High Notes
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday November 26, 2005
Maybe it was one too many icy childhood Christmases spent in the north of England, but my fondest recollections of December 25 involve playing freshly unwrapped board games with my family.
If you know someone who, like me, has filled far more brain space than is sensible with otherwise useless music info, Trivial Pursuit DVD (the pop-culture edition of the classic game) and Name That Tune are supreme gift options. Also good for family bonding are jigsaws - you can get gorgeously packaged, double-sided Beatles ones if you search hard enough.Those short on cash can go old-school and buy a second-hand record player for the music fan they love; those with plenty of the stuff can blow their someone special away with a large celebrity print from www.harryborden.com. Borden seems to have photographed everyone, and not just from the field of music. In this age of Idol, an introductory singing lesson is a smart gift idea - Linda Barcan will even train your budding barbershop quartet - or you can get groovy, inexpensive musical instruments, from ukuleles to bongos and accessories such as the impossibly cool yet cute mini-amps. And talking of cool-yet-cute, those going gaga over newcomers making similar sounds - as funk hero Sly Stone almost said, there's a baby boom goin' on - should splurge on the fabulous, cheeky rocking babywear from Rock Your Baby. If you want to chance your arm beyond the classic gift token, my pick of the year's best albums include those by London's dazzling M.I.A. and Aussies the Presets. The historic Live 8 is out on DVD, as are ace docos Dig! and Punk: Attitude, and fine music books such as Silverchair biographer Jeff Apter's latest on Brit indie titans The Cure.Finally, you can't go wrong with Sydney Festival tickets: buy vouchers of pretty much any denomination or plump for very special events starring Mercury Prize winners Antony & the Johnsons, resurgent Oz-rock heroes the Go-Betweens or Christopher O'Riley, who has brilliantly reinvented many of Radiohead's songs as classical works.
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald