Day Six of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide offers up five suggestions for “Retro Cool” gift ideas, which range from stocking-stuffer cheap to major-appliance pricey.  These gifts are for those folks on your holiday shopping list who, perhaps, wish to glance back to the middle of the previous century to appreciate the style, culture and counter-culture of a an earlier era.

Victrola 50’s Retro Bluetooth Record Player & Multimedia Center
Available from Amazon, starting at $75.50.

Vinyl is back and in order to listen to LPs you, you need a turntable. This perfectly serviceable turntable looks freaking awesome, like a giant radio ripped out of a Tri-Five Chevy or something. On top of that, it’s loaded with features.

First off, it’s more than just a record player. Don’t let the 50s retro looks fool you. This giant chunk of coolness is loaded with modern features: The turntable plays & records your Vinyl to MP3 (Mac/PC software & USB cable included); It has a CD player; AM/FM radio; Bluetooth; Aux & headphone jack; plus stereo speakers.

It’s all-in-one unit, with no need for external receivers or speakers. Get it up and running in minutes. Retro looks combined with the convenience of modern technology make this record player a great value – ideal for beginners & vintage enthusiasts alike

It features a volume and FM tuner knob, input select (function) button and a complete set of buttons for the CD player. The screen comes on in blue LED light, buttons have a nice feel to them, and the whole look is trendy 50s

Right now it’s available in four colors, but the prices seem to change daily, except for the black one. It’s cool, it looks like it just landed here from the 1950s and it’ll let you play all that vinyl you’ve been buying lately.

The Pulp Tarot by Todd Alcott
Available from the artist, via Etsy, for $24.95

A deck of Tarot Cards, depicted in Todd Alcott’s irresistable pop culture mashup style is a bit of a no-brainer. This deck of mystical fortune-telling cards looks amazing, and even if you are a Tarot skeptic, you have to admit this stylish deck of cards is drool-worthy.

Alcott, himself, tells us about it, “This project has been a very long time aborning. I’ve been interested in the Tarot as both an oracle and as a piece of design for decades. Back in the 1980s, I started to design a new deck, painting huge new images based on the artistic trends of the day. Soon, the enormity of the task overwhelmed me and I abandoned it. More recently, my visual art has been centered around creating new work based on midcentury designs, incorporating and manipulating existing images from 20th-century pop culture with an emphasis on the startling, dynamic paintings of classic pulp fiction covers. The Pulp Tarot expands upon that work, taking 70 years of pop-culture ephemera and putting it into a Photoshop Cuisinart to create a new Tarot deck that approaches the classic images of the Rider-Waite-Smith deck from the point of view of this modern cultural blender.”

Inspiration for the cards is drawn from everything from late 19th-century dime novels to 1970s exploitation movie posters, creating a rich, complex conversation between the arcane symbols of the Tarot and the sensationalist world of the pulps. This is a COMPLETE DECK, all 78 cards, plus a booklet describing my choices and process.

Mad For Kicks
A Tokey Wedge Swinger
by Jack Lynn
published by Grizzly Pulp
$9.95

This is Grizzly Pulp #2, the long-awaited follow-up to Nympho Lodge, which I reviewed in PopCult last year. It’s another classic pulp adventure starring Tokey Wedge.

Tokey Wedge was the star of about 20 cheap pulp novels that were originally published back in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Cranked out by proflic “Men’s Adventure” writer Max van derVeer under his “Jack Lynn” psuedonym, these were originally put out by Novel Books of Chicago and they are now being resurrected by the folks at Grizzly Pulp, featuring terrific new covers by Jim Silke, just in time to warp the minds of a new generation of readers. As with their first release, the book comes with a tasteful dust cover to protect the book from prying eyes.

While filled with gritty, politically-incorrect, controversial subject matter, the books are well-crafted “crime noir.” Aside from the prologue, the book is written in the first person, as Tokey. The dialogue is crisp and clever, and the characterization of Tokey is very solid. Since we meet everyone else through his perceptions, it makes for a very consistent narrative.

Just as last time, Grizzly Pulp has done an amazing job here, recreating the look and feel of a cheap pulp novel, with thin cover stock and grayish pulp paper. The book is in the traditional cheap “pocket book” size around 4″ by 7″. Jim Silke provides another exquisite cover, which is hidden behind a plain black dust cover, so you aren’t seen reading such scandalous material in public. You can order Mad For Kicks at their website. You can also pick up the first volume in this series, Nympho Lodge.

