Yeah, there’s a bunch of ’em this week. Above you see Radio Free Charleston episodes 54 and 55, which were our two-part Halloween special in 2008.

Radio Free Charleston Horror Theater was an ambitious attempt at recreating the cheesy horror movie-host vibe, only with short films and music videos instead of actual movies. Host segments were shot at the late, lamented LiveMix Studio. We had lots of great folks on hand with the host segments and some terrific musical guests as well.

Part one of RADIO FREE CHARLESTON HORROR THEATER features music from Doctor Senator and The Hellblinki Sextet, plus a short film about Jack The Ripper, vintage animation from Wladislaw Starewicz, excerpts from a film by Spike Nesmith, and loads and loads of extra-creepy-coolness.

Part Two of RADIO FREE CHARLESTON HORROR THEATER continues our tribute to old-time-TV horror movie hosts. We’ve got music videos from Under The Radar and Go Van Gogh, a short ghost film by Rich Allen, scary-freaky animation from Wladislaw Starewicz, plus a studio full of Zombies. You can find combined production notes HERE.

This remastered version combines them both into one 37-minute show. The sequel episode from the following April Fool’s Day can be seen right here…

For the production notes for this episode, which originally ran on April Fool’s Day the following year, go HERE.

As a bonus, we also have episode 55,5, which was guerilla filmmaking at its finest. The entire episode was shot, edited and posted in record time. You can read about it HERE.

The PopCulteer
October 21, 2022

Okay, so you can blame the sudden resignation of Britain’s new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, for today’s new episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat being a mixtape.

You’ll get a new episode of BEC Friday afternoon on The AIR.  You can hear this two-hour block of primo New Wave Music on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

However, Sydney Fileen only had time to record one quick intro for the show, before heading off to do what our friends at Haversham do full time–report on British goings-on for International markets. Sydney had put a lot of time into choosing this week’s playlist and planned on dropping in all sorts of informative trivia and other cool facts during the show, but she simply didn’t have time.

So she recorded her intro and left it to Nigel Pye to finish producing the show, and Sydney also picked a couple of extra songs for the end of the program to cover up the missing time from her not doing the full announce job.

Plus she made sure that I would run the playlist  here, so that her listeners can see what she played. So here that is…

BEC 097
Tim Scott “Swear”
The The “This Is The Day”
The Waitresses “No Guilt”
The Railway Children “Music Stop”
The Stranglers “No More Heroes”
The Light “Contrasting Strangers”
Slow Children “President Am I”
The Teardrop Explodes “When I Dream”
Vilent Femmes “Blister In The Sun”
Til Tuesday “Love In A Vacuum”
The Suburbs “Love Is The Law”
The Woodentops “Wheels Turning”
Cause and Effect “You Think You Know Her”
Yazoo “State Farm”
Joe Jackson “You Can’t Get What You Want”
Replacements “Bastards of Young”
Shriekback “Nemesis (Dance Mix)”
Sugarcubes “Coldsweat”
The Clash “Charlie Don’t Surf”
The Darling Buds “Let’s Go Round There”
Stan Ridgeway “Drive, She Said”
The Dead Milkmen “You’ll Dance To Anything”
Remain In Silence “Moments of Decadence”
Vicious Pink “Fetish”
The Cure “In Between Days”
Tones On Tail “Christian Says”
Ministry “Anything For You”
The Swinging Erudites “Walk With An Erection”
Toy Dolls “Nellie The Elephant”

Sydney was rather irritated at the timing of this week’s news, and I think she demonstrated her annoyance with the choice of the last couple of songs in the show.  It’s safe to assume that next week the Haversham programs will be repeats.

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. Check back every day for fresh content and loads of or regular features.

Okay, it’s time once again for your guide to things you can do in and around Charleston as we get near the spookiest day of the year. In this week’s edition of STUFF TO DO, we’re going to start off with a very cool horror comic that you can Kickstart,  Decay.

Horror commics are one of the coolest parts of Halloween (but some of us read them all year long).

I picked up the first two issues of this five-part series, written by Anthony D. Stokes, earlier this year, and now the third installment is live at Kickstarter, and you can get your hands on the first two parts as well. Let me quote liberally from the Kickstarter page here…

Jess brings her brother DK back from the dead when he gets shot at a house party but after he starts a murderous rampage for revenge she may come to regret that decision.

