SOUNDTRACK: PINEGROVE-“Intrepid” (2017).
Pinegrove frontman Evan Stephens Hall just announced that, because of indiscretions, he was cancelling the band’s winter tour. I had tickets to two of these shows, so that’s certainly a bummer.
I can only hope that whatever the details of his trouble, he can work it out amiably, get the help he needs and get back on the road in a better place.
Before this all happened, the band released their first new single since Cardinal took off. “Intrepid” opens with a quietly strummed guitar and Hall singing quietly, including an unexpected falsetto note. The song threatens to get big and loud but then seems like it might just end.
But after a minute and a half the rocking guitars and backing vocals come in and the song lifts off. It strikes me as far less catchy than anything they’ve done so far, but it feels a lot more complex, as well.
The end of the song drops in volume, with one more little rocking guitar part before it fades out quietly with the same part that sounded like the end earlier.
It’s really well crafted.
[READ: May 7, 2017] Dark Shadows
This fourth book is once again Illustrated by Stephen Gilpin. It also has an introduction by J.J. the search and rescue dog whose current civilian job is to look after the Chicken Squad. I would love to see what the humans think of these chickens acting this way, I think that would be a very funny insight. But maybe it’s best if it’s left unknown.
The family, including J.J. and the chickens are in the car going to a farm to “See things you’ve never seen before.” Sugar says she has seen everything there is to see. J.J. counters that she has never been out of the backyard.
Their mom, Moosh, explains that this will be a family reunion–they’ll meet all of their aunts, uncle and cousins. And when they arrives there are hundreds and everyone expects them to lean all of their cousins’ names.
Dirt starts writing their names down, but Sugar has had enough. She goes to the car to get he jelly beans (and leaves a pile of feathers with her glasses on them as a decoy),
But while she is munching away, she is accosted by a large angry chicken. This chicken claims that she is a trespasser. But when Sugar says that she is a cousin, the large chicken (Sugar doesn’t have her glasses on so she can barely see this creature) says that it has already met the cousins, including the one that looks like a lump of feathers with glasses–ha ha.
In a delightfully childish series of jokes, when the large chicken asks what her name is Sugar thinks of all the other cousin’s names (which start with B) and says her names is… Bugar. (She regretted saying it immediately). Booger? the large chicken asks. There arr several more hilarious booger jokes coming, fear not, like “nobody tells me where I can be. Bugar can be anywhere, on your pillow, even right under your nose.” (She regretted saying it immediately). When Sugar asks what this large chicken’s name is, it says Frizzle. “I meant Befrizzle.”
When Sugar runs back and says what happened Dirt says that Befrizzle sounds like a made up name and then continues to say the wrong name when referring to this large chicken: Bedrazzle, Besnickle etc.
Sugar wants to get to the bottom of this and she has a plan. She only needs a loofah sponge a hot glue gun and six yards of yellow chiffon. Barring that, they will have to secure the perimeter) there’s a nice little math lesson on what a perimeter is and a hilarious repeating joke about the dangers of doing “night math.”
The crux of the mater here is that there are jelly beans missing. And when Sugar gets advice from some sketchy creatures hiding under the car, she has to ask whether to listen to these farm animals or not.
In addition to getting to the bottom of the jelly bean mystery, we need to know whats up with Befrizzle… The answer is surprising (and while I like to suspend disbelief, I have to note that the friendship of Befrizzle and baby chicks is really not one that could last.
But ts fun for a story and this was sure a fun story.
I Just Read About That... 
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