Episode 78 of RFC

This week we bring you a really cool episode of Radio Free Charlestons from August, 2009, although it has elements of April Fool's Day in it. “Kirby Captain America Shirt” is loaded with great stuff. Our 78th episode included music by Tofujitsu and Deni Bonet, plus brilliant animation by Nina Paley.

The April Foolish part of the show is the fact that the host segments, in which I claim to be on Charleston's West Side, were actually shot in Pittsburgh.  Although many people thought that this was a sly comment on the number of movies set in West Virginia that are actually filmed elsewhere, the truth is that we shot these during a last-minute surprise birthday week trip to visit my sister who lives in the Pittsburgh area. If we hadn't shot our host segments while we were up there, the show would have been delayed.

That wasn't really an option. Deni Bonet was included on the show to promote an appearance at LiveMix Studio, and delaying the show would have meant that the show and the accompanying notes in the Charleston Gazette would have hit after her performance. So we sort of had to multi-task and turn a quick fun trip into a host segment shoot.

Which was a shame, because shooting in one city while claiming that we were still in Charleston was an idea I had on file to use in an April Fool's Day show. I actually kept that idea on file and used it in April, 2011 for episode 125. We just used a different city. Production notes follow the video, with lots of dead links.

Deni Bonet, Tofujitsu and “Sita Sings The Blues” On RFC 78

August 13, 2009 by rudy panucci

Up above you see “Kirby Captain America Shirt,” the latest, and longest, episode of Radio Free Charleston. If you’re seeing raw code (it happens sometimes, probably due to sunspots) go tothis link where you can watch the show.

In this week’s RFC you get tons of music from Tofujitsu (Sean Richardson and Karen Allen) and former Mountain Stage band member, and legendary violinist, Deni Bonet. Our animation is by Nina Paley, an excerpt from her feature film, “Sita Sings The Blues.”

Host segments were shot on the West Side of Charleston, on a little-traveled scenic outlook. Really. Would I lie to you?

Episode 77 of RFC

This is the first episode of Radio Free Charleston that was produced and posted independently of the Charleston Gazette. When it first went live in August, 2009, it was posted directly to MySpace.

And that's why it's being re-posted again, because MySpace turned out to be a bag of idjits. We have taken the oppurtunity to remaster it into psuedo hi-def at this writing, in May, 2014.

This episode features music by Universes and OVADA, both recorded at The Empty Glass, plus a snippet of The Contemporary Youth Arts Company’s 2008 production, “Jack The Ripper,” featuring Ryan Hardiman who has done just under 300 local musical theater productions since.

The timing for bringing this show back from limbo couldn't be better. Universes was a duo consisting of Jason Reese and Justin Gardner. After a while, Universes sort of faded away, and Jason joined the group, Farnsworth, which was another duo, this time with Chris Vance.

Farnsworth, has decided to change things up a bit, and they've brought in a new member--Justin Gardner. So it's sort of like a reunion of Universes, or a supergroup, or a Rugby team or something. 

Editors note: Hours after writing this, we discovered that the new member of Farnsworth is not Justin Gardner, but is in fact a different guy named Justing.

Sadly, Ovada has not yet gotten back together, but we're still hoping. Rad, Joseph, are you listening?

Our title shirt was from the band, Joy Division. Our location was on the East End of Charleston, and our "Fake Rudy" at the end was the one I was asked not to use when the show was hosted on the Gazette servers.

The original production notes follow the video. Keep in mind that the links is busted, prolly.

Universe And OVADA Fire Up RFC 77

August 5, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston’s latest episode is RIGHT UP THERE! Click on it and watch it. In the event that you see nothing up there but raw code, that means that printer’s devils have snuck over from the print version of the newspaper. You can thwart them by watching the show at THIS LINK.

This episode features music by Universes and OVADA, both recorded at The Empty Glass, plus a snippet of The Contemporary Youth Arts Company’s 2008 production, “Jack The Ripper,” featuring Ryan Hardiman, who can be seen this weekend in “Rent.”

Episode 76 of RFC

Radio Free Charleston’s 76th episode, “Peace Sign Shirt,” was the last episode of the show hosted on the Charleston Gazette servers, and it features two long songs by Option 22 and Suburban Graffiti, punctuated by a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and a couple of important announcements.

