The perfect coming-of-age summer romance by the most spectacularly funny and original debut UKYA voice. My name is Ellie. Ellie Pillai . . . And I suppose I am a little bit weird, but then, aren't we all, just a little bit? Most days, Ellie Pillai is somewhere between invisible, and not very cool - and usually she's okay with that. But suddenly, Ellie feels different. Maybe it's the new boy at school who makes her brain explode into rainbows every time she sees him (and also happens to be going out with her best friend), or maybe it's her new drama teacher, the one who seems to have noticed she exists. Suddenly, her misfit style, her skin colour, her songwriting and all that getting lost in the music in her head seem to be okay too. Because maybe standing out isn't a bad thing after all. 'I adored this.' Simon James Green, author of Alex in Wonderland 'A feel good coming-of-age gem.' Observer, Book of the Year 'I loved the fresh and original voice.' Bookseller, Highlights of the Season 'A hilarious and heart-warming story.' Aisha Bushby, author of A Pocketful of Stars 'Warm, funny and hopeful.' A M Dassu, author of Boy, Everywhere 'A fresh, funny, feel-good story.' Rashmi Sirdeshpande.

Fred, Fred, Fred, je n'ai plus que ce prénom à la bouche. Je le vois chaque jour et j'enregistre un peu plus de détails. Il s'est mis un ptit bonnet comme le chanteur de Talk Talk avec juste la mèche qui dépasse. J'aime bien Talk Talk même s'ils sont super vilains, aussi vilains que Tears for Fears. Il y a leurs pochettes de 45T punaisés au dessus du Juke Box à Las Vegas, une salle de jeux qui fait snack aussi en bas de la rue Guy Fabre. Je n'y suis jamais rentrée c'est totally verboten, je pense que si j'y mets un pied ma mère me force à porter un chignon jusqu'à la fin de mes jours. Je sais juste que le patron s'appelle le Baron et que les filles de Troisième qui y sont allées sont super fières parce qu'il leur a fait la bise. Moi aussi j'ai été super fière quand Dédé le chauffeur de la Flèche d'Allauch m' a fait la bise pour la première fois. Dédé, c'est le seul noir de tous les chauffeurs et il est cool, les autres ils font rien que nous engueuler. Donc je suis toute exaltée, à table avec Fred on se lance des regards mortels, on appelle ça “calculer”, il m'a calculée, il m'a pas calculée. Le décalculage, ça c'est la grosse affaire. Ca marque mal quand on te calcule pas c'est la grosse honte, such a shame quoi. Moi Fred je le calcule à mort, mais Ariane (ma copine Flashdance qui met des guêtres jacquards par dessus ses collants rose fluo) m'a dit que ça marquait mal. Je vais encore m'énerver et écrire comme une rageuse mais je vois pas pourquoi nous les filles on devrait attendre comme des mozzu comme dit ma grand-mère de Lugu-Di-Nazza en Corse. Je crois que je suis crok' de Fredéric, ça y est mon petit cœur d'artichaut va à nouveau morfler. Quelquefois j'ai l'impression que mon coeur c'est comme un mini paquet de Kleenex avec les feuilles toutes serrées à l'intérieur et une fois qu'elles sont sorties c'est trop le bordel pour les faire rentrer à l'intérieur et l'attache en plastique elle saute tout le temps. MARC me recalcule depuis cette semaine, il doit savoir que j'organise une boum pour mon anif et sûrement qu'il doit gratter . Le 9 mars, j'aurais enfin quatorze ans. Et je vais y aller de ma boum moi aussi. En ce moment tout le monde en fait, Roland aussi il en fait une, il me drague comme un malade, il m'a filé sa gourmette mais j'avais déjà celle de mon pote Gabriel au poignet. J'aime trop le prénom Gabriel alors j'ai laissé tomber celle de Roland. On dirait qu'ils se donnent tous le mot pour me brancher alors que moi je suis à fond sur Fred qui bouge pas d'un centimètre. Je dois faire mon explication de français pour demain c'est un poème de Prévert “Le Désespoir est assis sur un banc”. Le mec qui vous appelle quand on passe ou simplement qui vous fait signe mais en vrai il faut se tailler sinon on est trop malheureux avec lui. Comme Fred en fait, il bouge pas plus qu'un mozzu, un bout de bois mort. Ou le chanteur de Talk Talk, qui remue à 2 cm à l'heure alors que la vie se déroule à cent à l heure en arrière-plan. Trop pas mon humeur du moment.

