PopCult Rudy Panucci on Pop Culture

The RFC Flashback: Episode 31

November 12, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

Let us take you back to late November, 2007 for an episode of Radio Free Charleston hosted from the La Belle Theater in South Charleston that features music from Raymond Wallace and Doctor Senator, plus animation from Frank Panucci and news about then upcoming events in South Charleston, which are now many years in the past. .

This episode of RFC is loaded with promos for upcoming events that, of course, already happened. You’ll see your host (and blogger), Rudy Panucci, give heartfelt plugs for The No Pants Players annual Christmas Show and IWA East Coast’s double-show, where they ran a high-flyer’s tournament and the first Masters of Pain show on the same day. This show also includes a promo clip for the “Best of Radio Free Charleston Night” at the LaBelle and a brief appearence by Kitty Killton before she was Kitty Killton. We never did get around to doing “Mad Man Pondo’s Celebrity Run-in” though, but it was a great promo.

Our musical acts were Raymond Wallace, recorded in the lobby at LiveMix Studio, and Doctor Senator, recorded at The Sound Factory. Those two venues, sadly, are no longer with us. You can read the original production notes for this show HERE.

The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide-Day Five: Music

November 11, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

Today’s five picks for The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide are all music. I am suggesting physical formats for music because 1) I’m old and 2) You can’t wrap a download.

Below you’ll find a mix of cool music with new releases, reissues, archival collections, live performances and top-level musicians. You won’t find local musicians here today. I’m saving those for later in The PopCult Gift Guide. While the prices range from cheap to the low three-figures, I’m not including anything with a ridiculous price, like Paul McCartney’s $700 crate of 80 singles. These are all reasonably priced gift ideas.

Unless I provide a link, you ought to be able to buy or order these from any retailer who sells CDS or Vinyl. I strongly suggest that you support your local music retailer, but some of these are harder to find in person.

Todd Rundgren Space Force
Cleopatra Records
Available anywhere physical music is sold on CD and Vinyl.

This brand-new release is the thrilling 2022 studio album from rock legend Todd Rundgren collaborating with several peers and acolytes to create one of the his most diverse albums of his stellar career. Includes guest performances by Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, hip hop stars The Roots, indie rock duo The Lemon Twigs, outsider theatrical act Sparks, electronic icon Thomas Dolby, guitar maestro Steve Vai, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and lots more.

That’s the advertising blurb above, and this album is so loaded that they didn’t feel the need to mention that Adrian Belew and Neil Finn are also among the musical guests.

Be warned that “Down With The Ship,” Rundgren’s collaboration with Cuomo, based on a sample from The Skatalites, is one of the most infectous earworms you are ever likely to hear. It’ll stick in your head for weeks, if not longer.

Space Force is recommended for fans of Rundgren, his collaborators or anybody who likes adventurous rock music.

Paul Weller Will of The People
Universal UK
Available from retailers who carry imports, or Amazon

This is another three CD set of rarities from the former leader of The Jam and The Style Council.

Back in the autumn of 2003, the Fly On the Wall collection brought together a wealth of Paul Weller solo recordings that stretched back to 1991. The B-sides, 12-inch EP tracks, single remixes and ‘live’ recordings featured all had one thing in common, namely that they hadn’t been included on any of his hugely successful solo albums. Furthermore, in many instances, they’d become highly sought after as the original 7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch and CD singles and promos that first aired them were fetching significant sums from fans and collectors.

Will of the People follows up Fly On the Wall and takes the listener through a similar mix of rarities, this time spanning the period 2002 to 2021. Like it’s predecessor not only does it make for some great listening but it’s a superb way to hear all those hard to get solo tracks that haven’t been featured on an album before.

This collection has been compiled by Paul Weller himself and Paul has provided artwork ideas and sketches for the design. Alongside this Paul has written track-by-track sleeve notes. The release includes additional sleeve notes from writer and broadcaster John Wilson.

Will of The People is a must-have for fans of Paul Weller. It’s a treasure-trove of gems.

Robert Berry’s 3.2 Alive at ProgStock Double CD and DVD
Self-released. Order it from his website for $20 ($25 autographed)

Robert Berry is sort of the Zelig of progressive rock. He was to have taken over as the lead singer of the Steve Howe/Steve Hackett band, GTR, in the mid-1980s, but that band dissolved before he could make his debut. He then formed the band 3 with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer, but after one album and tour, those two reunited with Greg Lake, leaving Berry on his own.

Following that he spearheaded several Prog-rock tribute albums, released three holiday albums as the leader of The December People and is currently in a band with members of Saxon and Saga called “Six By Six.”

Before his current project he recorded and toured as “Robert Berry’s 3.2,” playing songs he’d written with Keith Emerson prior to Emerson’s death, as well as tunes from the original 3 project and other prog-rock classics.

From Robert’s triumphant 3.2 band’s 29 cities North American tour, this two-CD plus DVD set captures the band at the 2019 International ProgStock Festival. This 2-hour program encompasses Robert’s 30-year history of progressive rock and features 15 tracks, including Robert’s work with Steve Howe (YES), Geoff Downes (GTR), the Magna Carta Tribute album series, and more.

Featured along with Robert Berry is guitarist Paul Keller from the original “3” touring band on guitar/vocals, Jimmy Keegan (Spock’s Beard) on drums/vocals, and Andrew Colyer (Circuline) doing the difficult keyboards and vocals parts with ease.

