Month: December 2003

Show 108 – the year in review

Jacob Nuel – To All The Dirty Angels – Demo (self)
Bruce Cockburn – Tried And Tested – You’ve Never Seen Everything (Rounder)

Cat Power – Good Woman – You Are Free (Matador)
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Master And Everyone – Master And Everyone (Drag City)
Elliott Smith – Figure 8 – B-side of one of the singles for Figure 8 The Album (Dreamworks)
Libby Kirkpatrick – Wake Me Up – Goodnight Venus (Heart)
Ani DiFranco – Welcome To – Evolve (Righteous Babe)

Deb Talan – Unravelling – A Bird Flies Out (self)
Be Good Tanyas – Horses – Chinatown (Nettwerk)
Josh Ritter – Rainslicker – Hello Starling (Signature Sounds)
Erin McKeown – Slung Lo – Grand! (Nettwerk)

Dan Bern – Baby Bye Bye – Fleeting Days (Messenger)
Kristin Hersh – Vanishing Twin – The Grotto (4AD)
Pamela Means – Two Halves – Single Bullet Theory (self) <------my vote for song of the year Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer - Redemption Song - Unearthed Box Set (American) Paring a year's worth of fave releases down to fit within a 60 minute show was really lame. But I did my best, and played the stuff that I was positively gaga over during the year. Especially the Be Good Tanyas record, and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and Cat Power. Finding Johnny Cash AND Joe Strummer playing and singing together was not only an incredible find, but also a great way to close out Hello Cruel World for 2003. See you next year!

show 107 – best of live performances

Jill Sobule – Jetpack – recorded 4 aug 02 (show #46)
Steve Tannen (w/ Deb Talan) – Jolene – recorded 3 aug 03 (show #90)
Kristi Martel – See You Sweet – recorded 9 jun 02 (show #41)
McKinley – When Doves Cry (Prince cover) – recorded 26 oct 03 (show #100)
Pamela Means – Devil’s Henchman – recorded 27 apr 03 (show #78)

Dan Bern – Annie Beasley – recorded 21 apr 02 (show #35)
Boris McCutcheon (w/ Brett Davis) – Beautiful Prison – recorded 1 jun 03 (show #82)
Libby Kirkpatrick (w/ Michael Shay) – The Garden – recorded 20 jul 03 (show #89)

Mary Kate O’Neil (w/Jill Sobule) – Hudson – recorded 4 aug 02 (show #46)
Deb Talan (w/ Steve Tannen) – Rocks And Water – recorded 3 aug 03 (show #90)
Casey Neill – Chainlink Fence – recorded 3 nov 02 (show #58)
Erin McKeown – Civilians – recorded 12 jan 03 (show #67)
Matt Keating (w/ Jeff London) – Jacksonville – recorded 8 dec 02 (show #62)

Jacob Nuel – City By The Sea – recorded 25 may 03 (show #81)

Show 106

Mike Doughty – Ways And Means – Rockity Roll EP (self)
Elvis Costello – King Horse – Get Happy! (Rhino reissue)
Ben Folds – Give Judy My Notice – Speed Graphic EP (self)
Jim Croce – Operator (That’s Not The Way It Feels) – Photographs And Memories (Arista)
Brenda Weiler – Christmas Sweater – Cold Weather (Virt)

Dar Williams – Christians And The Pagans – Mortal City (Razor & Tie)
Natalie Merchant – Weeping Pilgrim – The Carpenter’s Daughter (self)
Chuck Brodsky – Radio – Radio (Red House)
Elliott Smith – Angeles – Either/Or (Kill Rock Stars)
Pamela Means – Yours – Single Bullet Theory (Wurl)

Pete Seeger – Union Maid – If I Had A Hammer (Folkways)
Jesse Fuller – San Francisco Bay Blues – Uncut Sampler cd
Beck – Bogusflow – some compilation
Peter Mulvey – River – Wonderland (Signature Sounds)
Jill Sobule – Under The Disco Ball – The Folk Years: 2003-2003 (self)

The next two weeks will be pre-recorded shows run by the very kind DJ Simmerdown. They are not re-runs. They were specifically recorded for these upcoming days where I’ll be gone.

21 Dec 03 – best of Hello Cruel World’s live performances
28 Dec 03 – 2003: The Year In Review (as much of a review as one can fit into 60 minutes)

After two years of telling myself that I was going to hand-code a website for my radio show, I’ve decided to be realistic and use livejournal instead.

Hello Cruel World is a one-hour radio show focusing on singer/songwriters and acoustic music. The show airs on Sunday nights from 5 to 6pm on KPSU at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. You can hear KPSU at 1450AM, 98.3 FM (on-campus only) and via RealAudio, Windows Media, and OggVorbis streams at http://www.kpsu.org/webcast.html

Here on this webpage, you can expect to find playlists, photos, links to mp3s and video clips (of in-studio guests). I hope to use the “entry by phone” feature and get some artists to call and update us on their latest exploits.

Show 105 – Jordan Tyler & The Storyline

all my playlists follow this standard order:
Artist – Song – Album (Label)

Jordan Tyler – Beyond – So Far Away (Outsider Audio)
Jordan Tyler in-studio:
– Once Before
– Better Than Nothing (w The Storyline on backing vox & handclaps)
– If You Leave
Jordan Tyler – Lydia – So Far Away (Outsider Audio)

The Weepies – Vegas Baby – Happiness (self)
Babybird – So Gorgeous – Ugly Beautiful (Atlantic)
Hamell On Trial – When Destiny Calls – Tough Love (Righteous Babe)

John Vecchiarelli – In Tow – Tiny Rooms (Denver Coffee Achievers)
McKinley – Goner – Goner (self)
They Might Be Giants – Christmas Cards – O Tannenbaum 7″
The Pretenders – Watching The Clothes Go Round – Learning To Crawl (Sire)

Jordan and band were on a pretty even keel until halfway through “Better Than Nothing”, when they erupted into handclaps and harmonies. It was a brilliant moment.

Their energy rubbed off on me – I had to chuck the singer/songwriters format at the end and go for the highly charged Pretenders track.

Upcoming schedule:
14 Dec – your regularly scheduled program
21 Dec – best of Hello Cruel World’s live performances
28 Dec – Year-end clearance (best of the year’s releases)