Episode 43 of Radio Free Charleston is online now! This puppy’s called “Holden Caulfield Shirt” and it features music from The Clementines, InFormation and Melanie Larch, plus the classic Troma Trailer for Daniel Boyd’s “Strangest Dreams: Invasion Of The Space Preachers” and the educational cartoon “Drugs Are Bad.”

We shot our host segments on the lawn at The University Of Charleston during Symphony Sunday, where it was hot enough to bake a person’s brain if they were stupid enough to wear a heavy felt hat. Other locations in this episode of RFC include The La Belle Theater in South Charleston, Taylor Books on Capitol Street, and lots of backwoods boondockery from two decades ago. Plus there are the Catfish, gathering in anticipation of FestivAll.

The Clementines are Douglas Imbrogno and Casi Null. Doug, of course, is my long-suffering editor here at PopCult and has also been on the show as half of The HeyDays. Lately this Nuevo Folk Duo have been gigging around town, dipping into a folkish catalog of old tunes that sound new, and new tunes that sound old, plus they’ve been weirding out a bit with a digital delay, and we have one of their “Soundscapes” in this episode of RFC. We shot this at Taylor Books back in February, and waited until just the right moment to spring in on an unsuspecting public. Stay tuned to RFC in the coming weeks as we feature Casi performing solo and as a member of Punk Jazz.

InFormation first appeared on RFC way back on episode 24. When we taped the song for that show, we grabbed an extra tune and held onto it. In fact, there was only one thing keeping me from using it–I forgot to ask what it was called. It was sitting there on the hard drive waiting for me to drop it into a show, but we were taping so much great music so fast that this gem remained hidden away. Last Saturday night Mel and I ran into InFormation’s Curtis and Shane, and I decided to finally use this song on the new show. However, I forgot to ask what it was called again, and so I had to guess. I thought it was called “Angry All The Time.” It isn’t. It’s called “Innocence” and you can hear it on their CD, which you can get from their website right here. I shot the host segments about 12 hours after I decided to use this song, and my email didn’t get to them until the next day.

You can see and hear InFormation in action June 7 at the Washington Community Center in Marietta Ohio, or you can head to Heathens in South Charleston on June 27. They are a great band and you really ought to hear them live.

Over the end credits we take another look at Melanie Larch’s “Siren Song Of The Catfish” which we recorded last year as part of Mel’s report on FestivAll. FestivAll is coming up again soon, and I thought it’d be good to share this with the RFC viewers who haven’t heard it yet. This is Mel’s original composition, with her lovely multi-tracked voice and me burying my Les Paul in the mix.

We also take a look at the trailer for the Daniel Boyd classic, “Strangest Dreams: Invasion Of The Space Preachers.” This was one of Danny’s films that wound up being distributed by Troma, and with Troma nearing an end, we thought it would be cool to turn the clock back 18 years to see what Jim Wolfe, Guy Nelson, Jesse Johnson, Gary Brown and Steve Gilliland were up to. Throw in a hillbilly Gray Poupon-lovin’ Dave Weekly and WVSU professor Boyd and Dave Wohl covered in dung, and you have the “Citizen Kane” of locally-shot sci-fi comedies about Preachers from outer space. You can order the film here, since you’ve seen the trailer, and now you must own a copy for yourself.

Our animation this time around is “Drugs Are Bad,” an educational film which is a rare collaboration between legendary animation studio UPA and a wise-guy webshow producer who had a one-minute hole in his latest show.

That’s the dirt, but not the dung, on episode 43. If all goes well, episode 44 will go online in one week, featuring music from Quick and Dirty and a band to be named later, plus we’re working on arranging a special visit fromVice President Dick Cheney, who has some ‘splainin’ to do.