RFC 112 "Toxic Soup Shirt" from Rudy Panucci on Vimeo.

This week we go back to October, 2010 for Radio Free Charelston 112, “Toxic Soup Shirt.”  On this show we had three bands making their RFC debuts–Crossroads, Doctor Curmudgeon and Happy Minor.  We also had a movie trailer for the documentary, “Toxic Soup,” and one for “Jazz From Hell,” which never quite got finished.

This was an overlooked gem of a show, and we beat Charleston’s baseball team to the Canary in the Coalmine joke by a dozen years. And that epic sight gag was provided by Stefani Andrews, who was also behind the camera for our host segments.

The PopCulteer
July 15, 2022

Today’s PopCulteer is a bit of an unusual one. I’m actually writing it on Friday morning, for one thing, and for another, it’s going to ramble a bit because I haven’t planned everything out that I want to say in it.

Today, my father would have turned 100 years old. Frank Florio Panucci was born on July 15, 1922, in Shinnston, West Virginia.

It’s a bit mind-boggling to consider. As I’ve gotten older, the only thing that really seems to have changed drastically in my thought processes has been the perception of time.

When I was a kid, a month seemed to take forever. As the years have passed, the percentage of my life that each unit of time represents has shrunken dramatically. Now a month flies by in no time. Here we are in the middle of July, and if I still wrote checks, I’d probably still be writing “2011” on them.

Still, the idea that Pop (who obviously was a major influence in my life along with Mom and my siblings) was born a century ago is a wild concept to grasp. My folks were older when they met and started our family, and when I was in school it seemed like my parents were the age of most of my classmate’s grandparents, but looking back, it’s a real trip to consider how things have changed since my dad was born.

Hell, things have changed dramatically since he passed away, nineteen years ago. In 2003 the smartphone hadn’t been invented yet. All thinking people thought we’d never see a worse president than George W. Bush. People could still write outrageous political satire without seeing it become reality almost instantly. Hell, flat screen TVs were even few and far between.

In about four weeks I hit my own milestone birthday, and it’s strange to think about. Milestone birthdays have never really meant much to me because I still feel pretty much like the same person I’ve always been.

I have a fantastic life right now, living happily with my lovely wife, Mel Larch, and free to travel and do more things than I ever could, but I’m still the same person I always was.

People may have viewed me differently at different times in my life, but I’m still the same person inside.

I still get a kick out of finding cool new stuff and telling people about it. That’s most of what PopCult is all about. In the early days, before Douglas Imbrogno christened it “PopCult,” I wanted to call this blog “Cool Stuff,” which in retrospect is not nearly as catchy.

I still love toys. In that respect I think I’ve mastered the art of getting older without necessarily growing up.  I can sit in my living room and have three things I got for Christmas, 1976, in my line of sight.  Pop was my primarily enabler in my toy hoarding when I was a kid. I always offered to go grocery shopping when he’d go because he never said “no” when I showed up with a rack toy I wanted.

I do have a chronic illness with which to contend, Myasthenia Gravis, but to be honest, most of the time it isn’t too bad. Summer heat is a problem, but folks who’ve known me my whole life know that I always hated summer heat. Considering that for some time before I was diagnosed I feared my MG was the early stages of ALS, I’ll gladly take what I have and be happy.

Pop didn’t live long enough to see PopCult. However, he was very proud of the writing I did before he passed. He savored every article in The Charleston Gazette, Non Sport Update, Toy Trader and other magazines I’d contributed to. Heck, he even showed off Cracked Magazine that one time I got a byline there.

I know he’d love that I’m still kicking in my own little corner of the internet. He’d be thrilled that I’m doing radio again. Hell, if he were still with us he’d probaby be co-hosting The Swing Shift on The AIR.

I wanted to thank him for helping make me who I am and mark his milestone birthday with a column, so thanks for indulging me.

Check back for fresh content every day, and all our regular features.

Friday on The AIR we offer up a brand-new episode of MIRRORBALL, followed by an encore edition of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  The AIR is PopCult’s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player elsewhere on this page.

Friday at 2 PM The AIR once again transports you back to the Golden Age of Disco, onlly this time we have a record-correcting twist.  Mel Larch’s Disco showcase, MIRRORBALL, brings you the best of the classic Disco era of the 1970s, but the truth is, there were still classic Disco tunes hitting the charts for a few years beyond that. To prove her point, Mel has assembled an all-star line-up of Disco songs that hit the charts in 1980.

