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

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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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