The PopCulteer
December 8, 2023

Today in our weekly columnish post, we will continue to update you on our AIR Marathons, plus we have a wee bit of STUFF TO DO, while your humble blogger is on his way back from an undisclosed location (unless I decided to disclose it already, in which case, nevermind.

The AIR Marathon: Sydney’s Big Electric Cat and More!

All this week on The AIR, we have brought you marathons of our music specialty programs. This is  a great way to give new readers and listeners a chance to sample our shows, and also give our staff a week off from having to produce anything new.

The marathons will begin at 7 AM and run for 24 hours. If you miss anything, don’t worry. We’ve found ways to keep these shows in rotation.

Friday is the normal day for new episodes of our New Wave Music showcase, Sydney’s Big Electric Cat to debut at 3 PM, so today we play 24 hours of some of the best music of our lifetime.

Sydney Fileen (not her real name) brings you classic New Wave music from the golden age of roughly 1976 to 1986. As I’ve explained before, our friends at Haversham Recording Institute use psuedonyms in part as a tribute to their roots in the UK pirate radio scene (from wence Sydney was first heard as “Kelly Brown”), but also because they are all highly-paid and highly sought-after voice talents in the UK, and don’t want people to know that they’re doing these shows for free.

Following her days as a pirate radio Deejay, Sydney then began her career in legit radio and television announcing, and the rest would be history, if she were using her real name to present Big Electric Cat.

Friday you’ll hear classic episodes from the second and third year of Sydney’s show.

Saturday we will let Haversam’s Nigel Pye commandeer The AIR for 24 hours of mind-expanding music from Psychedelic Shack. Sunday it’s a departure as we bring you the best of The Comedy Vault from 7 AM until midnight.

And after that, The AIR will revert to its normal Schedule.

STUFF TO DO

Since this is being written a week in advance, we don’t have the full details for what’s happening this weekend, but here are a few highlights from folks who were kind enough to give us some advance notice. As I have been doing 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 (especially this week), 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 Minor Swing takes the stage. Saturday Sean Richardson, Eric Robbins and Ryan Errickson perform at the beloved bookstore/cafe/art gallery.

The World Famous Empty Glass Cafe has some great stuff this week  to tell you about.  Thursday at 5:30 PM, Swingstein and Robin return with Swing for a good cause. Friday Tim Courts plays during happy hour. The Appalachian Melting Pot, Ashley Best & the Set ‘Em Up Band are making their debut at The Empty Glass, Friday October 7th at 10 M.  With Ashley Best,writing & performing Country/Blues/Rock…a bit of Cow Punk if you will. Sunday at 10 PM The Carpenter Ants host the post-Mountain Stage Jam, after the second of two loaded 40th Anniversary editions of Mountain stage. We have graphics below for the rest of the weekend shows at The Glass.

Speaking Mountain Stage, it’s been a big couple of weeks for West Viginia’s musical calling-card to the world…

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, expelled habitually-lying members of Congress, drunken elves, birds with attitude 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…

And that is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check PopCult for fresh content every day, even when your humble blogger is not physically in town. Come back for our regular features, too.