Radio Free Charleston’s coverage of FestivALL 2012 continues this week with another bonus length episode
West Virginia Dance Company
featuring tons of music, dance, film, and other stuff. The city became a work of art and we were there pointing our cameras right in its face.
We kick off with The Bob Thompson Unit, captured at The Shops at Bridge Road, performing on the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame bandwagon. With the Bob Thompson Unit’s smooth jazz playing behind them, we cut to footage of the West Virginia Dance Company, recorded at the Charleston Town Center Mall.
Every year during June, Charleston, West Virginia is a city that becomes a work of art. For the past few years, Radio Free Charleston has been there to immortalize parts of this city-wide event in internet videodom. This is the first of two special episodes of Radio Free Charleston devoted to the sights and sounds of FestivAll 2012.
Included in this show is music from Red Audio, Andy Park, Emily Burdette, The Kanawha Kordsmen and Sweet Adelines and Paul Calicoat. We are also treated to an Effects Makeup demonstration by Rob “RJ” Haddy, a finalist on the SyFy program, “Face Off.” Much of the show is devoted to the FestivAll Art Parade, while we finish with scenes of The East End Main Street Streetworks Art Auction and Celebration, and auctioneer Ted Brightwell.
Among the Art Parade fun you’ll see Razor Sharp Productions with Porkchop and Pig Girl, Dale Morton Studio Mascots, Zombies and ghouls from Shocka Con, The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, The Chemical Valley Roller Girls, The Charleston Light Opera Guild and more!
We didn’t come close to making it to every cool event, but what we did capture was loads of fun. Next week we will bring you part two of our coverage, with music recorded at Thursday’s Derick Kirk Scholarship Benefit, and cool stuff from next weekend’s Capitol Street Art Fair, plus tons of other cool things.
Above this text you see RFC 160, “Deep And Dangerous Shirt,” our FestivAll stream-of-consciousness preview/sampler show. We tell you about some of the cool things happening during FestivAll, and we give you some examples of the artists and performers on display. This is not, by any means, a comprehensive guide–for that, visit the FestivAll website. This is just a sampler, so enjoy!
We kick things off standing in The Lee Street Triangle, where, on Saturday July 16, at Noon, there will be a free edition of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti Art show, where anybody who wants to will get the chance to do some live figure drawing.
The Big Bad, In The Company Of Wolves, Foz Rotten, “One Soldier, One Grave” And An Act Of Defiance Celebrated on RFC 159
May 28, 2012 by rudy panucci
That’s Radio Free Charleston 158, “Cap Seniors Shirt,” that you see at the head of this post. This episode of the show is named after the controversial shirt that was all over the news last week.
We’ll tell you the story of the shirt at the end of these production notes. That will come after we tell you aout The Big Bad, In The Company of Wolves, Foz Rotten and Dennis Strom’s film, “One Soldier, One Grave.”
Our host-segment story is meaty tale of pointless defiance. But first, our guests this week…
Radio Free Charleston’s 158th episode, “The Liquid Canvas,” is devoted to the work of Charleston filmmaker, musician, and artist James Vernon Brown. I first met James back in 2007, when we recorded the band Doctor Senator. James was playing bass and had also made several cool short films and music videos featuring the band.
James ended up leaving Doctor Senator and, at a jam session at The Blue Parrot one night, I heard him play guitar for the first time and was blown away with his David Gilmore meets Jimi Hendrix six-string pyrotechnics. I remember going up to him after hearing him play and asking “why the hell were you wasting your time playing bass?”
That’s Radio Free Charleston 157, “The Mighty Thor Shirt,” you see up there in the box above this text. This week we are bringing you three songs from the newest production by the Charleston Light Opera Guild, plus we have some new music from Godmode Broadway, and a heartfelt plea from The Tom McGees. Host segments were shot around The Charleston Civic Center.
The Charleston Civic Center Little Theater is the site of theCharleston Light Opera Guild production of the musical version of “The Color Purple.” The beloved novel by Alice Walker was turned into a Broadway musical a few years ago by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, with a book by Marsha Norman, and it is the spring offering from Charleston’s Light Opera Guild, opening May 4.
Radio Free Charleston 156, “Warning Trioxin Shirt,” is posted above for your enjoyment. This week we have music from The Renfields and The Tom McGees, plus we have a terrific short docu-drama by Stephen Schmidt. But first, we have some corrections to do.
I’m pleading allergy-induced dementia for this. First, the Tom McGees’ song that I call “Be Smart” in the show, and “Be Strong” in the credits, is actually called “Enemy Spy Plane Inbound.” I know, it’s an easy mistake to make. Compounding the errors, I announce that The Tom McGees are playing the Porkchopp3D Trailer Release Party April 26 at The Empty Glass, when in fact it is our other musical guest, The Renfields, who are going to be playing that show. Aside from the two huge mistakes in the scripting process, I was really happy with the host segments, which were shot outside of Kanawha Players Theater, the location of this weekend’s Zombie Prom.
The Amorous, Godmode Broadway, DualCore and Stark Charleston Embiggen RFC 155
April 9, 2012 by rudy panucci
"Love Robot" by Rebekie B
Above you see Radio Free Charleston 155, “Love Robot Shirt,” featuring music is from The Amorous,Godmode Broadway and Dual Core, plus the return of Stark Charleston. Host segments were shot in the parking lot of the WV Division of Tourism in South Charleston. Our title shirt is a TeeFury design by artist, Rebekie B.
Our first musical guest on this week’s show is Clarksburg’s The Amorous. An indie-pop band with spiritual leanings, they will be recording their first full-length album this summer. You can catch them next weekend in Wilmington and Bellbrook Ohio, and at the end of the month they’re doing a three-night stand at The Horizon’s Church in Lost Creek WV. We recorded the band live during Charcon last year, and assembled this video using audio enhanced with a studio recording.
“Adventure Comics Shirt” is a special episode of Radio Free Charleston, dedicated to presenting once-thought-lost scenes from The Lower West Virginia Contemporary Light Opera Stage Players film production of the James Bond film, “Coalfinger.” All prints of this film were destroyed after MGM, EON Productions and the Ian Fleming estate won a permanent injunction against the tiny, Southern West Virginia theater company Luckily, a few scenes were preserved in filmmaker Johnny Rock’s long-supressed documentary on the making of “Coalfinger.”
Episode 153 of Radio Free Charleston, “Dr. Pepper Shirt,” is the video you see at the top of this post. This is a special episode, comprised entirely of rehearsal footage from two of this coming weekend’s events, The 2nd Annual Alumni All-Star Jam at WVSU, and the CYAC production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
I always feel sort of honored to be invited to bring the RFC cameras into a rehearsal because it means that the performers trust me to document their work-in-progress, warts and all. It’s a gutsy move, and a sign of confidence on the part of the artists involved.
