Radio Free Charleston has finally reached its 200th episode, and it does so in a grand manner with four never before seen performances by the area’s top bands, plus animation, short films and more. Your host, Rudy Panucci, presents songs fromFarnsworth, The Laser Beams, HarraH and The Velvet Brothers. There is a short film from Frank Panucci, a movie trailer from Jake Fertig and the first new animation featured on RFC from Third Mind Incarnation since 2007.
Hosting the show in front of some building
This episode of the show is called “Blues Brothers Shirt,” named after a shirt which your host received as a gift from his new wife, Melanie Larch, the day after they got married less than four weeks ago. This milestone episode of the show is a monument to procrastination. If I had continued producing Radio Free Charleston at the pace that I did between 2009 and 2012, we would have hit episode 200 last November. I wanted to make the show really special and came up with grandiose plans and panicked as the date approached.
The RFC MINI SHOW number thirty-eight, starring Super Heavy Duty, was a real treat to put together. The band is a supergroup consisting of members of The Pistol Whippers, The Tom McGees, Beaver Knievel, and 69 Fingers.
Two of the members of this band, Bobby Peyton and Brian Holstine, have been RFC favorites since they appeared way back on Episode 8 in 2006. Our cameras were there for the first full blown performance by the band last month at The Empty Glass. It was an unforgettable evening of Ska-Punkabilly explosions and wild, wild music. You can catch Super Heavy Duty this Saturday at 10 PM as they share the stage at The Blue Parrot with Time and Distance and Meet me in The Matinee. Five bucks gets in the door for a night of killer music.
Speaking of our cameras, it was our honor that night to welcome back Steven Allen Adams, who pitched in to run camera three during Super Heavy Duty’s set. Steven has been tied up with other stuff lately but hasn’t lost a step and gave us great camera angles just like he did back when he was a junior RFC Big Shot on Episode 100.
Above you should see the music video for “Twenty Days” by the group Farnsworth. This is the official music video, heralding the release of their new album “Live It,” which will make its debut on vinyl this Saturday at Sullivan’s Records.
Sullivan’s is of course the natural place for the vinyl release party since the album was recorded there after hours over the course of a few weeks earlier this year, during the water crisis. While this will be the first in-store performance at Sullivan’s open to the public, this music has been played there before.
Later in the evening, after the Sullivan’s release party, Farnsworth will take the stage again at Sam’s Uptown Cafe.
This week’s RFC MINI SHOW features a couple of solo cover songs by Christopher Carter, who will be appearing on Radio Free Charleston in the future, performing original tunes with his band, Leech.
We recorded Christopher just last week at the Arteries Art Show, at Mike Winland Studios. We were there for the art show, and were so impressed with Christopher that we pointed the camera at him, and shot an impromptu host segment too. Since we just had one camera to point at Chris, in editing we dropped in shots from the art show, which included work by Chris Woodall, Mike and Rose Winland, Tim Shinn, Lee Harrah, Kelly Bryant, Christopher’s father, Johnny Carter (he of the impressive garden) and many others.
Because we shot the host segment on the fly, some of my words came out in a less-than communicative fashion. When I say that the show came together on the spur of the moment, I’m talking about this episode of The RFC MINI SHOW. Arteries was a success because of the hard work put in by Mike and Rose Winland and Penny Maple in the weeks leading up to the exhibit. I didn’t want to give the impression that the art show was just thrown together. I didn’t realize how clumsily I’d worded the intro until I was editing the show.
Arteries was a horror-themed art show designed to promote ShockaCon (coming in just a few short weeks) and it was a huge success, with lots and lots of folks in attendance. You’ll be reading a lot about ShockaCon in the coming weeks in PopCult. Also of note is that this show is the first episode of Radio Free Charleston or The RFC MINI SHOW where all of the camera work is by our own Melanie Larch.
Our guest this week on The RFC MINI SHOW is Elephant in the Room, an Appalachian Rock group featuring previous RFC guest, Donnie Smith, along with Dylan Burkhammer, Bo Ballard and Devin Fields.
You may want to note that the group is called “Elephant in the Room” and not “The Elephant in the room,” as RFC host, Rudy Panucci, mistakenly refers to them in his introduction, twice. Panucci has the excuse of being distracted by his recent wedding to RFC co-producer, Melanie Larch. Also of note in the host segment is that it was shot in front of Ian Bode’s Peer-to-Pier work of public art on Virginia Street…a nod to the cool story about Ian in Sunday’s Gazette-Mail, and also because it was raining and the Insterstate bridge provided shelter.
Elephant in the Room was recorded live at The Empty Glass and is seen here performing a cover of the Dolly Parton classic, “Jolene” and their original tune, “Ghost Town.” Thanks for Jason “Roadblock” Robinson for recording and engineering. The final audio mix was by Rudy Panucci. Keep checking PopCult for updates on future club dates for Elephant in the Room.
This week The RFC MINI SHOW presents the mighty Plaid Clash, bringing their Celtic magic to the Bluegrass Kitchen. This four-piece features Chris Higgins, Garrett Maner, Dan Carney and Vaughn Gold singing and playing a variety of instruments.
This dynamic combo has been playing around Charleston for a few months, and we finally caught up to them at the Bluegrass Kitchen just a couple of weeks ago. We will be catching up with them again in the future, as we didn’t bring the right recording equipment to capture the audio at this event in our usual high quality. Bluegrass Kitchen is one of the finest restaurants in town, and was packed, and our microphones picked up nearly every dinner conversation in the place instead of the music.
