The PopCulteer
January 22, 2021

We have two great local projects to tell you about today, and the first is the eponymous debut album from Unmanned, an all-female trio of Charleston music veterans who describe themslves as “3 gals from Charleston, WV jamming some rockabilly surf punk.”

All three members, Pepper, Katie Ann and Misty, have appeared on the Radio Free Charleston video show before, but not together, and it’s really cool to have a new album to play on RFC’s radio program next week.

Friday night at 9:30 PM, Unmanned will go live on Facebook with Maiden Voyage, a free streaming album-release concert, with plenty of extras and surprises planned.

I have been a huge fan of all three of these talented musicians, and it’s going to be a joy to hear them making music together.

Visit their Facebook page and the event page for more details, and head to their Bandcamp page (and some other streaming services) to download the full album.

Probing Alienation

Next up with turn to the literary world with the debut novel from an acclaimed West Virginia filmmaker.

Inalienable: An Alien Abduction in Pre-Civil Rights Appalachia
written by Lisa Tignor
ISBN: 9798594035676
Retail Price: $12.99

This is not a review, since I haven’t got my hands on a copy of this book yet, but consider this a heads up that a friend of PopCult has a new project out (and please excuse the joke headline).

Longtime PopCult readers may remember Lisa from her film, Finding Big Pink, which I wrote about back in 2018. Her debut novel is the result of having newfound down time due to the COVID pandemic shutting down production of her next movie.

Allow me to borrow copiously from the press release…

Inalienable: An Alien Abduction in Pre-Civil Rights Appalachia is a book ostensibly about alien abduction, which, when you dig deeper, is also about racism and social change.

The story takes place in 1961 in very rural Appalachia. A mixed-race couple moves to the area so Calvin can work as an educator and social activist. They experience an abduction, which he wants to put behind them, but his wife, Rose, wants to do more research and get to the bottom of it. After four years of research and therapy, they finally come to terms with what happened to them.

Lisa Tignor is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and tv host who has toured with a British rock band, been jumped on by secret service, visited 30 states, been banned from Israel (according to a letter from the Embassy after writing a letter on behalf of a political prisoner.) and made a disciple of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi lose his cool. Also, in the early 90s she tried to convince Bob Woodward to tell her who “DeepThroat” was. She fears leaving behind a boring obituary.

I don’t think Lisa has anything to worry about on that front.

You can order Inalienable: An Alien Abduction in Pre-Civil Rights Appalachia from Amazon now, or contact Lisa directly at writerlatignor@gmail.com to purchase it directly from the author.

Radio Notes

You may have noticed that your PopCulteer did not deliver a promised episode of Radio Free Charleston Thursday.

The truth is, while I am still slightly under the weather and my voice is a bit shot, I also was distracted Wednesday by one of the most wonderful things thatI have ever witnessed in my lifetime: The end of a corrupt, inept and downright evil regime that nearly destroyed our country…and that was not for lack of trying.

So while I was honestly raspy and unpleasant to listen to, I was also too damned happy to do anything resembling work.

So next week I’ll deliver all-new episodes of my programs on The AIR, and I’ll try to get my fellow hosts to crank out new material too, to make up for this week of repeats.

Meanwhile, keep checking back with PopCult as we bring you all of our regular feature and ramp up the book, comics, music and toy reviews.