Any prog-rock fan should love this. He has long stories about his legendary collaborators between the songs, and in addition to his own music, his band takes on tunes from YES, Jethro Tull and ELP. You get the whole show on two CDs, plus on DVD. And for five bucks more, he’ll sign it for you.

TOYAH Anthem Super Deluxe Edition
Cherry Red
This is another import, so you may have to resort to Amazon

During the pandemic Toyah Wilcox and her husband, Robert Fripp, have kept the shut-in masses entertained with their bizarre and delightful Sunday Lunch videos that feature the pair doing their own unique versions of some of the most unlikely songs you could imagine.

This higher profile has remined the public of Toyah’s career as a hit UK new-wave chanteuse and now we are being treated to deluxe reissues of her four-decade-old work with her namesake band. The latest album to get this treatment is 1981’s Anthem.

This super deluxe edition includes two CDs, an NTSC/Region 0 DVD, avinyl picture disc LP, a 12″ splatter colored single, and a transparent orange 7″ vinyl single. Plus there’s a 44 page book, a 12″x12″ signed print, and four postcards.

The meat of the package is a digitally remastered and expanded edition of Toyah’s 1981 Gold-selling album Anthem. This release presents the full album complemented by 25 bonus tracks.

Among the bonus materials is the standalone hit single ‘Thunder In The Mountains’. Produced by Nick Tauber, with arrangements by the band and Toyah, the album features a line- up that saw Wilcox and Joel Bogen joined by Nigel Glockler, Phil Spalding and Adrian Lee.

Further bonus material includes a six-song live session recorded on 1 April, 1981 at BBC’s Paris Theatre in London which is released commercially for the first time ever plus a previously unreleased unfaded version of the flexi-disc track ‘For You’.

The accompanying DVD presents a fascinating new in-depth interview feature with Toyah about the creation of the album plus a track-by-track commentary and exclusive renditions of three Anthem songs, plus for the first time ever classic footage of Toyah’s 1981 BBC performances of ‘It’s A Mystery’, ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’ and four different appearances on the legendary Top Of The Pops alongside performances originally broadcast on Something Else, Cheggers Plays Pop and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop plus the classic promo videos for ‘I Want To Be Free’ and ‘Thunder In The Mountains’, both directed by Godley & Creme.

That’s one hell of a lot of Toyah for you. Highly recommended for the New Wave Music fan on your shopping list.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years
Dark Horse Records
Available anywhere physical music is sold on CD and Vinyl.

2022 marks 20 years since the passing of the legendary Joe Strummer. While best known as the frontman for The Clash, between 1999-2002 Strummer produced some of his most exciting work alongside The Mescaleros.

Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years is the first comprehensive collection highlighting this intense period of creativity and brings together the albums Rock Art and The X-Ray Style (1999), Global A Go-Go (2001), the posthumous Streetcore (2003), and Vibes Compass, a brand-new compilation of 15 B-sides and rarities, including never before heard tracks like ‘Ocean of Dreams’ (featuring Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols on guitar) and early demos of some of the Mescaleros best-loved tracks (‘The Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll’, ‘X-Ray Style’ and more), through to some of the original recordings from Joe’s last ever sessions (‘Coma Girl’, ‘Fantastic’ and ‘Get Down Moses’), all in one complete boxset.

All albums are remastered by Grammy Award winner Paul Hicks (The Beatles / The Rolling Stones / John Lennon / David Bowie) and are packaged in a richly curated boxset, featuring extensive new liner notes and interviews with Joe’s friends, collaborators and The Mescaleros band members, plus never-before-seen handwritten notes, lyrics, and drawings by Joe taken from the Joe Strummer Archive.

Both the 4CD and 7LP boxes include four reproduction lyric sheets and chord charts, and the LP box includes an exclusive 12”x12” art print. Joe Strummer 002 serves as a loving tribute to Strummer’s final musical output, released in celebration of what would have been his 70th birthday year.

This is a must-have album for any fan of Joe Strummer, or his previous band, The Clash. He is a much-missed musical force and it’s nice to have a reminder of his musical brilliance.

Post-Election STUFF TO DO

by Rudy Panucci

The PopCulteer
November 11, 2022

It’s Friday and we have a few suggestions for STUFF TO DO in Charleston, and points all over WV for the next few days. That’s pretty much all we have on the agenda for this week’s PopCulteer because your humble blogger is toiling away on The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.  Later today we’ll have some music gift ideas.

Let me take another moment to mention that, if you create a simple graphic that includes the details of your event–what’s happening, where it is, age restrictions and admission fee–then I’m far more likely to include it in a post like this in PopCult. It’s free advertising. Just meet me halfway and put your information where I might find it on social media. Even better, email it directly to me at rudypan@protonmail.com.

Live Music is back at Taylor Books. There is no cover charge, and shows start at 7:30 PM. Friday it’s Shawn Benfield. Saturday sees donations being accepted for Our Future WV as Swingstein and Robin play at Charleston’s beloved Bookstore/coffeehouse/art gallery institution.  We have a graphic for it below, but I want to mention that Deni Bonet, formerly of the legendary Charleston band, Stark Raven, is returning to her old stomping grounds this Sunday to appear on Mountain Stage.

Please remember that the pandemic is not over yet. Many people who have very good reasons are still wearing masks, and many of us, understandably, are still nervous about being in crowds, masked or not. Be kind and understanding  while you’re out.

