Hello Cruel World

Over dinner last week, someone asked me about this website. “Do you ever update it?”

I had to admit that I don’t. Hello Cruel World ended November 13, 2005 with its 200th show.

But I do think about HCW - often. A few months ago, I spotted a local songwriter coming out of the grocery store. She had been a guest on my show once, but I could not recall her name. It bothered me for days (I’ve since remembered - hey Tamara J!), and really hit home how lost and out of touch I’ve felt since I ended things last fall.

I do plan on updating things here a bit more regularly. I have plans for the future, and I want to better document the 200 shows of Hello Cruel World via this website. My first little project is to create some playlist statistics for the show using Google’s new online spreadsheets.

2005 Playlist Statistics (in progress)

I hope to eventually do stats for all four years, and then a sum of all the years. It will be interesting to me to see which artists got the most play on HCW.

I also plan to create a Flickr account for HCW to document the show’s history via photos.

Finally, once I get my cd’s and home studio unpacked and put together, I plan on creating a couple of podcasts. Hopefully I can get one done before year’s end.

That’s all for now. If you listened to the show, thanks very much. If you still visit the site hoping for a glimpse of activity, it’s here (though it’ll mostly be nostalgic in nature).

Update: Flickr account created! One pic for now (hey Johnny K!) and more as I find them (on hard drives, floppies, etc.)

I did a two-hour set last night, subbing for DJ Victrola on her show “The Guitar Shop“.

It’s the first radio I’ve done in almost three months.

Hour 1:

X - The New World - More Fun In The New World (Elektra/Rhino)
Cat Power - Living Proof - The Greatest (Matador)
Petra Haden - Armenia - Petra Sings The Who Sell Out (Bar None)
Dan Bern - Murderer - Smartie Mine (self)
Lara Michell - Outside The Inside - Ruby Red (self)
Joanna Newsom - En Gallop - The Milk-Eyed Mender (Drag City)

Bob Dylan - It’s Alright Ma - Bringing It All Back Home (Columbia)
Latin Playboys - Chinese Surprize - Latin Playboys (Slash)
Madeleine Peyroux - Don’t Cry Baby - Careless Love (Rounder)
Laura Veirs - Fire Snakes - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)
Idaho - Live Today Again - The Lone Gunman (self)
Regina Spektor - Pound Of Flesh - Live At Bull Moose (Warner Bros)

Durutti Column - Nina - Still Breathing (Artful/Fulfill)

Hour 2:

Spoon - The Beast & Dragon Adored - Gimme Fiction (Merge)
Super XX Man - Collecting Rocks - X (Hush)
Seu Jorge - Life On Mars - Life Aquatic Studio Sessions (Hollywood)
Mountain Goats - Song For Dennis Brown - The Sunset Tree (4AD)
Utah Phillips - I Will Not Obey - Starlight On The Rails (AK Press)
Ani DiFranco - Paradigm - Knuckle Down (Righteous Babe)

Frank Black - Selkie Bride - Honeycomb (Back Porch)
New Pornographers - Bones Of An Idol - Twin Cinema (Matador)
Malcolm Middleton - Bear With Me - Into The Woods (Chemikal Underground)
Rachel Taylor Brown - Jolyon - Jonah Days (self)
John Vecchiarelli - Whoville - Songs From Whoville (self)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (self)

You can download each hour individually from KPSU’s website, or you can download this 2 hour mp3 that I made.

^{L to R: Todd, Becky, Jaime, Me}

Pamela Means - Two Halves - Single Bullet Theory
Mountain Goats - This Year - The Sunset Tree (4AD)
Corrina Repp - Fire At St. Jude - A Boat Called Hope (Hush)
Libby Kirkpatrick - White Eyelashed Girl - Winged (Heart)
John Vecchiarelli - No Ordinary Life - Songs From Whoville (Speck)

Jaime & Becky live:
       Rusty Bike
       New One
       Not How They Seem
       Midwest

Be Good Tanyas - It’s Not Happening - Chinatown (Nettwerk)
Erin McKeown - You Were Right - We Will Become Like Birds (Nettwerk)

Ben Folds - Bastard - Songs For Silverman (Epic)
Magic Baby - Who Told You - Four Track EP (sharonlewis.net)
Dan Bern - Commes Vous Les Fait Tous - World Cup EP (Messenger)
Sarah Harmer - Greeting Card Aisle - All Of Our Names (Zoe/Rounder)
Bonnie Prince Billy - The Way - Master And Everyone

Rachel Taylor Brown live in-studio:
        Sitka/Seward’s Folly
        Abraham & Isaac
        17 Year Cicadas
        Stag Field