Mad For Kicks is $9.95 plus shipping, and when the books will likely come loaded with extras like stickers, coasters and stuff that plug other pulp novel reprints. It’s a guilty pleasure, to be sure, but it’s good sleazy fun, the kind men like.

Retro Frigidaire Refrigerators
Available from a variety of retailers in a variety of sizes, for a variety of prices ranging from $120 to $800

Regular reader of PopCult probably know that your humble blogger has been on the hunt for a new refrigerator of late. While I’m not considering one of these for myself (my kitchen’s design is not really compatible) I was struck by how cool this line of retro-styled refrigerators look.

You can find these everywhere from Amazon to Lowe’s, and they come in many sizes and colors, but they all have the look of a mid-century plasticized Art Deco style to them.

Some are big enough to serve as your main fridge for a retro-kitchen. Others are small enough for an office or dorm room. Colors range from glossy back to powder blue to flaming red, with a few other options along the way. Smaller units have a handy bottle-opener on the side.

I am recommending the Frigidaire brand. Other companies make retro fridges, but I’m not hearing great things about their durability.

It might seem strange to give a refrigerator as a gift, but it shows a gargantuan level of commitment, especially if you wrap it.

RETRO STYLE TRANSISTOR RADIO
From American Science and Suplus
$7,95

Our final pick today, and the cheapest on our list, is a really cool-looking, retro-styled transistor radio that runs on 2 AA batteries and lets you listen to broadcast radio off the grid.

And since it’s from American Science & Surplus (“Please don’t abbreviate our name), that means that the description in their catalog and on their website is pretty entertaining by itself:

In 1958, Buddy Holly came out of radios like these. This retro version of the first transistor radios measures 4-1/4″ x 2-1/2″ x 1″ in dark blue with a wire handle that doubles as an antenna. AM works better than the FM, but who listened to FM in 1958? Plenty loud (guaranteed to not fade away) with classic thumb-wheel tuning and volume. You add a pair of “AAA” batteries. To make things even more like 1958, carry the radio in your shirt pocket.

It’s a perfect stocking stuffer for the music-lover in your life who isn’t online all the time.

Tomorrow The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide will stick with our retro theme as we bring you five retro board game gift ideas!

This week’s art is purely digital. Between my fingers acting up from MG and some looming deadlines (AKA “Paying Work”), I had to do something quick and easy this week. So I drew a city skyline with the mouse, and did some digital fibbutzing with it (new word alert). Then I dropped in a simple gradiant for the background.

It didn’t take long to do, but it looks pretty cool.

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 live concert from Tangerine Dream.

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 Steven Wright on The Comedy Vault. Wednesday evening at 10 PM, we’ll likely have another 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 Beatles Blast, with a sprinkling of random episodes from the last six years.

And check back around noon. That’s when we plan to post Day Six of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide! Today we have five retro cool gift ideas.

Also, because of that major magazine deadline this week, Radio Free Charleston will not be new Tuesday. Instead we’ll re-present our 100th episode, from a couple of months ago. We’ll be back with a new show next week.

Over the past several years I’ve posted a lot of original videos in this blog.  In fact, I’ve posted so many that, to be honest, a few seemed to fall through the cracks and went virtually unnoticed.

To help remedy that, we’re going to re-present three short videos from recent years that nobdy seemed to watch the first time around.

First up we have video I shot in 2018 while riding Amtrak’s The Pennsylvanian into New York. It’s a fun trip that takes us through the famous Horseshoe Curve in Blair County, Pennsylvania.  It’s a cool railroad curiosity, so if you missed it then, here it is again…

From that same trip, here’s three and a half minutes of random NYC images…

A few months later your PopCulteer and his wife, Mel Larch, visited The Willis Tower in Chicago, one of the tallest buildings in the world, and rather than ascend to the famous SkyDeck, we immediately went to the second-sub-basement for the arcade near the gift shop. There we beheld two MOLD-A-RAMA machines. This video captures that experience…

There you have it, three random examples of original PopCult videos! Enjoy the hell out of them and share them with your friends!

Let us take you back to late November, 2007 for an episode of Radio Free Charleston hosted from the La Belle Theater in South Charleston that features music from Raymond Wallace and Doctor Senator, plus animation from Frank Panucci and news about then upcoming events in South Charleston, which are now many years in the past. .

