Today we’re going to flirt with our unoffical price limit in The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide as we devote our picks to HO Scale Model Railroading.

We’re going to recommend an O scale set in tomorrow’s set of Big Ticket Tuesday picks, but today we’re sticking with the traditional scale, and in fact, we’re including a fourth pick that exceeds the hundred-dollar limit I’m trying to observe this year.

Our picks include three structures in HO Scale, and our bonus pick is a good starter set, for those of you who want to indoctrinate a new fan into the hobby.  If the stucture is available in different scales, I’ll include links.

Let’s look at those structures…

Menards Rocket Launching Tower Model Railroad Structure
Made and sold by Menards
in O Scale and HO Scale
$60 to $100 at Menards (with some weird rebate discount).

I just told you about this a few weeks ago, but here we go again, just in case you missed it.

Menards, who just arrived in Barboursville a couple of years ago, have their own line of model railroading products nestled among their hardware, groceries, work clothes and home goods, and they are a godsend for model railroaders. This is a major retailer who does not have an extensive toy department, but they have provided a lifeline to hobbyists who might now have a hobby shop nearby.

They have a full line of fully-assembled structures, with an easy-to-use plug-in power system, so you can just pick them up, find a space on your layout, and plug them in. When I saw they were doing a Saturn V rocket, I was hoping they’d eventually release it in HO Scale (they usually put out an O Scale version of their structures first), and now they have released this rocket and launch tower in both scales, and I’m going to quote from their website, so I don’t get any details wrong…

The mightiest rocket of the American space program was the majestic Saturn V of Apollo fame! Rising 363 feet into the air, the 6.2-million-pound giant could produce 7.6 million pounds of thrust – more than enough to transport three Astronauts to the Moon! Thirteen Saturn Vs propelled thirteen trips to the Moon!

The Rocket Launching Tower salutes the American space program and allows you to include a rendering of this technological marvel on your own HO gauge layout.

The basics: This is fully assembled and decorated. There is illumination of the launch tower and red flashing warning lights on top of the structure. At the base of the rocket platform you’ll spot rapidly flashing red LEDs. Below the platform is a grate that house Menard’s water vapor “smoke” system. Carefully add water, and when power is applied, a visible torrent of vapor can be seen – simulating launch!

The Rocket Lunching Tower requires a 4.5-volt power supply sold separately (Menards SKU nos. 279-4061/4361, 4062/4362, or4050). Power may be applied through either a rear table-top plug in, or from below the building with a pigtail connector.

The HO Scale Launching Tower has an 4-¾ by 4-¾ inch foundation with a height of 9-3/8 inches. There is a complex array of structural support beams as well as conduits for electrical line or fuel for the liquid-powered rocket motors.

It has a massive tower structure with six levels. Five feature support arms reach out to the rocket. The rocket itself is a good model of the real thing. It is white, and decorated with black striping and an American flag. An Apollo capsule is up top, and you’ll find rudders and engine nozzles at the bottom.

The four rapid-flashing red LEDs warn folks that something big is about to happen. Then water vapor flows out at a rapid rate, suggesting the countdown is almost complete! Next stop, the Moon!

I was able to pick this up in Barboursville, but I may have gotten the last one. It can be order from their website, using the links above for the appropriate scale. Here’s a quick look at it in action…

Merchant’s Row VII — Kit
Walthers Cornerstone
In HO Scale
$35-$45

This set is a kit, which means you have to build, paint (some of it) and apply decals. This can be a fun, relaxing and rewarding part of the hobby, if the person on your shopping list is so inclined. Be sure to find out first if they enjoy doing this, because if you don’t like doing it, then it can be like hell on Earth.

In the event that they like to build stuff, then this is a wonderful kit that will fill up space on their train layout and look great doing it. The storefronts are visually flexible to work in eras from the 1940s to present, and the customization possibilities are endless.

Walthers describes it thusly,

Model a modernized business district when you add the Cornerstone Merchant’s Row VII to HO commercial areas big or small. Perfect for steam-, diesel- and modern-eras, the detailed structure kit includes three updated store under one roof plus:

New Left-corner block with 3 different stores
Modernized facades and entrances
Fits late 1940s to the present
Full-color 1950s-1960s vintage signs for different businesses
Great addition to big city or small town business districts
Separate back porch, downspouts and stairway
Easily mix and match with other Merchant’s Row kits (each sold separately) to create a custom business district
Molded in four colors and clear plastic

This is a great kit that can be bought or ordered at any local hobby shop, or ordered directly from Walthers, or at a discount at the link above.

Drive ‘n Dine
Woodland Scenics
in HO Scale and N Scale
Around $85

This is a cool pre-built set, in two pieces, of a nostalgic, 1950’s style drive-in restaurant. I picked it because it looks great, and it’s a bit reminiscent of Dairy Queen or the original Shoney’s. This cool scale minature is loaded with details.

As the folks at Woodland Scenics say…

Drive ‘n Dine sets a nostalgic scene on any layout and features loads of details. Two carhops on skates deliver tasty treats, and a man in a bright red convertible waits for his order. Additional details include a vintage styled signage, soda straw supports for the awning, benches, picnic table, several bicycles, light poles and more! See photos for footprint.