Cat Power - He War - You Are Free (Matador)
Robyn Hitchcock - Executioner Of Love - Eye (Rhino)
Super XX Man - Soul Of ‘02 - My Usual Way (Lelp)
        

Two more shows left:

06 November - Rachel Taylor Brown
13 November - John Vecchiarelli

Please come to the “Goodbye To Hello Cruel World” party at the White Eagle (836 N Russell here in Portland) on Sunday, November 13th. Show IS FREE, starts at 8pm, and will feature some of my favorite local singer/songwriters:

John Vecchiarelli
Jaime & Becky
Lara Michell
Myshkin
Casey Neill
Super XX Man

It will be a very special way to end the radio show (hosted for over 4 years by KPSU) - thanks to John Vecc for setting it up. Hope to see you there!

As soon as we walked into the station and saw our guests rehearsing in the “big room”, I knew we were in for a rock n roll treat.

I’d seen Lenny and Mike play together before at the White Eagle, and got really into their guitar interplay. They were shockingly good tonight, adding some politics and some humor into the mix as well.

Here’s how the night went:

Sufjan Stevens - Casimir Pulaski Day - Illinoise (Asthmatic Kitty)
Keren Ann - L’ Onde Amère - Nolita (Blue Note)
Neil Finn - Turn And Run - One Nil (EMI)
Kristin Hersh - A Loon - Hips And Makers (Sire)

Lenny Rancher with Mike Wilcox:
        3:30am
        True American
        Rebirth
        Pauline Shack

Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright - Dragonfly - Yann Tiersen & Shannon Wright (Ici d’Ailleurs)
John Vanderslice - You Were My Fiji - Time Travel Is Lonely (Barsuk)
Cat Power - Nude As The News - What Would The Community Think (Matador)

Sarah Harmer - Pendulums - All Of Our Names (Zoe/Rounder)
Erin McKeown - To The Stars - We Will Become Like Birds (Nettwerk)
Joanna Newsom - Book Of Right-On - The Milk-Eyed Mender (Drag City)
Diane French - Charcoal Heart - This Trick (self)
Diane French - My Volunteer - No Cool Bone (self)

Diane French live:
        Disappointment Card
        Furnaces
        Lead Pipe Logic
        Found By My Family

Laura Veirs - Rialto - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)

Sufjan Stevens - Jacksonville - Illinois (Asthmatic Kitty)
Rose Polenzani & Sharon Lewis - Ellen West - Hot Hands (Kuma-Chan)
Rebecca Pearcy - Nights Like Tonight - Sea Deep Sky High (Yo Yo)
Chris Moore - Verified - Figurines (Waterbug)
Dennis Hitchcox - Fearless Leader - After All (self)

Dennis Hitchcox live:
       You Remind Me
       Empire
       Fair Warning

Laura Veirs - Magnetized - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)
Laura Veirs - Parisian Dream - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)
(yes, we’re idiots)
Erin McKeown - Queen Of Quiet - Distillation (Signature)

Robyn Hitchcock - Welcome To Earth - Spooked (YepRoc)
Pooka - Blue Star - Graham Robert Wood EP (WEA)
Laura Veirs - Ether Sings - Carbon Glacier (Nonesuch)
Stuart Valentine - Not Ready - Melody’s True (Valentine)
Train Go Sorry - Still Afraid Of My Heart - Souvenir (self)

Chad Bault live:
        Souvenir
        Sober But Poor
        Veiled

Michael Penn - Room 712, The Apache - Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 (SpinArt)
Frank Black - Selkie Bride - Honeycomb (Back Porch)
Frank Black - I Burn Today - Honeycomb (Back Porch)
Aimee Mann - High On Sunday 51 - Lost In Space (Superego)
Fiona Apple - Waltz - Extraordinary Machine (Epic)

On a sad post-show note, the archive was down when this show took place, and I’d grown so accustomed to the great technology provided by KPSU that I didn’t run my own minidisc. This show existed for an hour and then passed away into the ether. Its a shame, too - apart from the Frank Black snafu (playing two songs from the same artist in a row is just plain sloppy) I’d say it was one of the best shows we’d done in awhile. We loved Chad’s music and his sense of humor was very compatible with ours.

