surprise was that Doug had written a cool sendoff to his Pez buddies, which you can read HERE. I’ve swiped his photo of the Pez gang, but will post an update here once they are fully assimilated into the toy vault that is my home.

This weekend Doug will be at Culturefest at Pipestem, in Southern West Virginia. At the rate I’m working, he’ll probably be on stage minutes after I get this posted. You can find more details on that at their Facebook event page.

A Monster Of A Gathering

Also happening this weekend, up in Flatwoods, is the Flatwoods Monster Festival, which is just starting up. This could turn out to be a lot of fun, and I wish I found out about it sooner. Next year I’ll try to dig up more details in advance, but for now, you can visit their Facebook page.

“By God” By Liz

Liz McCormick, who as a teen was a huge help in front of and behind the camera on Radio Free Charleston’s video show, is now working for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and turned in this report on the etymology of the phrase, “West ‘By God’ Virginia.”  It’s so cool seeing Liz doing such great work for WVPB.

Later today in PopCult.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a detailed review of a toy in this blog, so I’m going to shake off the rust and come back at you later today with a review of the new, budget-line Action Man figures, which have been available in the UK for about a year now.

That’s a sneak peek at right.

I finally got my hands on one, and will give you the lowdown on the good and bad (mostly bad) about this latest British incarnation of the original 12″ action figure.

The Great Fudge Whale

Finally, I need to share a short story and photo from the recent vacation that most of my readers are probably sick of hearing about. As you may recall, that trip was mostly to celebrate five years since Mel Larch and I got married on stage at The Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. At the time, since we sort of eloped, we did not have a wedding cake. On the way back to the hotel on the L, I proclaimed that, when we did finally have a wedding cake, it would be “Fudgie The M****r F*****g Whale!”

If you’re not familiar with Fudgie the Whale, read up on him HERE.

It took us five years to find a Carvel anywhere near anyplace we would be long enough to make the trek to get the elusive beast.

It turns out that Carvel is not as widespread as you might think, not all locations sell Fudgie, and even though you can get Carvel ice cream cakes at Kroger, the whale itself is exclusive to their own retail locations. Those, it turns out, are as scarce as hen’s teeth.

However, our recent trip took us to Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is about an hour away from Reading, Pennsylvania, which does indeed boast among its many fine dining establishments one fully-functional Carvel Ice Cream Emporium. We diverted our hotel-hopping anniversary trip to Reading, hit up the Carvel and snagged the last small Fudgie what they had in captivity, and escorted him to our hotel, as he serenaded us with his beautiful ice-cream whale songs.

Later that night, in the privacy of our room at Homewood Suites, we partook of the tail of our killer whale, and that is the tale of our quest. Here is the photographic evidence.

And with that, our PopCulteer is a wrap this week. Check back later today for our review of Action Man, and come back all weekend for our regular features.

Our first new show, post-vacation on The AIR this week is Radio Free Charleston International, which you can hear at 3 PM Thursday timeslot on The AIR. You can listen at the website, or on this embedded radio player…

As is our new Thursday norm, we now have a replay of this week’s Radio Free Charleston at 2 PM, followed by a brand-new episode of Radio Free Charleston International at 3 PM. For you old-timers who remember the original broadcast incarnation of , this combination comes close to recreating the original experience, with your PopCulteer unleashed to play whatever he felt like playing, mixed with a generous helping of great local music.

This week we re-ran RFC 100, which you can read about HERE. However, RFC International is ALL-New!

Radio Free Charleston International is the two-hour weekly show where Rudy Panucci (that’s me, by the way) gets to play whatever he wants. It’s our way of revisiting the golden age of free-format radio, which is sort of what inspired us to go into this medium in the first place. This week I did a real show, with back-announcing and everything, instead of just playing two hours of random stuff and posting the playlist here.

