Author: rudy panucci (Page 13 of 34)

On Monday, I told you about going to see Setting Sun at Capitol Roasters. Since then, there have been some changes! Setting Sun has decided to change their name to “The Sleeping Dons.” They’re still the same three great musicians, Sean Richardson, Jay Lukens, and Deron Sodaro, but now they’ve got a NEW AND IMPROVED NAME!

And they were also nice enough to give me this week’s Song. “Wild River” was recorded just last Saturday, at Capitol Roasters on Summers Street. This is just a taste of how great these guys sound. The Sleeping Dons will be at the Vandalia Lounge every Wednesday night in July, so go check them out.

We wrap up our photographic safari to The Purple Moon with four last shots that show some of the cool glassware and other sundry knick-knacks available at the only retro lifestyle store in West Virginia.

Upon entering the store, you’re greeted by a ceramic sampler of cruncy retro coolness with vases, creamers, butter dishes and more examples of post-war crafts.

This cozy little corner is packed with so much great stuff that I couldn’t single out any of it. Click to enlarge and explore.

A working turntable–gotta love it! I think this item is already spoken for.

Finally, we bid farewell to The Purple Moon with one of my favorite photos from my visit–a vintage Rat-pack-era bar set, complete with shot glasses, tumblers, and a Martini shaker.

Since The Purple Moon has so much cool-looking stuff, maybe I’ll take the camera back up there in a few months and see what other cool items they’ve harvested from the recent past.

Day two of the Purple Moon photo essay focuses on cool toys, neat smaller items and some of the art that Purple Moon has available. See the first part of this photo essay here.

The Purple Moon has a wide variety of art, ranging from signed prints by Bauhaus masters to recent works by the late William Goebel. I’d show more of it, but flash photography does not work well with framed artwork.

Being a toy collector, my eye was immediately drawn to the nifty vintage robot (left) and the complete set of Marx Presidents, complete with box and book.

If you’re looking for vintage kitschy costume jewelry, The Purple Moon is the mother lode. I can see several gems from the 50s, 60s and 70s in the above photo, all of them dripping with retro charm.

This neat little Asian piece screamed out for a solo photo. There are great little accent pieces like this all over the store.

Tomorrow we wrap up our photo essay with a look at some more neat glassware and other cool items.

There was a house fire in Dunbar tonight. I don’t have any details, other than it was a house that I used to play in back in the 1970s. The accompanying photo was taken from my front porch. I just snapped a few pictures and rushed in here to post them, so that I could scoop TV 8. That’s what they get for parking in front of my house when I have company coming. The fire appeared to be out by 9 PM. Seems to have started shortly after 8 PM. The Dunbar Fire Department does good work.

Last week, The Purple Moon celebrated their first anniversary as West Virginia’s only shop dedicated to vintage mid-century modern and contemporary design, furnishings, accessories, and art. Their store, tucked away at 716 Lee Street East, right in the heart of downtown Charleston is a treasure trove of atomic age delights. Chuck and Connie Hamsher have created a terrific space where Charlestonians can finally find all that cool retro stuff that we see on the Home & Garden channel when they do a post-modern weekend.

I was fortunate to run into Chuck last week when I had my digital camera with me and a few minutes to spare before meeting Melanie for lunch. So, I ducked into The Purple Moon and snapped a few shots to share with you guys. You can probably tell I love this place. I’ve always had a fondness for post-war design, and I’ve spent the last decade writing about vintage toys from that era. And so for the next three days, PopCult will present a few photos of the cooler things you’ll find at The Purple Moon. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and their stock rotates constantly, so you might want to visit the store and take in all the coolness in person. Thanks to Chuck and Connie for letting me go wild with the camera. This weekend, The Purple Moon will be surrounded by FestivALL, so if you’re in town for the entertainment, stop in and look around.

Today, we’re going to focus on some of the cool furniture and lamps that you can find at the store.

You gotta love sectional couches. This one’s a beauty.

Eating at this table would be just like dining with the Jetsons.

The Purple Moon has a huge selection of great atomic-age lamps. This is just a tiny sample.

Very cool stuff, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Tomorrow, we’ll look at some of the cool toys and artwork that The Purple Moon has in stock.

I found out late Friday Afternoon that Setting Sun would be doing a show at Capitol Roasters Saturday night, so I re-arranged my schedule to attend. Setting Sun is Sean Richardson, Jay Lukens, and Deron Sodaro, all old friends from around the Radio Free Charleston days, and it’s been 15 years or more since I’d seen them. So, aside from the great music, this was like a reunion of sorts. I even got to see Johnny Rock and Jason Ashworth at the show, and hear about their upcoming musical project.

Sean was the lead singer for Strawfyssh, who were favorites on the old radio show. Jay and Deron were in Mother Nang, and Deron has since been in too many bands to keep track of, most notably the Voodoo Katz. The music was incredible. Sean’s voice has always impressed the hell out of me, and he’s really matured as a performer over the last decade-and-a-half, with an amazing stage presence. Jay and Deron have always been rock-solid musicians, and they gelled perfectly with Sean Saturday night. Of course, Capitol Roasters is a great venue, too, being smoke-free and having a really cozy atmosphere.

