The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide is taking a two-day excursion into the world of Tiki. Perfect for fans of Mid-Century artificial multiculturalism that’s loads of fun and looks really cool. It’s exotic without worrying about being authentic, as Polynesian influences mingle with Caribbean, African, Chinese, beach and nautical ephemera to create a universe of stuff that just looks really cool.

Today it’s all Tiki Mugs, from different sources with different price points. Links to order will be in the prices below the name of the mug. Tomorrow it’s still Tiki time in the gft guide, but it’s not mugs. Let’s go mugging with today’s gift guide picks…

Trader Vic’s Baining Fire Dancer
Available as a 20 OZ. full-size mug ($37.00)
or a 2 OZ. mini mug ($13.00)

Designed by Trader Vic’s legend, Javier Del Campo, the Baining fire dancer mug is part of our Papua New Guinea mug collection. This mug holds 20 OZ. The inspiration for this design comes from the masks worn by the Baining fire dancers. However, once you get it home, you can tell people that it’s a stoner panda bear.

The Mini version is a 2 OZ. shotglass, and is great for the Tiki aficionado with limited space.

It looks cool. It’s not too pricey and you can make up all kinds of stories about how you bought it directly from an actual Baining Fire Dancer on one of your many imaginary travels.

Tiki Farm KON TIKI REPRO MILAN GUANKO TIKI MUG
Available from Tiki Farm ($25.00)

The reproduction of the Kon Tiki is a classic tiki style and a perfect size for your stronger cocktails. The repro was just made this year, but it recreates one of the classic mug designs from year’s past.

This seven-and-a-quarter inch mug holds 15 ounces of whatever you’re drinking. It really is an iconic Tiki, and would look cool in any hipster pad, home Tiki bar, or as a vessel for hot chocolate for people who are just plain cool to be around.

Seriously, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with something symbolic of all things Tiki than this cool mug, plus you can drink out of it…like all the mugs in today’s gift guide entry.

BarConic® Peacock – 18 oz. – Tiki Mug
Available from BarProducts.com ($9.95)

A budget entry that looks as cool as the very expensive limited editions that I’m not suggesting in this list, the Peacock mug is bright, colorful and perfect for anyone who loves the peacock.

To quote the description: “This inspired ceramic tiki mug of the stunning bird is sure to have your guests in awe. Serve your favorite drink or many different signature craft cocktails in it. This peacock tiki is a perfect drinking vessel. Made from high quality solid ceramic construction with a smooth glossy finish that is sure to inhance your cocktail presentation. Measures 6 1/2″ H x 3″ W X 3″ Base.”

With its low price and bright colors, this is the mug most likely to show up in the Larch-Panucci house this Christmas.

Tiki Mugs Cocktail Set of 4 – Large Tumblers Ceramic Hawaiian Luau Party Mugs Drinkware
If you want an instant Tiki Mug collection, go to Amazon ($40.79)

I’m just going to quote from the description here:

Tiki mugs are the great present for hosts, wedding registries and housewarmings. Beautiful present idea for any occasions or a perfect addition to your home bar collection.
FUNNY and WHIMSICAL DESIGN: these hand painted and fired large ceramic Tiki tumblers will add a touch of fun and elegance to your barware collection or party.
DURABLE and READY for GREAT PARTY: these cute ceramic cocktail glasses are ready to let you enjoying exotic drinks with your girlfriends on the patio or hosting a Hawaiian party, these humorous stemless glasses are great in any environment.
GREAT DRINKWARE for YOUR TIKI BAR: Tiki bars and restaurants have always provided a form of escape for their customers. Let them feel traveling to a tropical destination serving your creative cocktails in these funny ceramic cups and they will want to come back again.

Despite the insipid copy, this is actually a really nice deal, with four classic-looking Tiki Mugs that come out to about ten bucks a pop. It’s a good starter kit for somebody just getting into the addictive world of Tiki Mug collecting.