Even with the less-than perfect audio, we wanted to give you a taste of this great band. Rest assured that Plaid Clash will grace the RFC screen again in the near future, with audio that does their beautiful sound justice.
You can next hear Plaid Clash Sunday, September 7, as part ofCulture Fest in Pipestem.
This week The RFC MINI SHOW digs up a gem from the Radio Free Charleston vault–It’s the progressive Jazz quartet, C2J2, recorded at The Empty Glass in April, 2011. C2J2 was Chris Hudson on Drums, Josh Cannon on Electric Guitar, Chris Mickel on Tenor Sax and Jamie Skeen on Electric Bass. Following a line up change, the band still performs around Charleston as Ignition.
One reason for reviving this lost classic is that C2J2 will appear on The Empty Glass 30th Anniversary Live collection. They will not be part of the vinyl project, but they will be represented on CD and via digital download (and everyone who buys the vinyl will get a digital download, too).
There’s about four weeks left in the IndieGoGo campaign for the Empty Glass Live vinyl, and if you are a supporter of live, local music, you should check out the crowdfunding page and kick in a few bucks on the project.
Our host segment was shot right outside The Empty Glass on Elizabeth Street in Charleston shortly after a taping session for two new bands that you will see on The RFC MINI SHOW in the coming weeks, Elephant in the Room and Super Heavy Duty.
This week The RFC MINI SHOW offers up a preview of The Legend of Sleeping Beauty, a musical version of the classic fairy tale that is fun for the whole family. You can catch this cute musical at the Alban Arts and Conference Center starting Friday, August 15. The performance dates are: August 15-16, 22-23 at 8 PM and August 17, 24 at 2 PM. Tickets are available online at albanartscenter.com/ or by calling (304) 721-8896. Adult admission is $15, while Seniors and Children (under 12) is $10.
We recorded a preview performance of this show at The Charleston Town Center weekend before last, and the group did a great job in what is a tough venue. We bring you two songs: “Bright and Shining” sung by Sheila Jarrett as Evelyn and Rachel Couch as Elise and “M-A-L-I-C-I-A” sung by Sara Golden as Malicia and Alondra Johnson, Ben Valleau, Claire Atkinson, Jaxzen Allen, Bethany Cole, Rowe Tapley and Bodie Allen as mice.
Sara Golden as Malicia with her “mice”
When the new princess is born, the court is excited that this is the child who will save them all from the evil force that threatens to vanquish the kingdom. The king asks his three favorite aunts to be godmothers to his daughter, Elise. A fourth aunt, Malicia, who has harassed the king’s family for years, shows up uninvited at the christening, causing a scene which ends with deadly curses.
To protect the child, the three kindly godmothers take Elise to live in a secluded forest cottage until after her 16th birthday when the curse will expire. It is then that the princess and her protectors leave the safety of the forest and proceed to the king’s castle, but it’s a day too early to avoid the curse! The crazed and powerful Malicia arrives at the castle, making demands and threats, knowing that the time is right for fulfillment of the curse. Prince Michael, who is in love with Elise, also arrives at the castle, where his newfound love has fallen victim to Malicia’s curse and is sleeping in an isolated tower. In his search for Elise, Michael confronts Malicia, overcomes her curses, and finds his dear Elise. Michael awakens Elise, proclaims his love, and together they triumph over the curse and fulfill the legend.
This week The RFC MINI SHOW stars Charleston Rock Institutions, Blue Million. This is footage of Alan, Andy and Gary that we recorded in April, 2011 at The Empty Glass. Our crew that night included Johnny Rock, the drummer for the legendary RFC band, Go Van Gogh. You’ll see him in a couple of shots.
Blue Million was one of the original local bands featured on the radio version of Radio Free Charleston, and they are still going strong 25 years later. They still perform locally, most recently in June at Bruno’s, and we will keep you posted on their next shows in PopCult.
This episode of The RFC MINI SHOW features two songs from the band’s night at the Glass back in 2011, one of which has never been seen before.
PopCult is proud to present the first look at Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated. This is a locally-produced fan-film tribute to the long-running BBC science fiction series, particularly the era of the Fourth Doctor, who was portrayed by Tom Baker. You can check out the Facebook page for this projectHERE.
Just last weekend, scenes for Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated were shot at The Clay Center, Spring Hill Cemetary, Dunbar’s Wine Cellar Park and other locations around the area.
The Dcotor and Sara Jane at Dunbar’s Wine Cellar Park, photo by Mark Wolfe Design
Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated is the brainchild and labor of love of Ronn Smith, a life-long fan of The Doctor. In fact, the first time I met Ronn, several years ago at one of Dale Morton’s Halloween parties, he was dressed as The Fourth Doctor. You may have noticed our sneak peek at Ronn as The Doctor in this week’s Monday Morning Art. The plan is to recreate the look and feel of the original series while telling new adventures of The Fourth Doctor and Sara Jane, his companion.
Radio Free Charleston has finally reached its 200th episode, and it does so in a grand manner with four never before seen performances by the area’s top bands, plus animation, short films and more. Your host, Rudy Panucci, presents songs fromFarnsworth, The Laser Beams, HarraH and The Velvet Brothers. There is a short film from Frank Panucci, a movie trailer from Jake Fertig and the first new animation featured on RFC from Third Mind Incarnation since 2007.
