The PopCulteer
August 5, 2022

This week we have a really cool episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, which is a belated birthday tribute to one Kate Bush, who turned 64 a mere six days ago. You’ll get a special birthday celebration Friday afternoon on The AIR.  You can hear this two-hour block of primo Kate on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM, we have an encore episode of Mel Larch’s DISCO showcase, MIRRORBALL! Mel will return with a new episode next week. You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Saturday at  9 PM (kicking off a mini-marathon), Sunday at 11 PM, Monday at 9 AM, and Tuesday at 1 PM  exclusively on The AIR.

At 3 PM, on Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, Sydney Fileen pays tribute to one of my favorite musicians, and one of her old friends, with a mixtape of the music of Kate Bush in the New Wave era.

I’ve been a huge Kate Bush fan ever since I first saw her on Saturday Night Live in 1978, and I’ve been spreading the gospel over here for 44 years. Sydney has been a fan and confidant since even before that, and with Kate’s birthday and her resurgence in popularity due to Stranger Things, it seemed to be the perfect time to fill an episode of BEC with the woman whom Sydney called “Our National Treasure.”

This is a terrific collection of Kate’s music, mixing her hits with deep album cuts, B-sides, home demos and alternate mixes, so even the die-hard devotee of the KT Bush Band will find something new.

Check out the playlist and you’ll see that August can be magic again, or something…

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat 094
Kate Bush Special

“Wuthering Heights”
“Moving”
“Them Heavy People”
“The Man With The Child In His Eyes”
“James And The Cold Gun”
“Kite”
“Kashka From Bagdad (demo)”
“Lionheart (demo)”
“Symphony In Blue”
“Oh, England, My Lionheart”
“Coffee Homeground”
“Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake”
“Wow”
“A Rose Growing Old (demo)”
“Violin”
“Delius (A Song of Summer)”
“Night Scented Stock”
“Army Dreamers”
“Babooshka”
“The Wedding List”
“Frightened Eyes (demo)”
“December Will Be Magic Again”
“Sat In Your Lap”
“There Goes A Tenner”
“Suspended In Gaffa”
“The Dreaming”
“Get Out of My House”
“Hounds of Love (Alternate Mix)”
“Ran Tan Waltz”
“Sexual Healing”
“Experiment IV (Extended Mix)”
“L’amour Looks Something Like You”
“Running Up That Hill”

At 8PM Friday, we bring you four hours of The Swing Shift, and then at Midnight, and all-day Saturday, we divert from our usual programming to bring you 24 hours of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat is produced at Haversham Recording Institute in London, and can be heard every Friday at 3 PM, with replays Monday at 7 AM, Tuesday at 8 PM, Wednesday at Noon and Thursday at 10 AM, exclusively on The AIR.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back every day for fresh content and loads of or regular features.

It’s time our latest edition of STUFF TO DO. But first we’re going to tell you about some friends in need.

Since 1969 Appalshop has been documenting life and giving voice to the culture of Eastern Kentucky, Southern West Virginia and Appalachia through film, theater, literature music and radio.  They are headquartered in Whitesburg, Kentucky, right in the middle of the recent severe flooding in the region.  The full damage to their property and archives has yet to be assessed, but they have a page up seeking donations, not just for themselves, but for the entire region.

If you want to find out how you can help, please GO HERE.  For the latest information about the ongoing situation with their radio station, WMMT, GO HERE.  You can also find updates at their Facebook Page.

Meanwhile, in and around Charleston…

This weekend MultiFest happens downtown. Find all the details HERE.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Alondra Johnson feat. Aaron Fisher & Friends. Saturday sees Andrew Pauley at Charleston’s Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution. The links will take you to the Facebook event page for more details.

At this point, there are no vaccination or mask mandates for any of the events listed this week. However, we all need to 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.

In the meantime, if you’re up for going out, here are some suggestions for Thursday through Sunday…

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Your PopCulteer has been back from this year’s Kentuckiana GI Joe & Toy Expo for a few days now, but this is the first chance I’ve had to bring you photos. Because of ongoing technical issues, we’re limited to ten pictures per photo essay here in PopCult, so you can expect several more photo essays over the next week or so, and hopefully a video by Sunday. As you can see by the custom re-packaging of a vintage set to the right, there was a lot of great vintage GI Joe stuff for sale.