The Bone Collector
Available from Three Dots and a Dash ($60)
(Go to their website. It’s the third item in the first row)

This is our priciest pick of the day, but it’s also pretty darned cool. The first time I went to Three Dots and a Dash, I was served my drink (a virgin Jet Fighter) in one of these mugs, but they didn’t have enough on hand to sell them to collectors back then. It was designed and manufactured by Tiki Farm, and this version is an exclusive for the Chicago Tiki Bar, Three Dots and a Dash.

Now it’s back in stock, and it’s really cool. It’s around seven inches tall, and it holds 19 ounces of your favorite cocktail or exotic soda…or Kool Aid, or anything, really.

This mug is shaped like a Tiki inside of a topless skull base, holding a bone, and decorated with bones and a skull around top of his head.. The exterior has a brown oxide matte wipe-away glaze.

We hope you like our five Tiki Mug selections. Check back tomorrow for five non-mug Tiki Gift ideas in The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.

Day Two of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide brings you five collections of great comics from years past. Some of these are extra-fancy hardcovers, while others are humble trade paperbacks. All five, however, are darned good reading for the comics fan on your shopping list.

The Complete Eightball 1-18
by Daniel Clowes
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13
9781683965503
$49.99

Collecting issues 1-18 of the iconic Daniel Clowes comics anthology, Eightball, this thick paperback contains the original installments of Ghost World, the short that the film Art School Confidential was based on, and much more, newly designed for paperback by the author.

The beloved comic book series Eightball made Daniel Clowes’ name even before he gained fame as a bestselling graphic novelist (Ghost World, Patience, David Boring, Ice Haven) and filmmaker. From 1989 to 1997, he produced 18 issues of what is still widely considered one of the greatest and most influential comic book titles of all time. Now, Fantagraphics has collected every single page of these long out-of-print issues in a paperback edition.

The Complete Eightball 1-18 includes more than 500 pages of vintage Clowes: seminal serialized graphic novels, strips, and rants, such as “Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron,” “Ghost World,” “Pussey,” “I Hate You Deeply,” “Sexual Frustration,” “Ugly Girls,” “Why I Hate Christians,” “Message to the People of the Future,” “Paranoid,” “My Suicide,” “Chicago,” “Art School Confidential,” “On Sports,” “Zubrick and Pogeybait,” “Hippypants and Peace-Bear,” “Grip Glutz,” “The Sensual Santa,” “Feldman,” and many more.

The book features new covers by Clowes, and “Behind the Eightball”: the author’s annotations for each issue, heavily illustrated with art and photos from his archives.

Recommended for fans of great indie comics. Available from most booksellers, using the ISBN code, or at a discount, from Amazon.

Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991
by Scott McCloud
It Books
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061537271
$24.95

Before he was the leading academic scholar of comics, Scott McCloud produced one of the most fun indie comics of the 1980s. This thick paperback collects the complete black and white collection of Zot!, featuring never-before-seen artwork and extensive commentary by the author

Showing strong influences of Jack Kirby, C.C. Beck and Manga, Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) combined the best ideas from manga, alternative comics, and superheroes into Zot!—a frenetic and innovative exploration of comics’ potential that helped set the stage for McCloud’s later groundbreaking theoretical work.

Zachary T. Paleozogt lives in “the far-flung future of 1965,” a utopian Earth of world peace, robot butlers, and flying cars. Jenny Weaver lives in an imperfect world of disappointment and broken promises—the Earth we live in. Stepping across the portals to each other’s worlds, Zot and Jenny’s lives will never be the same again.

These books were published more than thirty years ago, yet they still hold up. Every one of McCloud’s pages from the black and white series has been collected in this must-have commemorative edition for aficionados to treasure and new fans to discover. This collection was published in 2008, but is still available from Amazon.

This is a great gift for fans of manga, superheroes, science fiction or just really good comics.

To Be Announced!
by Derek McCulloch (Author), Mike Bannon (Illustrator)
About Comics
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996517
$10.00 from Amazon

In the mid-1980s, award-winning graphic novel writer Derek McCulloch (Stagger Lee, Gone to Amerikay) teamed with beloved cartoonist Mike Bannon (Oombah, Jungle Moon Man; “Old Paper”) to take on that most sacred of sacred cows: television. Decades later, we can now look back on the work that delivered the final, deadly blow to TV and saved generations from its influence.