This structure comes with pre-installed LED lighting made for use with the Just Plug^® Lighting System.

As I write this, the HO version is marked down almost to the price of the N Scale version if you order directly from Woodland Scenics at the links above, but you can probably beat even that price if you shop around online or go to a local hobby shop.

Bachmann Trains – Santa Fe Flyer Ready To Run Electric Train Set
Currently $130 via Amazon

Our bonus pick today exceeds the $100 mark, but it’s a great entry-level HO Scale train. Perfect for any new fan of model railroading.

It’s not too expensive, has an iconic Santa Fe “Warbonnet” engine and it’s got Bachmann’s “EZ Track” system, which is a godsend for those of us who grew up in the era of teensy metal connecter widgets.

It’s a basic set, as they say on the Amazon page:

Complete Ready To Run Freight Train Set
Powered by a EMD FT Diesel Locomotive with Operating Headlight
Includes; Open Quad Hopper Car, Gondola Car, and Off-Set Cupola Caboose
36″ Circle of Snap-Fit E-Z Track, Power Pack and Speed Controller
HO Scale 1:87

Santa Fe Flyer Ready To Run Electric Train Set – HO Scale. Hauling freight across the deserts, mountains, and cities of the American landscape is the Santa Fe Flyer. Powered by a mighty Santa Fe FT diesel locomotive with its distinctive “war bonnet” paint scheme, this sleek and powerful train deftly handles the ever-changing terrain of the Southwest United States. The Santa Fe Flyer includes: EMD FT diesel locomotive with operating headlight, open quad hopper, gondola, offset cupola caboose, body-mounted E-Z Mate couplers, 36″ circle of snap-fit E-Z Track including 11 pieces of curved track and 1 curved plug-in terminal rerailer, power pack and speed controller, illustrated instruction manual.

It’s not loaded with bells and whistles, but it’s a good set for kids and adults to begin their entry in the hobby.

You might want to shop around, because while Amazon usually has the lowest prices, sometimes sets like these go on sale at other websites and in hobby shops.

We’re back in abstract land this week. Today’s piece is a smallish real-world painting based on an older digital piece, which was itself based on an even earlier work.

This acrylic painting was knocked out faster than I expected and I managed to squeeze it in between writing assignments. It’s basically just an attempt to paint an abstract pattern that I initially created digitally close to a decade ago. I turned it on its side, which nobody would have noticed had I not mentioned it here.

I went with more primary colors here, and altered my brushstroke style a bit from what I’ve been using to compensate for a minor MG flare-up. The title is just something I came up with and then quickly forgot why.

You can probably expect a few more quick ‘n’ sloppy pieces over the next few weeks.

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.

At 8 PM you can hear an hour of the music of Rusty Warren on last week’s episode of The Comedy Vault.

Tonight at 9 PM the Monday Marathon presents ten hours of Mel Larch’s Curtain Call.

Be sure to check back later Monday morning for the next installment of The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide.

We have a change of plans in today’s entry in The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide.  Our previously-announced guide to online retailers has been bumped to next Sunday.

This week we are going to feature some local folks, most of whom make their own cool wares, and many of whom are vendors at The Mountain State Pop Expo, which is still going on today in South Charleston.

Next Sunday we’ll tell you about online retailers, and later this week we’ll also tell you about more of the local crafters who were at MSPX.

Rabin’s Relics

We have mentioned these fine folks before, but seeing them at MSPX reminded us to point you their way again.  Rabin’s Relics are two fine folks who make cool gothic and steampunk jewelry and costume pieces right here in The Mountain State. .

You may have seen the work of Rabin’s Relics for sale at local conventions,  but you can also peruse and order the fine merchandise online. They make some really cool costume jewelry, accessories and props, and they are based out of Fairmont.

You can “like” their Facebook page to keep up with their newest offerings and find out what shows they’ll be attending. You can also find contact info there.

This is some really nice, intricate jewelry. Mel likes their crosses, plus they also refurbish and improve vintage hats and other items, and make new leather goods in addition to their pendants and necklaces. There’s a timeless quality to their hand-crafted goods that really makes them stand out.  Perusing their Facebook page will give you loads of great gift ideas for the person on your shopping list who appreciates fine adornments.

This is some very cool and creative stuff, and Mrs. PopCulteer has several of their pieces in her collection, including a new hat she just got Saturday.

Nitro Antique Mall
The Kanawha Valley’s Pop Culture Emporium
110 21st Street, Nitro, WV  304.755.5002

Our old pal (and co-panelist for ShockaCon), Tim Arnott, made big changes in the Nitro Antique Mall and now it’s a one-stop shop encompassing Third Floor Comics, Modern Vintage Records, Gearhead Garage Toy Cars, The Sports Corner, The Creepy Room Horror Collectibles and Bric-N-Brack building toys.

The place is easy to find, just a block off of Route 25, near the Nitro WWI memorials, and it’s a treasure trove of collectibles from the last sixty years (and beyond).

