The PopCulteer
December 27, 2024

Despite not being the best of years due to many friends exiting this world, a few beloved institutions ending, and some personal struggles with illness, the PopCult household managed to have a wonderful Christmas.  We heard from friends around the world, visited with family and got each other tons of cool stuff.

And today we’re going to share some of that cool stuff with you.

To be clear, I’m only sharing photos. You can’t actually have our stuff. I mean, we just got it. That would really suck for us, you know.

But since folks do ask, set amongst the backdrop of our Disco Christmas Tree, here’s what Mel and I got each other for Christmas in no particular order.  It’s not everything, but you shouldn’t be so freaking nosey during the holidays, so here’s what you can see…

In case you didn’t know…I collect toys. The HESS Truck has been a tradition for us for over ten years now. And the Super Powers figures, which just turned up locally a week ago, were in my stocking.

One of my big gifts from Mel was the Super Deluxe Reissue Boxed Set of George Harrison’s “Living In The Material World” Can’t wait to dig into this.

Mel also got me some Max Fleischer goodies, some DVDs and a button-up shirt with designs from “Swing You Sinners.”

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a Monster Kid. Direct from their appearances in The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide, here’s the Lincoln Monsters repros, and the Cotswold Collectibles 12″ Wolfman. I love these guys.

A MINI UNBOXING

Because I was too lazy to do a video, here’s a photo essay unboxing of another of my big gifts, The Svengoolie 45th Anniversary Collector’s Box…

Also from The Gift Guide, it’s the cool Svengoolie Collector’s box. Let’s look at it and see what’s inside.

First we go around the full-color collector’s box. Here we see the Sven Squad. The actual box is in focus. This picture, not so much.

This side has The Goolie Bunch.

And here is Svengoolie himself, recreating the cover of “Trout Mask Replica.”

Wonders await us inside…

A limited edition set of figures, plus an enamal pin, a compact and portable rubber chicken and a pen that you can pretend you stole from Svengoole’s Bank (“I have a bank?”)

A cool travel mug with a straw and a Top Hat straw topper!

Socks, a Mark Spears collectible card and an air freshener, so you can smell like Svengoolie. Or you could just wear the socks for a month.

And the kicker (along with a cool cloth patch), a new pressing of “The Svengoolie Stomp” by Freddie “Boom Boom” Cannon.

Mel’s Haul

You know, this is not just a one-way thing. I also get Mel lots of cool stuff for Christmas…

Chicago-centric gifts included the new McFarlane Blues Brothers statuettes and the Chicago Shuffle card game (and booster pack) from Transit Tees.

There’s a lot to take in here: Ultimate action figures of Patrick Star and Squidward; weird Asian SpongeBob trading cards; plush Sinclair Dino and TRU Geoffry; plus a bunch of candy from her stockings.

An autographed copy of Frank Conniff’s new book, along with some strange SpongeBob candy.

I always get Mel a “Big Box” of something each year, and this year it was a big box of The Police (with Police Squad thrown in just as a bit of misdirection). The biggest part of this was the deluxe 4 LP reissue of “Synchronicity” but Mel already moved that (and the colored vinyl reissues of Thompson Twins and Thomas Dolby LPs) to where our vinyl lives, and I was too lazy to go photograph them. Also, a full box of Lights of Broadway trading cards is on top of this stack.

And that’s a look at our Christmas gifts to each other. We do have one more gift for you…actually from a friend in the UK.  It’s time for new radio…

Look Ahead To Looking Back Forty Years

We do have some radio shows to tell you about Friday on The AIR. This afternoon we serve up a classic episode of MIRRORBALL and a brand-new episode 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 found elsewhere on this page.

MIRRORBALL

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch brings you a classic Disco tribute as MIRRORBALL pays tribute to Donna Summer for the second time.

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Sunday night at 11 PM and throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM plus there’s a mini-marathon that includes the latest episode Saturday nights at 9 PM

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat Visits 1985

Also on The AIR  at 3 PM (EDT), Sydney Fileen graces us with a brand-new special mixtape-style  episode of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat. This time Sydney looks ahead five days to when we can look back forty years at the year, 1985.

