The PopCulteer
June 14, 2013

This week your PopCulteer will bring you 10 bits of information that you need to know. Some of them are bite sized bits and some of them are bits big enough to choke a horse. But that’s enough of this bit. Let’s get on with the bits…

1– Kick Cancer For Kids

The big deal this weekend is ECMC’s Kick Cancer for Kids. Starting before Noon at The Eagles Club at 404 Virginia Street on Charleston’s West Side, this all-day, all-ages show will take 14 of Charleston’s hardest-rocking bands and spread them over two stages to raise money to battle Juvenile cancer. This show is brought to you Wood Boys Music, Rockin’ Robins and East Coast Metal Coalition.

The action begins on the outside stage at 11:30 AM with EVERPULSE, floowed by BLACK CROSS BROTHERHOOD,WRITING OFF TOMORROW, VATICAN,BLACK LUNG PROPHECIES,REGRETFULLY, and SPIRAL FRACTURE.

At 4 PM the action movies inside with: PANIC BAR, FALL BEFORE YOUR CREATOR, EYLISIUM, SURVIVE THE DEMISE, STYCH N TYME, ZEROKING and the show’s headliners, RFC favorites, HARRAH taking the stage at 8:40 PM.

Admission is by donation. Kick in at least five bucks, more if you got it. . There will be vendors, games and Rockin’ Robins will be on hand to make sure nobody goes hungry. The Radio Free Charleston cameras will be on hand for part of the day, so come up and stand in front of us while we’re trying to film the bands! Proceeds will be divided among three local charities.

The Blue Parrot is supporting the Kick Cancer effort, with a pre-show tonight and a post-show Saturday. Admission is five bucks for each show, 21-and up, and you can check out the flyers below.

2–Dr. Sketchy’s Does Firefly

Sunday night at 7 PM, it’s time for another edition of Dr. Sketchy’s. This session takes place at Uncork and Create on Quarrier Street and $10 at the door ($8 in advance at this link) gets you in to a figure drawing session based around the theme of Joss Whedon’s classic TV show “Firefly.” The models this month are Luna L’Enfant, Ruby Rouge and Cat Schrodinger are ready to bring the crew of Serenity to life. Check out the graphic below.

3–Micki Maley

Micki’s last performance, a few weeks ago in KP’s “Sugar Bean Sisters.”

We were very saddened this week to hear of the passing of Micki Maley, a mainstay of the Charleston theatre community, who we lost Monday night.

Many people knew Micki better than I did and many people are far more qualified to properly eulogize her, but I will never forget the good times spent with Micki hanging out at the old Charleston Playhouse where she would occasionally run sound for the jam sessions. In fact, her handiwork as an audio engineer can be heard in the opening of every episode of Radio Free Charleston. She was running the audio console the night we recorded our theme song over twenty-three years ago.

We were glad to know you, Micki and we’re sure you’re still mixing things up in the afterlife.

4–TNA Wrestling

TNA Wrestling, as seen each week on Spike TV, is coming to Appalachian Power Park tonight. You’ll get to see wrestling stars like Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and Bully Ray. Plus you’ll get to see Mickie James and you can read Bill Lynch’s interview with her right here.

5–Dan’s Ghost Stories

Dan Khede is a Charleston treasure, the area’s most prolific playwright, and also a storehouse of wonderful ghost stories. Saturday at the WVSU Capitol Center Theater, Dan will share those ghost stories.  The two hour one person show retells the personal supernatural experiences Kehde has had over the past 60 years, including several in the Charleston area and also in the years he spent in the nation’s capitol. Tickets, available at the door beginning at 7 pm the evening of the performance, $6.00 for students and seniors
$10.00 for adults.

6–The NSA Story

The big news this week is old news. The National Security Agency has been snooping on us and keeping track of our phone calls and e-mails.  Anybody who was paying attention knew this was going to happen when the Patriot Act was signed into effect.

The amusing part of this new “leak” is that the people who were outraged over potential NSA abuses under Bush don’t seem to mind at all that the same abuses are happening under President Obama. Likewise, the people who wholeheartedly supported the Patriot Act when it was passed and openly mocked anyone who dared to criticize it are now screaming to high heaven about the horrible abuses that just happened to occur with a Democrat in the White House.

This whole story broke when Ed Snowden, a highly-paid natonal security contractor with a GED, leaked classified information that many people already knew.

