ACROSS
1 Cellist’s need
4 North of Colombia
9 P.T. goal
14 In a style
resembling
15 Make less
dangerous
16 Clear
17 Hipster
18 Inspiration for a
chewy candy
20 Doglike
scavengers
22 Bird on
Australia’s coat
of arms
23 __-di-dah
24 “Frasier” role
25 Run __: find
28 Horns banned at
the 2014 World
Cup
31 Tons
35 Nobelist Pavlov
36 Visual greeting
37 Peruvian wool
sources
38 “Yo, how’s
things?”
39 Colorful island
dresses
41 Game show VIPs
42 Umpteen
44 “Hometown
Proud”
supermarket chain
45 Give (out)
46 It’s a wrap
47 Yoga-inspired
athletic apparel
brand
49 Actor Piven of
“Entourage”
51 __ trip
52 Master
55 Kyoto cash
56 Hammerheads,
e.g.
59 Dish at a 37-
Down
63 Electron-deficient
particle, e.g.
64 Varnish resin
65 Pet problem?
66 Alias lead-in
67 Crashed, so to
speak
68 Closer
69 Morning salmon

DOWN
1 One of music’s
Three Bs
2 Maker of
Regenerist skin
care products

3 Steam
4 Contemporary
electronic music
genre
5 Weighty
obligation
6 Howard’s best
friend on “The
Big Bang Theory”
7 “Storage
Hunters” network
__TV
8 Bonfire leftovers
9 Turndowns
10 Misspeak, say
11 Swag
12 Where Bhutan is
13 “Little Women”
woman
19 Rock genre
21 Any thing
25 Felipe of
baseball
26 Element in a
rechargeable
battery
27 Hydromassage
facility
28 Travel papers
29 Soft palate
dangler
30 Plenty, to texters
32 Timeless
33 __-ovo
vegetarian
34 Krupp Works city
37 Island bash

39 Do-it-yourselfer’s
nightmare
40 Homely
43 __ Mahal
45 Start of
something big?
47 Delaware tribe
48 Presidential
debate
moderator Jim
50 Seminary subj.
52 Big primates
53 Select
54 Fencing blade

56 Golf great
Ballesteros
57 Gorilla who
learned sign
language
58 Junk food, in
adspeak
60 Official at a base
61 Commonly used
base
62 “Ideas worth
spreading”
conference
acronym

By Ryan McCarty
©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
03/18/15

03/18/15

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

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6A — Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Vic Mensa shows 
talent in Chicago

Kanye cosign has 
potential, needs to 

drop live band

By YARDAIN AMRON

Daily Arts Writer

I bussed to Chicago this past 

weekend to visit a high school 
friend at Northwestern Univer-
sity and to escape the Ann Arbor 
bubble for a second. We went to 
a Vic Mensa show in the city Fri-
day night, at some spotless meat 
shop with an indoor-venue in the 
back — stage, lights, visuals, sec-
ond floor gallery; a lot of buttons, 
heels and man buns. Lux under-
ground, you could call it. 

I had not heard of Vic Mensa, 

but I learned about his recent 
successes, coming off a feature 
on Kanye’s recent drop “Wolves” 
and a European tour that just 
returned from London and Paris. 
“That was all cool, but it’s about 
Chicago,” Mensa said to an eager 
crowd. It’s unclear how much of 
this is due to the “Kanye Effect” 
(hanging out with Kanye and 
earning his respect brings fame).

There was a good-sized mosh 

already formed when we arrived 
– maybe 300 heads. We found 
some space towards the front 
right, by the un-dancy VIP sec-
tion with its table of unopened 
waters. I liked feeling like a 
plebeian. A part of me wanted 
to mosh and completely let go 
for a night, but I was worried 
my friend wasn’t as keen, so we 
danced hard and sober among 
stiff people, even though I usu-
ally say I only can dance when 
I’m drunk.