If you’re up for going out, here are a few more suggestions for the rest of this week, roughly in order.

FRIDAY

 

 

SATURDAY

 

 

 

 

 

SUNDAY

 

That is it for this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for our regular features and come back later today and every weekday for the next three weeks as we continue The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide, which kicks off Monday.

Special note: PopCult may disappear from this location at The Charleston Gazette-Mail soon. Don’t miss out on our new posts at our NEW HOME. Bookmark the new site, and subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow PopCult and Rudy Panucci on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide- Day Four: Tiki Stuff

November 10, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

Yesterday in The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide we gave you ideas for five Tiki Mug gifts. Today, while we’re sticking with Tiki, there are no mugs on our list. Instead we’re going to share with you some other gift ideas for the Tiki-minded individual on your holiday shopping list.

The Art of Tiki
by Sven Kirsten (Author), Otto von Stroheim (Author)
La Luz de Jesus
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1732669741
$40.00

First up we have the third edition of a book that was originally published in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary Tiki Art Exhibition at La luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.

The Art of Tiki is a passionate study of the Tiki idol as an art form. For the first time, contemporary Tiki art is united and presented equally with what inspired it, original mid-century Polynesian pop. Author Sven Kirsten combines his first-hand experiences in exploring the birth of Tiki style with his intimate knowledge of the Tiki Revival, painting a vivid, visually arresting portrait of a unique, always new art genre.

Sven Kirsten was born in the the German port town of Hamburg in 1955. He emigrated to California in 1980 to study at the San Francisco Art Institute and the American Film Institute. It was this love for visuals that inspired Sven to collect and photograph the remnants of the forgotten culture of Polynesian pop in America, leading him to identify the Tiki as its icon. His three books on the subject put Tiki firmly on the map of American pop culture, and are regarded as the standard works on the style.

Otto von Stroheim was born and raised in Los Angeles, never more than a short car ride away from Tiki Restaurants, Disneyland and the beach. In January of 1995 Otto launched the zine Tiki News to network with the then-tiny Tiki community. He co-curated the first-ever group Tiki Art show at La Luz Gallery in 1996 and is credited with giving Shag his first solo show. He has published seventeen issues of his Zine, written liner notes for Exotica music reissues, introductions to books, and magazine articles. He also curated three Tiki Art Now! exhibits accompanied by book-sized catalogs.

The Art of Tiki is a great introduction to the world of Tiki, and also a nice primer for the fan who hasn’t explored the roots of this multicultural phenomenon. Available from most booksellers, using the ISBN code, or from Amazon.

Do Not Mock The Tiki God
by Robert Jimenez
various prices

Next up with have a really cool and amusing Tiki-inspired design by Robert Jimenez, which is available on shirts, as a metal sign or as a print.

It depicts a surly, flame-headed Tiki, and bears the warning: “Do Not Mock The Tiki God.”

Robert’s work has been mentioned in The PopCult Gift Guide before (and will be again this year when we get to trading card gifts). Robert’s work has appeared on album covers for Gold Dust Lounge and Stolen Idols and in magazines such as Exotica Moderne, Tiki Magazine, PKD Otaku, Gnarly and Pinstriping & Kustom Graphics. His work is also featured in the books, THE THING:ARTBOOK, VISIONS FROM THE UPSIDE DOWN: STRANGER THINGS ARTBOOK, GHOSTBUSTERS: ARTBOOK and has shown in galleries including Disneyland’s Wonderground, Harold Golen, M Modern, Creature Features, and Bear & Bird among others.

You can also see Robert’s work in trading card sets for licenses such as Garbage Pail Kids, Wacky Packages, Mars Attacks, Star Wars, DC Comics, Firefly, Ghostbusters, Adventure Time and more. Most notably Robert has recently illustrated cards for the Star Wars Trading Card App. Now you can also wear his art on your chest, or hang it on your wall.

It’s the perfect gift for anybody who thinks the design looks really cool, which should include the vast majority of the population.

Glass Floats Zombie Glass – Blue & Green Variant
From House of Tabu
$20.00

It’s not a Tiki Mug, but you can drink out of it. Let’s quote liberally from the product listing, shall we?

What’s a Tiki Bar without a glass float? Or, honestly, a lot of glass floats? Now even your home bar can have this classic Tiki bar ornamentation in an attractive Zombie glass form!

Featuring a two-color mid-century design, our Glass Float Zombie glass will make any cocktail or drink almost magically appear to glow like those mesmerizing orbs seen in your favorite Tiki bar. Or, it could be the drink that causes the glow, but we’ll need to make a few cocktails to test our theory…

Each glass comes with our signature swizzle stick.

It’s a really nifty piece of glassware, and if you poke around the House of Tabu website, you’ll find cool Tiki enamel pins, swizzle sticks and other coolness. Act quick and you might be able to get the latest issue of Exotica Moderne before it sells out. Any of it will make great gifts for the Tiki fans on your shopping list.

New Munktiki Crest T-shirt – GLOW INK
From Muntiki $20-$22

Muntiki is famous for making and importing cool Tiki Mugs and other stuff, but we did Mugs yesterday, so we are recommending this cool shirt, which sadly is only available in small and 3X at the moment.