This collects the stories from all seven issues of the original To Be Announced! comic book, including everything from Sesame Street Blues to the fundraising concert Lemon-Aid.

The stories are funny as heck, but there is a bit of an ulterior motive behind this new collection. To Be Announced! is being released as part of an effort to contact artist Mike Bannon, who has been out of touch with his comics pals and collaborators for well over a decade.

Hopefully this Amazon-only collection will flush him out of the woodwork. In the meantime, you can enjoy this comic book take on SCTV for a nice, low price. Recommended for the fan of funny comics in your life.

Tails of the Super-Pets
by various classic comics creators
DC Comics
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1779513397
$19.99

Everybody should have a place in their heart for pure, goofy, innocent silver age DC Comics fun. This collection of vintage tales of Superheroes and their pets is a nice reminder that comics don’t all have to be grim and gritty.

Some of them work perfectly well as just good, dumb fun.

The stories in Tails of the Super-Pets were originally published from 1947 to 1968, but most of them are Superman Family tales from peak Mort Weisinger-era books published from 1955 to 1964. Writers include Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Bill Finger and more. The art is courtesy of Curt Swan, Pete Costanza, Jim Mooney and others.

We don’t just get Superman’s dog, Krypto, in this book. We get to see the Man of Steel’s pet monkey, Beppo, plus Supergirl’s cat, Streaky, and horse, Comet. Ace the Bat-Hound shows up, as does Aquaman’s pet octopus, Topo. Wonder Woman had pet Kangaroos and The Legion of Superheroes had Proty, a shape-shifting lump of protoplasm, who was their pet.

Those stories are all included here, in a trade paperback released to tie in with DC’s League of Super Pets movie earlier this year. This collection includes stories from Action Comics #261-266, 277-293; Batman #125; Adventure Comics #210-256, 293-322, 364; Superman #176; Wonder Woman #23; and Superboy #76.

It’s good fun that hits the nostalgia buttons and is also appropriate for younger readers. Available from any bookseller, or from Amazon.

Popeye Volume 1: Olive Oyl & Her Sweety
by E. C.Segar
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13 9781683964629
$24.99

Fantagraphics has begun a new four-volume series that collects the complete run of the original Popeye Sunday newspaper page adventures in an accessible and affordable slipcased paperback format.

An irresistible alchemy of screwball comedy, tender romance, and rags-to-riches fantasy, Elsie Crisler Segar’s newspaper comic strip captivated readers of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. And Popeye, the sailor man, was the unlikely star of the show. Fantagraphics is thrilled to bring Segar’s whimsical world back into print, reviving the origins of the beloved spinach-eating American icon for a whole new readership. The E.C. Segar Popeye Sundays series collects the complete Popeye Sunday stories in four gorgeous full-color volumes, each packaged in a deluxe die-cut vertical slipcase.

Volume one (1931-1932) highlights Popeye’s riotous romance with his sweet patootie, Olive Oyl. As apt to hold hands as butt heads, they are ultimately meant for each other, and their enduring connection forms the warm heart of the comic. Outside the love nest, Popeye seeks fame and fortune as a prizefighter. Ever the under-dog, he must contend with a series of increasingly fearsome opponents, from the formidable Johnny Brawn to a literal gorilla!

Featuring tongue-twisting gags, sensational slugfests, and an endearing ensemble of characters, this revival of classic Popeye adventures really packs a punch and will captivate stalwart fans and new readers alike. Introduced with comic tributes by acclaimed cartoonists Sergio Ponchione and Cathy Malkasian.

Popeye Volume 1: Olive Oyl & Her Sweety offers a more affordable way to get the classic Popeye Sunday strips by Segar than trying to round up the out-of-print hardcover collections from about fifteen years ago. Highly recommended for fans of Popeye, or anyone interested in comic strip history. You can order it directly from the publisher, or from any bookseller, using the ISBN code.

We have a very special treat today on The AIR  as we premiere new a episode of Radio Free Charleston! 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 elsewhere on this page.

