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DAILY DURING YOUR
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By Ed Sessa
©2018 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/12/18
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
10/12/18
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
Release Date: Friday, October 12, 2018
ACROSS
1 “Ta-ta!”
6 Kaput
10 Musical ending
14 Ready for the
operation
15 Dance that may
involve a chair
16 “Amores” poet
17 Eggs-uberant
hen?
19 Like used books
20 __ Xtra: cherry
soda brand
21 Apple on a desk
22 Word with ring or
book
23 Rights org.
24 Loon, at times?
27 Butler on a
plantation
29 Like Colbert’s
show
30 Kiss
35 Summit
36 Do some
’80s Sochi
sunbathing?
40 “The Well-
Tempered
Clavier”
composer
41 Taking
medication
42 Final flight
destinations?
44 Kitchen shelf
array
49 Hitchhiking and
texting?
54 Tick repellent
55 __ Club
56 When repeated,
fish on a menu
57 “That being the
case ... ”
58 Letters after E?
59 What young
elephants do for
fun?
61 The third Mrs.
Roy Rogers
62 Airer of many
NCAA games
63 Farm stray
64 1974 CIA spoof
65 Reasons
66 Cornered, in a
way
DOWN
1 Not up to snuff
2 Increase the
value of
3 Consumer-
friendly?
4 Hedge opening
5 Biblical traveler
6 Former
SeaWorld
attraction
7 Georgetown
athletes
8 Eponymous
vacuum brand
9 Roofer’s supply
10 Popular Toyotas
11 Has in common
12 Line through the
middle
13 Include
18 Pot top
22 Lacking color
25 Ben of Ben &
Jerry’s
26 “Toy Story”
dinosaur
28 Scolder’s cluck
31 In the __ of
32 Creator of
Iceland’s
Imagine Peace
Tower
33 Ties may be
broken in them,
briefly
34 Only half-
pretentious?
36 Bar by the tub
37 If truth be told
38 Does a ragtime
dance
39 “That’s
disgusting!”
40 Skeeter eater
43 “60 Minutes”
network
45 One slightly
changed this clue
46 Storm shelter,
say
47 Blues great
Smith
48 Fired up
50 Sect in
Pennsylvania’s
Lancaster County
51 Like maple trees
and pigeons?
52 Ruling
descendants of
Genghis
53 Thing to confess
58 DJ’s inventory
59 Strange (to)
60 “Silent Spring”
subj.
HELP WANTED
Classifieds
Call: #734-418-4115
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com
When fellow Daily Arts Writer
Sean Lang and I first walked
into the press tent at Audiotree
Music Festival, I walked up to
Diet Cig and introduced myself,
thinking they were waiting for
us to start the interview
Instead, it turned out we
were
interrupting
another
conversation they were having.
As I called myself an idiot a
million times in my head, their
manager came over to us and
apologized
profusely,
saying
some random fans walked up
and started talking to them,
and he allowed it, thinking they
were us.
After a failed first attempt at
contact, I finally had a chance to
properly introduce myself. What
I received in return were two of
the most genuine smiles from
singer / guitarist Alex Luciano
and drummer Noah Bowman.
They seemed to apologize for
themselves,
for
no
reason.
Suddenly my nerves from before
seemed to vanish as we casually
slipped into a conversation that
was supposed to be classified as
an interview.
After
an
energetic
performance, we got to sit down
with Diet Cig and talk to them
about their music, creating safe
spaces and DIY.
The Michigan Daily: Sean
and I are both involved in the
DIY scene back in Ann Arbor,
and I know that you all had your
start in your local scene. Do you
still think, despite playing these
bigger festivals, some of those
lessons you learned in the scene
are still useful to you today?
Luciano: Yeah, I mean, we
came up in the DIY scene. Our
first
shows
were
basement
shows, and it kind of influenced
who we are as a band. I think it
will always kind of contribute
to who we are as a band because
that’s where we came from. It’s
cool because we do get to play
these larger festivals, and I feel
because we played DIY shows
we’re really good at breaking
down and getting our shit out
of the way because, you know, if
you’re playing a basement show,
you need to make sure all the
bands play before the cops come,
you gotta move on.
Bowman: Yeah, and with
troubleshooting,
too.
We’re
really good at thinking to
ourselves,
“OK
this
isn’t
working, but we can make it
work.”
Luciano: Yeah, and it’s nice
because we do get to play these
festivals but we still get to play
basement shows. We have a
really amazing agent who’s
super down to book us for DIY
shows, which is something a lot
of bands fear with getting an
agent, that they won’t be able to
play house shows. But Brianna,
our agent, has still booked us for
some really cool shows, so it’s
still a part of who we are.
TMD: Well we’re glad that
you’re sticking true to your DIY
roots. One of my favorite things
about the DIY community is how
important activism is within the
community. And I noticed on
stage that you took the time to
address a few issues, which is
something that can be important
for artists to do. But for you, do
you think that it’s important for
an artist to use their platform
to talk about these issues and
create a safe space and all of
that?
