The PopCulteer
November 24, 2023

We have four hours of new radio premiering on Black Friday, as we bring you a new Christmas Special version of Radio Free Charleston, along with new episodes of MIRRORBALL and Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.

The AIR is in early Holiday Mode today and it’s all thanks to a special treat that we gave you a gander at Wednesday night.   CLOWNHOLE has reunited and they have recorded a studio version of their take of the holiday classic, “Deck The Halls.”  You can hear it open our Christmas Special at 10 AM, 1 PM and 8 PM on Friday, with replays all weekend and the rest of the holiday season. This one-hour special will also be incorporated into next Tuesday’s regular episode of Radio Free Charleston Volume Five.

Last year we opened our Christmas Special with a bootleg-quality live version of CLOWNHOLE performing this track from 1989. It was an absolute honor to be allowed to debut the studio recording here in PopCult and on this special.

The show debuting Friday is an all-new one-hour show where, like in previous years, your host, Rudy Panucci, and his wife, Mel Larch, banter and play holiday music from lots of cool artists. We even stick in a nod or two to other shows we host on The AIR.

I suppose you want to see a playlist, right?

RFC 2023 Black Friday Christmas Special

Clownhole “Fa La La La La, Deck The Halls”
Mediogres “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
Brian Diller “Christmas Time of Year”
Audrey Smiley “Peppermint and Innocence”
Speedsuit “Winter”
The Dollyrots “Christmas Time With You”
Jay Parade “Wonderful Christmastime”
Earth Wind and Fire “Everyday Is Christmas Day”
Sierra Ferrell “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree/Jingle Bell Rock”
Captain Catfeesh “Chistmas In Prison”
Nixon Black “Winter In Kashmir”
The Aquabats “Santa Claus’ Party”
The Cast of Something Rotten “12 Days of a Something Rotten Christmas”
The Beatles “1968 Christmas Greeting”
IDKHOW “Christmas Drag”
Kate Fagan “Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney”

This special will run as both a stand-alone show, and also as part of next week’s RFC, which will include two additional hours of cool local, independent and nifty music.

Or if you want,  you can listen to it right here…

 

That’s not all the new programming that you’re going to get on The AIR today.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch uncorks a new MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a delightfully random selection of dancefloor classics from the golden era of Disco Music.

With tracks that were hits in Europe, dance club classics from the US and even a Disco foray from Elton John, Mel continues to dazzle listeners with a diverse and exhaustive playlist of primo Disco Music from the 1970s and early 80s.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRORBALL 086

Space “Magic Fly”
Voyage “Souvenirs”
The Real Thing “Can You Feel The Force”
Sheila B & Devotion “Singin’ In The Rain”
Boney M “Ma Baker”
Viola Willis “Gonna Get Along Without You”
The Dooleys “Wanted”
The Three Degrees “The Runner”
Marshall Hain “Dancing In The City”
Tina Charles “Dance Little Lady, Dance”
Odyssey “Going Back To My Roots”
The Trammps “Save A Place”
Van McCoy & The Soul City Orchestra “Do The Hustle”
Elton John “Are You Ready For Love”

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, on Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, Sydney Fileen graces us with a mixape of live recordings of The Cure, with the bulk of them coming from the soundtrack to their 1987 concert film, The Cure in Orange. Since the film runs a little less than two hours, Sydney added a couple of tracks from later shows to fill up the full two hours.

Here’s the full playlist for what you’ll hear on this week’s show…

BEC 110

The Cure: Live In Concert

“Shake Dog Shake”
“Piggy in the Mirror”
“Play for Today”
“A Strange Day”
“Primary”
“Kyoto Song”
“Charlotte Sometimes”
“In Between Days”
“The Walk”
“A Night Like This”
“Push”
“One Hundred Years”
“A Forest”
“Sinking”
“Close to Me”
“Let’s Go to Bed”
“Six Different Ways”
“Three Imaginary Boys”
“Boys Don’t Cry”
“Faith”
“Give Me It”
“10:15 Saturday Night”
“Killing an Arab”
“Just Like Heaven”
“Pictures Of You”

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.

That’s what’s new on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer, but not our final post today. Because I decided to extend The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide, you can expect new entries every day until next Thursday, and then next Friday we’ll post The Master List in this space. Friday’s post may not hit until late in the afternoon, but it’ll show up.