PopCult Rudy Panucci on Pop Culture

An Alarmingly Activist Episode of RFC

Details on how you can buy your own Top O Rock shirt are coming soon
Details on how you can buy your own Top O Rock shirt are coming soon

Radio Free Charleston 198, “Save Top O Rock Shirt” is one of our most politically active episodes. We have music from Time & Distance, Little Nomad, The Living Deads and a special music video by The Laser Beams, plus there’s ten epic minutes of animation by Jake Fertig. But first, in this episode I actually talk about the shirt that gives this show its name.

Top O Rock is an architectural marvel in Charleston. It was the home and office of the late architect, Henry Elden. We shot our host segments for Episode 100 there four years ago, a couple of years after he passed away. Since then, the building has fallen on hard times. Recently vandals have struck and we were in danger of seeing this landmark demolished.

A foundation is being established to assist in the resuce and restoration of Henry Elden’s dream home, and you can help out by buying this shirt, and visiting the Save Top O Rock Facebook page, plus you can visit this blog and sign this petition. We will keep you posted on future fundraising activities.

Thanks to the efforts of Jennifer Peters, Mark Wolfe, and Hope Lockhart and many other folks, Top O Rock has been secured and has been spared from the wrecking ball for now. But it’s going to take a lot of money to save this hidden architectural jewel in the long term. So check out the links and pitch in to help…please.

A scene from "The Flocking"
A scene from “The Flocking”

After the intro, we jump into our show with the first of three parts of Jake Fertig‘s epic “The Flocking: Coal-Aid Freedomsodes,” which takes a pretty harsh and incisive look at some of the industrial special interests which control and afflict West Virginia. This cartoon was first screened (intact) a couple of weeks ago at the West Virginia International Film Festival, and we are proud to include it here on RFC. We split the cartoon into three parts, and you’ll see them throughout this episode of the show.

Time And Distance
Time And Distance

Our first musical guest this week is Time and Distance. We caught them on their first Charleston show after a nationwide tour, and you can see them on Memorial Day, if you hurry, at the Next Level Sk8park in Nitro. You can also catch them headlining Live on the Levee this Friday with Beggar’s Clan. The music starts at 6:30 and this summer-long free concert series is one of the coolest things happening in Charleston.

Or on Friday, June 6 You can find the band at The Thirteenth Lane Taproom at Dunbar Lanes, with Noise and Motion Theater! We bring you Time and Distance with “That Girl” in this episode of RFC.

 

Symphony Tidwell, from The Living Deads
Symphony Tidwell, from The Living Deads

The Living Deads are a Punkabilly force of nature who shot into town last month for a show with The Big Bad at The Empty Glass. With their kidnapped guitar player, they reduced the stage to ashes and left us with a handful of killer songs, most of which you’ve seen on The RFC MINI SHOW. We held one song back, and you’ll get to hear “All I Can Do Is Cry” in this week’s show.

 

Leo Tuxedo as "Patrick Morrissey"
Leo Tuxedo as “Patrick Morrisey”

The Laser Beams are a newish band consisting of old friends of Radio Free Charleston. Pepper Fandango, Cat Schrodinger, and Leo Tuxedo united as the house band for The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque, and they’ve decided to play together outside of the Burlesque setting.

However, they are not turning their back on their roots. This week we bring you the music of The Laser Beams set to a very special dance routine by Leo Tuxedo, as they salute West Virginia’s Attorney General, the sock puppet of big business, Patrick Morrisey. This routine was just recorded Saturday at The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque show at Kanawha Players Theater. You can catch the Wayward Girls later this week in Huntington, at the V Club on Thursday and in early June in Portsmouth, Ohio.

Little Nomad
Little Nomad

We wrap the show up with a performance by singer-songwriter Little Nomad, who we were mightily impressed with. Little Nomad is a fixture on the open mic scene in Charleston and she’s been hosting terrific showcases every few weeks at The Empty Glass. You can be sure we’ll see Little Nomad again soon on RFC.

That’s it for this week’s episode. Come back in one week for a brand-new RFC MINI SHOW, and prepare yourselves because we just have one more full-length show before we hit episode 200.