I‘m digging into the big infotainment pile early this week for a new batch of STUFF TO DO in and around the Charleston/Huntington WV area (and beyond) this weekend.

 As I have been copying and pasting of late, 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.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  Unfortunately, I’m writing this early and they’re posting who’s playing late, so you’ll just have to go find out for yourself who they got this week.

The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about. Nolan Collins will be playing every Wednesday in March at 9 PM. Thursday at 5:30 PM the Helping Hour with Swingstein & Robin makes the world a better place with music. Friday Tim Courts plays during happy hour.  Sunday at 10 PM it’s the always-hapnin’ Post Mountain Stage Jam, hosted by The Carpenter Ants.  You can check below for the graphics for other cool weekend shows at The Empty Glass.

Please remember that the pandemic is still not entirely over yet. It’s a going concern with the ‘rona surging again. And now there are seasonal allergies, the flu, previously-eradicated diseases coming back, lingering and rabid legislators, fearsome and sarcastic street bunnies 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.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few suggestions for the weekend, roughly in order…

Continue reading

Tuesday always means cool new stuff on The AIR.  We have new episodes of  Radio Free Charleston and The Swing Shift.  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 tons of replays throughout the week.

Our first hour is our usual collection of cool local, independent and brand-new music. We open with brand new music from Unmanned, from their latest album, “As The Beacon Stands Aflame,” which was just released a few days go.

The remainder of our first hour has new music from Dinosaur Burps, Disco Risque, Andy Prieboy, The Paranoid Style, James McCartney, Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates and more cool tunes to which you may well groove.

Our second and third hours are also new, but they are also an extended tribute to Budget Tapes & Records, which just closed Sunday. These two hours consist entirely of music that I purchased at Budget over the years, beginning with a track from the very first album I bought there 51 years ago.  It’s my personal playlist of music I bought at Budget.

In between, I talk about the records, who sold them to me, and which location of Budget I went to to purchase them (a long time ago they had three stores). The problem is, as I went along with assembling the show, I realized that it’s going to take more than two hours, so I’m doing this again next week. This little exercise stirred up an awful lot of wonderful memories.

I also want to recommend my post from Friday, and a great entry by Douglas Imbrogno at WestVirginiaVille that collects Doug’s memories of Budget, along with those of Stephen Schmidt, of Astrodot fame. For the unintiated, this is a good way to catch up on the history of Budget. Also, hiding behind a paywall, is a great article by Jason “Roadblock” Robinson at Coal Valley News.

The links in the first hour of the playlist will take you to the pages where you can learn more about each artist and buy their music or find out where to see them (where available)…

RFC V5 166

Unmanned “Light The Beacons”
Dinosaur Burps “Driftwood”
Strawfyssh  “Beautiful”
Lords of Atlantis “Chariots of the Gods”
Disco Risque “Drawing Blood Pt. 2”
Andy Prieboy “Anyone But You”
Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates “Virtue”
Tilting At Windmills “What You Do”
Slate Dump “Feral and Unobtainable”
The Paranoid Style “Are You Loathsome Tonight”
Novelty Island “Word Art”
IDKHOW  “Downside”
Strawfyssh  “New Frontiers”
Shirley Bassey “Slave To The Rhythm”
Weird Al Yankovic “My Bologna”

hour two
Monty Python “Spam”
Frank Zappa “Cosmik Debris”
The Beatles “I Am The Walrus”
YES “Heart of the Sunrise”
DEVO “Jocko Homo”
Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights”
XTC “Generals and Majors”
Lene Lovich “Wonderful One”
Split Enz “Nobody Takes Me Seriously”
Elvis Costello “Five Gears In Reverse”
The Clash “Something About England”
Siouxsie And The Banshees “Dear Prudence”

hour three
The Who “Music Must Change”
Pete Townshend “Empty Glass”
Marianne Faithful “Why’d Ya Do It”
Cheap Trick “Dream Police”
Kansas “People of the South Wind”
John Lennon “Starting Over”
Paul McCartney “On The Way”
George Harrison “Not Guilty”
Ringo Starr “Attention”
Yoko Ono “No No No”
The Stranglers “Just Like Nothing On Earth”
Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive “Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid”
Mark Davis “Water Come To Me Eye”

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,  and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different classic 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 last week’s episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM we offer up another new mixtape episode of The Swing Shift.  This is the second of what has been expanded to become a four-week dive into Boogie Woogie and its essential contribution to the success of Swing Music.  The reason for the expansion to four episodes is also the reason this is another mixtape edition. Yours truly wore his voice out recording this week’s RFC, and therefore will be recording The Swing Shift 155 early Tuesday morning, after this column goes live.

