RADIO HANNIBAL

Annual Year End Comp

Radio Hannibal Best Of 2009

Happy new year!

An Andy Cirzan Christmas

Andy Cirzan is a senior vice president at Jam Productions out of Chicago.  They are one of the few independent concert promoters left in this country.  That's reason enough to be a fan of Andy's in this "Live Nation" world we live in.  

Andy has a hobby though.  He's a record collector.  We're talking a "real" record collector.  He's the type of guy who can be found sitting on the dusty floor of an old thrift shop sifting through piles of vinyl.  He concentrates his searches to two genres, old jazz and obscure Christmas music. 

Lucky for us he likes to share his Christmas music finds.  You see, 21 years ago Andy began making a yearly compilation of his discoveries.  He'd crank out a couple hundred cassettes and mail them off to friends in Chicago and musicians he'd come to know through his day job.  Rock stars like Robert Plant, Rivers Cuomo and Eddie Vedder.  These Christmas mixes were the stuff of legend and very hard to come by. 

That is until Sound Opinions began inviting him onto the radio show every Christmas.  A little background on Sound Opinions.  I've been listening to the Chicago based show for about 10 years going back to when it aired on WXRT.  A friend would record the shows on Mini Disc and send them to me.  Remember that format?   It's a talk show about rock music hosted by two rock critics, Jim Derogatis at the Chicago Sun Times and Greg Kot at the Chicago Tribune.  Think Siskel and Ebert. 
It now airs on public radio stations across the country.  And of course, can be heard online and via podcast. 

This is where I got turned onto Andy Cirzan and his crazy Christmas songs.  After a few years of his being on the show and sharing some of the songs, my friend edited the shows, cropping out  the songs, and made a two CD compilation of them for his friends.  They became traditional Christmas music in my house.  My son knows some of the songs by heart.  Songs that very few people in the world know at all. 

About four years ago Sound Opinions began posting his annual compilation , making it available for download during Christmas week.  You can find it here. 

I have about 6 or 7 of Andy's full sets and the two comps I'd discussed earlier.  It really is a Christmas treat.  That's why I'm sharing it with you.  

My Top 40 Songs of 2009

1. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – Empire State Of Mind
2. Camera Obscura – French Navy
3. Ian Hunter – Arms And Legs
4. Phoenix – 1901
5. Lady Gaga – Just Dance
6. Lily Allen – The Fear
7. Animal Collective – My Girls
8. Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks
9. Passion Pit – Sleepyhead
10. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Zero
11. Neko Case – People Got A Lotta Nerve
12. Phoenix – Lisztomania
13. St. Vincent – Actor Out Of Work
14. The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song
15. The Dream – Walkin’ On The Moon
16. Lady Gaga – Poker Face
17. Andrew Bird – Oh No
18. The Avett Brothers- I And Love And You
19. Black Eyed Peas – Boom Boom Pow
20. Taylor Swift – You Belong To Me
21. Passion Pit – The Reeling
22. The Antlers – Bear
23. Miley Cyrus – Party In The USA
24. Morrissey – I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
25. M Ward (ft. Zooey Deschanel) – Rave On
26. jj – From Africa To Malaga
27. The Felice Brothers – Penn Station
28. Morrissey – Something Is Squeezing My Skull
29. Grizzly Bear – While You Were Waiting For The Others
30. Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes
31. Camera Obscura – The Sweetest Thing
32. Miranda Lampert – Dead Flowers
33. Junior Boys – Hazel
34. Paulo Nutini – Candy
35. The Dream – Rockin’ That Shit
36. Kid Cudi – Pursuit Of Happiness
37. Bon Iver – Blood Bank EP
38. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – Heads Will Roll
39. Jay-Z – On To The Next One
40. Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move

My Top 50 LPs Of 2009

1. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

2. St. Vincent – Actor
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
5. Ian Hunter – Man Overboard
6. Kid Cudi – Man On The Moon
7. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
8. jj – jjn2
9. The Clientele – Bonfires On The Heath
10. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career

11. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – It’s Blitz!

12. The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
13. The Decemberists – Hazards Of Love
14. The Duke And The King – Nothing Gold Can Stay
15. Sophie Madeleine – Love.Life.Ukulele
16. Buddy And Julie Miller – Written In Chalk
17. Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
18. The Dream – Love vs. Money
19. Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey & The Groo Grux King
20. Mastodon – Crack The Skye

21. Passion Pit – Manners

22. Allen Toussaint – Bright Mississippi
23. M Ward – Hold Time
24. The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You
25. The Field – Yesterday And Today
26. Neon Indian – Psychic Charms
27. The Derek Trucks Band – Already Free
28. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
29. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
30. Beirut – March Of The Zapotec

31. Bonnie Prince Billy – Beware

32. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
33. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer
34. The Felice Brothers – Yonder Is The Clock
35. The Antlers - Hospice
36. Jay-Z – Blueprint 3
37. Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You
38. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
39. Todd Snider – The Excitement Plan
40. Yacht – See Mystery Lights

41. Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care

42. Commander Cody – Dopers, Drunks And Everyday Losers
43. Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
44. The XX- XX
45. Robert Earl Keen – The Rose Hotel
46. Booker T Jones – Potato Hole
47. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
48. Antony And The Johnsons – The Crying Light
49. Roseanne Cash – The List
50. The Cinematic Orchestra – Les Ailes Pourpres