The cool thing is that the guys tell me they’ll be playing at the Vandalia Lounge every Wednesday night in July. I’ll definitely try to make it to some of those shows. We may even have a song of the week from them coming up soon.

Makes me think that it might be cool to revive Radio Free Charleston, updated for the internet era, someday.

Hmmm.

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can take a gander at Setting Sun at the Gatecrasher gazzphotoblog, as the band stopped in to make some music recently at the monthly open mic hosted by Ron Sowell at the Unity church in North Charleston, on the 2nd Friday of each month. See the pix right here.

In honor of FestivAll coming up later this week, PopCult kicks off your Monday with a double shot of my over-rated doodlings.

First up, we have a quickie called “The Maestro.” This was done with mini-Sharpies on the back of an index card when I was supposed to be working on the script for a soon-to-be -revealed top secret project. After I scanned it, I tweaked the holy hell out of it, so that it’s almost a negative of the original.

Next we have a digitally-assaulted photograph of the Huntington Bank building. I shot this while walking down Hale Street, and started playing with adjusting the brightness and contrast of isolated parts of the picture. Then I colorized it in my patented slapdash manner.

Click the images to enlarge.
You can see the original images here.

Today, Sir Paul McCartney turns 64, and the mainstream media is awash with ironic headlines snarking about how the lyrics to “When I’m Sixty-Four” don’t apply to Mr. Macca this year, in light of his highly-publicized tabloid fodder divorce.

Which is a shame, because by most accounts, Sir Paul is a nice guy, and he’s written some of the best music in the world–music that will last long after the tabloid hacks are forgotten. To observe McCartney’s birthday here in PopCult, we’re making him the “Cool Toy Of the Week.” You see, McCartney has been immortalized in plastic by the folks over at McFarlane Toys a few times in recent years, and these are some of the best action figures that McFarlane has put their name one.

Many years ago, McFarlane created a toy line based on The Beatles Yellow Submarine. There were two series of figures, one depicting the Fab Four as themselves in the animated classic, and the other showing them disguised as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. These were so well-received that McFarlane released them again in different packaging a few years later.

Those re-released figures sold so well that McFarlane Toys came up with a set of action figures based on the goofy, low-budget Beatles TV cartoon, from the heyday of Beatlemania. The sculptors at McFarlane managed to perfectly translate the 2-D designs for the cartoon into a workable three-dimensional object. These are cool toys, and quite collectible. And any birthday with toys involved, has to be good.

Happy Birthday, Paul!

Animated Discussions
by Rudy Panucci and Melanie Larch

Next month (July 18, to be exact), the lost episodes of Ren and Stimpy finally hit DVD! These are the “Adult Party Cartoon” shows that were produced for Spike TV a few years ago by Ren and Stimpy’s creator, John Kricfalusi, who had been reunited with his perverted cat and dog after being booted off the series by Nickelodeon back in 1992. Spike only aired a few of these new Ren and Stimpy cartoons before the winds changed and they decided to drop their animation programming. This DVD will contain all the uncensored, adult-oriented, Ren and Stimpy cartoons that John K. produced. That includes three full episodes that have never aired. These have only been screened at events where John K. has spoken, although there are lots of clips circulating on the internet. The three un-aired shows are “Naked Beach Frenzy,” “Altruists,” and “Stimpy’s Pregnant.”

You can see a nearly five-minute trailer for “Stimpy’s Pregnant” here, at John K’s blog.

Here’s a clip from “Naked Beach Frenzy,” where Ren has been mistaken for a crab by the extremely hairy lifeguard.

Below are two short clips from “The Altruists.”

We’ve always had a soft spot for Ren and Stimpy. If not for them, we never would have started writing about animation for the Gazette all those years ago. It was nice to see John K. vindicated when he got to go back and revisit his babies in 2003. Now we’ll finally get to see the second half of his triumphant return to the show that launched his career.

“Ren and Stimpy: The Lost Episodes” is going to be one killer DVD that any adult animation fan should rush out and buy. Parents will want to think twice, or even three or four times, before letting children watch this DVD. They contain nudity, profanity, and enough twisted situations to cause a parent to have to explain delicate things long before they expect to. These will be good, dirty fun. If this DVD set sells as well as we expect, Paramount may be knocking on John’s door, asking for more new Ren and Stimpy cartoons.

….For Beatles Fan, at least.

This week’s Song Of The Week is a rare treat. PopCult is bringing you the 1967 Beatles Fan Club Christmas record. Each year the Fab Four would go into the studio and record a little “thank you” for their fans. This was sent out free to every member in good standing of their fan club. These were fun little collages of music and comedy skits, with the guys just goofing around and displaying their trademark senses of humor. On this record, recorded after Sgt. Pepper, but before The White Album, we get to hear snippets of “Christmas Time Is Here Again,” a song that was not released intact until nearly 30 years later as part of the Beatles Anthology project. Mixed in with that happy little tune are several minutes of goofiness that display a major influence on the Beatles–the classic radio comedy, The Goon Show.