We kick off this week with a digital painting that revisits FestivAll, from last June. Specifically, this is a shot of the crowd dancing to The VooDoo Katz at the Live On The Levee show where we recorded the band for Radio Free Charleston.I decided to go a little Fauvist on the image.
You can see the band’s performance on RFC 104, and keep reading PopCult for news of their next live shows. Click the image to see it larger.
An entire generation has grown up with the internet as a major presence in their lives. That means that the time is ripe for INTERNET NOSTALGIA! Below you will find a series of video clips of such classic internet fads as The Numa Numa Guy, Salad Fingers, The Hampster Dance, Banana Phone, Diet Coke and Mentos, Xiao Xiao, Domo, The Star Wars Kid, Dramatic Chipmunk and kicking it off, The Creepy Dancing Baby animation….
The PopCulteer
August 27, 2010
Horn Self-tootery
Five years ago, the very first post went up in PopCult. The first couple of
weeks were just test messages, little goofy posts, but in early September, The Gazz Online officially announced PopCult, and we’ve been here ever since. I think we may be the longest-running blog here at The Charleston Gazette.
There have been a lot of cool things that have happened to this blog over the last five years, and today we’re going to get all introspective and look back, and update, some of the mre notorious stories from the last half-decade. We’ll look at some controversies, some triumphs, some weirdness, and the occasional trainwreck.
The last five years have seen some cool regular features pop up here in PopCult, like the return of Radio Free Charleston, Sunday Evening Videos, Monday Morning Art and The PopCulteer.
After the jump, you’ll get to see the highlights of this still-unterminated experimental foray into the internets courtesy of The Charleston Gazette and your PopCulteer, Rudy Panucci. (more…)
RFC 109 “Shazam Shirt” from Rudy Panucci on Vimeo.
At the head of this post you see the latest episode of Radio Free Charleston. This is our third “show without words,” where we showcase instrumental music and films and animation without dialogue.
Our music this time comes from David Synn and D.T. Stephenson, who coincidentally teamed up to form the band after they agreed to became part of this show. You can look for thier new join project, Frequency Down, playing at local venues soon, and on RFC in the future. We also have RFC faves, Blue Million, ripping through an instrumental blues jam during a sound check at Bruno’s last May.
Our animation comes courtesy of Frank Panucci and we also feature the oldest surviving Plant Ro Duction Mini Movie. We also get a quick, photographic tour of LiveMix Studio, our longtime production partner.
Host segments are presented in the style of a comic book. This way I was able to not speak on this episode. This little experiment in graphics worked pretty well, except for one intro where the lettering might have been too small. We’ll correct that below.
Today’s bit of artwork is a digitally-assaulted photograph of my RFC 100 co-host, and imaginary daughter, Chelsea Cook. If you’ve been reading regularly, you may remember that I’ve posted some of my artistic takes on Chelsea before here in PopCult. We’re currently at work on a special project for the RFC Halloween show.
This piece is based on a photo swiped from Chelsea’s Facebook page, and it was basically just me messing around with an image and some filters while I was waiting on a phone call. It’s a digital doodle, I guess. The final product came out looking cool enough for me to use here. Click it to see a larger version.
The Empty Glass is the cornerstone of Charleston’s music scene. Beloved by all (except for the occasional pyromaniacal internet crank), The Glass has been the site of many an amazing musical experience. The video you see at the head of this post is a collection of clips from Radio Free Charleston that were recorded at The Empty Glass.
Below, you will find a widget for the Kickstarter page to help fund Empty Glass Records, a new record label which will capture some of these one-of-a-kind live performances and make them available for music lovers everywhere. The Glass is trying to raise enough cash to purchase some additional equipment that will allow them to upgrade the recording capabilities of the bar.
In the past, The Empty Glass has been the location for recordings by Unknown Hinson, Big Jack Johnson, Zach Deputy and more. There are several cool incentives for donating, including free CDs, VIP cards and recording sessions. This is not charity–you get a pretty good bang for your buck, if you love live music or frequent the Empty Glass.
After the jump, we have more videos from the Glass, including an entire episode of Radio Free Charleston devoted to the old days of The Empty Glass.
The PopCulteer
August 13, 2010
Wednesday Rocks At The Empty Glass
The Nanker Phelge, who made their big debut on Radio Free Charleston 100 back in May, have been briinging their melodious and harmonious powerful pop to The Empty Glass every Wednesday in August. You have one more chance to catch Stephen and Mark Beckner, Casi Null and Dave Roberts, next Wednesday night, around 10:30 PM. At the right, you Stephen Beckner taking the photo you see below, and after the jump, you’ll see even more photos of the band, and of the Beckner Brother’s former Go Van Gogh cohort Johnny Rock, who joined the PopCulteer for last Wednesday’s show. In addition, you’ll get to see video of the band from last Wednesday and then check out our big monthly ArtWalk photo essay and a message about Zombie Babies.
"Old Lions" Johnny Rock, Mark Beckner and your PopCulteer, photo by Stephen Beckner
Today’s art is a digital painting over a heavily-manipulated photo of a nude model. I used basic oil painting techniques to take a mirrored and squashed image, and transform it into something different. It’s an exercise in surrealism.
Click “Naked Face” to see a larger version.
In the embedded playlist of videos above, you will see six cool performances from Radio Free Charleston, including songs from Comparsa, Doctor Senator, Stephen Beckner, Captain Crash and The Beauty Queen, Lil’ Guy from SPE and The Hellblinki Sextet.
These are classic performances from Radio Free Charleston, presented for your enjoyment while we work on RFC 109.
The PopCulteer
August 13, 2010
If they outlaw dancin’, only outlaws will dance
I try to remain quiet on the whole Jesco White thing. I find it personally distasteful, but if other people like to watch the man and his family’s antics, who am I to complain?
But, Julien Nitzberg, the director of “The Wild Wonderful Whites,” yet another documentary bringing us the adventures of this pitiable family, has let loose with a defense of his film (which some people think is a horrible, horrible thing for our state) and I can’t really let this go without a comment.
In an opinion piece in The Charleston Daily Mail, Nitzberg asks, “But why shouldn’t poor people and outlaws have their stories told also? Are they not part of our country with lives worth considering?”
I would like to take a moment to point out that this argument and defense is total self-serving blather. Nitzberg attempts to spin the opposition to his film as a class struggle. It isn’t. By lumping in “poor people” with “outlaws,” Nitzberg betrays his own narrow view of life outside the comfortable middle class. (more…)
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