Two years ago today The Gazz and PopCult relaunched Radio Free Charleston, the web’s most popular videocast featuring music, film and comedy from West Virginia.  The new video incarnation of my old radio show has just reached its 45th episode, and we’re going stronger than ever.  Unfortunately, we’ve been so prolific that we filled up the servers at The Charleston Gazette.  For some reason the higher-ups here seem to think that “news” and “sports” are more important than RFC.  So our first 26 episodes are missing in action.

Until today.  We are proud to announce the launch of the RFC TV Archives, which will re-present our classic episodes, one every Friday, with expanded production notes and updates on the performers who contribute to the show.  You can visit the RFC TV Archive page at MySpace, or just follow this link to where we’ve posted the first show and its accompanying notes. 

In addition, next week, if we can work the bugs out, the RFC TV Archive page will also present audio-only versions of our most current shows, for those of you who want to download the show and listen to it in the car or where ever.  I’ll have more details when that function is up and running.  So, if you’re sitting in front of the computer on this national holiday, surf on over and go all the way back to the year 2006.  You can dig on the great music and funny comedy, or just make fun of the fashions we were wearing so long ago.

After the jump we’ll take you under the Allied Artists tent, starting with a closer look at Mandy Petry’s Bagatelle-styled wall hangings.

Check PopCult tomorrow for a HUGE announcement about the Radio Free Charleston Archives! 

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To the right, you see Casi Null performing with Punk Jazz.  You’ll see more pictures of Punk Jazz below, and you’ll see them on a future episode of RFC or two.  But if you want to see them live, you only have one more chance on July 17 at The Empty Glass.  I’ll tell you more about that as the day approaches.

After the jump there are tons of pictures of folks we saw last week, enjoy! You may even be one of them.

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We were shocked and saddened today to learn of the sudden death of Randy Walden, the lead singer/bass player for the band Quick And Dirty.  Quick And Dirty just appeared on episode 44 of Radio Free Charleston.  In the short time that we knew Randy we were impressed with his talent and dedication, and we feel that the Charleston music scene has lost one of of it’s brightest up-and-coming stars.   He was an incredible musician and one hell of a nice guy. Our condolences go out to his family and his bandmates.  A tribute to Randy will appear on a future episode of Radio Free Charleston.

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m slacking. Today’s art is a photo I took Saturday during FestivAll. Once again I was too busy with FestivActivities to create any new art. Still, it’s a cool picture.  Moments after this was taken, Mr. Peanut was dragged into the Peanut Shoppe and roasted alive.

To make up for the lack of new art this week, later today PopCult will present a photo essay of what we saw during FestivAll. You can preview a couple of pictures after the jump.  Because of trademark concerns, this one won’t be going up in the Monday Morning Art store.

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As promised in the show and in yesterday’s production notes, here’s the line-up for the weekend shows at the Derick Kirk Memorial Stage:

Saturday:

Noon:  Punk jazz

1 p.m.:  Dance in Davis Park                                 

2 p.m.: The Joe Prichard Band, rock

3 p.m.: Sean Richardson and Karen Allen, singer/songwriter

4 p.m.: The Rick Perdue Band, rock

5 p.m.: Dance in Davis Park

5:30 p.m.: Comparsa, Latin

Sunday:

Noon: The Blue Notes, jazz.

1 p.m.: Central Standard Time, jazz.

2 p.m.: Heidi Muller and Bob Webb

3 p.m.: The Spurgie Hankins Band, cool rock.

4 p.m.: The Ryan Kennedy Trio, jazz.

Radio Free Charleston’s forty-fifth episode, “Hot Wheels Shirt,” is online now. This show trumpets the upcoming weekend’s Derek Kirk Memorial Stage Show at Davis Park in Charleston.  We feature Doctor Senator, performing at said park, and we have a touching song by T.J. King, about his friend, the late Derick Kirk.  We even shot the host segments around the park this time. 

In addition to that, we have a movie trailer for a new indie film out of Huntington, “The Comic Book Lady,” which stars Kathleen Jackson and features cameos from Harvey Pekar, Genuine Nerd Toby Radloff, and Kitten Natividad.  Plus we have animation from my brother Frank.  It’s all wrapped up in a tight little 16-minute package, for your viewing enjoyment.

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Yes, in the spirit of FestivAll, a weekend becomes Monday Morning Art.  Which is just my way of saying that I was so busy this weekend, that I didn’t have time to do any art. So here’s a photo essay instead. Monday Morning Art will return next week. 

In addition to all the fun, I was also working on RFC 45, which should go online in the next day or two.  You can see T.J. King, a guest on that show, in the montage above. Follow the jump for more pictures. (more…)

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