This new hour of classic Disco hits shows that the era of polyester, lighted dancefloors and mirrorballs was not quite dead yet in the “Me Decade.”

Check out the hit-laden playlist…

MIRRORBALL 055

Dona Summer “On The Radio”
The Spinners “Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl”
Crown Heights Affair “You Gave Me Love”
Teena Marie “Behind The Groove”
The Whispers “And The Beat Goes On”
Jermaine Jackson “Let’s Get Serious”
The Nolans “I’m In The Mood For Dancing”
Liquid Gold “Dance Yourself Dizzy”
Stacy Lattisaw “Jump To The Beat”
Kool And The Gang “Celebration”
Kelly Marie “Feels Like I’m In Love”
Odyssey “Use It Up and Wear It Out”
Lipps Inc. “Funkytown”
Diana Ross “My Old Piano”
The Gap Band “I Don’t Believe You Want To Get Up And Dance (Oops Upside Your Head)”

Not only do you get an hour of classic Disco music, you also get a historical clarification.

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, Sydney Fileen graces us with an encore episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat that presents the alphabet of New Wave Music. You can find the full playlist 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.  Look for The PopCulteer later today.

There’s a lot happening in Charleston this weekend and it’s time for PopCult to provide a cursory guide to Charleston and its surrounding cities and towns and take one more quick look at just a few of the cool things going on in and around town this weekend. However, as I slap this post together, there is a paucity of graphics, so I’m going to have to write stuff, darn it.

CharCon, our city’s homegrown gaming convention happens at the Clay Center Friday through Sunday.  The weekend includes tons of gaming tables, vendors, cosplayers and D&D type stuff. There will also be panels, costume contests and other activities. Weekend badges are $45 for adults and youth 13 to 17, and $20 for children 6 to 12. Children 5 and under are free with an adult. For full details visit charcon.org.

There’s also the BrickUniverse LEGO event at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center, but if you’re interested in that, chances are you already know all about it.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Brandon Costello. Saturday sees Swingstein and Robin, who will donate tips to the “Choice Fund” of the Women’s Health Center of WV, which helps pregnant people get the care they need, even if out of state.  That’s this weekend at Taylor Books, 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 Thursday through Saturday…

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

First off, apologies to my readers and to the folks behind this Kickstarter campaign.  I meant to plug this fun project the week before last, but power outages, technical issues and summer Myasthenia Gravis doldrums prevented me from doing so until now. This campagin has about a week left to run, and is only about half-way to its goal, so please consider supporting it, and do it quick.

Christmas Eve In The Mountain State

Due to be out in time for the holidays is Christmas Eve In The Mountain State, a pun-filled storybook about West Virginia, written by Marly Hazen Ynigues, The Pun Poet of West Virginia, and illustrated by Emily Prentice. The book promises playful puns for all 55 counties plus dozens of cities and towns, big and small.

As a life-long West Virginian, and a fan of truly bad puns, this storybook is right up my alley. Our state certainly has enough strange place names to work with, and Marly Hazen Ynigues really makes the most of them. This is one of those books that fun for kids, but probably just as much fun for adults to read to kids.

Check out the video…

As it says on the Kickstarter page:

Join West Virginians and expats drawn home for the holidays. Young mountaineers and recent transplants have opportunities to learn while family and friends invite them to participate in what makes the Mountain State charming, welcoming, and unforgettable. Welcoming illustrations depict rural and urban Mountain State scenes and West Virginian diversity of ages, races, ability, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

This is the first storybook by pun poet Marly Hazen Ynigues of Morgantown, joyfully illustrated by Emily Prentice of Elkins, with an audiobook artfully narrated by Joshua Singleton of Grafton. Marly and Emily were two of the cofounders of 304 Day in 2018, an annual holiday celebrating West Virginia DIY arts and the idea that every mountaineer can create. 304 Day’s slogan: “March Forth, West Virginia!” 

You can learn more about the project on FACEBOOK .  Rewards for this campaign include the audiobook, the print copy of the storybook, the chance to donate a copy to a library and  book plus a crochet Braxxie, the famed Braxton County Monster, as seen in the book (photo below).  Find the campaign HERE.

I don’t really want to turn PopCult into a blog where I just complain non-stop about having Myasthenia Gravis, but I had a pretty bad weekend dealing with my chronic auto-immune disorder, so Tuesday on The AIR  I once again play Dr. Frankenstein and stitch together an episode of Radio Free Charleston volume 4 and Radio Free Charleston International to make a brand-new three hour episode of RFC V5. Both of the original shows are from 2016, and neither has been heard by anyone for over five years.