The remastering of this show involved me going in and doing some major post-production surgury on the Suburban Graffiti song. Don't get me wrong--the song is great, but my recording of it left a lot to be desired.I was just learning to use the Zoom H4 at this point and ran the lines in to the recorder too hot, leaving us with a shrill, yet muddy sound.  I went back in and through the wonders of digital filters and compression made the song more listenable, but it still doesn't quite do the group justice.

Option 22 fared better, since we had a great recording to begin with.

After this episode of RFC, we began posting the show directly to MySpace, which turned out to be a disaster when they unceremoniously dumped all their video uploads, which is why we now find ourselves remastering and re-uploading the older episodes of the show to YouTube.

You can find the original production notes below the video, Be warned that most links are just deader than hell.



RFC 76: Option 22 And Suburban Graffiti

July 22, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston’s 76th episode, “Peace Sign Shirt,” isONLINE NOW! This episode features two long songs, punctuated by a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and a couple of important announcements.

Our music is by Option 22 and Suburban Graffiti, and each song clocks in at around the seven-minute mark, so we kept everything else to a minimum this time around.

Episode 75 of RFC

This landmark edition of RFC featured music by The Pistol Whippers and Unknown Hinson, both legends of honky-tonk psycho-billy stage. We also had a snippet of Princeton’s Option 22 over the end credits. 

With this being our third anniversary, we took it upon ourselves to corner a few really cool people with our camera to get them to say nice things about us. Among those who weren’t quick enough to escape are Ann Magnuson, Necrobutcher (featured in the OSCAR-nominated movie “The Wrestler”), wrestling legends Gypsy Joe and Bull Pain and GWAR’s late front-man, Oderous Urungus. 

The really cool thing is that it looks like we recorded Necro and Gypsy Joe in the same place we recorded Ann. 

 Host segments were shot in and around the late and lamented LiveMix Studio during their Fourth Of July party. How could we not include our old friends and allies at LiveMix in the celebration?   

When it was originally posted I was not happy with the audio during the Unknown Hinson song, “Peace, Love and Hard Liquor.” It was muddy and out of sync. While remastering this show, I took the opportunity to tinker with it further and while it’s far from perfect, it’s much better than it was. The original production notes for RFC 75 can be found below the video...

Three Years! 75 Shows! Unknown Hinson! The Pistol Whippers! RFC 75 is LIVE!

July 6, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston celebrates three years of terrorizing the internet with local music, film and animation with our 75th episode! “Unknown Hinson Shirt,” our third-anniversary Rock And Roll Extravaganza, is online now!

This landmark edition of RFC features music by The Pistol Whippers and Unknown Hinson, both legends of honky-tonk psycho-billy stage. We also have a snippet of Princeton’s Option 22 over the end credits.

With this being our third anniversary, we took it upon ourselves to corner a few really cool people with our camera to get them to say nice things about us. Among those who weren’t quick enough to escape are Ann Magnuson, Necrobutcher (featured in the OSCAR-nominated movie “The Wrestler”), wrestling legend Gypsy Joe and GWAR’s front-man, Oderous Urungus.

Many thanks to the kindness extended by these fine folks.

Episode 74 of RFC

Radio Free Charleston’s seventy-fourth episode, “RFC Trax shirt” is from June, 2009.  This show features music from then Morgantonians, J Marinelli and Slate Dump, plus special announcements from Mad Man Pondo and Tofujitsu, as well as a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie. The music from this show all featured one-man bands.

We also continued the First Great Guitar Giveaway with Route 60 Music, which has now been over for quite some time. Don't bother trying to enter.But please do visit Route 60 Music and tell them you heard about it on RFC.

Host segments and our end credit bed were shot during FestivALL 2009 in Davis Park, during the “Art On A Stick” sale and open stage. You’ll hear RFC’s old buddy, Jerry Fugate, singing and playing Mandolin as we show you some of the sights of the day.

One unfortunate thing about this show is that I had to bleep J Marinelli's song, and due to a few computer crashes, no longer have the original video available to restore. After this show we had two more episodes that were hosted on servers belonging to The Charleston Gazette. After that point we were free to go uncensored.

Original production notes, complete with dead links, follow the video.