You have to wonder just exactly what the fuss is all about. First of all, the United States does not have the manpower to listen in on every single phone conversation or read every e-mail generated by everyone in this country. Hell, most people don’t even read all of their own e-mails. The revelation that the government is building a giant facility to store everybody’s phone conversations and e-mails has to be tempered with the fact that 80 percent of the e-mails are trying to sell bootleg Viagra and 90 percent of the phone calls are from  “Rachel from Cardholder Services.”

The most ironic thing is that the favorite avenue of bitching about the NSA seems to be Facebook, a website where people willingly sign up, give their real name, birthday, location, favorite places to shop and eat and post photos of their children, pets and what they had for lunch. These are the people who are outraged that the government might know some top secret information about themselves. Folks, if you’re on Facebook, you’ve already surrendered your privacy.

How many outraged civil libertarians realize that Google scans all of their G-mail emails looking for keywords so that they can target ads to the people who send and receive them? There’s no way that a government agency can record, merge/purge, collate and decode your personal information as effectively as Google Analytics. Just look at the targeted ads that you’ll find on this very webpage if you want to feel the breath of Big Brother on your neck.

The fishy thing about this whole story is that a guy with a GED somehow received security clearance and a six figure job and then, in the pursuit of freedom, defected to Hong Kong, which is controlled by Communist China. This has all the earmarks of classic CIA finger puppetry.

I don’t mean to endorse government spying or belittle the seriousness of privacy concerns, but this sudden interest in such old news reminds me of a person discovering for the first time that they have a butt.

7–Charleston Stage Company Strikes The Set

We were saddened but not shocked to learn of the dissolution of the Charleston Stage Company this week. Charleston has an abundance of quality community theatre groups but unfortunately, does not have an abundance of theatre-goers. There is only so much audience to go around and a shake-out was inevitable. With their guiding light and founding father, David Wohl leaving, the organization lost the support of West Virginia State University. Without that, the company was forced to turn to a community whose resources are already stretched thin. It’s sad to see Charleston Stage Company shut their doors, but they do leave a proud legacy and we hope that their archives find a respectful home.

The Summer Arts Camp will go on this year, and word is that the Location Plays will still be part of FestivAll, but beyond that, CSC will exit, stage right.

8–Friday Music

Free music in Charleston Friday includes Rootbound and Pink Floyd tribute band, Juicy, at Haddad Riverfront Park as part of the Biker Bash, starting at 6:30 PM. RFC guests, The Snake and The Pot will perform for free at Little India tonight at 9 PM. Also Colleen Anderson and George Castelle will be at Taylor Books, starting at 7:30 PM; The Barkoloungers will be at Bruno’s on Leon Sullivan Way at 9 PM and Ernie Dunlap and Friends will be at Roo’s Place in Hurricane at 7 PM.

Not-so-free music sees The Red Lights at The Empty Glass at 11 PM with the famous EG $5/$7 sliding cover; Ron Sowell’s Open Mic at Unity on Myrtle Road, with a five dollar admission (two bucks for seniors, kids and performers); Hybrid Sould Project brings the music to The Sound Factory at 10 PM with a five-dollar cover.

9–Saturday Music

Saturday’s cover-free offerings are Marium Bria at Bluegrass Kitchen at 7 PM, Chris Lovejoy at Taylor Books at 7:30 PM, and Michael Lipton at Bruno’s at 9 PM. Also the Kentucky Headhunters, along with Hogan’s Goat and Cobwebs, will be playing at The Biker Bash at Haddad Riverfront Park at 6:30 PM.

If you have money in your pocket, you can go hear The Nanker Phelge and Blue Million, both RFC faves, at Sam’s Uptown Cafe at 10 PM, for a mere five bucks. Or you can catch The Tribe of The Elk at the Empty Glass at 11 PM for the EG sliding cover, or if you’d prefer something a little freakier, The Circus Karnevil Magic Sideshow will be at The Sound Factory at 9 PM, with an eight-dollar cover charge.

10–Bonus MEGO Meet Mini Photo Essay

We took a ton of photos at MEGO Meet last weekend. Here’s a few that didn’t make it into Tuesday’s photo essay

Cool Stuff at Brian Heiler’s table

Above and below: customs by Random Axe

Above and below: customs by Type 3 Toys

And wrapping it up, more shots of the vendor tables. Put your tongues back in your mouth, folks.

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That’s it for this week’s PopCulteer. We expect to have our regular features all intact next week, but maybe with some shuffling around to accomodate the latest episode of Radio Free Charleston. Check back and see.