Classifieds

Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com

ACROSS
1 Help for Holmes
5 All hands on deck
9 Baby food,
usually
14 “Can you give me
a __?”
15 Bass’ red
triangle, e.g.
16 Dove rival
17 Fraternal meeting
place
19 Sense & Spray
air freshener
maker
20 “Here are the
facts,” briefly
21 Garden outcast
22 Dark suit
23 Central church
area
25 Pacific Northwest
capital
27 “The Cask of
Amontillado”
writer
31 Reduced in
number
32 Track tipsters
33 Train cos.
35 Yankee
nickname since
2004
36 Asparagus,
mostly
37 Nemesis
38 ENE or WSW
39 Set straight
40 Golfer Palmer, to
fans
41 Where to read
candidate
endorsements
44 Much of the time
45 Kitchen add-on?
46 Yemenis’
neighbors
49 “__ been
thinking ...”
50 NASA thumbs-up
53 Acme’s opposite
54 Periphery ... and,
literally, the
periphery of 17-,
27- and 41-
Across
57 Most clubs in a
pro’s bag
58 Scott Turow
memoir
59 Vulcan mind __:
Spock’s skill

60 Principle
61 Superstorm
response org.
62 Functions

DOWN
1 “Cutthroat
Kitchen”
competitor
2 Easter bloom
3 Critical comment
4 Aliens, briefly
5 Prosperous, after
“in”
6 Took the bus
7 Fabergé
creation
8 Reason for hand-
wringing
9 Sloppy farm digs
10 Tanning booth
light, for short
11 Freeway, e.g.
12 Earth, to Hans
13 Windows to the
soul, so they say
18 “Reading
Rainbow” host
Burton
22 Mattress
supports
24 Matured
25 Liqueur in a fizz
26 Barnard grad

27 Like 27-Across’
work
28 Clothes
29 Fruity drinks
30 Bert’s buddy
31 Fleeting fashion
34 “Get it?”
36 Schedule
openings
37 Sassy tyke
39 Initially
40 More fitting
42 Salt additive

43 Low parking
garage floor
46 Bad mood
47 Bern’s river
48 Noodle bar order
49 List component
51 Gawk at
52 Classic sneakers
54 “That knocked
the wind out of
me!”
55 Sorbonne one
56 Aussie runner

By Jeffrey Wechsler
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
01/28/15

01/28/15

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

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ANNOUNCEMENT

PARKING

6A — Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

By PAIGE PFLEGER

Detroit Arts Columnist

“If you ask me in a week, I 

may have a different five … but 
let’s say ‘The Dollmaker’ by Har-
riette Simpson Arnow, ‘Collect-
ed Poems’ by Robert Hayden, 
‘Them’ by Joyce Carol Oates 
… let me think …” Anna Clark 
paused for a long time, search-
ing for two more books to com-
plete her top five Detroit-centric 
reads. The list, she insisted, is 
just for now — likely to change 
imminently. She thought about 
her last two spots, taking a few 
minutes to mull it over. 

It took her a while, not because 

there aren’t many authors to 
choose from, but because there 
are too many. 

Much like Detroit’s art and 

music scenes, the city’s literary 
culture is immense. Detroit’s 
literary history for litbuffs is as 
rich as the legacy of Motown for 
the rest of the country. The city’s 
neighborhoods and buildings 
serve as backdrops for Pulit-
zer Prize-winning books, Poet 
Laureates were born and raised 
inside the city’s arms and major 
historical events that shaped the 
city’s history also shaped the 
story arcs of nationally recog-
nized literature. 

Unlike the art and music 

scene, however, the literary 
scene passes under most peo-
ple’s radar.

“I think part of it is with 

visual art and with music — 

those are things that a person 
can encounter without trying,” 
Clark said. “You turn on the 
radio and there’s Detroit music 
on. You drive down the road and 
you see a lot of Detroit art. It’s 
right there. And I think with lit-
erature, it’s very present, but it’s 
not always visible in the same 
way. The people that find it tend 
to be looking for it.” 

And those who are looking 

need not look much further than 
Literary Detroit, an organization 
that UM graduate Anna Clark 
founded with the goal of culti-
vating a literary scene in Detroit. 
Founded in 2012, Clark and other 
volunteers noticed that Detroit 
was being passed over by book 
tour authors, even if their works 
were set in Detroit and even if 
they themselves were from the 
city. Literary Detroit’s mission is 
to put Detroit on the country’s lit-
scene map. 