Luciano: I think it’s every
band’s choice. I feel like with
the platform we have — which
I feel very grateful for having,
and these are things we care
about — it’s not super hard to say
something like, “Hey, go vote,”
especially when you have a
microphone right in front of you.
When it comes to having safer
spaces at shows, I think it is the
responsibility of the artists. No
one wants to be at a show where
they’re fearful of being touched
inappropriately, or getting hurt
because some person won’t stop
dancing and hitting people. So
I think at least for us it’s super
important to make a climate
that everyone can come to.
When your space isn’t safe, it
just excludes people, and we just
want everyone to be included.
TMD: Have you ever had
a show where you had to
address seeing something in the
audience?
Bowman: Oh yeah, we’ve had
a couple times. I forget where it
was, but some dude was being a
total fucker, and we were like,
“It’s OK you’re having fun, but
can you just mind yourself?”
He was a big guy, and there
was a bunch of smaller people.
But then on the next song, he
was worse, so we just stopped
and said, “You gotta stop.” And
the coolest thing was that the
bartender stood up on the bar
and just pulled him over.
Luciano: We have had to
stop and just be like, “We’re not
gonna play again until you chill
out.” We want people to enjoy
our shows, and stopping for a
second to make sure everything
is OK is definitely worth it.
TMD: I know a lot of bands
will go up on stage, make a
little chit-chat and not say
much else, but I like how you
all acknowledge the audience
frequently.
Luciano: I feel like we’re
pretty
transparent
too,
like
our stage persona and our
online persona and all that is
pretty much who we are. You
don’t really get anything else.
Diet Cig talks DIY, using
a platform and astrology
RYAN COX
Daily Arts Writer
AUDIOTREE ARTIST PROFILE
RYAN COX / DAILY
It’s kinda cool that we can be
personal like that, and it makes
for a nice community.
TMD: Well on a little bit of a
different note, I know you talked
about astrology a little on stage.
Personally, I’m a Capricorn, but I
really don’t feel like I am.
Luciano: No way, Noah’s a
Capricorn.
TMD: Do you identify with
Capricorn?
Bowman: Oh yeah. Do you
think I’m a Capricorn?
Luciano: Yeah, you’re like a
textbook Capricorn: setting the
plan, super chill, knows what’s
going on, you know.
Bowman: Sometimes it sucks,
and I wish I wasn’t, you know,
it’s like I gotta know what’s
going on all the time and be
super organized and all that.
Luciano: We’re a good match
though, Michelle and Barack
Obama are a Leo-Capricorn.
Michelle is a Capricorn, if that
makes you feel any better.
TMD: You know, the more I
don’t like being a Capricorn, the
more I realize I am one.
Luciano:
Yeah
but
our
personalities
go
really
well
together. I’m really extroverted
and really all over the place,
while Noah is really calm and
collected. He’s the one that
really gets it done while I’m like,
“AHHHH! I have a crazy idea!”
TMD: So, on stage you said
you’re a Leo sun, and a Cancer
moon; so my follow up would be
what’s your rising?
Luciano: Sagittarius. Which
I feel goes really (well) with my
Leo sun because they’re both
fire signs basically saying, “I’m
here.”
TMD: Yeah I can definitely
see that. I sometimes I want to
say that it’s crap, but the more I
look at it …
Luciano:
Well
there
are
so many different versions of
yourself, you’re not just (a) one
sided person. Sometimes maybe
you’re feeling your Cancer rising
... or your Aquarius moon, you
know. It’s fun to just talk about
yourself. It’s so easy to be like,
“What’s your sign?” I love
astrology. Thanks so much for
asking me about it.
“Oh, you’re not gonna like this
analogy,” said Brigitte Naggar,
the mind behind Common Holly.
Unfortunately, it was the only
one she found suitable, so she
plowed forward: “It was like
I was a cow that needed to be
milked, otherwise I would’ve
exploded.”
The
Montreal-based
songwriter confessed that she
hardly picked up her guitar
during her years at university
but, after a breakup in the
year
following
graduation,
found much-needed relief in
songwriting. It was then that
her current project, Common
Holly, began to take shape,
though music had already been
a significant part of Naggar’s life
for many years.
“I was put into piano lessons
very early on, as we all were,
I’m sure, and I did that for six
years, and then I really just hated
practicing so much, so I finally
quit,” she said. Later, her father
started giving her guitar lessons.
She got her own when she was 16
and began writing songs at the
same time. One song she wrote
then, “New Bed,” is the closing
track of her 2017 debut, Playing
House, though she expressed
that she had been hesitant to
include it.
“Actually,
it
was
Devon
(Mane, the album’s producer and
touring guitarist) that convinced
me to redo (“New Bed”) and
make it album appropriate, and
now I’m bound to it for life,”
she added with a tone of light-
hearted resignation.
Though she has been writing
songs since age 16, Naggar told
me that she “truly despised
performing. It’s not my thing.”
This was interesting to hear,
given
that
she
would
be
performing on the main stage of
Audiotree Music Festival on the
day following our interview, and
she admitted that her attitude
toward it had changed, at least
in part.
