A year or two ago I wrote, "What do you buy for the man who hates everything?" in reference to searching for a gift for my dad. This year I somehow hit a big home run, much to my own surprise.

But first...let's talk about me! I got the Who's new DVD, Live at Kilburn 1977. Usually I would've heard about this on some rock n' roll message forum, but for some reason I didn't know about this one until I was at Wal-Mart getting an oil change and doing some Christmas shopping. Two discs for just $14.99, one a 1977 show that was originally filmed for the documentary The Kids Are Alright. The band hadn't played in a year or more and Pete decided to shelve this footage because the band was a bit rusty. At the beginning you can see in Pete's eyes that he's pensive, and after Keith Moon misses a few cues he finally goes to the mic and announces what he thinks of the concert. It's a great, classic Pete line, so I won't spoil it for you. Instead I'll spoil a different one, where introduces a song by saying, "Here's another turd." There's another great Pete moment when he spots a roadie messing with the picks on his amp in the middle of a song. Seeing raw, unvarnised Townshend in itself is priceless.

Though a shoot from a tighter set at Shepperton Studios replaced this in Kids, the quality of the cinematography is unbelievable. Every band member gets a good, tight closeup, even John "The Ox" Entwistle, who usually got shafted. Though Pete could be a little louder and Moon seems lost in a couple of spots, Roger Daltrey is on fire and still at his vocal peak nine years after Woodstock, and Entwistle is Entwistle.

The second disc is a 1969 concert at a London opera house. A Amazon reviewer was correct when they said this was almost bootleg quality, but you just don't pass up a chance to see 1969 Who! I was also surprised to find that the "Young Man's Blues" and "Happy Jack" clips from Kids that I always thought were from Woodstock were actually from this opera house show. ("My Wife" off the Kids Are Alright soundtrack is from the `77 Kilburn show on Disc One.) Pete and Keith talk at length before playing "A Quick One," and you are reminded that Pete Townshend is just a funny, charismatic bastard whether he's playing a guitar or just talking.

But anyhow...so what gift impresses the Man Who Hates Everything? Also while at Wal-Mart I spotted a DVD of Waylon Jennings from Austin City Limits in 1984*. These days Dad always complains that he can't understand what anyone's saying in modern music, and he preferred guys like Ernest Tubb and Waylon who were more plainspoken. So I got this DVD. As I expected, when I first showed it to him he looked thoroughly unimpressed and said, "I'll let you store that for me." However he apparently didn't understand it was a DVD, not a CD, and after I put it in he seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. Then I mentioned that it came with a bonus disc sampler of Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam doing a song apiece, and he wanted to see it right away. He loved the bonus disc more than anything! I even heard him telling one of his buddies about it on the phone. I was sure he couldn't be pleased, but what do you know, I accidentally hit a home run.

So that was Christmas. Oh, yeah, well I also got Season Two of The Office on DVD, and a Canon scanner. The other day at the used CD store I bought for myself Guns n' Roses Use Your Illusion I & II, The Cure's Concert, Blind Faith's lone album and...the first Winger CD! Hey, it was only $3.99, I like that song "Seventeen" and Reb Beach was a kick ass guitar player. At Wal-Mart they had Willie Nelson's first hit album, Shotgun Willie, for just $5.00, so I got that, too.

Merry Christmas to all!

* Looks like this Waylon DVD is sold out at Amazon and Wal-Mart. I see he's got another ACL one from 1989 that looks even better. Gotta find it!