1985 is considered a “past its peak” year for New Wave Music. MTV was starting to replace New Wave with Hair Metal and Mainstream Pop, and was also beginning to dabble in the episodic long-form programming that would eventually run the “Music” out of “Music Television.”  Despite this, New Wave was still going strong with iconic hits by Kate Bush, A ha, Thompson Twins and more, as well as innovative new musical groups that would never get the chance to break into the mainstream.

In this episode of Big Electric Cat, Sydney Fileen lets you immerse yourself in the cutting edge music of just about forty years ago.  It’s a pretty wild ride.

Check out the playlist…

BEC 123-1985

Kate Bush “The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix)”
The Smiths “Barbarism Begins At Home”
Men Without Hats “Modern(e) Dancing”
INXS “What You Need”
Big Audio Dynamite “Sudden Impact”
Wall of Voodoo “Big City”
Toyah “I’ll Serve You Well”
Winston Tong “Big Brother”
Models “Preacher From The Black Lagoon”
Go West “S.O.S.”
The Clash “This Is England”
Jane Wiedlin “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
Gleaming Spires “Harm”
Age of Mirrors “Juliet’s Dancing”
Adam Ant “Vive le Rock”
Baltimora “Tarzan Boy”
A Flock of Seagulls “Who’s That Girl (She’s Got It)”
Howard Jones “Things Can Only Get Better”
A Ha “Take On Me”
Thompson Twins “Emperor’s Clothes”
Tears For Fears “Head Over Heels”
The Toy Dolls “Commercial Break”
Eurythmics “Would I Lie To You”
Dead or Alive “You spin me round (Like a record)”
The Coupe De Villes “She Has Friends In LA”
New Order “Love Vigilantes”

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.

A special AIR Note: Some folks have contacted me to let me know that there were technical issues with this week’s new episode of Radio Free Charleston.  Because of that, we’re running a bonus replay Friday at 5 PM, immediately after Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.  You can also hear RFC at its usual replay times, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM, and Monday at 11 AM.

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer.

Check PopCult for all our regular features, with fresh content every day, even during the holiday season.

It’s the day after Christmas, and that means I’m actually sitting at the computer early in the evening of Christmas Day, and I’d like to get through this quick so I can go back to Christmassing things up with my lovely wife, Mel. Basically, I ought to be bringing you a list of STUFF TO DO between Christmas and New Year’s Day, next week.

Now, the cynical among you might think, “Well, since he’s writing this on Christmas Day, Rudy will probably just do a half-assed list of events.”

And you’d be correct.  We shall forego our usual boilerplates and running gags and just run a handful of graphics for events in and around Charleston, West by God Virginia, that I found on the Facebook, beginning with a very special one that’s happening Thursday night, and which your humble blogger will make a serious attempt to attend…

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Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and whatever good tidings fill your bill from PopCult and the Larch-Panucci household.

2024 has been a year best left on the trash heap of history.  We began the year writing obituaries for good people, and we ended it writing obituaries for good people. I’d really like to take a year off from doing that.  We’ll try to stay positive while running our traditional holiday greeting…

“I hope that everybody can find some peace and well-being on this special day, and that the new year brings us all new happiness, joy, good health, and justice for the Democracy.”

Lord knows we can all use all of those things.

As is our tradition on Christmas Day, we bring you Melanie Larch singing “Ave Maria” from the very first Christmas episode of Radio Free Charleston.

Let’s follow that up with the 2014 Christmas treat that saw Melanie backed by the late and much-loved and missed, Mark Scarpelli…

And we’ll continue with Mel’s 2009 Christmas song with Diablo Blues Band…

Let’s go back to Chicago, in 2019, for one more…

Wishing you and yours the best-

Rudy Panucci and Melanie Larch

For the first time since 1989, there is a NEW, full-length episode of Radio Free Charleston debuting on Christmas Eve!

Tuesday is always “New Show Day” on The AIR.  As such, we have a new episode of  Radio Free Charleston for you, buried among all of our special Christmas programming. To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and  listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.  

You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with boatloads of replays throughout the week.