This episode of RFC is loaded with promos for upcoming events that, of course, already happened. You’ll see your host (and blogger), Rudy Panucci, give heartfelt plugs for The No Pants Players annual Christmas Show and IWA East Coast’s double-show, where they ran a high-flyer’s tournament and the first Masters of Pain show on the same day. This show also includes a promo clip for the “Best of Radio Free Charleston Night” at the LaBelle and a brief appearence by Kitty Killton before she was Kitty Killton. We never did get around to doing “Mad Man Pondo’s Celebrity Run-in” though, but it was a great promo.

Our musical acts were Raymond Wallace, recorded in the lobby at LiveMix Studio, and Doctor Senator, recorded at The Sound Factory. Those two venues, sadly, are no longer with us. You can read the original production notes for this show HERE.

Today’s five picks for The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide are all music. I am suggesting physical formats for music because 1) I’m old and 2) You can’t wrap a download.

Below you’ll find a mix of cool music with new releases, reissues, archival collections, live performances and top-level musicians. You won’t find local musicians here today. I’m saving those for later in The PopCult Gift Guide. While the prices range from cheap to the low three-figures, I’m not including anything with a ridiculous price, like Paul McCartney’s $700 crate of 80 singles. These are all reasonably priced gift ideas.

Unless I provide a link, you ought to be able to buy or order these from any retailer who sells CDS or Vinyl. I strongly suggest that you support your local music retailer, but some of these are harder to find in person.

Todd Rundgren Space Force
Cleopatra Records
Available anywhere physical music is sold on CD and Vinyl.

This brand-new release is the thrilling 2022 studio album from rock legend Todd Rundgren collaborating with several peers and acolytes to create one of the his most diverse albums of his stellar career. Includes guest performances by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, hip hop stars The Roots, indie rock duo The Lemon Twigs, outsider theatrical act Sparks, electronic icon Thomas Dolby, guitar maestro Steve Vai, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and lots more.

That’s the advertising blurb above, and this album is so loaded that they didn’t feel the need to mention that Adrian Belew and Neil Finn are also among the musical guests.

Be warned that “Down With The Ship,” Rundgren’s collaboration with Cuomo, based on a sample from The Skatalites, is one of the most infectous earworms you are ever likely to hear. It’ll stick in your head for weeks, if not longer.

Space Force is recommended for fans of Rundgren, his collaborators or anybody who likes adventurous rock music.

Paul Weller Will of The People
Universal UK
Available from retailers who carry imports, or Amazon

This is another three CD set of rarities from the former leader of The Jam and The Style Council.

Back in the autumn of 2003, the Fly On the Wall collection brought together a wealth of Paul Weller solo recordings that stretched back to 1991. The B-sides, 12-inch EP tracks, single remixes and ‘live’ recordings featured all had one thing in common, namely that they hadn’t been included on any of his hugely successful solo albums. Furthermore, in many instances, they’d become highly sought after as the original 7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch and CD singles and promos that first aired them were fetching significant sums from fans and collectors.

Will of the People follows up Fly On the Wall and takes the listener through a similar mix of rarities, this time spanning the period 2002 to 2021. Like it’s predecessor not only does it make for some great listening but it’s a superb way to hear all those hard to get solo tracks that haven’t been featured on an album before.

This collection has been compiled by Paul Weller himself and Paul has provided artwork ideas and sketches for the design. Alongside this Paul has written track-by-track sleeve notes. The release includes additional sleeve notes from writer and broadcaster John Wilson.

Will of The People is a must-have for fans of Paul Weller. It’s a treasure-trove of gems.

Robert Berry’s 3.2 Alive at ProgStock Double CD and DVD
Self-released. Order it from his website for $20 ($25 autographed)

Robert Berry is sort of the Zelig of progressive rock. He was to have taken over as the lead singer of the Steve Howe/Steve Hackett band, GTR, in the mid-1980s, but that band dissolved before he could make his debut. He then formed the band 3 with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, but after one album and tour, those two reunited with Greg Lake, leaving Berry on his own.

Following that he spearheaded several Prog-rock tribute albums, released three holiday albums as the leader of The December People and is currently in a band with members of Saxon and Saga called “Six By Six.”

Before his current project he recorded and toured as “Robert Berry’s 3.2,” playing songs he’d written with Keith Emerson prior to Emerson’s death, as well as tunes from the original 3 project and other prog-rock classics.

