The PopCulteer
October 23, 2026

With that alphabet soup of a headline, and your humble blogger preparing to dive headfirst into The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide (kicking off November 1), today I’m just going to share some photos from some recent adventures.

Mel and I were in New York last week to take in a performance of Little Shop of Horrors, off-Broadway.  This is part of Mel’s nostalgia tour, 39 years after her star turn as Audrey in the Charleston Light Opera Guild production, and she really wanted to see the latest production with Betsy Wolfe (Death Becomes Her) and Ethan Slater (The SpongeBob Squarepants Musical, Wicked). With a temporary Amtrak shutdown scheduled and looming cast departures, we had to scramble to get tickets, hop the train and spend 55 hours in The Big Apple, before heading back.

Then, just a couple of days after our return, we attended an IWA East Coast show at The New Brickhouse, and got to catch up with a lot of old friends we hadn’t seen in a while and take in an evening of fine indie wrestling.

I did both of these things as a civilian, but grabbed a few photos on the phone, and that’s what you’ll get to see below…

That Large Apple

Mr. & Mrs. PopCulteer, preparing for a promenade around Hell’s Kitchen

One of the theater-themed stores we visited on our trip

We also hung out in Times Square

The mascots were there, but they kept their distance from us. We did get to see a Minnie Mouse with her head half off, but I didn’t get a picture.

Sadly, Father Duffy’s Steps were closed for some sort of fine-tuning.

The best cheesecake in the world, even in low-sugar form

Heading out for a night of theatre, under the harsh light of the hotel bathroom selfie

One quick shot before I turned the phone off

Betsy Wolfe and the back of Mel’s head. Another meeting of Audreys.

Mel sharing a moment with Ethan Slater

Meanwhile, In Saint Albans

We got back in town late Wednesday night, and then Friday we went to The New Brickhouse for IWA East Coast…

We hadn’t seen our old friend, Mad Man Pondo, in ages, and he had to give us the traditional greeting from the olde country

I reciprocated as we got photo-bombed by another old friend, Keller

My phone camera did not play nice with the flourescent lights, but I got a few decent action pics, like this one of El Drunko facing off against Mika

El Drunko leaving the ring and looking for a designated driver

Pondo’s triumphant return to IWA EC!

The Mad Man catching up with Ed Crouser prior to his match

Pondo and Shane Mercer, about to table the discussion

“Mel…I think we might want to move back a little”

A little TLC mayhem

I should point out that the TLC match was pretty much wall-to-wall mayhem

Constructing the barb-wire cage for the triple-threat tag team main event

Just about the only in-focus photo I got during that main event. It was an epic night, and next time I’m taking a real camera

And that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day,  and all of our regular features.

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