(UPDATE: 3-4-2024  10:10 AM EST:  Here is the playlist for today’s new episode of The Swing Shift)

The Swing Shift 155

Lester Young “Boogie Woogie (I May Be Wrong)”
Hazel Scott Brown “Boogie Woogie”
The Rosenberg Trio “Guitar Boogie”
Steve Howe “Cactus Boogie”
Tyler Pedersen “T-Boneasuarus”
Jack’s Cats “Phil’s Boogie”
Louis Jordan “Choo Choo Ch-Boogie”
Quincy Jones “Boogie Stop Shuffle”
Earl “Fatha” Hines “Boogie Woogie On St. Louis Blues”
Count Basie & His Orchestra “One O’Clock Boogie”
Pete Ruggalo “Good Evening Friends Boogie”
Gene Krupa Orchestra “Boogie Blues”
Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra “Andy’s Boogie”
Woody Herman “Indian Boogie Woogie”
Nat King Cole “Windy City Boogie Woogie”
Sir Jay & His Orchestra “T-Bone Boogie”
Jean-Pierre Bertrand, Peter Muller, Dani Gugolz “Rhythm Boogie’
Harry James “Back Beat Boogie”
Mondo Exotica “Elephant Boogie”
National Radio Station “Plantation Boogie”
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy “The Boogie Jumper”
Cab Calloway “The Calloway Boogie”

Sadly, that means I don’t have a playlist to share, but rest assured, it’s going to Swing, not like the dickens, but more like the the Boogie Woogie Beat.

 You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM and 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.

This week’s art is a watercolor/acrylic hybrid study, painted on paper for pens.

This piece, inspired by several photos I took on different platforms of Chicago’s “L” last December, is a baby step toward incorporating Edward Hopper-style light, shadow and composition into a painting with a more surreal theme and subtext. If I take this to canvas, I’ll probably make it even weirder. Hopefully a little less sloppy with the signage, too.

As it is, it’s a bit subtle in the mind-hurting weirdness, and maybe a little heavy on the Hopper.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Over in radioland, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you encores of 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.

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. 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. All times listed are Eastern, so if you’re in another timezone, adjust accordingly.

At 8 PM you can hear an hour of stand up from Lewis Black, on a recent episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM the Monday Marathon and Sydney Fileen present ten hours of New Wave Extended Dance Mixes on Sydney’s Big Electric Cat.

This week I thought it might be fun to revisit the video of a crazy trip I made just about half a year ago.

The reason for the recycled video is two-fold: First, I keep running into people who I know would have enjoyed it, but who, for whatever reason, missed it. Second, I had other stuff pop up this weekend, and it was easier to do this than to find or make a new video.

So…IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…above you see the video of the epic road trip your humble blogger took over his birthday weekend last August. In just under half an hour I take you from Dunbar to Caryville, Tennesee, to Calhoun, Georgia, into Atlanta for JoeLanta, back up to Richmond, Kentucky and then on to Columbus, Ohio for PowerCon and MEGO Meet.

You’ll get to see your PopCulteer go through several wardrobe changes (the trip took five days), a few different hats and glasses, and astute viewers ought to be able to see where  my Myasthenia Gravis flared up and made me all squinty-eyed.

It was a fun trip, but we’ll never do another like it again. 1,200 miles on the road in five days is just too much. By the time we hit PowerCon we were basically DOA and only lasted a couple of hours. Cramming this much into one long weekend basically meant that everything was a blur and by the end, we weren’t sure what was real and what was hallucinated.

Although, hearing Television’s “Marquee Moon” playing in Buc-ee’s definitely did happen. I got it on video.

So if you have the time, watch as yours truly has fun with toys and gets into some interesting misadventures.