We had a great time. The convention set and add-on were spectacular, plus we got to see the prototypes of the new Super Joe Unlimited figures. Sadly, a different technical glitch (a bad SD Card this time) wiped out the last twenty photos I took, which included close-ups of those prototypes, but they will still get their own photo essay after I pull images from the video we shot.

It was nice to catch up with old friends and spend way too much money on cool toys, and we’re seriously considering going to the winter show in January, just so we can check out the new location as Kentuckiana moves to a dedicated convention center, having grown too large for the hotel conference rooms that have been its home since the beginning.

For now, this is just a taste of what we saw. PopCult will have several more 2022 Kentuckianua GI Joe & Toy Expo photos in the coming days.

The aforementioned “spectacular” convention set and add-on. And extra add-on accessory was made and sold by Brad Curry, and you’ll get to see it in a later photo essay.

Very cool sets from Mattsquatch Customs (one came home with me).

Tearle Ashby with his way-cool shark cage and repro Crash Crew Firetruck Box. Also, his repro of the rare Space Capsule Flotation Collar.

I always have to get a good photo of Cotswold Collectibles‘ flocked head display.

As you can see, the RAH incarnation of GI Joe was also well-represented.

The amazing Ace Allgood, with his usual assortment of primo vintage Joe-ness.

3D Printing master, Brad Curry, of Bee-Active Toys, making a sale.

Old friends, including Steve Bugg from JoeLanta  and Scott and Charlotte Beckmann of The Trenches fame. .

Finally, even Mrs. PopCulteer got into the act, finding a Walking Dead figure she didn’t have hidden among the GI Joes.

Check back in the coming days for more pics and video from Kentuckiana 2022.

It’s Tuesday on The AIR  and you know what that means. For the first time in a few weeks it’s time for yet another one-third-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 elsewhere on this page.

It’s one more hybrid edition of Radio Free Charleston at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday.  This week we open with a full hour of  local and independent music, and then we hit you with two hours of classic Radio Free Charleston International from the summer of 2016.

Our first hour, opens with new music from Three’s Company Blues.  You’ll also hear cool new music from Jaysin Christ and Bane Star and we have loads of great recent local tunes . We also have some new tunes from Chicago bands, Curious Grace & Black Rabbit and Cosmic Bull. Clarifying a note from the show, the new single from Curious Grace & Black Rabbit is available now.

The second and third hours of our show re-present a cool episode of Radio Free Charleston International from January, 2019, when your humble host veered off into several different half-assed mini-themes.

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 098

hour one
Three’s Company Blues “River Song”
Jaysin Christ “We The People The Sheep And The Wolves”
Reckless Threat “Dehumanize”
Byzantine “Oblivion Beckons”
Cassius At Best “Alabaster”
Disarm The Fallen “Cold Dead Night”
Lost Decades “Come Ruin”
Curious Grace & Black Rabbit “Believer”
Cosmic Bull “Unless You Know People (Trigger Mix)”
Bane Star “Behind The Veil”
Agile Thumb “Edocesrom”
Joseph Hale “My Biography”
Emmalea Deal  “Sugar and Champagne”
Rob Fetters “Prophets”

hour two
Rockestra “So Glad To See You Here”
The Lennon/Claypool Delirium “Boomerang Baby”
James McCartney “Wisteria”
thenewnotwo “Wide Awake”
Julian Lennon “How Many Times”
Midge Ure “Day After Day”
Toyah Wilcox “Out Of The Blue”
Skillet “Burn It Down”
Big Audio Dynamite “Psycho Wing”
Shakespear’s Sister “Hello (Turn Your Radio On)”
Peter Garrett “I’d Do It Again”
Oingo Boingo “Helpless”
Lene Lovich “Savages”

hour three
George Harrison “Shanghai Surprise”
Oktopus “World’s Apart”
Frank Zappa “You Are What You Is”
Eskobar “Rocketship”
MaidaVale “The Greatest Story Ever Told”
They Might Be Giants “Miniature Sidewalk Whirlwind”
Owl City “The Bird and The Worm”
Dalek I Love You “Horrorscope”
The Descendants “Spineless and Scarlet Red”
Zodiac “Down”
The Misfits “Nightmare on Elm Street”
Ultravox “Perfecting the Art of Common Ground”

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.

After RFC, stick around for encores of MIRRORBALL at 1 PM. At 3 PM we re-present the two-part crossover between Curtain Call and The Swing Shift as “Broadway Swings.”

