Above you should see RFC 173 “Calvin The Spiffy Spaceman Shirt” This episode of Radio Free Charleston features music from Frenchy and the Punk, Amanda Brigette and The Nanker Phelge, plus a hilarious outtake from Felix Baumgardner’s Space Dive and a look at the newest Olympic sport, Spumling.

Frenchy and the Punk

Frenchy and Punk are featured on the show in advance of their November 7, 2012 gig at The Empty Glass in Charleston, WV, where they will be appearing with Qiet. While the goth/cabaret duo are promoting their new CD, “Hey, Hey, Cabaret,” we have them on the show this week with the song “The Magician and The Dancer” from their 2010 CD, “Happy Madness.”

We recorded the band in the summer of 2011 at The Empty Glass and featured three songs from them back on RFC 143. However, we have plenty of material left over from that evening and were able to dig deep into the vault for this previously unseen gem. We hope Charleston’s music fans don’t miss out on their chance to catch the unique music of Samantha and Scott, Frenchy and The Punk.

Amanda Bridgette

Amanda Bridgette makes her RFC debut with her lovely Contemporary Jazz song, “Fondly,” in a music video directed by Emily Burdette, whose talents as a singer/songwriter were on display in RFC 169 . This tune also features Charleston jazz icons Bob Thompson, Ryan Kennedy and Tim Courts. The music video was produced by Lisa Bragg and filmed in Charleston, West Virginia at the State Capitol.

Bridgette recently released “Daydream”, her debut album featuring seven of her original tunes. The album spotlights her vocal versatility as well as her songwriting with tunes ranging from big band to jazz ballads to modern groove. Amanda debuted selections from the album at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV and was recently selected as a Tamarack Artist by the Tamarack Cultural Arts Center.

Mark Beckner of The nanker Phelge

The Nanker Phelge perform “Bankrobbers,” recorded live at Shocka Con at the South Charleston Mound. They will be performing at The Empty Glass November 10, 2012, with Deadbeats and Barkers and The Suede Brothers.

The Nanker Phelge is one of our RFC “favorites,” appearing as recently as our previous episode.  Stephen and Mark Beckner and Dave Roberts recently welcomed new bassist Joey Lafferty into the fold; in fact I think our video from September’s Shocka Con was Joey’s first official gig with the band. Stephen and Mark have been all over Radio Free Charleston throughout its run since Stephen’s solo turn way back on episode 2. Drummer Dave Roberts is no stranger to the show either, having appeared with Eva Elution, TriElement, and Pepper Fandango. The Nanker Phelge recently released an excellent CD of original music and will soon begin recording a second.

Of course, our major coup this week is our exclusive outtake from Felix Baumgartner’s space dive. It’s a little known fact that this worldwide sensation was actually a well rehearsed stunt and things didn’t always go as planned, as you will see in this hilarious blooper.

A Spum

Also in this episode of the show, sports videographer Frank Panucci brings us an in-depth look at the exciting new Olympic sport, Spumling. This is sure to be a worldwide phenomenon when it’s officially unveiled at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Our host segments this week were shot at the Southridge shopping development off Corridor G south of Charleston. The reason was we wanted to look for toys, but they didn’t have the ones we wanted. But we got other toys anyway. Our titular shirt is “Calvin the Spiffy Spaceman,” an absolutely stunning rendition of Spaceman Spiff from “Calvin and Hobbes,” done up in the style of legendary Flash Gordon artist Alex Raymond by Captain RibMan. This one was another TeeFury.com special.

That’s the dirt behind this episode of Radio Free Charleston. Please check our Facebook fan page and just like the living crap out of it. RFC will return in two weeks with a show featuring the awesome talents of “yet to be determined.”