As we mentioned last week, May, 2009, was “Mark Beckner Month” on Radio Free Charleston. This edition of your local music, film, animation and art webcast was jam-packed with music and other short bits of coolness. The first tune is from Barebones, the accapella group who debuted on RFC just a few weeks before this episode, plus we continued “Mark Beckner Month” with a couple of performances that feature Mark: one solo, and one supporting his brother Stephen while jamming on an old Go Van Gogh tune.

It’s a little bittersweet because,  in addition to Mark, and Alan and Brian Young, Kai Haynes, who we lost just a few weeks ago, plays bass on that end-credits song.

As if the music weren’t enough, we also had a 100-second art show, this time showcasing the work of Leia Bell, a promo clip for “Viva le Vaudeville,” and the debut of “A Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie.”

It was a magical show, and you can read the original production notes HERE.

The PopCulteer
March 1, 2024

Melanie and I ran to Budget Tapes & Records yesterday after she got off work. We sort of had to.

Budget, a Charleston landmark and icon for 52 years suddenly announced the “retirement” of the store…and owners, Dave Pope and Priscella Pope, late Tuesday night. Most folks heard about it Wednesday morning, and while we couldn’t make it up that day, tons of folks showed up to bid farewell to one of the coolest retail establishments to ever exist in the Capitol City.

PopCult has mentioned Budget countless times. Seriously, if you go to the search window on this page and type in “Budget Tapes & Records” it’ll bring up seven pages worth of posts, dating back to our second month as a blog. I’d plug them for Record Store Day, recommend them in The PopCult Gift Guide, and back in 2012, we even recorded host segments and the band, Farnsworth, performing at their forthieth anniversary for an episode of the Radio FreeCharleston video show…

Hell, I even recorded a remarkably bizarre radio commercial for them back in 1989…

Budget has been a huge part of my life, Melanie’s too. Pretty much anybody who grew up or spent time in Charleston has fond memories of the place.

We popped in to discover a crammed parking lot, and a store that was jammed with more people than we’ve ever seen there, even on Record Store Day. Much of the inventory is already gone, but there were still some good deals to be found. And they’re getting in one last shipment today.

John Nelson, in his natural environment.

So we felt that we had to go back one last time. We got to see John Nelson, who’s worked at the store for 48 years, and who sold me my first DEVO, Kate Bush, Stranglers, Monty Python, Lene Lovich, Clash, Elvis Costello and YES albums. John was swamped, dealing with the massive line of customers who’d come for one last visit.

John has the uncanny ability to remember the musical tastes of every single person who ever walked into Budget. You could walk in after having been away five or ten years, and he’d greet you with “Hey, bro, have you heard the new (your favorite band) album?” I’m going to miss that. I may have to go bug him at home.

I felt a little sadness, but more than that, I felt a sense of gratitude that I had such a wonderful place in my life. There was something joyous about seeing the store so busy and thriving, at least for a few more days.

To be honest, I have been a little surprised that they lasted this long. We simply live in a different world now.

My first visit to Budget was 51 years ago. I was ten, and I wanted a Monty Python album that I’d seen advertised in National Lampoon (I was pretty hip for a ten-year-old). I’d been a rabid fan since they’d run the show on WMUL two years earlier (don’t believe the official timeline…Python aired in the US before 1973), and hadn’t been able to find the album at Hecks.

So I managed to talk my dad into taking me to Budget, and not only did I find the Python album, it was in the cutout bin, so it didn’t cost as much as I thought it would.

That is the first of many memories of Budget that are key to what made me who I am.

I discovered Undergound Comix at Budget, and until they stopped selling them, I picked up The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Zap, Yellow Dog and other titles that somehow managed to infuse a counter-culture sensibility into my brain without ever fostering within me the desire to drink or do drugs.

I bought my first rock album there (Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe), I bought The Rutles album there, and that led to me becoming a rabid Beatles fan. I started out as a comedy nerd, and got the Zappa album because of “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow,” but the music on The Rutles converted me into a music nerd, and that, as they say, is all she wrote.

At one point Budget had three locations, in Kanawha City, of course, but also in the Daniel Boone Hotel on Capitol Street, and in Cross Lanes. John was managing the Cross Lanes shop when I learned to drive, and he tracked down the debut albums by DEVO and Kate Bush for me there back in 1978.

