The PopCulteer
May 26 , 2017
The unofficial beginning of Summer is this weekend. Weather permitting, the Vandalia Gathering will take place on the grounds of the State Capitol, which is the only productive thing being accomplished there these days. Welcome to a barely-organized PopCulteer that goes in no particular direction. Today’s post is illustrated mostly by random images from my unused art files.
June is shaping up to be a big month for cool stuff. Your PopCulteer will be travelling to Louisville for WonderFest and to Wheeling for The Marx Toy Convention. I’ll tell you more about those events as they draw near, and I’ll return with plenty of photos and video to share.
Live On The Levee, again weather permitting, returns Friday night and it’s cool that we have such a wonderful free music festival here in our ever-shrinking town. I posted the schedule HERE, in case you need to double-check.
Court Street Live, the Charleston Town Center’s pre-show for Live On The Levee returns in June with this great line-up: The Horse Traders on June 2; Qiet on June 9; The Ryan Kennedy Trio and 3 Men and a Baby (Grand) on June 16; Rubber Soul on June 23; and Beggars Clan on June 30. All great musical acts, all local and all free.
Word came down this week that, despite much public opposition, the Kanawha County Commission is going to go ahead and waste more than fifteen million dollars building a multi-sports complex that has “bad idea” written all over it. Your PopCulteer is getting really tired of saying “I told you so.”
Many people have been asking, so let me assure you that my cataract surgery went perfectly well. I’ve got a lot of stuff to get used to–not needing glasses most of the time for the first time since I was a child. I am having glasses made to correct the double-vision that I have lingering from my bout with Myasthenia Gravis, but it’s not like I’m not used to wearing them. It’s really only an issue outside or while I’m driving. Thanks again to Dr. Muhib S. Tarakji and his talented crew who made this whole process a breeze.
I haven’t been talking much about TV of late, but this season of Archer, which wrapped up Wednesday night, was particularly brilliant.
I plan to beef up the non-radio-plug posts here in PopCult in the coming weeks, now that my eye issues are in the rear-view mirror. In case you were wondering where The PopCult Toybox and The PopCult Bookshelf had gotten off to. I’ll be bringing you more news and reviews.
Speaking of which, look for my review of Scarlet Revolt’s new CD, “Cold Town,” later Friday or early Saturday.
Stepping just outside the realm of Pop Culture for a moment, I really like the fuel points reward program at Kroger. If you load the right digital coupons to your loyalty card and watch for weekends (like this one) where, with a digital coupon, you can get four times the points you would normally get for buying a gift card, it’s no problem to save a dollar a gallon on a full tank of gas (or two, if you’re resourceful). It makes road trips more fun when you’re paying a little over a dollar a gallon for gas. You can buy gift cards for places where you’d spend money anyway and just use them yourself.
I want to take a moment to pass along PopCult’s condolences to the friends and family of Rich Buckler, one of the unsung greats of the comic book world, who lost a long bout with cancer last weekend. Buckler made a huge mark at Marvel and DC and leaves a legacy of great storytelling.
Friday, May 26, is the day that the deluxe 6-disc reissue of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” comes out. So I won’t be answering the phone tonight.
I Mentioned The AIR, our plucky little internet radio station. Today we bring you a special Memorial Day Weekend replay of Sydney’s Big Electric Cat, dedicated to “People Who Died.” You can hear it at 3 PM Friday exclusively on The AIR, or tune in at the radio player which I have so thoughtfully embedded below…
You’ll want to stick around for a new (to The AIR) episode of Radio Coolsville, with DJ Betty Rock, at 5 PM, and then at 9 PM you get a FULL HOUR of The Third Shift with Jay and Jarod. 10 PM sees a replay of Radio Free Charleston International, and at midnight we’re going to run episodes of The Empty Glass program, Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Tim and Roadblock. That’s interviews and music with local musicians all night long.
Saturday we replay all of our specialty music programs all day long, topped off by three new episodes of The (BS) Crazy Show at 7 PM. At 8:30 PM you get another chance to hear Jay and Jarod on this week’s The Third Shift and at midnight, it’s our weekling local music overnight marathon of Radio Free Charleston.
Of special note, this holiday weekend, Monday will see a 24-hour marathon of The (BS) Crazy Show. That’s a full day of uncensored insanity and mayhem, starting Monday morning and running until Tuesday morning. Tune in to hear what some listeners describe as “Dr. Demento on acid with Tourette’s Syndrome.”
And with that, this PopCulteer is in the books. Check back for our regular features and please go try out our internet radio station, The AIR.
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