Carla Bruni - Le Plus Beau du Quartier - Quelqu’un M’a Dit (Naive/V2)
Jon Brion - Over Our Heads - I Heart Huckabees! (Milan)
Susie Blue - Red Car - Sink (Sinking Ship)
Yann Tiersen - L’Echec - L’Absente (Virgin France)
Crystin Byrd - Shadow - My Silence (self)

Malcolm Middleton - A Happy Medium - Into The Woods (Chemikal Underground)
Brendan Benson - Metarie - Lapalco (Startime)
Erin McKeown - Air - We Will Become Like Birds (Nettwerk)
Mike Doughty - All The Dirt - Skittish (ATO)
Elliott Smith - Let’s Get Lost - Thumbsucker Soundtrack (Hollywood)

Dan Bern - Comme Vous Les Fait Tous - World Cup EP (Messenger)
Laura Veirs - Rialto - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)
Amy Farris - Anyway - Anyway (Yep Roc)
Jaime & Becky - The Bus Song - Jaime & Becky (self)
Nina Nastasia - What She Doesn’t Know - BBC Session

Josh Ritter - Me & Jiggs - Golden Age Of Radio (Signature)

Kathleen Edwards - Away - Back To Me (Zoe/Rounder)
Jill Sobule - Sweet Little Summer - The Folk Years: 2003-2003 (self)
Paul McCartney - Jenny Wren - Chaos And Creation
John Vecchiarelli - Paint - Songs From Whoville (self)

Callers live in-studio:
       Forever (The Marvellettes)
       O Yer Cordial
       The Other Day

Callers - Julia - Callers (self)

Callers live in-studio:
       I Miss You
       Umlauts

Christine Fellows - Advice
Susie Blue - Slip - Sink (Sinking Ship)
Jorane - Help - Preface (Six Degrees)
Lara Michell (with Todd Bayles) - Into The Dream remix (self)
Jon Brion - Knock Yourself Out - I Heart Huckabees soundtrack (

Laura Veirs - Secret Someones - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)

Eight Hello Cruel World shows left! Here’s the list of upcoming guests for the next four:

25 Sep - Callers (duo from Providence, RI)
02 Oct - Treva Blomquist (from Nashville, TN)
09 Oct - Chad Bault
16 Oct - Dennis Hitchcox

I’m really looking forward to these — I hope you’ll join me!

One last announcement: I now have the Randy Kaplan in-studio from August 24th available for download. This is the original uncut version (I cut out quite a bit for the Hello Cruel World broadcast — there wasn’t enough time to air it all).

Randy Kaplan live on KPSU - August 24, 2005

Enjoy!

Ben Folds - Jesusland (edit) - Songs For Silverman (Epic)
Michael Penn - Pretending - Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947 (SpinArt)
Frank Black - Go Find Your Saint - Honeycomb (Back Porch)
Laura Veirs - Fire Snakes - Year Of Meteors (Nonesuch)

Dustin Hamman live in-studio:
       State Of The Union
       Tearin’ Down The Rainbow
       Oooooh (The Movie Song)
       Paper Moon

Jon Brion - Knock Yourself Out - I Heart Huckabees Soundtrack (Milan)
Yann Tiersen - Bagatelle - L’Absente (Virgin France)
Casey Neill - Raleigh And Spencer - Live On 11th Street (self)

Loudon Wainwright III - Cardboard Boxes - I’m Alright (Rounder)

Bright Eyes - When The President Talks To God - iTunes Exclusive
Elliott Smith - A Distorted Reality - Pretty (Ugly Before) 7″
Steve Earle - Amerika 6.0 - Jerusalem (Artemis)
Les Barker - The Civilised World - Anti Theft Device (Waterbug)
Billy Bragg - The Price Of Oil - free from billybragg.co.uk

Jeremy Serwer - Set To Go - Redistributing The Wealth (self)

Jeremy live in-studio:
       Nervous Energy
       FM
       Dog On A Leash

Dan Bern - Talkin Al Kida Blues - The Swastika EP (Messenger)
Neil Young - Let’s Roll - Are You Passionate? (??)

Another smashing double-header tonight - it is much much fun for me to be host to this doubled dose of live acoustic music.

Both Johnny and Rachel were great fun to chat with. I think it is fantastic that Rachel is signed to Waterbug Records - they are definitely building an arsenal of fine songwriters - who needs major labels with labels like this??? Honestly! And Johnny Keener previewed songs from two upcoming albums: a rockabilly kids record, and an “adult” record. I have a smile on my face just thinking of this hour. Here’s how it all went down:

Johnny Keener - Space Like Heaven - When Space Was Like Heaven

Johnny live in-studio:
       Honey
       Homecoming Day
       God’s Hand
       Untitled (new kids’ song)

Rachel Ries - Valentine, NE - For You Only (Waterbug)

Rachel live in-studio:
       You Only
       Our Summertime
       Lonely Spires
       The Luckiest One

R.L. Burnside - It’s Bad You Know - Come On In (Fat Possum)

I’m glad I could fit in the R.L. Burnside track - I will be forever thankful for his willingness to innovate. His updated versions of the blues were what led me back to the beginnings of the genre (you have him to thank for the sprinkling of old blues classics here and there on this program). May he rest in peace (1926 - 2005).