Last-minute gift guide: with parties to attend, cards to mail, and work deadlines to meet, who has time to shop? Our multiple-choice guide to easy-to-buy gifts can help make history of your holiday list
CDs
(1) WITH THE LIGHTS OUT Nirvana (Geffen/UME) Courtney Love isn’t the Grinch after all: The Nirvana box set, originally slated for 2001, is finally out. This three-CD, one-DVD set features tons of rarities, including covers of Led Zeppelin and Leadbelly and early versions of Nevermind faves.
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(2) LIVE AND WELL Dolly Parton (Sugar Hill)The country lover in your life deserves better than a hard-candy Christmas. This career-spanning double CD, recorded live at Dollywood, is a cheeky marriage of glitzy showbiz with finger-pickin’ bluegrass sass full of hits and surprises.
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(3) WORLD OF ECHO Arthur Russell (Audika) Out New York City composer Russell (1952-1992) had one tapping foot in disco and the other in avant-garde classical. Originally released in 1986, this is his masterpiece, an aqueous concoction of introspective pop songs for voice and cello.
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(4) THE FUTUREHEADS The Futureheads (Sire) Need a gift for your hipster compadre who’s already worn out his or her Franz Ferdinand and Killers albums? This young British quartet fuses edgy postpunk with kinetic vocal interplay. Plus they cover Kate Bush!
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(5) NICKY SIANO’S THE GALLERY various artists (Soul Jazz) Subtitled “The original New York Disco: ’73-’77,” this 17-song anthology, programmed by gay nightlife great Siano, exposes the roots of dance-floor culture with a stomping set of lesser-known funk, soul, gospel, and energetic R&B gems.
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(6) MIND, BODY & SOUL Joss Stone (S-Curve)The ideal gateway CD for your tween-age niece who’s ready to graduate beyond the Simpson sisters. The sophomore set from this young British singer adds some contemporary production touches without diluting her authentic ’70s soul singing.
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(7) TRUST NOT THOSE IN WHOM WITHOUT SOME TOUCH OF MADNESS Thalia Zedek (Thrill Jockey) The second solo full-length from lesbian punk-rock icon Zedek, formerly of the combos Come and Live Skull, trumps gloom-meister Leonard Cohen with its dark poetic lyrics, smoked-out vocals, and sparse chamber instrumentation. Bah-humbuggery never sounded so good.
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(8) THE DITTY BOPS The Ditty Bops (Warner Bros.) L.A. duo the Ditty Bops accompany their gentle vocal harmonies with ukulele and toy piano. A nifty mix of vaudeville, cabaret, folk, and Western swing, their debut suggests a subtler, more whimsical incarnation of the Murmurs.
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(9) SILVER & GOLD Vanessa Williams (Lava)A tasteful collection of holiday favorites, from a jazzy, playful take on “Winter Weather” to the spirited gospel of “Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow.” A welcome tonic to the seasonal excesses of Barbra, Patti, et al.
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(10) MAYBE THIS CHRISTMAS TREE various artists (Nettwerk) Uncommon Christmas ditties updated by alt-rockers including Death Cab for Curie, Ivy, the Raveonettes, Pedro the Lion, and even hip Christian foursome Jars of Clay. For the opening track, the Polyphonic Spree perform choral magic that shames even Phil Spector on John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).”–Kurt B. Reighley
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BOOKS
(1) RICO PUHLMANN: A FASHION LEGACY, with essays by William A. Ewing and Adelheid Rasche (Merrell, $59.95) If you love the ’60s, get ready for an ecstatic experience. Puhlmann, the master photographer and illustrator who died on TWA Flight 800 in 1996, spent a career showing us why fashion is sublime.
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(2) AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, Robert Sabuda (Little Simon, $26.95) Fuel your loved ones’ gay patriotism with the latest masterpiece from the out king of pop-up books.
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(3) HOCKNEY’S PICTURES: THE DEFINITIVE RETROSPECTIVE, compilation and commentary by David Hockney (Bulfinch, $45) The more Hockney matures, the more modern his work. See for yourself with this sumptuous volume.
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(4) PEOPLE I SLEEP WITH, Jill Fineberg (Ten Speed Press, $19.95) Out photographer Fineberg photographs pets asleep with their people, for a series of images that capture the mutual vulnerability that makes our bonds with animals so strong.
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(5) HIGH SCHOOL, Jona Frank (Arenas Street, $35) Give young friends their propers with these perceptive images of youths taken by California photographer Frank. In particular, check out the shot of Dustin in his American flag dress–he had to threaten his school with a lawsuit to wear it.