Decay is a 5 issue comic book series written by me (Stokes), illustrated by Marc Oliver, and lettered by Es Kay. The funds for this campaign will be used on art, lettering, and printing physical copies. This campaign is essential to continuing the series to its conclusion.

Morality plays have been a part of stories since the beginning of time. Putting characters in no-win situations and watching the consequences of their actions is timeless and I’m excited to show my take on it. I’ve always been a fan of mature comics that felt adult but aren’t gratuitous. There’s no excessive nudity, cursing, or gore just an adult story with mature themes.

Decay is a gritty grimy revenge thriller set in New Orleans. It is inspired by Frankenstein and The Crow.

Stokes is being a little humble here. Decay is pretty freakin’ amazing, with a fresh take on horror that is so compelling that your ever-forgetful blogger has been anxiously awaiting this Kickstarter campaign since summer. Stokes is a very gifted storyteller and in Decay he’s woven familar elements into something really new and exciting. The campaign has just been live for a couple of days, and its already one-third funded.

Stokes is directing the action here, but the art by Marc Oliver and the lettering by Es Kay perfectly suit the story and the end result is, as they say, an action-packed thrill ride.

If you’re a fan of horror and want to support a very creative new take from a young Black writer. then visit THIS PAGE and kick in.

Meanwhile, in and around Charleston

Thursday at The LaBelle Theater in South Charleson and Friday at The Raleigh Playhouse and Theatre in Beckley, the locally-produced movie, Return of the Mothman will be on the big screen. Check out the trailer…

At the LaBelle, There will be a reception and Q&A with the cast & crew after the screening on Friday, October 21st at 8:50 PM. This event includes hors d’oeuvres and beverages with a cash bar.

If you would like to just see the movie, there are six viewing opportunities total, all starting at 8:50 PM on October 20th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th, and 29th. Tickets are $4 each, except for the special screening & reception on the 21st which are $20.

Concession stand will be open for all screenings with snacks & drinks. You can find tickets online HERE.

In Beckley, Screenings will be at 8:00 PN on Friday October 21st and Saturday, October 22nd. Tickets are $5 each and can be purchased a the door, or HERE.

Return of the Mothman is produced by West Virginia based film studio Vandalia FilmWorx Foundation, known for the historic drama “River of Hope” released in 2020 , winner of the WV FILMmakers Festival Best Narrative Film for 2020, with Calvin Grimm returning to co-direct with Herbert Gardner. The film stars Ryan Gilleran as Ted the central character, along with major supporting roles from acclaimed actors Kelly Strom, Phil Washington, Caroline Clay, Eli Burns, and Angelica Gilleran – with cameos from horror film legends John Russo (co-wrote the screenplay for “Night of the Living Dead”, 1968) and Butch Patrick (actor portraying Eddie Munster in the original “The Munsters” series).

The film is not rated, it includes some mild violence, adult language & themes, but does not contain any nudity. Total run time is 1 hour 35 minutes.

ArtWalk happens Thursday night in Downtown Charleston, and several of the galleries and stops along the way will be leaning toward the macabre. We’re running some graphics below, but just get out and check out the different venues. They all have great stuff.

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

Please remember that despite what some folks are saying, 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.

Since we’re running this feature early this week, there’s bound to be more cool things pop up. I do wish that some of the local venues and music acts could post promo graphics more than six hours before the show. It makes it a little tough for your humble blogger to recommend a show they don’t tell me it’s happening.

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

Wednesday afternoon The AIR brings you a special new episode of Curtain Call plus a new Beatles Blast.  You can tune in at the website, or if you’re on a laptop or desktop, you could just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM Beatles Blast returns with a new show  that presents “The Little Girl Tapes.”  In July, 1967, two young girls from New York visited London in the hopes of meeting their idols, The Beatles.  Surprisingly, they got lucky and met both Paul McCartney and George Harrison, who invited them into their homes for a chat.  The girls had a portable tape recorder and preserved the two conversations, which are unlike any other interviews with the Beatles. The sound quality is abysmal, but the contents, which also also includes George’s visitor, Klaus Voorman, are priceless. We present both interviews in this episode of the show.

Beatles Blast can be heard every Wednesday at 2 PM, with replays Thursday at 11 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday afternoon.

