Monday Morning Art: Halloween Thrills

In today's art, we are going back to last week's edition of Dr. Sketchy's, which focused on Vampirella. This week I've digitally assaulted seven photos to approximate the look of the black-and-white artwork that was featured back in Warren Publishing's Vampirella magazine when I was growing up.  You will see Penny Maple as Vampirella, Elle Xombeah as Adam Van Helsing and Lilli Lugosi as Lilith.

Click the images to see them larger. Be warned that some of the images after the jump may not be safe for work. We will likely have more images from this edition of Dr. Sketchy's next week.

Sunday Evening Video: 2012 HallowEast Zombie Walk

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The clip you see at the top of this post is our PopCult Instant Video of the 2012 HallowEast Zombie Walk, which took place less than 24 hours before this was posted.  This year's Zombie Walk started at Moxxee, the East End's ultra-hip coffee shop, and meandered down Lee, Bradford, and Quarrier Streets before ending at the HallowEast Costume Crawl on the corner of Elizabeth and Washington Street.  As always, it was tremendous fun seeing all the ghouls and zombies and zombie hunters come out for the annual shamble.  One nice addition this year was that the route took our undead friends through a residential section and the residents played along just fine.

In this clip, you will see the Cemetery Knights hearses, Carl from "The Walking Dead," a zombie chain gang, a zombie alien on a leash, a few zombie hunters, and a few wholesome zombie families.  And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  If you watch closely, you may even see East End Main Street's Ric Cavender and HallowEast's proud papa, Mark Wolfe, sprinkled among the rotting crowd.

Our music is part of a contest this year.  The first person in the comments section who can identify the source of our music will get a free Basil Wolverton "Space Hawk" comic book, worth an estimated fifteen cents.  Since YouTube now lets us get away with murder in terms of running times, in the next day or two we will probably post all our unedited raw footage, with no background music, so you can enjoy the unedited Zombie Walk experience and overhear all the inappropriate conversations that our cameras accidentally picked up.

HallowEast IV and ArtMares

The PopCulteer
October 26, 2012

It's the weekend before Halloween and there's just way the hell too much stuff to do in and around Charleston. Your Popculteer will be at the ArtMares reception tonight at Contemporary Galleries from 6 to 10 PM, where there will be beer, wine, and horsd'oeuvres, plus live music from Sean Sydnor. In addition to my work, nearly thirty other local artists (like Olivia Burch and Rebecca Recco, seen right) will be showing off their dark side with macabre, horror-themed works. The bulk of this week's column is a photo essay devoted to the ArtMares exhibit.

But that's not all that's going on. It's the fourth year for HallowEast and this year, they have combined with Festivall Fall to make sure that there are more really cool things going on at the same time than any one person could humanly attend. Tonight, while the ArtMares reception is going on, there will be a special Live On The Levee encore featuring Radio Free Charleston guests The Tom McGees and Qiet, plus two of Columbus' ships. At 10 PM, the No Pants Players bring their filthy, dirty adult comedy to Timothy's, downstairs at the Quarrier Diner.

Halloween 2012 on RFC

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At the head of this post, you see our brand new Halloween treat, Radio Free Charleston 172, "Nightmare In Wax shirt." The bulk of this special episode was recorded on September 29 at the first Shocka-Con horror/science fiction convention. Our musical guests are The Tom McGees, The Nanker Phelge, and The Renfields. Plus, we have a short film by convention guest, Appalachian horror author Frank Larnerd.

Shocka-Con is the brainchild of Mike and Rose Winland, of Mike Winland Studios fame, and it was a spectacular success, drawing over 2500 people. It was an all day convention, with vendors and special guests set up in tents around the Indian Mound in South Charleston while seminars were held at the South Charleston Public Library and movies were screened at the LaBelle Theater. The evening ended with a Monster Parade up D Street and a free concert at the Mound Stage.

Monday Morning Art: Vamping It Up For Halloween

Last night saw the Halloween edition of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School for October, and it was a cool night of Halloweenish posing as the theme was Vampirella and the location was part of Kanawha Player's Haunted House, the Beauregard Nightmare Factory. Our models are Penny Maple and Elle Xombeah, above, and Lilli Lugosi, below. These are quick digital paintings over photographs. More detailed efforts from last night's session will be seen here next week. Click to see the images larger.

Check PopCult later tonight for full production notes and Radio Free Charleston 172, "Nightmare In Wax Shirt," our 2012 Hlloween special, recorded mostly at Shocka Con, featuring music from The Tom mcGees, The nanker Phelge and The Renfields.

The Harpejji Cometh During ArtWalk

The PopCulteer
October 19, 2012

It's ArtWalk time, and...we didn't do so good. Your PopCulteer managed to leave the house twice yesterday without his still camera. After I drove off the first time without it, I returned and was interrupted by one of those damnable political robo-calls (Really? West Virginians For Life wants me to vote for John Rases? They couldn't find a more wrong tree up which to bark.) and left the house a second time without my trusty Canon.

I was armed with my Kodak Zi8, which I use for video. I'm not as happy with the still photos it takes, but it was too late to make another trip back home.

The reason I had the Zi8 was that I'd planned to shoot my ArtWalk photos quickly so that I could record the public debut of the Harpejji, an exotic intrument with 24 strings of wonder, which now resides in the hands of Maestro, Chuck Biel (seen above, right).