Literary 
Detroit 
organizes 

interactive literary events around 
the city that are free and open to 
the public, including readings by 
authors, book swaps and reading 
series. In February, they’ll kick 
off their Motor City Signal Series 
at Signal-Return, a letterpress 
company in Eastern Market. The 
series features themes like sex, 
identities, journeys and belong-
ing. The events feature perfor-
mances from writers, singers 
and painters, including Write-A-
House winner Casey Rocheteau, 
and hip-hop duo Passalacqua. 

Organizing events isn’t the 

only way that Clark helps to 
boost Detroit’s literary culture — 
in fact, she recently helped com-
pile and edit stories from literary 
greats in “A Detroit Anthology,” 
which was published last year. 

“It’s very diverse — the 

youngest contributor is 18 years 
old, the oldest contributor is in 
her 90s — because the city has 
changed so much within liv-
ing memory, a lot of the stories 
people tell capture different 
moments in time,” Clark said. “ 
‘The Anthology’ is as diverse as 
the city is.” 

“The Anthology” steps away 

from the usual explanations that 
surround the city in mainstream 
press and instead explores the 
conversational aspects of what 
Clark calls everyday “lived expe-
riences.” Some of the authors 
featured in the book include 
Grace Lee Boggs, Desiree Coo-
per, Dream Hampton and Shaka 
Senghor. 

Despite this recent publica-

tion, however, Clark believes 
there are a plethora of stories 
yet to be told about present-day 
Detroit. 

“A lot of Detroit fiction that 

is out there is midcentury, and 
there’s not a lot that has come 
out of the last 15 years,” Clark 
said. “There’s more to be said. 
The city is such a powerful home 
for stories.”

Pfleger is reading up on the city. 

To send her book recommendations, 

email pspfleg@umich.edu.

Detroit’s immense, 
underpublicized 
literature scene

Timeless alt. country 
on ‘Natalie Prass’

By CARLY SNIDER

Daily Arts Writer

Genres are a necessary evil. 

While they help to clearly define 
musical boundaries for better 
organization 
of 
musical 

preference, 
more 
often 

than not, they 
hinder 
true 

exploration.

When 

thinking 
of 

something like 
alternative 
country, listeners will likely be 
more preoccupied with the “coun-
try” instead of with the “alterna-
tive,” largely due to the fact that 
country music is so easily recog-
nizable and widespread. But with 
up-and-coming alternative coun-
try artists such as Natalie Prass, 
such a simple label falls short.

Her debut album, Natalie Prass, 

is short but sweet, pulling from 
some of the best aspects of old-
school country music – the slight 
vocal twang and a no-nonsense 
lyrical style. She draws this from an 
arsenal of soulful, swinging melo-
dies from another era.

The album starts off with “My 

Baby Don’t Understand Me,” a 
slow, smoldering ballad of love 
gone wrong. The track builds 
up to a musical break fit for the 
theater, using what sounds like a 
full orchestra to starkly contrast 
Prass’s small, soft voice. The track 
rolls along with a steady, jazzy beat 
– a component not uncommon 
throughout the album.

As the album progresses, more 

and more of Prass’s country roots 
come into play. “Your Fool” most 
clearly showcases the subtle twang 
of her voice, especially when 
paired with a guitar driven doo-
wop melody. The track sounds like 
a classic, with nothing in particu-
lar that places it in the present day.

Prass continues her album 

by pulling deeper from the past. 
“Christy” sounds straight out of a 
black-and-white movie. The mel-
ody is dynamic and theatrical – 
seeming to follow that of a waltz or 

a tango, working perfectly to dra-
matize the love triangle painted by 
the lyrics. It could be listened to in 
a grand ballroom or a quaint bed-
room, making Prass’s versatility as 
an artist quite clear.

Though the album consis-

tently deals with similar themes 
of heartbreak, the lyrics avoid the 
melodramatic, allowing the music 
to speak for itself. Prass, even in 
her youth as an artist, realizes the 
power of the understated vocal. 
While Prass never fully raises 
her voice, her minimalist style of 
vocals is most powerful in “Never 
Over You” and “Bird of Prey.”

Generally following patterns of 

low-key vocals and lively instru-
mentation, the album breaks away 
with “Reprise.” While the instru-
mentals remain dynamic with 
moving sounds of flute, percussion 
and sparse clapping, the vocals are 
mostly spoken instead of sung. The 
almost overly sincere spoken ele-
ment, in combination with the less 
than cohesive instrumentation, 
make for a confusing and slightly 
cheesy feel. The dramatic attempt 
of Prass is clear, but ultimately, her 
efforts fall a bit flat on this track.

Wrapping up with “It Is 

You,” Prass returns to her full 
instrumentation, again using an 
orchestra-esque 
arrangement 

to create a truly magical sound. 
Even the lyrics seem to be more 
lighthearted than the rest of the 
album, wistfully singing of things 
such as “birds with porcelain 
wings,” or a “house filled with 
books.” Placing “It Is You” after 
“Reprise” creates a bold contrast 
of sound, allowing Prass to 
demonstrate her flexibility.