This week we’re going to take a dive back into the past, but only about ten days, to when your humble blogger and radio host appeared on Josh Gaffin’s Afternoon Show on WTSQ 88.1 FM with Ann Magnuson.  We bring you over two hours of that parallel universe radio crossover on a new RFC that you can hear at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday. The first forty minutes or so is filled with the RFC blend of local, indie and classic artists.  However, the remainder of the show sees me guesting on Josh’s show for about an hour, and then I stick around and interrupt Josh and Ann for almost eighty minutes more!

We open with just-released music from Heavy Set Paw Paws, and we mix in new local music from Bane Star and Buni Muni (making her RFC debut) and new tracks from Hugh Cornwell, Robyn Hitchcock and Paul Weller.  After roughly forty minutes we switch over to Josh’s show.

Check out the playlist below to see all the goodies we have in store (live links will take you to the artist’s pages where possible)…

RFC V5 108

hour one
Heavy Set Paw Paws “Howitzer Girl”
Bane Star “Termination Call”
Paul Weller “The Piper”
Robyn Hitchcock “The Inner Life of Scorpio”
The The “The Beat(en) Generation”
Mediogres “Mon Cheri (live)”
Buni Muni “Triplite”
Stark Raven “I Know You”
Hugh Cornwell “Coming Out Of The Wilderness”

Josh Gaffin’s Afternoon Show on Status Quo
Camp Cope “How To Socialize and Make Friends”
Talking with Josh Gaffin at WTSQ.
Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights”
Mary Devore “Imagining It”

hour two
more talk
St. Etienne “Archway People”
Josef K “Radio Drill Time”
Hedwig and The Angry Inch “Tear Me Down”
Ann Magnuson joins the conversation
Ann talks about growing up in Charleston
Big Joanie “Singing”

hour three
Talking with Ann about the 1980s
Ann Magnuson “His Name Was Jobriath/Heartbeat”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight,  and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different 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.

Then at 1 PM we have MIRRORBALL, followed at 2 PM by Curtain Call. At 3 PM two great recent episodes of The Swing Shift arrive.

You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM, Friday at 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.

Day Two of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide will go live in PopCult sometime this afternoon. Check back for all the great gift ideas.

Welcome to the first day of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.

I’ve been offering pop culture-themed Christmas or holiday gift ideas in some fashion in this blog since our first year, back in 2005, and this year I plan to follow the format of our previous year a bit.

Each weekday for four weeks, starting today, I will have one post with five gift recommendations. There may be themes (today’s is toys), but they may also be random. Due to circumstances beyond my control, this year I have done less prep work than ever, so if you have any cool gift ideas, the last half of this guide is barely filled up. Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

I’m not going to obsess over price points this year. Some stuff might be cheap, some might be expensive. You get to sort out how much you’re willing to spend.

Let’s kick off Day One with the toy that has been our first pick for about a decade now…

THE 2022 HESS TOY TRUCK

After last year’s airplane, the HESS Toy Truck is back down to Earth in 2022 with a very cool Flatbed Truck carrying two Hot Rods. This is a 3-in-1 retro-design racing team, with 42 total lights and 4 realistic sounds.

The elongated, twin-axle Flatbed Truck is a vintage-style transport carrier, inspired by the original ‘First Hess Truck’ driven by Company founder Leon Hess in 1933. Designed in solid white with bold green fenders, body side striping and contrasting bed floor, the truck is accented with gleaming chrome details, including finely detailed embossed front grille, bumpers, light housings, fuel tanks, and exhaust pipes. The cab features 4 top-mounted buttons that activate 3 realistic sounds (truck ignition, truck horn, and hot rod racing action) and lights in flashing mode. A switch under the chassis will turn on the 24 brilliant lights, which can operate in either flashing or steady mode. The Flatbed conceals a handy pull-out ramp with slide-out activated hydraulic sound for easy loading and unloading on race day.

The pair of classic-coupe Hot Rods, one red and one green, have cutaway front ends with exposed sparkling-chrome supercharged-style engines. White racing stripes and colorful flaming body side graphics complete the sizzling style. Built for speed and traction, with skinny front and wide rear racing tires, each sports a mighty pullback motor that revs up and propels them down the drag strip in either flat or wheelie position! Each Hot Rod has 9 bright lights that operate in steady mode.