I went to the Capitol Steet location so often that, once in the span of about two years, I ran into the band, Molly Hatchet, about six times when they were doing signings. They’d recognize me, and assumed I was a fan (which, I wasn’t. I was never into the whole Southern Rock thing), but to kill time we’d sit around and talk about the Frank Frazetta paintings they used as album covers and stuff like old EC comics. That might have been where I gained my immunity to being starstruck. They were just guys who played music and liked cool stuff.

One of my best friends, the late Johnny Rock, worked at Budget back in the 90s. In 2017, just days after Lee Harrah’s mother passed away, I’d arranged to take Lee out to lunch, just to see how he was doing. That morning Johnny, who had been in very poor health for sometime himself,  posted on Facebook that he wanted to go out and just do something. I messaged him immediately and asked if he wanted to join me and Lee for lunch.

The timing was perfect. I picked up Johnny and he was decked out head-to-toe in brand-new gear from his favorite football team, Chelsea. Johnny was a bigger anglophile than I am, to the point of watching soccer regularly. He was beaming. We were going out and he was going to help Lee. Lee was delighted to see Johnny, and helping Johnny made Lee feel better. After lunch at the China Buffet in Kanawha City we made a stop at Budget Tapes & Records. It was glorious. We all got to see our old friend John Nelson and everybody there treated Johnny like the rock star that he was born to be.

This was just a very special day, and Budget was a big part of that.

Like I said, the world has changed. Vinyl records and cassettes gave way to CDs, Budget diversified into clothing, smoking accessories and later, adult recreational items, and then the internet happened.

Before the recent and surprising resurgence of vinyl, I’m sure that Budget relied more on the non-music segments of the store to stay in business. While vinyl probably helped revive their music sales, folks going online to buy clothes, adult videos, various and sundry dildewy implements and smoking accessories cannot have been good for business.

Recent developments in Kanawha City, with cannabis dispenaries that sell smoking accessories opening every two or four blocks, and with the perpetual construction and deconstruction of MacCorkle Avenue making it vastly more difficult to patronize the businesses there, something had to give.

And sadly, it was Budget Tapes & Records.

It’s a shame that a business that managed to survive the Reagan-era headshop crackdown, the Clinton-era music censorship, a water crisis, digital music downloads and four years of Trump was finally done in by piss-poor city planning that saw MacCorkle trapped in what now appears to be a permanent cycle of “pave the road, dig up the road, repeat.”

I hope that, when the remainder of Budget gets auctioned off after they close their doors on Sunday, that somebody rescues that recently-restored sign and donates it to the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

It was fitting that, as we prepared to check out, John ran over and asked Mel, “Hey, have you heard the new Ann Wilson album? You can have the CD for five bucks!” It was vintage John Nelson, and of course, Mel wanted that CD.

Thank you John, and Dave and Priscella and Mike and everyone who was ever part of Budget Tapes & Records.

Here’s some photos…

One last time entering Budget.

There was something sort of uplifting seeing so many people show up to bid their farewells.

John Nelson, Elvis, and Dave Pope, behind the counter.

That bulletin board that was vital to the local music scene.

Here there be monster…ous dildos.

My mom thought these were ‘fancy coffepots.”

I don’t indulge,but this even impressed me.

If only it had been like this every day.

One last desturated glance back. Mr. Marley looks on. 

And that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for all our regular features, with fresh content every day.

This week we need to bend the boilerplate a little for a new batch of STUFF TO DO in and around the Charleston/Huntington WV area (and beyond) this weekend, because before we get to the usual coolness, it’s time for a big annual event in Charleston.

Today we’re going to cover The Celtic Calling, which actually started yesterday. The 8th Celtic Calling Gathering is taking place downtown and around Charleston WV from last night until Sunday.

This celebration of all things Celtic has become an annual tradition here in Charleston.  If you can, come out to enjoy this immersion into Celtic culture.

Many of the events are free, and it’s a way better way to celebrate the home countries of many Appalachians than green beer and leprechauns.

Here’s The Schedule:

Thursday, February 29th
9 – 7.30pm: Children’s Craft and Story Book Activities – 4th Floor, Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol Street – FREE.

Noon – 1pm: Celtic Poetry Sharing and Workshop with James Cochran – Kanawha County Public Library: 123 Capitol Street. – FREE.

