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Time to get small. Reasonble. Dare I say: prudent? Let's face it: Not everyone on your list merits a Loro Piana cashmere scarf. (Not that you can shell out huge bucks for all the people on your list.) Face it: some gifts are tokens. It's more important in those cases to give a gift than to show up with a great gift --- here, it really is “the thought that counts.” And then there are those who actually hang stockings. Yes, you could fill them with tangerines and apples, but wouldn't variety be nice? But wait! What if it's possible to find great gifts that are as economical as stocking stuffers? That show great taste even if they didn't cost much? Here is where HeadButler.com can really be your best friend. Because a lot of the stuff I love is...old. And for many publishers and record companies, “old” is no compliment. The relationship of price to quality? Bone-headed. Way off. What we have here is a classic arbitrage moment --- favoring you. So here are some affordable classics, with their prices listed as you'll find them on Amazon. Stuff those stockings! Be a secret Santa! Reward those you love (and yourself) with some of the biggest bargains of the holidays. Josh Ritter: 4 Songs Live ($5.99): Four of his best, recorded in Ireland. Gee, the audience seems to know every word. Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers ($10.85): Alcohol made easy --- I mean, literary. Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences ($9.60): Barbara Holland's charming guide to the incorrect. Where was she when I was single? Arsene Lupin ($13): slick stories about a French “gentleman burglar.” JJ Cale ($9.99): The master's greatest hits at a crazy price. Forget the Clapton duets. This is da bomb. Astral Weeks ($8.99): This 1968 release by Van Morrison is everything this site is about. You come here and you don't own it? Remedy that now! Porgy & Bess ($9.99): Ella Fitzgerald. Louis Armstrong. 'Nuff said. Forever Changes ($8.99): The American 'Sgt. Pepper.' I kid you not. Otis Redding Live in Europe ($9.99): Is a cardiologist handy? You are warned: major thrills here. Seven Year Itch ($10.99): Etta James at her cheatin', lyin', heart-broken best. Guitar Town ($9.98): Steve Earle, before he got political. Hoodoo Man Blues ($11.99): Possibly the best Chicago blues album ever made. Herbie Mann at the Village Gate ($11.98): Jazz flute that totally rocks. The Best of Toots & The Maytals ($6.99): the happiest voice in reggae. --- Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com |
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