The only way to get this year’s HESS Toy Truck Flatbed with Hot Rods is to order it directly from their website. It’s Forty-two bucks, plus tax, but shipping and batteries are included. It’s a very cool addition to the HESS Truck Fleet, and it’s fun for all ages.

McFarlane Toys Super Powers Action Figures and Vehicles
Available only at Walmart

As much as I hate to recommend a Walmart exclusive, McFarlane Toys’ semi-revival of the classic DC Comics Super Powers action figure line from the 1980s has been an unexpected joy.

These are new figures based on the classic toys Kenner made in the 80s. They don’t have the action features that those toys had, but they still fit right in with a vintage collection and they carry on the tradition at a very affordable price. Figures are ten bucks, and the vehicles are just under thirty dollars each. That’s not bad at all for five-inch-plus action figures these days.

The assortments are small, making this a very affordable line. So far there are just two vehicles, and there have been two waves of three figures each. The first wave included Batman, Superman and the villainous Darkseid. The second wave included The Flash, John Stewart Green Lantern and The Batman Who Laughs (it’s some kind of Joker/Batman hybrid from comics I haven’t read). The vehicles are a Bat-wing and Supermobile (with punching power).

These are well-made figures, true to the original Super Powers line, and even with new designs, they spark a nostalgic glee among collectors, while still being great for kids.

You can find most of these figures in stores now, and except for Batman, who sells fast, they are usually in stock at Walmat.com.

A perfect gift for DC comic book fans and kids of all ages.

Madmaniverse Mod Metal Lunchbox
Available for Pre-order at The Drawn Word

Our next pick is more “toyetic” than toy, but it’s really cool, features artwork of Madman by Mike and Laura Allred and if you are of a certain age, it will punch all the proper nostalgia buttons.

While this is technically a Pre-order, these cool lunchboxes have been unloaded from the cargo ship and are en route to the warehouse, so you will most likely get these before Christmas, but if martians attack or something, theyll get to you no later than January.

The fruit of a Kickstarter Campaign, this item is LIMITED to 500 pieces. It’s a cool metal lunchbox with NEW art on all six sides featuring the Madmaniverse by Mike and Laura Allred. It even has an embossed side.

Any die-hard fan of Madman will want this, and it’s also handy for those of us who have supported Kickstarter Campaigns for the Madman Yo-yos, buttons, fanzines and other cool knick-knackery that might need a cool place to live.

Order it directly from The Drawn Word.

Foodie Mini Brands
by Zuru

This year’s new entry in Zuru’s successful 5 Surprise line is Foodie Mini Brands, which allow kids (and adults) to collect branded minature fast-food and restaurant fare, which as a bonus, are all pretty well scaled to be compatible with Barbie and the original GI Joe, 12″ dolls and action figures.

These are a dioramist’s dream, allowing you to treat your Barbies or GI Joes to food from White Castle, TGI Friday’s, Sonic, Hardees/Carl’s Jr., Hard Rock Cafe, Subway and more.

This is a blind-box toy, so a lot of the fun is in seeing what you get when you crack open your capsule. In addition to tons of cool regular food items, collectors might encounter special gold versions of the items, or ultra-rare “frozen” pieces that capture a moment frozen in time, like a drink being spilled, or a cheeseburger being pulled apart.

These are great stocking stuffers for kids or adults who love miniatures, and they’re especially great for the doll or action figure hobbyist who wants to make cool dioramas.

Best of all, they seem to be everywhere, selling for $8.49 to $10, and some stores even have exclusive carrying cases or food court playsets.

So far I’ve seen these at Walmart, Meijer, Target, Macy’s, Amazon and dozens of other places.

AUTO WORLD 18′ SCOOBY DOO MEETS BATMAN & ROBIN SLOT RACE SET

I was not about to pass up recommending this one.

It’s another high-quality, old-school slot car set from the folks at Auto World, and this time they go for the Saturday morning jugular with a racing set that recreates one of the first big crossovers between pop culture properties Chances are you remember the classic 1972 TV movie titled Scooby-Doo meets Batman.