J Marinelli and Slate Dump, Plus Surprises in RFC 74

June 25, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston’s seventy-fourth episode, “RFC Trax shirt” is online now! This show features music from Morgantown’s own, J Marinelli and Slate Dump, plus special announcements from Mad Man Pondo and Tofujitsu, as well as a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie.

We also continue the First Great Guitar Giveaway with Route 60 Music, which will kick off just as soon as we iron out the last technical bugs. As soon as we get the contest page working, the contest will run for one full month. Keep checking PopCult for updates. We’re working on it as fast as we can. Thanks for your patience. This is our first contest, and we’re learning as we go.

Episode 73 of RFC

This week we bring back one of the most powerful musical episodes of Radio Free Charleston.From June, 2009, RFC's 73rd episode, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie Shirt” was shot around downtown Charleston with street art in the background, and it featured music from OVADA and The Limbs. We also have a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie.

In the background of this show, you will see part of the “Coming And Going” art installation by Mark Wolfe, and “Celebrate,” by Amy Williams with Chris Dutch. Mark’s work features life-sized black-and-white photos of some of Charleston’s most notable people (and one schlub you can see at Taylor Books). “Celebrate” was an evolution of Amy’s “Press 2 For Spanish” street work from 2008, expanded now to include Italian and Arabic. You’ll see those peeking over my shoulder and around my back in the host segments for this pre-FestivAll show.

The dynamic music from Ovada, a collection of great musicians from Parkersburg, and from The Limbs, a one-man-band from Denver is considered by many to be a high point from our first 100 episodes. Please note that the Route 60 Music Great Guitar Giveaway spot has been excised from this remastered edition of the show. You can still see it in other shows from this era. And you should still visit their location in Barboursville for all your musical needs.

You can read the original production notes below the video, but any links are probably all messed up and crap.

OVADA, The Limbs, The Guitar Giveaway: RFC 73 Behind The Scenes

June 17, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston’s 73rd episode, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The Movie Shirt” is online now. This episode, shot around downtown Charleston with street art in the background, features music from OVADA and The Limbs, plus a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and The First Great Guitar Giveaway, in conjunction with Route 60 Music.

In the background of this show, you will see part of the “Coming And Going” art installation by Mark Wolfe, and “Celebrate,” by Amy Williams with Chris Dutch. Mark’s work features life-sized black-and-white photos of some of Charleston’s most notable people (and one schlub you can see at Taylor Books). “Celebrate” is an evolution of Amy’s “Press 2 For Spanish” street work from last year, expanded now to include Italian and Arabic. You’ll see those peeking over my shoulder and around my back in the host segments for this pre-FestivAll show.

Episode 72 of RFC

Radio Free Charleston’s seventy-second episode, “Sulu Nation Shirt,” was posted in June, 2009, and it contains a lot of "firsts." This episode featured music from The Scrap Iron Pickers and Whitechapel District. We also had a guest appearance by The Chemical Valley Rollergirls, who were just beginning back then. Host segments were recorded at a CVRG practice at Skateland in Campbell’s Creek. We also have Frank Panucci's "Porklips" in this edition of RFC and a 90 Second Art Show.

This was a fun show to produce, with a cool host location and lots of action. It was really cool bring Scrap Iron Pickers on. This instrumental progressive metal powerhouse was real bright spot on the local scene, and it'd be really cool to see some kind of reunion soon.

Whitechapel District is still performing, with a somewhat different line-up. Stay tuned to PopCult for details of their upcoming shows. Of course, the Chemical Valley Rollergirls are also still going strong and winning bouts all over the region.

The original production notes follow the video, but don't expect the links to work. 

Radio Free Charleston 72: Rollergirls, Pickers and The District

June 10, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston’s seventy-second episode, “Sulu Nation Shirt,” is online now! Watch it quick, they don’t seem to have much of a shelf life these days. This episode features music from The Scrap Iron Pickers and Whitechapel District. We also have a guest appearance by The Chemical Valley Rollergirls, who coincidentally enough are holding tryouts June 30 at Skateland in Campbell’s Creek, where we shot our host segments this time.

Episode 71 of RFC

Radio Free Charleston number 71, “Golden age Batman Shirt” was originally posted in May, 2009.  This episode of Charleston's local music, film, animation and weirdness program included new music from WATT4, vintage music from Hitchock Circus, a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and a special appearance from IWA East Coast‘s Mad Man Pondo and a friend.

