The PopCulteer
November 20, 2009

Habitat Restore Relics

A very cool art event took place last Saturday at Habitat Restore. “Restore Relics” presented the work of over 30 local artists, all working with recycled material. The theme of the show was centered on the holidays, and half the proceeds went to Habitat For Humanity.

The show was a real kick, with several very inexpensive pieces that were being snapped up left and right. I was lucky to get there early to take pictures. Most of this week’s PopCulteer is devoted to a photo essay of the show. But that’s not all, so read on.

Our headline photo is Charlie Hamilton, hamming it up with one of the very cool pieces he created for the show using recovered wood.

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We kick off this week with a digital abstract I call “Feedback Cross.” I came up with this design by looping feedback in my graphics program, which came out looking like a cross. Y’know, they can’t all be profound. Click the image to see it larger.

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Sometimes I just pick the videos for this feature for the hell of it. Above you see the trailer for last year’s DVD release of The Gumby Movie. Gumby is a childhood favorite of mine, and in many ways the green man of clay was as subversive as Lenny Bruce. After the jump you’ll find some more Gumbasia–some of it politically incorrect and some not safe for work! Viva Art Clokey!

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The PopCulteer
November 13, 2009

Scrap Iron Pickers CD Release Show Tonight

Tonight at The Sound Factory, accompanied by Bud Carroll and His Southern All Stars and The Barkoloungers, The Scrap Iron Pickers, guests on Radio Free Charleston episodes 57 and 72, celebrate the release of their first CD.

The CD is actually a double EP, contained on one disc, joined by some found audio in between. The first six numbers–all instrumental save for some archival spoken-word interludes, are the “Redeeming Metal” EP and feature the Scrap Iron Pickers trademark blenderized soup of progressive metal music with hints of reggae, blues, country, near-ska and thrash. It’s a crunchy mix of styles made possible by the raw talent of the Pickers, Johnny Sizemore on guitar, Roadblock on bass and Matt Wolfe on drums.

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Posted above you see the latest episode of Radio Free Charleston, “Adamfest VI Shirt.” If you can’t see it up there, follow this link. The host segments for this show were shot at Coonskin Park, about a week after the annual Adamfest show, which you will see part of in this show.

Our music comes from Denver’s one man band, The Limbs, The ButtonFlies, who treat us to a very cool music video and we wrap up with a very special moment from Adamfest, featuring WATT4 and a friend.

We also have some fresh animation from Frank Panucci and a 60 second art show featuring the exhibit “Scenes Of Charleston” by Clayton Spangler.

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Today’s Monday Morning Art is a simple, un-retouched photo, taken a couple of weeks ago, just up the street from my house. Once again, real life happenings kept me from doing the “leaves changing road trip” thing, so this was one of the few shots I got of the changing season.

As always, clck to enlarge. And check PopCult tonight for episode 86 of Radio Free Charleston, “Adamfest VI Shirt.”

The PopCulteer
November 6, 2009

Scenes Of Charleston

The Art Emporium plays host to the work of Clayton Spangler as they present “Scemes Of Charleston,” a collection of Spangler’s photographic paintings on canvas. A reception will be held at the eopening Friday night at from 5 PM to 8 PM. These are some amazing works. Check out the samples at right and below. You’ll see Spangler’s unique vision of recognizable Charleston locations such as The Blossom Deli, Taylor Books, The Capitol Market and more.

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It was so well-received, we’re running it again. Here’s the Radio Free Charleston 2009 Halloween Special once more, by popular demand:

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Above, you see our epic 2009 Radio Free Charleston Halloween special,”HallowEast Shirt.” If the show isn’t up there, that means that it escaped and can be found here. I’m going to post very detailed production notes about part of the show in Friday’’s PopCulteer, but we do have some folks to thank for making this year’s Halloween show happen.

Specifically, Mark Wolfe and Amy Williams and The Charleston Area Alliance East End Main Street, Eamon Hardiman, Razor Sharp Productions, The No Pants Players, The Book Exchange and Flare Baroshi all went above and beyond in helping with this year’s show, which was our most involved episode yet. It’s also our longest, clocking in at just under half an hour (and that’s after we jettisoned two complete songs and a couple of short films).We feature music from Unknown Hinson, The CYAC musical, “The Blob,” The Big Bad and Flare Baroshi. We also have a Mini Movie, and a few extra treats along the way.Our host segments, featuring members of The No Pants Players (Go see Their SCARETACULAR this Saturday at The La Belle Theater in South Charleston) were shot in various locations in Charleston’s East End–the home of HallowEast!. Jeff Bukovinsky, Mandy Petry, Joe Wallace and Duncan Stokes met up with us last Sunday at The Book Exchange, and we proceeded to skip from location to location, shooting our little comedy bits, aided and abetted by Mel Larch, Mark Wolfe and Amy Williams. We did a killer job, shooting guerilla style, and except for the guy playing me, everyone did a great job. Huge thanks to all involved. I’ll be writing more about this shoot on Friday.

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Above you see the video for “Vampire Mafia” by Flare Baroshi. This music video was created for the Radio Free Charleston 2009 Halloween Show, and was co-directed by Ms. Baroshi and yours truly. Friday, in The PopCulteer, I’ll go into detail about the production of this clip. But today you get a bonus treat. On the other side of the “Read More” link, you’ll find an alternate, black-and-white version of “Vampire Mafia,” which I cut together using some of the cool stuff that hit the editing room floor. The two clips have about 20 percent in common. Check it out to see what didn’t make the cut the first time.

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We wound up the night at The Empty Glass for The Halloween Hootenanny, where we caught The Drunken Gentlemen before the realities of human endurance meant that we had to give up the ghost and head home before The Whiskey Daredevils took the stage.

But we were there for The Drunken Gentlemen anyway. We can’t wait to get them back on Radio Free Charleston. Those guys kick major buttocks.

As you can see, the costumed revelry was top-notch. The devilish couple you see below are Dave and Andrea from The ButtonFlies, who will be appearing in the very next episode of Radio Free Charleston on November 9. After the jump, dig into tons of photos of the hottest Halloween bash in town.

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