Mensa is a natural performer, 

which also helped, and held the 
crowd’s attention well. I chanted 
“Save Money” and “Los Angeles” 
when he told me to. I jumped up 
and down when he told me to. 
I turned my phone into a faux-
lighter when he told me to. He did 
at one point ask the soundboard 
guy to “turn it up” because “I 
gotta keep these people moving,” 

but I still saw a talented kid my 
age with a few catchy songs, lyri-
cal chops and serious potential. 
He mixes vocal melodies around 
his raps and makes you want to 
dance. There’s a lot to compare 
with Chance the Rapper, which 
makes sense considering the 
two plus a few other dudes make 
up a Chicago crew called “Save 
Money.” Think the next Odd 
Future.

Looking at Mensa, I saw in 

him the moment I dreamed about 
when I was younger – traveling 
the world with a band and fame 
and all that. Sure I’m a bit envi-
ous, but of Mensa, not his band. If 
he wants to be a Chance-caliber 
superstar, he needs to either get 
some actual talent supporting 
him — not a drummer that can’t 
even follow a backing track with 
an electronic kit, and not a gui-
tarist named Juicy Jack whose 
pick was more often in his mouth 
than his fingers — or, he needs 
to embrace what it means to be a 
solo artist. 

Take the low point of the show 

for example: Juicy Jack mistimed 
a sound cue at the climax of a new 
track, and while Mensa tried to 
save the moment by improving 
a vocal line, Juicy Jack took his 

white tee in his teeth and shook 
his head offstage at some friends 
in the VIP section. Big-time per-
formers sell their mistakes. 

But I believe it’s kind of silly 

there’s anyone onstage besides 
Mensa. The guitar and drums 
were more visual placeholders 
than anything, since he uses a 
pretty loud backing track. And 
the audience didn’t come to see 
anyone but Mensa in the first 
place. Why play the music any 
differently than how you made it? 
And if you think a band is crucial 
for a live performance, at least get 
a good one.

Mensa can write solid verses 

and has a knack for squeezing 
syllables into small phrases. He 
can produce a catchy dance tune 
and performs like he knows he 
has it. But his lyrics aren’t on an 
Earl Sweatshirt or J.Cole level, 
and he doesn’t have the vocal 
chops of a Frank Ocean or Child-
ish Gambino. At least not yet.

When the show ended and 

the mosh-pit unpacked, there 
were a bunch of shirtless boys, 
dazed and smiling, dripping 
sweat. Mensa’s music clearly 
has power. I just hope the fame 
doesn’t get to him like it did for 
Mac Miller.

CONCERT COVER

VIRGIN EMI

“Kanye told me to get Thai food.”

Romans don’t 
know winter

By MARIAM SHEIKH

Daily Arts Writer

Today it was a warm 61 

degrees out. There I was walk-
ing to class in my trench coat, 
my short sleeve shirt and my 
ballet flats — clearly loving life. 
Listening to the sensual sounds 
of Drake in one ear, coupled 
with the noises of the non-stop 
honking of smart cars in the 
other (real talk, I have never 
been more afraid of being hit by 
a smart car than here in Rome).

As I get closer to my school, 

I see more and more cool Ital-
ian students (they travel in 
packs, I need to be one of them) 
with their backpacks, perfectly 
coiffed hair and … parkas?

Maybe it’s the fact that I hail 

from Michigan — OK it most defi-
nitely is — but Europeans don’t 
have any idea of what it means to 
be “cold.” The first day it hit 50 
degrees here, some people on my 
program went to the beach. Now 
that may have been a stretch, but 
Romans seem to think there are 
only two seasons that exist, and 
they therefore dress accordingly 
— hot and cold, summer and win-
ter. Apparently, we are still in the 

thick of winter. Girls run around 
the streets of Rome with their fur 
hoods and their jackets zipped all 
the way up. Don’t get me wrong, 
underneath, they are dressed like 
Kim Kardashian post-Kanye (Her 
bleached hair is genius, don’t try to 
say otherwise). But here I am wor-
ried that sweater-weather is over 
and I didn’t bring enough spring 
clothes, and yet, I don’t know if 
the concept even exists here.

Regardless of the fact that there 

is clearly a seasonal identity crisis 
occurring, the “springtime” cloth-
ing people (especially students) 
wear here is impeccable — knit 
sweaters with skirts and tights, 
skinny black jeans paired with 
their LBBs; guys in their peacoats 
with their fingerless gloves, it’s all 
straight out of a street style blog.