But for those of you who enjoy playing the home version of RFC International, here’s this week’s playlist:

RFC International 072

Andy Partridge “Humanoid Boogie”
Moron Police “Beware The Blue Skies”
The Hatters “Обижен”
Wax “Right Between The Eyes”
Argyle Gooslby “Blood Cave”
Hans Gruber and the Die Hards “American Hero”
The Beautiful South “36D”
Residente “La Sombra”
Cherie Currie & Brie Darling “Something In The AIR”
Mark Knopfler “The Boxer”
Hollywood Vampires “Heroes”
PP Arnold “Different Drum”
The Pretenders “Stop Your Sobbing”
Buck O Nine “Tuff Rudeboy”
Ringo Starr “We’re On The Road Again”
Julian Cope “Psychedelic Revolution”
Waddy Wachtel “Wadraga”
Billy Sherwood “Sailing The Seas”
Terry Draper “Everything Will Be All Right”
Rupert Hine “Anvils In Five”
Paul McCartney “Dominos”
The Gift “Long Time Dead”
Fish On Friday “Godspeed”

You can tune in to RFC International every Thursday at 3 PM on The AIR. If you miss it, you have plenty of chances to catch a replay: Fridays at 1 PM and 10 PM, Saturdays at 1 PM, Sundays at 1 AM and 2 PM, Mondays at 9 PM, and Tuesdays at 11 PM, exclusively on The AIR.

If you’ve been following my posts here in PopCult for the last week, you know that I spent seven days before that on an extended anniversary trip that took us to, among other places, The Boyer Candy Company in Altoona, and Hershey’s Chocolate World, in Hershey.

On the actual day of our anniversary the Monday of last week, we were meandering our way down Interstate 81, when Mrs. PopCulteer asked, “We’re not on the clock are we? What if we see someplace cool to stop?”

I replied that we could stop anywhere we wanted, and then told her to get off at the next exit. I’d seen something.

We had stumbled onto the Lindt Factory Outlet Store in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Neither of us had any idea that there was such a place, but tucked away in an industrial distribution hub, with a sign nicely visible from the highway, was yet one more stop on our chocolate journey that had thus far included Boyer, Hershey and even Fudgie the Whale (I’ll tell you about Fudgie in a later post).

So we stopped in and were immediately greeted with free candy. As you can see at left, this is a happy place. The store offers a pretty complete assortment of Lindt Chocolates (which are pretty darned good, if you haven’t tried any yet) and the store is pretty impressive because it’s one huge room, with giant photographic murals on the walls, and sprawling open spaces which can accomodate bus tours and candy demonstrations. They don’t do factory tours since this is not where the factory is, but it is one of their main warehouses, so there’s plenty of chocolate passing through this building.

We sort of had the place to ourselves, which was really cool.

Most of the photos you’ll see were taken by Mel.  My camera was in the car and I didn’t want to leave this chocolate paradise. You can find more details about the Carlisle Lindt Factory Outlet Store by visiting their Facebook page. There are other stores around the country, and you can find them by going HERE. If you’re in the area, have a sweet tooth and appreciate fine chocolate, you ought to stop in.

Another view from outside.

The room is huge, and the chocolate is plentiful.

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Those fruits would be some nice, ripe, juicy reruns. Your PopCulteer took Labor Day off, and he’s got doctor appointments today and tomorrow, so there won’t be new shows on The AIR until Thursday.

Once again The AIR will be in reruns for the next couple of days. You can still listen to the wonderfulness of truly independent radio at The AIR website, or on this embedded radio player…

Lucky for you, we have the best reruns in the world, and that includes episode 100 of Radio Free Charleston, which somehow managed to escape inclusion in our recently-concluded three-day RFC marathon. You can hear it at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday, September 3, plus in the usual replay timeslots.

I promise that I’ll have a really teriffic new episode of RFC International on Thursday, and Sydney Fileen will return Friday with the second half of her special Big Electric Cat devoted to new music by the legends of the New Wave era.

When I get back from bloodwork and meetings today, I will prep a couple of bonus photo essays from our anniversary trip. And we also have some book, music and toy reviews to bring you. So don’t panic. Your PopCulteer just needed a day off after returning from vacation and plowing into five fourteen-hour days of work.