At 3 PM on Curtain Call, Mel Larch salutes Dame Angela Lansbury, who passed away just last week. More than simply the “Murder She Wrote” lady, Lansbury followed in the footsteps of her mother, Irish actress Moyna MacGill, and broke into movies in Hollywood at the age of 17 in the movie classic, Gaslight. She starred in movies, radio and television before making her Broadway debut in 1957.

Making her mark in a big way, Lansbury’s first Broadway musical was Stephen Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle, and she followed that by creating the role of Mame in Jerry Herman’s musical, which resulted in her first Tony Award for best actress in a musical.

She won additional Tony awards for Dear World and the revival of Gypsy in the 1970s, and closed that decade with her fourth Tony Award winning role as Mrs.Lovett, in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeny Todd.

Of course, after that she spent much of the 1980s as the star of Murder She Wrote on TV, and lent her voice to Disney’s Beauty and The Beast as Mrs. Potts. This week on Curtain Call we salute this supremely talented star of stage, screen and radio with a mixtape of her musical highlights. Most are from Broadway cast albums, but we did dig into a couple of her movies, just to show her range. Check out the playlist…

Curtain Call 117

Angela Lansbury
“Worst Pies In London” Sweeny Todd
“Some People” Gypsy
“That’s How Young I Feel” Mame
“Manic Depressives” Prettybelle
“A Step In The Right Direction” Bedknobs and Broomsticks
“Me and My Town” Anyone Can Whistle
“Rose’s Turn” Gypsy
“A Little Priest” Sweeny Todd
“A Parade In Town” Anyone Can Whistle
“When I’m Drunk I’m Beautiful” Prettybelle
“Kiss Her Now” Dear World
“You’ll Never Get Away From Me” Gypsy
“Not While I’m Around” Sweeny Todd
“And I Was Beautfiul” Dear World
“By The Sea” Sweeny Todd
“You Never Looked Better” Prettybelle
“Everything’s Coming Up Roses” Gypsy
“Beauty and the Beast” Beauty and the Beast

Curtain Call can be heard on The AIR Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM, Saturday at 8 PM and Monday at 9 AM. A six-hour marathon of classic episodes can be heard Sunday evening starting at 6 PM, and an all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

Also on The AIR, Wednesday at 11 PM, a new edition of The Comedy Vault features Neil’s Heavy Concept Album, which is a very special treat for fans of The Young Ones. The Comedy Vault can be heard every Wednesday at 11 PM, with the new episodes replayed a couple of weeks later, Monday at 8 PM.

It’s Tuesday on The AIR  and that means it’s Radio Free Charleston time, and we’re back from our allergy-induced week off with another new three-hour 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 found elsewhere on this page.

We have three full hours of music, much of it new, local and not, at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday.   This week our latest Radio Free Charleston has killer new tunes from Frenchy And The Punk, Todd Rundgren and Rivers Cuomo, Todd Burge, Queen, The Company Stores, Dave Davies, David Synn, Bjork, The Paranoid Style and many more. We play a couple of Frenchy and The Punk songs from their forthcoming album, Zen Ghost, which is due out October 28.

Also, I’m still a bit raspy from the last week, but I was awake for the whole show, so that’s good.

Throughout the show we continue our mix of local, independent and major-label artists, just to keep you on your toes.  This week we veer a little proggy, a little ska, a little metal. All kinds of music are welcome here on RFC. Just a warning, parts of the show aren’t really safe for work, but then you probably already knew that. Also, the Rundgren/Cuomo song is a potential major league earworm. Despite our local leanings, we do get a little international this week, with artists from Poland, Niger, Japan, Iceland, The UK, and Kentucky.

Check out the playlist below to see all the goodies we have in store. Live links will take you to the artist’s page…

RFC V5 106

Frenchy And The Punk “Come In And Play”
Todd Rundgren and Rivers Cuomo “Down With the Ship”
Todd Burge “I Hope Fred Doesn’t Get Rabies”
Nervous Twitch “What The Hell”
Queen “Face It Alone”
The Company Stores “Maria”
Dave Davies “This Precious Time (Long Lonely Road)”
David Synn “Killing Time”
Bjork “Atopos”
Deftones “Drive”
The Anchoress “Friday I’m In Love”
J Marinelli “Are You Terrified”
James Townsend “Americana Ruse”

