Okay, your PopCulteer is going to level with you. I won’t be able to attend any of the cool things I talk about in this space this week. I will be in Wheeling at The Marx Toy Convention that I told you about last Friday. That’s a neon Magic Markie that you see to the right. I’ve been going to the Marx Toy Convention since 2009, and this year, due to some medical issue, I chose it over FestivAll.

This will be the first year since its inaugural weekend back in 2005 that I have not attended a single FestivAll event. This is mostly due to the fact that the medications I’m taking for Myasthenia Gravis make it risky for me to be in sunlight for too long.  Outdoor events are just too potentially dangerous for me. This is also the first time I can recall the Marx Toy Convention taking place during the second weekend of FestivAll instead of the first.

There are plenty of great FestivAll events, and I recommend you take advantage of our city becoming a work of art. This is one of the things that makes Charleston such a special place, and you should visit the website for a full schedule of this weekend’s FestivAll festivities.

Likewise, Riverfest, which made the last-minute switch from Saint Albans to Nitro this week, is happening, and many local bands will be playing in the more comfortable environs of Nitro City Park. I do have to wonder why, if they could move the location of Riverfest at this late date, why didn’t they move it to the following weekend, when there isn’t anything major going on locally.

In addition to those huge events, there are several other cool things happening, and I’m going to specifically mention two cool shows, which are happening at roughly the same time, in Charleston Saturday night.

At the Blue Parrot, three bands that I play regularly on Radio Free Charleston on The AIR will take turns storming the stage. Zeroking, Under Social and Payback’s a Bitch combine to offer up a triple-bill that would sorely beckon me if I weren’t en route from Wheeling to Canonsburg, PA while it’s going on.

Across town at The Empty Glass, Pale Nova finds support from Indighost and Scroungehound for another killer triple-bill. Pale Nova has also been in heavy rotation on RFC of late, and when the video show goes back into production later this summer, they’re on my list of bands to record.

Both of those shows require a measly five dollar cover. That is an insanely low price to see three bands. Cover charges weren’t that low back in caveman days. You couldn’t go wrong with either show. Check out the virtual flyers, and then after the jump, check a few other cool shows that I could find graphics for this week.