Monday Morning Art: Vortex Ritter

We kick this week of PopCult off with an abstract digital painting that has a funny name. It's an exercise in combining organic and mechanical techniques into the creation of something new and artificial. Sort of like the Chicken McNugget, only better tasting and better for you. As always, click the image to see it larger.

Sunday Evening Video: Rubber Soul

Last year, Charleston's own Beatles Tribute Band, Rubber Soul, performed The Beatles (White Album) in its entirety at The Alban Theater in St. Albans.  This year they're back to bring the classic album, "Abbey Road" to the live stage.

Friady and Saturday, February 3 and 4, at 8 PM, Rubber Sould will once again grace the stage of The Alban Theater,  65 Old Main Plaza, St. Albans, with all of Abbey Road, from start to finish!

Tickets are $10, and the show is a benefit for The American Heart Association. Sponsored by Brooks Run Mining Company.

An added treat on Friday night is The Tom McGees, a hot Ska outfit, who will be performing sort of across the street after Abbey Road wraps up. For a mere five bucks, you can help David Scarpelli (his dad, Mark, is the man behind Rubber Soul) celebrate his birthday with a mad Ska meltdown at The VIP Lounge, 54 Olde Main Plaza, St. Albans, WV.

To remind you how much fun Rubber Soul is, tonight we're bringing back episode 117 of Radio Free Charleston, which previewed last year's White Album show. Enjoy, and come out to see the show.

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Back In The Random Saddle

The PopCulteer
January 27, 2012

Brain Stew

Last week your PopCulteer was missing in action for the first time in nearly three years. Circumstances beyond our control, including a computer virus and a real-world illness, conspired to knock yours truly out of commission. We are feeling better this week, and the PC problems are just about resolved, so we're going to tenatively climb back on the blogging pony and bring you a column of random images, news items and odd bits of information..

Popeye Returns

In April IDW Publishing launches a new comic book based on Popeye The Sailor, one of my personal favorites, and not just because of the spinach.

Monday Morning Art: Back To The Peoples

This week your Pop.Culteer is rebuilding his computer after a particularly nasty virus. Today's art is the first thing pooted out while trying the reinstalled graphics program. It's a digital painting of The Peoples Building on Summers Street. Click to see the image larger, and expect PopCult to be back to normal this week.

Monday Morning Art: Substitute Art

Your PopCulteer is a bit under the weather this week. That's why there was no Sunday Evening Video last night, and why today's art is NOT from last Friday's Twin Peaks edition of Dr. Sketchy's.  Between a nasty computer virus and a real-world head-exploding sinus infection, I was in no shape to go out anywhere this weekend.

So in place of a Dr. Sketchy's piece, I am bringing you a digitally-assaulted vintage pin-up photo, glommed from somewhere's on the internet. As always, click the image to see it bigger.  The computer problem and swelling, itching brain are probably going to combine to delay Radio Free Charleston's 150th episode until February.  It's going to be a tribute to LiveMix Studio, and will be the first of at least five retrospective shows planned for 2012. I gotta go pill up now.

How TV Warps Reality

The PopCulteer
January 13, 2012

"But If It's On TV It Must Be Real!"

Reality is being warped. Television is to blame. I'm not talking about the kind of skewed reality you find on FOX News, where the bizarre notion that Republicans can be trusted to govern is pounded into viewer's heads 24 hours a day. I'm talking about the unreal world of Reality TV.

I'm not a big fan of reality television. In fact, you could probably safely accuse me of being rather snobbish about it. I think it's lowest-common-denominator programming that carries with it the bottom-line-enhancing quality of being dirt cheap to produce, mostly by non-union crews.

But it is booming. Reality shows have spread like a fast-growing cancer, mutating several formerly sophisticated cable channels into slack-jawed, drooling shadows of their former selves.

Monday Morning Art: More Dangerous Curves

This week we once again go back to Friday, December 29, when the Burlesque troupe, Dangerous Curves Ahead, came to town and participated in a special session of Dr. Sketchy's. Above you see Clams Casion. After the jump you can see more digitally-assaulted photos of Darlinda, Just Darlinda, Minnie Tonka and Anita Cookie. The next edition of Dr. Sketchy's is a tribute to Twin Peaks, Friday, January 13.

Click to see 'em bigger, and follow the jump for three more!

PopCult Instant Video: Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen

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Our video this week is a recording made last Friday at Taylor Books. Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen returned to action with a fun, confident set. Jonathan Slack and Laura Summerhill have been appearing on Radio Free Charleston since 2007, and it's always a treat to catch up with them. In this video, shaky at times, you'll hear the duo performing The Beatles' song ,"Across The Universe," and their original tune, "Getaway Lane." Meanwhile, your loyal PopCult blogger is still hard at work assembling RFC 150.

Also, yesterday was Jonathan's birthday, so happy birthday, and thanks for the music!

15 Random Bits Of Coolness To Ring In The New Year

The PopCulteer
January 6, 2012

We start a new year of The PopCulteer on an upbeat note as we look at 15 cool things that we're looking forward to early in 2012.

These are some of the cool items to spice up our lives as we face a year of dirty politics, extreme weather, fracking-induced Earthquakes, people insulting our state and, if the Mayans are right, the end of the world. So...at least there's this...

Absolutely Fabulous Returns

Absolutely Fabulous, which has to be ranked among the elite British comedy shows, is returning with two new episodes, the first in six years, this month. BBC America will debut a new episode, "Identity," Sunday night at 10 PM, with a second episode, "Job," to follow in a week. Of note: Jennifer Saunders, the show's writer/creator and co-star, has not missed a beat. Despite the six years since the last series, the show is as sharp and timely as ever. A new title sequence returns to the original recording of "This Wheel's On Fire," sung by Julie Driscoll and Saunders' husband (and RFC supporter) Ade Edmondson, of "The Young Ones" fame. And the shows already appeared on The BBC on Christmas and New Year's Day, so the torrent-minded among you can probably already find them now.

Monday Morning Art: Dangerous Curves Ahead

[caption id="attachment_7289" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Minnie Tonka"][/caption]

Last Friday Burlesque came to Charleston at Kanawha Players Theater as Dangerous Curves Ahead, a troupe from Brooklyn, made their way to the Mountain State. Before the show, a special session of Dr. Sketchy's took place, and us artisitc types where given the chance to photograph and draw Anita Cookie, Clams Casino, Darlinda Just Darlinda,  and Minnie Tonka.

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Today we're bringing you digital paintings of the ladiesm as always, click the images to see them larger.

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PopCult Instant Video: Ryan Sings Bowie

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[caption id="attachment_7282" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Ryan Hardiman and Maddie Gourevich"][/caption]

Tonight we bring you a special treat. This is a very raw video of Ryan Hardiman's God Night performance of "Moonage Daydream: The Bowie Songbook."  Ryan, with some help from guest vocalist Maddie Gourevich, pianist Mark Scarpelli and a string quartet featuring Molly Lynn Page and Kristi Holstein (violin), Alasha Al-Qudwah (viola) and Shawn Simms (cello), performed some of the greatest hits of The Thin White Duke, David Bowie.

This was the 7 and 9 PM Goodnight 2011 show at Trinity Lutheran, presented by Charleston Community Music Association. It was a wonderful night of more challenging music than we usually hear during Goodnight, and it was very well received.