You can expect all items to be graded and priced fairly, and Tim will go out of his way to hunt down special requests if he doesn’t have them in stock.

They’re even hosting the occasional open mic night now. It’s a great place to do your holiday shopping.

Nightmare1984
The Art of Adam Weaver
Webstore

Adam Weaver has been a friend and a bit of a hero of PopCult‘s for several years. A cancer survivor since childhood and the reason for AdamFest, Adam is now a husband, a father and an artist.

At his webstore you can find several of his prints for sale, as well as stickers ad other goodies. At the Mountain State Pop Expo, he had even more cool stuff, including Mothman-inspired 3-D standees and  cool stuff like that.

Adam’s art is inspired by his love of 1980s horror movies and pop culture. You’ll find paintings based on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday The 13th, and of course, A Nightmare On Elm Street and more. All of this is rendered in Adam’s distinctive style and could make the perfect gift for the fan of 80s horror on your shopping list.

Tonight we bring you a masterpiece of Schlock Cinema that we first posted in this space seven years ago, Zontar the Thing from Venus. This 1966 sci-fi…ahem..”epic” was actually a remake of a Roger Corman movie from ten years earlier, It Conquered The World. It was so famously cheesy that it inspired an episode-long parody on SCTV back in the early 1980s. This film never had a full run in theaters, being cranked out on a $22,000 budget to fill out a television syndication package.

According to Jeremey Lunt’s synopsis from IMDB, “A misguided scientist enables an alien from Venus named Zontar to come to earth in order to help solve man’s problems. However, Zontar has other ideas, like disabling the power supply of the entire world and taking possession of important officials with mind control devices.”

This is one of those “so bad it’s good” movies that’s best viewed in a room full of easily amused people. We brought it back for your amusement, and to make it easy to keep up with The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide, which continues later Sunday.

It’s Saturday, so we are going to plunder previous years’ Gift Guides to find three cool things that still make great gift ideas.

This year on Saturdays The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide will revisit picks from previous years so that you don’t have to scroll back through eighteen years worth of Gift Guide posts looking for cool ideas for your holiday shopping. Today we recommend cheap toys, cool movies and a little neo-gothic erotica for you.

Tomorrow The 2024 PopCult Gift Guide will spotlight a variety of online retailers, so you can find all sorts of cool gift ideas, instead of just the ones I’m including here.

Final Faction Action Figures

Two years ago a line of action figures showed up for the cheapskates among us. This is a great gift idea for kids who love 4-inch sci-fi and supehero figures, or adult collectors who might have their minds blown when they find out where you got these.

Final Faction is a line of Science-Fiction, alien-fighting action figures in the popular 1/18 (roughly four-inches tall) scale. Most of the figures have five points of articulation. Most come with at least one accessory. The paint detail is above-average. There is a backstory and accompanying nine-minute CGI cartoon on YouTube, and most importantly…they only cost $1.25 each! These are Dollar Tree exclusives.

For a mere buck and a quarter, you get a hell of a lot. Quality-wise, the figures are just a notch below ReAction’s line of licensed five-point figures, but those sell for fifteen to twenty times as much. If you are a 1/18 scale hobbyist, these figures are great customizing fodder. At this price you can try all sorts of things–from total repaints to attempting to add joints.

The backing cards are printed in full color on both sides and include Power Ratings and a bio for each character, along with this intro to the series…

In the year 2050, a large asteroid collided with our moon. Among the debris, we discovered a hibernating alien mothership. Now, the Kharn are awake and they want to plunder our precious natural resources. So, we recruited teams of special operatives to defend Earth from their alien threat.

They are the…

FINAL FACTION!

There you go: A cool space-opera premise with well-sculpted figures that sport decent (if limited) paint detail, and a computer-animated short. And they cost a buck apiece. You can collect the entire first series of figures for eight bucks (fourteen dollars if you buy all six extra accessory packs). For less than the price of one ReAction figure, you can own the entire line (if you can find them–in some stores the first series has long been sold out). These are great stocking stuffers, for the toy collector on your shopping list.

Since we wrote this, there have been a couple dozen new figures added to the line, along with vehicles and a comic book. They’ve even done repaints of the early figures as “Elite” and “Venom” editions.  The comic book includes a checklist of the entire line (with the exception of the new repaints), so you can see what you still need.

Almost every Dollar Tree still has some of these figures, and  you can still order a few of them online, but if you do that now, you have buy them in bulk, which isn’t too bad a deal when you consider how cheap these are.

The Works of Anna Biller

Reaching back to The 2017 PopCult Gift Guide we have the work of a creative genius. Anna Biller is a filmmakier who specializes in exquisitely art-directed movies that mimic the look and style of earlier movies while delivering a completely fresh and unexpected twist on them. Her most recent film, The Love Witch, is such a masterpiece of art direction that I was almost certain that I was watching a lost classic from the early 1970s when a friend showed it to me. She shoots on 35mm real film and has the lighting, props, costume and hairstyles of the era down perfectly.

