PopCult Rudy Panucci on Pop Culture

TAKE COVER! It’s RFC International!

March 31, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

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RFCI COVERSI’ve always been a fan of unusual cover versions of my favorite songs. While they rarely manage to match the power of the original performer, the novelty of hearing a new take on a familiar classic can be exciting and intriguing. In this week’s Radio Free Charleston International, we bring you two hours of slightly offbeat cover tunes.

Tune in to the AIRadio website, or listen to the show Thursday at midnight on this handy little radio-player widget…

You can hear RFC International every Thursday at midnight, with replays Fridays at 10 PM, Satuday mornings at 11 AM and late Saturday night/Sunday mornings.

In this show you will hear artists that you don’t normally expect to perform songs that they didn’t write themselves, like Ben Folds, Kate Bush, Todd Rundgren and The Clash. You will also hear songs originally written by the likes of The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Queen, Abba, Jimi Hendrix and Jethro Tull. We have a set of Ska covers and a set of Beatles covers. You’ll hear rare vocal turns by Keith Emerson and Keith Moon. We even bring you a performance by GWAR.

That’s all in this week’s RFC International. Take cover!

Our playlist:

Ben Folds  “Video Killed The Radio Star”

Kate Bush  “Sexual Healing”
Flaming Lips  “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Dave Stewart and Colin Blunstone  “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted”
Men Without Hats  “S.O.S.”
DEVO  “Are You Experienced”

Continue reading…

RFC and PopCult present JoeLanta 2016: Star Wars Collecting

by Rudy Panucci

The PopCult Toybox

2000px-Star_Wars_Logo.svgFrom JoeLanta and The Great Atlanta Toy convention comes a panel devoted to looking at the post-1985 history of collecting Star Wars Toys, brought to you by the Earth Station One Podcast, with Mike Gordon, Mike Faber, Ricky Zhero and Sean Reid.

We apologize for being so far behind in posting our JoeLanta coverage this year. A sudden onslaught of emergency assignments came in all at once and deflected our video work to the back-burner. As as soon as possible we will start catching up and hopefully have all of the remaining panels and our big JoeLanta wrap-up show posted within a week.

Enjoy Senoia On The Road With Mel

March 30, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

This week on Mel Larch’s travel show on Appalachian Independent Radio, On The Road With Mel, takes us to Senoia, Georgia,  a seemingly sleepy, friendly little Southern town that just happens to be the primary filming location for the hit AMC television series, The Walking Dead.  Mel tells us about Senoia’s history, how to pronounce the name of the city, and all the cool film locations, shops, and restaurants that you can experience if you go there.

8329758870_fbf8287347_bYou can listen to On The Road With Mel every Wednesday at 1 PM on Appalachian Independent Radio, with replays Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening.  Tune in at the AI Radio website or on this handy little pocket radio widget.

Today at 10 AM, with a replay at 3PM on Appalachian Independent Radio is a special replay of the first episode of The Booster Pack, a great new pop culture show. Chase Henderson (of Gorillafoot Productions and Dr. Sketchys), Terry Bartley (owner and operator of Spoiler Warning Games and Comics), and rotating guests have in depth discussions about Pop Culture.

Radio Free Charleston is NEW This Week!

March 29, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

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rfc LOGO 3 29Radio Free Charleston is back in the saddle after two weeks of re-runs, and this week we have brand-new music, and gems from deep in our archives.

You can listen to Radio Free Charleston at Appalachian Independent Radio!

Tune in for two hours of the best local and regional music every Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM at the link above or right here on this little play widget.

We kick off the show with the title cut of QiET’s new CD, and we wrap up the show with a previously unheard collaboration between Douglas Imbrogno and Melanie Larch, which has been hidden away in our vault for over eight years.

You can catch replays of Radio Free Charleston Saturday morning at 9 AM (kicking off five hours of programming produced by your PopCulteer) and late Saturday night at 1 AM. All of our General Substances progames at AIRadio will be new this week, so tune in to the hottest radio station on the web!

Our playlist:

QIET  “Kiss of the Universe”

Blue Million  “Next Year”
Diablo Blues Band  “Price of a Broken Heart”
Underdog Blues Revue  “Back Door Blues”
The Horse Traders  “Nothing At All”
The Ruins  “Used To Be Friends”

Jordan Andrew Jefferson  “One Step At A Time”
Jack Grifftith  “With A Girl Like You”
The Buttonflies  “Lil’ Birdie”
Go Van Gogh  “I Can’t Sleep At Night”
Hellblinki  “Bella Ciao”

Continue reading…

Monday Morning Art: New Wave Goose

March 28, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

new wave goose 05Sometimes art is best presented without any rationale or reasoning. Click to enlarge.

Sunday Evening Videos: Catching Up With JoeLanta

March 27, 2016 by Rudy Panucci
12294919_939284719442269_8471567765054815079_nWe are way behind in producing the videos of our experiences at the 2016 JoeLanta and The Great Atlanta Toy Convention. Sudden emergency writing jobs have eaten into our video production time, so we are two weeks away from the end of the show, and only about halfway through our videos.