hour two
Frenchy And The Punk “If The World Doesn’et End First”
The Paranoid Style “Steve Cropper Plays Femme Fatale”
David Bowie “Breaking Glass”
Mdou Moctar “Chismiten”
Todd Tamenend Clark “Surrealistic San Francisco”
Beggars Clan “Divide and Conquer”
Sari Ska Band “Robota”
Three’s Company Blues “Pray For The Thunder”
Julian Cope “Boris Good Enough”
Corduroy Brown “Sponge”
Bane Star “Winterspring”
Ann Magnuson “I’m A Man”
Tyler Childers “Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven (Joyful Noise Version)”

hour three
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Fleez”
Todd Burge “My Kinda Town”
Flower Companyz “Uta No Naked”
Minor Swing “Waltz For Django”
Steve Howe “The Continental”
Billy Idol “Running From The Ghost”
Disarm The Fallen “Cold Dead Night”
The Company Stores “American Dream Girl”
The Heavy Editors “Time Travel”
Spencer Elliott “Ellipsos”
Weezer “I Can’t Dance, Don’t Ask Me”
The Murlocs “Bellarine Ballerina”
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros “Johnny Appleseed”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM,  Thursday at 3 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.

After RFC, stick around for encores of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.  At 3 PM we have two recent episodes of The Swing Shift.

This week I went back to a rough digital sketch for one of the “Monster Faces” that I did in collaboration with my brother, Frank, back when I was participating in ArtMares. I think it dates back to 2008. It was basically a passport-type portrait of a Godzilla-type monster. I went back to that very rough sketch, and from that did a very small acrylic painting, trying a few different thinner techniques.  Because it wasn’t dry enough to put in the scanner, I had to photograph it, and the resulting shadows on some of the colors make the digital version look more interesting than the real-world version.

Because of my MG limitations, I’m working smaller, and because it’s October, I’m doing spooky stuff, so that’s why you’re seeing this. I don’t consider it one of my favorites, to be honest.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE. It doesn’t get any better, though.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you new episodes of  Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a new 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. I don’t have a playlist for either of today’s new shows from our friends at Haversham. I probaby could have gotten playlists if I didn’t wait until after they were all out of the office to email them.

On Psychedelic Shack, Nigel Pye offers up an hour-long mixtape of Psychedelic Music that kicks off what Nigel tells me is “a cover of a cover of a classic tune.”

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. Classic episodes can be heard Sunday at 9 AM as part of our Sunday Haversham Recording Institute collection.

On Prognosis, Herman Linte presents a two-hour live concert by Frank Zappa, recorded in the mid-1970s.

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 stand-up from Bob Newhart on The Comedy Vault. Wednesday evening at 10 PM, we’ll have another new episode of The Comedy Vault.

Then, at 9 PM we bring you an overnight marathon of Nigel Pye’s Psychedelic Music showcase, Psychedelic Shack.

To put you all in the spirit of Halloween, tonight we’re going to look back at five videos that we made of the first four HallowEast Zombie Walks, plus one extra Zombie Walk from the Charleston Town Center. We did this exact same thing last year, but I promised you Halloween stuff every Sunday this month and this was the easiest to do while I’m still dealing with allergies.

Really spooky allergies…just to keep in the spirit.

HallowEast abandoned the Zombie Walks when they couldn’t figure out how to use the event to sell beer, but it was fun while it lasted, as you can see here. Happy Halloween, folks!

This week we’re still all Halloweeny, so we go back to October, 2014, for an all-star Radio Free Charleston Halloween Spectacular, with our guests Mark Wolfe, Kitty Killton, Penny Maple, and Mic Bradford all gathered around a Quija board. Mark guest-directed the host segments, which feature camera work by Mark and Melissa Bradford.

This was the Ouija Board episode, and it was loads of fun to produce.

Our musical guests were Radio Cult, The Jasons, Possum Kingdom Ramblers and HarraH. You’ll get to hear songs about monster movies, CODA comic books and a Bluegrass take on Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla.” It’s a pretty loaded show.

You can read the full production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
October 14, 2022

Paul Jabara was an actor, singer, OSCAR-winning songwriter and one of the top composers of Disco music. He passed away due to complications from AIDS just over thirty years ago, and  some of his best-selling solo albums are just now being released digitally for the first time. Mel Larch is a big fan, and devotes the whole hour of MIRRORBALL to Jabara 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.

Jabara won his OSCAR for the song “Last Dance,” performed in the movie, Thank God It’s Friday, by his friend, Donna Summer. Jabara is also in the movie as Carl, the nearsighted schlub looking for love. Later Jabara co-wrote “It’s Raining Men” with Paul Shaffer for The Weather Girls. and also had a string of club hits as a solo artist. Whitney Houston made her first recorded appearance on one of Jabara’s solo records when she was just 19 years old.