Lately Biller has taken her talents to th eliterary world, with a new novel, Bluebeard’s Castle.

Bluebeard gets a feminist Gothic makeover in this subversive take on the famous French fairy tale — from the acclaimed director of The Love Witch, and for fans of Jane Eyre.

When the successful British mystery writer Judith Moore meets Gavin, a handsome and charming baron, at a birthday party on the Cornish coast, his love transforms her from a bitter, lonely young woman into a romance heroine overnight. After a whirlwind honeymoon in Paris, he whisks her away to a secluded Gothic castle. But soon she finds herself trapped in a nightmare, as her husband’s mysterious nature and his alternation between charm and violence become increasingly frightening.

As Judith battles both internal and external demons, including sexual ambivalence, psychological self-torture, gaslighting, family neglect, alcoholism, and domestic abuse, she becomes increasingly addicted to her wild beast of a husband. Why do women stay in abusive relationships? The answer can be found in the tortured mind of the protagonist, whose richly layered fantasy life parallels that of the female Gothic romance reader. Filled with dark humor and evocative imagery, Bluebeard’s Castle is a subversive take on modern romance and Gothic erotica.

Abut her films, Biller herself says…

In my work I try to combine pure cinema with authentic experience. When I say authentic experience, I mean that I try to directly translate my experience of living in the world into form. My specific concerns are with the lived day-to-day experience of the female. Years ago when I was first starting out as a filmmaker, I became interested in trying to create a cinema based on visual pleasure for women.

In the interest of pure cinema or “proper art” (which James Joyce defines as art which elicits a state of aesthetic arrest), I try to control everything that goes into the film frame. Thus in my work I am trying to do something most unusual: to create “proper” art films masquerading as popular films. So while I am quoting genres, I am using them not as pastiche, but to create a sense of aesthetic arrest and to insert a female point of view.

Her work is immaculate. Using the styles and even the acting techniques of earlier years, she manages to avoid producing simple parody or homage and creates exciting new works that transport the viewer to another era. I am recommending her horror movie, The Love Witch, and her earlier sexploitation flick, Viva and other short films. You can find her movies, along with posters, stickers and more cool stuff at her website, where you will also find links to where you can purchase her book.
This is great stuff for the jaded cult film fanatic on your holiday shopping list.

Caveman (multi-format disc)

Our final pick is a bit of a ringer…or a Ringo-er, as it were. Originally recommended in 2021, I had to give it another shot because, as you may have read, I got to see Ringo Starr perform live in my hometown last month.

Caveman, the 1981 prehistoric comedy starring former Beatle, Ringo Starr, along with Barbara Bach, Shelly Long and Dennis Quaid, is not an historically accurate depiction of our ancestors, who did not actually co-exist with dinosaurs.

However, this movie is chock-full-o primo stop-motion animated dinosaurs, courtesy of an uncredited Jim Danforth, and it’s loads of slapstick fun for kids and adults.

It also has a musical sequence that will stick with you for at least forty years (speaking from experience) and the actors do not speak English (except for a couple of lines), instead speaking in a language invented specifically for the movie. They did the same thing in the movie, Quest For Fire, which came out the same year, but nobody remembers that movie because it didn’t have Ringo, animated dinosaurs or fart jokes.

Caveman was directed by Carl Gottlieb, who co-wrote the movie, Jaws, but is probably more famous for his portrayal of Iron Balls McGinty in the movie, The Jerk.

This is the movie where Ringo met Barbara Bach, who would become (and still is) his wife, and it’s a fun gift for Beatles fans, fans of dinosaurs, fans of slapstick comedy, and anyone who doesn’t take prehistory too seriously. Available from Amazon and other video retailers.

From September, 2008, this episode of Radio Free Charleston features music from Jonathon Glen Wood and Civil State. We also have a promo video for “Jack The Ripper,” the musical by Mark Scarpelli and Dan Kehde, which opened the week this show was originally posted, and there’s some vintage campaign animation from 1960.

I went back to the original production notes, and was highly amused by what I wrote about one of our guests, so I’m excerpting it here:

“Our first musical guest is Jonathon Glen Wood, and I’m telling the truth. I really didn’t know he was a musician when we first met. I ran into him at Heathen’s bar in South Charleston where we both went to hear our mutual friends, Mark Bates and The Vacancies.  Jonathon was kind enough to let me hide behind him when a rather inebriated woman who looked like Ed Asner decided I was her new boyfriend.

When I found out Jonathon was a musican, I checked out his Myspace page, and was floored by the quality of his voice and his songwriting.  This was golden material, like Woody Guthrie and Hank Sr. had a kid (don’t try and imagine that, though).”

You can find the full production notes HERE.

If you’re a longtime PopCult reader, you had to know this was coming. Today in The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide we are recommending the music of The Beatles. In fact, over on The AIR all day today, I’m running a marathon of my show, Beatles Blast, just to celebrate the release of the Red and Blue albums. Your PopCulteer is a huge Beatles fan.

Unless you’ve been buried under a rock in the last few weeks, you know that “the last Beatles Record” has been released.

