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Once again Radio Free Charleston, the local music, art and film webshow nextled in the heart of the PopCult blog, is turning their cameras toward FestivALL for an indeterminite amount of episodes.  The first show, seen above, features music from The Charleston Light Opera Guild production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” as well as perfomances from The Boatmen (Live On The Levee) and Todd Burge and Andy Park (The Songwriter Invitational at Capitol Roasters).  You’ll also see scenes from the Art Parade.  This is the first of many episodes of RFC that will mine the artistic riches of FestivAll 2011.

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Above you see the final installment of Radio Free Charleston’s extensive coverage of FestivAll 2010.  Even though our coverage was extensive, we still barely scratched the surface of all the cool stuff that was going on during the time when our city becomes a work of art.

In RFC 107 you will see Option 22, Brian Diller, Bare Bones and The Velvet Gypsies. You’ll also get glimpses of Jude Binder, Kitty Killton and the Musical Easels project with Adrian DeQuiros.

With this episode of the show, which coincidentally goes online roughly on the fourth anniversary of Radio Free Charleston, we have managed to bring you over two hours of footage, shot entirely at FestivAll, in the span of seventeen days.  That’s just better than a new show every three days that we’ve posted.

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This is the next-to-last of our six-episode look at FestivAll 2010.  For those of you keeping score at home, this has been the equivalent of producing a two-hour documentary–filming, editing, and posting online–in the span of three weeks.

This episode of RFC includes music from The Velvet Gypsies, Actual Rhinocerous and Comparsa, plus a sample of Patrick Felton’s play, “Waiting For Jennifer” and more scenes from ArtWalk and the Capitol Street Art Fair, featuring Jude Binder and the Crystal Tooth Gallery this time. The final installment of RFC’s look at FestivAll 2010 should be posted here by the end of the week.

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The fourth installment Radio Free Chaleston’s FestivAll 2010 coverage includes music from Comparsa, Evan Mack, Melanie Larch, T. J. King and Miss Behavin’. You’ll also see Scott Elkins’ entry in the FestivAll Silent Film competition and a montage of the FestivAll Catfish.

There will be at least two more episodes of Radio Free Charleston devoted to FestivAll 2010 with music from Craig D’Andrea, Option 22, The Velvet Gypsies, Barebones, Actual Rhinocerous, plus more music from Comparsa, Brian Diller and more theater, dance and art from FestivAll.  Look for RFC 106 on Monday.

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Above you see the first installment of Radio Free Charleston’s FestivAll 2010 shows. These are departure episodes that present the sights and sounds of FestivAll as a cinema-verite stream-of-consciousness travelogue. In the first installment you will hear music by Smoke and Mirrors, The Spurgie Hankins Band, The Nanker Phelge, The Kanawha Kordsmen and The Bob Thompson Unit, and you’ll see and hear FestivAll events like the Buswater art exhibit, The Art Parade, The shows at LiveMix Studio, music from Haddad Riverfront Park and The East End Main Street Streetworks Art Auction.

Originally,  RFC’s Big Shot, Rudy Panucci, planned to produce three of these shows, but he quickly discovered that he would have enough material for at least five shows.

The second installment features music From Brian and Nathan Diller, Evan Mack, Captain Crash and The Beauty Queen, Comparsa, and Alasha Al-Qudwah blended with art and animation from Joe Bolyard, Diane Martens, Leisha Angel, Kerry Bingham, and Frank and Rudy Panucci. You can se it right here.

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Fresh out of the RFC oven is the third episode, with music from The VooDoo Katz, Miss Behavin’, Mark Scarpelli, The Sweet Adelines, and more, plus more footage from ArtWalk and the Capitol Street Art Fair.

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At least two additional FestivAll-themed episodes of Radio Free Charleston, with music from Comparsa, The Velvet Gypsies, Actual Rhinocerous, Option 22, T.J. King and more will be coming your way in the next week.

FestivALL Art Parade 2010 | Charleston, W.Va. | Mark Wolfe photo (click photos bigger)

I missed Saturday’s FestivALL Art Parade because of a hangover from this parental mission of mercy. But Michael Lipton tells  me via e-mail that Hasil Adkin’s limo of love (above) was a big hit. “People actually cheered when we came around the corner,” says Lipton, who piloted the Hunchin’ Wagon. As a thorough documentation of all things Hunch should be one of the missions of all psychobilly-oriented West Virginians, I herewith offer Michael’s explication of the history of this vehicle:

Hasil Adkins’ “Hunchin’ Wagon” comes home to WV | By Michael Lipton

It has taken a while, but Hasil Adkins’ 1976 Cadillac Fleetwood limo – dubbed the “Hunchin’ Wagon” – has “come home” to West Virginia. While it may not be his most famous vehicle (the Boone County wildman immortalized his red Plymouth Satellite with spray painted polka dots in his song “Big Red Satellite”), this was the car that transported him to many gigs throughout the southeast during the last leg of his career.

Photo by Mark Wolfe | Click bigger

Boone County’s Hasil Adkins was a self-styled musician who was known for playing as a “one-man band,” beating mercilessly on an acoustic guitar, playing drums and singing – all at the same time. His raw style was the inspiration for a genre of music that became known as “psychobilly.” Notable songs included “She Said,” “The Hunch,” “No More Hotdogs” and “Chicken Walk.” Adkins was popular in Europe and none other than Miles Copeland, then owner of IRS Records (and brother to Police drummer Stewart Copeland) purchased his entire catalog in the mid-‘90s.

One of the Hunchin’ Wagon’s last trips was to the Knoxville, Tenn., set of Asia Argento’s 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things” in which Hasil turned in a brief cameo as a street musician. The film was based on the book “Sarah” by 19-year-old JT Leroy, supposedly an account of his disturbing childhood which involved becoming a transvestite and turning tricks in a West Virginia truck stop. Leroy’s story turned out to be a hoax and it was revealed that the author was in fact a 40-something woman and the story was fictitious.

After Hasil’s death in 2005, the car’s caretaker and Hasil’s onetime manager Jim Tucci phoned the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame with the thought that the car’s resting place should be in Hasil’s home of West Virginia. This week, the car made the trip back to West Virginia  on the back of a car hauler, thanks to donations from a number of Hasil fans including Sen. Ron Stollings, Farmer, Cline & Campbell, DL Hamilton, Tom Smith and Larry Barsh.

Hasil Hisself rides the Hunchin' Wagon in a photo taken not long before he died, in perhaps 2005. | Click photo bigger.