We can only offer apologies for that, and promise to do better in the coming days. In the meantime, here in one handy post, are all the videos from the 2016 JoeLanta and The Great Atlanta Toy Convention that we have posted to date:

The State of the Hobby panel…

Q & A with Larry Hama, creator of The Real American Hero GI Joe...

Continue reading…

JoeLanta and The Great Atlanta Toy Convention presents the Radio Free Cybertron/Transformers Panel

March 26, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

The PopCult Toybox

rfc_icon_600Another of the great panels at JoeLanta and The Great Atlanta Toy Convention was the Radio Free Cybertron/Transformers panel with Brian Kilby, Rob Springer, Dusty Griffin and Esteban.They go into detail about what’s going on in the world of The Robots in Disguise.

We will continue posting panels and videos from JoeLanta over the next week. Emergency assignments have slowed down your PopCulteer, but we’re still plugging away when we can.

Radio Goodness and Under Surveillance Greatness

March 25, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

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March 25, 2016

AIRadio

There’s plenty of cool stuff coming up on Appalachian Independent Radio. Tonight at 8 PM it’s a brand-new episode of Word Association with Lee and Rudy. This week the boys discuss the oddball comics of their youth from publishers such as Charlton, Gold Key, Classics Illustrated, Comely Comics and others. This is a huge topic, and chances are that it will be revisted many times in the future, since we left so much good stuff out.Also note that I mixed up the order in which Ditko and Giordano left Charlton for DC. I knew better than that.

You can tune in to Word Association with Lee and Rudy Friday nights at 8 PM, right in this handy widget…

Stick around, because at 10 PM you can listen to a replay of this week’s Radio Free Charleston International. Also remember that you can listen to the entire General Substances/RFC line-up starting Saturday mornings at 9 AM. Starting this week you can also hear a replay of Booster Pack at 2 PM, giving you a six-hour excuse to sit motionless and listen to the internet all morning on Saturday.

And you never know when you’ll get a surprise treat on Appalachian Independent Radio . Just last week The Empty Glass cut in to broadcast a live performance by The Davisson Brothers, a major band with a huge national following. The Davisson’s premiered several new songs that haven’t been recorded yet and led the crowd in a sing-along of “Country Roads.”

This is just one of the many cool things you can hear on AIRadio. I tell you all the time about the shows I produce, Radio Free Charleston, On The Road with Mel, Word Association with Lee and Rudy and Radio Free Charleston International, but there’s way more than that. The Empty Glass is not only doing live remotes of big-name musicians, but they also produce Six Degrees of Separation, a two-hour interview with a local artist, and they also have a playlist show where local musicians show off their influences. New shows are being added all the time.

Check this stuff out. You’re missing out on real gems, folks.

Under Surveillance  “Savannah Moon”

11074490_337248466470174_6532316376106241280_nUnder Surveillance is back in a big way. This band of veteran rockers has just released their second CD, this one with their new vocalist, Eve Marcum Atkinson.  They haven’t missed a beat, delivering another fine collection of New Wave-inflected anthemic power pop with a sheen of professionalism and killer hooks.

Phil Hatfield’s guitar work blends quite well with Atkinson’s lead vocals and the band’s harmony vox to create a modern “Wall Of Sound” that give the songs a timeless quality that makes them free of stylistic pidgeonholing. The band has gelled around their new singer and the sound is both familiar and new at the same time.

Continue reading…

RFC International Re-pushes Some Envelopes

March 24, 2016 by Rudy Panucci

This week your exhausted PopCulteer waved the white flag and scheduled a replay of the second-ever episode of Radio Free Charleston International.

Tune in tonight at Midnight, with replays Friday at 10 PM, Saturday morning at 11 AM and late Saturday night  at 3 AM to hear this special encore show on Appalachian Independent Radio. Or just listen to this virtual radio right here…

[Parental Advisory: Radio Free Charleston International is not censored, and occasionally contains language which may not be suitable for children. That’s particularly true this week]

We really pushed the limits In this show with two-hours of challenging, eclectic and occasionally foul-mouthed music. It’s radio like you’ve never seen!

The Playlist:

Oingo Boingo  “Helpless”

Weezer  “Do You Wanna Get High?”
Dubioza Kolektiv  “Pirate Bay Song”
Jane Wiedlin  “World On Fire”
Adam Ant  “Cool Zombie”
Moron Police  “Who’s That Chicken”

Continue reading…

Joelanta and The Great Atlanta Toy Convention 2016: The Needless Things Podcast presents Toy Stories

by Rudy Panucci

The PopCult Toybox

Image1The Phantom Troublemaker hosts a panel dedicated to folks telling personal stories about their most beloved toys. Joining Phantom on the panel are Sean Reid, Mike Gordon, Ricky Zhero (of Radio Cult) and a guest from the audience, Mr. Lee Harrah of the band, HARRAH.

This was one of the most fun panels from Joelanta and The Great Atlanta Toy Convention 2016, and captured to true spirit of how creative play and an obsession with toys can drive people to successful careers later in life. The stories are fun, bittersweet and touching.

This panel has been presented as an episode of The Needless Things Podcast, which is highly recommended and can be found HERE.