Episode 93 of RFC

RFC 93 "Tofujitsu Shirt" from RFC Archives on Myspace.

Strawfyssh, Scrap Iron Pickers and Andy Dick on RFC 93

February 8, 2010 by rudy panucci

At the head of this post you should see the latest episode of Radio Free Charleston, “Tofujitsu Shirt.” If it’s not there, checkthis link. This week’s show features a vintage video of Strawfyssh, from 1991, a music video for The Scrap Iron Pickers set to 95-year-old animation by pioneering cartoonist, Winsor McCay, and a moody video of Melanie Larch singing an acapella version of the classic tune, “Summertime.”

You’ll also believe that a pig can cuss, and you’ll get to see an animated re-telling of Andy Dick‘s recent misadventures in Huntington.

A special guest voice performer provides the voice of Andy Dick in this photo-realistic dramatic recreation. Read on to find out who it is.

Host segments were shot atop the Summers Street municipal parking building in Charleston on Monday afternoon. It’s less than eight hours from shooting to posting the finished program. This may well be the quickest turn-around of any episode of the show. If we got ‘em on-line any faster, we’d be doing them live.

Our first musical guest is Strawfyssh, an early group featuring Sean Richardson, currently of Tofjitsu (hence the shirt). This band was one of the favorites of the Radio Free Charleston radio fan-base twenty years ago, and this video, shot at The Empty Glass, dates back to 1991.

Our animation this week is the infamous Singapore CGI recreation of the recent Andy Dick escapade down in Huntington. Remixed by The Plant Ro Duction Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Scrootums, this new version features the voice of Andy Dick recreated by Glenn Beck.

Headlining this edition of RFC is a special music video by The Scrap Iron Pickers–Johnny Sizemore, Roadblock and Matt Wolfe. I took this track from the bands debut double-EP and set it to vintage animation by Winsor McCay. McCay, the creator of “Little Nemo In Slumberland” among many other comic strips from the early 20th century, basically invented animation as we know it today.

I chose the tune “Swamp Thing” by the Pickers–this cut features guest guitar by Jeff Ellis and Bud Carroll and a killer harmonica by John Chic (who just appeared on RFC 92 with The Diablo Blues Band.  This music was set to McCay’s 1915 cartoon, “The Sinking Of The Lusitania.” I was happy with the results.

On the way out of the show we get to hear Radio Free Charleston’s Resident Diva, Melanie Larch, performing the Gershwin classic, “Summertime.” This was recorded on a very dark night at The Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It was the Summer Solstice Ball in 2008, and Melanie treated everyone to this fine acapella performance. The footage was so dark that I had to bump it to black-and-white to get a decent picture, but I think the performance is good enough that you won’t mind.

That’s the behind-the-scenes info for this episode of the show. Keep reading PopCult so you can keep up with the latest RFC news. Our 100th episode is rapidly approaching, and you don’t want to  miss out on the excitement.