SOUNDTRACK: JAMES ELKINGTON-“Black Moon” (from WILCOvered, UNCUT Magazine November 2019).
The November 2019 issue of UNCUT magazine had a cover story about Wilco. It included a 17 track CD of bands covering Wilco (called WILcovered or WILCOvered). I really enjoyed this collection and knew most of the artists on it already, so I’m going through the songs one at a time.
Elkington is the first person on this compilation I didn’t know.
He plays an absolutely gorgeous, complicated guitar melody to open the song. I am mesmerized by how lovely it is. It’s actually so much different from the original–which has a subdued guitar opening–that i didn’t recognize the song at first.
Elkington sings in a quiet, hushed voice through the verses which continue that beautiful guitar melody and add percussion.
When the chorus kicks in with organs and a great electric guitar slide it become catchy just like the original (possibly more so). But as the chorus dissolves into the verse, the electric guitar soars throughout while the acoustic picked guitar resumes the beauty.
What a wonderful cover and what a fantastic guitar player.
[READ: February 15, 2020] The Hidden Witch
After finishing The Witch Boy, I was really happy to see that we also had the second book in this trilogy, The Hidden Witch.
This book picks up right where the last one left off, although this one includes a map of the area, so we can see how close Aster’s house is to the main town (and the school).
The book opens in with witchcraft class. Aster is there with the girls (who are looking at him funny). He is far behind but his Aunt Iris doesn’t seem too happy about the fact that he is in the class.
Aster’s grandmother agrees to teach him if he will help her. Her special request is to try to save her brother Mikasi–the creature from the previous book who they have trapped. She believes that because Aster also had an inkling for witchcraft that he could possibly speak to the Mikasi within the beast.
Then we switch to Sterling Junior High where Charlie is showing off that her leg is no longer broken. But there’s new girl in school now. Her name is Ariel and she seems very dark–thick eyeliner, dark clothes, etc,
This is one more reason why I love this series so much. Charlie walks up to Ariel and tries to talk to her. Ariel says you don’t have to partner with me just cause you pity me or whatever. And Charlie replies “I thought you looked cool. I like your bracelets.” They immediately start chatting and Ariel admits that she is good at art. She draws something and Charlie is very impressed. And soon enough they are friends. I loved that interaction and wish it was that easy in real life. And maybe sometimes it is.
Later that night, Aster goes to Charlie’s house. Their friendship is out in the open–her dads like him and everything. They talk about their day and have a family dinner (I love that Charlie has two dads, but it is not a plot point or an issue at all. It just is).
Then we cut to Ariel’s house. Ariel is in foster care (you can tell by how different she looks from the rest of the family). Her “dad” is kind of jerk saying that if she can’t make it in this school, she may have to go back to the foster system (jeez).
Ariel complains that trouble finds her–none of the things that happened in the past were her fault. But the whole time she is staring at the phone and getting angrier.
Charlie promised she would call that night but she hasn’t.. And by the time she is ready for bed, Ariel goes to her hideout and summons a Fetch which she sends to find Charlie and give her “a scare.”
The Fetch is basically a shadow that sneaks into Charlie’s room and burns her (or something) on the arm. Charlie runs away and the creature follows. She runs all the way to Aster’s house and when she crosses through the protection stones, the Fetch can’t follow.
Charlie finds Aster and with his grandmother’s help, he is able to heal her arm. Then the grandmother looks through the eyestone and they an all see the Fetch. The grandmother can’t determine who made the Fetch, but she does make a protection spell for Charlie. As Charlie walks away, Aster agrees to help his grandmother wit her brother.
At school the net day, Ariel is making enemies and sends a Fetch to push the bullies around a bit. She is also super frosty to Charlie. That’s when Charlie realizes she forgot to call her and is very sorry. When she says “You kind of hate me now,” Ariel is taken aback and promises not to hate her.
She asks why Charlie had a bad night. Charlie says she dealt with whatever it was and Ariel says to herself that that’s never happened before.
The next day, Charlie and Ariel are studying together when Aster comes by to bring Charlie a bracelet of protection. Ariel gets a little jealous of their friendship. When Aster leaves, she says boys are mean. Charlie says everyone can be mean sometimes. Charlie says that even though she has friends, sometimes she thinks everyone got the message about how to act and she missed it. That’s why she likes Ariel.
Ariel is offended “Because I don’t know how to act?”
Charlie replies, “Because you don’t think there’s a right way to act. You’re just doing your thing.”
That night is Charlies basketball game. Aster goes and on his way Sedge tags along. Sedge admits he doesn’t want to shapeshift–he’s freaked out about it. In fact, he thinks that normal school sounds pretty great.
At the game Aster sees that Fetch is helping Charlie in the game–fouling people and assisting with the ball. Charlie is devastated that she wasn’t as good as she thought she was. But the more pressing concern is who was casting the Fetch. That’s when she realizes it must be Ariel.
They confront Ariel and she says that Charlie is clearly a witch too–that’s why she wasn’t hurt by the Fetch. But Aster says it was his family that helped Charlie. And he wants to help Ariel as well–hes concerned for her because the Fetch could backfire on her. Being angry all the time can really impact you–When people treat you like a monster you start to act like one.
Soon enough the Fetch attacks Ariel and she is rendered unconscious.
Aster and Charlie bring her to Aster’s house–the only place she can get help.
I loved the way the story was resolved and who it tied so nicely to the previous book. I also enjoyed the way the story lines twisted together ta the end (no spoilers)
I’m looking forward to book three (which is out already)!
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SOUNDTRACK:
SOUNDTRACK: KAWABATA MAKOTO [河端一]–Lost Milky Way in The Metaphysical Space (2013).
SOUNDTRACK: SNOH AALEGRA-Tiny Desk Concert #947 (February 18, 2020).
In what seems to be a new trend at the Tiny Desk, here’s another artist whom I’ve never heard of somehow and who manages to cram five songs into 16 minutes. (I won’t complain about the length of this show because it’s not that long, but everyone knows you get three songs).