From Robert’s triumphant 3.2 band’s 29 cities North American tour, this two-CD plus DVD set captures the band at the 2019 International ProgStock Festival. This 2-hour program encompasses Robert’s 30-year history of progressive rock and features 15 tracks, including Robert’s work with Steve Howe (YES), Geoff Downes (GTR), the Magna Carta Tribute album series, and more.

Featured along with Robert Berry is guitarist Paul Keller from the original “3” touring band on guitar/vocals, Jimmy Keegan (Spock’s Beard) on drums/vocals, and Andrew Colyer (Circuline) doing the difficult keyboards and vocals parts with ease.

Any prog-rock fan should love this. He has long stories about his legendary collaborators between the songs, and in addition to his own music, his band takes on tunes from YES, Jethro Tull and ELP. You get the whole show on two CDs, plus on DVD. And for five bucks more, he’ll sign it for you.

TOYAH Anthem Super Deluxe Edition
Cherry Red
This is another import, so you may have to resort to Amazon

During the pandemic Toyah Wilcox and her husband, Robert Fripp, have kept the shut-in masses entertained with their bizarre and delightful Sunday Lunch videos that feature the pair doing their own unique versions of some of the most unlikely songs you could imagine.

This higher profile has remined the public of Toyah’s career as a hit UK new-wave chanteuse and now we are being treated to deluxe reissues of her four-decade-old work with her namesake band. The latest album to get this treatment is 1981’s Anthem.

This super deluxe edition includes two CDs, an NTSC/Region 0 DVD, a vinyl picture disc LP, a 12″ splatter colored single, and a transparent orange 7″ vinyl single. Plus there’s a 44 page book, a 12″x12″ signed print, and four postcards.

The meat of the package is a digitally remastered and expanded edition of Toyah’s 1981 Gold-selling album Anthem. This release presents the full album complemented by 25 bonus tracks.

Among the bonus materials is the standalone hit single ‘Thunder In The Mountains’. Produced by Nick Tauber, with arrangements by the band and Toyah, the album features a line- up that saw Wilcox and Joel Bogen joined by Nigel Glockler, Phil Spalding and Adrian Lee.

Further bonus material includes a six-song live session recorded on 1 April, 1981 at BBC’s Paris Theatre in London which is released commercially for the first time ever plus a previously unreleased unfaded version of the flexi-disc track ‘For You’.

The accompanying DVD presents a fascinating new in-depth interview feature with Toyah about the creation of the album plus a track-by-track commentary and exclusive renditions of three Anthem songs, plus for the first time ever classic footage of Toyah’s 1981 BBC performances of ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ and four different appearances on the legendary Top Of The Pops alongside performances originally broadcast on Something Else, Cheggers Plays Pop and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop plus the classic promo videos for ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, both directed by Godley & Creme.

That’s one hell of a lot of Toyah for you. Highly recommended for the New Wave Music fan on your shopping list.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years
Dark Horse Records
Available anywhere physical music is sold on CD and Vinyl.

2022 marks 20 years since the passing of the legendary Joe Strummer. While best known as the frontman for The Clash, between 1999-2002 Strummer produced some of his most exciting work alongside The Mescaleros.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years is the first comprehensive collection highlighting this intense period of creativity and brings together the albums Rock Art and The X-Ray Style (1999), Global A Go-Go (2001), the posthumous Streetcore (2003), and Vibes Compass, a brand-new compilation of 15 B-sides and rarities, including never before heard tracks like ‘Ocean of Dreams’ (featuring Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on guitar) and early demos of some of the Mescaleros best-loved tracks (‘The Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘X-Ray Style’ and more), through to some of the original recordings from Joe’s last ever sessions (‘Coma Girl’, ‘Fantastic’ and ‘Get Down Moses’), all in one complete boxset.

All albums are remastered by Grammy Award winner Paul Hicks (The Beatles / The Rolling Stones / John Lennon / David Bowie) and are packaged in a richly curated boxset, featuring extensive new liner notes and interviews with Joe’s friends, collaborators and The Mescaleros band members, plus never-before-seen handwritten notes, lyrics, and drawings by Joe taken from the Joe Strummer Archive.

Both the 4CD and 7LP boxes include four reproduction lyric sheets and chord charts, and the LP box includes an exclusive 12”x12” art print. Joe Strummer 002 serves as a loving tribute to Strummer’s final musical output, released in celebration of what would have been his 70th birthday year.