In the movie Scooby-Doo and the gang team up with Batman and Robin to solve s mystery and capture The Joker and The Penguin. Now you can race along with your choice of Scooby-Doo and the gang in the Mystery Machine or Batman and Robin, in the Batmobile in this new exciting electric slotcar race set.

You get 18 Feet of Track, a Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine 4Gear Slot Car and a 1966 Cartoon Series Batmobile 4Gear Slot Car. That’s not the classic TV show Batmobile. It’s the one they used in the animated TV Movie. It’s a nice detail for folks like your PopCulteer who might already have a Batman TV Show Batmobile or five. You also get 2 Speed Controllers, a Power Pack and a cardboard stand-up of a haunted house.

This will be the perfect gift for the person of a certain age who thought that Batman meeting Scooby and the gang was the coolest thing ever. As a bonus, their grandchildren will love it too! It’s a bit pricey at $189,99, but for the right person, it’s well worth it.

Availabe from select hobby shops, or direct from Auto World.

Check back tomorrow for more of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide!

About a month ago I finished the watercolor piece you see above. It took me just under two weeks (still fighting with Myasthenia Gravis), but I was really happy with it. I’d planned to run it here, but then realized that it was October, and I had promised to run spooky art all month.

So now you get to see my imaginary highway painting. It’s not based on any photos and I can’t pinpoint one location for it. It’s basically my imprecise recreation of sights I saw while running the road with my lovely wife over the summer. I’ve been working on my realism technique because I want my future surrealistic pieces to seem more believably authentic.

This was done in watercolors with a little ink kibbutzIng, on slightly-textured paper.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent 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.

On Psychedelic Shack, Nigel Pye offers up an hour-long mixtape of Psychedelic Music that, on this show,  kicks off with The Turtles.

Psychedelic Shack 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.

On a classic Prognosis, Herman Linte presents a mixtape featuring prog-rock classics from 1972, fifty years ago.

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. You can hear two classic episodes of the show Sunday at 2 PM.

Tonight at 8 PM you can hear an hour of classic comedy on The Comedy Vault. Wednesday evening at 10 PM, we’ll likely have a rerun this week because we’ve hit fifty episodes and need to take a little break. .

Then, at 9 PM we bring you an overnight marathon of Prognosis, particularly with epsisodes of our prog-rock showcase that focus on the band, Genesis.

And check back around noon. That’s when we plan to kick off with Day One of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide!

You have to be pretty old to remember The Hudson Brothers. They were a trio of brothers from Portland, Oregon who, in the early-mid 1970s, had a teen-idolish music career, a summer replacement variety show and then a Saturday morning variety show.

Our video tonight is an episode of The Hudson Brothers’ Razzle Dazzle Show from 1974.

It’s a wild artifact of its time. Written by Chris Bearde, who worked on many of the top variety shows back then, including shows by Sonny & Cher and Marty Feldman, and with a cast that included a pre-Gong Show Murray Langston (The Unknown Comic), Freeman King and Rod Hull, the guy with the Emu puppet. Also in the cast and acting as the announcer for the show was Peter Cullen, better known today as the voice of Optimus Prime.

The Hudson Brothers stuck around the fringes of fame as a unit until the early 80s, but since then one of the married both Goldie Hawn and Cindy Williams (and is the father of Kate Hudson), another produced and wrote for Aerosmith, Ringo Starr, Ozzie Osbourne and more. The youngest brother became a prolific producer of television, movies and documentaries (including The Seventh Python, which ran in this space a few months ago). They did pretty well for themselves.

With that, go back and visit the state of the variety show, 1974. There’s some good, dumb fun and pretty decent music here.

This week we go back to November, 2007, for a show that featured the Radio Free Charleston debut of Mark Bates, who has recently become a full-time member of The Carpenter Ants. In this classic show, he’s heard solo, recorded at the old Unity Church, during one of Ron Sowell’s open mic nights.

It’s cool that this episode just coincidentally popped up six days after I got to see and catch up with Mark at Ann Magnuson’s Sururalism show, where he and his other fellow Carpenter Ants provided the musical back up.  It was great seeing Mark for the first time in ages and we’ll both feel really old because this show is from fifteen years ago.