*5.30-7.30pm: Celtic Open Mic/Jam: Celtic musicians can request a time slot in advance by contacting pepstein52@gmail.com or 304.343.5074 – All tips donated to Celtic Calling. The Empty Glass, 410 Elizabeth St. – FREE.

7.30pm: Film: ‘Let the Wrong One In’ – ‘Let The Wrong One In’, an Irish horror comedy. Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF, 230 Capitol Street — Admission – $10 Adults, $5 Students. Tickets in advance at: https://www.wviff.org/floraleeharkcohen/

Friday, March 1st
9 – 4pm: Children’s Craft and Story Book Activities – 4th Floor, Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol Street – FREE.

5pm: Film – ‘Let The Wrong One In’, an Irish horror comedy. Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF, 230 Capitol Street — Admission – $10 Adults, $5 Students. Tickets in advance at: https://www.wviff.org/floraleeharkcohen/

6 – 10 pm: Beni Kedem Highlanders Tartan Ball 2023, Bedi Kedem Temple, 100 Quarrier St, Charleston, WV 25301. Admission – $50 Call Shrine for Tickets: Phone: (304) 343-9405

*7-10pm: 7-10pm: Celtic Ceilidh – Scottish Country Dancing – Music by St Albans Scottish Fiddle Orchestra. Kanawha United Presbyterian Church, Fellowship Hall, in rear of Church, 1009 Virginia Street East, or enter adjacent Parking from Kanawha Boulevard – Admission – $5-10; Children under 10 Free.

7 30- 9 30pm: Dave Haas and Friends – Taylor Books, 226 Capitol Street, Charleston, WV 25301 – FREE

Saturday March 2nd
9am: Celtic Calling 5K Kilt Run and 2K Walk
Spring Hill Cemetery, 1555 Farnsworth Drive –

Downtown Charleston Venues: All Events FREE unless indicated:

4pm: Celtic Calling Parade- Lee Street Triangle to Kanawha Blvd – 3 Pipe Bands, Dancers, Loch Ness Monster, St Patrick, Unicorns, and more.

*10am- 3 45pm: Celtic Calling Village – City Center at Slack Plaza, 169, Summers Street. including:
Clan Tents, Craft Vendors, Food Trucks Children’s Crafts and Games,
– Children’s Mini Highland Games (Age sections 5-8 and 9-12)
12:15pm – Toss the Sheaf – t-shirt prizes
1:15pm – Toss the Caber – t-shirt prizes
2:15pm – Tug O’ War – For all Children to participate in.

Music and Dance Stage
Times are approximate.
10 30am: Opening Music
10.45am: Lincoln County Cloggers
11 15am: Kinnfolk
12 15pm : Savanna Brown, Scottish Dance/Bagpipes, Kanawha Valley Pipes And Drums
1pm: Crowning of Chieftain, Queen and Court – Who will wear the crowns, and win a prize package of Gift Certificates, Celtic Calling T-shirts, Tickets to the FOOTMAD, ‘Daimh’ Concert. Wear your best Celtic Garb, sections for the young ones as well. Contest judged by Celtic Calling Board Trustees.
1 20pm: Lincoln County Cloggers
1 50pm: West Virginia Highlanders Pipe and Drum
2 15pm: Childrens Tug O’War in front of Stage.
2 30pm: Celtic Calling Dog Show – All breeds welcome. Awards for best Celtic Breeds, Fancy Dress (best Celtic garb), Red Head and more
3pm:Kinnfolk

Kanawha County Public Library: 123 Capitol Street.
9 – 4.30pm: Children’s Craft and Story Book Activities. Making Irish Badges – 4th Floor
10- 11 30am: Ireland- A Travelogue and International Discussion- Andy Gallagher
Noon – Elementary Age Children Dance Workshop , with Appalachian Lads and Lassies, 4th Floor.
2-3 30pm: Celtic Container Gardening with Kanawha County Extension Master Gardener Program
3pm: Celtic Storytime: Read Along with Ricky the Red Bearded Dragon

Rock City Cake Company: 205 Capitol Street.
1130 – 12 30am: Aubrey Cale – Harp Performance, Q&A, ‘petting zoo’.
1- 2 30pm: Tim and Maggie share Different Tunes and Instruments in the Celtic Tradition
3pm : Almost Heaven Dulcimer Club
5pm: Appalachian Lads and Lassies, Scottish and Irish Dance Performance