It’s part of a long-awaited and expanded reissue of two classic compilation albums.

We also have new music from Ringo, who was just here in Charleston in October with his All-Starr Band.

I’m not including links for the general release items, because these are available whereever records are sold in a variety of formats.  If I mention an exclusive, I’ll point you to it.

The Beatles “Now and Then”
Available on 7″, 12″ CD and cassette, with multiple colors of vinyl.

This is “The Last Beatles Record.” I featured the music video and making of video here in PopCult last Sunday.  “Now and Then” is the missing “third song” from the 1995 Beatles Anthology sessions, when Paul, Ringo and George went into the studio together to flesh out some unfinished songs that had been left behind by John Lennon prior to his assassination in 1980.

Fans awaited the results with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.  “Free As A Bird” came off quite nicely. “Real Love,” was good, but not great, and the song had been heard before when John’s demo had been featured on a movie soundtrack and played on “The Lost Lennon Tapes” radio program back in 1988. The third song never materialized.

That was “Now and Then,” and it was left unfinished, largely because George was extremely unhappy with the sound quality of the demo, and some say the song itself, so it sat uncompleted for 27 years. In the ensuing period, George passed away, but the surviving Beatles along with John and George’s widows hired famed director Peter Jackson to create something worthwhile out of hundreds of hours of unused film and audio recordings from the “Let It Be” sessions.

The Beatles Get Back was a major hit, and Jackson had developed AI-assisted “de-mixing” technology that allowed him to clean up the audio and even separate mono recordings into individual tracks of each voice and instrument. The Bealtes used that technology on last year’s Revolver Super Deluxe Box Set, and it was used to clean up the demo of “Now and Then.”  Paul and Ringo added new parts. George’s guitar tracks were used. New string arrangements were created by Giles Martin.

The end result is a bittersweet, wistful, nostalgic tune that is quite lovely and touching. It’s not a rocker, by any means, but it is quintesstially Beatles.

This is available almost anywhere music is sold, but the red vinyl 12″ is a Target exclusive, the Cassette is exclusive to The Beatles Store, and the CD version is sold out in most places.

The Beatles
Red Album (1962-1965)
Blue Album (1966-1970)
Available from most music retailers on vinyl and CD

These were the two 2-LP compilation albums that were released in 1973, when The Beatles’ contract with Capitol/EMI was renegotiated to allow the label to repackage their music. They sold in record numbers and for many fans who weren’t around in the 1960s, these were their introduction to the music of the band.

When they were released, they were simply seen as “Greatest Hits” albums, and that they are, but they have taken on a greater meaning to millions of fans.

There are also some valid criticisms of the albums. Quite a few terrific songs were omitted, and the running time for each LP was almost hilariously short.

Now they have been given the deluxe reissue treatment. Each track has been remixed by Giles Martin. Many were demixed by Peter Jackson first, and are being heard in stereo for the first time ever. And they are officially on sale November 10.

And each album has been expanded, to the tune of 21 additional songs between them, including the new song, “Now and Then.”

On vinyl, the additonal tracks are on a third LP, as the first two retain their original running order. On CD, all of the tracks are presented in chronological order, as they were on the original release.

Personally, this scratches a 45-year itch for me. When I first became an obsessive Beatles fan after seeing The Rutles’ All You Need Is Cash, the first thing I did was borrow my older sister’s copy of The Blue Album and wear it out over the course of the summer. That Christmas, I got The White Album on white vinyl, and The Red Album on red vinyl, but I never managed to get my hands on the blue vinyl version of The Blue Album.

Face it, you can’t go wrong with The Beatles’ greatest hits. Colored vinyl versions of the Red and Blue albums are limited and exclusive to The Beatles Store.

Ringo Starr
Rewind Forward
Available on 10″ Vinyl, CD and Cassette from most music retailers and The Ringo Store

This EP was officially released last month, just four days after I got to see Ringo perform in my hometown, so if I seem inclined to rave about it, deal with it.

Perfect for anybody who loves Ringo’s music, Rewind Forward is a gem, and a great gift idea.

The EP features 4 new songs:
1. Shadows On The Wall
2. Feeling The Sunlight
3. Rewind Forward
4. Miss Jean

Let’s look at the PR:

The title track was written by Ringo with his engineer, and oft co-writer, Bruce Sugar. “We’ve been writing a song now for every EP,” said Ringo. “Rewind Forward was just one of those things I say and it made sense in the moment. Like “A Hard Days Night” – I thought, why don’t we just “Rewind Forward?” To make sense of it, sometimes it is good to go back and move forward from a place you left off, you don’t ever have to live in the past but it is good to check it occasionally.”

The other tracks find Starr collaborating with old and new friends – including longtime All Starr Steve Lukather and his Toto bandmate Joe Williams who wrote the opening track “Shadows on the Wall;” “I asked Luke for a song – him and Joe Williams – and they put meat on it – so I wasn’t just getting a basic track I have to add everything to – it has guitar and bass and all I have to do is add my vocals and drums. Of course I always do the drums and sing – it is my EP!”