Our other musical guests were most of The Voo Doo Katz, recorded live at the La Belle Theater in South Charleston, and RFC regular John Radcliff, performing in the kitchen at LiveMix Studio. We also feature animation and the first installment of “The Android Family.”

You can read the original production notes, bum links and all,  for this episode right HERE.

The PopCulteer
November 4, 2022

We have a new episode of Mel Larch’s Disco showcase, MIRRORBALL, Friday afternoon on The AIR.  The AIR is PopCult’s sister radio station. You can hear our shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

This week Mel assembled an hour of extended Disco mixes of already-long Disco classics, resulting in a funky hour of danceable, soulful party music that only has a grand total of eight tracks. It’s like a night at the clubs, only it’s just an hour and it’s on at 2 PM in the afternoon.

Check out the playlist…

MB 062

Voyage “From East To West”
Lief Garrett “I Was Made For Dancing”
Dennis Parker “Like An Eagle”
Grace Jones “I Need A Man”
Chic Everybody Dance”
Amii Stewart “Light My Fire/ 137 Disco”
Cher “Take Me Home”
Heatwave “Boogie Nights”

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at 9 PM, Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, and Tuesday at 1 PM  exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, just to be all copacetc, we’ll be replaying one of Sydney Fileen’s classic “Dance Mix” episodes of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. The playlist is buried in a long post, so I’m just gonna drop it right here…

Big Electric Cat 068

Men Without Hats “Safety Dance”
Scritti Politti “Wood Beez”
New Order “Blue Monday”
Nena “99 Red Balloons”
Heaven 17 “Temptation”
Dead Or Alive “You Spin Me Round”
Bananarama “Love In The First Degree”
Soft Cell “Torch”
Frankie Goes To Hollywood “Two Tribes”
Dollar “Hand Held In Black And White”
Duran Duran “The Reflex”
Howard Jones “New Song”
Propaganda “Duel”
Ultravox “Loves Great Adventure”
Yello “The Race”
Tears For Fears “Shout”
The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris “Don’t Leave Me This Way”
The Specials “Ghost Town”

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.

Friday at 9 PM you can tune in for a three hours of coke-fueld 1970s conceptual comedy on The Comedy Vault, with The National Lampoon Comedy Hour. At midnight, stick around for an impromptu nine-hour marathon of Beatles Blast. 

More STUFF TO DO

Here’s three more cool things happening this weekend that popped up on my radar since Wednesday….

That is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and get ready for The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide, which kicks off Monday.

The PopCult Comix Bookshelf

Captain Action: The Classic Collection
by Gil Kane, Jim Shooter, Wallace Wood
forward by Mark Waid
IDW Publishing
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1684058907
$29.99 (discounted at Amazon)

I’ve been writing about one of my favorite childhood toys, Captain Action, since the first month of this blog, and I actually first told you about this book more than three years ago. It was finally published over the summer, and your PopCulteer finally found the time to dig into it, so now I get to tell about it all over again in (spoiler alert) this rave review.

Captain Action was a 12″ action figure that could be dressed up as a variety of superheroes, using outfits (each sold separately). Thanks to the less-sophisticated licensing deals of the day, Ideal Toys was able to offer outfits for the Captain featuring heroes from DC Comics, Marvel, King Features Syndicate and more. It was a great gimmick and the toy line did good business until the 1960s superhero boom went bust after a couple of years.

However, during that time DC Comics picked up the license to produced a comic book based on Captain Action. It lasted five bizarre and intriguing issues, and those make up the bulk of this book.

Captain Action: The Classic Collection collects the entire five-issue run of the comic book, complete with covers and bonus material.

Since the character was pretty much a blank slate, much of his mythos had to be created out of thin air by the writer of his first two issues, a teenaged Jim Shooter (later to be a controversial editor at Marvel and Valiant Comics). Shooter, under the guidance of editors Mort Weisinger and Julie Schwartz, came up with his secret identity (Clive Arno), his job (Archeology Professor with a Museum named after him) and a source of super powers (magic coins imbued with the power of the gods).