It’s an interesting artifact, and it’s still jam-packed with three hours of great local and non-local music. You simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay on this page, and  listen to the cool embedded player that you can find elsewhere on this page.

At 10 AM and 10 PM you can hear this compilation of RFC volume 4, episode 6 and RFC International episode 24. Instead of just running these shows back to back, I interwove them to seem more like the current format of the show and recorded a new intro explaining what’s going on.  Some of the announcing may seem a bit choppy as I excised irrelevant bits to slash four hours down to three. You may hear some references to shows that are no longer on The AIR.  Both shows were loaded with good music, and I think my monster of a playlist is pretty impressive now that, it’s alive….ALIVE!

Ironically, the episode of RFC volume 4 that I feature here has me taking it easy because my voice was shot. Further proof that, even when I’m not feeling well, I’ll still endeavor to bring you a new (ish) show each week.

Since I’m having such a bad time with MG that I’m recycling entire paragraphs from the last time I had to do this there are no links to the artist’s websites below. Feel free to use the Google, or search this blog, if you really, really want to find out more about the music on the show.

Just check out this playlist…

RFC V5 095

hour one
John Radcliff “Muse”
Todd Burge “Longer”
The Nanker Phelge “I’m Coming Home”
Kevin Scarbrough “Divorce”
The Company Stores “Rollin’ In”
Hellblinki “Row”
Bud Carroll “I’m No Stranger”
Mark Bates and the Vacancies “Spiral Down”
Depeche Mode “Enjoy The Slience”
Elvis Costello “The Other Side of Summer”
The Who “Long Live Rock”
Richard Hell and the Voidoids “Blank Generation”
John Palumbo “Walk On The Wild Side”
Scarlet Hill “Where is Your Heart Tonight”

hour two
Under Surveillance “More Than Words”
Pretty and Twisted “Dear Marlon Brando”
Parov Stelar “Chambermaid Swing”
Regina Spektor “Small Bills”
Robyn Hitchcock “Let Me Roll It”
Astromoth “Paranoia Swing, Swing”
John Lancaster “Water Under A Burning Bridge”
Stone Ka Tet “Patton’s Blues”
Science of the Mind “Kaoss”
Stark Raven “Every Time You Say Goodbye”
The Aquabats “The Baker”
Kate Bush “Sexual Healing”
Jordan Andrew Jefferson “Borderline”
Jordan Andrew Jefferson “Goodbye Hello Goodnight”

hour three
Cheap Trick “The Dream Police”
Sheldon Vance “Strength To Let It Go”
The Laser Beams “Everybody Knows”
QiET “The Indie Song”
John Palumbo “Dancing Back To Motown”
Dave Roberts “Dreaming In Drift”
From The Future “Cool Taco”
Neil Zaza “Take On Me”
Decomposing in Paris “He Loves Me”
Ouralias “Too Gone”
No Doubt “Tragic Kingdom”

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 two hours of of MIRRORBALL at 1 PM. At 3 PM we have two recent episodes of The Swing Shift.  Tomorrow I hope to share some great new Kickstarter campaigns with you.

This week’s art is an attempt to do another Edward Hopper style painting that, to be honest, I wasn’t physically able to complete to my satisfaction.

I’m really happy with the composition and the colors, but my brush work is pretty abysmal here, with my fingers hampered by the heat.

Chances are I’ll revisit this once our new tropical climate subsides and takes my Myasthenia Gravis along with it. At the moment I’m happier with the horrible pun I came up with for the title than I am with the painting itself.

It’s acyrlic on canvas, inspired by some photos taken at the Fiesta Tableware Outlet Store in Newell, last month.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we offer up a brand-new episode of  Psychedelic Shack, followed at 3 PM by a brand-new episode 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.

We do not have playlists for our Monday shows this week, but Nigel Pye informs me that Psychedelic Shack opens with a “really long and groovy” live version of “Astronomie Domonie” by Pink Floyd, while Herman Linte tells me that Prognosis is devoted to a set of live music from Marillion.

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 strange tidings from the mysterious “BSC” 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  Beatles Blast episodes that don’t feature The Lost Beatles Project.

July 10, 1925: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. In honor of this important date, PopCult presents the first episode of Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp.

RFC 111, "Teefury.com Shirt" from Rudy Panucci on Vimeo.

