From the last week of 2006, this week our trip through the video version of Radio Free Charleston brings you what may be our most pointless episode.

With the benefit of sixteen years worth of hindsight, and over 400 additional musical guests, the idea of doing a “best-of” episode of the show when we only had eleven episodes in the can seems a little silly, but that’s what we did with RFC #12, “Radio Free Charleston Shirt.”  Its eighteen minutes bring you highlights from every musical act and most of the animated shorts from our first year.

The production notes from December 29, 2006 explain that this was “Plan B,” and that the original idea for the show was for it to be a jam session held at LiveMix Studio, pulled together into a coherent show overnight and posted quick. It’s the kind of thing I do in my sleep now, but at the time it was extremely ambitious since I barely knew how to edit video on the PC. I was spared the effort when hardly anyone showed up to play music, and the one person who did asked us not to use his song because it wasn’t finished yet. You will see a little bit of footage I shot wandering aimlessly around LiveMix during what turned out to be a very nice music-free gathering.

This episode is historically important because it marks the first time we immortalized the RFC Big Shots in the credits. We also have a lovely accapella rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” by our resident diva and Big Shot, Melanie Larch. That’s followed by two goofy MIDI versions by me. It’s amusing now to see how far we came since our first dozen shows seven years ago. It’s also bittersweet to remember how cool LiveMix Studio was.