Next on Life Elsewhere, our distinguished panel of “gifting” experts offer their suggestions for our Annual Christmas Gift Special. We asked each of them to choose three books and one non-book gift, and explain their choices. You can expect smart, entertaining and fascinating ideas from Peter James, best-selling author of the Roy Grace detective-thriller series; Robert Newman, esteemed creative director and influential design consultant; David Ulin, Los Angeles Times book critic and author of The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books Matter in a Distracted Time, and Mark Haskell-Smith, author of five novels and the forthcoming Naked at Lunch: A Reluctant Nudist’s Adventures in the Clothing-Optional World.

Sadly, as we were putting together the Annual Holiday Gift Special, the unexpected news came in that Norman B’s old art school friend, famed keyboardist, Ian McLagan had tragically died from a massive stroke. It was just over a week ago that part one of Norman B’s up close and in depth conversations with Ian were aired on Life Elsewhere. The chats Ian and Norman recorded earlier this year came about because the two silver-haired ex-art students met up at a charity event and began reminiscing about their days growing up in the early 60’s in the same area of London and attending the same college. “Let’s get this down on tape, so people can learn about what it was like in those days.” Said Ian. The result were almost three hours of spirited conversation, with Mac talking candidly about his early life, becoming a pop-star, drugs, and life on the road with The Rolling Stones. So far, less than one hour of Norman B’s interview with Ian McLagan has been aired. Norman will pay tribute to the untimely loss of a truly lovely man with previously unaired selections from his poignant conversations with Mac.

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And now a gift for you: The one-of-a-kind Life Elsewhere Holiday Gift Mix. Our own Norman B has searched through his vast collection and created a blend of music you’re not likely to hear anywhere else. From rare Jamaican dub plates to obscure independent artists and the occasional found sound. If you revel in real eclectic mixes that’ll prompt your friends to ask, “Where on earth did you find this stuff?”, this is the one for you. To get your copy, we ask only that you make a donation of any amount to Life Elsewhere. Simply click on the “Make A Donation”button to the right of this page. In return, we’ll send you a special code to unlock and download the Life Elsewhere Holiday Gift Mix. But don’t delay, the Gift Mix will only be available for a limited time. Thank you for supporting Life Elsewhere.

Life Elsewhere airs Monday at 9.00am ET 

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