It’s Labor Day. Your PopCulteer has been spending about fourteen hours a day in front of the computer since he got back from his vacation last Tuesday, and this is one of those days when readership at PopCult is at its lowest because everybody is out doing other stuff. So this week’s art is a simple digital painting, a color study attempting to recreate the look of the Central Pennsylvania sky and mountains, as seen from the road while wearing mirrored sunglasses, the week before last while Mr. and Mrs. PopCulteer were meandering their way through the chocolate factories and toys shows of the Keystone state to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

If you wish, you can click this image to see it bigger.

Meanwhile, over in radio-land, Monday on The AIR, our 30th Anniversary marathon of Radio Free Charleston concludes with a third-day of our most recent episodes of The AIR’s flagship show. I have decided that, contrary to what I’d previously written here, this week RFC and The Swing Shift will be reruns. I will tell you about them tomorrow, and bring you a bonus photo essay or two from the recent trip to make up for it. Basically, I need a day off, and today’s a holiday, so it sort of makes sense. We’ll pick up with new programming on Thursday.

You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on this embedded radio player…

The PopCult crew went to the Hershey Action Figure & Toy Show on August 24, 2019, and here is our wrap-up video, with sights and sounds of the show and a few interviews. It’s exactly eleven minutes of great toy fun. Because of the video and the photos this week, I’m not going to be too wordy. It is a holiday, after all. Your PopCulteer needs a day to rest once in a while.

The shirt I’m wearing in the video is Mitch O’Connell’s recreation of one of the Monster Sweater designs from Leave it to Beaver. You can read about it HERE.

As promised, we also have a few additional photos that we couldn’t fit in last Friday in our photo essay. That’s Hasbro’s Defender with his Iron Knight Tank as our lead image.

Next year’s show in Hershey has already been scheduled for August 22, 2020, and you can find all the details HERE.

Now let’s get to those extra photos…

Hey, it wouldn’t be a toy show without some robots, right?

What kid doesn’t want a remote-control Tony Hawk?

You say you’re interested in superhero figures?

One odd quirk of toy shows is when you see really, really cool stuff and realize that you already have it.

There were more than a few MEGO and ReMego figures floating around the show.

The 80s and 90s were well-represented for the whippersnapper crowd.

Lots of dealers, lots of toys, lots of buyers. That’s a winning combination.

And we’ll leave you with Hot Wheels and Transformers, just to show you the diversity of cool toys at the show.

Roughly 30 years ago this weekend, the first edition of Radio Free Charleston aired on WVNS FM, 96.1.

The show was a result of my reward for working 100 days straight, often two or three shifts, with no day off while the station was beset with serious staffing problems. I was allowed to go on the air at 2 AM on Sunday morning, and play anything I wanted (within reason) for four hours each week.

This was not just my reward for working myself to death. My real reward was a promotion (in lieu of a raise) to assistant program director. With the title came the responsibility for scheduling the part-time talent to work on the weekends. I couldn’t get anybody reliable to handle the midnight to 6 AM shift Saturday night/Sunday morning, so I went to my boss with the idea of plugging a part-timer into my Friday night, 7 PM to Midnight shift, which was all syndicated programming anyway, and I would take the desolate shift that nobody wanted…IF I could have the freedom to play what I wanted.

My boss agreed to it and thus, Radio Free Charleston was born.

That first show didn’t include any local music. To be honest, it was mainly me digging out the best stuff from our existing playlist and augmenting it with a few choice progressive rock and New Wave tracks from my collection. I also remember being really happy that I could play the extended mix of “Heading To The Light” by The Traveling Wilburys on the first show.  I think it was the third week of the show when I slipped in “Big Red Satellite” by Hasil Adkins, and some single recorded by the teenaged daughter of a local car dealer who was considering advertising on the station.

Two weeks after that, the floodgates had opened, I fell in with the local music scene, and for the remainder of the original broadcast radio run, Radio Free Charleston became a bit of a phenomenon, peaking at over ten-thousand listeners and being featured in The Charleston Gazette. This was with a mix of local music, alternative rock, prog-rock, New Wave, underground tracks and even comedy records.