Paul McCartney wrote “Feeling the Sunlight” “We were Facetiming as we sometimes do and I asked him if he had a song or would write one for this EP I am making. A week later he sent the track over and he’s all over it – which is great – playing EVERYthing, “ Ringo continues with a laugh, “including the drums!!!!! So we had to take them off – I did the drums and the vocals.”

For the fourth and final track, “Miss Jean,” Ringo collaborated with Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers. “We had played together on an Ian Hunter track (which was number 1 on the Heritage chart – whatever that chart is!) and I’d played on a Tom Petty track. But this was the first song Mike has ever written for me, which I loved. I put drums on it and sang it and he put everything else on it – that’s how it works.” That “everything else” also included the work of fellow Heartbreaker and one of Ringo’s dear friends Benmont Tench.

In addition, the EP features contributions from Joe Walsh, Steve Dudas, Lance Morrison, as well as Matt Bissonnette, Torrance Klein, Weston Wilson, Kip Lennon and Marky Lennon.

All songs were recorded at Ringo’s home studio in Los Angeles (except for “Feeling the Sunlight” where Paul recorded all his parts in the UK).

Like I said, you can never go wrong giving the gift of music, and any Beatles fan is going to want a record that has Ringo and Paul on it.

The PopCulteer
November 10, 2023

We find ourselves at the end of a very busy week, and we have one big cool thing to tell you about.

First, however, I need to remind you about The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide.  Until the day before Thanksgiving, you can come to PopCult for at least three gift suggestions, with a pop culture slant of course, to help you along with your holiday shopping.  Every weekday we’ll have new suggestions. Saturday’s will feature flashback gift ideas from previous years, while Sunday will just point you toward cool retailers.

Before we get back to that, there’s this…

The 2023 Mountain State Pop Expo

For the first time since 2019, The Mountain State Pop Expo is returning to raise money for a great cause.  For several years, Dave Humphreys and his crew have organized a celebration of pop culture featuring cosplay, comics, toys, collectibles and panels. All proceeds from this event go directly to the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia.

This is a welcome return, since the show has been on an extended hiatus due to the pandemic.

This year, as in previous years, it’s happening at the Holiday Inn & Suites Charleston West, located at 400 2nd Avenue SW, South Charleston. Oldtimers like me will remember this as the former Ramada Inn by the Interstate , not too far from “D” Street.

This year The Pop Expo is spread over two days. There are tabletop gaming areas. There’s also a raffle, with tons of fantastic items you can walk away with, including cool items donated by guests and vendors and a hefty selection of cool resort and restaurant gift certificates from all around the state.

Guests include artists like Glen Brogan and Adam Weaver,  actors from Mortal Kombat, toy, book, jewelry and colletibles vendors from all over the region, cosplayers and there will even be a photo op with Santa, himself. There will be a panel on stop motion animation by Kevin and Cameron Pauley Saturday at 1 PM. These are the folks behind Nitrowolf105 Wolfy Studios.

MSPX is always a fun time, and you can find lots of great holiday gifts for the cooler people on your shopping list. All the proceeds go to a great cause, and it’s only ten bucks to get in. (fifteen for both days)

What more do you need to know?

And with that, your PopCulteer wraps up this week’s column and prepares to bring you more entries in The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide, along with all our other regular features.

Longtime readers of PopCult probably know that your humble blogger is a collector of vintage GI Joes…the big guys from the 1960s and 70s, not the little guys from the 80s.

However, that does not mean that I hate Barbie.  It’s quite the opposite, in fact. I appreciate that GI Joe would never have existed without the mega success of Barbie. She has some cool vehicles that can be used for GI Joe (after a paint job, most of the time), and when they reissued the first Barbie Dream House a few years ago it made for a spectacular Adventure Team “Mystery of the Midcentury Bungalow” playset.

2023 has been the year of Barbie, with her movie being the biggest-grossing of the year,  her toy sales going through the roof, and interest in the 64-year-old fashion icon higher than ever.

So today The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide spotlights three (maybe more) things that would make great gifts for the Barbie fan on your shopping list.

The Barbie Movie
Available anywhere movies are sold, in a variety of formats

This is what sparked the 2023 Barbie explosion.  Barbie is a brilliant movie that has no right to be this good. Greta Gerwig took what could have been a high-concept, low-quality toy-tie-in movie and delivered a spectacular film that manages to push everybody’s buttons. Margot Robbie is fantastic as the lead Barbie, and Ryan Gosling is perfect as a feckless Ken gone mad with patriarchal power.

The film manages to celebrate and satirize Mattel’s famed fashion doll. The movie straddles fantasy and reality and uses Barbie, who was once villified by feminists as being too unrealistic and shallow, as the ultimate female hero who breaks free of stereotypical expectations and becomes a fully-realized human being.

The movie has elements of Toy Story, Pinocchio, Legally Blonde, Thelma and Louise, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and combines them into a compelling and entertainment movie filled with bright colors, wry humor, a bit of slapstick, a lot of satire and some pretty wild musical numbers.