This week it’s another mixed media piece. The drawing above started out as a phone doodle, done with a thick Sharpie while I was on the phone.  After I scanned it, I laid in some colors and effects and came up with what you see above. It’s just an example of pushing a pen around on paper without really thinking, and coming up with a pin-upish pose.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent episode of  Psychedelic Shack, followed at 3 PM by 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.

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.

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 hilarious musical comedy from Garfunkle and Oates 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 Radio Free Charleston, It’s my birthday month, so I’m going to celebrate with extra airings of our me-starring flagship program.

On August 1, 1981, MTV, a new cable channel intended to bring music videos to the world, launched and for a few short years, did exactly what its name entailed. Of course, that all went to hell when music started sucking as hair metal came in, then the network started making awful reality shows and got rid of music altogether. But for a short time, MTV was the coolest thing around.

Above you see an embedded playlist that roughly recreates the first hour or so of MTV from forty-one years ago. Some of the videos were hard to track down, and some have unwanted subtitles, but you will get to see The Buggles, Pat Benetar, Rod Stewart, The Who, The Pretenders and the other bands that helped launch Music Television, along with the very first moments as broadcast on August 1, 1981.

I shared this a few years ago but since tomorrow is the anniversary it was time to dig it out and polish it up for you again.  It’s hard to believe that some people who weren’t born yet when this aired are grandparents now.

RFC 115 "Frank Sinatra Shirt" from Rudy Panucci on Vimeo.

This week we time-travel back to December, 2010, for a pre-winter edition of Radio Free Charleston filled with great music.

This episode features a wide variety of music: a Metal classic by HARRAH, a Progressive-Alternative jolt from Linfinity, an operatic waltz from Hellblinki set to animation, Blues from Crossroads and a great rocked-up ballad from The Nanker Phelge.

Host segments were shot in Davis Park in Charleston on a bitterly cold day, which sounds sort of heavenly about now. Our namesake shirt featured Frank Sinatra.  You can find the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
July 29, 2022

Your humble blogger and host is on his way to Louisville for a much-needed toy-soaked respite from real life today, so you won’t get a long essay or anything, however, it’s Friday and that means that The AIR dives headfirst into the Disco wonderland of MIRRORBALL!

Mel Larch dances it up bigtime 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.

At 2 PM, Mel Larch uncorks a new MIRRORBALL! The AIR’s showcase of classic Disco music presents a  collection of classic Disco tracks from the classic era of rhythmic aerobic social interaction.This week Mel brings you a random and spectacular designer handbag full of dance tunes from the classic Disco era with tracks from the beginning and the end of the Disco era,  and many funky points between.

For one hour you can go back to the Golden Age of Disco, where the sideburns were long, the skirts were short and the dancing was endless.

Check out the playlist…

MIRRRORBALL 056

The Weather Girls “It’s Raining Men”
Gene Chandler “Get Down”
The Trhee Degrees “The Runner”
Tavares “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel”
Edwin Starr “Happy Radio”
Heatwave “Groove Line”
Dan Hartman “This Is It”
Teena Marie “Behind The Groove”
Giorgio Moroder “I Wanna Rock You”
Ashford & Simpson “The Jungle”
The S.O.S. Band “Take Your Time (Do It Right)”
Alicia Bridges “I Love The Nightlife”

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 special 75th episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. You can find the playlist and background info HERE.

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 35-hour marathon of Radio Free Charleston, because I want to SUPPORT THE LOCAL SCENE. The rumor that I’m only doing this because it makes it way easier to schedule the station while I’m out of town is a DIRTY FIB!

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday and this weekend, and that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back every day for fresh content and loads of our regular features.

Okay, it’s time once again for your guide to things you can do in and around Charleston during this waterlogged July weekend in our latest edition of STUFF TO DO, but somethng new has been added! I’m going to tell you about a couple of really cool non-sport trading card set Kickstarter campaigns that I meant to tell you about weeks ago before life decided to get really interesting.

First, and most urgently, I have to tell you about the new Fearsome Weirdos set from Robert Jimenez. Kaiju Creeps is in the vein of the previous Fearsome Weirdos sets that I’ve told you about in PopCult, but this time the trading cards depict some hilarious Kaiju monsters. Let me quote the campaign here…

Kaiju Creeps is the 3rd Fearsome Weirdos set! This set of 36 sticker cards features parodies of Kaijus, written and illustrated by Robert Jimenez, with help from fellow Wacky Packages writer Paul Harris.