This week RFC kicks off with a brand-new song from Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess, and in the rest of our three-hour show we’ll treat you to new tracks from Shining Glass, Dinosaur Burps (with a Charlie Brown Superstar remix), Mikey Jupp, William Matheny, Brian Diller, Garbage, SPACE FREQ, The Polkamaniacs, Tony Levin, The Surfrajettes, Heavy Hitters Band, The Slamdanistas and Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates.

We’re all over the map this week, jumping from Rock to Hip Hop to Glam Rock to country, Prog Rock, Alternative, Jam, Surf, Soul, Avante-Garde and more. We mix local artists with indie artists, musical legends and obscure cult musicians, and the result is…typical Radio Free Charleston. There’s even a really nice mystery bonus track at the end of the show.

Think of it as a novel way to spend your Christmas Eve.

The links in the playlist will take you to the pages for the artists in this week’s show where possible…

RFC V5 207

hour one
Emmalea Deal & The Hot Mess “Invisible”
Shining Glass “Two Birds”
Dinosaur Burps  “Driftwood (CBS Mix)”
Wizzard “Rock ‘N’ Roll Winter”
Mickey Jupp “Honky Tonic”
William Matheny “Bird of Youth”
Brian Diller “Elegy For William”
Matt Berry featuring Kitty Luv “I Gotta Limit”
Steve Harley “2000 Years From Now”
Poppy “The Cave”
Teddy Kumpel and Nome Sane “Material Girl”
Ann Magnuson “Ghost Cat”
Garbage “Because The Night”

hour two
SPACE FREQ “Strut”
The Polkamaniacs “Southside Pittsburgh, PA”
Tony Levin “Bungie Bass”
The Surfrajettes “Toasted Western”
The Heavy Hitters Band “Tequila In A To-Go Box Part 3”
Chuck Biel “First One Out”
The Cure “A Fragile Thing (RS24 Remix)”
John Cale “Adalucia”
Ginger Wixx  “The Girl and the Bear”
The Residents “ENOugh”
Frenchy & The Punk “Mr. Scorpion”

hour three
The Slamdanistas “Santa’s In A Punk Band Now”
Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates “Curtain”
Steve Hillage “Frame by Frame”
Astrodot“The Victor”
David Friesen “One Last Time”
The Settlement “The Lift”
Jon Anderson “Still A Friend”
Clownhole “Old Man Jumping A Fence”
No Doubt “Tragic Kingdom”
City Boy “The Blind Leading The Blind”
Save Ferris “Goodbye”

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 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR, even during out holiday programming blitz.

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.

Elsewhere on The AIR, we are bringing you a few days of holiday programming.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

Aside from special holiday editions of our music specialty shows, we also have three-hour blocks of random Christmas songs as well as some audio drama, with classics like “A Christmas Carol” and “Dragnet.”

Trust me, it’s Christmassy.

This holiday bonanza will be interrupted by our regularly-scheduled NEW episode of Radio Free Charleston, which will air at its regular time all week long. Our Christmas shows will run until midnight, Thursday.

This week’s art is a quick acrylic painting designed to look Christmassy without me putting too much effort into it.

Basically, I had a lot of green and white paint handy, and improvised some holly or ivy or something.

I could’ve done something clever, or detailed, or Hopperesque, but it’s the weekend before Christmas and I didn’t have a lot of time to make art. I couldn’t even wait for it to dry to scan it, so this is a photo of the painting taken with the new phone, hence the flash artifacts.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday beginning at 7 AM on The AIR, we bring you a few days of holiday programming.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page.

Aside from special holiday editions of our music specialty shows, we also have three-hour blocks of random Christmas songs as well as some audio drama, with classics like “A Christmas Carol” and “Dragnet.”

Trust me, it’s Christmassy.

This holiday bonanza will be interrupted by our regularly-scheduled NEW episode of Radio Free Charleston, which will air at its regular time all week long. Our Christmas show will run until midnight, Thursday.

This year I made three (and a half) holiday videos for readers of this blog.

My main motivation was to give you some fresh video content to watch while I was in Chicago earlier this month.  Then I made a really short video to go with our Christmas Tree photo essay last Friday.