But it glows in the dark and it’s a really cool design from where Muntiki had Matt Stikker redesign their Munktiki Crest to celebrate theirr 20th anniversary this year. This is a cool black shirt that has glow in the dark ink. It freaking glows! How cool is that?

And if you order this item (or any of their mugs), you can also snag, as an add-on, Muntiki’s super-swell swizzle sticks, with two colors each of three designs from which to choose: Ohana is Dead; Munktiki; and Dead Man’s Isle.

With these, your Tiki aficionado can swizzle their little hearts out in style!

Sadly, they won’t just sell the swizzle sticks, but there’s plenty of other cool stuff you can find to add these to.

Aloha Republic Hawaiin Shirts
Under $40 from Aloha Shirt Shop

If you want to go full-tilt Tiki, it never hurts to dress the part. Aloha Republic makes some of the most authentic Hawaiin shirts on the market, so you can be fully outfitted for any impromptu luau that might suddenly spring up, or you can just wear them all the time and be the local eccentric guy.

The page I’m sending you to has 24 different designs, some of them holiday-themed, just so you can keep the beachcomber spirit all year ’round.

And Aloha Republic is the real deal. Check out their bio blurb:

One nation, under the Big Kahuna, Aloha Republic has been producing authentic Hawaiian apparel since 1993. This is a collection of our most popular designs depicting the Hawaiian island lifestyle.

This is the perfect gift for the closet beachcomber in your life. You know they want a Hawaiin shirt and have just been too timid to admit it.

Come back tomorrow for a music-filled edition of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.

The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide- Day Three: Tiki Mugs

November 9, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide is taking a two-day excursion into the world of Tiki. Perfect for fans of Mid-Century artificial multiculturalism that’s loads of fun and looks really cool. It’s exotic without worrying about being authentic, as Polynesian influences mingle with Caribbean, African, Chinese, beach and nautical ephemera to create a universe of stuff that just looks really cool.

Today it’s all Tiki Mugs, from different sources with different price points. Links to order will be in the prices below the name of the mug. Tomorrow it’s still Tiki time in the gft guide, but it’s not mugs. Let’s go mugging with today’s gift guide picks…

Trader Vic’s Baining Fire Dancer
Available as a 20 OZ. full-size mug ($37.00)
or a 2 OZ. mini mug ($13.00)

Designed by Trader Vic’s legend, Javier Del Campo, the Baining fire dancer mug is part of our Papua New Guinea mug collection. This mug holds 20 OZ. The inspiration for this design comes from the masks worn by the Baining fire dancers. However, once you get it home, you can tell people that it’s a stoner panda bear.

The Mini version is a 2 OZ. shotglass, and is great for the Tiki aficionado with limited space.

It looks cool. It’s not too pricey and you can make up all kinds of stories about how you bought it directly from an actual Baining Fire Dancer on one of your many imaginary travels.

Tiki Farm KON TIKI REPRO MILAN GUANKO TIKI MUG
Available from Tiki Farm ($25.00)

The reproduction of the Kon Tiki is a classic tiki style and a perfect size for your stronger cocktails. The repro was just made this year, but it recreates one of the classic mug designs from year’s past.

This seven-and-a-quarter inch mug holds 15 ounces of whatever you’re drinking. It really is an iconic Tiki, and would look cool in any hipster pad, home Tiki bar, or as a vessel for hot chocolate for people who are just plain cool to be around.

Seriously, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with something symbolic of all things Tiki than this cool mug, plus you can drink out of it…like all the mugs in today’s gift guide entry.

BarConic® Peacock – 18 oz. – Tiki Mug
Available from BarProducts.com ($9.95)

A budget entry that looks as cool as the very expensive limited editions that I’m not suggesting in this list, the Peacock mug is bright, colorful and perfect for anyone who loves the peacock.

To quote the description: “This inspired ceramic tiki mug of the stunning bird is sure to have your guests in awe. Serve your favorite drink or many different signature craft cocktails in it. This peacock tiki is a perfect drinking vessel. Made from high quality solid ceramic construction with a smooth glossy finish that is sure to inhance your cocktail presentation. Measures 6 1/2″ H x 3″ W X 3″ Base.”

With its low price and bright colors, this is the mug most likely to show up in the Larch-Panucci house this Christmas.

Tiki Mugs Cocktail Set of 4 – Large Tumblers Ceramic Hawaiian Luau Party Mugs Drinkware
If you want an instant Tiki Mug collection, go to Amazon ($40.79)

I’m just going to quote from the description here:

Tiki mugs are the great present for hosts, wedding registries and housewarmings. Beautiful present idea for any occasions or a perfect addition to your home bar collection.
FUNNY and WHIMSICAL DESIGN: these hand painted and fired large ceramic Tiki tumblers will add a touch of fun and elegance to your barware collection or party.
DURABLE and READY for GREAT PARTY: these cute ceramic cocktail glasses are ready to let you enjoying exotic drinks with your girlfriends on the patio or hosting a Hawaiian party, these humorous stemless glasses are great in any environment.
GREAT DRINKWARE for YOUR TIKI BAR: Tiki bars and restaurants have always provided a form of escape for their customers. Let them feel traveling to a tropical destination serving your creative cocktails in these funny ceramic cups and they will want to come back again.

Despite the insipid copy, this is actually a really nice deal, with four classic-looking Tiki Mugs that come out to about ten bucks a pop. It’s a good starter kit for somebody just getting into the addictive world of Tiki Mug collecting.