“I
don’t
(still
despise
performing). I like it, I think
because
—
well,
obviously
because I’m used to it. I think
I’ve almost found a way to
make it feel sincere and not
performative.
I
think
that’s
probably my struggle with it, is
the separation between stage
person and audience, and stage
person versus ‘you’ person,”
she elaborated. And although
she is capable of finding that
performer-audience connection
more easily when playing solo,
she does “try to tour with bands
whenever it’s affordable … and
then give a sort of surround
sound experience.”
Bringing a band on tour is also
helpful in purely logistical terms.
“I do tour solo. It’s hard
though, it’s a lot of stuff to carry,”
she said, and having a friend
or two along might also keep
her accountable itinerary-wise.
When she does tour solo, she
fills her downtime with almost
excessive excitement: “Thumb
twiddling … I don’t know, what do
people do, Facebook? I sleep a lot.
I visit friends if they’re in town …
I spend a lot of time making sure
I don’t miss buses or planes,” she
told me, although it turned out
she had missed a plane just the
week prior: “It was like a major
moment. You know when you
consider yourself someone that
doesn’t miss planes? And then
you miss your first plane? I was
really like, ‘Who am I?’”
This wasn’t the only time
she confronted her self-identity
during our interview. On the
topic of when she had made
the decision to pursue music
professionally,
questioned
herself again: “I guess it was
when … I had finished university
— was that two years ago, or was
it three? How old am I?”
Later, she would also mention
a period of time over the summer
when she found herself in crisis.
She had studied religion and
art history at school — “So I
was really setting myself up for,
like, tons of career options” —
but had thought of continuing
school to become a social worker
or therapist, and was having
doubts.
“I was like, ‘What am I doing
with my life?’ and then I looked
up the career path for therapists
and the schooling and so on,
and it seemed like by the time
I was done with that and in the
workforce I would be making
the same amount of money as I
would if I continued on in music,
which is … fucked.”
She took a moment to express
gratitude
for
support
she’d
thus far received in the form
of grants from Canada and
Quebec, and acknowledged that
it’s pretty ridiculous that, as an
independent artist, she hasn’t
had to work another job for the
past year.
It may be a tenuous link, but
these aforementioned instances
of self-doubt might just be
related to her self-professed
terrible memory. She mentioned
her memory while discussing
the concept of nostalgia, which
flows freely from every corner
of Playing House. Even the
album cover, a photo of Naggar’s
“grandmother and her cousin,
in a ballet posture in Egypt,
probably in the ’20s or ’30s,”
invokes the vague but intensely
melancholic
feeling
of
time
passed.
“I feel like I look at nostalgia
in kind of a pragmatic way.
I think it’s really useful as a
processing function. I don’t
think I’m a dweller, and that’s
probably supported by the fact
that I have a horrible memory,”
she explained. “I think that
that
kind
of
manifests
in
Playing House, in the song ‘If
After All’ — just talking about
forgetting,
learning
lessons
and then forgetting them and
that being a constant source
of frustration … I’m very much
into processing now and then
continuing
to
proceed
with
proceedings,” she added, the last
three words accompanied by a
self-deprecating laugh.
Before we wrapped up our
conversation, I asked Naggar
about her influences. She pointed
to Chad VanGaalen, “who I’ve
done shows with … You should
check that out, definitely, the
older albums,” she said after I
expressed my unfamiliarity — “I
know everyone’s like, ‘the older
albums,’” she said with mocking
affect, “But it’s true! There’s
a quieter heart in them, or
something.” This self-awareness
and nearly constant qualification
of
claims
was
apparent
throughout our interview, but
shined here.
“Who
else?
D’Angelo,
obviously,” she added, knowing
full well that the R&B legend’s
influence on her work is far from
evident.
“Maybe Leonard Cohen for
lyrics, maybe T. S. Eliot for
poems. I used to like poems a
lot, I don’t know what happened.
I was, like, a poem kid,” she
digressed, but we followed up on
this idea of poems versus songs.
“If you’re writing a poem,
the words have to stand for
themselves, which is why I
would never show anyone my
poetry,” Naggar said. “I feel like
singing and playing guitar, I can
hide behind my guitar and my
guitar can hide behind me, and
it’s this great sort of protective
coexistence.”
I pried once more about her
claim to being a “poem kid,”
asking whether she’d written a
lot during her younger years.
“Didn’t we all?” she replied.
“Don’t we still?”
Common Holly performed on
Sunday, Sept. 23 at Audiotree
Music Festival in Kalamazoo,
but you can also catch them on
tour with Detroit-based Anna
Burch and Ann Arbor-native
Fred Thomas — whose most
recent album, Aftering, features
Common Holly — on Oct. 25 at
the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor.
Common Holly’s blend of
nostalgia & forgetfulness
SEAN LANG
Daily Arts Writer
AUDIOTREE ARTIST PROFILE
SEAN LANG/ DAILY
6A — Friday, October 12, 2018
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com