This is one of those rare instances where the highest-grossing movie of the year is also one of the best

Recommended for anybody who hasn’t seen it yet, and a lot of folks who want to see it over and over.

Dressing Barbie
A Celebration of the Clothes That Made America’s Favorite Doll and the Incredible Woman Behind Them
by Carol Spencer
Harper Paperbacks
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063310919
$29.99 (discounted at Amazon)

This book is an engaging first-hand account by the woman who was Mattel’s chief designer for clothes for Barbie from 1963 to 1998. It’s an intriguing look at the design process and marketing philosophies that took the iconic fashion doll from the Swinging Sixties, through the Malibu Barbie period, into the Disco and New Wave years, to where she was preparing to enter the new millenium.

Carol Spencer worked for several years as a fashion designer and illustrator in the apparel industry before beginning her illustrious career at Mattel as a fashion designer for Barbie in 1963. For thirty-five years, Carol created thousands of designs for the iconic doll and watched as Mattel grew from a small business into a multi-national conglomerate. From seeing Paris fashion shows to running the Hong Kong design group in the 1980s, Carol has been around the world with Barbie. Since retiring in 1998, she has continued to reside in Los Angeles with her impressive personal collection of Barbie dolls.

If you’ve ever seen a Barbie from the 60s, 70s, 80s or 90s, chances are that Barbie was dressed in one of the thousands of designs created by Carol Spencer during her reign as a Barbie fashion designer spanning than thirty-five years. Dressing Barbie is a dazzling celebration of the clothes that made America’s favorite doll, and the incredible woman behind them.

Illustrated with more than 100 full-color photographs, including many never-before-seen images of rare and one-of-a-kind pieces from Spencer’s private archive, Dressing Barbie is a treasure trove of some of the best and most iconic Barbie looks from the early 1960s until the late 1990s. Along with behind-the-scenes stories of how these designs came to be, Spencer reminisces about her time at Mattel working with legendary figures such as Ruth Handler, Barbie’s creator, and Charlotte Johnson, the original Barbie designer, for a full, inside look into life with the beloved doll.

Over the course of her career, Spencer won many accolades. She was the first designer to have her signature on the doll, the first to go on a signing tour, the first to design a limited-edition Barbie for collectors, and the designer of the biggest selling Barbie of all time. Now, she is the first member of the inner circle to reveal the fashion world of the quintessential California girl as never before.

Dressing Barbie is recommended for any fan of the Barbie doll, and also for collectors and folks who have an interest in the inner-workings of Mattel during the heyday of the Ruth Handler years. Available from any bookseller by using the ISBN code.

Barbie Fashionistas
Dozens of different styles
Best prices at Walmart and Amazon

Okay, I had to recommend at least one actual Barbie doll, but instead of choosing one of the more expensive dolls based on the movie, I’m going to punt a bit and suggest that you explore the budget-priced Fashionista line.

With prices ranging from around eight bucks to around eleven (with some higher-priced packages in the mix), this is an affordable way to give a gift to a child or to an adult who wants to relive a bit of their younger years.

The great thing about the Fashionistas line is that there are dozens of styles of Barbie and Ken from which to choose, and it might be the most inclusive toy line ever created. The dolls come in a variety of skin tones and body types and they have many ethnicities represented in their facial features. They’ve even issued Fashionista Barbies with physical differences like alopecia, vitaligo, prosthetic limbs and more. Earlier this year they even released a Barbie with Down’s Syndrome.  There have been several versions of Barbie and Ken in wheelchairs, too.

Representation does matter, and this is a great way for kids to have dolls that look like themselves. It’s also a great way to normalize acceptance, which is a good side benefit.

Even handier, in terms of holiday gift shopping, these are pretty easy to find anywhere. I’ve provided links to retailers with the best prices above, but you can find these at almost any retailer that sels toys, even grocers and pharmarcies.

It’s been one week since we began The 2023 PopCult Gift Guide, and today we hit the ground running with three books about three different pop culture topics.

You’ll see a fond rememberance of a storied Columbus Tiki Palace, a survey one a century of one of Hollywood’s legendary studios, and a look at a never-to-be-forgotten comedy pioneer who left this world far too soon.

Each of these books will have links to Amazon, which will likely save you a few bucks, but whenever possible, please use the ISBN codes to order them from a local bookseller, or if you can, get them from the original publisher.

Recommended for any person on your gift list who loves reading about pop culture history.

Kahiki Scrapbook, The: Relics of Ohio’s Lost Tiki Palace
by David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker with Jeff Chenault and Doug Motz
The History Press
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1467152846
$23.99

Five years ago I discovered and raved about the book, Kahiki Supper Club: A Polynesian Paradise in Columbus, by the same roving gang of historian authors listed above. That book had been published in 2014, but I was late to the game and enjoyed it so much that I still reviewed it, even though it had already been out for four years.

At the time, my only complaint about the book was that I wanted to read more about this legendary Tiki supper club.

So I was pleasantly surprised last year when I found out that Meyers, Meyers Walker, Chenault and Motz were planning a follow-up book. Kahiki Scrapbook, The: Relics of Ohio’s Lost Tiki Palace is just out, and it’s a great supplement to their original visit to The Kahiki.

