What’s New for the 26th of July: Witches in fiction, both books and film; an Americana reissue and some music on a smoky theme

The power of a name, that’s old magic.

The Doctor in The Shakespeare Code

So we’ve got on this warm summer’s day, a bevy on fictional books and films on witches and witchcraft. Some like The Witches of Eastwick film will likely be familiar to you as will Roald Dahl’s now problematic The Witches; Sarah Avery’s Tales of Rugosa Coven perhaps not so much.

‘Rebecca Reisert’s novel The Third Witch is a re-telling of the “Macbeth” story from the point of view of one of the witches.’ says Andrea in  her review. ‘Reisert brings the world of these impoverished women in 11th century Scotland to dirty, hungry life. As the story begins the three set out to glean — but from a battlefield rather than a wheat field — hoping to find useful or saleable items among the stiffening dead.’

Craig looks at a John Updike novel considered a part of the literary canon: ‘In the end, The Witches of Eastwick is a good novel. Oh It is not a great novel; it is not even a great witch novel. The research is at best minimal and often seems negligible. Nor does it compare favorably with the rest of the Updike canon, certainly not his tetralogy of everyman Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, whose libido gets him in enough trouble to fill four novels and a novella. The book is not a waste of time, as long as the reader appreciates the above mentioned prose and description style.’

Jennifer read Sarah Avery’s Tales of Rugosa Coven and adored it. The Atlantic Ocean is almost a character in these stories. I could smell the salt breeze and feel the sand in my shoes. Plus, real witches on the Jersey Shore doing real witch stuff, like washing their sneakers, loving each other’s dysfunctions, and disagreeing about, well, everything magical!

Mia looks at the first of two films involving witchcraft: ‘Based on the Alice Hoffman novel of the same name, Practical Magic stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, sisters who also happen to be witches. Sally is sweet, sensible, and longs for a normal life. Gillian is lusty and vivacious and uses her witchcraft mostly for the purpose of ensnaring a series of lovers. Sally and Gillian were orphaned and consequently raised by Frances and Jet, their wise, witty, and unconventional aunts.’

Not at all well received among Neo-Pagans is a film reviewed by Michelle: ‘There’s no denying the negative stereotyping in Nicolas Roeg’s The Witches, based on Roald Dahl’s novel of the same name. It’s a guilty pleasure, watching sophisticated women degraded by a little boy whom they’ve turned into a mouse. Adults will have an easier time than the intended young audience in recognizing the satiric elements of the film, but for some viewers that may not make it more tolerable; works of art like this one contribute to the demonization of Pagans and practitioners of folk medicine historically and in our own era.’

‘I’ve learned that the things you like about a record at first blush quite often change as you listen to it over a couple of decades,’ I note in my new review of a deluxe reissue of The Handsome Family’s 2003 album Singing Bones. ‘That favorite track might no longer top your list of songs from that record, and a song you glossed over has in the meantime revealed deeper layers of meaning for you.’ That’s definitely true of this album, as you’ll see in my review.

From the archives … well, let’s see if you pick up on a theme…

David has reviewed a lot of Americana for us, including the compilation Hoyt Axton’s Flashes of Fire: Hoyt’s Very Best 1962-1990. ‘ “Smoky,” one of only three non-Axton tracks included, is the theme song from a film in which Axton appeared. His version of the song was not included on the soundtrack. It’s a catchy tune, 12-string guitar and harmonica, and Axton’s smoky vocals.’

I really enjoyed Chris Eckman’s Harney County, an indie folk rock album of fictional stories set in a real place, one of Oregon’s high desert locales. ‘Eckman evokes sense-memories in songs like “The Conifer Smoke,” a tale of estranged siblings meeting in some sort of encampment, something to do with “lost causes.” ‘

‘Imagine someone so lost and lonely that her only good dreams are of sharing a bottle in an alley, but she clings to that memory to keep out much worse thoughts,’ I said in my review of Anna Tivel’s excellent Small Believer. ‘Tivel can do more to set a mood with just a few words than many can do in a whole raft of verses, like the opening lines of (“Alleyway”): “Smoke against the window pane / just the semis breathing on the interstate / and the gray upon the gray of October…” ‘

Way back in the day I reviewed a couple of albums from the Illinois Americana trio Dick Smith, including one entitled Smoke Damage. ‘The overall sound draws on Grisman and Garcia’s “dawg music,” with a little of the psychedelic weirdness and irreverence of the Holy Modal Rounders and the down-home corn of Goose Creek Symphony thrown in for good measure.’

I’ve reviewed a lot of albums by the late great Doc Watson, including Doc Watson at Gerdes Folk City, an important historical document from the folk revival. ‘Everybody has to start somewhere, and this brand new CD catches Doc in his first series of public appearances as a solo musician. It’s part of the First Time North Project, which is presenting archival recordings of the earliest urban performances of blues, bluegrass and folk musicians. It was recorded in late 1962 and early ’63 at the eponymous club in New York’s Greenwich Village.’

Christy Moore’s Smoke And Strong Whiskey was a departure of sorts for the Irish folk icon, Richard hsaid in his review. This one has lots of political and social commentary, he noted. ‘The choice of songs, too, is a long way from the traditional repertoire; indeed, there is not one “trad.” in sight, not even a “trad. arr.” Instead we have three of Moore’s own compositions, plus three co-written with other musicians, including Shane McGowan, one of whose own songs is also featured.’

So lets us finish off with some choice music from Nightnoise, to wit ‘Toys, Not Ties’ which was performed at Teatro Calderón de la Barca, which is a theater in Valladolid, Spain, some thirty years ago. For more on this superb sort of Celtic band, go read our career retrospective here. Nightnoise had its origins in members of the Bothy Band and Skara Brae, august bands indeed, and also included fiddler Johnny Cunningham for a while.