After the show was strangled in its crib over station politics in the spring of 1990, I couldn’t get hired in local radio. I was told repeatedly that program directors were afraid that if they’d hire me, I’d have their job in six months. I consulted with stations in other towns. I couldn’t relocate because I was taking care of my ailing parents, but they still appreciated my expertise. I also sort of backed into writing and market research after working on local political ads. The whole time I was trying to find a way to revive Radio Free Charleston. I must have recorded a dozen pilot episodes for different stations, but it wasn’t until after I began writing PopCult that Brian Young came to me with the idea of reviving RFC as a video show, and Douglas Imbrogno let me incorporate it into The Gazz and PopCult.

Now, with The AIR operating as the internet radio arm of this blog, and with my video work diminished a bit due to Myasthenia Gravis, I’ve kept Radio Free Charleston going as a radio program once again. Each week on The AIR I bring you an hour of local music on Radio Free Charleston, and two hours of whatever I feel like playing on RFC International. Since the fourth hour of the original show was where I played a feature album or artist, it’s almost like I’m doing the same show I was back in 1989/90, only not in the middle of the night, and with a worldwide audience.

That first RFC happened during Labor Day Weekend in 1989. Nobody knew then that the show would take on a life of its own as a beacon of obscurity. All the big shots in Charleston pretend not to know what RFC is, even if they’ve been on the show. I’m proud of the underground legacy I’ve built over the last three decades.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday I’ll be playing episodes of RFC and RFC International on The AIR. I plan to debut a new episode Tuesday at 10 AM, and since we have been celebrating 30 years of RFC all year long, you can expect more treats to mark the milestone for the rest of the year. The marathon begins Saturday morning at 1 AM and continues until 11 PM Monday evening. It will be interrupted at Midnight Sunday, for our weekly marathon of The Swing Shift, my Swing Music Show. Whenever I pre-empt that, I get very angry emails from our European listeners, so that bit of programming stays in place.

You can listen at The AIR website, or right here on this player…

The RFC Flashback, which re-presents our video episodes, will return in this space next Saturday.

The PopCulteer
August 30, 2019

We’re going to bring you about as many photos of last week’s Hershey Action Figure and Toy Show as WordPress will let us today without flaking out. You’ll want to be sure to check back Sunday for our video of the show, which will have more photos accompanying it.

This was a terrific one-day show, put on by Greg Brown of Cotswold Collectibles fame, and we saw lots of familiar faces from the other GI Joe and toy shows we make it to each year. You’ll see and hear from more of our friends in the video. We had a blast, and it was a great excuse to turn our anniversary into a week-long excursion into Central and Eastern Pennsylvania.

There were loads of vendors and I was able to pick up the exclusive uniform, accessory and box set that Greg masterminded with help from Sgt. Van’s Backyard Battlefront Fantasy boxes and Mattsquatch Customs. I was also able to pick up the exclusives for last month’s Kentuckiana GI Joe Expo, which I had to miss this year. I will be posting another photo essay on all the cool stuff we got on the trip, including our Toy Show goodies, next week. We still haven’t had time to unpack everything, let alone photograph it all yet.

Greg is leaning heavily toward having the show again next year, with the date still to be determined. I’ll bring you the details here in PopCult as soon as I find out. A big part of the fun of this show was that folks from ToyLanta and Kentuckiana were on hand to show their support. While we were happy to see so many old friends, it was also great to see so many new faces who can’t travel so far for toy shows.

We are running late, and we’ll be bringing you more video and photos from the show over the weekend, so let’s just dive in and gawk at the cool toys and stuff.

I’ll have better photos of the show exclusive uniform set next week. Until then, consider this a teaser.

The first thing we saw when we went through the doors…and this was the early admission crowd.

The doors had just been opened for about five minutes and folks were already milling about, buying up toys.

A dealer from the Northeast had tons of cool things.

Tearle Ashby with the prototype for his aweswome limited edition shark cage that I’m going to have to find some way to work into the budget soon.

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