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(6) IS YOUR CAT GAY? and IS YOUR DOG GAY? Charles Kreloff & Patty Brown (Simon & Schuster, $11.95 each) The perfect giftoids for pals with furry children, these little books imagine pets as stereotypical gay men, with dozens of smile-inducing drawings by Victoria Roberts.
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(7) LIVING WABI SABI: THE TRUE BEAUTY OF YOUR LIFE, Taro Gold (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $10.95) If you’re looking for stocking-stuffers with lasting value, check out the friendly, wise, pocket-size works of this out author (Open Your Mind, Open Your Life; What Is Love; The Tao of Morn). His latest reveals why what you think of as flaws are really what make your life rewarding and beautiful.
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(8) PALM SPRINGS CONFIDENTIAL, Howard Johns (Barricade Books, $35) In the tradition of Hollywood Babylon comes this riveting, nosy encyclopedia of desert gossip, with cameos by every GLBT visitor imaginable, from Liberace and Udo to Lily and Jane. Perfect for the trivia- or real estate-obsessed friend in your life.
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(9) LYLE ASHTON HARRIS, photographs by Harris; essay by Anna Deavere Smith (Gregory R. Miller & Co., $19.95) Harris’s beautifully evocative monochromatic photographs are well-served here by a poetic, confessional essay about the artist by Smith, the very private West Wing actress and oral-history-as-theater pioneer.
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(10) EXHIBITIONISM, photographs by Christopher Makos; preface by Glenn Albin; foreword by Calvin Klein (powerHouse Books, $40) What do Makos, Klein, Albin, and the Abercrombie catalog subscriber in your life have in common? A keen eye for gorgeous young men, preferably nude and sepia-toned. Bonus: sleek shots of autos and airplanes, plus visual tips for manscaping. –Anne Stockwell and Bruce C. Steele
DVDS
(1) DOTTLE GETS SPANKED (Zeitgeist Video)Todd Haynes’s lush but off-putting short makes the perfect gift for the art-film fan in your life. As a bonus, you get Mary Hestand’s sublimely creepy He Was Once, a live-action Davey and Goliath parody.
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(2) THE L WORD boxed set (Showtime Entertainment) The first season of Showtime’s hit series gets the deluxe DVD package treatment, including behind-the-scenes glimpses of the show’s production and fashions plus a puppet show by the cast. So good that even your male friends will appreciate this five-disc set in their stockings.
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(3) DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS, MICHAEL, AND SEX IN CHAINS (Kino Video) These amazing gay-themed German films from the silent era are just the things for your nephew who thinks queer cinema started with Jeffrey. These fascinating historical documents capture gay life as it was lived and as it was presented on-screen.
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(4) SUZANNE WESTENHOEFER: LIVE AT THE VILLAGE (Image Entertainment) Out comic Westenhoefer knocks ’em dead in her first concert DVD, culled from her hysterically funny 2003 stand-up show in Los Angeles. If you haven’t seen Westenhoefer, get with it, girls. She’s on fire.
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(5) THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! THE COMPLETE COLLECTION (Warner Home Video) The That’s Entertainment/series collected the greatest moments from MGM’s musicals, and now a new boxed set collects all three films for your favorite show-tunes queen. A fourth disc provides a whopping five-plus hours of material.
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(6) GONE WITH THE WIND (Warner Home Video)Fiddle-dee-dee! So what if it’s historically inaccurate? This immortal melodrama has never looked better, and the five hours of bonus footage includes a rare interview with Olivia de Havilland, Miss Melanie herself.
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(7) El) WOOD (Touchstone Home Entertainment) Tim Burton’s valentine to the cross-dressing director of the worst movies ever gets a special edition that includes four making-of featurettes and a commentary track.
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(8) PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE, VOLS. 1 AND 2 (Image Entertainment) The wait is over: Paul Reubens’s masterpiece of kids’ TV gets the full-on treatment, with 45 episodes–all the originals, plus eight never before released—on 10 discs. Scream real loud!
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(9) ELLEN: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE (A&E)Remember Ellen’s sitcom before “The Puppy Episode”? When it was still called These Friends of Mine? Now you can relive the first year of her historic–and, not incidentally, very funny–show.
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(10) THE WONG KAR-WAI COLLECTION (Kino Video) This box of five films from one of this generation’s most exciting and provocative international filmmakers includes his acclaimed gay love story Happy Together, starring sexy Tony Leung (Hero) and the late Leslie Cheung.–Alonso Duralde and Anne Stockwell
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COPYRIGHT 2004 Liberation Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group