We concluded “Mark Beckner Month" with two songs from his Nashville band, Hitchcock Circus. This was a homecoming for Mark, who was a regular on the old RFC radio show as a member of Go Van Gogh and The Tunesmiths. Mark has since rejoined with his brother, Stephen, to form The Nanker Phelge, who have a new CD coming out in a few weeks.

WATT4 was recorded at The Blue Parrot. This line-up of the band is back together and is currently rehearsing for future shows.

Mad Man Pondo’s “friend” was Oderus Urungus, the lead singer and mastermind behind GWAR. These clips were originally created to promote Oderus' wrestling debut, which happened in the summer of 2009. RFC was greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Dave Brockie, the human vehicle for Oderus.

The original production notes are below the video, complete with questionable links.

Hitchcock Circus, WATT4 And Oderus Urungus: RFC 71 Is Live!

May 26, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston number 71, “Golden age Batman Shirt” is online now! This episode of your local music, film, animation and weirdness program includes new music from WATT4, vintage music from Hitchock Circus, a Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie, and a special appearance from IWA East Coast‘s Mad Man Pondo and a friend.

Episode 70 of RFC

This edition of your local music, film, animation and art webcast was jam-packed with music and other short bits of coolness. The music is from Barebones, the accapella group who debuted on RFC just a few weeks before this episode, plus we continued “Mark Beckner Month” with a couple of performances that feature Mark: one solo, and one supporting his brother Stephen while jamming on an old Go Van Gogh tune.

As if the music weren’t enough, we also had a 100-second art show, this time showcasing the work of Leia Bell, a promo clip for “Viva le Vaudeville,” and the debut of “A Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie.”

RFC 70: Barebones, Beckner And “Burn The Hairy Man”

May 20, 2009 by rudy panucci

The seventieth episode of Radio Free Charleston,”Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch Shirt” is online now!

Episode 69 of RFC

May 2009 was "Mark Beckner Month" on Radio Free Charleston. Mark is a long-time friend and was a fixture on the radio incarnation of RFC as a member of both Go Van Gogh and The Tunesmiths. To this day he still shows up as a member of The Nanker Phelge.

However, in May 2009, he was preparing to play his first real show in Charleston in years, since he'd relocated to Nashville back in the 1990s. It turned out to be quite the homecoming, since unbeknowest to me, he was returning to town for good.

I had a wealth of archival material and new video featuring Mark, so I decided that, as a way to plug his "return" show with his band, Hitchcock Circus, I would devote an entire month of shows to Mister Mark Beckner.

We kicked it off by digging deep into the vaults to present "Go Van Gogh: The Sad Truth," a mockumentary starring the band, which I had totally forgotten about, directed by Timothy Rock, the bassist for GVG. Stephen Beckner showed it during a movie night at his house, and I started wondering why it seemed familiar. Then it got to the scene where I'm crouched over a toilet blaming the band for the RFC radio show getting cancelled, and it all came back.

It turns out I was the cameraman and was the offscreen interviewer in addition to my cameo as myself. I have this bad habit of forgetting really cool things that I've done.

I was able to get a copy of the film from Stephen, and trimmed it a bit for time so I could present it as an episode of RFC. This is one of the few RFCs that doesn't have the opening theme, and with this 2014 remastering, I have correcting one shocking omission--after the end credits and remastering card, I put the "Ya-Hooo" guy back in.

The original production notes are below. Don't mind the links, they're probably a mess.

Go Van Gogh: The Sad Truth…RFC 69 Notes

May 13, 2009 by rudy panucci

Radio Free Charleston’s very special sixty-ninth episode is online now! This is a departure episode for us, as we present an edited version of Timothy Rock’s 1992 documentary, “Go Van Gogh: The Sad Truth.” This film depicts the aura, the bubble of success that surrounded this almost-mythic band. It stars Go Van Gogh, themselves, Johnny Rock, Tim Rock, Stephen Becknerand Mark Beckner. 

It’s the kick-off of “Mark Beckner Month” here on Radio Free Charleston, as we celebrate the pending return to the Charleston area of Mark’s Nashville-based band, Hitchcock Circus. Hitchcock Circus will be playing at LiveMix Studio on May 30–their first gig in town since 1995. Every episode of RFC in May will feature Mark in some manner or another.