Since we are just three days out from the big day, how about I collect all four videos in this post, for your enjoyment, and for the whole concept of “less work for me.”

Our first video is a return visit to Sir Troy’s Toy Kingdom, in Canton, Ohio, with music by Clownhole…

Next up, we have our look at Charleston’s Light The Night light show at Go Mart Park.  The music on this one is Mel Larch and Mark Scarpelli taking on a Vince Guaraldi classic…

Our last big video is a not-safe-for-work video travelogue, wherein your humble blogger wanders through the Spirit Christmas Store in Erie, Pennsylvania for about fifteen minutes, making snarky comments (many of them off-color) while shakily shooting video of the massive holiday retail overload. This one is longer, and not safe for work, school, or virginal ears…

And for the heck of it, here’s another look at PopCult’s Disco Christmas Tree!  Merry Christmas, folks!

And since you made it this far, it’s only fair to reward you with the news that Christmas programming will begin running on The AIR Sunday at 7 AM until Thursday night, with interruptions for The Swing Shift Marathon and Tuesday’s new Radio Free Charleston. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page.

RFC 114 "Flash Photography Shirt" from Rudy Panucci on Vimeo.

From November, 2010, we bring you Radio Free Charleston 114, “Flash Photography Shirt.”  The wide-ranging music on this show comes from Andrea Anderson, The Dad Horse Experience, and Shayla Leftridge. That would be punk alt-banjo music, German Gutter-Gospel and Showtunes.

For reasons I can’t remember, this episode is in standard definition, and has a 4:3 aspect ratio. I had switched to widescreen several episodes earlier, so I have no explanation why it’s like that.

Our animation is Frank Panucci’s very first animated film, about Evel Knievel.  We also have some Super Fancy Dancing. You can find the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
December 20, 2024

It’s Christmastime, and I have not yet posted photos of this year’s PopCult Christmas Tree (which is largely the work of my beautiful wife, Mel Larch).  Allow me to correct that today, and not only with photos, but with a very short video AND, a brand-new Christmas episode of Mel’s classic Disco showcase, MIRRORBALL.

And as you’ll see, it all ties into itself nicely.

First, let’s show you the photos of the tree. For the past several years, we have done a pop culture tree, with a polyglot of ornaments representing everything from Batman to SpongeBob to the City of Chicago to GI Joe and tons more.  To be honest, we have enough ornaments (but not enough room) for five or six trees.

But this year we wanted to do something different.  We don’t want to fall into tree ennui. We decided to do a theme.

And since Mel loves Disco and mirrorballs (and even has a Disco music shown on The AIR called MIRRORBALL–see below) AND since mirrorballs are having a moment and you can find them everywhere this year for real cheap…it was a bit of a no-brainer.

We have a Disco Christmas Tree, complete with Santa holding a mirrorball and Keith Haring hanging out in the middle of it all.

Photos alone won’t do it justice, so after the pics, there’s a video. After that, we’ll tell you about this afternoon’s new episode of MIRRORBALL.

Using the flash to take photos does not show off how some of the mirrorballs are illuminated in different colors, but this is here for reference. The video shows them in their full glory.

Not using the flash presents a whole different set of issues, particularly when your hands are shaky

Another flash shot, this one from a weird angle that makes it look like there’s a huge blank spot that isn’t really there.

It wouldn’t be a cool Disco Christmas Tree without Keith Haring in its midst.

Disco Santa is doing pretty well his own damn self.

Finding this tree topper really made it a no-brainer to go all-out Disco with the tree.

One last look at the tree

We have other Christmas stuff too, you know. Here’s Mel’s holiday plush

…and here’s everything from Santa to Braxie to SpongeBob and the Defenders of Bulletman, all together in the holiday spirit.

Our last photo is the end table that I decorated, complete with DC Christmas figures, holiday Frankenstein and Creature, the Blue Garloo, the poor Christmas Tree Chicken from Spirit Christmas and of course, the Metaluna Mutant. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like The Metaluna Mutant… and a Weinermobile.