Because his work has just become available again after many years out of print, Mel decided to put together a collection to shine the Disco spotlight on this overlooked musical genius, who left us too soon.  Check out the playlist…

MB 061

Paul Jabara/Donna Summer “Shut Out”
Paul Jabara “Heaven Is A Disco”
The Weather Girls “It’s Raining Men”
Paul Jabara “Trapped In A Stairway”
Paul Jabara “Disco Queen”
Paul Jabara “One Man Ain’t Enough”
Paul Jabara with Donna Summer “Something’s Missing In My Life”
Paul Jabara “Dance”
Paul Jabara “Dancin'”
Paul Jabara “Pleasure Island”
Donna Summer “Last Dance”

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

At 3 PM, we’ll be replaying Sydney Fileen’s a classic “Dance Mix” episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. You can find the playlist and background info HERE if you scroll down a bit.

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 humours music on The Comedy Vault, with Noel Coward, Flight of the Conchords and Spike Jones.

The PopCult Comix Bookshelf

Fantastic Four: Full Circle
by Alex Ross
Harry N. Abrams/Marvel Arts
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1419761676
$24.99 (discounted at Amazon)

Fantastic Four: Full Circle is a stunning valentine to Jack Kirby and his brilliant late-1960s run on Marvel’s Fantastic Four. With dialogue and editing by Stan Lee, Kirby told epic superhero tales of cosmic adventure that set the standard for the Marvel Universe.

Alex Ross has long been established as a master of telling dynamic superhero stories with a photorealistic style. Full Circle is the first time that he’s handled both the writing and the art solo, with no collaborators.

This is the first “Marvel Arts” book, a joint venture of Abrams Arts and Marvel, and it gets the imprint off to a strong start. Ross jumps right in, unburdoned by decades of complicated continuity, and tells a direct sequel to a couple of Kirby/Lee FF stories from the 1960s.

The end result is a spectacularly-illustrated 64 page story that reads like a lost classic Fantastic Four Annual from thecomic’s peak period. The artwork of Alex Ross is pure eye candy, and he shows off the strength of his layouts here as well. He perfectly recreates the fast pace of the classic comics and crams tons of action into a very short space.

Ross did not paint the art here. It’s drawn traditionally and colored by Ross with Josh Johnson in wild day-glo hues, with digital effects to lend the art the hand-separated dot-pattern look of old school comics. It’s got just the right touch of nostalgia, without turning it into a gimmick.

Another really nice touch is a fold-out dustcover that retells the origin of The Fantastic Four, just to bring new readers up to speed.

The story itself is an adventure in the Negative Zone, which spins out of dangling storylines left over from the Kirby days. It is everything a fan could want in a Fantastic Four story set in the Negative Zone. As with most of his projects, Ross has based his depictions of some of the characters on real people. In this case, Sue Storm and Reed Richards look remarkably like Deanna Lund and Gary Conway, from the 1968 TV series, Land of the Giants. This “casting” works remarkably well.

Ironically, despite its setting in the Negative Zone, the story is overwhelmingly upbeat and positive. Thematically it would fit right in with the treasury-sized specials that Ross did with Paul Dini at DC over twenty years ago. In fact, one of my two nit-picky criticisms of this book is that they didn’t print it in the tabloid-size of those books, rather than the magazine-size that they used. It is nice to have it in durable hardcover.

My other criticism is with the printing I think I know what happened here. I believe that Ross colored the deep black areas (and there are a lot in the Negative Zone) with a layer of red ink over top of the black ink. This gives you very deep, striking blacks on the page. Unfortunately (as I learned when we used this technique on the cover of CODA #4) when you do that on glossy paper, it takes much longer for the pages to dry.

A lot of the pages in Fantastic Four: Full Circle stick together. Some of them stubbornly so. Still, it’s worth prying them apart to see the incredible artwork, and with some patience I was able to do so without damaging the book.

Aside from that minor issue, Fantastic Four: Full Circle is probably the most beautiful book Marvel has published in years. Ross captures the feel of Kirby and Lee’s storytelling while offering his own artistic interpretation of the world of The Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four: Full Circle should be available from most comic shops and any bookseller, using the ISBN code, or at a discount, from Amazon.