https://youtu.be/kQU3kXpjNdI

Wilco's album Cousin. "I'm a cousin to the world," confesses frontman Jeff Tweedy. "I don't feel like I'm a blood relative, but maybe a cousin by marriage." Produced by Welsh recording artist Cate Le Bon, Cousin marks Wilco's first time working with an outside producer since Jim O'Rourke's involvement with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Sky Blue Sky. Le Bon's influences - including the use of saxophone, cheap Japanese guitars and a cinematic, New Wave-esque drum machine - push the album into the future. The result is Wilco's most pointed and evocative album, one that relates to our present moment, truly breaking new ground for a band that has tested musical boundaries throughout its long career.

'I've been handed a lot of CDs, and 'TURN' is the best I've heard in five years. Play me number two [Sweet Magic Starlight]!' -- Danny Terry, Venue 'Luckenbach, TX' in Luckenbach, TX (2005) 'Helena's crystal clear, well-crafted harmonies weave themselves around Greg's smoky-voiced, enigmatic lyrics. They create a sound that you need, and want, to listen to again and again. Butterfly Sky provides a wonderful evening of listening.' -- Walter Lee, Coahoma Community Concert Series, Texas (2004) 'GREAT day Sunday!!! I have been listening to the CD since you last saw me. The only problem with it is, I can't stop listening to it!! Good Stuff!' -- Tom Schultz, Spring Valley, IL (2004) 'Everyone has a special place to go to, to find your center, to bring yourself into balance. It may be under a tree, or in a clearing by a stream, or maybe at the edge of a cliff. When I listen to Greg and Helena's music it brings me into balance and leaves me feeling cleansed. My ears are left tingling with the sweet harmonies they do so well.' -- Sifu Kevin Grissom, The Divine Dragon Tai Chi Studio, Fan, Kenosha, Wisconsin (2004) BIO: Hear a voice like Lyle Lovett and the soulful delivery of Martin Sexton and mix with equal parts Eva Cassidy, Bonnie Raitt and the Carter Family, and you begin to imagine the sound of Butterfly Sky. Duo Greg Greer & Helena Nash draw from a deep well of engaging and insightful originals, their soulful harmonies bursting with life. Theirs is a shape-shifting dance of joy, loss, healing, laughter, love and occasional socio-political commentary as they relate to themselves and their fellow humans. With a view from their tour bus and a nod to the butterfly, it's the journey, not the destination that captivates this duo. RIDING THE YELLOW LINES And journey they do in their vintage 1983 silver and blue coach tour bus, affectionately named Gracie. The couple's magical meeting place in 2003 was the Underground Wonder Bar in their hometown Chicago, and only a few months later they took up the Willie Nelson theory of touring and hit the road year â€-round. The highways and byways east of the Mississippi know Gracie's tire treads well, but she's a Texas gal, and she always seems to point home to the Lone Star State, carrying the duo's music along with her. TELLING STORIES In their live shows, Greg's rhythmic picking and strumming patterns create an energetic accompaniment to the intense harmonies of the voices. The lyrics tell stories with insight and compassion as the music flows effortlessly through folk, country and blues with touches of gospel, jazz and world music. quot;TURN,quot; the Butterfly Sky debut album, reflects the duo's live sound. As they tour through Texas, the Midwest and the Northeast, the duo is already playing songs from the new album, scheduled for release May 2006. quot;Mr. Lock Man (Mend My Love)quot; tells the story of a mythical locksmith who, instead of mending locks, mends broken hearts. quot;Coal Miner's Sunquot; is about a man gone wrong whose quot;windshield is darker than a coal miner's sun.quot; Years ago in a Boston subway, a woman twirled around Greg for hours as he played. Suddenly she woke up as if she'd been in a dream state, inspiring the song quot;Dancer.quot; GREG GREER Greg's performing and songwriting career stretches back 16 years, at times a rock drummer and lead singer, a blues singer and harmonica player, a country crooner and in recent years an acoustic singer-songwriter. His rhythmic and lyrical tendencies became apparent early in lif