So we start off this week's PopCulteer with a PopCult Instant Video of Chuck and his Harpejji, sitting in with another virtuoso, Sean Sydnor, recorded just last night at Capitol Roasters, in an ambient piece of wonder, with just a touch of animation by Frank Panucci. Then we'll look at four stops on last night's ArtWalk.

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Hackers Unite In Charleston

Hackercon 3 (Doomsday Eve) starts Friday. This edition of the annual information and cyber-security symposium will explore Doomsday and survival scenarios in the age of the internet.

In addition to workshops and contests, there will be presentation on Doomsday tactics, speakers including Larry Pesce and K.C. Yerrid, and a presentation of the film, "Reboot."

Hackercon 3 runs Friday through Sunday at the Ramada on Kanawha Boulevard (formerly The Charleston House Holiday Inn). Some of the workshops will take place down the boulevard at Digiso. Events kick off at 8 AM Friday, and you can find a full schedule here.

The Best of Halloween On RFC 171

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[caption id="attachment_9396" align="alignright" width="250"] Back in the Gazz.com days.[/caption]

Radio Free Charleston's 171st episode, "Skull Shirt," is online now and it's a doozy. This on- hour-five-minute compilation show brings you highlights from the first five years worth of Radio Free Charleston Halloween specials. Most of these shows were multi-part or bonus length epics and each year's special was different in its own twisted little way.

Monday Morning Art: ArtMares Preview

ArtMares, the horror-themed art show, will once again be part of HallowEast this year, and I am proud to once again be incuded among the artists whose work will be on display. What you see above is a pencil study for the digital painting that became "Ghouls Night Out," my new entry for this year's exhibit. You may rememer this image from last year. You'll have to wait to see which of the two fully-painted versions I posted as Monday Morning Art last year made it into ArtMares.

This image is based on a photo taken at the Halloween edition of Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School last year. It features Lavendar Menace, Elle Xombeah, Vorel Sarkany and Penny Maple. This year's Halloween Dr. Sketchy's session happens Sunday, October 21 at Kanawha Players Theater, and the theme is Vampirella!

ArtMares opens at Contemporary Galleries on October 24 for a sneak preview. On Friday, October 26, an artist's reception will be held at Contemporary Galleries with music from the incredible Sean Sydnor. For more details, check the HallowEast IV website.

Sunday Evening Video: Time And Distance

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Our buddy, filmmaker and musician, James Vernon Brown of The Liquid Canvas (see RFC 158) has produced a great video focused on Charleston's Time And Distance, who are seeking funds via IndieGoGo for their next recording project. Check out the video and then kick in some dough.

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Burgers, Big Daddy and Captain Action

The PopCulteer
October 12, 2012  

It's a mixed bag of coolness this week, so let's dive in, shall we?

Rockin' Robin's First Anniversary

One year ago, Rockin Robin's Burgers and Shakes opened in Clendenin, and they've been a catering presence supporting the local music scene ever since. Saturday they're putting on all-day outdoor show with music and contests, and with a beautiful Fall day predicted by the Mational Weather Service, it should be one of the highlights of a very cool weekend.

A Hot Dog Eating Contest kicks things off at Noon, while a Costume Contest will be judged at 5 PM. At 3 PM there will be a Pumpkin carving Contest.

Monday Morning Art: Onward Wayward Girls.

The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque made their debut September 29 at The Empty Glass, dancing to music from Pepper Fandango. We'll have news on their next performance here soon. That's a digital painting of the School's headmistriss, Penny Maple, above.

Follow the jump for digital paintings inspired by Elle Xombeah, Lavender Menace, Lili Lugosi, Kitty Killton and Pepper Fandango herself. And you can click the images for larger versions.

Sunday Evening Video: RFC 170

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Watch it again. It's good!

Shocka Con In Photos

The PopCulteer
October 5, 2012  

Happy Horror Time

The first-ever Shocka Con took place last Saturday on D Street in South Charleston, and it was a rousing success, exceeding all expecations. Organizers said that they'd be happy with 300 to 800 attendees, and instead upwards of 2,500 people showed up at various points during the day-long, mostly free event.

This was the first year for the Horror/Sci Fi Con, and because it was first conceived only a few months ago, plans were scaled back from a standard three-day convention to a one-day event based around South Charleston's Mound, with films shown at The Labelle Theater and seminars at The South Charleston Public Library, just a coouple of blocks down D Street.

The even was free, but donations were accepted so they can get an early start on next year's convention. While next year's Shocka Con is expected to be a more conventional convention, I'm hoping that some of the cool elements that made this year's show such a success are retained. The Monster Parade and free concert were hugely popular.

Farnsworth Rocks Budget Tapes and Records on RFC 170, plus Weirdness and Meet Ginger From The Stock Car Musical

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Radio Free Charleston 170, "Regular Show Shirt," is a valentine to Budget Tapes and Records, the legendary music and lifestyle emporium that is celebrating forty years of serving area music fans from their Kanawha City location. Our host segments originate from Budget, and we even have two songs by Farnsworth, recorded on location at the release party for their new EP at Budget.

RFC 170 also brings viewers a song from the Contemporary Youth Arts Company production of the Dan Kehde/Mark Scarpelli original, "The Legend of Ginger and Billy Joe: The Stock Car Musical," as well as animation and a found film compilation by Frank Panucci.