The Bone Collector
Available from Three Dots and a Dash ($60)
(Go to their website. It’s the third item in the first row)

This is our priciest pick of the day, but it’s also pretty darned cool. The first time I went to Three Dots and a Dash, I was served my drink (a virgin Jet Fighter) in one of these mugs, but they didn’t have enough on hand to sell them to collectors back then. It was designed and manufactured by Tiki Farm, and this version is an exclusive for the Chicago Tiki Bar, Three Dots and a Dash.

Now it’s back in stock, and it’s really cool. It’s around seven inches tall, and it holds 19 ounces of your favorite cocktail or exotic soda…or Kool Aid, or anything, really.

This mug is shaped like a Tiki inside of a topless skull base, holding a bone, and decorated with bones and a skull around top of his head.. The exterior has a brown oxide matte wipe-away glaze.

We hope you like our five Tiki Mug selections. Check back tomorrow for five non-mug Tiki Gift ideas in The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.

The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide-Day Two: Collected Comics

November 8, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

Day Two of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide brings you five collections of great comics from years past. Some of these are extra-fancy hardcovers, while others are humble trade paperbacks. All five, however, are darned good reading for the comics fan on your shopping list.

The Complete Eightball 1-18
by Daniel Clowes
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13
9781683965503
$49.99

Collecting issues 1-18 of the iconic Daniel Clowes comics anthology, Eightball, this thick paperback contains the original installments of Ghost World, the short that the film Art School Confidential was based on, and much more, newly designed for paperback by the author.

The beloved comic book series Eightball made Daniel Clowes’ name even before he gained fame as a bestselling graphic novelist (Ghost World, Patience, David Boring, Ice Haven) and filmmaker. From 1989 to 1997, he produced 18 issues of what is still widely considered one of the greatest and most influential comic book titles of all time. Now, Fantagraphics has collected every single page of these long out-of-print issues in a paperback edition.

The Complete Eightball 1-18 includes more than 500 pages of vintage Clowes: seminal serialized graphic novels, strips, and rants, such as “Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron,” “Ghost World,” “Pussey,” “I Hate You Deeply,” “Sexual Frustration,” “Ugly Girls,” “Why I Hate Christians,” “Message to the People of the Future,” “Paranoid,” “My Suicide,” “Chicago,” “Art School Confidential,” “On Sports,” “Zubrick and Pogeybait,” “Hippypants and Peace-Bear,” “Grip Glutz,” “The Sensual Santa,” “Feldman,” and many more.

The book features new covers by Clowes, and “Behind the Eightball”: the author’s annotations for each issue, heavily illustrated with art and photos from his archives.

Recommended for fans of great indie comics. Available from most booksellers, using the ISBN code, or at a discount, from Amazon.

Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991
by Scott McCloud
It Books
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0061537271
$24.95

Before he was the leading academic scholar of comics, Scott McCloud produced one of the most fun indie comics of the 1980s. This thick paperback collects the complete black and white collection of Zot!, featuring never-before-seen artwork and extensive commentary by the author

Showing strong influences of Jack Kirby, C.C. Beck and Manga, Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, Making Comics) combined the best ideas from manga, alternative comics, and superheroes into Zot!—a frenetic and innovative exploration of comics’ potential that helped set the stage for McCloud’s later groundbreaking theoretical work.

Zachary T. Paleozogt lives in “the far-flung future of 1965,” a utopian Earth of world peace, robot butlers, and flying cars. Jenny Weaver lives in an imperfect world of disappointment and broken promises—the Earth we live in. Stepping across the portals to each other’s worlds, Zot and Jenny’s lives will never be the same again.

These books were published more than thirty years ago, yet they still hold up. Every one of McCloud’s pages from the black and white series has been collected in this must-have commemorative edition for aficionados to treasure and new fans to discover. This collection was published in 2008, but is still available from Amazon.

This is a great gift for fans of manga, superheroes, science fiction or just really good comics.

To Be Announced!
by Derek McCulloch (Author), Mike Bannon (Illustrator)
About Comics
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949996517
$10.00 from Amazon

In the mid-1980s, award-winning graphic novel writer Derek McCulloch (Stagger Lee, Gone to Amerikay) teamed with beloved cartoonist Mike Bannon (Oombah, Jungle Moon Man; “Old Paper”) to take on that most sacred of sacred cows: television. Decades later, we can now look back on the work that delivered the final, deadly blow to TV and saved generations from its influence.

This collects the stories from all seven issues of the original To Be Announced! comic book, including everything from Sesame Street Blues to the fundraising concert Lemon-Aid.

The stories are funny as heck, but there is a bit of an ulterior motive behind this new collection. To Be Announced! is being released as part of an effort to contact artist Mike Bannon, who has been out of touch with his comics pals and collaborators for well over a decade.

Hopefully this Amazon-only collection will flush him out of the woodwork. In the meantime, you can enjoy this comic book take on SCTV for a nice, low price. Recommended for the fan of funny comics in your life.

Tails of the Super-Pets
by various classic comics creators
DC Comics
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1779513397
$19.99

Everybody should have a place in their heart for pure, goofy, innocent silver age DC Comics fun. This collection of vintage tales of Superheroes and their pets is a nice reminder that comics don’t all have to be grim and gritty.

Some of them work perfectly well as just good, dumb fun.

