Okay, we’re going to do this in two parts.  Today I’m posting photos of some of the folks I ran into during FestivAll last week.  Tomorrow I’ll post some of the art. 

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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Saturday and Sunday the Gazebo in Davis Park in downtown Charleston becomes “The Derick Kirk Memorial Stage” in honor of the late Derick Kirk, a beloved musician that the Charleston music scene bade farewell to last year.  You can see T.J. King’s tribute to Derick, and catch Doctor Senator performing at Davis Park on the latest episode of Radio Free Charleston, which you can find by scrolling down to the next post here at PopCult.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy West Virginia Day from PopCult and Radio Free Charleston!

Oncee told me about it on Symphony Sunday, but I wanted to wait to tell you guys about 304 Blogs on West Virginia Day.  It’s a one-stop-shopping site for all the top blogs in our loverly Mountain State. And in a stroke of sheer dumb luck, it’s sort of topical that I write about it today because West Virgina’s bloggers got some nice press attention this week (it would’ve been nice if some of us Gazzbloggers had been invited, especially those of us who have written about the way our state is perceived in the media, but at least some of us bloggers are getting some press). The fact that West Virginia has a vibrant, vital blogging community is a big step towards proving some of the more hackneyed stereotypes wrong.

So you need to bookmark 304 Blogs right now.  That way you can keep up with the “A Better West Virginia” project which has rallied bloggers from around the state to use our blogs to combat the negative stereotypes that surround West Virginia.   One of my favorite entries thus far is Rebecca Burch’s post on how West Virginia is a hotbed for Avant-Garde artists.  In the spirit of Rebecca’s post, here’s my video recap of the recent “Pandora’s Toy Box” Exhibit, put on by MarshHouseArt, just to prove that yes, West Virginia can exude surreal coolness as good as any place.

FestivALL kicks off this weekend, and what better time to take a look back at last year’s FestivALL via the wonderful two-art PopCult report filed by Radio Free Charleston’s Resident Diva, Melanie Larch?