Sam’s Uptown Cafe, 28 Capitol Street
11 30-2pm: Legendary Celtic Brunch

Short Story Brewing Charleston: 186 Summers St
12.30pm: George Daugherty Tall Tales Contest—Short Story Brewing
5.30pm: Father Son & Friends at Short Story Brewing Charleston
8.30pm: Father Son & Friends –

5-7pm: The Charleston Rogues – World’s Greatest Happy Hour at the The Blue Parrot, 14 ½ Capitol Street – $5

7 30pm: FOOTMAD presents: Dàimh from Scotland in Concert. Capitol Theater, Resurrection Church., Ticket information: FOOTMAD.org or Info: 304-729-4382

7:30-9:30pm: An evening with Tim and Maggie – Music – Taylor Books, 226 Capitol Street, Charleston, WV 25301 – FREE.

10 pm: Traditional Music Session hosted by Kinnfolk – Adelphia Sports Bar & Grille, 218 Capitol St. -FREE.

Sunday March 3rd
11am: Kirkin of the Tartans, Kanawha United Presbyterian Church, 1009 Virginia Street.

11 30-2pm.: Celtic Brunch – Sam’s Uptown Cafe, 28 Capitol Street

Noon – 4.30pm: Children’s Craft and Story Book Activities – 4th Floor, Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol Street – FREE.

1-3pm: Celtic Calling Highlander at Rock City Cake Company March 3rd -‘Paint a Highlander’ by Alto Design Paint Party & Craft Classes, Rock City Cake Company: 205 Capitol Street. – $35

2 pm: Team Irish Road Bowling at KSF – Registration from 1 30pm- Kanawha State Forest – FREE.

2pm: Film – ‘Let The Wrong One In’, an Irish horror comedy. Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF, 230 Capitol Street — Admission – $10 Adults, $5 Students. Tickets in advance at: https://www.wviff.org/floraleeharkcohen/

4pm: Celtic Readers Theatre–5 plays , Stage Readings of 5 Top Playwright Competition Entries – Short Story Brewing: 186 Summers St

So go get all geared up and ready for when Saint Patrick’s Day in a couple of weeks.

As I have been copying and pasting of late, 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.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM.  Friday it’s Dave Haas and Friends, as part of a weekend tie-in with Celtic Calling. Saturday Tim & Maggie take the stage at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery.

RFC faves, Golden, will be at Louie’s Loungeat Mardi Gras Casino Saturday at 8 PM.

The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about. Thursday at 5:30 PM the Helping Hour with Swingstein & Robin turns into a Celtic open mic. Friday Tim Courts plays during happy hour.   You can check below for the graphics for other cool weekend shows at The Empty Glass.

Please remember that the pandemic is not over yet. It’s still a going concern with the ‘rona surging again. And now there are seasonal allergies, the flu, turtles announcing their retirement, grumpy Leprachauns, tp-dancing street squids 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.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few suggestions for the weekend, roughly in order…

The mid-week finds us at our usual spot, and The AIR still manages to bring you a new episode of Curtain Call and a recent edition of Beatles Blast to put the hump in your hump day.  You can tune in at the website, or just stay right here and  listen to the convenient embedded radio player lurking elsewhere on this page.

At 2 PM (EDT) in an encore of a show from last August, Beatles Blast brings you a mixtape tribute to Abbey Road, with cover versions of every song on that classic album, some of them twice. It’s a wild mix of veteran prog-rockers, 1960s legends, alternative rock icons, and a few people you probably never heard of before. Heck, we even have three keyboardists who spent time in YES. You can find the playlist and more notes HERE.

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

At 3 PM (EDT) on Curtain Call, Mel Larch pays tribute to Stephen Sondheim, who, over two years after his passing, is the hottest composer on Broadway.  Mel introduces a mixtape that’s made up of incredible performances from an all-star line-up of stage legends, and none of these performances have ever been heard on Curtain Call before.

There are currently two of his musicals running on Broadway. His final work just wrapped up a successful off-Broadway run, and is rumored to be moving to the Great White Way this summer. There are also rumors that the revue of his work, Old Friends, may transfer to New York from London. Revivals of his classic works are happening all over the world, in community theater, professional houses and major tour productions.

