Thursday, December 22, 2016

(Very) Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

A double LP from The Honey Pot is one of the latest releases from Fruits de Mer.

A few suggestions for the music and pop culture fans on your list. Or if you’ve finished your gift shopping, pick out a few rewards for yourself.

By the way, WXRT is airing its annual Christmas Club special tonight at 9:00 p.m. Host Marty Lennartz will once again invite Christmastologists Andy Cirzan and Jonny Soss opens their Santa’s bags and share the rare and fun records they’ve unearthed in record stores around the country. It will run to 11:00 p.m.

The English indie label Fruits de Mer specializes in limited-edition vinyl-only releases by psych, prog, and garage rock artists. The year-end bonus FdM offers those who join the Members Club include perks like David Bowie and Syd Barrett tribute albums.

Pop Geek Heaven bills itself as “The Ultimate Power Pop Community and Resource” and carries a number of books CDs related to the genre.

Pick up t-shirts, posters, and other rock-related items at Hot Rags in LaGrange, Chicago Ridge, Bolingbrook, and other suburbs. Their selection leans toward classic and hard rock, particularly The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. They also specialize in cult movies and TV shows.

Rock America at the Gurnee Mills and Old Orchard shopping malls carries a line of guitars replicas of the ones used by famous musicians. The emphasis is on classic rock and heavy metal, but I did find Rick Nielsen’s cartoon character guitar there. Rock America has other items as well.

Box Lunch in the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg has one of the most eclectic selections of pop culture artifacts of any of these types of stores, whether it’s rock bands or TV shows. They have tons of trinkets that would be perfect as stocking stuffers.

Half Price Books is mostly known for selling used books, vinyl, and CDs, but they also have lots of pop culture items. This is the only place I’ve ever seen a Sex Pistols coffee mug, and they also have Doctor Who, Once Upon A Time, and Walking Dead collectors items. I bought a coffee mug with The Who on it at the Schaumburg location.

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