The stories in Tails of the Super-Pets were originally published from 1947 to 1968, but most of them are Superman Family tales from peak Mort Weisinger-era books published from 1955 to 1964. Writers include Otto Binder, Jerry Siegel, Bill Finger and more. The art is courtesy of Curt Swan, Pete Costanza, Jim Mooney and others.

We don’t just get Superman’s dog, Krypto, in this book. We get to see the Man of Steel’s pet monkey, Beppo, plus Supergirl’s cat, Streaky, and horse, Comet. Ace the Bat-Hound shows up, as does Aquaman’s pet octopus, Topo. Wonder Woman had pet Kangaroos and The Legion of Superheroes had Proty, a shape-shifting lump of protoplasm, who was their pet.

Those stories are all included here, in a trade paperback released to tie in with DC’s League of Super Pets movie earlier this year. This collection includes stories from Action Comics #261-266, 277-293; Batman #125; Adventure Comics #210-256, 293-322, 364; Superman #176; Wonder Woman #23; and Superboy #76.

It’s good fun that hits the nostalgia buttons and is also appropriate for younger readers. Available from any bookseller, or from Amazon.

Popeye Volume 1: Olive Oyl & Her Sweety
by E. C.Segar
Fantagraphics
ISBN-13 9781683964629
$24.99

Fantagraphics has begun a new four-volume series that collects the complete run of the original Popeye Sunday newspaper page adventures in an accessible and affordable slipcased paperback format.

An irresistible alchemy of screwball comedy, tender romance, and rags-to-riches fantasy, Elsie Crisler Segar’s newspaper comic strip captivated readers of the Roaring Twenties and beyond. And Popeye, the sailor man, was the unlikely star of the show. Fantagraphics is thrilled to bring Segar’s whimsical world back into print, reviving the origins of the beloved spinach-eating American icon for a whole new readership. The E.C. Segar Popeye Sundays series collects the complete Popeye Sunday stories in four gorgeous full-color volumes, each packaged in a deluxe die-cut vertical slipcase.

Volume one (1931-1932) highlights Popeye’s riotous romance with his sweet patootie, Olive Oyl. As apt to hold hands as butt heads, they are ultimately meant for each other, and their enduring connection forms the warm heart of the comic. Outside the love nest, Popeye seeks fame and fortune as a prizefighter. Ever the under-dog, he must contend with a series of increasingly fearsome opponents, from the formidable Johnny Brawn to a literal gorilla!

Featuring tongue-twisting gags, sensational slugfests, and an endearing ensemble of characters, this revival of classic Popeye adventures really packs a punch and will captivate stalwart fans and new readers alike. Introduced with comic tributes by acclaimed cartoonists Sergio Ponchione and Cathy Malkasian.

Popeye Volume 1: Olive Oyl & Her Sweety offers a more affordable way to get the classic Popeye Sunday strips by Segar than trying to round up the out-of-print hardcover collections from about fifteen years ago. Highly recommended for fans of Popeye, or anyone interested in comic strip history. You can order it directly from the publisher, or from any bookseller, using the ISBN code.

Radio Free Charleston with Ann Magnuson and Josh Gaffin

by Rudy Panucci
We have a very special treat today on The AIR  as we premiere new a episode of Radio Free Charleston! You simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here and  listen to the cool embedded player right here…

This week we’re going to take a dive back into the past, but only about ten days, to when your humble blogger and radio host appeared on Josh Gaffin’s Afternoon Show on WTSQ 88.1 FM with Ann Magnuson.  We bring you over two hours of that parallel universe radio crossover on a new RFC that you can hear at 10 AM and 10 PM Tuesday. The first forty minutes or so is filled with the RFC blend of local, indie and classic artists.  However, the remainder of the show sees me guesting on Josh’s show for about an hour, and then I stick around and interrupt Josh and Ann for almost eighty minutes more!

We open with just-released music from Heavy Set Paw Paws, and we mix in new local music from Bane Star and Buni Muni (making her RFC debut) and new tracks from Hugh Cornwell, Robyn Hitchcock and Paul Weller.  After roughly forty minutes we switch over to Josh’s show.

Check out the playlist below to see all the goodies we have in store (live links will take you to the artist’s pages where possible)…

RFC V5 108

hour one
Heavy Set Paw Paws “Howitzer Girl”
Bane Star “Termination Call”
Paul Weller “The Piper”
Robyn Hitchcock “The Inner Life of Scorpio”
The The “The Beat(en) Generation”
Mediogres “Mon Cheri (live)”
Buni Muni “Triplite”
Stark Raven “I Know You”
Hugh Cornwell “Coming Out Of The Wilderness”

Josh Gaffin’s Afternoon Show on Status Quo
Camp Cope “How To Socialize and Make Friends”
Talking with Josh Gaffin at WTSQ.
Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights”
Mary Devore “Imagining It”

hour two
more talk
St. Etienne “Archway People”
Josef K “Radio Drill Time”
Hedwig and The Angry Inch “Tear Me Down”
Ann Magnuson joins the conversation
Ann talks about growing up in Charleston
Big Joanie “Singing”

hour three
Talking with Ann about the 1980s
Ann Magnuson “His Name Was Jobriath/Heartbeat”

You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight,  and  Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. Now you can also hear a different episode of RFC every weekday at 5 PM, and we bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.

I’m also going to  embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand.

 

Then at 1 PM we have MIRRORBALL, followed at 2 PM by Curtain Call. At 3 PM two great recent episodes of The Swing Shift arrive.

You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM, Friday at 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursday and Sunday evenings.

Special note: PopCult may disappear from this location at The Charleston Gazette-Mail soon. Don’t miss out on our new posts at our NEW HOME. Bookmark the new site, and subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow PopCult and Rudy Panucci on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

THE 2022 POPCULT GIFT GUIDE-DAY ONE: TOYS

November 7, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

Welcome to the first day of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide.

I’ve been offering pop culture-themed Christmas or holiday gift ideas in some fashion in this blog since our first year, back in 2005, and this year I plan to follow the format of our previous year a bit.

Each weekday for four weeks, starting today, I will have one post with five gift recommendations. There may be themes (today’s is toys), but they may also be random. Due to circumstances beyond my control, this year I have done less prep work than ever, so if you have any cool gift ideas, the last half of this guide is barely filled up. Leave your suggestions in the comments below.

I’m not going to obsess over price points this year. Some stuff might be cheap, some might be expensive. You get to sort out how much you’re willing to spend.

Let’s kick off Day One with the toy that has been our first pick for about a decade now…

THE 2022 HESS TOY TRUCK

After last year’s airplane, the HESS Toy Truck is back down to Earth in 2022 with a very cool Flatbed Truck carrying two Hot Rods. This is a 3-in-1 retro-design racing team, with 42 total lights and 4 realistic sounds.

The elongated, twin-axle Flatbed Truck is a vintage-style transport carrier, inspired by the original ‘First Hess Truck’ driven by Company founder Leon Hess in 1933. Designed in solid white with bold green fenders, body side striping and contrasting bed floor, the truck is accented with gleaming chrome details, including finely detailed embossed front grille, bumpers, light housings, fuel tanks, and exhaust pipes. The cab features 4 top-mounted buttons that activate 3 realistic sounds (truck ignition, truck horn, and hot rod racing action) and lights in flashing mode. A switch under the chassis will turn on the 24 brilliant lights, which can operate in either flashing or steady mode. The Flatbed conceals a handy pull-out ramp with slide-out activated hydraulic sound for easy loading and unloading on race day.

The pair of classic-coupe Hot Rods, one red and one green, have cutaway front ends with exposed sparkling-chrome supercharged-style engines. White racing stripes and colorful flaming body side graphics complete the sizzling style. Built for speed and traction, with skinny front and wide rear racing tires, each sports a mighty pullback motor that revs up and propels them down the drag strip in either flat or wheelie position! Each Hot Rod has 9 bright lights that operate in steady mode.

The only way to get this year’s HESS Toy Truck Flatbed with Hot Rods is to order it directly from their website. It’s Forty-two bucks, plus tax, but shipping and batteries are included. It’s a very cool addition to the HESS Truck Fleet, and it’s fun for all ages.

 

McFarlane Toys Super Powers Action Figures and Vehicles
Available only at Walmart

As much as I hate to recommend a Walmart exclusive, McFarlane Toys’ semi-revival of the classic DC Comics Super Powers action figure line from the 1980s has been an unexpected joy.

These are new figures based on the classic toys Kenner made in the 80s. They don’t have the action features that those toys had, but they still fit right in with a vintage collection and they carry on the tradition at a very affordable price. Figures are ten bucks, and the vehicles are just under thirty dollars each. That’s not bad at all for five-inch-plus action figures these days.

The assortments are small, making this a very affordable line. So far there are just two vehicles, and there have been two waves of three figures each. The first wave included Batman, Superman and the villainous Darkseid. The second wave included The Flash, John Stewart Green Lantern and The Batman Who Laughs (it’s some kind of Joker/Batman hybrid from comics I haven’t read). The vehicles are a Bat-wing and Supermobile (with punching power).

These are well-made figures, true to the original Super Powers line, and even with new designs, they spark a nostalgic glee among collectors, while still being great for kids.

You can find most of these figures in stores now, and except for Batman, who sells fast, they are usually in stock at Walmat.com.

A perfect gift for DC comic book fans and kids of all ages.

 

Madmaniverse Mod Metal Lunchbox
Available for Pre-order at The Drawn Word

Our next pick is more “toyetic” than toy, but it’s really cool, features artwork of Madman by Mike and Laura Allred and if you are of a certain age, it will punch all the proper nostalgia buttons.

While this is technically a Pre-order, these cool lunchboxes have been unloaded from the cargo ship and are en route to the warehouse, so you will most likely get these before Christmas, but if martians attack or something, theyll get to you no later than January.

The fruit of a Kickstarter Campaign, this item is LIMITED to 500 pieces. It’s a cool metal lunchbox with NEW art on all six sides featuring the Madmaniverse by Mike and Laura Allred. It even has an embossed side.

Any die-hard fan of Madman will want this, and it’s also handy for those of us who have supported Kickstarter Campaigns for the Madman Yo-yos, buttons, fanzines and other cool knick-knackery that might need a cool place to live.

Order it directly from The Drawn Word.

 

Foodie Mini Brands
by Zuru

This year’s new entry in Zuru’s successful 5 Surprise line is Foodie Mini Brands, which allow kids (and adults) to collect branded minature fast-food and restaurant fare, which as a bonus, are all pretty well scaled to be compatible with Barbie and the original GI Joe, 12″ dolls and action figures.