And that’s without mentioning the two Broadway revivals that ended last year. There’s even a Reddit group devoted solely to guessing which Sondheim show will be revived on Broadway next.

With all that going on, Mel thought the time was ripe to, once again, pay tribute to the master. Check out the playlist…

Curtain Call 141

Sondheim Tribute

“Sorry-Grateful” by Mandy Patinkin
“Send In The Clowns” by Glynis Johns
“All Things Bright and Beautiful/Bang! /All Things Bright and Beautiful (Part 2)” Suzanne Henry and Craig Lucas
“A Little Priest” by Michael Ball and Maria Friedman
“I’m Still Here” by Millicent Martin
“Not A Day Goes By” by Patti Lupone
“The Ladies Who Lunch” by Carol Burnett”
“Franklin Shepard Inc.” by Evan Pappas
“Chrysanthemum Tea” by John Cashmore
“Tonight” by Chita Rivera and the company of West Side Story
“Old Friends” by Stephen Sondheim, John Barrowman, Carol Burnett, George Hearn, Ruthie Henshall, Bronson Pinchot

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

Also on The AIR, Wednesday at 11 PM,  The Comedy Vault brings you an hour of stand-up comedy from Lewis Black.

Tuesday means cool new stuff on The AIR.  We have new episodes of  Radio Free Charleston and The Swing Shift.  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 tons of replays throughout the week.

Our first hour is a collection of cool local, independt and brand-new music. We open with a classic track from Mind Garage, the pioneering Morgantown band that invented Christian Rock back in the 1960s. I do wonder why this band is not in the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. They should’ve been inducted years ago.

The track from the band is “Stain Glass Window,” which was posted by band member, Norris Lytton, in the Facebook group, Mind Garage Music and Art, which he moderates, and which is one of the few things I spend any time reading on Facebook these days. Mind Garage was: Larry McClurg – lead vocals, Norris Lytton – vocals, bass and sax, Ted Smith – percussion, Jack Bond – vocals, keyboard,  and John Vaughan – vocals, lead guitar.

The remainder of our all-new first hour has new music from Disco Risque, Andy Prieboy, The Paranoid Style, The Settlement, Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates and more cool tunes to which you may well groove.

Our second and third hours are an early episode of Radio Free Charleston International, that acted as the pilot for Beatles Blast. This is the second of two parts, and you many have heard the first part last week.

The links in the first hour of the playlist will take you to the pages where you can learn more about each artist and buy their music or find out where to see them (where available)…

RFC 165

hour one
Mind Garage “Stain Glass Window”
Disco Risque “PreFluffPartyFyfe”
Joi “Blue Magic Melody”
Teddy Kumpel & Nome Sane “Wrong Song”
Slate Dump “My Precious Moonbeam”
Tucker Riggleman & The Cheap Dates “The Blues”
The Paranoid Style “Client States”
The Settlement “Blindman Parts 1 & 2”
Andy Prieboy “Putting The Laundry Away”

hour two
Beatles “Free As A Bird”
John Lennon “Yer Blues”
Paul McCartney “Blackbird”
George Harrison “If I Needed Someone”
Ringo Starr “With A Little Help From My Friends”
Dawn Penn “Here Comes The Sun”
Vanessa Mae “Because”
Hamilton de Holanda “You Never Give Me Your Money”
Beatles “Sun King”
Frankie Howerd “Mean Mr. Mustard”
Roy Wood “Polythene Pam”
Joe Cocker “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window”
Ben Folds “Golden Slumbers”
Phil Collins “Carry That Weight/The End”
Chumbawumba “Her Majesty”
The Smithereens “All My Loving”
Harry Nillsson “You Can’t Do That”
Lemmy “Back In The USSR”

hour three
Under The Radar “Eleanor Rigby”
Dons of Quixote “Savoy Truffle”
The Marlowes “Old Brown Show”
The Blue Cartoon “I Want To Tell You”
Jamie Hoover “Only A Northern Song”
Eytain Mirsky “Don’t Bother Me”
Journey “It’s All Too Much”
Frank Zappa “I Am The Walrus”
The Vines “I’m Only Sleeping”
Yes “Every Little Thing”
Robert Palmer “Not A Second Time”
Eddie Vedder “Hey, You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”
Heather Nova “We Can Work It Out”
The Donnas “Drive My Car”
Sweet “Paperback Writer”
Sparks “I Want To Hold Your Hand”

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,  and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different classic 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 last week’s episodes of  MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.