The set features a Wrapper/Checklist card, 15 Kaiju Creeps, and 2 subsets. One is 10 vintage comic and magazine covers and the other 10 are product parody tie-ins. Also a 9 card puzzle with be a part of the card backs. Each set will also include 1 lenticular card of Gamer-A and a tuck box.

There’s only about a day left in this campaign (I meant to tell you about this weeks ago, but things kept happening). There is no danger of this campaign not happening. It’s fully funded more than five times over. If you’re interested in add-ons like orignal art and other goodies, check out this link to kick in. You can find my coverage of Robert’s previous sets HERE.

Next up with have a Kickstarter campaign for MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE Series 2 by RRParksCARDS. You read that right.  This is the SECOND series of MANOS: The Hands of Fate Trading Cards This classic “so bad it’s good” movie made its trading card debut with a sneak peek in series 3 of RRParksCARDS’ MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 and after that the demand was clear for the FIRST series of MANOS … but now, here, finally — MANOS: The Hands of Fate Trading Cards Series Two.

This series focuses on the ART of MANOS! A special selection of artwork by the sketch card artists of Series One … And this SECOND series continues the trading card adventure with:

A 51 card base set of BEAUTIFUL artwork, front and back!
A 5 card card subset with the artwork of Elisabetta Stoinich
A TORGO MOTION lenticular card
A DIY sketch card blank
An original art SKETCH CARD
Genuine Printing Plate Cards
TWO different Autograph Cards
Special Set Packaging
A BINDER INSERT KIT with bonus goodies!

I have to be honest. They had me at “TORGO MOTION lenticular card.”

This campaign had a modest $600 goal,  and is currently funded at over $10,000 with more than two weeks left to run, so you know that this will soon be unleashed unto the world. Rush to THIS LINK to kick in, before everything is already spoken for. And go HERE for links to a few PopCult entries on RRParksCARDS.

Meanwhile, live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Steve Himes with Hunter Blankeship. Saturday sees Gary Hays perform at Charleston’s Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.

At this point, there are no vaccination or mask mandates for any of the events listed this week. However, we all need to remember that the pandemic is not over yet, and everybody should be vaccinated by now. 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. After the super-spreader potential of recent weeks, and rising case numbers locally, let’s all try to be smart and kind about this.

In the meantime, if you’re up for going out, here are some suggestions for Friday and Saturday while I’m in Kentucky playing with GI Joes…

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

It’s time, once again, to plug a great toy show that’s within easy driving distance of Charleston,  The PopCult crew will make its return to The Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo this weekend. We’re going down early for the preview event the night before, and will stick around a little for Saturday’s show, while still dodging the crowds.

The Ninth Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo happens this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.  It’s open to the general public Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn Louisville Airport, with an early preview package available for Friday night. This is a great show. I’ve been to several in the past, and a the end of this post you’ll find a link to our coverage of previous years.

As always there will be dozens of dealers with great vintage GI Joes, plus GI Joe from the Real American Hero era and brand-new custom uniform sets and figures for 12″ and 3 3/4″ GI Joes. Plus there will be tons of other action figures and toys for sale. You might find MEGO, Big Jim, Super Joe, Johnny West, Major Matt Mason and many other great toys from the past.

This year the big treat will be that we’ll get to see prototypes of Super Joe Unlimited,  a revival of sorts of one of GI Joe’s less-celebrated eras, courtesy of White Elephant Toys and Kentuckiana’s own Steve Stovall.

This year the convention special is a box/uniform combo wih a jungle adventure theme. Collectors will also be able to enjoy the custom figure and diorama contests.

Convention-goers can also expect other new sets from folks like Cotswold Collectibles, Mark Cole and Mattsquatch Customs. This is some terrific stuff that is keeping the 1/6 scale hobby alive. I believe that there will also be some exclusive 3 3/4″ GI Joe-style figures and items for sale at the show.

There won’t just be dealers on hand. Representatives from other GI Joe shows, like ToyLanta, The Hershey Action Figure and Toy Show and The DFW GI Joe and Action Figure Show will be there to show their support.

Visit the Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo Facebook event page for more information. It should be a great time, and your PopCulteer will be there!

You can find PopCult’s previews, videos and more coverage of previous Kentuckiana shows by scrolling down THIS PAGE.