This is a must-have album for any fan of Joe Strummer, or his previous band, The Clash. He is a much-missed musical force and it’s nice to have a reminder of his musical brilliance.

The PopCulteer
November 11, 2022

It’s Friday and we have a few suggestions for STUFF TO DO in Charleston, and points all over WV for the next few days. That’s pretty much all we have on the agenda for this week’s PopCulteer because your humble blogger is toiling away on The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.  Later today we’ll have some music gift ideas.

Before we jump into local events, I need to tell you about a really cool online auction that benefits an important cause.

This November monster fans from around the world will have a chance to bid on one-of-a-kind painted figures of the most famous movie monsters ever in an online auction to benefit planned parenthood.

The Monsters vs Madness auction is the brainchild of author, pop culture expert, producer and co-chair of the Monsterama Convention, Anthony Taylor. Last summer, outraged by the misguided Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case, Taylor decided to do something to help correct this disastrous overstep from the court.

Taylor says, “I’ve decided that expressing my dissent of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by preaching to the choir here on social media isn’t enough, so I’ve organized a benefit auction to support Planned Parenthood. Later this year, I’ll be auctioning off movie monster figurines hand-painted by some amazing artists! All funds raised will benefit Planned Parenthood to help them support reproductive rights.”

The figures in question are newly-minted, using the original Marx Toy Company molds, and are being painted all over the world by a dazzling array of notable artists, including Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop, Don Maitz, Howard Berger from KNB Effects, Chris Walas, Mitch O’Connell, David J. Skal, Steve Wang, Joseph Michael Linsner, Tom Taggart, Kirk Thatcher, Ed Repka, Bob Eggleton, David Fisher, Kerry Gammill, and many more!

Creators from the world of movies, television, comics, literature and more are donating their efforts to raise funds and awareness to help our country cope with the desires of a fanatical minority of radical politicians who have put their personal ambitions ahead of the health of women, and in the process have endangered the medical freedom of every American citizen. In order to bid, you must register at the Auction Page (https://bit.ly/3MS54DT) where you can also donate without bidding, view the auction catalog and learn more about the cause. Bidding began at midnight November 11, just a few hours ago, and ends November 27.

Check it out, it’s a cool auction for a very important cause. You can find more details and photos at their Facebook Page.

Let me take another moment 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.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Shawn Benfield. Saturday sees donations being accepted for Our Future WV as Swingstein and Robin play at Charleston’s beloved Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.  We have a graphic for it below, but I want to mention that Deni Bonet, formerly of the legendary Charleston band, Stark Raven, is returning to her old stomping grounds this Sunday to appear on Mountain Stage.

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.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

That is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and come back later today and every weekday for the next three weeks as we continue The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide, which kicks off Monday.

Yesterday in The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide we gave you ideas for five Tiki Mug gifts. Today, while we’re sticking with Tiki, there are no mugs on our list. Instead we’re going to share with you some other gift ideas for the Tiki-minded individual on your holiday shopping list.

The Art of Tiki
by Sven Kirsten (Author), Otto von Stroheim (Author)
La Luz de Jesus
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1732669741
$40.00

First up we have the third edition of a book that was originally published in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary Tiki Art Exhibition at La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.

The Art of Tiki is a passionate study of the Tiki idol as an art form. For the first time, contemporary Tiki art is united and presented equally with what inspired it, original mid-century Polynesian pop. Author Sven Kirsten combines his first-hand experiences in exploring the birth of Tiki style with his intimate knowledge of the Tiki Revival, painting a vivid, visually arresting portrait of a unique, always new art genre.

Sven Kirsten was born in the the German port town of Hamburg in 1955. He emigrated to California in 1980 to study at the San Francisco Art Institute and the American Film Institute. It was this love for visuals that inspired Sven to collect and photograph the remnants of the forgotten culture of Polynesian pop in America, leading him to identify the Tiki as its icon. His three books on the subject put Tiki firmly on the map of American pop culture, and are regarded as the standard works on the style.

Otto von Stroheim was born and raised in Los Angeles, never more than a short car ride away from Tiki Restaurants, Disneyland and the beach. In January of 1995 Otto launched the ‘zine Tiki News to network with the then-tiny Tiki community. He co-curated the first-ever group Tiki Art show at La Luz Gallery in 1996 and is credited with giving Shag his first solo show. He has published seventeen issues of his Zine, written liner notes for Exotica music reissues, introductions to books, and magazine articles. He also curated three Tiki Art Now! exhibits accompanied by book-sized catalogs.