Natalie 
Prass 
takes 
the 

foundations of classic country 
and builds on them. Prass’s 
twists 
on 
more 
heavily 

layered, yet classical musical 
arrangements. Jazz-fueled beats 
and understated vocals launch 
her out of the alternative country 
label and into something of much 
greater depth. The album is both 
subtly nuanced and obviously 
designed to encapsulate the 
sound of heartache in a mature 
and honest manner. 

A -

Natalie 
Prass

Natalie Prass

Spacebomb 
Records

ALBUM REVIEW

New ‘Americans’ 
sets the bar high

The FX drama is 
now one of the best 

shows on TV

By ALEX INTNER

Daily Arts Writer

The leap that “The Ameri-

cans” took in its second season 
was nothing short of extraor-
dinary. While 
it had a decent 
first 
season, 

the show ele-
vated itself to 
become 
one 

of 
the 
best 

dramas 
on 

television 
— 

benefiting 
a 

story that was 
densely plotted 
and sequences 
which 
had 

gut-wrenching 
levels of tension. Because of 
that leap, the series’ third sea-
son has a lot to prove, namely 
showing that last year wasn’t a 
fluke. After seeing the first four 
episodes of the new season, it’s 
clear that last year wasn’t a blip 
in the radar.

“The 
Americans” 
follows 

Philip (Matthew Rhys, “Broth-
ers and Sisters”) and Elizabeth 
Jennings (Keri Russell, “Felic-
ity”), KGB agents posing as a 
normal American family during 
the Cold War. This season picks 
off where last year left off, with 
Philip and Elizabeth weighing 
whether to enter their daughter 
Paige (newcomer Holly Taylor) 
into a KGB program for second-
generation agents. They’re also 
running operations to try to 
gather intelligence on the CIA’s 
team in Afghanistan.

The best aspect of the show is 

how it deftly develops its central 
relationship, the arranged mar-
riage and partnership between 
Philip 
and 
Elizabeth. 
Even 

though it’s clear that the two 
characters love one another, 
their marriage is fraught with 

friction. The two have differ-
ent opinions about whether to 
tell Paige about who they really 
are, which strains their rela-
tionship. However, despite the 
arguments, the characters dem-
onstrate that, deep down, they 
truly want to help one another. 
There’s a scene in the third epi-
sode where Philip helps Eliza-
beth through a medical problem. 
The two have no dialogue, but 
are able to communicate a wide 
range of emotions. It’s a painful 
scene because of their acting.

The show works as well as it 

does because of the way it’s able 
to build tension, mostly in the 
scenes that feature Philip and 
Elizabeth’s spying. These epi-
sodes are peppered with scenes 
that feature the two of them try-
ing to complete certain objec-
tives. With many of them, the 
series chooses a slow build, cre-
ating a fantastic amount of sus-
pense. Whether they’re trying 
to evade capture or perform hor-
rible acts of violence in the name 
of their country, the scenes play 
out in a slow, but fascinating 
manner.

Aside from the two leads, Tay-

lor’s character shines, refusing 
to let Paige fall into the typical 
“annoying teenager” role. The 

show has done well by her, allow-
ing her to grow by giving her an arc 
where she becomes more involved 
in the church. There’s also the 
ticking time bomb — the secret of 
who her parents really are — wait-
ing to go off. When it does, Paige 
will dovetail into the main story-
line, which can only make it better.

“The 
Americans” 
’s 
cast 

is among the finest out there 
because of its depth and quality 
supporting acting. Noah Emm-
erich is brilliant as the couple’s 
FBI agent neighbor. The show has 
given him an engrossing story to 
play with his marital struggles. In 
addition, Frank Langella (“Frost/
Nixon”) is a welcome addition 
as the couple’s new handler. He 
doesn’t appear a lot in the epi-
sodes, but he makes an impres-
sion when he does.

It’s amazing how all of the 

many pieces that make up “The 
Americans” coalesce into a show 
that’s this special. Each of its 
parts, from the marriage at its 
center to the lowest supporting 
character, adds something to its 
atmosphere or thematic reso-
nance. There’s nothing else on 
television like “The Americans” 
and, with this stretch of episodes, 
it cements itself as one of the best 
shows on TV right now.

TV REVIEW

A

The 
Americans

Season 3 
Premiere 

Wednesdays 
at 10 p.m.

FX

FX

Putin a wrench in their marriage (rimshot).

DETROIT ARTS COLUMN