These are a dioramist’s dream, allowing you to treat your Barbies or GI Joes to food from White Castle, TGI Friday’s, Sonic, Hardees/Carl’s Jr., Hard Rock Cafe, Subway and more.

This is a blind-box toy, so a lot of the fun is in seeing what you get when you crack open your capsule. In addition to tons of cool regular food items, collectors might encounter special gold versions of the items, or ultra-rare “frozen” pieces that capture a moment frozen in time, like a drink being spilled, or a cheeseburger being pulled apart.

These are great stocking stuffers for kids or adults who love miniatures, and they’re especially great for the doll or action figure hobbyist who wants to make cool dioramas.

Best of all, they seem to be everywhere, selling for $8.49 to $10, and some stores even have exclusive carrying cases or food court playsets.

So far I’ve seen these at Walmart, Meijer, Target, Macy’s, Amazon and dozens of other places.

 

AUTO WORLD 18′ SCOOBY DOO MEETS BATMAN & ROBIN SLOT RACE SET

I was not about to pass up recommending this one.

It’s another high-quality, old-school slot car set from the folks at Auto World, and this time they go for the Saturday morning jugular with a racing set that recreates one of the first big crossovers between pop culture properties Chances are you remember the classic 1972 TV movie titled Scooby-Doo meets Batman.

In the movie Scooby-Doo and the gang team up with Batman and Robin to solve s mystery and capture The Joker and The Penguin. Now you can race along with your choice of Scooby-Doo and the gang in the Mystery Machine or Batman and Robin, in the Batmobile in this new exciting electric slotcar race set.

You get 18 Feet of Track, a Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine 4Gear Slot Car and a 1966 Cartoon Series Batmobile 4Gear Slot Car. That’s not the classic TV show Batmobile. It’s the one they used in the animated TV Movie. It’s a nice detail for folks like your PopCulteer who might already have a Batman TV Show Batmobile or five. You also get 2 Speed Controllers, a Power Pack and a cardboard stand-up of a haunted house.

This will be the perfect gift for the person of a certain age who thought that Batman meeting Scooby and the gang was the coolest thing ever. As a bonus, their grandchildren will love it too! It’s a bit pricey at $189,99, but for the right person, it’s well worth it.

Availabe from select hobby shops, or direct from Auto World.

Check back tomorrow for more of The 2022 PopCult Gift Guide!

Monday Morning Art: Highway

by Rudy Panucci

 

About a month ago I finished the watercolor piece you see above. It took me just under two weeks (still fighting with Myasthenia Gravis), but I was really happy with it. I’d planned to run it here, but then realized that it was October, and I had promised to run spooky art all month.

So now you get to see my imaginary highway painting. It’s not based on any photos and I can’t pinpoint one location for it. It’s basically my imprecise recreation of sights I saw while running the road with my lovely wife over the summer. I’ve been working on my realism technique because I want my future surrealistic pieces to seem more believably authentic.

This was done in watercolors with a little ink kibbutzIng, on slightly-textured paper.

To see it bigger try clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Monday at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM a recent edition of Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.  You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player right here…

On Psychedelic Shack, Nigel Pye offers up an hour-long mixtape of Psychedelic Music that, on this show,  kicks off with The Turtles.

Psychedelic Shack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM,  and Saturday at 9 AM.

On a classic Prognosis, Herman Linte presents a mixtape featuring prog-rock classics from 1972, fifty years ago.

You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM. You can hear two classic episodes of the show Sunday at 2 PM.

Tonight at 8 PM you can hear an hour of classic comedy on The Comedy Vault. Wednesday evening at 10 PM, we’ll likely have a rerun this week because we’ve hit fifty episodes and need to take a little break. .

Then, at 9 PM we bring you an overnight marathon of Prognosis, particularly with epsisodes of our prog-rock showcase that focus on the band, Genesis.

Special note: PopCult may disappear from this location at The Charleston Gazette-Mail soon. Don’t miss out on our new posts at our NEW HOME. Bookmark the new site, and subscribe to our RSS feed. You can also follow PopCult and Rudy Panucci on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Sunday Evening Video: The Hudson Brothers

November 6, 2022 by Rudy Panucci

You have to be pretty old to remember The Hudson Brothers. They were a trio of brothers from Portland, Oregon who, in the early-mid 1970s, had a teen-idolish music career, a summer replacement variety show and then a Saturday morning variety show.

Our video tonight is an episode of The Hudson Brothers’ Razzle Dazzle Show from 1974.

It’s a wild artifact of its time. Written by Chris Bearde, who worked on many of the top variety shows back then, including shows by Sonny & Cher and Marty Feldman, and with a cast that included a pre-Gong Show Murray Langston (The Unknown Comic), Freeman King and Rod Hull, the guy with the Emu puppet. Also in the cast and acting as the announcer for the show was Peter Cullen, better known today as the voice of Optimus Prime.

The Hudson Brothers stuck around the fringes of fame as a unit until the early 80s, but since then one of the married both Goldie Hawn and Cindy Williams (and is the father of Kate Hudson), another produced and wrote for Aerosmith, Ringo Starr, Ozzie Osbourne and more. The youngest brother became a prolific producer of television, movies and documentaries (including The Seventh Python, which ran in this space a few months ago). They did pretty well for themselves.

With that, go back and visit the state of the variety show, 1974. There’s some good, dumb fun and pretty decent music here.