This week we go back to September, 2010 for an episode of Radio Free Charleston that originated from The Empty Glass, the legendary music venue on Charleston East End.

The show this week featured music from Andy Park, Stephen Beckner and Stone Soup, plus some offbeat animation and a public service announcement for Covenant House that starred Ann Magnuson.

Most of this episode was shot at The Empty Glass on Thursday, September 16, during a benefit for Empty Glass Records, a project that allowed Charleston’s most celebrated bar to install recording equipment so that they can preserve the magic moments that still happen there on a regular basis.

The PopCulteer
July 8, 2022

It has been a bit of a strange week here at PopCult. Power outages, weather-related ailments and technical issues threw us off our planned schedule and things aren’t getting posted in the order they were planned.

However, things have settled down and today’s PopCulteer should get us mostly back on track.

The plan was to run a photo essay yesterday, and devote this week’s PopCulteer to a short piece on my thoughts on the return of the Sternwheel Regatta, and notes for a new episode of MIRRORBALL.

MIRRORBALL got delayed a week.  I didn’t have time to do the photo essay so yesterday I ran a “best-of” post. My thoughts on the Regatta are below, and below those you’ll get to see the photos I’d planned to run yesterday. So all is well.

Boat Race

My attitude toward the Regatta, like my attitude toward just about everything is, if it makes you happy and it doesn’t hurt anybody, then it’s great. I don’t think the Regatta hurt anybody, and reports are that it made an awful lot of people happy, so good for it.

It’s not for me, but everything doesn’t have to be for me. I don’t do well in the heat. I don’t drink beer. And my taste is music is generally pretty far from commercial. I also don’t like being around bodies of water. I think the whole idea of Charleston ever having been a classic riverboat town is contrived nonsense, and I’d still like to not die from COVID. There was very little chance I was going to go anywhere near The Regatta this year.

But it was great for the people who enjoyed it, and it was apparently great for Charleston businesses.

I think holding it immediately after FestivALL was a good idea. It prevented the post-FestivAll doldrums and struck while everybody was still in a celebratory mood. While it had to really suck for city workers who had to clean up after back-to-back citywide spectacles, it seemed to work out really well for the attendees. And it looks like it might be easier to book decent headliners during the Fourth of July weekend than it was during Labor Day.

People lamented the demise of the Regatta back in 2009, but to be brutally honest, it had basically degenerated into an overgrown beer bash by then, and the musical acts, with a few notable exceptions, were generally underwhelming. The one year, near the end, when they booked a decent band, Blue Oyster Cult, the director of the Regatta took pains to mention to the press that she had never heard of them.

This year the musical acts were booked with wider appeal, with the first night actually bringing in a band that appealed to people under the age of fifty.  I was never a fan of The Regatta back in the day. I worked in Charleston and it made my commute hell, and I can only think of four or five acts that I would have walked across the street to see. But I’m not the type of person that the Regatta is supposed to attract. I’m old, with weird taste in music. I don’t drink and I really don’t like being around large drunken crowds. Plus I hate being outdoors for long periods.

Having said that, if they book The Aquabats next year, I’ll be there.

One More Trip to FiestaWare Land

Last week I ran a photo essay of a recent trip to the Fiesta Tableware Factory Outlet Store in Newell, West Virginia. Today we’re going back for more photos. This time most of them are by my lovely wife, Mrs. PopCulteer, Mel Larch.  These were taken where they make the brightly-colored dinnerware beloved by millions.  You can see a smokestack on the factory above.  More photos follow. Take a look.

Once more into the promised land.

One of the old dish mold presses, on display on the way to the seconds room.

Colorful shirts, actually made of the same ceramic as their dishes (not really…they’re just regular t-shirts)

An artsy pic of heart-shaped dishes

The “other” seconds room, filled with restaurant dishes

A small part of Mel’s haul from the trip

At the end of the parking lot, you can see one wall of a factory building and several bins filled with FiestaWare discards.

Some of these are left overs from a recent tent sale, while some are…casualties

BTW, if you look away from the factory, you get this incredible view of the Ohio River.

A sad tale of broken pottery. I don’t know what they do with this stuff, but I hope they break it into smaller pieces and sell it by the pound to artists for use in mosaics

That is our PopCulteer this week. Check back for fresh content every day, plus all our regular features. The plan for next week is to tell you about new radio content on our internet radio station, The AIR, plus we have some Kickstarter alerts and reviews to share.