It turns out that, after the publication of Kahiki Supper Club: A Polynesian Paradise in Columbus, the authors were inundated with much more information, photos, recipes and stories about this now-vanished Columbus institution.

Kahiki Scrapbook, The: Relics of Ohio’s Lost Tiki Palace is a great follow-up, loaded with first and second hand recollections of the employees of the Kahiki, along with photos (including a color section), cocktail and food recipes and updates on the key players in both books.

If you loved the first book, you’ll want the second. If you haven’t read Kahiki Supper Club, this is still a good starting point. Any fan of Tiki culture should want to read Kahiki Scrapbook, The: Relics of Ohio’s Lost Tiki Palace. Maybe someday they’ll combine these books into a coffee-table book with full-color illustrations throughout.

You should be able to order Kahiki Scrapbook, The: Relics of Ohio’s Lost Tiki Palace from any bookseller by using the ISBN code, or take the easy route and get it from Amazon.

Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling
by Mark A. Vieira Foreword by Ben Mankiewicz
Running Press
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0762482375
$40 (discounted at Amazon)

In this official centennial history of the greatest studio in Hollywood, unforgettable stars, untold stories, and rare images from the Warner Bros. vault bring a century of entertainment to vivid life. It’s a hefty, 368-page tome, profusely illustrated with photos from some of the great movies ever made. 

The history of Warner Bros. is not just the tale of a legendary film studio and its stars, but of classic Hollywood itself, as well as a portrait of America in the last century. It’s a family story of Polish-Jewish immigrants—the brothers Warner—who took advantage of new opportunities in the burgeoning film industry at a time when four mavericks could invent ways of operating, of warding off government regulation, and of keeping audiences coming back for more during some of the nation’s darkest days.

Innovation was key to their early success. Four years after its founding, the studio revolutionized moviemaking by introducing sound in The Jazz Singer (1927). Stars and stories gave Warner Bros. its distinct identity as the studio where tough guys like Humphrey Bogart and strong women like Bette Davis kept people on the edge of their seats. Over the years, these acclaimed actors and countless others made magic on WB’s soundstages and were responsible for such diverse classics as Casablanca, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Star Is Born, Bonnie & Clyde, Malcolm X, Caddyshack, Purple Rain, and hundreds more.

It’s the studio that put noir in film with The Maltese Falcon and other classics of the genre, where the iconic Looney Tunes were unleashed on animation, and the studio that took an unpopular stance at the start of World War II by producing anti-Nazi films. Counter-culture hits like A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist carried the studio through the 1970s and ’80s. Franchise phenomena like Harry Potter, the DC universe, and more continue to shape a cinematic vision and longevity that is unparalleled in the annals of film history. These stories and more are chronicled in this comprehensive and stunning volume.

This is the official story of Warner Brothers, so you won’t get all the dirt, scandals or corporate takeovers, but it’s a fun read for any movie lover on your shopping list.

Ernie in Kovacsland: Writings, Drawings, and Photographs from Television’s Original Genius
by ERNIE KOVACS, JOSH MILLS, BEN MODEL, PAT THOMAS
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13 9781683966678
$34.99 (discounted at Amazon)

In celebration of this cockeyed genius and his prolific creative output, Fantagraphics presents a career retrospective of Ernie Kovacs featuring never-before-seen material from Kovacs’s archive.

Best known for his wildly imaginative, gleefully absurdist television show in the 1950s, Ernie Kovacs (1919 – 1962) was also a notorious illustrator, novelist, essayist, newspaper columnist, and poet. In celebration of this cockeyed genius and his prolific creative output, Fantagraphics presents a career retrospective featuring never-before-seen photos from Kovacs’s archive; excerpts of his magazine articles, columns and books, hand-notated TV scripts: a smattering of his “illustrated profuselies,” the wacky improvisational sketches he drew on air; and more.

Curated by Josh Mills (son of Edie Adams, Kovacs’s wife and a performer on his show), Edie/Ernie archivist Ben Model, and counterculture historian Pat Thomas, the book offers a unique glimpse into the mind of a pioneering comedian. The first Kovacs book to be published in 30 years, this impressive collection features previously unpublished Ernie photos, drawings and writings, vintage 1960s magazine articles reprinted for the first time, and new essays by Charleston’s own Ann Magnuson and Ron Mael of Sparks. Kovacs inspired countless comedians, musicians, humorists, and writers in the latter half of the 20th century and beyond.

He is cited as a direct influence by the creators and stars of such innovative comedy series as Saturday Night Live, Monty Python, and Mystery Science Theater 3000. An award in his name has been granted to uproarious humorists like Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy) and Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap). A true visionary, Kovacs’s iconoclastic approach has forever made its mark on the world of comedy.

Thanks to PBS running his show in the 1970s, I was able to see his comedic genius while I was still in my formative years and I’ve been a fan ever since. This book will be a great gift for anybody with a healthy sense of humor and an appreciation for television innovation.