At 3 PM we offer up a new mixtape episode of The Swing Shift.  This is the first of a three-week dive into Boogie Woogie and its essential contribution to the success of Swing Music. The next two episodes of the show will include me telling you more about the histories of both Boogie, and Woogie, but this week it’s just a solid block of eight to the bar rhythm and blues. This is the engine that drives the the dance music of Swing, and we’re going to wallow in it for two more weeks.

The Swing Shift 154

Professor Longhair “Boogie Woogie”
Ivory Joe “All States Boogie”
Bill Johnson “Elevator Boogie”
Big Bob Daughtry & The Kampus Kats “Big Bob’s Boogie”
Louis Jordan “Caldonia Boogie”
Wynonie Harris “Wynonie’s Boogie”
Johnny Otis “Good Boogie Googie”
Joe Turner “Mardi Gras Boogie”
George Jenkins “Shufflin’ Boogie”
Bob Gaddy “Little Girl’s Boogie”
Billy Wright “Married Woman’s Boogie”
Tommy Ridgley “Boogie Woogie Mama”
Dave Bartholomew “Good Jax Boogie”
Milton Willis “Little Joe’s Boogie”
Willie Johnson “Got The Boogie Woogie Blues”
Harold Burrage “Way Down Boogie”
B.B. King “B.B. Boogie”
Marvin Johnson “Save Me A Boogie”
Amos Milburn “Roomin’ House Boogie”
Hal Singer “Disc Jockey Boogie”
Bump Myers & The King Porter Orchestra “Bump’s Boogie”
Lightning Hopkins “Moving On Out Boogie”
Doc Pomus “Too Much Boogie”

You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Friday at 10 AM and 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.

This week I’m going to give you a little insight into my art process.

Sometimes, with a piece intended for a painting of some sort, I’ll start with a tiny colored pencil sketch on a small piece of rag paper from one of the small sketchbooks I keep around. This is where I rough out the composition and color and decide if I want to continue in that direction.

If I like what I came up with, I’ll do a bigger piece on different paper using whichever medium I am comfortable with that day. The smaller studies, many of which turn up as Monday Morning Art, are more detailed and larger, and get filed away to be transferred to canvas someday when I have all the time in the world (this doesn’t happen too often. I think I painted between three and six full-canvases last year, and that was prolific for me).

Today I’m letting you see one of the pieces where I didn’t like what I saw that much. I may revisit the scene from a different angle later, but it just didn’t work for me when I envisioned it as a finished painting. So it went into my ever-growing discard pile, which is where it gets its title.

After looking at it a couple of months later I decided to scan it and blow it up, and I like better.  Blown up, the pencil looks like pastel crayon work, and not being tightened up makes it more abstract than I’d intended. I like it enough to share here this week, if not enough to pursue any further.

Plus I didn’t have anything else done that I could’ve used here. Unless you’re looking on this on a phone with a smaller-than-normal screen, you’re seeing it way bigger than it was originally drawn.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we have brand-new episodes of  Nigel Pye’s Psychedelic Shack and at 3 PM,  Herman Linte’s Prognosis, and we do not have the playlists for either show because they are promising them to me Monday morning, and I’m writing this Sunday afternoon. So keep your fingers crossed.

However, I’m told that the new Psychedelic Shack sees Nigel Pye’s usual mix of mind-expanding music from throughout the timestream way more tightly focused, as he concentrates on the 1980s Psychedelic revival in the UK.  

Herman Linte tells us that this week’s Prognosis is a special presentation of Rick Wakeman live, recorded just over a year ago, and including new live renditions of both “The Six Wives of Henry VIII” and “The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,” plus a selection of Rick’s arrangements of classics from his days in YES.

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 next week Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM. You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays next week Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.

At 8 PM you can hear an hour of classic the crazy music of Spike Jones on a recent episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM the Monday Marathon presents a night of music recorded live in concert, with local acts like Hybrid Soul, mixed in with artists like Peter Gabriel, Joe Jackson, Sylvester and more, as we offer up a grab-bag of our music specialty programs.