With the photos out of the way, here’s the video…

Today’s Soundtrack

Friday on The AIR. This afternoon we serve up a special new episode of MIRRORBALL and a classic episode 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 found elsewhere on this page.

MIRRORBALL

Friday at 2 PM on The AIR, Mel Larch  gets you dancing into the Christmas spirit with a new, holiday-themed, episode of MIRRORBALL.

You’ll hear Disco takes on holiday classics from Snowflake, Jack Ashford, Montreal Feat. Raymond Berthiaume, The Universal Robot Band, Raindolls and The Village People.

It’s an hour of music to get you shaking your booty around the Christmas Tree, and holly jolly might not be the only vibe it stirs up.

You can hear MIRRORBALL every Friday at 2 PM, with replays Sunday night at 11 PM and throughout the following week Monday at 9 AM and Tuesday at 1 PM plus there’s a mini-marathon that includes the latest episode Saturday nights at 9 PM

Sydney’s Big Electric Cat Splits The Enz

Also on The AIR  at 3 PM (EDT), Sydney Fileen delivers a special encore mixtape edition of her show that pays tribute to New Zealand’s greatest musical export, Split Enz.

Sydney focuses on the New Wave career of the band, which was formed in the early 1970s, originally as a progressive rock/art rock band. In 1977 after three semi-successful albums but no major hit, there were several line-up changes. That year Phil Judd departed the band and was replaced by Tim Finn’s brother, Neil, who was only sixteen years old at the tme.

With a newly-energized line-up and the addition of Neil’s vocals and songwriting, the band headed into a new direction and became a worldwide New Wave phenomenon. Sydney brings you a msitape of the music Split Enz made from 1978 to 1984, before continuing line-up changes led to the band morphing into Crowded House. For the bulk of this show’s songs, Split Enz consisted of Time and Neil, the Finn Brothers, plus Eddie Raynor, Nigel Griggs and Noel Crombie & Phil Hester.  It’s the best of Split Enz from 1978’s Frenzy album to 1984’s Conflicting Emotions.

Check out this killer playlist…

BEC 117

Split Enz
“I See Red”
“Mind Over Matter”
“I Got You”
“Shark Attack”
“What’s The Matter With You”
“Missing Person”
“Poor Boy”
“How Can I Resist Her”
“Things”
“Hard Act To Follow”
“One Step Ahead”
“Walking Through The Ruins”
“History Never Repeats”
“I Don’t Want To Dance”
“Clumsy”
“Iris”
“Six Months In A Leaky Boat”
“Dirty Creatures”
“Hello Sandy Allen”
“Never Ceases To Amaze Me”
“Small World”
“Lost For Words”
“Make Sense of It”
“Bullet Brain and Cactus Head”
“I Wake Up Every Night”
“Message To My Girl”
“No Mischief”
“Conflicting Emotions”
“Breakin’ My Back”
“One Mouth Is Fed”
“The Lost Cat”
“Ninnie Knees Up”
“Double Happy”

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

That’s what’s on The AIR Friday, and that is this week’s PopCulteer.

Check PopCult for all our regular features, with fresh content every day, even during the holiday season.

Today’s photo essay was not exactly planned.

If you’ve been reading PopCult, you know that your humble blogger and his lovely wife just got back from our annual trip to Chicago a week and a day ago. My plan, something I’ve been attempting to do recently, was to just go and enjoy the trip and not try to turn it into content for the blog. However, I also take my camera with me everywhere out of habit, and part of our trip involved going to The Art Institute of Chicago, so it’d be criminal not to take a few photos.

Our main reason for making our first visit to The Art Institute since 2018 was so Mel could see one of their prints of Katsushika Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa. They have four copies of this piece, but due to their fragility, they only display them every few years, and then only for a few months at a time.  This is a big deal and there were ads for the event all over Chicago. Light and the elements can damage the prints, so they are displayed in a dimly-lit area.

Mindful of this, I did not use a flash for any of the photos I took the entire time we were at the Art Institute. But we were also there on a very cold day in December, and extreme weather exacerbates my Myasthenia Gravis, so most of the pictures I took, both with my camera and with my now-retired phone, came out at least a little blurry, and in some cases as accurate depictions of my double-vision.