All I can do at this point is copy 

and hope they think I’m one of 
them.

Tobias Jesso Jr.’s 
melancholic ‘Goon’

By CLAIRE WOOD

Daily Arts Writer

Well, somebody woke up on the 

wrong side of the bed this morn-
ing. Crotchety philosopher? Well-
dressed inmate? 
Mop-head teen? 
Not quite. The 
above 
photo 

displays 
the 

black-and-white 
headshot 
of 

pop star Tobias 
Jesso Jr., artist 
of the recently 
released 2015 album Goon.

If the untamed mound of hair 

and moderately attractive frown 
didn’t give it away, this chap obvi-
ously isn’t the happiest moose 
in the market. His debut album 
seems, unsurprisingly, to reflect 
the musician’s pining, lonely heart.

“Why can’t you just love me?” 

the rising star beckons us in a 
heartbroken first line. Sung with 
a sense of deflation more intense 
than a balloon in a vacuum, Jesso 
Jr.’s “Without You” is mopey, 
mushy and most likely your go-to 
during the Thursday morning 
thunderstorm. Throughout his 
12-track record, the singer-song-
writer certainly doesn’t win the 
variation award. “Without You” 
isn’t alone in its mellow melan-
choly — the vast majority of Goon 

sings of heartbreak and regret. 
Jesso Jr. confesses to making 
“you cry all those lonely tears” 
and bids “so long my only friend” 
above waw-waws of bluesy elec-
tric guitar and McCartney-esque 
piano. The titles don’t scream 
sunshine and daisies either: from 
“Can’t Stop Thinking About You” 
to “How Could You Babe,” it’s one 
lugubrious love after another. It’s 
the classic rainy day album: slow 
piano, light cymbals and 16 sad 
repetitions of “without you.”

Despite the excess sadness, 

the gentle piano, light percussion 
and unique vocals that define the 
album aren’t so bad. The album is, 
in fact, very pretty. Jesso Jr. boasts 
an original sound — the artist’s 
voice is intentionally flat, poignant 
in its lack of vibrato and dynam-
ics. Jesso Jr. asks, “won’t you come 
on home?” with gentle hesitation 
that translates into the beauti-
ful authenticity of “Bad Words.” 
The piano in “Can’t Stop Think-
ing About You,” notwithstanding 
its simplicity, is rather alluring 
and the unison voices of violin 
and vocals in “For You” give the 
song an acute sense of purity. The 
ringing instrumentals, slow drum, 
light cymbals — it all adds up to 
soft, mellow bittersweet.

The album’s content sports a 

sense of familiarity. Goon builds 
on an eclectic group of musicians 

and styles, cultured with the 
aspects of all sorts of artists. The 
Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B” pours 
through the arpeggiated guitar 
of Jesso Jr.’s fifth number “The 
Wait.” Chopin’s “Raindrop Pre-
lude” echoes in the closing sounds 
of “For You” and the groovy 
piano of Sara Bareilles shim-
mers in “Crocodile Tears.” Tones 
of John Lennon shine through 
“Without You” and traces of Paul 
Simon flicker in “Can We Still 
Be Friends.” And honestly, that’s 
part of the allure. Tobias Jesso Jr. 
appreciates, rather than shuns, 
the colors of past artists, giving 
his album a #throwbackThursday 
feel.

It’s this quality — comfort-

able familiarity yet distinct 
individuality — that makes 
Tobias Jesso Jr.’s album so 
appealing. It’s nothing ground-
breaking, but then again maybe 
“revolutionary” is over-rated. 
We’re not swept off our feet, 
and we don’t jump up and 
squeal, but Goon is a genuinely 
pretty album with pretty songs 
and we enjoy the listen.

So, despite my initial knee-

jerk reaction to the repetitive 
melancholy, 
it’s 
endearing. 

Innocent, almost naive piano, 
jazzy cymbals, pained vocals. 
There’s a certain beauty in its 
mellow simplicity, and I like it.

TRUE PANTHER

A face only Tobias Jesso Sr. could love.

B+

Goon

Tobias 
Jesso Jr.

True Panther

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