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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After our adventure on Capitol Street, your PopCulteer and his lady zombie-walked over to The La Belle Theater to take in the wonders of The No Pants Players Scaretacular!

The No Pants Players are, of course, West Virginia’s ultimate Improv comedy troupe, and four of them–Jeff Bukovinsky, Mandy Petry, Duncan Stokes and Joe Wallace–helped make the RFC Halloween show one of the best we’ve ever done.

To the right you seen Stuart and Adam, two of the newest players, recreating a scene from the terrifying movie, “Dirty Dancing.” After the jump you can check out more of the merriment and bear witness to some of the fine costumery on display.

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After Adamfest and a great afternoon artist party, Melanie and I went home to complete our outfits–Melanie as Zombie Gypsy (she was planning to be Zombie Carmen, but the weather put a dent in her elaborate hair plans) and me as Zombie Billy Mays (seen at right). We then headed up to Capitol Street and Taylor Books for the second Clementines Halloween show with their guests Option 22.

This is the second year for this holiday collaboration between Douglas and Casi of The Clementines and various elements of Riff Raffery.

The music was cool and the costumes were artful, and we would have stuck around longer if not for the No Pants Players Scaretacular. Click on the “read more” link to see what went on at Taylor Books on All Hallow’s Eve.

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One thing we noticed with the advent of HallowEast was that, like FestivAll, there was an embarrassment of riches. There were so many cool thinigs going on around Charleston that we had to make hard choices about which events to attend. One thing we absolutely had to see was WATT 4 performing at Adamfest VI. WATT 4 played around 2 PM on a drizzly and cold, rainy day, but the event so warmed the hearts of those in attendance that nobody seemed to notice the weather.

Adamfest is the annual outdoor all-day bash held for Adam Weaver, who’s been waging war on cancer for several years now. Adamfest was started to lend financial help and moral support for Adam’s struggle. Adam’s had a particularly rough year in 2009, spending a couple of months in the hospital last spring. It was touch-and-go for a while, and seeing Adam looking fit and happy Saturday morning was the highlight of a very cool day.

The lead singer of WATT 4 (one of our favorite RFC bands) is Lee Harrah (above, as a Zombie Star Trek Red Shirt Crewman), who is also Adam’s uncle. One of the coolest moments we’ve seen in some time was when Lee brought Adam up on stage. Adam pitched in with backing vocals on the Iron Maiden classic, “Can I Play with Madness.” Unfortunately, we couldn’t stick around for the other bands due to a load of prior commitments, but nothing could top seeing Adam on stage with Watt 4.

After the jump you’ll see more images from WATT 4’s set at Adamfest.

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The Halloween PopCulteer photo-essay extravaganza continues. To the right, you see Jim Lange and Al Peery of The Velvet Brothers, who lit up LiveMix Studio, along with Cousin Larry and The Spurgie Hankins Band.

We started the evening at The Book Exchange, where Tony Slack, Joe Wallace and Kevin Pauley of The No Pants Players read the works of Edgar Allen Poe. After the jump we have some pictures of that event, plus another glimpse of the LiveMix party.

It was a great night at LiveMix Studio, but I was so pooped from the events I mentioned in The PopCulteer that I didn’t take many photos, and we had to leave early, sadly missing most of the incredible Spurgie Hankins Band.

More photo essays are coming. Meanwhile check out the Friday coolness.

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The PopCulteer
October 30, 2009

BOO!

Due to a family emergency, the planned epic-length PopCulteer will be split up into several different posts over the weekend. This post is a photo essay of the cool art exhibit on Charleston’s East End, ArtMares. To the right you see Joe Bolyard’s installation, “Death Deified,” which is one of the most striking pieces in an incredible assortment of stunning images.

The ArtMares exhibit can be seen Firday and Saturday night at 1598 Washington Street, across the street from The Bluegrass Kitchen. Friday night it’s free from 5 PM to 7 PM. Saturday the show is the centerpiece of the HallowEast Block Party, starting at 6 PM. Twenty bucks gets you unlimited access to studio with refreshments, food, drink and lots of fine Halloweenery.

After the jump, you’ll find a frightening buttload of Artmarish imagery.

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[kml_flashembed movie="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" width="430" height="346" fvars="m=100232718;type=video" wmode="transparent" /]
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.

Read the rest of this entry »