So while comments are always welcome, please don’t be a jerk and point out the obvious. Also, if I appear to be bright red in the photos, it’s because we got there twenty minutes before they opened to the general public, and had to wait outside in sixteen-degrees weather. By the time we left four hours later we had almost returned to normal.

And a few words of advice if you wish to go to the Art Institute: Periodically, the Art Institute opens their doors and lets any Illinois resident in for free. Do not go on those days;  Go when the weather is really nice; Try going on a weekday; Go with the intention of spending the entire day there: Pace yourself because they have tens of thousands of amazing pieces of artwork to see, and you want to spend enough time with each piece that you enjoy.

Oh, and be sure to stop on the way in for the free map to where the galleries are.

I had only intended to run a dozen or so photos, but when I started going through them, I came up with more than twice that. Let’s look at ’em…

Mel and The Great Wave, out of focus (it was very dim and I didn’t want to use the flash).

The Great Wave, almost in focus.

Better luck with the focus with the phone set to selfie mode

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This is our final STUFF TO DO before Christmas lands next week, and we have a lot to tell you about.

Thursday, December 19, Charleston’s ArtWalk returns for a pre-holiday edition before its long Winter hibernation. The Downtown Charleston ArtWalk is the Capital City’s premiere art event bringing you fine art, fashion, crafts, antiques, food and much more by downtown businesses and organizations and the Downtown Charleston Association, and it’s a great way to find last-minute artsy (and occasionally fartsy) gifts for your loved ones.

As always, it’s a free self-guided walking tour of Charleston’s shops, galleries and businesses featuring regional art and performances. This is when participating shops and organizations extend their hours for browsing, shopping and mingling.

Participating shops are located along Quarrier, Capitol, Lee, Summers and Hale streets in Downtown Charleston and feature a variety of art – from paintings and sculptures to photography and music. Attendees can stroll along at their own pace, dip in and out of stores and stop off along the way for a bite to eat at a downtown restaurant.

This well-loved family-friendly event takes place from 5 to 8 PM, Thursday, and attracts art aficionados as well as folks who just want to get out and try something new.

A new ArtWalk website is live now, and if all goes according to plan, it’ll be complete with a list of participating venues, and a map so you can find you way around.

This is a great way to get out, experience Charleston’s surprisingly robust arts environment and support the local scene and if affords an extra chance to check out the Holly on Brawley trees and Charleston’s fancy beer alley.

Aside from the walk of the art, there’s tons of other STUFF TO DO in Charleston and the rest of the Mountain State and beyond over the next few days so you can just read below and find out all about it.

Even with our unpredictable weather, there are still some outdoor events happening, so I will continue to implore you to not be a Grinch and vape or smoke around other humans who may not share your addictions. Lots of folks get really sick when exposed to that garbage and it would be really nice to get through the holiday without sounding like a pair of mating walruses.

As I have been copying and pasting for some time now, this a good time to remind you that THIS IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF EVENTS.  It’s just a starting point, so don’t expect anything comprehensive, and if you feel strongly about me leaving anything out, feel free to mention it in the comments. And if you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future, contact me via Social Media at Facebook or Twitter.

Live Music is on tap at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  This week’s shows are not yet announced.   There’s a fun-sounding open mic at Pumzi’s Sunday night at 7 PM.  Check out the FB event page.

As  always, The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about. Wednesday at 6 PM it’s time for the annual Empty Glass Gift Exchange, followed by Joe Rosenfeld & Friends.  Thursday at 9:30 PM Johnny Spolarich takes the stage. Friday at 10 PM it’s a Hometown Christmas Bash with The Charleston Rogues.  Saturday SPACE FREQ lands on the EG stage, with special guests, BRRO at 9 PM.

Please remember that viral illlnesses are still a going concern with the ‘rona still lurking about all robust and reinvigorated and just waiting to ruin your holiday. Plus there are nasty seasonal ailments, incotinent reindeer, loose cabinent nominees, Mid-Century Uranium Christmas Trees and other damned good reasons to be careful. 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.

Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.

Here we go, roughly in order…

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