Shooter also gave him a super villain, Krellik, because he didn’t have a nemesis in the toy world (Dr. Evil hadn’t showed up yet). The series featured spectacular art, with the first drawn solo by the legendary Wally Wood, and the second with Wood’s inks over the equally legendary Gil Kane.

Wood was one of the premiere EC Comics artists and had just come off a run as a major part of the creative team of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Kane was a major player in DC’s Silver Age revival, having designed and drawn the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, The Atom and many others. Both men had long, illustrous careers that have warranted multiple books, so I’m not going to go into greater detail.

After the first two issues, which told the origin of Captain Action and gave us a great Silver age super hero action story, Shooter was gone. With the third issue, Kane took over as both the writer and penciller (and he even inked the fourth issue himself). It was at this point that the series took a turn toward the psychotronic.

With Gil Kane in charge (under the editing of Julie Schwartz), Captain Action became one of the first truly psychedelic superhero comics. Dr. Evil was introduced, but instead of simply being his “enemy from Alpha Centuri,” as the toy was identified, Dr. Evil in the comics was an alturistic scientist mutated by an accident who becomes a god-like blue-skinned alien with an exposed brain and telepathic powers…who now hates humanity.

Captain Action is very much a work of its time, and when Kane took over writing the book, the influences of Heinlein, Harlan Ellison, and a culture that was experimenting with all kinds of ways to expand your mind were in the air. Kane’s stories are cosmically aware, yet are still filled with superhero action and great comic book melodrama.

Kane would later co-create Adam Warlock for Marvel, with Roy Thomas.

I don’t want to spoil these stories for anyone who hasn’t read them yet, so I’ll just say that the presentation is fantastic here. The color recreation is perfect and the reproduction crisp and clear. Some pages were originall printed with half-page ads, and rather than leave those blank new clever fake ads for Captain Action products take their place.

Letters pages from the original comics are included, and we see fan letters from future professionals Martin Pasko, Klaus Janson and more.

A short section at the back of the book includes samples of the full-page comic book ads for the toys and some of the mini-comics that were included with the figures and outfits. Plus we get a few pages of original art and pencilled pages.

This review is a bit pointless for collectors of Captain Action, because the book was released in June and they probably all have it already, but anybody interested in late-1960s cutting-edge mainstream super heroes should own a copy of this terrific and long overdue collection. It’s a real gem of a short-lived superhero comic, and this is the first time it’s ever been reprinted or collected.

Captain Action: The Classic Collection can be ordered from any bookseller and most comic shops by using the ISBN code, or go with Amazon for a discounted price.

We have a few suggestions for STUFF TO DO in Charleston, and points all over WV for the next few days,and this week we’ll probably have some bonus suggestions on Friday because a lot of folks haven’t bothered to post graphics or create event pages for their shows this early in the week.

Now might be a good time to mention that, if you create a simple graphic that includes the details of your event–what’s happening, where it is, age restrictions and admission fee–then I’m far more likely to include it in a post like this in PopCult. It’s free advertising. Just meet me halfway and put your information where I might find it on social media. Even better, email it directly to me at rudypan@protonmail.com.

Our lead item this week is The International Film Festival in Huntington, part of The Marshall Artists Series. From Thursday through Saturday you can see six critically-acclaimed films from around the world at the historic Keith-Albee Theater. And check this out, they have a website AND a graphic!

If you’re into Live Theater, don’t forget that you can still see Our Town at The Alban and Music Man at The Clay Center this weekend.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Brandon Costello. Saturday sees Johnathan Sartin at Charleston’s beloved Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.

Thursday at 8 PM Florida’s Dial Drive, Charleston’s Hurl Brickbat and other bands will be at The Empty Glass. They didn’t do a graphic or mention a cover charge, but they did create an event page.

This weekend Art Emporium celebrates thirty years in Charleston. Saturday, November 5th from 5 PM to 7 PM. they’ll have snacks, drinks and live music from Grant Jacobs. This is a free event to the public. So stop by and enjoy some music and check out their newly renovated space filled with art and gifts.  More details can be found HERE.

Please remember that the pandemic is not over yet. 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.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few more suggestions for the rest of this week, roughly in order.