The Art of Tiki is a great introduction to the world of Tiki, and also a nice primer for the fan who hasn’t explored the roots of this multicultural phenomenon. Available from most booksellers, using the ISBN code, or from Amazon.

Do Not Mock The Tiki God
by Robert Jimenez
various prices

Next up with have a really cool and amusing Tiki-inspired design by Robert Jimenez, which is available on shirts, as a metal sign or as a print.

It depicts a surly, flame-headed Tiki, and bears the warning: “Do Not Mock The Tiki God.”

Robert’s work has been mentioned in The PopCult Gift Guide before (and will be again this year when we get to trading card gifts). Robert’s work has appeared on album covers for Gold Dust Lounge and Stolen Idols and in magazines such as Exotica Moderne, Tiki Magazine, PKD Otaku, Gnarly and Pinstriping & Kustom Graphics. His work is also featured in the books, THE THING:ARTBOOK, VISIONS FROM THE UPSIDE DOWN: STRANGER THINGS ARTBOOK, GHOSTBUSTERS: ARTBOOK and has shown in galleries including Disneyland’s Wonderground, Harold Golen, M Modern, Creature Features, and Bear & Bird among others.

You can also see Robert’s work in trading card sets for licenses such as Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages, Mars Attacks, Star Wars, DC Comics, Firefly, Ghostbusters, Adventure Time and more. Most notably Robert has recently illustrated cards for the Star Wars Trading Card App. Now you can also wear his art on your chest, or hang it on your wall.

It’s the perfect gift for anybody who thinks the design looks really cool, which should include the vast majority of the population.

Glass Floats Zombie Glass – Blue & Green Variant
From House of Tabu
$20.00

It’s not a Tiki Mug, but you can drink out of it. Let’s quote liberally from the product listing, shall we?

What’s a Tiki Bar without a glass float? Or, honestly, a lot of glass floats? Now even your home bar can have this classic Tiki bar ornamentation in an attractive Zombie glass form!

Featuring a two-color mid-century design, our Glass Float Zombie glass will make any cocktail or drink almost magically appear to glow like those mesmerizing orbs seen in your favorite Tiki bar. Or, it could be the drink that causes the glow, but we’ll need to make a few cocktails to test our theory…

Each glass comes with our signature swizzle stick.

It’s a really nifty piece of glassware, and if you poke around the House of Tabu website, you’ll find cool Tiki enamel pins, swizzle sticks and other coolness. Act quick and you might be able to get the latest issue of Exotica Moderne before it sells out. Any of it will make great gifts for the Tiki fans on your shopping list.

New Munktiki Crest T-shirt – GLOW INK
From Muntiki $20-$22

Muntiki is famous for making and importing cool Tiki Mugs and other stuff, but we did Mugs yesterday, so we are recommending this cool shirt, which sadly is only available in small and 3X at the moment.

But it glows in the dark and it’s a really cool design from where Muntiki had Matt Stikker redesign their Munktiki Crest to celebrate theirr 20th anniversary this year. This is a cool black shirt that has glow in the dark ink. It freaking glows! How cool is that?

And if you order this item (or any of their mugs), you can also snag, as an add-on, Muntiki’s super-swell swizzle sticks, with two colors each of three designs from which to choose: Ohana is Dead; Munktiki; and Dead Man’s Isle.

With these, your Tiki aficionado can swizzle their little hearts out in style!

Sadly, they won’t just sell the swizzle sticks, but there’s plenty of other cool stuff you can find to add these to.

Aloha Republic Hawaiin Shirts
Under $40 from Aloha Shirt Shop

If you want to go full-tilt Tiki, it never hurts to dress the part. Aloha Republic makes some of the most authentic Hawaiin shirts on the market, so you can be fully outfitted for any impromptu luau that might suddenly spring up, or you can just wear them all the time and be the local eccentric guy.

The page I’m sending you to has 24 different designs, some of them holiday-themed, just so you can keep the beachcomber spirit all year ’round.

And Aloha Republic is the real deal. Check out their bio blurb:

One nation, under the Big Kahuna, Aloha Republic has been producing authentic Hawaiian apparel since 1993. This is a collection of our most popular designs depicting the Hawaiian island lifestyle.

This is the perfect gift for the closet beachcomber in your life. You know they want a Hawaiin shirt and have just been too timid to admit it.

Come back tomorrow for a music-filled edition of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.

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.